First Blood | Ed. Cullen & B. Swan

Chapter 18

Once again, Simon found himself in Leah's bedroom. It was the night before the fight was supposed to take place, and Seth had already carried Bella up to their campsite where they had met up with Edward. Simon was worried for her safety, but he trusted Edward and Seth's ability to take care of her.

He didn't want to be away from Bella, but she had Edward to protect her. He couldn't say the same for Leah, and so he decided to fight by her side, watch her back when she couldn't. He hadn't expected their friendship to go as far as it had, but he was pleasantly surprised to call her his best friend.

Simon sat quietly as they sat on the floor together. One of Leah's favorite shows was playing, but she was preoccupied as she jotted things down in her journal. A thought popped up into his mind, and he grabbed the bag he had brought with him. He dug through it before he pulled out a camera. Before she could realize what was happening, Simon snapped a Polaroid.

"What was that for?" She asked as she furrowed her brows.

"I've been slacking lately when it comes to updating my photo album. I haven't had a single photo of you yet," He said with a small grin, shrugging his shoulders.

She rolled her eyes as she went back to writing. Curiosity finally won Simon over, and he found himself moving to sit next to her.

"What are you writing?" He asked, resting his head against her shoulder.

Her pen stopped writing as he asked her. She remained quiet for a minute before she capped her pen and set it down against the page of the journal.

"It's a list. Of things that I want to be able to do. You know...if we make it through tomorrow. A lot of them are places I want to go to. I haven't really been out of Washington before. The farthest I've been was to Seattle, and that was only one time."

Simon decided it was best not to focus on the dangers of tomorrow. He held out his hand, gesturing to the book.

"Do you mind if I take a look? It's okay if not. I'm sure it's kind of personal."

She handed it to him before she pulled her flannel closer to her body. He flipped through the pages, skimming through the lists she had scribbled out. She had been truthful, most of them were of places. Some of them had more detail written, such as things she wanted to do or try at those locations.

He took the pen and began jotting things down. He circled some of the locations as well before he handed it back to her.

"I added some things about the places that I've been to, or at least what I know about them. The circled places are all locations that I have some friends in or near. I have to head back to Romania at some point, too, so you could head with me then. I haven't been to Budapest, Crete, or Malaysia before, though. Same with Yucatán, Mexico, but Esme has been there with Carlisle and she loved it there. The culture is really nice, too."

Leah shot him a small smile as she started to read through all of his little notes. "You didn't have to do this," She murmured.

Simon shrugged in response.

"I know you feel trapped here in your pack. Helping you travel to your dream places is the least I could do to help you out a bit," His gaze flickered to her door before he stood up and held his hand out to her, "C'mon, Sue just called us down. Dinner's done."

Leah took his hand, letting him pull her up before she set the journal down on her desk. She grabbed his wrist, tugging him along after her as she went to go find her mother.

For the moment, they had both forgotten the challenges they would face on the morrow.

***

Simon was filled with dread. He didn't know what it was, but he had a strong feeling that something was going to go wrong.

He stood next to his family, sticking close to Esme's side. The wolves were still hiding in the woods, waiting for their time to reveal themselves. As he stood still, he began to feel his apprehension grow. The woods around them grew deadly silent, and then the newborns broke through the trees. Without a second to spare, the Cullens started their charge.

They hit hard. He didn't have time to think, he just attacked. There were a lot more than he had originally thought there would be, but fewer than what it had looked like.

He ripped through their bodies as he reached them, not stopping for a second. He used his grace to his advantage, dodging around the newborns' fast and jerky movements. They struck him hard and quick, but the placements of their hits were sporadic.

He found Jake in the midst of the battle, but he wasn't able to spot Leah anywhere. He pushed down his fear, forcing himself to focus on the vampires coming at him.

He tore through them as quickly as he could, trying his best not to let his sorrow get to him as he saw how young most of the vampires were. The majority of them couldn't be any older than sixteen.

Eventually, the fighting seemed to stop. The Cullens started dragging the bodies to the blazing fire that Jasper had started. The fire burned brighter, and Simon let out a sigh of relief as Bella and Edward arrived. Alice and Edward instantly went into a conversation about her vision, but Simon's attention was on Bella. He pulled up her sleeve the second he reached her, a small growl leaving his throat as he saw the gash placed there. He briefly shot a worried look to Edward, before his gaze instantly zeroed in on Leah as she snarled.

He heard Edward cry out to her in warning, and Simon found himself moving before he could think about what he was doing. He reached them before anyone else could and he tackled the vampire off of her. They rolled on the ground, trying to get the upper hand on one another. He felt arms suddenly wrap around his torso before he screamed in agony as fire seemed to blaze through his body.

He was thrown away to the ground, letting out a silent cry as he heard the wolves tear into the newborn.

"Simon!" Bella yelled out as she ran over, meeting Edward and Carlisle who had already appeared beside him.

"Simon, hold on," Edward rushed out, "Carlisle's going to take care of you."

"The right half of his upper body is almost shattered," Carlisle spoke quietly from the spot next to him.

Bella reached them, falling onto her knees next to Simon's head. She rested her hand against his face, faintly brushing the hair out of it.

"Izzy," Simon groaned out through the pain, leaning his head into her hand.

"Simon, I'm right here."

Leah ran up with the rest of the wolves, crying out as they approached. "Simon, you idiot! I had it!"

"Leah!" Jake chided her.

"I need to see what I can do before his venom fully kicks in," Carlisle spoke up before Jake and Leah could start bickering, "It's already starting."

"We need to get him out of here," Edward said quietly, "We're not going to win a fight with the Volturi."

"We'll take him back to Sue's," Jake spoke up, ignoring the shocked but relieved look Leah shot at him.

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Carlisle said as he nodded to Jake.

The pack moved closer as Bella and Edward reluctantly backed away. They lifted Simon up, trying their best not to jostle him as he groaned in pain.

"It's okay. We've got you. We've got you," Paul spoke quietly through the silence as they carried him off. Venom started to burn through his body, and he fell into a world of black.