Chapter 7 - Dream

I dreamt about Jacob and Bronte all night, of them in a forest where even the trees seemed against them, I dreamt of her writhing in pain and Jacob holding her down pleading with himself not to kill her.  When I woke I felt that I had intruded on them, that I had no right to see, and chided myself that it was just a dream and that it meant nothing.  It was hard for me to see Jacob taken up with someone else, I could admit that at least to myself, I loved him too, and the whole triangle affair had torn me apart inside.  I had often wished for two parellel universes so I could love both my men as they deserved.  

But with Edward on this earth, there was no competition.  I felt comfortable, warm and cosy in Jacobs arms, but Edwards lifted me up to a different realm, somewhere where I felt my senses take over, where I need not say one word, somewhere where to look at his face was all the sustinance I needed.  I felt more revived from one look from Edward than from a day spent in Jacobs arms.  Jacob was my hero -  the man who brought me back to life, but Edward was my soul mate - the one whom without there was no life.  The coin had never been tossed, I knew the decision before it was asked of me.  Edward, always Edward.

As I lay in the dark, beside his still form, which I knew to be aware of my wakening but giving me those moments I needed to come around, he was always there, my protector.  I just hoped our plans would work out the way we hoped, that we’d have everything tied up before the Volturi decided to step in.  

I hoped in vain.

Chapter 8 - Forfeit

Edward was gone in the morning, and I hadn’t heard him leave.  I was confused by that momentarily but put myself through the human paces, “he has a life, something must have come up, maybe he forgot to do something...” and on and on.

I had breakfast with Charlie, which was usually a silent affair but this morning I thought I’d do some ground work for one of our many plans.

“have you ever been to Europe?” I asked him, repeating the question when he eventually registered I was speaking to him.

“Uh... no, never” Charlie looked back to his paper.

“Oh its just I’ve been thinking about applying to some colleges there...”

Charlie made agreeable noises but then his head snapped up and he said “Repeat that please”

I did and he looked like he was about to burst a gasket.

“Dad...” I tried to diffuse the situation immediately, “I’m only thinking about it, nothing that we can’t discuss, it’d be a good opportunity and I’ve heard they take late applications so it wouldn’t hurt to apply... Just to see... it’d be great, y’know, to see Europe..” I mumbled the last bit, Charlie was just shaking his head very deliberatley.

“This is something Edward is thinking about too?” He asked, starting to nod sharply like he did when he thought he had something all worked out, “That boy put you up to this? First you wanna get married, like some fool kid and now you expect me to wave you off at the airport, to go off and live in Europe!!!???” 

“Dad, I’m eighteen”

“Oh yeh that old arguement again” He pointed at me, taking a big gasp of breath, “I forbid it”

“We’ll talk about this later” I said, grabbing my jacket and heading for the door.

“There is nothing to talk about Isabella Swan” Charlie shouted after me.

I ran to my truck and swung myself into the familiar seat, driving into Edwards drive before I knew it.  He was waiting at the door, at first I didn’t see it, but as I approached him I realised his face had an expression on it I had never seen before.

Fear.

“What is it?” I grabbed him by the arm, “What? Did Alice see something?”

He nodded, “She saw Caius... here”

“When?” I wanted to scream, I wanted to have a tantrum, I had a plan and this was NOT supposed to happen.  Those damn Volturi, with their god complexes - who did they think they were? The Cullens, The Swans, we were good people.  They should just back off and leave us alone.

I suddenly realised I’d been thinking outloud, but I didn’t care, I saw Carlisle coming down the steps to where we stood and I ran into his arms, “I’m so tired” I protested, “I can’t take this, all these vampires trying to kill me, I can’t take it”

I sank then, and Carlisle picked me up and passed me to Edward who carried me into the house. 

I slept and slept, and when I woke it was already evening.  Edward was sitting his chair, and I was lying in the bed across from him.  He was pretending to read “Dr Zhivago” again, but I could tell he was faking it, his eyes boring into the page instead of flitting across it.  He flicked those honey eyes up then, and caught my gaze, which I didn’t drop but called his name softly, “Edward...”

He was beside me in an instant, “This is all my fault, I should never have left you in the first place... I hate myself for that, every day, if I’d just stayed even alone and let the others go, the Volturi, everything would be different”

“You don’t know that Edward” I said, touching his ice cold cheek and tracing his jaw softly, “I’m sorry for my tantrums, I need to grow up”

“Its hardly immature now Bella, to be frightened of death by evil vampire”

“Well...” I tried to laugh, “I would much prefer death by friendly sexy vampire actually” I lifted myself up to kiss his lucious mouth, entwining my arms around his head to draw him close, a move which in the past would have had him backflip away from me but now encouraged him.  He lay close into me and we spent some time having a silent converstion as only we did, staring into each others eyes.

There was a knock at the door.

“Come in” Edward said springing to stand at the other end of the room.

Alice and Jasper entered, “Hi Bella” Jasper said, “heard the news?”

“Yep’ I admitted

“Fun times ahead” Jasper leaned his long frame against the wall and picked a cd out at random, made a face and popped it back in to its position, “weird taste in music Ed.”

Edward didn’t seem to hear him, but turned to Alice and began the surreal conversation that involved no dialogue.  His face, already pale, seemed to pale even more and he looked furious.  She shook her head and beseeched him with her eyes and he nodded, seeming to resign himself to the vision she had shown him.

“What is it!?” I demanded, slapping the bed.

Alice turned to me and smiled, “We’ll have to fight Bella, and we will win, but for that prize we will lose more than we can ever replace”

“ Who? Who do we lose?” I couldn’t hear myself for the sound of my own heartbeat.

“I don’t know” Alice wasn’t lying, I could tell, “I only know we lose someone”

Chapter 9 - Trials

Jacob had been told.  Carlisle had advised him to take Bronte away until all was over and done but neither of them would accept that option.  

Bronte spoke to us, her wide eyes looking at us each in turn, “I won’t go” She stated, “it may be selfish, but I need you - the Cullens - more than you need me, I don’t want to be the only one, and I refuse to become a monster... I refuse”

Jacob agreed, he would stay and defend the Cullens, and me, for Bronte.  I felt a twinge of something when he said that, loss? regret? jealousy? No surely I was not like Rosalie, Surely I could be happy Jacob was in love, and not with me! I thought about it long and hard and came to the conclusion that it wasn’t jealousy that I felt, it was loss, I had lost Jacob as my best friend and that was, as it always had been, hard to deal with.  I caught his eye then, and he grinned at me, one of his enormous arms stretched across Brontes tiny shoulders, stretched back in the couch he looked completely at home in the house of his former enemies.  I suppressed a giggle, “Who’d a thunk it?” I said to nobody in particular.

Edward was pacing up and down watching Alice like a hawk, waiting for her vision to alter or best case scenario disappear altogether.  I saw him suddenly change the direction of his concentration to the front door and he turned to Jacob and said “Expecting someone?”

Jacob looked confused but then we heard it, the howling.

It was the wolf pack, Jacobs brothers in lupine form, Sam, Paul, Jared, Embry and little Quil.  

Jacob stood and phased, it was an impressive sight, he seemed to shake the wolf in him out, like a wet dog, faster and faster until  the inner took over.  It wasn’t horrible to see, quite the opposite, I found it quite hypnotic.  With a long stretch, Jacobs hind legs nearly reaching the roof, he loped across the room and out the door which Carlisle held open for him.  Everyone in the room exhaled, “Those dogs stink!” Rosalie said as she flounced out of the room, taking Emmett with her by the collar.

Edward looked at me, and I looked at him.

Here we were, all our plans assunder, everything up in the air, but still no doubt in our minds.  Till death do us part.

Edward could hear the wolves thinking and relayed to me what they were saying, “THey don’t, they won’t let Jacob do this, they say he is crazy to defend a bloodsucker, but Embry is feeling Jacobs pain at the thought of losing Bronte now, he is saying he can’t choose his mate.  Sam seems the most indignant but even he can feel Jacobs thoughts and feelings, so its hard for him to say what he is saying.  Jacob is saying he will leave the Wolf pack, become a loner, he has no problem doing that to protect the pack, but Sam is thinking that would be the worst outcome.  They are all thinking as one now, Bronte and we, the Cullens including you Bella, will be protected  by the Wolf Pack...”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, considering Alices premonition, I wanted as few people involved in this frey as possible.  The thoughts of little Quil being injured, or lost... I shook the image away.

Edward wanted me to have as normal a life as possible, so even with this battle ahead he decided to take me to the movies, as if all was normal in our teendom.  He liked to take me to see old movies, especially the silent comedies, and I got the impression Edward felt refreshed after connecting with his human self, even on such a small level.  He would bang his leg, and roar laughing at the antics on screen, and I couldn’t but join in.  Tonight we went to see Charlie Chaplin in The Kid.  As the opening titles flashed I became acutely aware of the ancient soul who sat grasping my hand.  The movie we watched had been made in 1921, and if there was no such thing as Vampires, he would have been buried for 3 years by the time people got to see it for the first time.  I looked at the screen and looked at the clothes, the cars, the houses.  The world was such a different place and this love of my life had seen it all.  For the first time I realised we had never talked about that side of things, Edward had seen so much... and had been young throughout.  My mind flipped through images of him, did he fight in world war two? Vietnam? Was he at Woodstock? Where was he when JFK was shot? All the iconic eras, ones that I heard my parents talk about, Edward could talk about them too.  I couldn’t wait for the movie to end to ask him.

The film was great, until I met Edward I had never seen an old movie, let alone a silent one! The story played through, a tramp finds a baby and brings it up, while its mother, regretting the decision, tries to find her son.  There is a scene in the movie where the child is being taken away and chaplin runs after the truck.  I was caught by an unexpected overwhelming memory of running after Edward in the forest when he left.  I suddenly felt that awful lump in my throat and knew I was going to cry.  I flicked a look at Edward beside and me and he squeezed my hand, obviously thinking my slipping tears were due to the sad story.  But when the movie was over, and I still sat sobbing in my seat, unable to talk while he begged me to tell him what was the matter, I realised I had never really got it off my chest how much I had suffered.  Edward had seen Jacobs memories, and so I knew he knew, and therefore I never talked about it.  I never opened up.  I had pushed my hurt away and now it was overflowing into the empty cinema.

“Bella, please, what is it? Was it the movie?”

“No...” I shook my head, “Its nothing, its silly...”

“It couldn’t be silly... Bella look at you, you are really upset, did I say something?”

“No, no” I hugged him close, “Its just seeing the movie, it just upset me”

“Why Bella? What is it? Talk to me Bella please”

I didn’t want to hurt him, I didn’t want to fill his head with my thoughts, he had enough in there already.  I didn’t want to drag up events of a year ago.

“It... the movie... it reminded me of something really sad”  I offered

I saw in his face that he knew why I was crying, “When I left..”

I nodded.

Edward looked desolate, “I will never leave you Bella”

“Edward.  You had said that before.  When James...” 

“I know...” He dropped his head into his hands, “I’m sorry...” was all he could say,

“I don’t want to resurrect it Edward” I said, “I didn’t expect to get upset over it, I was grand but then...oh that movie! It was just so heartbreaking and I suppose my brain, or body or whatever, recognised the feeling... maybe... but it is just one set of tears, and I think they’ve cried themselves out now...” I grinned sadly.

With that he picked me up like I was a small child and carried me out of the cinema, holding me as tightly as he could without hurting me.  My head nestled under his chin and I held him like I would never let go.

We drove home.

On the way I tried to lighten the air, “Were you in Vietnam?” I asked

He looked at me like I was mad, “Where did that come from?”

“I dunno, I just thought there that you must have been, if you were in high school I mean, wouldn’t you have been drafted?”

“Yeh...”

“You were?”

“Eh yeh, me and Emmet were there for a couple of years”

“Oh my God” I couldn’t believe it.

“It was a difficult time, I don’t like to talk about it but I’m sure you can imagine, we needed to be quite restrained”

“Oh... did you...?”

“No I hadn’t killed anyone in a long time, so I wasn’t going to start there of all places”

“Edward thats amazing, was it awful?”

“For humans it was, hell, the worst place you could imagine, but I suppose Emmett and I got off lightly, we weren’t harmed at all”

“Obviously...”

“No I mean our unit... We never took fire, I suppose having vampires on your side there is a positive thing!”

“Thats amazing! I can’t believe you were there... ”

“Yeh, other platoons would rub us on the shoulder or forehead for luck, you know because we always came home without a scratch... they weren’t so lucky...” He look sad, “We lived in a nice town then, and like Forks the population was small, we made it our business to get all those boys back home... having a...mission... made it easier to resist.. uh...temptation...”

“That is very noble” I said proudly, rubbing his forehead, “I could do with some luck!”

Edward laughed, that husky throaty chuckle I loved, “I think in this situation that is what will get us through!”

Chapter 10 - Assurance

“Were you at Woodstock Edward?” I asked that night, after saying goodnight to Charlie and sitting in my room with the window open, seconds feeling like hours, until Edward appeared with one bound into the room.

He burst out laughing, “Yes!” and then he told me all about it, how they had allowed the sun to shine on their faces that day for a while and I roared laughing when he imittated the hippies “Hey man... psychadelic skin dude” 

I slept in his arms as I always did and woke to his kisses on my eyelids, soft and cold.  I knew it was something I would grieve for - that first waking moment.  It would be the one thing I knew I would long for when I no longer slept, when my life was eternal night.

Alice rang us then, Caius was leaving Italy, he would be in Forks in two days.  She suspected he was acting alone as there were no other Volturi with him but she couldn’t be sure.

Edward poo pooed the fight,  “Its one vampire” he said, “There are now 8 of us...”

Bronte was fitting in well with the Cullens, although her newborn status was proving interesting, she had an amazing gift of thought transference, but also was unusually self disciplined, Carlisle was positive that was a secondary benefit of her ability to ‘spike’.

She would often start wailing, crying without tears, if a particularly attractive human was in her nose range and she would cling to whoever she was with in order to stay away from losing control.  I never went anywhere with her alone, and she tried to always stay down wind of me.  I trusted Bronte though, more than she trusted herself and we concocted somewhat of a friendship if even from opposite ends of the room.

The police search for her body, after the ransacked house and her mothers corpse were discovered had long ceased and her posters were fading on lamp posts around the town.  Brontes new form had changed her features sufficiently to be unrecognised as the missing girl and she was beginning to feel more confident about being seen with Jacob Black.  Meeting Charlie, who had been well aware of the case, confirmed the dust had settled, and so Bronte, though continuing to reside with the Cullens, became free to hang around in town, and was even accepted in La Push.  Wrinkled noses aside, she was Jacobs mate and that was enough to ensure her the full protection of the pack.

I wanted to be Brontes friend.  I jumped at the opportunity to hang out, feeling the need to have her on my side, gain some knowledge into those newborn days, I was hoping to ask her about the pain, the coward in me had felt it before but not for long, I wanted to gain inside knowledge.  More than anything I hoped she would tell me she was glad to be a vampire.  

We were walking on La Push beach, while Jacob had stuff to do, and it was a silent companion that I strolled with.  I completely trusted Bronte but Jacob had sent Seth to ensure she kept her teeth to herself and he wandered behind us, in his wolf form.  We walked without talking.  I had tried to chit chat but nothing seemed to evoke conversation, so I allowed my chatter to dwindle into a comfortable silence.  

Bronte came to a slow stop and turned to allow the ocean spray refresh her face, she took a deep breath, “I miss it... breathing”

I half laughed, “huh?”

She turned to me, an impatient look on her face, “I miss breathing Bella, I miss the feeling of a long inhale of fresh air...”

I frowned, then smiled, unsure what to say.  Brontes face went stiff and out of the blue she said, “He still loves you, you know”

I gasped.  My hand flying to my chest with surprise, “What? Who? What do you... What?” I babbled.

“Oh blah blah” Bronte said cattily, “I don’t care, I mean he loves me more, loves me forever you know, we’re soul mates, but I can see it when he talks about you, or when you talk to him... he loves you”

“Jacob?” I wanted to run away, this conversation was not one I had envisioned, or ever wanted, to be having with Bronte, I decided to play dumb, “What are you talking about? He loves you alone of course!”

“Ah ah!” Bronte said, with a schoolteacher inflection, “Lets not pretend... Jacob still loves you, he just loves me more... I don’t need to read minds to know it, I know it because I know him.  He is a big old softie, and his eyes tell all his stories... When he hears your name his eyes scream it, when he sees you they light up and when Edward touches you he cannot help but look away... it is possible to love two people Bella, you should know that...”

I realised Bronte had been filled in on the events of the past few years.  I nodded, wishing the conversation was over.

She continued, “I’m not jealous Bella, but I’m also not stupid, I need Jacob a hell of a lot more than you need Edward, without him I exist alone with an eternal day ahead of me and no respite from pain... at least, should something happen to Edward, you would eventually die, and its not likely that something should happen to him is it?”  

I looked at her, “I’m sorry Bronte but I don’t know what you want me to say...”

Bronte took my arm, “I suppose I’m looking for reassurance Bella, that Jacob will survive this battle, and above all I suppose I’m looking for reassurance that if something should happen to Edward, that you won’t... turn to Jacob... again...”

I shook my head but resolved not to even answer that, it was a moot question, if something happened to take Edward from me, I would follow, even into the pits of hell.

Chapter 11 - Chase

It was hard to go about my normal routine with such a heavy load on my shoulders.  Yet again my very existence was putting the Cullens in danger.  They had existed for a hundred years with no trouble, and within two years of meeting me they were fighting off vampire after vampire.  Forced to kill their own kind to protect a human.

Edward remained quietly tortured about the bind he felt he had put me in.  Become a vampire or die was the main message of the Volturi, and at this point in time neither seemed to fit.  We had a plan, the immortal life was on hold, while we played out our teen romance and escaped together with my parents hearts intact.

I would often waken in the middle of the night, and without him realising, listen to him writing his journal with an angry pen.  He didn’t want to kill me, to take my life and replace it with an immortal existence, yet he didn’t want anyone else to do it - even without his gift I could read his mind.  He felt we were being pushed into doing things the Volturis way, and neither of us liked a bully.

We would find a way.

We often took a drive to a remote place, and Edward would run us to the top of a tree where we would sit, and contemplate each other for a while.  

“Bella, are you afraid?” Edward asked me, swinging himself down to rest beside me on a massive gnarled limb of a huge spruce tree.

“Of the Volturi? Yeh I am totally, but what can I do? They’ll come anyway...”

“I’ll protect you”

“Yeh, but Edward protect me from what? I mean I want this, I want to be with you, so why are we stalling, couldn’t we just do something now, say we want to go to Europe for the summer or something”

“Charlie would never allow it.” Edward had leaned so far forward we were face to face, his strength and acrobatics still made my pulse run fast.

“Better than a vampire battle in his kitchen”

Edward smiled, his perfect teeth creasing his bottom lip, “I suppose that is true”

Then suddenly his brow furrowed and his eyes widened, “There is someone here, Bella, I can hear them”

I lifted myself slowly to a sit, straining my ears as if I would hear too, but watching Edwards face as he concluded who he was listening to.

“Caius” He said, throwing me onto his back and telling me to hold on tight.

He took off through the trees like a monkey, swinging tree to tree with amazing speed.  

“Does he know we are here?” I roared into Edwards ear.

“He is chasing us Bella” He answered, and I turned my head to see Caius, a hooded figure, chasing us as we flew on.  Up to the top of the tree, and Edward began to jump from tree top to tree top.  Like a weird game of chess, we jumped forward and each treetop was replaced with Caius.  He was close enough now that I could see his fiery red eyes, with each jump in our wake he could smell me stronger and I could see his thirst for my blood grew more and more.

The trees shook and swayed with each jump and I began to lose confidence.  My fears took over and I started to lose my breath.

“Edward” I shouted, “I can’t breathe”

With that Edward made a huge leap across the river and began to run through the fields at a faster speed than I had ever experienced so far.  I felt myself slipping into unconciousness, the hyperventilation taking its toll, and just before I passed out I felt Edward tighten his grip on me, shouting “Caius No!”

Chapter 12 - Decision

I woke to see Edwards face three feet from mine and I was so relieved.  I was not dead, I was not a vampire (although that was a little disappointing too) and I was in his bedroom.

I woke to hear shouting and snarling from the room below and looked quizzically at Edward, “What happened?”

“He nearly had us Bella!” He said, pacing the room, “Carlisle is talking him down now, he was so thirsty he had lost control... he nearly had us”

“How did we get here?”

“Just in time, we came in the window downstairs, they were all ready, I ran you up here and the rest took on Caius”

“They won’t kill him?” I wasn’t sure if I hoped for a yes or a no on that question.

“No, not yet... Carlisle will take him hunting first when he has calmed down, then we hope to reason with him and see what he has come here for, its unlikely the battle Alice saw is us against Caius on his own...”

I nodded, feeling strangely overwhelmed and surreal, and promptly fell back asleep.

I woke to Alice stroking my hair, “Hi Bella” She said in her usual chirpy voice, but I could sense there was pain behind it.  Her gift was such a burden.

“Alice...” I sat up pushing my hair out of my face into a barrett, “Where is Edward?”

“Downstairs, don’t worry Bella, everything is fine... He is with Carlisle, they are talking with Caius”

I stood out of the bed as if to go downstairs, “I want to see Caius”

Alice closed her eyes and then I heard Edward shout “Alice don’t let her, I’m coming” from the end of the stairs.  He took the staircase in one bound and strolled across to me as if nothing was wrong.

“Edward I want to hear, I don’t want to be up here” I demanded, “Its me you are all talking about anyway”

Esme appeared in the door way, Edward looked up at her and she nodded.

“Come on Bella” She said holding out her hand, and then looking at Edward she said “What is he going to do Edward? There are 8 of us and 1 of him”

I took Esmes hand and she led me down the stairs where Caius stood in a corner, like the grim reaper of the movies.  I felt a terror I had not felt since James tricked me to the ballet studio and I hoped he would not sense it.

“Ah!” he exclaimed, “She fears me”

“No I don’t” I shouted sticking my chin in the air and bracing my shoulders, “You don’t scare me, you are just a bully”

“A very tired bully at that!” Caius said mocking me and he crossed the room, to take a closer look at me as if I was an animal in a zoo, “that little run your boyfriend gave me across the trees wore me out! I usually never have to chase my prey”

“Bella is not your prey” Edward said standing in front of me, “She is nothing to you”

Caius laughed, “Ah but my dear boy she is something to me, something to all of us, a problem shall we say, a dilemma,” he crossed the room and looked out the window, continuing to speak,” This lovely human may be a nice pet for the moment, I can see her appeal certainly, but what happens when loverboy breaks her heart? I cannot imagine the daughter of the chief of police will be crying anything but Vampire! Can you?” He turned to Carlisle, “Can you?”

Carlisle spoke, his tone calm and conclusive, “Bella will be joining us in immortality, Caius, you know that”

“Ah but do I?” Caius turned to look out of the window again, “Surely, having been granted a pardon, that would have been first on the schedule? Hmmmm?” He directed the question to Edward.

“We want to make sure there are no problems for... our kind... when Bella changes” Edward said with confidence, “We want as little attention as possible, as you have pointed out, Caius, Bellas father is the chief of police, we really don’t think he would be satisfied with letting the untimely death of his only daughter go without tearing the town, and us, apart for information.  That would be bad for everyone.”

“I agree” said Caius, “and that is why I am here”

Everyone seemed to hold their breath.  Caius looked from person to person and then at me.  He held my gaze while he spoke, “Some of us have decided that this little relationship is not good for us and well the Volturi are split over this decision, some want nothing to do with it but most are willing to stand with us.  As you have correctly pointed out, Bella is the daughter of the chief of police, and if she was to be murdered, he would not stop until he found out who did it.  So, we have a problem, either way he will be looking at all of us closely, perhaps even discovering that Bella took a little trip to Volterra and well... we don’t want American FBI on our doorstep.  We have decided that in order to protect ourselves, we must rid the world of everything and everyone that dear little Bella here has ever touched... her mother, her father, her friends, especially those disgusting wolves, and of course... the fools who brought her into this ring of fire... You all here, the Cullen family... As we speak the chosen Volturi are making their way here, with every family and nomad they can find, and at the end you will all be destroyed”

Chapter 12 - Fear

I heard a high pitched noise that escalated into my eardrums, spinning through my brain.  I clasped my hands over my ears but it continued and then I realised, cliched as it may sound, that it was a scream and it was coming from my own throat.

Edward clutched me to him, his cold skin feeling soothing against my raging brow.  Caius had said what he had come to say and then stood very silently as the family of vampires I loved so much stared at him, some hissing with anger, some quietly resolved to their fate.

“We’ll fight you” Edward spat, “Some of you will die too”

Caius shook his head carefully and deliberatley, “Legend has told, for many years, of ways to kill the Immortals like us,  you’ve heard them all, a stake through the heart, drowning, etc etc... but of course all prove futile to the real thing, as many of us can attest” He walked toward the group, dropping his voice to a hushed whisper, “Until now, Aro has been looking for many years for the grave of a Vampire hunter who successfully killed his first wife without even breaking a sweat, and a couple of weeks ago he found it” He turned to Alice, “I’m surprised you don’t know about this, my dear, with that clever little ability of yours!”

Alice looked uncomfortable, “I couldn’t make it out...” She turned into Jaspers protective embrace, and he hissed at the Volturo, “Get out of here before we kill you ourselves”

Caius threw his head back and laughed, “You can’t!” He exclaimed, “I’d kill you first” and from his pocket he took a small silver box, and opened it, taking from it a small wooden stake, “this is Khosrau’s cross, a stake made from the wood taken from the cross of Jesus Christ...”

The room fell silent.  I could hear my own heartbeat in my head, my fear overwhelming me.

“This wooden stake is the only thing that can kill a vampire completely, one blow to a vampire and they cease to be, finally at rest which I know many of you have often wished you could be...” he looked directly at Rosalie.  She stepped forward “There are 8 of us here, Caius, we could take that little stake off you now and kill you with it, whats stopping us?”

“Try it” Caius said, his eyes glinting.

“Rosalie!” Emmet commanded, “Don’t!” He moved forward and took her by the arm, she resisted but then gave in, her beautiful face falling as she moved back to his side.

“I do not doubt that you could disarm me, but all this stake needs is one scratch, and who would it be dead on the floor?” Caius smirked, “Alice? Emmet? Newborn Bronte - the wolf lover? Which of you is the least precious? Send them forward to take me on”

No-one moved, Carlisle moved his arm protectively across his family as he moved forward.

“Leave Caius” He ordered.

Caius did as he was told.  Like a flash he was gone, running across the trees as he had come, and the silence from the forest felt foreboding.

I slumped in Edwards arms, “This is insane” I whimpered, “I can’t take this, its a nightmare, I can’t be here, its too much”

“Bella” He assured into my ear, “I am here, we will be fine”

I closed my eyes tight, and wished and wished that what he said would be true.

Chapter 13 - Love

“Don’t even think of it” Edward suddenly snarled at Rosalie, as we all sat in silence.

She snapped her head up sharply, pleading with her eyes to keep her thoughts to himself.

Emmet looked at Edward, and Edward nodded.

Emmet exploded, “Would you? Rosalie! You’d leave me here, you’d go? What the...”

“It just came into my head, I wasn’t going to do it”

“PROMISE ME YOU WON’T GO!” Emmet was so angry, I looked at Edward and whispered for him to fill me in on what this was about, “Where was she going?”

Edward leaned down to whisper, “Rosalie was thinking that dying wouldn’t be so bad”

I was so shocked I couldn’t think straight, “She would do that?” I asked, “She would kill herself to save everyone? Even me?”

“No, not now... but it crossed her mind, living forever can be tougher on some but she wouldn’t leave Emmett, I don’t think she could”

I felt relieved, but the confirmation that eternal life was not the picnic it seemed struck me like an open hand across the face.  I wanted to be with Edward, I wanted to be me, now, with Edward, but the prospect of living forever and ever was growing more and more unwelcome in my mind.  

Emmett was still hopping from foot to foot while Rosalie stood with her hands on her hips and a look of “Gimme a break” on her face, “I’m not putting up with this Em,”She said, “I had a stupid thought, freako over there heard it, and now you’re going nuts over something that I thought for a millisecond - Build a bridge babe, and GET OVER IT”

Edward stole me from the room just in time before Emmett got even more mad, and took me into the kitchen where Esme and Carlisle were drawing out a plan.  Alice was having visions, but they kept changing, subjective as they were, and so she was exhausted.  Jasper was holding her hand and he looked up to catch Edwards eye and warn him to avoid getting into a questions and answers with her.  

“Where do we stand?” Edward asked Carlisle.  

Esme handed me a drink of water and a sandwich, “You need to eat” She said smiling and hugging me with her free arm.

I smiled pathetically, the root of all this families problems.  I’m sure most of them wished I would just disappear.

Carlisle showed Edward the plans he had drawn up, “The stake won’t affect the werewolves” He promised, “so we have that on our side, I know Jacob is here for us and I presume the others will fight for him too, I hate asking them but well, such a lot is at stake”

Edward looked at me.  I wanted to shout “Run lets run away” but I knew it was pointless, there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.  We would stay, they would come and we would fight.  Alices words rang in my ears, “We would lose more than we could replace”

I felt a selfish feeling creep up me, “As long as its not Edward....” but I shook it off.  

I attempted eating the sandwich but it felt ridiculous in my mouth. My body felt so tense, as if I would suddenly turn inside out, adrenalin I supposed.  

“Bella will stay in La Push” I heard Carlisle say, and Edward agreed.

“No!” I shouted, “I want to fight, I have to fight, its my fight”

Edwards eyes flashed, “No way, Bella you will stay behind, you will be a hindrance”

I nodded but resolved that I would not stay behind, I would fight, even if I died, I would not let my true love fight alone.

“They’re here” Alice said, “They are in the meadow...”