Twilight Fan Fiction ❯ Shooting Star ❯ Battle ( Chapter 15 )

CHAPTER 15: Battle

 

“NO!” The cry escaped my lips before I registered what was happening. There was a fierce snarl and a shriek of surprise. My eyes were moving too slow. Everything was moving so fast it was blurring. I couldn't keep up. Kate and Jacob.

And suddenly Edward was blurring towards the tumult.

“Don't hurt him, Kate!” Edward shouted as he reached them before I could blink. “He doesn't know what he's doing!”

Jacob was lunging again and again.

Kate's expression of rage twisted into confusion at Edward's words. Jacob charged at Kate. She feigned left, and then darted right in an impossibly fast motion. Jacob sailed past her, landing soundlessly on his feet and whirling around to face her again.

Edward materialized in front of Jacob his arms outspread.

“Stop this, Jacob. She's one of us!” He ordered. I gasped as Jacob lashed out a huge paw and batted Edward aside, lunging for Kate again. Edward flew through the air and landed a few feet from where I stood. My legs, the muscles suddenly unlocked, pulled me towards him.

“Edward!” I cried as I sank to my knees.

“I'm fine,” he muttered, his eyes locked on the fight. “He won't listen to reason. He was out running while Kate was hunting, and they came across each other.” I heard myself suck in a breath but Edward didn't look back at me. “Our eyes turn red when we hunt, you know. He only smelled her and saw the red eyes and immediately thought she was one of the Volturi.” Edward explained Jacob's thoughts in a rushed tone.

“He thought she was one of them?”

“Yes, and now he's trying to take her down. He's blinded with rage and fear. He won't listen to a thing I say.”

Kate kept dodging and dodging.

Jacob flung himself at her, and his paw clipped her shoulder. She let out a strangled howl of pain, but I let out the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding when her arms stayed attached to the rest of her.

“Help her,” Tessa pleaded from behind us.

“Go get Tanya,” Edward commanded, rising to his feet. I mirrored him.

“But—” Tessa started to protest, but Edward cut her off.

“I said go!” She was gone in a flash, the front door banging shut behind her.

Kate snarled as Jacob's teeth grazed her trailing hand, and I saw a clump of white fly off into the surrounding trees. A finger? I shuttered involuntarily.

Before I knew what I was doing, I was running towards the awful growling.

“Bella, no!” Edward cried, suddenly running beside me. “Don't go near him!”

“You said he wouldn't listen to you. He loves me, Edward, maybe he'll listen to me.” I could feel tears of fear streaming down my cheeks. Edward, seeing something in my face or hearing something in my voice, fell back as I approached the battle.

“Jake!” I shouted. He turned to me for a split second before wheeling back to throw himself into another attack. “Jake, listen to me! She's Kate. She's one of us!” I was twenty feet away. Jacob didn't spare me another glance.

Ten feet away.

“Jake, stop this! Please!” No response.

Five feet.

“Jacob, STOP!” I screamed.

Three feet.

He turned his head to look at me. I could see myself, my face twisted into an expression of fear and worry reflected in his deep black eyes. He paused for one second, but I saw no flicker of recognition in his eyes.

And then, as if in slow motion, his front right paw lashed out and struck me in the chest, sending me sprawling to the ground fifteen feet away.

“Werewolves are unstable,” Edward had said, “The people near them get hurt.”

Pain exploded in my side.

“Bella!” Edward bellowed, and I felt his icy hands around me, pulling me to him. I sensed his head turn towards the door to the house.

As if from underwater, I heard a variety of voices.

“Oh, no…!” was that Esme's?

“Kate!” A low male voice called. Eleazar I guessed vaguely.

“What's going on?” Was that Erin's voice. I heard more murmuring, and thought I recognized Rosalie's and Emmett's voices.

“Bella!” A high voice cried. Alice? “Edward, what happened?” I felt another cold hand lay on mine.

“She tried to calm him down.”

“You said he wouldn't attack, Carlisle,” Tanya's voice sounded aggravated.

“He promised he wouldn't.” Carlisle sounded hurt.

“He came across Kate while she was hunting,” Edward explained from above me. Alice's hand continued to soothingly stroke the back of my hand. “He thought she was one of them.”
“One of who? Carlisle, what is going on?!” Tanya demanded.

“I'll explain later.” Carlisle promised, “First we need to get Jacob calmed down.”

I opened my eyes a fraction of an inch, just in time to see Carlisle pull a good sized needle out of the black bag he was carrying.

“Good thinking, Carlisle,” Edward praised.

“I'll get it,” Erin said. She stared at the needle until it rose off of Carlisle's palm and flew towards the fight where Kate was still trying to dodge Jacob's relentless attacks.

The needle soundlessly soared up behind Jacob and jammed itself into his back left leg.

Jacob let out a strangled howl of rage, turning around to face whoever had stuck the needle in his leg. But there was no one there. Jacob turned back to Kate, but she darted sideways, towards us. Jacob started after her but stumbled a little, tripping over his own feet. I realized what had happened at once.

Jacob had been drugged.

The huge red-brown wolf staggered toward Kate, before collapsing onto his feet. Jacob twitched; vibrated, and then his shape exploded. I blinked and Jacob lie on the ground near the tree line, curled up into a defensive ball, his black sweatpants lying beside him.

“Emmett,” Edward ordered, and Emmett sprinted towards Jacob's unconscious figure, picking him up and darting into the house and upstairs. The rest of them followed excluding Edward, Esme, Carlisle, and Alice.

“Is she going to be all right?” Esme asked in a quiet voice.

“Yes,” Edward's tone was unreadable.

“Get her inside so I can take a look at her,” Carlisle said, and I felt myself being lifted off the ground.

“Jacob did this?” Alice's voice was incredulous. Edward didn't respond.

I was only vaguely aware of being carried into the house and up the stairs, down the hall, into our room, and laid gently on the bed. I felt Carlisle's hands slowly draw my shirt up a ways. I gasped in pain as his hand brushed my rib.

“I think her rib is broken,” he said. His fingers probe around my other ribs. They ached, but didn't send shocks of pain shooting through me. “And a couple of them are bruised too.”

“Is she still conscious?” Esme's voice asked from a ways away.

“Mmmm,” I mumbled to answer her.

“Bella,” Carlisle's voice was calm, “does it hurt anywhere besides your ribs?” I thought about it for a minute, trying to ignore the pain in my side.

“Mm-mm,” I murmured, shaking my head slightly. Beside the bed, I heard Edward breath a sigh of relief.

“I'll have to put her to sleep while I set her rib,” I heard Carlisle say. Edward must have nodded because the next thing I felt was a prick in the crease of my elbow. A needle?

“Go to sleep, Bella,” I guess Edward's voice was meant to be soothing, but it sounded tense, almost angry. I vaguely felt his cold lips at my collarbone before I drifted into unconsciousness.

 

The first thing I was aware was the dull ache in my side. But then, as I became aware of that, I started to hear the voices. I focused on what they were saying, not ready to open my eyes yet.

“Neither of them has woken up yet.” That was…Alice?

“I don't suppose Jacob would have.” Defiantly Carlisle. “I gave him an extremely high dosage of anesthetic. He shouldn't be up for another ten to fifteen minutes.”

“What about Bella,” Edward's voice asked.

“She should be waking up soon.”

“She'll open her eyes in twenty three seconds, actually,” Alice said. I felt cold finger stroking my cheek.

“Edward…” I tried to speak, but the only sound that escaped my lips was a gurgled moan.

“Shh, Bella.” Fingers were stroking at my forehead now. “It's okay.”

“Edward…” I tried again, and it came out more clearly.

“Yes, I'm here.” I opened my eyelids and tried to sit up, the pain in my side made me gasp for air.

“Lay back down, sweetheart,” Esme said as she strode forward, pushing me back onto the bed. “You shouldn't move.”

“What's going on? Where's Jacob? What happened?” The questions dribbled out uncontrollably. “Is Kate all right? Is Tanya mad? Will we be able to stay still? Does she know about the Volturi after us—?” Edward placed a finger over my lips, silencing me.

“Bella, Bella, calm down. Jacob's fine. He's up in his room asleep. Carlisle gave him a lot of anesthetic so he should be out for a little while longer still. And Kate isn't hurt at all.”

“But her finger…”

“She found it and it was…reattached,” Edward explained uncomfortably. I sighed in relief, my eyes drifting shut. “Do you want to go back to sleep?”

“No,” I whispered. I slowly opened my eyes again. Edward's eyes, liquid golden and concerned, stared at me from above. “I want to be there when Jacob wakes up.”

“You really shouldn't move,” Esme advised, her icy fingers brushing a strand of hair away from my eye.

“But—” I started to protest.

“If she really wants to be there, I can carry her.” Esme looked wary, but Carlisle nodded.

“If you promise to be extra careful with her.” Edward gave him a disbelieving look.

“When am I not extra careful with her?”

“True enough.” Carlisle shrugged. Edward picked me up with exaggerated slowness until I was cradled against his stone chest. He glided towards the door with a gracefulness that barely jostled me. We walked that way up the other flight of stairs and down the third story hall to Jacob's room. I realized after a moment that Carlisle and Esme followed us.

As Edward opened the door, I first saw Jacob lying on the bed, the quilt only over the bottom half of him, so his dark chest was exposed. Then I saw Emmett, sitting in a chair across the room, his arms folded across his broad chest. He looked as we entered, but didn't say anything.

“Anything?” Carlisle asked. Edward pulled the chair out from the desk and set me into it. Emmett shook his head slightly.

“Not much. Just a little tossing, but I guess that means he'll wake up fairly soon.” He jerked his head at me, but looked at Carlisle as he spoke. “How's she doing?”

“Fractured rib and some bruising but nothing life threatening.”

“Jake's gonna beat himself up for this when he comes to,” I sighed, groaning at the thought of him apologizing profusely and beating himself up day in and day out. Then something occurred to me as I scanned the faces in the room.

“Where are the others? Rosalie, Jasper, Alice, and Tanya's family.”

“Rosalie and Alice and Jasper are trying to calm down Tanya and Kate,” Edward explained to me, “Eleazar wants us to leave right away, but Tanya isn't sure. She's furious with Jacob, but trusts you, Carlisle, so she might give us another chance.” I looked back at Jacob.

I gasped when his eyelids fluttered.

I tried to get up—to go to him, but Edward's arms were around me, restraining.

“Don't get up, Bella. You'll hurt yourself.”

“But…Jake…” His arm swung up in the air, but hitting nothing, arced over his body and slammed into the other side of the bed. His eyebrows were knitted together in an expression of pain and anger.

A low growl emanated from somewhere deep in his chest.

“What will happen when he wakes up?” I asked Edward anxiously, not looking away from Jacob.

“I don't know,” Edward answered.

Suddenly Jacob's eyes flew open. He leaped off the bed, his eyes wild with rage and panic.

“She's one of them!” He shouted, his voice so loud in the confines of his room that it made me cringe, “She's one of them!”

“Jake, stop it!” I called, straining against the iron bars that were Edward's arms. “Jake calm down, you're safe now.”

His eye settled on me for a minute, and he still. For a second that seemed to stretch for years he stood still—almost as still as Edward, but not quite—and just looked at me. Then, his eyes dimmed of the wild fire that had possessed them.

“Bella?” He said my name slowly, uncertainly…as if he didn't trust his own lips to form it right.

“Its okay, Jake.” I whispered, my voice barely audible. He sunk onto the bed, his face in his hands.

“Bella, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. She was there, and I smelled her. And then her eyes…they were red, and all I could think was: No, not here. Not now. I didn't think. I just attacked.”

“It's okay. Kate's not hurt.”

“But you are!” He jumped up, striding up to me, and putting his hand over my rib gently. “I did this to you. Oh, God, Bells, I'm so sorry. I'll never forgive myself.”

“Jake, it's not a big deal, okay?” I assured him. “It'll heal.”

“So?” He persisted, his voice frustrated. He wouldn't meet my eyes. “I hurt you? How can I live with myself knowing I hurt you?”

“What the hell is going on up here?” Kate exclaimed as she burst through the door, followed by Eleazar, Rosalie, Jasper, Alice, Erin, Tessa, and finally Tanya.

“I see you're awake,” Erin said calmly, her arms folded across her chest. Jacob didn't respond.

“You've got some nerve, you know that?” Tessa's voice had an edge I'd never had. She was glaring at Jacob, her hands on her hips. Jacob was still staring at the floor boards.

Tanya spoke next, her voice and eyes intense.

“Now, Carlisle,” she said. Jacob looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. “You'd better explain what's going on here.”

Carlisle nodded.