[BamaFan121s]

Halfway across the room, Felix was frozen in a crouch, ready to launch himself in our direction. A short distance away from him stood Carlisle and Benjamin. They stood motionless and rigid. Their faces were devoid of any emotion and their eyes stared strait forward seeing nothing.

Edward stared across the room at Caius, who was visibly shaking with rage. He whispered low and fast so only I would hear. "I'll guard you. Focus on Alec." Then, Edward let out an amused snort and broke the silence, speaking so that the entire room could hear. "He didn't think we'd make it this far."

Edward's taunting exclamation set the scene in motion again as several things suddenly happened at once.

From his safety of the doorway across the room, Caius shouted one last directive, his voice cracking under the stress of his frustration as he visibly clenched his fists at his side. "Kill...them!" With one last glance in our direction, he turned and ran, escaping down the passage beyond the doorway. Several of the guards sprang lithely at Kate as she shot off in pursuit of him. Each one met her body and immediately crumpled on the floor in agony as she projected her disabling waves through them.

I flexed my shield and threw it toward my lifeless family members with a force and speed I had never before managed. Almost instantly, recognition returned to Jasper's face. In the same instant, he lunged forward, catching Alec by the throat and lifting him up off the ground. Alec's feet flailed below him, seeking purchase but finding none. Alec's granite skin cracked audibly under the force of Jasper's grip and he gasped as he pleaded desperately with Jasper. His eyes widened with terror as the life force was slowly squeezed out of him. With one quick flick of his wrist, Jasper swung Alec's body, breaking the bones in his neck with an audible crack. Then, he dropped the lifeless body to the floor and Alec was no more.

Turning his attention from us and set on avenging his fallen comrade, Felix sprung lithely towards Jasper - "the fighter" as Caius had described him. However, Felix never made it to Jasper. Garrett collided with him mid air. Perched on his back, Garrett cleanly severed Felix's head from his body with one quick pass of his teeth before the great warrior's body could even fall to the floor.

Determined to follow Caius' last, frantic orders to the death, the remaining guards descended on Jasper and Garrett, who now stood back to back. I'd always known that the rest of my family held Jasper's combative skills in the highest regard. In the moments that followed, I fully understood why. I often took for granted the fact that Jasper was a decades old vampire whose intensive military style, both before and after his transformation, had honed him into the lethal weapon that everyone else already knew him to be.

He and Garrett worked in tandum as first one advisary, then another fell at their hands. Their motions were faster than even my eyes could distinguish and they seemed to move in a style that seemed to be choreographed. As their victims fell, Benjamin and Alice descended upon the fallen bodies making quick work to dismember them as Benjamin piled them onto a small fire that he seemed to have conjured out of thin air.

Edward grabbed my hand and pulled me towards Carlisle.

"The others? Where are the others, Carlisle?" Edward asked frantically.

Carlisle raised his hand and pointed towards the tunnel down which Caius and Kate had run. "The end of the passageway...Jacob is there. We tried to hold these off to give them a chance to reach him."

Edward and I were already in motion moving towards the passageway as he gave his hurried explanation. "Stay here," Edward responded. "We'll go to them."

"Edward...wait!" Carlisle called as we neared the door. We paused briefly and turned to meet his warning gaze. "Jane...she's still here."

"Not for long," I spat back. I turned and led the way down the tunnel with Edward and Tia following closely behind me. As I ran, visions of Jane's face danced before my eyes. I felt the corners of my mouth curl upwards in a smile as I envisioned how she would die. Several possible methods of her death flashed before my eyes, all with one common factor that never changed. Even if I had to give my own life in the process, Jane would die by my hand.