"Stay here," Charlie said, stepping out of the door, his hand reaching for his holstered gun. Ｈe put a warning finger up in front of Bella and then turned, facing forward, moving towards the spot where he had last seen movement．
"Charlie!" Bella called out, watching him go. She stumbled out onto the porch after him. "Charlie!" she called again. But he kept on walking．
"What are you?" Victoria hissed, favoring her right arm as she circled Alice．
"Better than you," Alice responded, her lips curving up into a smile．
Ｈer eyes were closed, and despite the blood and dirt covering her face, she looked almost serene．
Victoria growled and her arm shot out．
Eyes still closed, Alice dodged to the side, her leg shooting out catching Victoria in the knee．
Victoria sucked in a deep breath as her knee buckled and quickly stumbled back out of the range of Alice's feet so that she couldn't strike her again．
Victoria just barely controlled the urge to howl in frustration. The fight had started out well for her, but about halfway through the little one had started countering all of her moves, blocking them almost before she could even strike. It was as if Alice knew what she was going to do before she did, and she couldn't catch a break．
Alice stayed crouched, her eyes still closed, waiting for Victoria to decide what to do next．
Victoria had started out the fight striking wildly, impulsively, without thought. But once Alice had landed a couple of blows and Victoria had started to ache and bleed, the redhead had slowed down her attacks. She began to think about what she wanted to do, she began to plan, and when she started thinking about it, Alice was able to see what she was going to do the moment she decided to do it．
It wasn't much notice, but it was something, and it had certainly helped Alice out．
Victoria struck again and Alice blocked it, taking the opportunity to land her own blow．
"Tonight is not your night," Alice said softly, her head moving from side to side as Victoria swayed in front of her, angry, raging, and indecisive. "Run. While you still can," she continued, sharp teeth glinting in the moonlight．
Victoria growled softly．
It was a sound of defeat．
She and Alice were at a stand still. She couldn't seem to get a drop on the Alice now, but she had injured her earlier in the fight and because of that Alice was unable to press her advantage. And so, they had been dancing around each other for the last few minutes, striking and counter-striking, neither able to gain any ground．
As much as it frustrated her, she knew her opponent was right. They could have stayed in the woods for hours fighting and nothing would have changed. It was a waste of time to continue．
"This isn't over," Victoria hissed．
"Of course not," Alice murmured, opening her eyes. She kept her body crouched and ready to fight, but she knew that Victoria was going to retreat. She had seen it the moment the redhead had realized she couldn't win the fight．
Victoria stared at her for a second, and then she turned her back to Alice and disappeared into the trees．
Alice remained crouched and battle ready for a minute after she disappeared, waiting to see if she would return, and then she sighed, her shoulders slumping as pain rolled over her．
It had been a long time since she'd had to fight another vampire, which meant that it had been a long time since she had felt physical pain．
Alice pressed her hand against her ribs, wincing slightly as the pressure caused them to throb. She didn't know how humans did it. Being bruised and battered was a horrible sensation and they seemed to spend most of their lives with something bruised, cut, sprained, twisted, concussed, wrapped or otherwise injured．
Alice lifted her hand to her face, swiping it over her eyes to clear away the blood the running into it from the wound above her eyebrow, and then she began to move forward, towards the house, and Bella．
Bella whimpered as Alice's figure stumbled out of the bushes and collapsed to the ground. She shivered, and then lurched forward, stumbling off of the porch onto the lawn, her mind barely registering Charlie moving over towards Alice as she broke out into a run．
"Alice," Bella whispered, hurtling herself onto the ground beside her father．
Alice was kneeling on the grass, her head bowed down. Ｈer body was unnaturally still．
"Oh, Alice," Bella said again, her voice panicked and anxious．
She moved closer to Alice, reaching out for her tentatively, wrapping her arms around her, pulling her into her body when Alice didn't resist the touch．
Bella bent her head and kissed the top of Alice's, mindless of Charlie kneeling less than a meter away from them．
"It's okay," Alice said lifting her head. Even as Bella hugged her she could feel her body shaking with fear. Ｈer heartbeat was erratic, and she was sweating. Alice was worried she was going to have a panic attack, and tried her best to reassure her．
Bella gasped; her hand flying to her mouth as she took in the damage that had been done to Alice's face．
There were three long, nasty looking gashes above Alice's left eyebrow. It looked like she had been slashed by animal claws, and the wounds had coated the entire left side of her face in blood. Dirt was spackled all over her face, and her right eye was bruised and swollen – almost shut. There was another smaller gash on her right cheek, and her lip was split, a small trail of blood trickling from it, leaving a trail of red down to her chin．
"Jesus," Charlie whispered, eying Alice's injuries with almost as much horror as Bella was．
Ｈe had seen people pretty smashed up in his days, both on force and through playing sports and bar fights, but it had been quite some time since he had seen a woman with her face looking like that, let alone a teenage girl．
"Alice I'm going to call an ambulance," he said, forcing himself into his official Police Chief voice. "You're going to be okay.”
"No," Bella said as Alice's lips parted to respond. "No ambulance," she said shaking her head at Charlie．
"Bella, what are you talking about?" Charlie asked his eyes narrowing as he stared at her, dumbfounded. "She needs medical attention, and I don't want to move her with a head wound like that.”
"It's not so bad Charlie," Alice said, forcing a smile onto her face as she looked over at him. "Ｈead wounds bleed a lot. I don't even feel dizzy. Really," she insisted, gently untangling herself from Bella's arms．
She stood up and spread her arms out in front of her．
"See? I could even touch my nose with my index finger if you want," she continued, shooting him a playful smirk before doing just that．
"I …" Charlie said before trailing off, genuinely surprised to see her on her feet and joking．
"Call Carlisle please," Alice said requested softly. "The hospital will end up calling him in anyway," she continued. "Despite Carlisle being a doctor I don't really like hospitals and I'm not that badly hurt. I'll just end up going home with him anyway.”
"I …" Charlie tried again．
"Please Dad," Bella interjected, cutting him off. "Carlisle can be here just as soon as an ambulance, and if he thinks she really badly off then he can call one. I mean, look at her," Bella said waving at Alice. "She's hardly on her death bed.”
"Fine," Charlie said standing as well. "Fine," he added in a more exasperated tone, not really happy with the situation even though he was going along with it. "Let's get you into the house at least," he said to Alice, moving to her side to help her to the house．
"Thanks Charlie," Alice said, allowing him to half carry her even though she was capable of walking on her own. It would make him feel better, and it would be less suspicious. She knew she was already acting far too capable for someone who had the injuries she appeared to have．
"Yeah, yeah," Charlie murmured, though he did look down and give her a weak smile．
Bella took up the spot on Alice's other side, her hand immediately slipping in to her lovers, and together the three of them made their way into the house．
