I felt fire go down my arm and then onyx eyes met mine, a silent plea for forgiveness in them, as Edward pulled his thumb away from my skin, blood dripping from the nail.
When I did not respond, he locked his lips around the cut he'd made and began to drink. The pull was soft, yet I could hear him swallowing. Each tug on the skin was felt on my lips, breasts, and between my thighs. It felt as if he was touching me everywhere at once. Once my mind had caught up to what Edward was doing, that he had bonded with me, it was over. Edward threw back his head; shades of amber and burgundy were highlighted in his hair from the firelight. Twin rivulets of blood ran down on either side of his mouth; his lips were stained as if he were a child eating berries. His eyes were dark red as they met mine and stayed locked with my gaze as his tongue, warm from my blood, lapped at the jagged line he'd created.
"She's mine now, James." Edward's words were the softest whisper, one that barely reached my ears, yet James answered with a roar. I felt myself being shoved backwards, and once Edward saw that I had landed on the love seat, he crouched and then sprung for James.
Bodies blurred; I saw a hint of auburn and then blonde as the men circled one another. A crash and then its twin nearly deafened me as their bodies collided. It was faster than my eyes and brain could keep up with, yet I could not look away. A sickening crack, followed by a howl of pain that I knew came from Edward, had me on my feet despite being unable to do anything more than distract him from the fight.
I stepped forward, hoping I could procure James' pocketknife which had fallen to the floor in his struggles with Edward. Neither man saw me as I picked it up. The knowledge that I'd fed Edward, knowing my blood was making him faster and stronger, possibly fast enough to save his life- and mine- gave me the strength to do what I knew was stupid. If I could just bleed a little, it would distract James and hopefully awaken the dark beast inside Edward. He needed to become that feral monster in order to win.
The knife felt colder than Edward's mouth as I held it to the palm of my hand and began to clench around it, when the air was knocked from my lungs and I felt myself going backwards. A scream started in my chest but a cold hand cupped my mouth and Jasper's sultry southern whisper started in my ear as he carefully unfurled my fingers.
"I've gotcha, darlin'. Don't do something stupid like that and distract my brother from his prey. Alice says it's all gonna be alright. This needs to happen. But you, you almost went and pulled a foolish stunt and got yourself killed. Edward is gone right now; all you have right there are two very pissed off vampires fightin' over a meal. Sorry, sugar, but that's all you are at this moment to them." Jasper paused and kissed my forehead before picking me up to cradle against his chest. "The fight's about to move outside and I know you'll want to follow."
"How do you...?"
Jasper didn't let me finish my question. "I know fightin' vampires, Bella. James is losin' his footin' in the parlor so he's lookin' for any place to garner an advantage."
A growl of rage came from James and I felt a hollow ache in my chest as I considered what I had been building with him. "He's going to be alright, isn't he, Jasper? They'll fight, and then stop when it's clear who will win."
The bone-chilling laugh coming from the one Cullen, or rather Whitlock, to always protect me, filled me with a sense of dread that I was looking at the funeral of several loved ones. Someone would die, possibly both men, and it was my fault. "Stop them, Jasper!"
At my scream, the front window shattered in an explosion of glass and wood as the frame gave way beneath Edward's back. James lunged out after him and Jasper followed, using the door to keep our distance. "Sweetheart, I'd love nothin' more than to give that weasel of a nomad a lesson and strip his hide for what he was intendin' with you, but Alice told me, as if I didn't know it already, that I have to protect you."
The men paused as Edward bellowed and I saw James' mouth was locked over Edward's forearm. Venom dripped onto the ground, the moonlight cast a metallic sheen to it as it coated the grass beneath them.
"Let him go, James!" My scream sent several roosting birds off into the skies and then there was a soft gasp behind us that made Jasper pause. It made everyone pause.
"The girl dies if you don't stop, James." Alice came down the front steps, Victoria in her arms, her neck pulled back sharply as Alice spoke into the skin that had a few red lines from Victoria's fingers pulling at Alice.
James looked at Victoria and then to me, and shrugged. "Let her. This," he paused and gestured between Edward and himself, "is worth a thousand human..." He didn't get to finish his statement.
I watched, as if it all happened in slow motion, as my bonded vampire seemingly kissed James behind the left ear and then whispered to him. The word "human" turned into a growl and then the sound of metal being shredded as Jasper turned me so that I could not see.
"Don't look, sugar. You don't wanna watch this; it ain't pretty." He brushed my hair back from my face while Victoria screamed in Alice's arms; waves of calm wrapped around me. "I know you had feelings for him, weak though they were, and you need to remember him how he was to you. Don't remember James as a monster, even though he was one. Don't let him poison you to us."
Alice walked past us, carrying a screaming and struggling Victoria. She did not so much as look at me, but called Jasper's name softly. "I'm taking her to Carlisle for a sedative. We'll have to call Laurent to retrieve her."
Jasper nodded and then moved to the porch swing, still refusing to let me turn my face away from his neck. I breathed in the pinon pine, musk, and sweet cedar scent, letting it calm me more than his emotional manipulations could. Above all, Edward was okay. I kept telling myself that. Everything would be okay as long as he was.
Jasper's chest rumbled slightly beneath me and I felt his jaw moving. Jasper stopped and began to whisper to me once again. "Edward is takin' the remains further out. They have to be burnt. I've told him to go out and hunt once done. He needs to ground out the energy pulsin' through him to keep you safe. Now, he can still hear you from where he's at, so why don't you tell him you're okay."
"Ed-Edward," my voice was shaky to my own ears, so I paused to take a deep breath as Jasper set me down on the swing beside him. I looked out to where I could see a glow of fire in the darkness, purple smoke rising above it. "Edward, I'm fine. My arm is a little sore but it's okay. I know that it wasn't a planned feeding so it was harder than normal."
I barely registered the blur coming toward me as cold hands wrapped around my wrists. "Forgive me, even if I must beg every day for the rest of eternity, for taking the choice to bond away from you. It is wrong of me to want you like this, Bella. It is not safe for you. I cannot trust myself to be safe for you. Regardless of the facts presented to me by your mere existence, and the pain I feel in being near to you, I could not let him have you. "
Edward's glorious hair was covering my hands; parts were matted with venom, others with mud, so that his head, bowed down into my lap, looked like a gory patchwork quilt. His shirt was gone, and I saw smudges of dirt across his carved alabaster back. Edward seemed so fragile as if he could crumble like greenware pottery if touched too hard.
"Bella, when I heard you tell James you wanted to feed him, I knew God was finally delivering judgment for the lives I'd taken during my rebellious years. Oh, God! My love, he was going to kill you. I couldn't let that happen. I had to stop you from allowing him to destroy you."
His fingers began to clench around my wrists, causing fire to lance up my arms. Edward released me as I gasped. "I'm nothing but an abomination. I'm not strong enough to stay away. When Alice told me I needed to face my inner demons instead of running away, I came back for you. Even now, I hurt you while all I try to do is apologize. Bella, I don't know how to love you, only that I do."
He looked up at me, the face of a fallen angel. Red hair fell into his eyes, matching the dull red his eyes had become. "I love you, Isabella Marie Swan." He whispered it, as if to speak it aloud would break the bubble of truth that left his lips. Edward twisted my hands over, and put a necklace with a small sapphire set as a rain drop into my upturned palms. "Will you be my bonded Donor?"
When I did not respond, he locked his lips around the cut he'd made and began to drink. The pull was soft, yet I could hear him swallowing. Each tug on the skin was felt on my lips, breasts, and between my thighs. It felt as if he was touching me everywhere at once. Once my mind had caught up to what Edward was doing, that he had bonded with me, it was over. Edward threw back his head; shades of amber and burgundy were highlighted in his hair from the firelight. Twin rivulets of blood ran down on either side of his mouth; his lips were stained as if he were a child eating berries. His eyes were dark red as they met mine and stayed locked with my gaze as his tongue, warm from my blood, lapped at the jagged line he'd created.
"She's mine now, James." Edward's words were the softest whisper, one that barely reached my ears, yet James answered with a roar. I felt myself being shoved backwards, and once Edward saw that I had landed on the love seat, he crouched and then sprung for James.
Bodies blurred; I saw a hint of auburn and then blonde as the men circled one another. A crash and then its twin nearly deafened me as their bodies collided. It was faster than my eyes and brain could keep up with, yet I could not look away. A sickening crack, followed by a howl of pain that I knew came from Edward, had me on my feet despite being unable to do anything more than distract him from the fight.
I stepped forward, hoping I could procure James' pocketknife which had fallen to the floor in his struggles with Edward. Neither man saw me as I picked it up. The knowledge that I'd fed Edward, knowing my blood was making him faster and stronger, possibly fast enough to save his life- and mine- gave me the strength to do what I knew was stupid. If I could just bleed a little, it would distract James and hopefully awaken the dark beast inside Edward. He needed to become that feral monster in order to win.
The knife felt colder than Edward's mouth as I held it to the palm of my hand and began to clench around it, when the air was knocked from my lungs and I felt myself going backwards. A scream started in my chest but a cold hand cupped my mouth and Jasper's sultry southern whisper started in my ear as he carefully unfurled my fingers.
"I've gotcha, darlin'. Don't do something stupid like that and distract my brother from his prey. Alice says it's all gonna be alright. This needs to happen. But you, you almost went and pulled a foolish stunt and got yourself killed. Edward is gone right now; all you have right there are two very pissed off vampires fightin' over a meal. Sorry, sugar, but that's all you are at this moment to them." Jasper paused and kissed my forehead before picking me up to cradle against his chest. "The fight's about to move outside and I know you'll want to follow."
"How do you...?"
Jasper didn't let me finish my question. "I know fightin' vampires, Bella. James is losin' his footin' in the parlor so he's lookin' for any place to garner an advantage."
A growl of rage came from James and I felt a hollow ache in my chest as I considered what I had been building with him. "He's going to be alright, isn't he, Jasper? They'll fight, and then stop when it's clear who will win."
The bone-chilling laugh coming from the one Cullen, or rather Whitlock, to always protect me, filled me with a sense of dread that I was looking at the funeral of several loved ones. Someone would die, possibly both men, and it was my fault. "Stop them, Jasper!"
At my scream, the front window shattered in an explosion of glass and wood as the frame gave way beneath Edward's back. James lunged out after him and Jasper followed, using the door to keep our distance. "Sweetheart, I'd love nothin' more than to give that weasel of a nomad a lesson and strip his hide for what he was intendin' with you, but Alice told me, as if I didn't know it already, that I have to protect you."
The men paused as Edward bellowed and I saw James' mouth was locked over Edward's forearm. Venom dripped onto the ground, the moonlight cast a metallic sheen to it as it coated the grass beneath them.
"Let him go, James!" My scream sent several roosting birds off into the skies and then there was a soft gasp behind us that made Jasper pause. It made everyone pause.
"The girl dies if you don't stop, James." Alice came down the front steps, Victoria in her arms, her neck pulled back sharply as Alice spoke into the skin that had a few red lines from Victoria's fingers pulling at Alice.
James looked at Victoria and then to me, and shrugged. "Let her. This," he paused and gestured between Edward and himself, "is worth a thousand human..." He didn't get to finish his statement.
I watched, as if it all happened in slow motion, as my bonded vampire seemingly kissed James behind the left ear and then whispered to him. The word "human" turned into a growl and then the sound of metal being shredded as Jasper turned me so that I could not see.
"Don't look, sugar. You don't wanna watch this; it ain't pretty." He brushed my hair back from my face while Victoria screamed in Alice's arms; waves of calm wrapped around me. "I know you had feelings for him, weak though they were, and you need to remember him how he was to you. Don't remember James as a monster, even though he was one. Don't let him poison you to us."
Alice walked past us, carrying a screaming and struggling Victoria. She did not so much as look at me, but called Jasper's name softly. "I'm taking her to Carlisle for a sedative. We'll have to call Laurent to retrieve her."
Jasper nodded and then moved to the porch swing, still refusing to let me turn my face away from his neck. I breathed in the pinon pine, musk, and sweet cedar scent, letting it calm me more than his emotional manipulations could. Above all, Edward was okay. I kept telling myself that. Everything would be okay as long as he was.
Jasper's chest rumbled slightly beneath me and I felt his jaw moving. Jasper stopped and began to whisper to me once again. "Edward is takin' the remains further out. They have to be burnt. I've told him to go out and hunt once done. He needs to ground out the energy pulsin' through him to keep you safe. Now, he can still hear you from where he's at, so why don't you tell him you're okay."
"Ed-Edward," my voice was shaky to my own ears, so I paused to take a deep breath as Jasper set me down on the swing beside him. I looked out to where I could see a glow of fire in the darkness, purple smoke rising above it. "Edward, I'm fine. My arm is a little sore but it's okay. I know that it wasn't a planned feeding so it was harder than normal."
I barely registered the blur coming toward me as cold hands wrapped around my wrists. "Forgive me, even if I must beg every day for the rest of eternity, for taking the choice to bond away from you. It is wrong of me to want you like this, Bella. It is not safe for you. I cannot trust myself to be safe for you. Regardless of the facts presented to me by your mere existence, and the pain I feel in being near to you, I could not let him have you. "
Edward's glorious hair was covering my hands; parts were matted with venom, others with mud, so that his head, bowed down into my lap, looked like a gory patchwork quilt. His shirt was gone, and I saw smudges of dirt across his carved alabaster back. Edward seemed so fragile as if he could crumble like greenware pottery if touched too hard.
"Bella, when I heard you tell James you wanted to feed him, I knew God was finally delivering judgment for the lives I'd taken during my rebellious years. Oh, God! My love, he was going to kill you. I couldn't let that happen. I had to stop you from allowing him to destroy you."
His fingers began to clench around my wrists, causing fire to lance up my arms. Edward released me as I gasped. "I'm nothing but an abomination. I'm not strong enough to stay away. When Alice told me I needed to face my inner demons instead of running away, I came back for you. Even now, I hurt you while all I try to do is apologize. Bella, I don't know how to love you, only that I do."
He looked up at me, the face of a fallen angel. Red hair fell into his eyes, matching the dull red his eyes had become. "I love you, Isabella Marie Swan." He whispered it, as if to speak it aloud would break the bubble of truth that left his lips. Edward twisted my hands over, and put a necklace with a small sapphire set as a rain drop into my upturned palms. "Will you be my bonded Donor?"
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