Chapter Twelve
The warehouse fire was massive, the heat reaching to her the second she stepped out of the truck. The whole building was engulfed in flames and workers from the stores in the old restored warehouse stumbled from the smoke with hazy confusion.
Police were already on scene keeping the traffic at bay and onlookers at a safe distance while those that could help, helped the ones fleeing from the flames to safety and into the Ambulance’s care. Jasper rushed forward, once the man in his arms was seated, to Bella’s side. He was still in the clothes from this morning, getting the call just after he processed the bitch who sent his world crashing. Even Emmett wasn’t with him as he was running down a lead.
“Bella!” Jasper voiced as she turned away from him. “Bella please, it wasn’t what it looked like. Please believe me, please Darlin’, I wouldn’t do that especially not to you.”
Those that heard snapped their attentions up, their eyes flickering to their Lieutenant whose face was twisted in a brief moment of agony and then to the cop behind her, Jasper Whitlock, everyone knew there was something sparking between them but they didn’t…
“Fuck off Whitlock; I don’t have time for your excuses right now.” Bella snarled snapping everyone’s attention away from him and to their Lieutenant. She was right; they didn’t have time for this right now, they could all speculate later.
Chief Volturi stepped out of his car with haste, his stride even as he rushed towards those fleeing. “Has everyone gotten out?”
“Don’t know… don’t know…” A woman croaks, her hair in disarray, skin smudged with ash.
Bella hoisted on her gear and cast a look around for her men as she readied her breathing apparatus, ignoring Jasper’s voice trying to convince her it wasn’t what it seemed this morning. The smoke wafted from the windows, the heat blaring across all those near it and a sense of calm settled over her, washing away the pain and anger she had felt mere moments before. This was her job, running into the flames to save those stuck inside or to control the beast that’s sometimes uncontrollable.
“I do believe you and I will be speaking later about him.” Demetri started. “Or I believe I’ll be telling my wife and letting her deal with it, she always wanted to punch a cop and who am I to deny her the satisfaction.”
“One: your wife has already punched several cops and has ended us up in jail overnight on two separate occasions that we will never speak of again. Two: we won’t be speaking about it cause there’s nothing to discuss and she already knew anyways.” Bella replied blankly, ignoring the frown completely and having her entire focus on their Chief.
“Listen up everyone, I’ve been told there are people trapped in there. I don’t like the look of this smoke, we’ve got mere minutes so if I say get out you better haul ass and get out.” He informed his men, eyes looking over them all. “Get a line in there.”
Demetri and Bella exchange glances. “Don’t die; I’d rather not have Jade kill us.”
A snort escaped Demetri’s lips at that and a smile before turning his attentions back to the task at hand. “Squad Five, you’re with me. We’re taking the business on the left, move out!”
Those from Truck 91 moved forward as the men from truck 86 dragged the hose forwards and began to clear them a path inside. Bella let her eyes slip close for a second as she pulled her SCBA on and tucked her hair under her collar. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”
The fire licked at them from all sides as they rushed into the blaze. Smoke obstructed their view but they kept on looking for those in their path that were stuck inside and unable to see their way out.
“Denali, Vega! Sir, come on.” Bella yelled over the roaring fire, pointing to the people at her left while pulling another man from the floor and handing him to Felix. “Cheney, Whitlock, go that way!”
Demetri led his men up the stairs to where the offices of the building were, “Lahote, Darneil, Cameron! That way! Uley with me!”
He knew his men’s steps to a T and the calls Swan would call but something didn’t sit right with him. Not when he called in the Chief saying they were in, not when he heard Denali and his cousin saying they were coming out with people and then Cheney and Whitlock a few minutes after… but no word from Bella.
“Fire department, call out! Fire department, call out!” Bella yelled as loud as she could as she swept over every desk and office space she came by, she could hear Eleazar behind her a ways back yelling as well.
Fire ate at the walls, the roof, and every speck of paper it could reach and yet she continued, following the suffocating path for any speck of life as she hurriedly climbed the stairs to the next floor. The steps were concrete and safe, but the fire funnelled into the brick stairwell turning it into a oven that she could feel it through her surcoat.
“Fire department, call out! Call out!” She yelled as she reached the middle of the second floor, pausing as she saw the flames flicker, everything within her screaming as she watched the flames flicker once more and the noise silencing for a brief moment… her body hit the ground with a thud as something gave way and the fire flashed.
Marcus eyed the fire as it flashed out. “Dammit, I want all firefighters to evacuate the building immediately. Do you hear me? I want you all out now!”
Everyone heard their chief and turned to make their way out of the building, eyeing each space with a keen eye to make sure they didn’t miss anyone in their first sweep. Their Chief was the first face they saw as they breached into the sunlight and removed their SCBA’s, yet Demetri paused as he eyed the men.
“Chief, the fire jumped!” Bella’s voice rang out over coms. “I’m trapped! Second floor. Need immediate assistance!”
Wood groaned around her, the fire blocking a path to the windows that were there and the fallen beams of the third floor blocked her exit. She could still hear the timber groaning and the whoosh of the fire as the air breathed life too it.
“Let us go back in, we can get her!” Demetri stated forcefully, “It’ll take us two minutes.”
Chief Volturi eyed the building and the smoke, his heart torn. There was no safe way for his men to go and retrieve her, the fire was in the walls and the trusses, eating away all that held the building safe and upright. Yet he knew if anyone could do it, it would be Demetri DeLuca and his men. “Do it, you got one minute, do you hear me? One.”
Demetri nodded sharply and gestured for his men to follow him as he pulled his SCBA and rushed forward towards the hell that held his friend trapped. They made it to the entry just as the building groaned and the fire screamed and something gave way, sending them back with the force as the building collapsed on the inside.
Author Note: *builds a sturdier barricade*
TheDarkestFallingStar 