Chapter 17

Suddenly

"Elena?" The quietest whisper broke the silence. Bonnie's voice broke at the end of the world and she stood up right from my arms, making her way back to the coffin.

"Bonnie?!" Elena spoke, she coughed a couple of times after and then spoke again, "Bonnie, but how…?"

I looked back to Bella, who was already pulling out her phone and dialling up someone.

"Seriously, sister, what the hell is going on?!" Damon's voice sounded rough and angry.

"I did it, Damon." Bella breathed out, only now I've noticed her hands shaking and her voice cracking slightly. I could tell she was trying to contain her emotions. My legs brought me closer to her and I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to me.

"Did it? Did what?"

"Get your ass to Mystic Falls." Bella said through gritted teeth. "Elena's awake."

She hung up the phone before Damon could reply and buried her face in my chest. My arms instinctively wrapped around her back and I rested my head on top of hers. Bella's sobs that she was hiding from everyone else were barely heard in the crypt. Everyone around us were yelling and laughing and hugging each other. I found it was the perfect moment to get Bella outside, fresh air would certainly be better than the dusty old Salvatore crypt.

I ran us both outside, stopping underneath the tree next to the end of the cemetery. Bella, probably sensing the change of scenery, looked up at me and smiled. "I was so anxious."

"I know, love." I wiped the tears from her face. "Everything turned out to be good though, didn't it?"

"I can't believe it's actually over." She chuckled, her arms flying high into the air in shock. "I mean we did it! We broke the damn curse!"

She jumped in my arms and I chuckled. I loved seeing her so happy, it seemed like the weight fell off her shoulders. Honestly, it felt like it fell off mine too. There was nothing stopping us, nothing standing in our way, we could be free to do whatever we wished. All I wished to do was take Bella home.

"Will you go get Alice? I can't go back there…not right now." Bella stuttered slightly. I could tell it was a hard day for her.

"You need some air." I kissed her forehead and offered a small smile. "I'll be right back."

I turned around and walked to the crypt, letting Bella get at least some alone time to think about everything that happened today. She just saved the person responsible for the death of her former lover, a person who broke both of her brothers' hearts, a person whom she never liked or cared for, moreover, a person whom on most occasions she truly hated. Bella was a wonderful woman, stronger and more resilient than anyone I've ever met.

I was almost in the crypt when it happened. Alice ran out at vamp speed, almost knocking me down. Bella's scream made my venom freeze in my body.

"Why the hell would you leave her alone!?" Alice screamed at me, she talked so quickly I could barely tell her words apart.

At the same time I saw a vision playing in her head and snapped from my spot, running faster than Alice, I reached the end of the cemetery first. I heard her heartbeat somewhere in the woods and immediately followed it. She wasn't alone, right in front of her was a black wolf, smaller than the shapeshifters from Forks, but larger than a regular wolf. It growled and licked its mouth.

Before giving it a second thought, I jumped on top of it, knocking it off Bella and we started the fight. The wolf was growling and snapping its mouth, it's saliva getting on my face and soaking up my shirt. I pinned it down, it tried to scratch my neck with its front claws. With the might of its back legs, the creature was able to throw me backwards.

I jumped, turning mid-air and landing on its massive furry back. The heat radiating from it was almost burning my skin, the touch of it reminded me of the way my legs felt on the beach on Isle Esme in the middle of the Brazilian summer. My years with Carlisle were dimming my desire to kill the creature, I was ready to just put it to sleep, but then I heard one sound in the world that made the monster in me growl. Bella was crying.

My humanity and mercy disappeared at once. The creature went too far, no one hurts a vampire's mate and gets away with it. It was going to die. I lost focus for just a second when I heard Bella's quiet sobs and that's when the creature overpowered me and pinned me to the ground. It tried to rip my throat once again with its teeth, without any luck, but it offered me great opportunity to thrust my hand into its chest and rip its heart out.

The monster growled, cried out one last time before dropping its weight on top of me. I threw its body away from me, quickly turning back to where Bella was crying. I heard a loud thud behind me, the wolf's body hit the ground.

"Bella." My voice was barely recognizable, it was so quiet and shaky, I doubted it was me who spoke.

I ran up to her, not knowing what was wrong. She always healed so fast, she should've been okay by the time I got rid of the creature. Alice, who was sitting beside Bella on the ground, was supporting her head on her legs. My sister rocked herself back and forth and the look on her face was more glum than it has ever been.

"I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." She kept chanting in her head. "This isn't the way I've seen it. We should've had more time."

"Bella." I spoke again, refusing to believe Alice's words. "Bella, please."

I got to my knees and looked at my beautiful, strong, resilient partner. She looked like she was just drowned in water. Her hair was wet, sweat was dripping down her forehead and neck, her body twitched irregularly and her quiet painful moans were the loudest thing in my universe. All along her body I saw bite marks that kept oozing green and yellow puss.

"No. No. No." The chant came out of me. "She's not dying. You're not dying."

I cleaned her forehead and cupped her cheeks in my hands. There must be something but Klaus's blood that could save her. We just brought Elena back to life for hell's sake!

"I'm…so…rry." Bella's voice was unrecognisable.

"No, don't say that." My voice was shaky as I continued looking into her eyes. "Don't say that, I love you, I'll figure something out. You're going to be okay."

"I…lo…lo…ve…you…you…t…too." Bella's eyes closed, her heartbeats were becoming less steady. I could see the poison travelling through her body.

"NO!" I cried.

My hands instinctively pushed on the bulging veins, pulling the poison back to it's original place of the bites. I put my mouth over the first bite and started sucking the stinky oozing poison out of the bite. I kept pushing back on the bulging veins, pulling more and more venom out.

When I was done with the first bite on her neck, I moved on to the one on her shoulder. I saw Alice looking at what I was doing and a vision came to her. A vision that almost made me cry out gratitudes to the sky. I saw my sister quickly taking a place at Bella's stomach and taking over for my hands. She was able to push the poison out of Bella's veins faster and more accurately back to the place of the bite, where I was already sucking it out. One by one, the werewolf bites were disappearing, Bella's heartbeat taking on its more regular rhythm.

I noticed footsteps coming toward us, but in Alice's mind, I could see it was the so-called "Scooby gang." I ignored their questions, focusing on the very last poison bite I could see, the one on Bella's mid-thigh. As soon as I licked her clean wound, allowing my venom to seal it, a couple of things happened.

Bella started screaming hysterically and I fell to the ground unconscious.

Last chapter before epilogue...Oh how I'm going to miss this story! Please review!