invisible string | s. uley ✓

14 | flame on

As soon as the newborns realized where the fire was coming from, Valeria became the new target. It was nerve-wracking to see so many red, vicious eyes trained on her, but it gave the others an advantage. One of the others would sneak up behind them and take them out.

Any time a newborn would even get close to Valeria, Sam was on them in an instant. It took a lot for her to conjure so much fire when she was only used to small, contained flames that she could hold in the palm of her hand. Sam could tell she was growing weaker, but she never stopped, beginning to shoot fire at the newborns that were running away. They couldn't have any stragglers.

The battle came to a halt almost impossibly too soon. The Cullens and wolves had been outnumbered, and yet they were the only ones standing.

"Is it over?" Valeria asked breathlessly. She looked around, doing a headcount in her mind to make sure everyone was alright.

It was over, she knew, as Sam gently brushed up against her side. She instinctively ran a hand through his fur, glad that he was alive and by her side.

However, any relief she was feeling disappeared when Paul growled lowly. He was glaring at Carlisle and Esme with his ears laid flat. That was when Valeria noticed the young vampire standing behind them.

The girl was shaking and clinging to Esme's arm, clearly terrified. Valeria was instantly reminded of herself when she had first turned — scared, confused, overwhelmed. But most importantly, she was someone who didn't ask for any of this.

"Hey," Valeria said softly. She took a step forward, and Sam immediately growled and tried to stop her. Valeria simply pushed his nose back with her palm gently and continued forward. "What's your name?"

The girl cowered away, her eyes glued to Valeria's hands that had previously been shooting deadly flames all over. Seeing her fear, she quickly put her hands up to show she meant no harm.

"I'm Valeria," she offered, smiling. "We're not gonna hurt you if you don't give us a reason to."

It took a moment, but eventually, the girl swallowed thickly and managed to tell them her name, never once letting go of Esme. "Bree."

"Bree," Valeria repeated. "That's a pretty name. My brother's girlfriend was named Bree. She was a lot nicer than he ever was — definitely could've done better."

"W - why aren't you shooting that fire at me?" Bree asked, still shaking. It seemed Valeria's attempts at calming her down weren't working.

"Do you want me to shoot fire at you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Bree immediately shook her head.

"Bree wasn't fighting with the others," Carlisle stated, letting them know why they had spared Bree.

"You didn't want to hurt anyone, did you, Sweetie?" Esme asked, smiling down at her.

"No," she replied, shaking her head. "But - but Riley told us we had to or else we'd be in danger."

"You're not in danger," Carlisle assured her. "Not anymore. And if you'll allow us, we could teach you how to exist as a vampire without ever hurting someone again."

Bree, despite not knowing the Cullens, liked that idea. So far, her life as a vampire had been miserable and frightening, but there was nothing frightening about the golden-eyed vampires surrounding her — except perhaps the giant wolves that were with them.

After settling on what to do with Bree, they all started to clean up. Valeria did most of the heavy lifting, as the fire she had created didn't harm her, meaning that she was the one to drag all the body parts to the center of the clearing to keep burning.