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Apparently, so did the wolves.
One dashed out from the woods, heading for Aro. Leah, I could tell from the gray fur. Benjamin, seeing her, acted quickly. He hurled one of the rocks from the edge of the field at Aro, distracting him momentarily. The rocks were serving their purpose well, because Leah had a fairly clear shot now, and the distraction had given several other wolves a chance to run in and help her dispose of Aro. I tore my eyes away from the action to glance at Jacob. He seemed to be smiling. I wondered if he had planned this. It was obvious that he wanted to join the battle, but I was glad he didn't, still aware of Renesmee on his back. I wanted her in my arms, where I could be sure she was safe, and I struggled to convince myself she was better off with him.
Closer towards the center of the clearing, the fight was getting more serious. Kate and Tanya had seized their opportunity to get to Caius while the Volturi was still caught up in all the confusion. Also taking advantage of the situation were Vladimir and Stefan, who were after Alec. Things were going well so far, and I knew that I was needed here, but I wished that I could do more.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Edward dash out towards the Volturi. I wanted to scream at him to stay here, to come back, but I couldn't. All I could do was strengthen my shield around him and be glad that I had learned how to project. I wondered who he would go after if he did manage to kill Demetri. Now the others were making moves, too, but the Volturi had figured out by now what had happened. They were fighting back, ultimately making our job more difficult. Luckily some of their witnesses had decided to fight with us, though, and the unexpected reinforcements were good, because now we had the Volturi from behind, too. They were trapped.
Meanwhile, I still had to focus on my own job. My prediction was correct, it was getting increasingly difficult to keep my shield around the right people, and around all of them at once. Especially as they were all spreading out, constantly moving, and getting more mixed in with the enemy every second. There were frequent attacks from Jane, and Alec's mist continued to creep around my shield, ever searching for an entrance, a break or gap of any sort where it could leak through and immobilize its victims. The mist could not gain entry, no matter what, or the battle would be lost.
Jane's attacks paused for an entire second, which was odd considering her rapid attempts going nonstop for the last minute. Sure enough, they started up again just as fast, maybe, I realized suddenly, to try to catch me off guard. The Volturi guard was making some slight progress through the chaos in the center of the clearing, and I noticed Felix breaking away from two of the Volturi's intended witnesses. He lunged in my direction, then stopped short. This, I imagined, was Zafrina's doing. Felix turned and attacked empty space, and I might have laughed in a less serious situation.
I heard some noise coming from the far corner of the field, my attention shifting immediately. Edward and Demetri, locked in the same deadly dance I had seen before, only that time with Victoria, and Edward had had more of an advantage… as before, there was help. As Edward played distraction, responding to Demetri's actions a fraction of a second before they happened, Emmett attacked from behind. Within the minute, Emmett had ripped the opponent's head off and tossed it into the middle of the clearing, where, I realized with a start, a fire was already burning. A wolf I didn't recognize dragged the rest of the body to it. Several such battles were engaging, and I was alarmed at the speedy progression of this from tense gathering to all out war…
By this point, many of the nomads who hadn't left were either dead or permanently maimed, and the Volturi had few losses but at least it was something. Two severely injured wolves had been dragged into the woods and out of the fight. Garrett appeared to have permanently lost an arm. Several of our witnesses had fled with the Volturi's. It was not a pretty scene to behold, but we seemed to be winning, for now.
Out of nowhere, Alec's mist evaporated. Just disappeared. The only possible explanation for this was… I decided not to get my hopes up, and searched for any hint of more mist creeping towards me. There wasn't any. I saw a white hand creeping along the ground, and towards the other side of the clearing, a burst of flame and a familiar pillar of thick purplish smoke, and I knew that Alec had met his end.
Jane stopped in her tracks. I think she realized then what had become of her brother. She screamed, a long, agonized, scream, and it conveyed all of the pain that must come from seeing your twin killed.
She fell to the ground, screaming again, writhing in pain. She stayed that way for a few seconds, while everyone else was frozen still. She was having a seizure in a wax museum, for all the scene looked. Then she fell silent, stood up, and slowly, calmly, crossed the field. Zafrina must not have interfered, as the smaller vampire approached me. When she got there, she turned around, standing beside me. I tensed, waiting for her to kill me, but she didn't. Instead, she stared out across the field. She stared straight at Aro. And suddenly Aro was the one screaming on the snowy grass.
Not Vladimir, who had struck the fatal blow. Not Stefan, who had tossed the pieces into the flames. Not me or Edward or Renesmee, who had started it. Jane wouldn't have been able to hurt us, anyway. But that wasn't why she had turned on Aro… it didn't make sense. I looked at Edward. He met my eyes and nodded. Jane had switched sides. She really had. Yes! This had tipped the scales. With Alec gone and Jane with us, the sides were no longer even. We were going to win. That did not answer why we were going to win, but we would win. We could ask questions later, when nobody was in danger.