Burning Horizon

Burning Horizon; Unbearable

Chapter Seven: Unbearable

Renesmee's eyes flickered up and down the trembling human. The young girl's face was heart breaking, her eyes were flashing between Renesmee on the floor and the sniggering figures positioned around the room. She would have no clue what was going on or what her fate was turning towards. I only hoped that it would be quick, whatever end her life came to.
"Oh." She whispered. "No, no, no, no."
She spun on her heels and shot towards the oak doorway. Felix appeared in front of her, spinning her round with his large hands.
"Yes, yes, yes and yes." He prodded her in the small of her back with his finger tips and she fell forward onto her knees.
Jane sprung over, seizing Nessie's hand again to pull her forwards. "I'll feed you Renesmee, if you're going to find it easier to handle."
I felt my heart jump, my brain frazzle, and my hands shaking.
"GET YOUR STINKING HANDS OFF HER!" I screamed, making Edward jump out of his skin next to me.
So much for my stupid self control, that had flown straight out the window with Renesmee. He pulled me closer towards his body protectively - to protect me from a danger that wasn't even here.
Jane laughed. "Renesmee's my new play doll Bella."
I froze. Play doll. Out of all the people I've ever hated, James, Victoria, Aro, I had never felt hate as strongly as this. It was like a fire burning from my insides, trying to burst through my skin and devour my victim, my victim would be Jane. I had to kill her, it had become a necessity.
"Maybe it would help if she could smell it Caius." Jane spoke in a clear voice, pulling Renesmee closer and closer to the struggling human. Caius nodded and dug his pointed nails into the human's pulsing skin, releasing a fresh flow of blood dribbling onto the floor. Renesmee's hands flew to her face to shield her senses from the tantalising smell. I knew her control was nowhere near as strong as any other member of our family. She was a child and to her, human blood was exciting as a thousand presents would be to an ordinary girl. Although, Renesmee had never once had the pleasure of drinking it from a living, breathing body, the only taste we had allowed her to have was when she had drunk from her bottle as an infant. The human girl sent a spine tingling scream into the air as a set of tears sprung out from her lapis blue eyes.
"I won't do it." Nessie stated in a definite tone while she tried to shake her arm from Jane's grip.
Jane's smile stretched even wider. "Maybe a taste will convince her."
"Do it Jane and I swear I'll rip your throat out personally." Edward snarled.
Jane pulled on Renesmee's tangled hair, forcing her head back and her small mouth open. Caius stepped over them, hanging his finger over her mouth. A small drip rolled off his finger tip onto her waiting tongue. She had never tasted the blood of a human directly from the body and I knew she wouldn't be able to help herself.
"Resist it Nessie, it's not who you are." Carlisle said calmly as they entered the room behind us.
She clutched her neck with both of her trembling hands. "I can't."
"Go on Renesmee, think of the warm blood in your throat, think of the satisfaction." Jane urged her forward gently. "They're holding you back from all these pleasures. Live a little."
She unclipped the pearls from around her neck and laid them reluctantly onto the stone floor.
"I'm so sorry." She whispered as she wandered reluctantly towards the writhing girl sprawled on the floor. I was surprised she could she where she was going with the amount of water overflowing from her chocolate eyes.
"Renesmee, you don't have to do this." Edward whispered, his mouth was pressed into a line and his eyes full of desperation.
She shook her head, threw her hair over her shoulder and plunged her teeth into the screaming girl's neck. Edward's hand tightened so hard around mine that I let out a yelp, though that pain was nowhere near as bad as the pain in my heart.
"Sorry, I'm so sorry." He pressed my face into his chest, shielding my eyes from the screen.
Seconds dragged by in silence, only the sound of Renesmee's deep breathing filling the air until a slight popping sound gave away that she'd finished. I twisted my neck to face the screen. Caius had removed the shrivelled body from the floor and left Renesmee on her knees with her face turned away from the camera.
"Say goodbye, Nessie." Aro whispered walking forward to the camera.
"What?!" She was shrieking now, still facing away from us. "You just said if I did that you'd let me keep in touch! You lied."
"White lie," Aro whispered as a cruel smile began to take over his lips. "Say goodbye Nessie. Why don't you show them your face."
"No!" Me and Renesmee whispered together in unison.
Jane grabbed her blood matted hair again and yanked her face round to the camera. Her pale skin was covered in scars from earlier and blood from her meal, tears rolled continuously down her cheeks and her eyes were draining into a different colour. Amber.
"I love you." She whispered.
The screen went black so all I could see was my own reflection staring blankly into the plastic.
The fire burned through my veins, setting my limbs alight. I tore the camera of the flat screen and sent it flying into the wall; it shattered into tiny pieces on impact.
"Bella," Edward whispered softly.
Why where they bothered about me? My daughter, our daughter was with the most dangerous vampire clan that ever existed and they were bothered about me!
"WHY?" I screamed at the top of my voice.
The fire took control of my limbs again, kicking and lashing out at anything I could find. The sofa keeled over as I kicked at it, the television sliding of the wall as I hammered my fists against it. I would leave nothing unscathed. As I walloped more items of furniture and photos, I realised that I had gained an audience. I wanted to stop, to apologize but I couldn't, my body wouldn't respond to my mind. Only my heart had control of the reigns.
Edward stepped forward, his eyes surrounded by a dark shadow and his mouth open on the verge of speaking but no words came out.
"Bella, are you hurt?" Carlisle spoke in a tone so relaxed that he could have just been to heaven and back.
My fists clenched as another screech escaped my lips. Esme stood against the wall, petrified by my behaviour. I was scaring her. I was being a monster. Emmett just lounged on one of the armchairs, smiling in amusement at my pathetic tantrum. My legs started shaking violently as my vision turned a strange scarlet colour. Everything had been so perfect, everything, and now it was all totally ruined. Take one piece of the jigsaw away, no matter how big or small it is and the rest of the jigsaw was incomplete. My life was incomplete without her and nothing could change that!
"Bella?" Edward pulled his voice together, now speaking clearly instead of a broken whisper.
I turned my head towards his, my heart tearing as I saw his expression. His eyes were hard as they opened wider, his mouth turned down at the corners and his forehead lined with concern. He looked exactly as he would if he was standing with Jane, in agony. "Come here, love."
I shook my head and ran, slamming the French door behind me. That one action would have killed him inside. I knew that I would gain a pursuer in less than a second but I had to get to Italy now. I had to get Renesmee back and I was willing to give them myself for her, even if it meant giving my own life to those monsters.
Behind me I heard the door slide open again. Oh brilliant, Alice would have seen that I was planning to commit suicide or something vaguely along those lines. There was no point in running now when Edward was so much faster. My knees buckled from underneath me and I fell backwards as my mouth let out another strangled wail.
"Bella, Bella, it's alright darling." Edward's hands grasped my waist, lifting my feet from the ground.
I buried my face into his cotton shirt, breathing in the sunshine filled scent. "You cannot do something to me like what you were going to." His lips brushed softly against my forehead. "No matter what the circumstances may be."
"Silly little Bella." I croaked.
"Yes. Silly little Bella." His ruby lips twitched into a smile falling nearly as quickly as they had risen. "We will get her back love; you know I'll get her back."
Renesmee was the delicate pearl inside, incredibly special and something that we would always protect. She was ours, and no one could ever, ever take her away from us and if they wanted to, they would have to crack both pieces of the clam first. If they were planning to kill her, they would have to get through both me and Edward before they reached their sickening desire.
"What if we don't? What if it's too late when we do? What if she's one of them now?" I whispered, giving away only some of the bullets that were whizzing around my head, hitting the sides unpleasantly at every corner.
"We will, it won't be too late and she would rather die than become one of them." Edward spoke with fierce determination.
"Rather die." I repeated, pushing my legs up around his hips.
He didn't answer, just slid back towards the white washed villa.
"Edward, what if she doesn't do anything they say. What if they kill her like they said they would? She isn't the sort of girl to let people give her orders that she doesn't like."
Another no answer, Edward just stared intensively at my eyes; no doubt he was trying to read what else was going on in my mind.
I pulled out the silver cell from the pocket in his trousers, searching through the contacts until I got to J. I pressed the call button. He picked up immediately.
"Hello?"
"Hi Jake." I whispered as my breathing sped up into small, rough pants.
"Hey, Bella! How's your holiday going?" His voice was full of excitement. "Can I speak to Nessie, please? If that is permitted of course."
"Jake, are you sitting down?" I croaked into the cell.
"No, why? What the hell is going on Bella?" The volume of his voice gradually escalated until he was nearly shouting.
Edward frowned, "Bella, I really don't think it's best to tell..."
I sucked in some air sharply through my lips. "Jake, the Volturi have Renesmee."
There was silence from down the phone for a couple of seconds. All I could hear was his heartbeat gradually racing.
"What, why, what the hell were you thinking?! How could you be so stupid?" Jacob yelled down the phone making me drop the cell from my hand. Edward's long fingers shot out and he secured the phone between his cheek and shoulder blade.
"Don't you even dare speak to Bella like that! How could you even think that we would put our daughter in danger?" Edward hissed, setting me on my feet in front of the villa before sliding off into the trees again, the phone pressed to his ear.
I pushed my hair back with my shaking hand. Were vampires hands even meant to shake? Maybe this was some sort of exception, when your daughter was going to get herself killed to save you. I slid the door to the side and stepped into the living room.
"Oh my god, Esme stop, I'll do it!"
Esme was on her knees gathering every piece of shattered glass carefully into a cotton bag, the sofa was upside down and had one of the cushions ripped, the television was crumpled in a heap on the stone floor and the rug had two rips all the way down the length of it. In a way I couldn't even remember doing any of this; it had been like I was under an enchantment of anger.
"No Bella, its fine, honestly." Esme did not turn to face me, still shaken by my anger spree.
Alice walked in placing her hands on my shoulders from behind. "Did you invite the dog, sis?"
"Not formally, but did you expect him to stay where he was?"
"So you told him?" Alice walked around me frowning in annoyance.
I nodded, bending down to stand the sofa back on its dark, wooden feet.
"Brilliant." She sighed. "I can't see what we're going to do Bella."
What did Alice expect me to say to him? 'Oh sorry Jacob, I didn't want to tell you that the centre of your entire life was about to get herself killed just in case you got in the way of Alice's visions. It's a little annoying.'
I sighed deeply. "Well, we need to decide what we're going to do and we need to decide now."
Jasper sighed. "Bella, if we head into this wanting a fight, that's exactly what we're going to get. It's the Volturi; lives will be lost this time."
"Their lives." I hissed. "Jane's stinking little hell hole of a life."
"They have mental weapons and physical strength. We have both too but can you imagine how many people they would bring to fight, to eliminate their only competition, us?" Carlisle paced smoothly back and forth. "More than last time now they've seen what we have. Aro has his contacts and the power of force..."
I looked up at him with a pleading look entering my eyes. "We have numbers. We have more than enough Carlisle. This will be an uneven fight, with us at an advantage."
"You want it to turn into a fight Bella?" Carlisle said, fingering his cell carefully.
I nodded.
It would turn into a fight no matter what. They weren't the type to negotiate and we had nothing to negotiate with. I would never let them take another member of my family, even to save my daughter, unless it was me. This would turn into a fight, lives will be lost and my daughter would keep her life no matter what it took for me to do.
"Jacobs on his way." Edward took his place next to me, "Sounds like he's bringing nine of the pack."
"That's ten." I whispered. "Plus all of us, if Aymie is willing to fight for us, makes nineteen."
"Bella, can you imagine how much is going to be lost if this doesn't work?" Edward murmured, twisting his arm around my hips.
"It is going to work." I squeezed his hand with all my force. "Jane is going to die soon, if I am going down, she's coming with me and I'll take as many of the rest of them as I can."
Carlisle slid open his phone, "Benjamin, I'm going to ask you to do something incredibly huge for us again."

Carlisle shut the phone for the fourth time.
"They're all coming over, so far." He whispered, anxiety clouding his face.
Carlisle had phoned Benjamin first, one of the most helpful of our friends last time the Volturi got involved. He would surely be helpful; Benjamin could control the four elements, something that no mental shield of theirs could block out. Along with Benjamin, we would gain Tia, Benjamin's mate. Somehow Benjamin had also managed to persuade Amun and Kebi to fight, they had fled from the danger last time but I was in no position to hold that against them now.
Twenty three.
After securing help from the Egyptian coven, Carlisle had rung the Amazonians. Zafrina had also been extremely helpful and beneficial last time. With her help, I had perfected my shield, the thing that saved our skins. She had also taken deeply to Renesmee so it had been pretty certain that she would be willing to give us her help. Senna and Kachiri would be joining us too, I had to admit that the Amazonians weren't my favourite friends; they intimidated me quite a lot with their looks and fighting spirit. Perfect.
Twenty six.
Jasper had suggested Peter and Charlotte again and Carlisle gained their immediate agreement after explaining our case. I didn't particularly enjoy living with vampires who feasted on human blood, but in this situation, I would put up with anything at all.
Twenty eight.
The latest call that Carlisle had made had been to the Denali coven. Eleazar, Carmen, Tanya, Kate and Garrett were our considered cousins. Tanya, Carmen and Kate had stunned me with their beauty and grace so I don't think I'd given them the best impression, although Kate had also helped with my shield, maybe not in the best way possible. She had used her ability to send a shock through your body with a touch to force me to expand my shield while she constantly shocked Edward.
"Thirty three."
Edward squeezed my hips again as I spoke, I knew he was trying to wean me out of fighting. He had no chance. Carlisle slid open his cell again.
The European nomads had also joined us before but Alastair, an obnoxious pig in my opinion, had left when the Volturi approached. Charles was the mate of Makenna and could help extremely with his ability to discover if a statement is true.
Thirty six.
Carlisle would also be ringing the Irish coven. Siobhan, Liam and Maggie were strong willed and strong built. Siobhan was suspected to have the ability to change a situation through willpower and Maggie had the ability to tell if someone is lying.
Thirty nine.
The final people that Carlisle could possibly ask to fight and possibly the easiest to convince would be the Romanians. Vladimir and Stefan were overthrown by the Volturi 150 years ago, their castle destroyed along with their clan. I was under the impression that they would do anything to gain revenge, surely this had to be the perfect opportunity. That brought our total to:
Forty One.
Edward took my hand and pulled me gently onto the terrace, paved with round terracotta tiles.
"Bella, this is going to be a fight. I don't know if I can let you jump into it wanting to sacrifice yourself to pull down the Volturi." He whispered, nearly whimpered.
My mouth dropped. "Edward, I am going to fight, of course I am going to fight."
"There's no way I'm going to be able to stop you?" He turned me around so my back was pressed firmly against his chest, pressing my arms to my sides. "I can't live with you gone, you may well be bringing Jane down but you'll bring a whole load more down with you Bella if you go and get yourself killed out there."
I took a deep breath, leaning my head back so I could see his concerned expression again.
"I'm going to fight. But I promise won't jump into anything, I have no intention to die, I only have the intention to kill, to kill all of them."
He let out a deep sigh and spun me round, securing his cool lips on mine as we toppled to the floor, our bodies warped into one.