Disclaimer: The characters I fervently used in this story belong to no one, and will never belong to anyone else, but only to Stephenie Meyer.

A/N: You will notice that I copied most of the dialogs in this chapter from the book. It is because I wanted to keep the original value and form of the story, but would like a little change in the ending of one minor character, Bree Tanner. I tried to include her in the Cullen's lives to see how it would affect them, and the rest of the characters as well, and what alteration, and hopefully improvements, it could make to these beloved character's journeys.

Even though I copied the dialogs, I tried to change the narrations as much as I can. And the story will quite be different when that small change in the Volturi's decision, that is sparing Bree's life, has been made. Everything still belongs to Stephenie Meyer.

This story begins while Bella is regaining consciousness after fainting from the knowledge of Jacob's misfortunate accident, right after the battle with the newborns.

I felt several cool hands touching me. On my cheek, on my forehead, more fingers on my wrist.

Then voices.

"Carlisle," Edward's anxious voice was the first thing I heard. "It's been five minutes."

"She'll come around when she's ready, Edward." Carlisle's soft voice assured him. "She's had too much to deal with today. Let her mind protect herself."

"Alice," Edward's voice was still edgy. "How long do we have?"

"Another five minutes. And Bella will open her eyes in thirty-seven seconds." Alice's voice came from farther away. "I wouldn't doubt she could hear us now."

"Bella, honey? Can you hear me now?" Esme's gentle voice said, comforting me. "You're safe now, dear."

Yes I was safe. Did that really matter?

How about Jacob? Jacob's what really matter. Was he safe? What had happened to him?

Then I felt Edward's cool lips at my ear. "He's going to live, Bella. Jacob Black is healing as I speak. He'll be fine."

Edward's words made the torture slightly bearable. As the pain and fear began to ebb, I felt the controls of my body coming back to me. My eyelids fluttered.

"Oh, Bella," Edward's voice radiated with relief. I felt his lips against mine for a brief instant.

"Edward," I whispered

"Yes, I'm here."

"Jacob's is okay?" I verified

"Yes," he promised, his eyes perfectly sincere.

Carlisle suddenly spoke. His voice was so reassuring, it was difficult to doubt him. "I examined him myself. His life is not in any danger. He was healing at an incredible rate, though his injuries were extensive enough that it will still be a few days before he is back to normal, even if the rate of repair holds steady. As soon as we're done here, I will do what I can to help him. Sam is trying to get him to phase back to his human form. That will make treating him easier." A slight smile touched his lips. "I've never been to veterinarian school."

Despite Carlisle's comforting words, I still can't help asking. "What happened to him? How bad are his injuries?"

Carlisle's face turned serious again. "Another wolf was in trouble..."

"Leah," I murmured.

"Yes. He knocked her out of the way, but he didn't have time to defend himself. The newborn got his arms around him. Most of his bones on the right half of his body were shattered. Sam and Paul got there in time. He was already improving when they took him to La Push."

I shuddered at Carlisle's words. "He'll be back to normal?" I asked.

"Yes, Bella. He won't have any permanent damage," he promised.

"Three minutes," Alice announced quietly.

I tried to stand up. Edward helped me to my feet. I gazed at the scene before me.

The Cullens were arranged in a loose arc around the thick purple smoke hovering against the grass. Jasper was the closest to the haze, under its shadow, so that his skin was just giving off a subtle glow, not as bright as the others. He had his back to me, his arms a little extended, his shoulders tensed. He was half-crouched over something.

Only now I noticed that there was another vampire there.

This another vampire was obviously not a Cullen. The girl looked very young, fifteen maybe, slender, dark, chin-length hair framed her porcelain face. And her eyes were a shocking shade of red. She had her arms wrapped around her knees. Her blazing red eyes were intent at my face.

Edward noticed my baffled expression. "She surrendered," he explained softly. "That's one I've never seen before. Only Carlisle will think of offering. Jasper doesn't approve."

I noticed Jasper rubbing at his left forearm.

"Is Jasper alright?" I asked.

"He's fine. The venom stings." Edward answered. His eyes on my face, gazing at my reaction.

"He was bitten?" I was appalled

"He was trying to be everywhere at once," a tiny smile appeared on his face. "Trying to make sure Alice had nothing to do, actually." Edward shook his head. "Alice doesn't need anyone's help."

"Overprotective fool," Alice scowled towards her soul mate.

The vampire girl suddenly screamed piercingly, throwing her head back.

Jasper growled, she flinched back. She dug her fingers in the dirt, her head whipped back and forth in wrath. Jasper crouched lower.

Edward turned our bodies so that he was between me and the thrashing girl. I tried to glance around his arm to look at them.

Carlisle was suddenly at Jasper's side, putting a restraining a hand on his arm.

"Have you changed your mind, young one? We don't want to destroy you, but we will if you can't control yourself." Carlisle said to the girl.

"How can you stand it?" she yowled in her sharp, soprano voice. Her vivid red eyes refocused on me. "I want her."

"You must stand it. You must exercise control," Carlisle told her sternly. "It is possible, and it is the only thing that can save you now."

The girl moaned silently, wrapping her hands around her head.

The girl looked like she was in serious pain. I tugged Edward's arm. "Shouldn't we move away from her?" I whispered.

"We have to stay here. They are coming to the north end of the clearing now." Edward whispered back.

I tried to search for the approaching monsters, my heart thudding hyperactively. But there was nothing but the sick smoke.

I gave up after a moment. My gaze slithered back to the vampire girl. Her eyes, wild as they were with thirst, were still intent on my face.

I couldn't keep my eyes away from the girl. But I am not staring at her because of fear or shock. It was something else in her that I saw that had gripped my attention.

I stared, meeting her intent look, mesmerized. Wondering if I could possibly be looking to a mirror of my future.

Jasper and Carlisle then started to retreat back towards us. Esme, Emmett and Rosalie converging swiftly around where we stood.

I diverged my mind from the girl to face the coming fiends.

But I can't see anything but the purple smoke. I peeked at Edward, but his eyes were riveted straight ahead. I followed his gaze.

They appeared out of nowhere. It seemed like they popped out of the hazy smoke.

The dark figures came closer, solidifying. It was apparent that Jane, wearing the almost-black cloak, would be in the front. Though she was the smallest, she was still the obvious leader of the party. I couldn't see much of her face, obscured as it was in the shadow of the cowl.

The other dark cloaks trailed behind her. Felix, whom I recognized because he was the biggest, winked then smiled at me.

"Hmm," it was Jane's dead voice.

"Welcome, Jane," Edward said politely.

Jane's crimson irises scanned across the Cullens, then at the vampire girl. She had her head in her hands again.

"I don't understand." Annoyance colored Jane's usually dead voice.

"She has surrendered," Edward explained, answering whatever question was in her head.

"Surrendered?"

Felix swapped a quick look with another shadow.

"Carlisle gave her the option," Edward replied.

"There are no options for those who break the rules," Jane said, her voice emotionless again.

Carlisle spoke then. "That's in your hands. As long as she was willing to halt her attack on us, I saw no need to destroy her. She was never taught."

"That is irrelevant." Jane confirmed

"As you wish."

Jane looked at the newborn girl again. "It appears that you've done our work for us today… for the most part. Just out of professional curiosity, how many were there? They left quite a wake of destruction in Seattle," she asked.

Carlisle answered, "Eighteen, including this one."

Felix and the other shadow exchanged a longer glance.

"Eighteen," Jane repeated, astounded.

"All brand-new. They were unskilled," Carlisle said.

"All?" Jane snapped. "Then who was their creator?"

Edward answered coldly, "Her name was Victoria."

"Was?" Jane asked.

Edward jerked his head towards the east. Pointing, maybe, the other flutter of smoke. I didn't bother to check.

"This Victoria, she was in addition to the eighteen here?" Jane inquired.

"Yes," Edward verified. "She had only one other with her. He was not as young as this one here, but no older than a year."

Jane's blood red eyes were full of astonishment. "Twenty," she breathed. "Who dealt with the creator?"

"I did," Edward said frigidly.

Jane's eyes narrowed into slits. Then she turned to gaze at the vampire girl beside the billow of smoke.

"You there, your name," she snarled at the girl.

The girl didn't answer. She just glowered at Jane.

A genuine smile of a bubbly girl flashed at Jane's usually emotionless façade.

Then a blaring screech filled the meadow. The girl's body arched and twisted into unnatural positions. I tried to struggle against the nausea. I concentrated on Edward's vacant expression.

After a few more seconds, the screaming finally stopped.

"Your name," Jane asked again.

"Bree," the girl said at once, breathless.

The smile returned, so are the screams. I held my breath until her shrieking ended.

"She'll tell you anything you want to know," Edward snarled at her. "You don't have to do that."

"Oh I know," Jane was laughing. Hostility vanished from her face. "Bree, Is his story true?" she asked me. "Were there twenty of you?"

"Nineteen or twenty, maybe more, I don't know! Sara and the one whose name I don't know got in a fight on the way…." The girl Bree hurried through the explanations.

"And this Victoria—did she create you?"

"I don't know," Bree confessed frightfully. "Riley never said her name. I didn't see that night… it was so dark, and it hurt!" she flinched. "He didn't want us to be able to think of her. He said that our thoughts weren't safe."

Jane's eyes flashed to Edward's face for a brief instant. Then back to Bree again.

"Tell me about Riley," Jane said. "Why did he bring you here?"

Bree responded swiftly and eagerly "Riley told us that we had to destroy the strange yellow-eyes here. He said it would be easy. He said that the city was theirs, and they were coming to get us. He said once they were gone, all the blood would be ours. He gave us her scent." I pointed in the human's direction. "He said we would know that we had the right coven, because she would be with them. He said whoever got to her first could have her."

I was staggered. I felt Edward tensed beside me.

"It looks like Riley was wrong about the easy part," Jane said wistfully.

Bree nodded earnestly. "I don't know what happened. We split up, but the others never came. And Riley left us, and he didn't come to help like he promised. And then it was so confusing, and everybody was in pieces," she shuddered. "I was afraid. I wanted to run away. That one," she jerked her head at Carlisle, "said they wouldn't hurt me if I stopped fighting."

"Ah, but that wasn't his gift to offer, young one," Jane said. "Broken rules demand a consequence."

She then turned back to Carlisle. "Are you sure you got everyone? The other half split off?"

"We split off, too."

"I can't deny that I'm impressed," the other figures muttered in agreement. "I've never seen a coven escape this magnitude of offensive intact," Jane added. "Do you know what was behind it? It seems like extreme behavior, considering the way you live here. And why was the girl the key?" Her eyes flickered to me for just a second.

"Victoria held a grudge against Bella," Edward told her coldly.

Jane laughed. "This one, seems to bring out bizarrely strong reactions in our kind." She smiled angelically at me, her face suddenly animated.

"Would you please not do that," Edward's voice was unexpectedly furious, but still controlled.

Jane giggled again. "Just checking. No harm done, apparently."

A shiver ran down my spine.

"Well, it appears that there's not much left for us to do," Jane said, her voice lifeless again. "Odd. We're not used to being rendered unnecessary. It's too bad we missed the fight. It sounds like it would have been entertaining to watch."

"Yes," Edward retorted, his voice surprisingly sharp. "And you were so close. It's a shame you didn't arrive just a half hour earlier. Perhaps then you could have fulfilled your purpose here."

"Yes. Quite a pity how things turned out, isn't it?" she answered, her face just as dead as her voice.

Then she turned to the vampire girl.

"Felix?" Jane said sluggishly.

"Wait," Edward said while looking intently at Carlisle, his voice suddenly louder than before. "We could explain the rules to the young one. She doesn't seem unwilling to learn. She didn't know what she was doing."

"Of course," Carlisle answered quickly, enthusiastic. "We would certainly be prepared to take responsibility for Bree."

Amusement and disbelief colored Jane's face.

Then I saw something in her expression. A flash of something dark and bad but also something that seems to please her. Like some sort of a plan suddenly occurred to her.

"Oh, really?" Jane said, a smile that's both gentle and sinister appeared on her usually dead face. "If that's what you wish. But if you must fail, we certainly will step in again and take care of everything."

The way she said "everything" was strange. Like she was implying something else.

"If we fail, act as you may," Carlisle vowed.

The same strange smile reappeared on her face, now with a hint of smugness. "We'll mark your word. And oh, this reminds me," she then turned her glowing red eyes to me. "Caius will be so interested to hear that you're still human, Bella. I'm sure he'd love to visit."

Alice was the one who answered her. "The date is set. We will see you in a few months. You don't have to bother anymore."

Jane looked away without answering her. She turned back to Carlisle, then spoke in a more subdued tone. "Aro sends his greeting to you, Carlisle. He was wishing so much that we'll be able to meet you. It's been so long since you've last seen each other."

"Of course," Carlisle answered calmly. "It would be very pleasant if you could express my regards to him."

Jane nodded. Then her face became perfectly blank. "We'll leave now. Please remember the promises you've made today. If any news of defiance reached us, we'll be quick to take action."

"You can count on us."

The four cloaked figures began to withdraw quickly. Their movements were so smooth and swift, like they were floating rather than running. Before a whole minute has passed, they were gone.

Edward suddenly pulled me in a tight embrace, then he lifted my face so ca press his cold but eager lips against mine, in a kiss that was gentle but still ardent.

We stayed interlocked this way for a minute. Then, too soon, he pulled away. But instead of letting me go, he kept his arms tight at my waist. He looked deeply into my eyes, seeming to find something. I gazed back at him, trying to see into his soul through his scorching gold eyes.

After a long moment, he sighed then released me. He looked kindly at the girl, Bree.

"You're safe now. Bree," Edward said quietly to her. "They're not coming back anymore."

Bree was still staring at the place where the Volturi had vanished. Her face filled with silent terror and shock.

Then she sighed heavily before turning to look at Edward. "Thank you," she breathed.

A/N: Please, please review. Let me know what you think of my work. I know this one has many flaws and imperfections, so I really need your commentaries. Help me turn the corner. . Thanks for reading, by the way. Hope you appreciated the crap...