317Okay guys, back to Bella's point of view again and as promised last week, no more cliffies for a while! I won't keep you any longer. Enjoy!
Bella's POV
After Victoria sent the text to Edward, we waited. My heart was torn between wanting to see Edward and wanting him to stay away and be safe. I had no doubt that he would come alone, like she'd said in the message. Anything to keep me safe, though I very much doubted that Victoria was going to let either of us live. Edward alone would be no match for three vampires, but if he thought they might let me go, he would walk straight to his death. That thought terrified me. My only hope was that Alice would see him before he left alone and stop him from doing something stupid.
After what felt like hours of waiting, though in reality was probably less than an hour, Laurent and Riley jumped up and raced outside. When they returned, they carried Edward between them, each of his arms held strong by the pair.
"Edward!" I cried, instinctively jumping up to run to him, though I didn't get very far before I was stopped by Victoria, who grabbed my arm roughly, her fingers digging painfully into my flesh.
"Bella," Edward whispered, "I'm so sorry." My heart broke at the sound of his voice and I wanted to tell him that it wasn't his fault.
I listened to him beg Victoria to let me go, to keep him instead, and I couldn't hold back the scream that escaped me at the thought of having to live my life without him. The world held no interest for me if he was gone. Even if Victoria let me go, I wouldn't leave. If Edward perished, I'd beg her to send me with him. Victoria slammed her hand over my mouth, cutting me off mid-scream, and I listened in horror as she explained how she was going to kill us both and then go after the rest of the family.
My heart broke thinking about a world without them. Alice and Jasper, Emmett and Rose, Carlisle and Esme. They might be vampires, but they made the world a better place. Without Carlisle, many humans would die of diseases only his vampire senses could detect. But there was nothing we could do to save them. No way to even warn them. We would die here together, and Victoria would go after them.
Tears were silently flowing down my cheeks as I prepared myself for the death that was surely coming, when suddenly I saw Laurent fly across the room, the wall he hit crumbling instantly. I felt myself being pulled towards Victoria, her sharp teeth positioned near my neck, ready to bite. I closed my eyes and waited for the pain. Then everything happened so fast. My eyes flew open as I fell to the ground landing on my arm, a sharp pain flashing through it, and the next thing I knew I was behind Edward as he crouched in front of three angry vampires.
I closed my eyes again, knowing that Edward had no chance alone against three other vampires, especially with me to protect as well. I put my good arm around him, determined that if this was it, if we were going to die, then at least I would have Edward in my arms. I felt his cool skin through his shirt and I revelled in the familiarity that brought. With one last sniff of his amazing honey and sunshine scent, I braced myself for death.
Suddenly, there was a loud crash, and I opened my eyes to a blur of movement. Everything was moving so fast that I could hardly make anything out, but when I caught a glimpse of grey fur and blonde hair, hope began to soar in my heart.
Edward stayed crouched in front of me, keeping me protected, as we watched Emmett, Rosalie, and Leah fighting with the three other vampires. They seemed evenly matched, and I was just about to insist that Edward leave me to help them, when Alice, Jasper, Esme and Carlisle piled through the door.
Everything was a blur to me, like fights in a cartoon that happen all in a puff of smoke. I heard growling, tearing and screeching, but I could only guess what was happening. Edward stayed in front of me, only moving slightly from side to side to make sure I was fully protected from the fighting. I worried for my family, though I knew they had the numbers on their side and it wasn't long before Victoria, Laurent and Riley were nothing but piles of limbs on the floor.
Edward pulled me around into his arms, the pain still radiating through my arm, but I didn't care. All that mattered at that moment was being in Edward's arms, knowing that Victoria was gone. He lifted me, carrying me outside, and sitting with me in one of the cars outside, me on his lap facing out the open door. I clung to him as though he was my life source, which in reality he was. I couldn't have lived on without him if Victoria had let me go like he'd begged her to. I knew the same was true for him if anything had happened to me.
I lifted my head from his chest as the smell of smoke reached my nose, looking towards the farmhouse, which was now engulfed in plumes of purple, acrid-smelling smoke. Victoria, Riley and Laurent were no more. Whilst I had no sympathy for Victoria or Laurent, who had brought all of this on themselves, I did feel a small, very small, pang of pity for Riley. He was young, in more ways than one, only around my age when he was turned, and from what I could tell only a few months old as a vampire. Victoria had manipulated him, making him believe he was her mate when she only really wanted him for his talent.
"Are you okay, love?" Edward asked and I tore my eyes away from the plumes of smoke to look up at him. I could see the relief in his eyes, but it was tinged with worry for me.
"Just my arm and a few bumps and bruises," I answered, "Nothing that won't heal, baby." He pulled me tighter to him, being careful not to hurt my arm any more than it already was.
"I was so scared," he whispered almost too quietly for me to hear, "I thought..."
"I know, baby," I said, trying to soothe him, "I thought that too, but it's over now. She's gone. They're all gone." We sat in silence for a few moments, ignoring everyone else around us, just enjoying the feeling of each other and the knowledge that we were safe.
Just then another car pulled up, the door flying open before it had even come to a complete stop. Irina flung herself out of the car, running towards the burning building. Jasper and Emmett caught her, pulling her back as she screamed at them to let her go.
"Noooooo!" she screamed, "Tell me he's not in there!" She looked around at the Cullens, all of whom looked away apart from Carlisle, who looked at her with pity.
"I'm sorry, Irina," he said softly. She crumpled to the ground, though Jasper and Emmett still stayed close in case she tried again.
"Why?" she sobbed, "He was my mate! How could you do this?"
"He wasn't your mate," I said quietly, knowing that they could all hear me.
"You!" she squealed, running towards Edward and me at such a speed that it was all a blur to me, "This is all your fault!" Jasper and Emmett grabbed hold of her again, pulling her away from me as Edward caged me protectively in his arms.
"Don't you dare talk to her like that!" Edward yelled, "Your so-called mate was going to kill her, my actual mate. Then, they were going to kill me before going after the rest of my family, one by one." There were a few gasps at that.
"He wasn't your mate," Edward continued, standing up and placing me at his side with his arm wrapped around my shoulder, "He was using you until he got bored, and, deep down, you know that."
"No," she cried, "He was my mate, and we were happy! He was just struggling a little with our diet, that's all, but he was going to come back to me. Now, because of your stupid human, he's gone!"
The rest of the Denalis had gotten out of the car by this point and were watching the scene. Eleazar, Carmen, and Kate were looking at Irina with sympathy, probably aware that Laurent wasn't really her mate, but Tanya came overlooking almost as angry as Irina.
"I can't believe you would do this to my sister," Tanya spat, glaring at Edward, "You chose a human over us! I thought we were family!"
"That's enough!" Carlisle shouted, everyone staring at him in shock as he never raised his voice, "Bella is a part of this family, Tanya. Laurent was involved in kidnapping her and trying to kill her and Edward. It brings me no pleasure to end any being's life, you know that, but I will not have my family in danger and that includes Bella, whether she's human or not."
Tanya and Irina stood in silence, not speaking but still looking incredibly angry. Carmen made her way over to them, pulling them both in for a hug before leading them back to the car.
"I'm sorry, Carlisle," Eleazar said, "I understand why you had to do what you did, but some of the family may need a bit of time to get over it."
"We understand," Carlisle replied, "Thank you all for coming to help us search for Bella. We really appreciate it. I wish we were parting under better circumstances, and I hope, in time, we will be able to see each other again. You are all still family to us."
The rest of the Cullens nodded, except Edward who looked like he was seriously trying to control his anger. If I hadn't been sitting in his arms, I'm sure he would have ripped Irina and Tanya apart before they'd had a chance to react. I reached up and cupped his face in my hands, staring into his pitch-black eyes. He looked down at me, some anger melting from his face as he smiled at me.
"It's okay, baby," I whispered, "I'm here."
He pulled me into an embrace, hugging me as tightly as possible without hurting me, though my arm jostled causing me to wince.
"Sorry, love," he said, "Carlisle, can you check her arm? I think she broke it when she fell."
Carlisle checked me over, my arm and the rest of me, despite me telling him that I was fine. He declared that my arm was, indeed, broken and I had a few nasty bruises, just beginning to appear, and a bump on my head, but nothing too serious. Edward and Carlisle insisted I would have to go to the hospital to get a cast on my arm, but Carlisle promised that it wouldn't take long.
~~~TTOGILB~~~
A few hours later, a cast wrapped around my left arm, we arrived back at the house where the rest of the family were waiting in the living room for us. As soon as I walked in, I was surrounded by everyone talking all at once.
"Okay, okay, give her some space," Edward said, clearing a path to the nearest sofa and sitting down with his arm wrapped around my shoulders. His hands hadn't left me, apart from the short time at the hospital when I was getting x-rayed and even then I thought he was going to insist on joining me, but Carlisle had silently talked him down. Leah came and sat on my other side, while everyone else filled the other sofas and chairs around the room.
"I'm fine," I said, looking around at them all, their eyes anxious as they looked me over, "Apart from the broken arm and a few bruises, of course." I chuckled as I reached my good hand over to take Leah's hand in mine.
"You scared us!" Leah chastised with a smirk, "Seriously though, Bella, I am so glad we found you when we did. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you." She squeezed my hand gently.
"No thanks to Edward," Rose scoffed, "What were you thinking, going off to face them on your own? It's just lucky we found you in time."
"I couldn't risk Bella's life," he said quietly, his eyes looking down.
"We would have come up with a plan. Stayed back so they didn't know we were there to begin with," Alice said, rolling her eyes, "Thank goodness Jasper was able to track Bella's phone and we knew where to find you. We knew almost instantly that you had left. You aren't nearly as stealthy as you think you are." She winked at Edward, showing that he was forgiven, and she was just glad to have us both back safely.
"Yeah, I know, I was an idiot," Edward admitted, "But, I wasn't really thinking clearly. I thought maybe if they got me, they would let Bella go."
"And you think that would be okay with me?" I asked quietly, looking up into his eyes, "For me to have to live without you?"
"I'm sorry, love," he said, pulling me onto his lap, "I really wasn't thinking clearly. I just knew I needed to get to you, and I thought if I brought anyone else with me, they would know instantly, and you would have been dead before I was ever close enough to save you."
"Well, in the future, you have to put just as much effort into keeping yourself alive as you do keeping me alive. Got it?" I said, and he nodded as I rested my head on his chest, basking in the fact that we were both safe and together.
"Thank you all for everything you did to find me," I said, looking around the room, my eyes filling with tears.
"Nonsense," Esme said, "You are family. We wouldn't let anything happen to you. Now, enough chat for tonight. You must be famished and exhausted. Dinner and then bed."
I didn't dare argue with her, though she was right. Leah and I ate a delicious dinner prepared by Esme before heading to bed. I snuggled up into Edward's arms, breathing in his scent, helping to ground myself.
"They really are all gone?" I said in a quiet voice. Despite having seen them ripped to pieces and the burning building, I couldn't quite believe it was all over.
"Yes," he replied, "My only regret is that I didn't get to rip them apart myself."
"I love you, baby," I said, stifling a yawn.
"I love you too," he replied, "Now, sleep, my love. We have forever."
This is the penultimate chapter (second last) of this story, but don't worry, I'm already about halfway through the sequel. I'll continue posting on the same schedule as this one (at least until I finish writing it and then I might post more often). This story seemed to come to a natural conclusion so I decided to finish it here and begin a new one, so if you haven't already, make sure to follow me so you are notified when I start posting the sequel.
As always, thanks to my beta, CoppertopJ, who has agreed to stay on and beta the sequel too :D