The Man in the Long Black Coat, Chapter Seven

Edward did not move. He knew that if he showed fear in front of Felix, he would lose before the battle had even begun.

“Well that was fast,” Edward said.

Felix didn’t lose the grin.

“The fucking internet is wonderful,” Felix said. “It’s not like the old days, relying on rumors and legends to find rogues like you. We have so many Google alerts set up, there’s no way we’d miss a story like that.”

Edward appraised his opponent. Felix stood at least a half a foot taller than he did, and outweighed him by a good fifty pounds. His pectoral muscles strained the shirt that covered them as he moved about the clearing in the woods.

“Don’t get me wrong,” he continued. “We still have agents in the field. All the big cities. Virtually every country in the world. Some things, well, they don’t make it to Twitter.”

The Volturi Council was almost entirely made up of vampires with special abilities, from the leader Aro’s power to read a person’s every memory to Jane’s sadistic ability to inflict a mental illusion of burning pain.

Felix, though, was the lone exception. Aro had recruited him solely for his brutal fighting ability. The man was a barbarian who could rip apart most vampires before they had even started fighting.

“That story was posted to the Seattle Times’ website just after midnight,” Felix continued. “Aro knew it was you. The stupid black overcoat and all. He wanted to send Jane, but I volunteered. Shit, I begged to come. You and I have long unfinished business.”

Edward stiffened, but still he said nothing.

He glanced quickly over Felix’s right shoulder. He saw a narrow path between two trees that would be big enough for his lithe frame, but that he doubted Felix’s bulk could fit through. Felix’s thoughts focused on ways he could inflict the most damage on Edward’s body without actually killing him. He was becoming distracted by his own desires.

“My instructions are to bring you back to Volterra. Unharmed if possible. In one piece if possible. Headless if necessary.”

Edward breathed in. He tilted his chin downward, as if he were resigned to his fate.

And then he sprinted to his left. He hoped his superior speed would allow him to get by before Felix could react. He knew that if Felix got ahold of him, there was no way he’d make it out of this in one piece. He would not go to Volterra voluntarily. Aro had been trying to recruit him for the better part of the last fifty years, but Edward always said no.

An eternity ticked by as the world whizzed past. Edward felt a grin forming. He began to believe he would actually escape. He eyed the slim opening between the two trees and adjusted his trajectory.

Felix grabbed him by his right arm so hard the limb nearly ripped from its socket. The beast picked Edward up and slammed him to the ground with such force that the trees around him shook. Birds took to the air. Dust swirled. Leaves fell upon the ground.

Felix was laughing.

“You think I don’t know you, Edward?” He placed a boot on Edward’s neck. Edward grimaced, but gave no other reaction.

“I was hoping you’d run, you dumbfuck.”

He dug the boot into Edward’s neck harder, until Edward was forced to grab Felix’s ankle and try to pry it free.

“I knew you had some fight left in you! That’s it! Come on, Eddie. Let’s party!”

He released Edward, allowed him to stand.

“Now’s when the fun starts.”

Edward didn’t wait for the attack. He went after Felix with everything he had. Edward gripped his opponent’s neck with both hands, his thumbs on the Adam’s apple. He squeezed with all his might until he heard a crack.

Felix showed no reaction.

“You done?” he croaked.

He pulled Edward’s arms from his neck as if they were nothing more than a nuisance. He twisted Edward’s left hand until he heard the bones snap. Then he did the same to his right hand and slammed his forehead into Edward's nose.

Edward grunted in pain. He was able keep his balance, though. He eyed Felix carefully. In his mind, he saw Felix considering whether to grab Edward by his feet and string him from a tree or grab his head and twist until his neck broke.

He focused. He watched the twitch in Felix’s fingers, the crow’s feet around his eyes pull together, the corners of his mouth lift almost imperceptibly.

He would go for the feet. It was the option that allowed for the most torture.

Edward closed his eyes. He clenched his fingers into fists and tightened every muscle in his body. He felt the bones in his wrists healing already.

“Felix, will you tell Aro something for me when you see him?” he said through gritted teeth.

Felix grinned.

“What’s that?”

“Tell him I said Fuck You.”

Edward spun his left leg over his right, used the momentum to lift his body from the ground. He went with it and slammed his fist into Felix’s jaw. He felt the bones in his hand snap, along with those in Felix’s face.

Felix fell to the ground, on his knees with both hands in the dirt. Edward used the opportunity to plant a steel-toed boot in his ribs. They gave way, cracking. He repeated the action again and again, until he thought Felix would be down for a moment. He jumped on his opponent’s back and wrapped his right arm around his throat.

With no weapons, Edward was forced to compromise. He dug his teeth into Felix’s neck, ripping flesh away, spitting it upon the ground and going back for more. Felix’s injuries were healing, though. Edward knew he had to act fast. He put one hand on either side of Felix’s head and twisted with all his might.

Felix was far too strong.

He stood and threw Edward from his back with one mighty heave. Edward landed on the ground with a thud. He stood, but was greeted by Felix’s shoulder in his abdomen. Felix slammed him into a tree, the trunk shattering as if it were made of papier mache.

The two vampires collapsed to the ground into a barrel roll. Edward struggled to gain the upper hand, but he felt as if he were fighting gravity. Felix picked him up by his underarms and flipped him upside down. He grabbed Edward’s ankle and held him aloft with one hand.

Edward swung to and fro. This was the end, he realized. A century of fighting had come to this.

“Just make it quick,” he said, exhaling an unnecessary breath. “I have no fight left in me.”

His vision blurred, his body wracked with pain, Edward resigned himself to his fate. He didn’t mind dying again. It would be good, he told himself, for it to be finally, blissfully over.

“We all gotta die sometime,” Felix said. He hoisted Edward’s limp body up as high as his enormous arms would allow and swung him overhead like a lion tamer would swing a whip. He slammed Edward’s body into the ground with such force that it dented the forest floor.

Edward didn’t react. He lay there for a moment, feeling his body try to heal itself even as it was disintegrating from within. He took one last look at the forest. He paused to remember his life, so long forgotten, one last time.

He would go out with dignity, neither begging nor pleading. He looked into the midday sun one last time, finally without fear. He couldn’t remember the last time he had done that.

He turned his head when he sensed movement, and he nearly gasped at what he saw.

Bella Swan stood before him, a matte black Remington police issue pump action shotgun aimed squarely at Felix’s back.

He shook his head “no” ever so slightly.

Bella stood 20 yards away, the shotgun at her hip. She creeped toward Felix as the sun cast her face in shadow.

“I don’t want to kill you fast,” Felix said, still unaware. “I want to enjoy this for as long as possible.”

He picked Edward up again by the ankle, moving so quickly Bella didn’t have time to react. He dragged Edward forward toward a massive white oak whose branches sprawled so far out they nearly dragged the ground. Edward saw Bella struggle to keep up as Felix swung Edward’s limp body over the branch, forcing his knees to bend backwards. He screamed in agony as his knees cracked. He felt the ligaments tear as his body swung like a pendulum.

He frantically searched for Bella, unsure where she’d gone in the commotion. He could not find her.

Felix pulled a thick rope from his pocket and twisted it around Edward’s legs, securing him to the tree as he swung upside down. Edward began to feel dizzy. He closed his eyes and readied himself for the pain that was to come.

A boom echoed through the forest. Edward opened his eyes. Felix stood before him, a hole the size of a watermelon in his torso. Another boom. Felix’s head disappeared in a cloud of debris. A third boom, and Felix’s left shoulder exploded. His arm fell free, thudding to the ground.

Felix’s body stood for a moment, as if it were trying to decide whether it could continue without a head. It collapsed to the ground then, a pile of clothing and dead tissue. A second passed. Two seconds. Time did not move forward. Felix’s arm began to crawl back toward his torso. Pieces of brain tissue gathered itself together. Such a sight amazed Edward every time he’d seen it, but he didn’t have the energy to gawk.

He knew his fate would soon be the same if he didn’t get blood into his body. Felix would rise again. He would show neither Edward nor Bella any mercy. Besides, Edward knew he had suffered too much damage to successfully heal himself. His body was simply too weak to continue existing.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner,” Bella said, running up to him. “Charlie keeps the shotgun locked up, and I couldn’t find the key. I had to break open the cabinet with an axe.”

She laid the shotgun on the ground and stroked her warm fingers across Edward's cheek. He didn’t have the strenght to react.

“I’m going to cut you down. I won’t be able to break your fall. It’s going to hurt.”

She shrugged off her backpack, tossed it to the ground. She pulled a kitchen knife from within and began hacking away. Edward struggled to keep his eyes open as he watched. The sinewy muscles in her neck throbbed with each stroke. As she reached high for the rope, her sleeves rode up her arms, exposing a criss-cross of scars. Some were more recent than others.

“Here goes.” She sliced through the last strand of the rope, and Edward fell to the ground, the back of his neck striking first. He collapsed, unable to move.

“Can you stand?”

Edward struggled to respond. He shifted his feet, his knees still broken, his ligaments unhealed. He winced at the pain as he lifted his body, able to prop himself up on one elbow. He tried to speak, to tell Bella the danger she had put herself in, to thank her for doing what she had done.

But he couldn’t get breath into his lungs, and so he couldn’t speak. His ribs were shattered, unable to bond themselves back together because he was so weak.

Bella bent over him. She pushed up her sleeve. She slid her knife slowly, gently across the middle of her forearm with practiced motion. Nothing happened at first, the wound appearing superficial. But soon, dark red liquid began to ooze. It ran slowly across her arm until it ran over the edge. Drop after drop striking the ground.

She leaned further into Edward as he lay prone on the ground. He felt her hot breath on his cheek as she lifted his chin and spoke.

“Here,” she whispered. “Drink this.”

-30-

A/N Did you guys hear the news? The Man in the Long Black Coat is up for Fic of the Week at The Lemonade Stand! Yahoo! I really appreciate the reviews, follows and faves. They validate my existence. As always, hugs and kisses to the super-hot MazzyStarla for beta-ing out the serious goofups. The ones that remain are my fault. See you next time. :)