Chapter Seventeen

..

Thought of you as my mountain top
Thought of you as my peak
Thought of you as everything that I had
but I couldn't keep
That I had, but I couldn't keep

- From The Velvet Underground, Pale Blue Eyes

..

..

Edward burst through the front door, leaving it yawning open behind him. Jasper met him in the foyer at the base of the stairs.

"Where is she?" Edward demanded

"She's sleeping now."

"Sleeping?" Edward repeated. It hadn't been more than twenty minutes since Rose called and said those two horrific words: She's remembered. Dawn was hours away. Had Jasper drugged her?

Jasper stepped into Edward's path when he headed for the staircase and grabbed the lapels of his suit. "Edward, wait!"

Edward glanced down at those hands and then back up at Jasper's face. His eyes narrowed. "Do. Not. Touch. Me." He pushed his way past Jasper and headed up the stairs only to be stopped again half way to the top when Jasper darted in front of him.

A growl rumbled up from Edward's chest and it emerged as a snarl. One of the most dangerous things a man could do was get between a vampire and his mate, especially when that mate was in pain. Edward stepped forward, intending to grab Jasper and pitch him over the railing, but Jasper did something that startled Edward out of his aggression: he dropped to his knees and bowed his head.

Edward froze, blinking. It was as though a bucket of water had doused the flame of his aggression. Even after nine thousand years of living with his instincts and their triggers, they could still surprise him on occasion. He shook his head and almost laughed. He had to hand it to him, Jasper knew vampires.

"Edward, please," Jasper said. He lifted his head and looked up at Edward through strands of blond hair hanging over his face. "I'm begging you ... just a moment before you go barging in there."

Edward gave him a short nod. His eyes were drawn to the closed bedroom door. He couldn't hear anything and that worried him more than if she'd been crying.

"I got her calmed down," Jasper said. His voice was low and soothing. "She had a breakdown of sorts, but she remained lucid through it all. That has to be a good sign. After she calmed, I put her to bed, and she's resting now. If you charge in there like you are now, you're going to scare her, maybe get her upset again. You have to be calm, Edward. I know your mind has to be in an uproar, but you have to be calm. For her."

Edward took a deep breath. Faintly, he could smell Alice's scent on Jasper and see pink tear stains on the shoulder of his t-shirt. It made his temper flare but he forced it down. Jasper had done only what a dayman was supposed to do, and if Alice was resting now, he had apparently managed to soothe her better than Edward could.

It wasn't easy. Temper and jealousy were not a pleasant mix, especially since he knew he couldn't express them as he wanted to do. Alice didn't need grief on top of all she was going through.

Jasper was right. He had to control himself, though he wanted nothing more than to rush in there and grab her up into his arms and hold her so tightly, she would never be able to leave him again. He wanted to be the one to reassure her that all would be well, though at the moment, he wasn't very certain himself.

Jasper stood slowly, his eyes never leaving Edward's.

"Can I go in now?" Edward asked, a bit of sarcasm sharpening his tone.

Jasper nodded and stepped aside. "Just remember, Edward, be calm. Try ... Try not to upset her."

Edward had to laugh. Jasper said it like he knew it was a lost cause. But maybe it was.

..

..

Alice wasn't sleeping. Silent tears ran down to plop on her pillow. She had managed to push back most of the ugly memories, but they were like a pack of wolves surrounding her. When she turned to drive some of them away, others darted in to attack her from behind.

But, above all, there was one terrible fact that loomed large in her mind, a fact she couldn't deny, couldn't push away, no matter how hard she tried. She even longed for the thin, ragged protection insanity had provided, anything to shield her from this pain.

Linger on
your pale green eyes ...

Yes, Edward Masen was everything that she couldn't keep. For a short, shining moment, she'd had him, and she'd been happy. They said ignorance was bliss, and it truly was. What she wouldn't give to have her mind wiped clean of the memories again so she could spend a happy eternity in his arms.

Alice heard the door open and the sound of his steps. Strange how she knew it was him just from their sound, knew her mate was close even without having to look, without even having to take a breath and inhale his delicious scent. She felt the bed dip down as he sat beside her.

"Alice."

His voice made her aching heart shiver. A pair of fresh tears fell as she closed her eyes. He was silent for a long moment and she heard only the ticking of the clock in the downstairs hall, the sound of the light rain pattering against the window.

"It seems like such a small and worthless thing to say, but I have to say it none the less: I'm sorry. God, I am so sorry for all of this."

She was, too. It didn't change anything.

"I love you, Alice."

She licked her lips. Her voice was raspy and didn't sound like her own. "I know."

"Then, you can forgive me?"

She rolled over to face him. "It's not a matter of forgiveness, Edward."

"Then what is it? How can I make this right?" He was both eager and frustrated and that made the words she needed to say even worse. But they had to be said, no matter how painful it was for both of them.

"You can't."

"I- I don't - Alice, what do you mean?"

Alice sat up. She heard fabric rip and saw she'd been gripping the sheet so hard, her fingers had torn through the fabric. She somehow found the strength to say the words that had to be said, found the strength for him. "I'm not your mate, Edward."

"What? How can you say that? Jesus, Alice, I -"

"I know you love me," she said, as gently as she could. "But I'm not your mate. I know that now. If I were your mate, you never would have been able to leave me."

He didn't respond. He just stared at her with horror and heartbreak.

"I never knew mates could be mismatched," she continued. "That a person could be mated to someone who wasn't matched to them in return." It was the cruelest fate imaginable.

"Alice, if this is about Bella-"

She shook her head. "No, it isn't about Bella. It's about you, Edward. Maybe you were changed too young to-"

Edward stood abruptly. He spun around where he stood, his hands raking through his hair until it stood up in wild spikes and paced a short path back and forth beside the bed. "Doc, I don't even know how to respond to that. I can't believe-"

The doorbell rang. Alice jumped a little. "Who could that be?"

"I don't fucking care. Jasper will get it."

Bella's soft voice floated up the stairs, joined by Emmett's rumble. What were they doing here?

"Goddammit," Edward muttered. "Of all the times ... I'll get rid of them." He opened the bedroom door and went out onto the landing. "Bella, Emmett, I'm sorry, but-"

"Rose said you would need us," Bella said. Alice could hear the click of Bella's heels on the stairs.

"What? She called you? When?"

"A few hours ago," Emmett said. His sneakers squeaked on the marble.

"Hours? But she only called me-"

A terrific explosion cut off his words. Alice felt herself lifted, and then had the surreal experience of soaring across the room on top of the mattress, as though it were a flying carpet, before she was slammed into the wall.

Her face was pressed to the carpet. Bits of plaster were sprinkled on it like snow, and she stared at them in a daze. Her ears rang and she could barely make out Edward's voice shouting her name. "Here!" she croaked.

The mattress was torn away and Edward yanked her off the floor into his arms. "Doc! Doc! Talk to me, Doc! Come on!"

"I'm okay," she mumbled. "I'm okay. Just diz-"

Another explosion cut off her words, but this one was in a different part of the house. Edward crouched down, his body wrapped protectively over hers as the floor undulated beneath their feet and the walls shook like an old man's knees. Dimly, she could hear Bella screaming. Something cold and wet landed on her cheek and she wondered for a moment if Edward was crying, but it was rain blown in through the gaping hole in the side of the house.

"I've got you, Doc. I've got you." Edward chanted the words to her until the shaking stopped.

"What the hell?" Emmett said clearly. Alice looked up over Edward's shoulder to see Emmett kick aside the bedroom door, which was hanging off its hinges. Smoke and dust filled the air. Bella stumbled in behind him, gripping his arm. Her white dress was smeared with dirt and her upswept hair had lost some of its pins, flopping down the side of her head. Her eyes were so wide, she looked like an anime version of herself.

"What is this? What's going on?" Bella cried, as if they knew.

"We're under attack," Jasper answered as he charged in behind them. Blood streamed down his cheek from a cut in his forehead. It stained a red streak in his hair. His arms were full of weapons: swords in their sheathes, a shotgun, and bizarrely, an ax. He passed out the weapons swiftly, a sword for Alice and one for Edward, who slung his on his back. Jasper handed Emmett the ax, who stared at it as though he'd never seen anything like it.

"Sorry, buddy," Jasper said with a short smile. "Mr. UberVamp here didn't have much of an arsenal. Sorry, Bella, I don't have anything for you."

"That's okay." Bella edged closer to Emmett.

"How many?" Edward demanded.

"Dunno. Lots. After the first explosion, I saw 'em heading in through the east garden. I couldn't get a count. At least half a dozen."

"Human?" Edward checked the load on the shotgun and pumped it once to put a shell in the chamber.

"I don't know."

Jasper edged over to the gaping hole where the window once was. He peeked around the wall and the crack of a gunshot made him jump back. An exposed brick near his head exploded into chips. Bella let out a short scream.

"Humans, at least some of them," Jasper said, eerily calm. He didn't look like her dayman at that moment, the friendly, easygoing young man who had painted her toenails early this evening, or the man who had sang to her until her storm of tears passed. He looked ... like Edward. The day he had left her. Cold, calculating, almost mechanical. "A vamp would have made that shot."

Edward nodded. "Alice, you and Bella get out of here. Go to Victoria, to the tower."

Alice drew breath to argue, but Edward bent to whisper in her ear. "You have to get Bella out of here. She's not a fighter like you. You're the only one Emmett would trust to protect her."

Alice glanced over at Emmett and saw he was doing the same sort of arguing with Bella. He cast Alice a desperate, pleading look and that was what made up her mind.

"Edward, where's Rose?"

"I don't know."

"We can't just leave her!"

Jasper's voice was soft and it caught her attention the way a shout might not have. "Rose is always exactly where she needs to be. Go on, Alice. Trust that she knows what she's doing."

Alice hesitated just a moment, then nodded.

Edward pressed a soft, lingering kiss to her lips. "I love you, Doc. I hope you know that."

She swallowed. "I do know it, Edward. And I love you, too."

He closed his eyes. "Go, Doc. While I still have the strength to send you away."

Alice ran over and caught the hand of the protesting Bella, who wanted to stay and fight at her mate's side, even without a weapon. Alice tugged, but Bella refused to budge.

"Come on, we've got to go." Her last word was drowned out by another explosion. This one sent plaster raining down from the ceiling. Alice found herself on the floor beside Bella with Emmett crouched over the both of them to protect them.

"Front stairs are gone," Jasper announced. "Go through the library."

Alice bit her lip. "Please ... be careful."

Jasper grinned at her, his teeth bright against his bloody face. Alice looked over at Edward one last time. Their eyes met and held for just an instant before the sound of gunfire broke her out of her reverie. She yanked Bella to her feet. "This way."

They ran the short distance down the hall to Edward's rarely-used office. Bella stumbled in her spindly heels and had to stop and twist them off her feet, snapping the thin ankle straps with one impatient tug. Alice shut the door behind them and locked it, though she knew that wouldn't slow anyone down for long.

Bella stayed close behind her as they made their way out onto the small balcony and down the spiral staircase into the silent library. The lower floor, underground as it was, hadn't suffered any damage, except for the rain of books shaken from the shelves on the floor above. Alice went sliding when a book abruptly shifted under her foot and might have fallen if Bella hadn't caught her.

The lab was dark and silent when Alice opened the door. She switched on the lights of the laboratory and locked the doors behind them.

"Good Lord, this must have been like your version of heaven," Bella said, looking around at all the shining equipment. "The library was incredible, but this? Wow."

Alice didn't have the heart to tell her she'd never used it. She just gave Bella a sight smile as she tugged at a cabinet. It swung out and Bella raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"It's the original basement door," Alice explained. "Edward left it in place as an emergency exit." It as set into the ground, tucked against the foundation.

"Smart of him," Bella murmured.

Alice pulled the sheath off the sword and tossed it aside. She approached the door slowly; had she been human, her heart would have been hammering. She pulled the bolt back, wincing at the screech, and lifted the door a few inches so she could peek out. All she could see was the shrubs edging the garden path. She waited for a moment, watching for any signs of danger, and then pushed up the door.

She saw no movement, except for a cricket burrowing beneath a leaf. Alice inhaled deeply, searching for any strange scents on the breeze, but she could smell nothing but the sharp tang of the explosives which had torn her house apart. The rain didn't help matters, covering and washing away scents as it did. She waited for a moment before deciding it was safe.

She gestured to Bella and they scrambled through the opening, crouching beside the shrubs. Alice leaned in to whisper in Bella's ear. "I don't care what Jasper said. I've got to try to find Rose. Run for the garage. It's about twenty yards-"

"No way," Bella said. "We're not splitting up. If I'm going to the garage, you're coming with me."

"Bella-"

"If something happens to you, Edward will rip my head off for leaving you behind. Jasper was right. Rose knows what she's doing. It's why she called us; she knew you'd need our help. Trust her."

It went against every instinct Alice had, but she gave a short nod. "Okay. We're going to run for it. Stay low, and stay close."

Alice rose from her crouch and peeked over the top of the shrubs. She gestured to Bella and they ran, unable to use all of their vampire speed, hunched as they were. They hadn't gone far when another explosion buffeted them with a wave of heat. They dropped instinctively to the rain-soaked soil and cringed as bits of debris fell around them, including a bent and blackened hubcap which clanged on the path.

Alice wriggled forward on her belly, using her elbows to drag herself forward, and peeked around the corner.

"That was the garage, I take it?" Bella said, staring dolefully at the hubcap.

"The west end of it. I can still get into the side door and maybe one of the cars on the other end will still be okay." From here to the garage, it was open ground with no cover. She saw nothing, but there were so many places an enemy could hide.

Bella grabbed her ankle. "You can't go in there!" Her pale face glowed orange in the light from the flames. "Alice, that's crazy!"

"We have to have a car." Alice shook off her hand and drew herself up into a runner's crouch. She took a deep breath and launched herself, running for the burning garage. She should have been moving too fast for a human to see, but a shot rang out and the paving stones in front of her feet exploded in a spray of chips. She heard the tat-tat-tat of automatic gunfire and swerved wildly, trying to throw off the shooter's aim as she ran for the door. She burst through it into a billow of smoke.

A wall of flames engulfed the cars on the left side of the long building. The heat was almost unbearable and every vampire instinct she had was screaming at her to flee, but she had to run toward that fire to grab the keys from the cabinet on the wall. Each was in a numbered drawer and she hoped like hell the numbers were assigned from left to right as she took the key. It looked right; the car on the far end was an antique Rolls, but she wasn't sure how many of them Edward owned.

She slapped the garage door button as she passed, but she didn't really expect it to work. The door remained firmly closed. Alice unlocked the Rolls and slid into the leather interior. She held her breath as she turned the key and nearly wept with relief when the car started. She put it in reverse and rammed the pedal to the floor. It hit the metal garage door with an echoing boom and tore it from the frame. For a moment, the door clung to the back of the car like a foil wrapper around a piece of candy, but it fell off when she swerved around the fountain to point the car toward the driveway.

Bella yanked the passenger door open and tumbled inside. "GO!" she screamed as a trail of gray bullet holes appeared on the hood and the front window shattered, raining shards of pre-safety glass on them. Alice stomped on the pedal and the car shot forward, tires squalling on the wet paving stones. Bullets continued to slam into the car and suddenly, Alice had no control over the Rolls. It was as if the steering wheel had ceased to function. Alice turned it frantically, but stupidly, didn't think to try to hit the brake. The car swerved wildly off the driveway, over the mound of landscaping and then rammed, nose-down, into a ditch. Neither Bella nor Alice wore a seat belt; both were slammed into the console.

For a moment, neither of them moved. Then, Bella groaned and pushed herself up. "You couldn't have picked a car with airbags?"

Alice was in too much pain to answer with a quip of her own. "Come on," she wheezed. She crawled through the broken front window, over the crumpled hood. Bella followed, though she slipped off the hood and tumbled into the ditch. Alice helped her up and both of them limped into the woods, arms strung around each other's waists for support. Footsteps pounded behind them and then the sharp blasts of gunfire. Bullets whizzed by them and punched into the trees. They exchanged a quick glance and then ran, stumbling, limping, but still faster than a human. They ran until the sounds had faded and they found themselves deep in the silent woods.

"Stop, stop," Bella gasped. "I need to rest for a minute."

"Over here." Alice saw a rock outcropping that would shelter them from the rain. She and Bella hunched under it and followed it back into the hill, where a small cave was tucked into the earth. Both of them collapsed on the sandy floor, leaning against the rock wall.

Bella let out a whimper and reached to her side. That's when Alice saw the jagged piece of wood jutting from under her ribs, surrounded by a patch of blood. It must have happened when Bella fell into the ditch. "Let me-"

"No, I've got it." Bella yanked it out with a small gasp and hurled it aside. The bloodstain widened beneath her palm.

"Keep pressure on it," Alice advised, moving to Bella's side. "Here." Alice hadn't been able to stand the dress she'd been wearing after her memories had returned and Jasper had helped her into a pair of sweats and a hoodie. She tore off the hood and front pocket now and wadded them to use as a bandage, pressing them over Bella's wound. Bella hissed in pain, closing her eyes as she laid back against the wall.

For a moment, all was silent. They could hear water trickling off the overhang to patter into the leaves and the distant sounds of gunfire.

Bella's forehead creased with worry. "Do you think-?"

"Don't think," Alice said fiercely. "You can't worry about it now, Bella, or you'll drive yourself crazy. Edward is a warrior, the oldest and the strongest. He knows how to handle situations like these and he'll keep Emmett and Jasper safe." The latter, she wasn't so sure of. She knew Edward hated Jasper and wouldn't exactly mourn his demise.

"You remembered," Bella said. "I thought that was why Rose had called us, but now I'm not so sure."

Alice lifted the makeshift bandage and peeked at the wound. "It starting to seal over now. We'll give it a few more minutes and then we can-"

"You remembered," Bella repeated.

"Bella, now isn't really the time."

"What else are we going to talk about while we're waiting? Stock futures?" Bella shifted to a more comfortable position with a wince and closed her eyes again.

Alice drew her knees up to her chest. "What do you want me to say?"

"Did you talk with Edward at all?"

"A few minutes." Alice drew a circle in the dust on the floor beside her with the tip of her finger. "There really isn't much to discuss."

Bella lifted her head and stared at Alice. "You're kidding, right?"

Alice clenched her teeth, but reminded herself that Bella was only trying to help. "There's an indisputable fact that can't be argued with, Bella. I'm not his mate. That's something we can't fix."

Bella spoke slowly. "Why would you say that?"

Alice laid her arms over her knees and dropped her head down onto them. For a moment, she hated Bella for making her say it aloud. "Isn't it obvious, Bella? He never would have been able to leave me if he was my mate, not when I needed him the most. Our kind just can't do that. The instincts are too powerful."

Bella scooted over to sit beside Alice, though careful not to crowd her. "Edward is different, Alice. He's the oldest vampire on the planet. He can do things the rest of us can't do and he's strong in ways we can't even imagine. He knew his mate wasn't safe, and the instinct to protect is even more powerful than the instinct to comfort. He could only protect you by going out and ending the rebellion once and for all."

And yet, here we are. Alice didn't say the words. She didn't have to. And she didn't have to hear Bella's response to know she'd say it wasn't fair of her to think that way.

"Alice, I spoke with him during that time, because you wouldn't. I know what hell he was going through, being apart from you." Bella laid her hand hesitantly on Alice's shoulder. "It tortured him that you wouldn't talk to him. He knew you thought he didn't care and he was desperate to talk to you."

"I couldn't." Alice had to force the words through a tightening throat.

"I know. I tried to explain. And maybe I lied a little to him when I told him he would be able to win you back when he returned. It was the only comfort I could offer him. You're right; there isn't another vampire that could have done it, could have fought off his instincts and his heart's desire to be with his mate in her time of need. But he had the strength to do what had to be done. I think his love for you gave him that strength, Alice."

Alice wanted to believe her. Wanted to believe it so badly. "But Bella, what if you're wrong? What if I really am not his mate and one day, he meets-" Her words broke off because she couldn't say it, couldn't even allow herself to imagine Edward with someone else.

Bella threw her hands up in exasperation. "What if he does? God, Alice, you want some sort of iron-clad guarantee, some sort of proof? That doesn't exist for any of us. You can never prove that someone loves you. You just have to trust them, and trust what your heart says to you. Would you cast aside decades- centuries- of happiness because of what possibly, might, happen on some distant day?"

"It would destroy me," Alice whispered.

"And losing Emmett would destroy me," Bella said. "I have to trust he'll always love me as he does today and our passion won't turn into distance. I have to trust his eye won't someday be caught by a beautiful woman. I have to trust these things because my heart won't let me do anything else. I must be with him, or else life isn't worth living. And I think you proved while Edward was gone that yours isn't worth living without him, either."

Alice gave a shuddering sob and Bella threw her arms around her. In that tiny cave, Alice wept while Bella held her, and the distant sounds of gunfire were eventually drowned out by the pouring rain.

..

..

When the thought of his eventual demise had fleetingly crossed his mind over the years, Edward had never pictured it being at the hands of a human, but here he lay and here was that human, bringing his shotgun barrel down to rest against Edward's forehead. It seemed to move with agonizing slowness, that barrel, in these, the last moments of his life.

Alice, he thought.

He'd gotten her to safety, or at least out of the line of fire. He hoped ... he prayed.

He prayed for it to the old gods and the new.

As soon as she and Bella were gone, they had headed out. Edward had fought often enough over the last five centuries with Emmett not to need verbal communication. Jasper, he didn't fully trust and he wasn't willing to follow when Jasper gestured for them to head down the hall toward the servant's staircase. Edward gave a brief shake of his head. From a tactical standpoint, it was terrible. They'd have to go down one-by-one, around a blind corner, into the kitchen, which had plenty of cover for an enemy who'd be able to pick them off like bottles on a fence rail.

Instead, he headed for the broken staircase. Wordlessly, Emmett braced his legs on the remains of the rail and swung upside-down with Jasper's shotgun in his hands to check to see if it was clear, dangling over the foyer like an overgrown bat. He nodded and slipped his legs from the rail, flipping neatly to land on the marble floor below.

"I can't jump that," Jasper murmured.

"No shit," Edward said. He grabbed the railing with one hand and Jasper's arm with the other. Before Jasper knew what was happening, Edward had swung them both down, dropping Jasper from a safe distance before landing himself. There was s short, silent argument between Emmett and Jasper over possession of the shotgun, which ended with Jasper holding the ax. Edward drew his sword. He tossed the sheath aside as they headed for the living room.

Edward listened hard, straining his ears for the sound of breath, the sound of heartbeats. They crept toward the door and as they neared the room, Edward heard it, the sound of a pounding heart. He held up a hand and Emmett fell in behind him, Jasper taking up the rear. Edward crouched and inched forward soundlessly toward that beating heart. Around the edge of the door frame and he saw him: a single man, holding a shotgun, his back to Edward as he watched the windows on the other side of the room.

Jasper had said Edward's over-confidence would get him killed, and that's exactly what happened. Edward launched himself into the room, sword raised to strike, and the windows exploded as the ambush charged in. Like an idiot, he had taken the bait, and they swarmed from all sides. They came from the garden, through the shattered window, from the conservatory, all in an instant wave. Guns roared and Edward did the only thing he could: he spun and knocked Jasper to the floor, out of the line of fire, and then darted out of the way, faster than human eyes could track, but not fast enough to avoid the sword of one of the attackers flanking him. The blade burned down his side, and Edward lashed out with his own sword, falling back toward the wall where no one could come up behind him. The vampires were faster than the humans, of course, but their sheer numbers, pouring in from all sides ...

On the other side of the room, Emmett had thrown aside a bookcase and was using it for cover while he pumped out blasts from the shotgun. Bodies fell. He saw Jasper charge up from the floor and knock down another man with a rifle, drawing his knife to plunge it down with brutal force.

Who were these people? Edward had time to wonder. No Helsingers, that was for sure. The Dawn Breakers Jasper had mentioned? In any case, it ceased to matter as one of them swung around and fired his shotgun point-blank into Edward's chest.

For an endless moment, Edward stood there, stunned by the indescribable pain, and then he felt himself falling back to the floor.

This was new. Nine thousand years of living and he'd never taken a shotgun blast directly to the chest. He would have been able to heal it, given time and blood, but for the time being, he was unable to move, his body nearly torn in half.

Alice, he thought.

His attacker stared down at him, his lip curled in disgust. And then he swung the barrel over to rest on Edward's forehead.

No surviving that.

Alice, I love you. Edward stared up at his impending death with acceptance, but with much regret.

Jasper appeared behind the man's shoulder and brought the ax down on his neck. With a choked gurgle, the man fell to his knees. Edward lunged forward and grabbed him, sinking his fangs into the man's neck on the opposite side, gulping desperately, hoping he'd be able to take enough to heal to fend off the next attack. The noise around him was a dim roar on the edges of his consciousness. He was aware of shouts, gunfire, the sounds of a brutal struggle, but the pain made everything muzzy and distant.

But no attack came. Awareness returned and Edward saw Jasper still stood there, and watched him dispassionately as Edward dropped his attacker's drained corpse. Jasper's blond hair was matted with blood and it dripped from the blade of the ax that dangled from one hand. Edward blinked at him in confusion.

"Lord Masen, do you need assistance?" He looked to his right and saw one of the new Volturi; Edward couldn't remember his name. His reeling mind couldn't think of why he was here until it dawned on him: Rose had called in the cavalry. Maybe even before the attack had come.

Edward flopped back against the floor with a groan. "Did we win?"

"Yeah, we won." Emmett's face appeared above him. He let out a low whistle. "Man, Edward, you are fucked up."

Edward turned his eyes back to Jasper, who still watched him silently. "Thank you," he said quietly.

Jasper nodded. He tossed the ax aside and wandered into the crowd of Volturi, who were checking the bodies for identification, something that would indicate who they were and where they were from.

For the moment, Edward didn't care. Alice. He had to find Alice. He tried to get to his feet and fell back again. Emmett darted forward to help him and other hands took hold of him and carried him to the sofa, hastily turned upright. But even amidst the pain, he felt a soaring sense of elation. He had survived. He would find Alice and he would convince her the mating bond went both ways. He had the rest of eternity to convince her.