Vengeance

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter 19

Intervention

Paulo sailed through the air gracefully, his eyes glued to my horrified face as he snarled angrily.  My emotions were crazed, refusing to focus and allow me to defend myself, so I braced for the impact.  However, as he drew closer, I heard a distinct whistling noise, and, seconds later, he was diverted off course by a blurred object.

Paulo rolled through the snow and beat the ground before turning back to face me.  His face faltered as he saw Tanya standing over me, her hands fisted at her sides.  A deep guttural growl rumbled from her chest, and she lurched forward when he dashed in our direction, ready to pounce.

“Stop!”

Paulo halted immediately as Maria placed herself in between him and Tanya, her arms outstretched in both their directions.  Tanya also came to a stop, only hers was much closer to Maria.  As she came to a stop, Tanya took no shame in kicking snow in Maria’s face, who simply smiled innocently and shook the snow flurries off her clothing.

“What’s going on here?” Tanya demanded, shoving Maria lightly.  “We go away for a bit of hunting, and this is what you do?  Set up your own personal arena?”

“Hardly,” Maria sneered, tossing her hair.  “I was merely seeing what the South Americans taught Bella, is all.  She was allowing me to help her learn to fight, and I wanted to get a grasp on what she already knew.”

“Is that right?” Tanya growled, clearly not believing Maria.

“Tanya,” Kate called as she appeared through the tree line.  “What’s going on?”

“Seems like Maria was trying to corner Bella,” Tanya hissed at Maria, which angered me.

“That’s not true,” I growled and stalked forward to stand next to Maria, who gave me a very perplexed look.  Even though I had nothing but negative feelings towards the southern vampire, I wasn’t about to let Tanya harass her.  “Everything Maria said is true; she was going to help train me.”

“Bella, please go inside,” Tanya responded without tearing her eyes away from Maria.  When I didn’t move, she glared at me and snapped, “Now!”

A storm was brewing inside of me, preparing to break loose as I stared at Tanya.  Her golden eyes narrowed at me as she once again ordered me into the house.  My jaw tightened as the anger spilled through me, and I reciprocated the gaze that Tanya was giving me.

“No,” I snarled in Tanya’s direction.

“Bella.” Tanya’s voice challenged my defiance, which is just what I wanted her to do.  However, as we continued to stare each other down, her face melted into a pleading expression.  “Please, Bella.”

My lips arched at her new demeanor and I found myself becoming angrier.  Why was she being so nice to me?  Was she just happy that Edward and I were no longer together?  My body straightened up as an epiphany hit me; was Tanya planning to protect Edward from me?  My lips formed a tight line as my assumptions of her possible treachery blossomed into more rage.  My sight went red and, without trying to stop them, my emotions took over.

Just like earlier, when my emotions had taken control, it was like I was watching a television.  All the actions of those around me could be viewed with disassociation.  Without hesitating, my body had blurred forward and seized Tanya around the neck, tossing off two others as they tried to restrain me.  Once I had her in my grasp, I wasted no time ensnaring the top right of her shoulder in my mouth, and biting down with my razor sharp teeth.

“Bella, no!”

Esme’s voice brought me back temporarily, allowing Emmett enough time to encircle me and pull me away from Tanya’s screaming form.  My emotions—wild and uncontrolled—slowly returned to normal, and as I took deep breaths, I became aware of everything around me.