gift or curse (A Twilight fanfiction)

Chapter 34

Stefan had not bothered to lighten the cave that lay at the end of the passage. His hands held Demetri's face in a death grip. Abhorred I saw how his arms lay on the floor, he was like a broken statue, but he was alive. I could see his eyes move frantically.

"Let him go!" I yelled, flying out of the passage without thinking twice. Movement to my left made me swirl, but I had learned from previous times and screamed 'freeze' a dozen times, until all three newborns were as still as the rocks beside them."

Stefan's face was screwed, his eyes filled with hatred, but also fear. His hold on Demetri was gone, but without his arms, there was not much my husband could do.

His eyes, however, were filled with hope and to my surprise, he called: "Reattach them."

"What?"

"My arms, they will heal, just put them back."

For a second I stood as frozen as the enemy vampires. My ears registered that the footsteps that had followed me, were now gone. Had Vladimir left? Did he know they had lost?

My hands trembled as I pulled the torn fabric away from Demetri's chest. The scraps of cloth on the arm I hardly dared to pick up, fell off on their own. Like a piece of a puzzle, I pressed the broken shoulder back against Demetri's torso and with wide eyes I saw how the marble skin began to heal almost instantly. The crack disappeared.

As soon as it was completely gone, Demetri wiggled his fingers. He flexed his muscles, moved his shoulder up and down a few times and then grabbed his other arm. With a swift motion, he reattached it. The minute both his arms worked again, he stood up and turned slowly towards Stefan.

The dark red eyes of the ancient one clinched. I could see he didn't want to go out without a fight, but my command held him in place. I forced myself to look as Demetri ripped the arms of Stefan's body with a sickening crunch. There was a flicker in Demetri's eyes that kind of scared me. I kept my mouth shut, however, knowing this piece of vengeance was part of the justice that would have been served anyway.

The last thing I saw of Stefan was his open mouth, silently screaming in horror that ended with a loud pop. The newborns suffered the same fate, although less deliberate.

My eyes shut for a moment when Demetri lit a fire that destroyed them once and for all.

"One down", Demetri muttered. He didn't look me in the eye, but took my hand and pulled me out of the mountain.

Outside he hesitated for a sliver of a second, and then turned to the left. Movement ahead made me falter, but Demetri didn't slow down, so I was forced to race head first into whatever lay ahead.

I should have known not to be afraid. It wasn't Vladimir that Demetri was tracking, it was Felix. The remnants of two more newborns lay at his feet and behind him the twins stood hand in hand. Jane frantically dusting herself off. A large set of boulders lay scattered, as if they were thrown around in haste. My command, I realized.

"What happened here?" Demetri asked his friend as soon as we reached them.

The giant actually seemed relieved when he spotted us. "We were trapped when they brought an avalanche down on us. It took me some time to heal from the cracks, but by then someone was pulling stones away. At first I thought it was you, but then we saw him." He motioned to the pile of body parts.

They both frowned and then turned my way.

"You did this?" Alec finally asked, looking at me with a new kind of respect.

I could only nod. The whole ordeal had left me bereft of speech.

"Thank you."

"Are there others?" Demetri asked.

I turned towards Felix, waiting for the same answer.

"I don't know, we never saw who hit us. The other one jumped us when I was fighting the first one, but Jane took care of him.

I saw her smug smile, but the fiery hatred had left when I caught her expression.

"So, only Vladimir, then. Let's go get him."

Without further questioning, we followed Demetri to where the last of our foes awaited. Behind us, a second fire devoured the remnants of vampire corpses.

The tracking took our group back to the Cullen house and as we entered the clearing, a strange sight awaited us. Vladimir stood in the middle of a circle, all vampires crouched low. One massive wolf amongst them. The ancient vampire was surrounded, his doom impending. When he spotted us he tried to break free one last time, but as his eyes crossed mine, I spoke, softly this time: "Don't move."

"You will pay for what you did", he spat.

"Don't speak", I commanded and his mouth clamped shut.

Edward straightened up first, the others a bit weary, until he said: "It's alright, she controls him."

"Interesting", I heard Carlisle mutter. He reminded me of Aro in that moment.

The Cullens moved back as Felix moved forward. It was hardly fair. Vladimir couldn't speak any last words, had no way to escape his fate and with the same silent scream, he too seized to exist. A last fire burned in front of the house and we all stood there and watched.

In the end, when the flames subsided, Carlisle looked up and said: "If there are any more newborns, we will take care of them."

Demetri looked his way and nodded. His eyes lingered a bit on Alice, who smiled at me and then he also looked my way.

"Ready to go home?" His voice was tentative, as if he was afraid he might have gone too far this time.

"Yes", I managed to breathe. My head turned to the family, who now stood together, no longer hostile, as if they knew we all entered a new chapter. We worked together, eliminating a threat to us all. Perhaps this would heal some of the wounds that had been inflicted years ago.

"Thank you", I softly said and tried to smile.

Alice bounced over to me, not one bit afraid of Demetri who narrowed his eyes at her. She hugged me and whispered in my ear: "You'll be fine. You both will be." Then she let me go and moved back to her family.

I didn't know if I would ever see them again. For now I had seen enough of the world. The only thing I wanted was to go back to Volterra and not leave the peace and quiet for a very long time.