𝗕𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗞 𝗦𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗘 | 𝗧𝗪𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗫 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗩𝗘𝗟

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝟭

Rosalie was still muttering her disbelief of the genius's death when the Cullen's entered the forest for a family hunt.

Emmett sighed. "Rose, she's human. Humans die. She's no different. Just because she's famous and you like her cause she's into mechanics.."

Rosalie gave him a dry look, and was about to retort, when suddenly Alice froze on the spot, almost causing the others to crash into her.

"Alice?" Jasper murmured, recognizing the vacant look in her eyes as a vision. "What is it?"

Alice's gaze cleared and just as she opened her mouth to answer a high pitched shriek was heard.

"That. We need to go."

Alice took off into the forest towards the sound. The other's immediately followed, trusting her without question.

As they closed in on their destination, another scream spurred them on to get there as quickly as possible.

They entered the clearing less than seconds later, and the sight was gruesome.

There were bloodstains in the middle, as if someone had sat there bleeding out, but the worst was to the right of the clearing.

On the ground in front of a large tree a rough looking vampire was kneeling over a woman, holding her against him, one hand in her dark hair as he tilted her neck to one side, his mouth latched onto her bloodstained skin.

They couldn't see the woman's face, although she was clearly the one they'd heard as she sobbed through her agonized screams.

Without pausing, Emmett and Jasper crossed the space between them and the unknown vampire, ripping his hands away from where they held the woman in place, dragging him away from her and across clearing.

The woman started to fall forwards, hair falling across her face and her hands shakily going up to clutch her neck, still crying out, but Carlisle flashed over to her and crouched in front of her, catching her against his chest before she could hit the ground.

Edward followed, knowing Emmett and Jasper would easily be able to dispose of the vampire. Esme clapped a hand over her mouth when she took in the state of the victim, but she stayed back with Alice and Rosalie as they stopped breathing, trying to control the bloodlust.

Carlisle's trained eyes zeroed in on the bite. He shook his head. "It's too late. She's too far in transition. The only other option would be to kill her before it finished."

"But you won't do that." Edward murmured, catching his father figure's thoughts. They both knew that Carlisle wouldn't be able to kill this innocent woman who had been at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Carlisle nodded. "Edward, can you tell me what she's thinking? Does she know what's happening?"

Edward paused for a moment. "She's in a lot of pain. I can't get many clear thoughts. She knows we're here but she doesn't know what's happening."

Carlisle nodded. "Go help Emmett finish him off and tell Jasper to hold his breath and come here. Burn his body. When they did as he said, he glanced at his wife and adopted daughters. "Rose, I need you to hold her up while I check for any other injuries, there's too much blood for it to all be coming from just the bite."

Rosalie took a step forward but paused. "Are you sure... the blood..."

Carlisle nodded. "I need help and you have the best control besides me and Edward. You managed to carry Emmett all that way when he was bleeding didn't you?"

Rosalie hesitated slightly but knelt down beside Carlisle and the woman, helping Carlisle shift the woman from where her head had been pressed into the doctor's shoulder, muffling the sounds of pain. They both winced as she flinched, a fresh scream erupting at the movement.

As Rosalie wrapped an arm around her, using her other hand to guide her face to her own shoulder, she stroked her hair in what she knew was a comforting gesture, hoping to soothe her as much as she could, Jasper approached, looking wary.

Carlisle didn't look up as his eyes took in the other wounds that could be seen on her exposed arms, knowing there would be others on her face and under her ripped clothing. He followed a trail of blood through her hair and gently felt her scalp, finding a large gash. "Jasper, tell me what she's feeling."

Rosalie tightened her grip, murmuring quiet words of reassurance into the woman's ear when she flinched at the pressure to the wound, letting out another sob through her screams.

Jasper winced slightly as he tuned into the woman's feelings. "It's mostly pain, but also confusion and fear."

"Thank you." By now a fire had been started on the dead vampire's torn up body, and the rest of the family hovered over them.

When Carlisle pushed some of her hair away from her neck, to examine the bite again she began struggling weakly against them, screams turning hysterical.

Edward immediately joined them, moving behind her and holding her between him and Rosalie before she could hurt herself more. "She thinks you're the other vampire again. Jasper."

Jasper hesitated but Alice nodded encouragingly at him, and he knelt down next to them, Carlisle moving to the side so Jasper could kneel in front her. The honey-blond carefully reached out to turn her head towards him.

Rosalie shifted to help him, knowing that eye contact would help his gift have a stronger effect, and hopefully give the woman something to focus on other than the pain.

Jasper held one hand under her chin firmly to keep her head up as he lifted the other to push her hair back from her face, ignoring her weak struggles to pull away.

It was when he tucked her hair behind her ears, allowing them to get a good glimpse of her face that they got perhaps the biggest shock so far.

Emmett was the one to voice it. "Am I seeing things or is that Toni Stark?"