Chapter 8: Showdown

Chapter 7: Showdown

EPOV

I know Alice is going to kill me, but I can't help it. I’ve been on this quest – a quest to remove Victoria from this earth, thereby making Bella safe forever – for months now, and when I saw in Jacob's mind that she had been here... I can't not try and track her down.

Looks like I’m going to get lucky too. There's a strong trail leading into the mountains, and even an inexperienced tracker like me can tell that it's fresh; she came this way no more than a few hours ago. I follow it, racing as fast as I can to catch her.

Five minutes in, and something isn't quite right. There is a distinctly human scent alongside Victoria’s. I think I even see a few spots of blood every so often. Why would she carry a kill, bleeding, all the way out here? Unless she's trying to turn someone. But... no... it can't be... it can't.

It is.

I don't know why I didn't recognise it before. The scent, so tempting, so strong, it burns my throat like nothing else, making me suddenly hyper aware of how thirsty I am.

Bella. She has Bella. Oh God, no, no, please no. She'll die; without her life support... she could be dead already. No, no, she can't she can't.

I find a burst of speed I didn't know was possible. I stop only to take down a deer that happens to cross my path, and then only for a few minutes, only so I have enough strength. Then I am flying again, tearing through the trees faster than ever before, not caring that I’m probably knocking over a few of them, not caring that there are probably twigs and leaves in my hair and dirt on my clothes. Not caring about anything but finding her, saving her, reaching her before it is too late and I lose her forever.

Frustration builds within me, more and more every second, compounding itself and combining with something very similar to adrenaline, until I am consumed by complete and utter fury. How dare she! How dare that low-life, disgusting, monstrous... I can't even call her a woman. She is the most sorry excuse for a female that I have ever known. To attack an innocent, injured, defenceless girl, to wilfully risk ending her life to avenge the death of a creature as deplorable as herself. I will take great satisfaction from ending her, I know it. If she has hurt my Bella, I won't be responsible for my actions.

The mountains loom over me and I speed up again. I don't know how I can go any faster; it can't be physically possible. But then there is the scent, stronger now as I get closer, and more blood on the trail. Soon, soon. They're close, I know it. Please, God please, let Bella be okay. Don't take my last reason to exist away from me. I need her and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I am selfish to feel that way, but I don't care. She is all I live for. Please, please, please...

At last, I see an opening in the rock face ahead of me; a small cave, about seven feet high and ten or so wide. I can just see the back of it, too far to judge the distance but not far enough to be out of sight. Of course, that means I see the figure who stands inside, and the slumped shape on the floor. I see the flash of red hair in a chance ray of sun. I smell the rich, tangy, burning scent of fresh blood and open wounds.

I growl, low in my throat, then fury takes over and I roar, so loud it shakes the trees and bounces off the rocks.

“VICTORIA!”

Her head whips around, fiery hair flying, and answers me with a ferocious snarl. She is as angry at me for finding her as I am at her for what she's doing. Just as I reach the cave, she comes flying out of it, teeth snapping and hands curled into claws. We collide with a loud BOOM, and we don't even wait until we hit the ground before we are up and fighting. Again and again, she swipes at me, trying to get at my neck, growling and snarling, her face so twisted it is barely human any more. I know I must look the same, but I honestly don't care. I have to win, I have to destroy her, so I can get to Bella.

Bella Bella Bella Bella...

I can't even allow myself to listen for her heartbeat; I have to focus on the she-devil who refuses to be defeated or ignored. We twist and turn, her movements coming to me a second before she makes them, mine anticipated by her just as quickly. We are almost evenly matched. Almost. But she is thirsty, and I am not. Bella’s scent fills the air as her blood drips onto the rock, and it is distracting Victoria. Every few seconds, her head turns slightly towards the source of the glorious scent; she cannot resist it, but I can. I have lived with that smell for so long, I barely even register it.

There is a moment; she is more distracted than ever before, turning almost completely away from me, forgetting me entirely for a split second. It's all I need to dart in and enclose her in my arms tightly, my mouth at her throat. She stiffens and hisses.

“You're too late!” she growls, her already shrill voice even more grating. “You're too late to save her!”

“Go to hell.” I snarl in her ear, and rip her head from her shoulders with my teeth.

I spend the next minute taking my frustrations out on her body. By the time I am done, the pile of stony flesh is not even recognisable as a person any more. I pull out the lighter I stowed in my pocket before I left, flicking it on and throwing it into the mound. The flame catches immediately, and the foul smelling smoke begins to rise into the evening sky.

I turn away from the funeral pyre and enter the cave. Bella’s broken body lies in a corner, surrounded by shards of rock – the remains of a small boulder by the entrance. Some have cut her; her face and arms are covered in little red scratches. The IV is still poking out of the back of her hand, and various sensors, their wires trailing in the dirt, are still attached to her, but the breathing tube the doctors put on her before I arrived is gone. Her mouth and eyes are closed, and she looks as peaceful and beautiful as ever.

There is no sound. Not even my breathing breaks the silence that has fallen. It is as if all the world has ceased its racket in this one moment; humans, animals, vampires, werewolves, and all the other creatures of this earth, all silent in tribute to this wonderful girl.

Because Victoria was right. I am too late. Bella’s heart has stopped and she is dead.

She is dead.

I break down. My knees buckle and I collapse to the floor. Sobs rip through me, puncturing the stillness as I crawl across the cave floor to her side, as I reach out and gently remove the little wires from her forehead, as I carefully work the needle out of her hand. Agonising grief, unlike any I have ever experienced, wraps itself around my heart and squeezes, crushing every hope and desire and happiness I have ever had. My sobs become full blown howls of pain as I stare at her still form; her face looks as if she is merely sleeping, that same dead sleep that has gripped her for so many weeks.

But now, the death is real. There is no slight rise and fall of her chest, no strong, comforting heartbeat, reassuring me despite my misgivings. I will never see those sparkling brown eyes, never hear her sigh my name, never watch her bite her lip in that way that always made me want to kiss her so badly.

The noise I am making is bouncing around the cave and the rocks outside, loud enough to deafen even me. I don't care. I cry and cry, half-screaming her name over and over, though I can no longer think it – it hurts too much.

I don't realise I have company until I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look up; it is Carlisle. He is looking down at me with pity in his eyes, the same look he gave me almost 90 years ago when he told me my mother was dead. I glance over my shoulder; the rest of my family is standing in the opening to the cave. Alice and Esme seem on the edge of tears; Emmett’s usual smile is absent; Jasper's face is twisted as he absorbs all the pain around him; even Rosalie looks upset. I realise suddenly that I hear heartbeats; Renee and Charlie stand beside Rosalie, holding hands and staring at their daughter. I don't care how they got here, or that the fact they are here means they must know our secret. I simply don't care about anything any more.

“Edward,” Carlisle murmurs gently. Son, we need to move her.

“NO!” I shout, making the humans jump. I turn back to my darling and bury my face in her chest, covering her with my body.“Don't touch her!”

Renee is crying; I can hear her quiet sobs. Her mind is full of sadness and grief. She cries for the loss of her child, and she cries for me.

Just look at him... he loves her so much. I thought he looked broken at the hospital but now...

I cannot listen. Her pity is too much for me to handle. I block them all out, focusing on the angel in my arms, looking at her still, perfect features. She really is an angel now. In the hands of God, where I can never follow.

“One last kiss my love,” I whisper, too quiet for anyone to hear, except perhaps Carlisle. “One last kiss before we say goodbye.”

And I press my lips to hers as gently as I always have since the very first time, on that sunny Saturday when I first showed her the meadow; our meadow. Only now, she doesn't respond. She doesn't fly at me with a fervour that nearly shatters my control. She doesn't wrap her arms around me and hug me, as if she could hold me to her forever. She stays absolutely still.

My lips leave hers after a moment; I kiss her no longer than I would normally, breaking away before she runs out of air. But she isn't breathing now, so I don't know why I bother. Just remembering that she is well and truly gone has me breaking down again, sobbing uncontrollably into the hideous hospital gown that is the only thing covering her fragile body. Voices surround me; hands touch me; minds try to invade my own. I ignore it all. The world no longer has any importance for me.

Thump.

I freeze. The cooler hands on me do too, and all the sounds stop. A gruff voice – Charlie – asks what is wrong. Someone shushes him.

Thump.

Again. That noise... so familiar... so close.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Thump thump thump thump thump...

A heartbeat. A heartbeat. Impossible, yet it is true. I know its sound; I would know it anywhere, could pick it out from a crowd of hundreds, hear it from miles away.

Miraculously, impossibly, denying all logic and reason, Bella’s heart is beating.

“What is it?” Renee asks as I raise my head to stare at my beloved's still frozen face.

“Her heart,” Carlisle sounds perplexed. “It's beating. But I’m sure... it wasn't when we arrived.”

“You hear it too?” Alice chimes in, her voice shaking. “I’m not imagining it?”

“You're not,” I whisper, “Unless I am too. Unless we all are.”

Suddenly, Bella's lips part. She sucks in a deep breath and lets it out, then another, and another, until she is breathing normally. She still hasn't moved, and she still appears to be sleeping, but her heart and her breaths sound so much stronger, more healthy than they did in the hospital.

I lean over, taking her face in my hands. “Bella? Love, can you hear me?”

Her ivory forehead puckers, the little crinkle between her eyebrows that always appears when she is worried forming itself. She scrunches up her eyes, before her lids flutter briefly and slowly open. Several people gasp in astonishment; I may be one of them.

Bella stares at me, the wide chocolate-coloured eyes I have missed so much alight with wonder. We gaze into each others eyes for a moment. Then her frown vanishes and she smiles, a big, real smile that lights up her whole face.

“Edward,” she whispers, and the sound of her voice saying my name as I have dreamt of for so many months is like a chorus of angels. “You're here. You saved me.”

“Bella,” I choke, “Oh Bella!”

I wrap my arms around her, crushing her to my chest while being careful not to hurt her. Her arms, shaking slightly, enclose me in return, and she rubs her hands up and down my back soothingly.

“I thought I’d lost you.” I sob, my face pressed into her hair.

“So did I.” she whispers, and I can hear the fear in her tone. “But it's okay, I’m okay now. We're together, and everything will be alright as long as that is true.” She is reassuring me; for once, I am weak and she is strong.

I pull back to look her in the eyes.

“I love you.” I say, hoping she will see the sincerity in my eyes, hoping she will read the things I cannot say aloud. I’m sorry, forgive me, love me still, despite everything I’ve done to you.

Bella smiles softly, adoringly. “I love you too.” Her voice is still soft, weak after so long without use, but it is impossible to doubt her honesty.

She takes my face in her hands and pulls me down for another kiss, and I am home.