been enough to drown it out.
But, in the split second that I stared into Victoria's eyes, I thought I heard a familiar,
exasperated sigh.
In that same short second, the dance broke violently apart. It happened so quickly that it was
over before I could follow the sequence of events. I tried to catch up in my head.
Victoria had flown out of the blurred formation and smashed into a tall spruce about halfway
up the tree. She dropped back to the earth already crouched to spring.
Simultaneously, Edward - all but invisible with speed - had twisted backward and caught the
unsuspecting Riley by the arm. It had looked like Edward planted his foot against Riley's
back, and heaved -
The little campsite was filled with Riley's piercing shriek of agony.
At the same time, Seth leaped to his feet, cutting off most of my view.
But I could still see Victoria. And, though she looked oddly deformed - as if she were unable
to straighten up completely - I could see the smile I'd been dreaming of flash across her wild
face.
She coiled and sprang.
Something small and white whistled through the air and collided with her mid-flight. The
impact sounded like an explosion, and it threw her against another tree - this one snapped in
half. She landed on her feet again, crouched and ready, but Edward was already in place.
Relief swelled in my heart when I saw that he stood straight and perfect.
Victoria kicked something aside with a flick of her bare foot - the missile that had crippled
her attack. It rolled toward me, and I realized what it was.
My stomach lurched.
The fingers were still twitching; grasping at blades of grass, Riley's arm began to drag itself
mindlessly across the ground.
Seth was circling Riley again, and now Riley was retreating. He backed away from the
advancing werewolf, his face rigid with pain. He raised his one arm defensively.
Seth rushed Riley, and the vampire was clearly off-balance. I saw Seth sink his teeth into
Riley's shoulder and tear, jumping back again.
With an earsplitting metallic screech, Riley lost his other arm.
Seth shook his head, flinging the arm into the woods. The broken hissing noise that came
through Seth's teeth sounded like snickering.
Riley screamed out a tortured plea. "Victoria!"
Victoria did not even flinch to the sound of her name. Her eyes did not flicker once toward
her partner.
Seth launched himself forward with the force of a wrecking ball. The thrust carried both Seth
and Riley into the trees, where the metallic screeching was matched by Riley's screams.
Screams that abruptly cut off, while the sounds of rock being ripped to shreds continued.
Though she spared Riley no farewell glance, Victoria seemed to realize that she was on her
own. She began to back away from Edward, frenzied disappointment blazing in her eyes. She
threw me one short, agonized stare of longing, and then she started to retreat faster.
"No," Edward crooned, his voice seductive. "Stay just a little longer."
She wheeled and flew toward the refuge of the forest like an arrow from a bow.
But Edward was faster - a bullet from a gun.
He caught her unprotected back at the edge of the trees and, with one last, simple step, the
dance was over.
Edward's mouth brushed once across her neck, like a caress. The squealing clamor coming
from Seth's efforts covered every other noise, so there was no discernible sound to make the
image one of violence. He could have been kissing her.
And then the fiery tangle of hair was no longer connected to the rest of her body. The
shivering orange waves fell to the ground, and bounced once before rolling toward the trees.
25. MIRROR
IFORCED MY EYES -FROZEN WIDE OPEN WITH SHOCK- to move, so that I could
not examine too closely the oval object wrapped in tendrils of shivering, fiery hair.
Edward was in motion again. Swift and coolly businesslike, he dismembered the headless
corpse.
I could not go to him - I could not make my feet respond; they were bolted to the stone
beneath them. But I scrutinized his every action minutely, looking for any evidence that he
had been harmed. My heart slowed to a healthier rhythm when I found nothing. He was lithe
and graceful as ever. I couldn't even see a tear in his clothes.
He did not look at me - where I stood frozen to the cliff wall, horrified - while he piled the
quivering, twitching limbs and then covered them with dry pine needles. He still did not
meet my shocked gaze as he darted into the forest after Seth.
I didn't have time to recover before both he and Seth were back, Edward with his arms full
of Riley. Seth was carrying a large chunk - the torso - in his mouth. They added their burden
to the pile, and Edward pulled a silver rectangle from his pocket. He flipped open the butane
lighter and held the flame to the dry tinder. It caught at once; long tongues of orange fire
licked rapidly across the pyre.
"Get every piece," Edward said in a low aside to Seth.
Together, the vampire and the werewolf scoured the campsite, occasionally tossing small
lumps of white stone into the blaze. Seth handled the pieces with his teeth. My brain wasn't
working well enough for me to understand why he didn't change back to a form with hands.
Edward kept his eyes on his work.
And then they were done, and the raging fire was sending a pillar of choking purple toward
the sky. The thick smoke curled up slowly, looking more solid than it should; it smelled like
burning incense, and the scent was uncomfortable. It was heavy, too strong.
Seth made that snickering sound again, deep in his chest.
A smile flickered across Edward's tense face.
Edward stretched out his arm, his hand curled into a fist. Seth grinned, revealing the long
row of dagger teeth, and bumped his nose against Edward's hand.
"Nice teamwork," Edward murmured.
Seth coughed a laugh.
Then Edward took a deep breath, and turned slowly to face me.
I did not understand his expression. His eyes were as wary as if I were another enemy - more
than wary, they were afraid. Yet he'd shown no fear at all when he'd faced Victoria and
Riley. . . . My mind was stuck, stunned and useless as my body. I stared at him, bewildered.
"Bella, love," he said in his softest tone, walking toward me with exaggerated slowness, his
hands held up, palms forward. Dazed as I was, it reminded me oddly of a suspect
approaching a policeman, showing that he wasn't armed. . . .
"Bella, can you drop the rock, please? Carefully. Don't hurt yourself."
I'd forgotten all about my crude weapon, though I realized now that I was grasping it so hard
that my knuckle was screaming in protest. Was it rebroken? Carlisle would put me in a cast
for sure this time.
Edward hesitated a few feet from me, his hands still in the air, his eyes still fearful.
It took me a few long seconds to remember how to move my fingers. Then the rock clattered
to the ground, while my hand stayed frozen in the same position.
Edward relaxed slightly when my hands were empty, but came no closer.
"You don't have to be afraid, Bella," Edward murmured. "You're safe. I won't hurt you."
The mystifying promise only confused me further. I stared at him like an imbecile, trying to
understand.
"It's going to be all right, Bella. I know you're frightened now, but it's over. No one is going
to hurt you. I won't touch you. I won't hurt you," he said again.
My eyes blinked furiously, and I found my voice. "Why do you keep saying that?"
I took an unsteady step toward him, and he leaned away from my advance.
"What's wrong?" I whispered. "What do you mean?"
"Are you . . ." His golden eyes were suddenly as confused as I felt. "Aren't you afraid of me?"
"Afraid of you?Why? "
I staggered forward another step, and then tripped over something - my own feet probably.
Edward caught me, and I buried my face in his chest and started to sob.
"Bella, Bella, I'm so sorry. It's over, it's over."
"I'm fine," I gasped. "I'm okay. I'm just. Freaking out. Give me. A minute."
His arms tightened around me. "I'm so sorry," he murmured again and again.
I clung to him until I could breathe, and then I was kissing him - his chest, his shoulder, his
neck - every part of him that I could reach. Slowly, my brain started to work again.
"Are you okay?" I demanded between kisses. "Did she hurt you at all?"
"I am absolutely fine," he promised, burying his face in my hair.
"Seth?"
Edward chuckled. "More than fine. Very pleased with himself, in fact."
"The others? Alice, Esme? The wolves?
"All fine. It's over there, too. It went just as smoothly as I promised. We got the worst of it
here."
I let myself absorb that for a moment, let it sink in and settle in my head.
My family and my friends were safe. Victoria was never coming after me again. It was over.
We were all going to be fine.
But I couldn't completely take in the good news while I was still so confused.
"Tell me why," I insisted. "Why did you think I would be afraid of you?"
"I'm sorry," he said, apologizing yet again - for what? I had no idea. "So sorry. I didn't want
you to see that. Seeme like that. I know I must have terrified you."
I had to think about that for another minute, about the hesitant way he'd approached me, his
hands in the air. Like I was going to run if he moved too fast. . . .
"Seriously?" I finally asked. "You . . . what? Thought you'd scared me off?" I snorted.
Snorting was good; a voice couldn't tremble or break during a snort. It sounded impressively
offhand.
He put his hand under my chin and tilted my head back to read my face.
"Bella, I just" - he hesitated and then forced the words out - "I just beheaded and
dismembered a sentient creature not twenty yards from you. That doesn'tbother you?"
He frowned at me.
I shrugged. Shrugging was good, too. Very blasé. "Not really. I was only afraid that you and
Seth were going to get hurt. I wanted to help, but there's only so much I can do. . . ."
His suddenly livid expres