It was nearing dawn already when they hit the main road. Madelline was leaving calls for her father to clear up his confusion and ease his worries, especially once he knows she's not home.
"Hey dad, call me back as soon as you can, okay? I'm fine just in case you're worrying," Madelline said before dropping the voicemail. She looked out the window, still grasping her phone tightly.
She slumped against her seat, still looked out the window while a calming music played in the background, blending in with Bella, who was currently seating at the back and dialing her mother.
♡
Back in Forks, Elijah loosened his tie as he walked up to their door, eyes drooping in drowsiness. He stopped abruptly upon sensing something, veins began crawling out underneath his eyes as it gradually turns black.
A strong scent of an unknown vampire lingered in the air as soon as he entered. A low growl escaped his throat and followed the trail of scent, leading him towards Madelline's room. His eyes widened before he immediately swung her door open, only to be met by no one.
Panic arose inside him when he noticed she was gone. He quickly pulled out his phone from his back pocket and dialed Madelline, but before he could, he noticed she left him a voicemail.
"Hey dad, call me back as soon as you can, okay? I'm fine, just in case you're worrying."
A sigh of relief escape his lips as he run his fingers through his now messy raven-colored hair. He's glad that whoever the vampire was didn't get to Madelline, yet he still wonders where she was because he could hear the car engine in the background. He hoped, though, that she was with Jasper, because he fully trusts the boy to keep her safe.
♡
Jasper and Esme run through the woods, going opposite from Edward's with James and Victoria hot on their heels, growling as they follow the scent. James, all of a sudden, stopped from running as his face lit up with recognition, followed by a sinister smile before turning back to where they came from.
Meanwhile, Alice, Bella, and Madelline already arrived at a hotel and booked themselves in. Upon entering their assigned room, Alice and Madelline sat down on a cream-colored sofa while Bella walked towards a room where she could place her bag.
A gasp escaped Alice's lips at the sudden vision of James' plans. Madelline immediately noticed this, turning towards her right away. "What is it, Alice? What did you see?" She asked, placing a hand on her arm.
"The tracker, he just changed course," she breathed out.
Despite a bit far from them, Bella could still hear what was happening and she couldn't help herself to walk towards them when she heard that the tracker changed course. Madelline pulled out a paper and a pencil to which Alice immediately took and started to move the pencil against it rapidly.
"Mirrors... a room full of mirrors."
A sense of recognition washed over Bella's face when she saw what Alice drew, but it couldn't be. The tracker was in Forks, right?
"Edward said the visions weren't always accurate," Bella tried to say.
"But it's subjective precognition, Bella. If they change their minds, the vision changes. It's still accurate," Madelline countered.
Bella bit her lower lip as she looked down at what Alice drew. "So what? James is going to a ballet studio?"
Alice and Bella looked up in surprise at how she recognized her drawing. "You've been here?" Alice asked.
"I took lessons as a kid and the school I went to had an arch just like that," Bella answered and nodded towards the sketch.
"Was your school here in Phoenix?" Madelline asked. Bella nodded as a response before her phone rang. Alice's phone rang as well, and she answered it while Bella walked away to answer her phone.
"The tracker just changed course. Jasper and Edward are coming to get Bella and Maddy to take them somewhere safe. Alice, you're coming with us. We're hunting them," Rosalie told her.
"Got it. Stay safe, Rose.
A few moments after, Alice went down to get the two a drink while Madelline laid her head against the back of the sofa, her eyes dropping in drowsiness. The moment she fell into a slumber, she suddenly saw Bella being attacked. She couldn't see clearly, and the only thing she could see were fast movements and a silhouette. But the moment it turned around, it was James—with crimson blood smeared across his lips.
Madelline jolt up, beads of sweat dropping down from her forehead. She immediately stood up and walked to where she last saw Bella. "Bella? Are you in here?" She called out, only to receive her echoing voice. "Fuck, she went after James," she swore under her breath and took off, but not before leaving Alice a note on the table.
♡
It was dark already when she reached Bella's ballet studio. She stopped right in front of the door, panting with hands on her knees as she slightly bent down, trying her best to catch her breath.
"God, I need to work on my cardio," she breathed out before standing up straight when she felt herself good to go.
She opened the door silently and entered without making a noise, but the moment she saw what was happening inside already made her want to run out. There, on the ground, was Bella with a bleeding arm, surrounded with shards of glasses—and, of course, James standing a few meters away from her with a camera in his hands.
"What the hell is he on about? Why does he have a camera in his hands?" She thought, scrunching her nose in disgust and eyed the blonde with judgment in her eyes.
"Oh," James mockingly cooed. "This will break Edward's poor little heart."
"Edward has nothing to do with this," Bella gritted out as she held her arm tightly, attempting to control the blood.
"Oh... but he does, Bella," he said with a taunting voice. "His rage will make an interesting sport than his feeble attempt to protect you."
He walked away with such taunt in his skip. "And now, let's continue."
The moment he turned around, Bella managed to stand up and took out her pepper spray from her pocket. James turned around at the sound of shuffling, his face morphed in anger only to be met by an itchy liquid sprayed all over his face.
Bella ran away from him and dashed for the door while James stood at the center, growling in annoyance before speeding towards her. He stopped abruptly when he saw Madelline stand in front of Bella with such glint in her eyes.
"What are you going to do, you sadistic bitch?" She spat out.
Before he could even answer her, Madelline punched him square in the face, holding back a hiss from the impact. James held the part where she punched him, tumbling a little on his feet to which she took as an advantage and sent him towards the wall with a butterfly kick.
Bella's eyes widened in surprise, even Madelline too as she looked down at her legs and back up at James as if she couldn't believe that just happened. Her newly-found strength felt exhilarating and she could only pray to whoever was out there that it would last long, long enough for Alice to arrive.
James regained himself and stood up, not wasting any moment and sped towards Madellin, throwing her against the mirrors. He watched at how her body easily flew against the air and how the glass cracked into pieces, leaving her wounded, emitting a satisfied smirk from him. He inhaled deeply at the scent of Madelline's blood, feeling himself drool at the sweetness of it.
He sauntered over to her and grabbed Madelline's hair, pulling her up to look at him directly on the eyes. He leaned in to take a whiff, causing Madelline to shut her eyes tight in fear.
"You smell so good, Maddy. But you're not the one I'm after," he said before throwing her down.
He was about to speed back to Bella when Madelline pulled the ends of his pants and tugged it harshly, catching him off-guard.
"Damn, you're a vampire and you didn't see that coming?" Madelline taunted as she spat out blood, grabbing his head and hit it against the wooden floor multiple times, the intensity of the impact gradually getting stronger and stronger. The sight of his head being slammed against the wood, made her want to smirk in triumph and satisfaction.
An evil grin appeared on his face before he pushed her off with ease, tackling her onto the floor, pressing down on her throat, cutting her airway. Madelline held his arms as her eyes grew wide at the sudden loss of oxygen, scratching desperately on his arms.
She realized she wouldn't be able to get away from him when she saw how he only grinned at her and pressed down even more on her throat.
"You should really watch your mouth," he said before he turned her head to immediately bite her neck.
Madelline couldn't help as a scream of help and pain escaped her throat. She turned towards Bella who looked traumatized with the sight in front of her, still holding her bleeding arm close to her.
"What the fuck are you still doing here?" She choked out. "Run!"
Only then she could feel her muscles move accordingly to Madelline's order, she immediately stood up and attempted to run towards the door, only to be held back by James and threw her against the wall. A crack resonated around the studio, followed with Bella's rapid breathing only to be thrown again on the center of the room, causing Bella to yell out in pain.
"You're a real magnet for danger, Bella," Madelline chuckled as blood escaped her lips. "You should've run when he was preoccupied."
"You're not helping, Maddy," she choked out.
Madelline scoffed as she tried to stand up. "Bitch, I am. What do you think I have been doing? Play fighting?" She gritted out. She could feel the venom setting in, the pain gradually becoming worse. "I still got adrenaline left," she muttered as she faced James.
James clicked his tongue in annoyance at the sight of the human who won't stop standing up, even at the brink of death.
"Why won't you just lay there or like die?" He huffed.
Madelline smirked and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm a tough one to beat, what can I say?"
Jasper sped towards her, halting for one second when she saw how she cocked her head to the side, her left eye turning to black with black veins appearing underneath it. For once, he wanted to escape but he was already there. There was no stopping him.
He smirked and continued to finish her already only for Madelline to easily hold his neck and threw him down, hitting his head against the wooden floor while harshly tightening her hold on his neck. He knew he would be over the moment he could feel his neck crack against her tight hold.
He quickly threw her away from him and stood up, tilting his head from side-to-side as his neck healed on its own. A menacing grin tugged at the corners of his lips at the sight of human in front of him.
"You impress me with your skills and will to live, Maddy. I'm afraid, however, that your skills are no longer useful when you're dead," he said before speeding towards her limp body.
But before he could even reach her, he was thrown harshly against the wall. Jasper immediately sped over him and held his throat, pushing James further into the wall while lifting him up.
He couldn't see anything but red. Rage overpowered his senses the moment Madelline's blood filled the air. He shunned out everything. The only thing he wanted to do was to decapitate the tracker in front of him.
"You piece of shit. You do not lay a hand on my girlfriend, not once nor ever. Do you hear me?" He growled and pushed himself even further against the wall. "Well, you won't be able to after this," he grinned and threw him like a rag doll towards Edward who caught him by his neck and pressed him down on the floror.
Jasper sped towards Madelline's body and saw how her body laid limply against the cement with shards surrounding her body, blood trickled down from different parts of her body down to the floor. His eyes darted towards her neck where he could see James' bite, fueling his rage even more. He saw how both black and red veins began to appear around the bite, spreading as minutes passes by.
Carlisle, Alice, Emmett, and Rosalie jumped into the scene, their eyes widened in horror at the sight of Bella and Madelline on the floor. Emmett and Rosalie took over James, urging Edward to attend Bella's aid who was sprawled against the floor with broken legs and bloodied arm.
Carlisle rushed towards where Madelline was after helping Edward, only for him to drop on his knees at the sight of the girl. She was in an ever worse state.
The venom was already spreading throughout her body. What terrified him was that the venom was poisoning her, the incompatibility showing on the tips of her fingers as it turns into black.
"Isn't this cliche?" Madelline joked, only to end up coughing a lot more blood. "Me, dying in the arms of the one I love?" She continued.
Jasper looked at Carlisle, silently asking him to pull him back the moment he couldn't stop himself as he tries to get the venom out. The latter nodded and watched at how Jasper bit her neck in an attempt to flush out the venom, only to be let down upon pulling away because he saw how it only spreads out even more.
"Carlisle, it's not working," Jasper tried to say, his voice shaking in fear.
Carlisle studied Madelline and saw how the venom has gotten to half of her body already and with the injuries her body has did not help her situation. Her injuries were worse than Bella's and he doesn't have any confidence to reassure Jasper that his girlfriend will be okay.
Alice, Emmett, and Rosalie finished up by tearing James' head from his body and gathered wood from the studio's floor, piling it up to make a fire. Once they were done, they sped almost immediately towards where Jasper and Carlisle were.
Rosalie felt her knees crumble underneath him, falling right beside Carlisle with her hands clamped on her mouth as dry sobs escaped her mouth.
Madelline looked so broken. Like a fragile doll handled irresponsibly.
Jasper shook his head, unable to accept what was happening and looked back at Carlisle. "We have to take her back, Carlisle. We have to save her. We owe her that," he tried to say but choked out the last words as he held Madelline's hands against his.
Madelline slowly lift her hands and cupped his cheek, smiling fondly at how he leaned in almost immediately towards her hand. He held the hand close to his cheek as he tried to smile down at her.
"Hey, it's alright. I'm okay," she reassured him softly. "I did my best, did I?"
Carlisle could feel his heart crack at what he was hearing. He kneeled down besides Jasper and leaned towards Madelline to brush a stray hair away from her face, not minding how it mixed with her dried blood on her face.
"You did amazing, sweetie. You took him down," he softly told her as he softly patted her head.
"Then that's all that matters," Madelline smiled towards Carlisle before she looked back at Jasper. "Hey, I love you. Don't ever blame yourself and if I do come back alive? Please know that you will always have my heart, other than coffee of course."
Rosalie and Alice smiled at her words while Emmett only shake his head at her. It was only Madelline who would still think about coffee even if she was nearing her death already. Her love for coffee is undefeatable.
Jasper chuckled and leaned down to softly kiss her forehead before pulling away to rest his forehead against hers. "I love you and your caffeine," he whispered. Madelline smiled at his words as a trail of tear escaped her eyes.
"Jaz, I'm getting tired now. Can I sleep?"
Before Jasper could even answer, she slowly blinked until she stopped. Panic rose inside Jasper and tried to focus if her heart is still beating. It was their only tinkering hope and he would hold onto everything if it means she will come back.
Jasper and Carlisle shared a look upon hearing the faintest beat before they started picking her up and speed back home.
It was the only thing they could ever do for her. To live more and see what life has for her. This was the only time they felt more alive than ever. She was like a bright light of hope. Their hope. Their haven.
And they will do everything in their power to save her.
♡
good day to everyone! okay i changed the ending a bit and idk if i did her kind of death scene, justice. what do you think though? anyways, i hoped you enjoy the chapter!
stay safe and love lots! ♡