Disclaimer: I own none of the Characters or Plotlines to Twilight. I just play around with it.

Chapter one

Bella's pov

"Diego," I hissed once Bree had left his side.

He whirled around and crouched into a defensive stance, but once he registered who I was he tentatively straightened. "Bella?"

"Shhhh, don't get too loud, I don't want Riley to discover us. Come with me."

"I can't. I have to talk to Riley."

I sighed, knowing that Diego could be as tenacious I was, but this was a matter of his survival so if I had to I would force him with whatever means I had. "If you tell him what you know you will end up in a pile of ashes and what would you have Bree do then?"

"What? How do you even know about Bree?"

"I'll tell you everything if you'll just come with me."

He glanced back at where he knew Riley would be emerging, apparently still hesitating. I touched his arm and gave him a pleading look. "If you don't believe what I have to tell you, you can tell Riley about the sun later today."

He nodded reluctantly and I told him where to go and to wait for me there. I needed to make sure that Riley found neither of their scents.

As I worked, I thought about the moment I discovered this wonderful little side effect of my gift.

A few of the new kids still weren't back at the house, so I took off in search of them, fearing for their safety once the sun would rise, which I knew wouldn't be long now. I picked up their scents pretty easily and followed them out to the better part of town.

I wondered what on earth they were doing here as I kept tracking them. I wasn't until I smelled her that I knew this was the wrong place to be. I froze when I heard one of them cry out in pain and her sinister laughter that followed that cry.

I inched closer to the building where I could feel their presence, but stopped when I heard Riley's command for the others to watch. I couldn't believe that Riley would be there when she tortured them like this, but the proof was right in front of me, I just couldn't see it yet.

In my focus on what was happening in the overpriced apartment building in front of me, I lost sight of where I was going and I knocked over a trashcan in the alleyway. The sound was loud and I knew they had heard my stumbling approach. It appeared that my clumsiness from my human days wasn't completely over yet.

I was terrified of being found spying on them, so I scrambled away while fervently praying that my scent would somehow not be discovered. I watched from a roof top down the street as Riley charged out into the street and sniffed the air.

When I unfocused my eyes I could see how much his aura had shifted towards the dark side and I finally knew what I had feared to be true. Riley was slowly but surely turning into the same kind of evil being as she was.

His frustrated growl reached my ears then and I refocused my eyes on his actual body, seeing to my amazement that he was now sniffing the garbage can. From the tension in his body I knew he had an idea that it was one of us that had been out there, but he couldn't find the scent that would determine which one of us it was.

Thinking it best to leave, I returned to the house and pretended nothing had happened. In the nights that followed I experimented with what I had learned and once I found the surefire way to hide myself I planned to leave this group.

Diego had just been turned when I left, but I had seen his aura and knew he was a good kid, that was why I watched over him, making sure he lived longer than most of the others.

I shook myself from my thoughts, because I could sense Riley approaching. I backtracked the way I came, taking Diego's scent trail with me as I left.

I reached the abandoned shack only minutes later and Diego was there, as he had promised. He was agitated, though, so I wisely kept my distance.

"Diego, please trust me."

"I can't. Not until you tell me what is going on."

"You won't like it, but I don't have a choice now. I vowed to keep you safe once I left and I have, so I will not let you walk into a deathtrap without even knowing it."

"Death trap?" He looked weary and I couldn't say I blamed him. Had I been in his shoes, I would have felt the same way.

"Yes, Riley will not allow you to live once you've told him you know about the sun's influence on us. There have been others that tried before you. The ones he claimed got burned by the sun."

"Why didn't you save them?"

"I couldn't get to them fast enough and I'm not strong enough to stop Riley and her at the same time."

"How can I trust you? We all thought you were dead."

"That was my way of protecting myself."

"Fair enough. But why do you try to save me when you didn't save the others?"

I sighed. This was the tricky part. I knew Diego was a good guy, but I also knew that he was impressed with Riley and that he wanted to believe Riley was as good as he was.

"I can see people's aura's and yours is better than any I've seen among the newborns." I smiled. "Well, aside from Bree. She's sweet."

Diego's eyes softened when I mentioned her and I didn't need to unfocus my eyes to know that his aura was gaining red. He was falling in love with this young girl and I smiled in spite of the pressing situation.

"She is. Before we got caught out in the sunlight together I only caught sight of her a few times when she was out of Fred's reach. But she drew my attention from the first moment I saw her."

"You love her," I whispered.

His eyes snapped up and he shook his head. "No. No, she's sweet and beautiful, but I don't love her."

"You do, but it'll take you a while to see the truth in that. Most important thing right now is that you keep her safe. We cannot let her go into this war with the rest of the army. We need to devise a plan that can keep her safe."

"I'll do whatever I need to, to keep her safe."

"Good."

The attack on the enemy clan, or what she claimed to be the enemy clan, was started unexpectedly and it had me and Diego running two steps behind the entire time. I was terrified that something would happen to Bree, while I promised Diego we could save her.

Summoning all the strength I had, I pushed my shield away from me to find Bree's light aura. It wasn't until we heard the fighting and unnatural growls that I finally found her and managed to cover her from head to toe in my shield. It was the first time I cast it out this wide and I was glad for it, because from all the screaming I knew the army was losing this battle fast and in an awful way.

"I've protected her, but we need to get her out of there. There is a sense of urgency in the air that is making me very uncomfortable."

Diego nodded and quietly ran beside me until he reached the edge of the battlefield. I could see Bree's small frame as she was cornered by two vampires I didn't know. I felt their goodness radiating off them, but from the stories I heard as I kept watch over Riley's group and his meetings with her, that there was a bigger threat out there waiting for us all.

"Don't do anything to push them into reacting," I told Diego. "They seem peaceful, so let's approach them as civilized as possible."

"They've got her cornered," he hissed, his eyes blazing fire.

"Just watch. They aren't hurting her. They're just talking."

Diego clenched his fists at his side, but nodded and walked beside me to where Bree was quivering and the two golden eyed vampires were softly talking to her.

Their eyes snapped up once we got close enough and Bree whirled around so fast I was afraid she might stumble, but she didn't.

"Diego!" she cried as she flew at him and tackled him to the ground, immediately kissing him as if the world around them wasn't threatening to go up in flames.

I chuckled, but turned my attention to the bemused looking vampires with their gold eyes. "Please, let them make their getaway. They didn't harm anyone and they're good kids," I whispered. "You can kill me, but please don't hurt them."

They both seemed surprised, but then a third vampire appeared next to them growling menacingly. "I can't read them. We can't let them get away and allow Alice to be in danger any longer."

I winced at the venom lacing his words. In his eyes we were a threat to his coven and I knew I would have to tread very carefully if I didn't want to be added to the pile of burning remains in the center of the field. I carefully peeled back my shield from Diego and Bree.

"I was protecting them. Can you read them now?" I asked, instinctively knowing this was the mind reader everyone had been warned about.

He focused his eyes on the young couple behind me, who were back in the real world for the moment and growling softly under the other vampire's scrutiny.

He nodded slowly. "They just want to leave. They didn't even know about Alice or what happened to Victoria's mate."

"Then go," the blond male spoke softly.

"But..." Bree started.

"Go, now!" the man said more urgently. "There are others coming. Others that will not show mercy for any that are not part of my coven. If you go now you will be able to escape their notice if you're lucky. Just remember to lay low."

I could see that he wanted to say more, but was holding back. I turned to Diego and gave him a small nod, ensuring him that I would get rid of their trail.

He didn't give it a second thought, instead he threw Bree over his shoulder and took off at full speed. I closed my eyes, picked up their trails and carefully removed the one that showed their retreat into the woods. With great effort I managed to create a fake trail with the bits of scent that were lingering near the edge of the trees to make it look like they too had been destroyed by the others.

"What are you doing?" the red haired vampire growled behind me.

"Protecting them," I said before I turned back to him.

The blond man put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him a step away from me. "Calm down, son. She doesn't appear to be a threat."

"Carlisle, I cannot read her thoughts. We don't know if she dangerous or not, but I think we shouldn't take the chance and risk Alice like that."

A beautiful strawberry blond came up then and grabbed the mind-readers hand. "Edward, darling. Alice said they're coming. We have to represent a united front."

I looked away when she lustfully claimed his lips, before pulling him further into the clearing where others were waiting. The other couple gave each other a look that I could interpret only as two adults feeling wary of their son's girlfriend, or in this case mate.

They both grabbed my arm and while apologizing, took me into the clearing where the rest of the coven was waiting. I could smell something underneath the heavy smell of burning newborns behind me and I couldn't quite place it, but it made me shudder involuntarily. The smallest of the females gave me a sympathetic smile and then turned her eyes on the edge of the forest farthest away from us.

The air was thick with tension and all of a sudden I remembered when I had felt this strong urge of self preservation before. It was when the Volturi guard had come to visit her, Victoria, I mentally corrected, now knowing her name for the first time.

I had hardly made the decision to protect myself, when Edward's head snapped up and his eyes sought mine. For some reason I knew he could hear me so I sent him the images of the night the Volturi came and then apologized before casting my shield out to cover my scent and down to make myself invisible.

I could register the surprise in Edward's eyes when I disappeared from sight, but he kept staring straight at me as if he was still staring into my eyes. Something fluttered in my stomach, making me glad I could no longer blush. His eyes finally left me and searched for the cloaked figures I knew were coming.

Even though I knew that I had to stay as still as possible in order to keep from betraying my presence, I couldn't help the tremor that went through me when they finally were visible through the thick purple smoke. The small girl's eyes flashed to mine for just a second, giving me a silent warning to stay perfectly quiet.

The small figure up front signaled for them to stop several feet in front of the coven that were waiting for them. I watched as they pulled their hoods back, my eyes nearly popping out to see that their leader could have been no older than Bree when she was changed. Her face was cold and aloof but I could see her aura rippling with barely contained fury.

Carlisle stepped forward and inclined his head in greeting. "Jane. As you can see your services are no longer needed."

"I have to say I am surprised a coven managed to survive an attack of this magnitude with all members intact," she said in that cold, slightly petulant tone that I heard before.

Carlisle nodded. "We got lucky."

She sniffed. "I doubt this," she said gesturing to the giant pile of burning limbs, "has anything to do with luck."

Edward stepped forward, opening his mouth to speak, but the small black haired girl stopped him with a small touch to his arm. He reluctantly stepped back into the arms of his mate and kept watching the entire scene with clenched teeth.

"Did you find out who created this army?"

The other blond male of the group stepped forward and nodded towards Jane. "Her name was Victoria. She sought to destroy my mate because I destroyed hers."

Jane quirked a brow as her eyes flitted to the small dark haired girl and back. "What did you do to this Victoria?"

"We destroyed her and her second in command," the blond said, jerking his head towards the mountain.

I couldn't look away, but I knew instinctively that there was a second fire burning somewhere up there. From the corner of my eye I noticed one of the other guards looking in my direction. Carefully I lifted my mental shield.

Edward, does he know I'm here? I asked him in my mind.

The moment I let him hear that thought, his head jerked up in my direction and then back to the guard that had appeared to notice me. His eyes looked pained when he realized he had just given me up.

I focused harder on keeping myself invisible and moved closer to Edward who was almost vibrating with his tight control over his instincts to fight to protect his clan. I felt the attention of the guards shift to the spot where I had just been standing.

Incredibly slowly I moved closer and closer to the ones I knew I could trust, hoping and praying that my shield would hold long enough to get out of this alive.

"Did you miss one?" Jane asked Carlisle.

"No. They were all killed."

She smiled menacingly as she turned towards Carlisle's mate. An earsplitting shriek ripped through the air and I nearly lost grip on my shield as she fell to the ground in obvious horrible agony. While everyone was distracted with Carlisle's mate for the moment, the largest of the guards lunged towards the spot where I had previously been standing.

I focused harder on my shield and breathed a sigh of relief when Jane allowed Carlisle's mate to stand back up.

"I will ask just once more," Jane said quietly. "Did you miss one?"

"No!" Carlisle snarled, enraged now. "And I will be sure to file a formal complaint with Aro as soon as I can. This is no way to treat a coven that is merely protecting one of it's members."

Jane sniffed and then turned to look at the giant that was clearly confused, having only encountered thin air where he had expected to find me.

"Well?" she asked impatiently.

"I was mistaken. I thought I caught a trace of a vampire, but it's completely gone now," he grumbled.

She hissed as she turned back to the coven before her. "You'll get the benefit of the doubt this time, but if we ever find out you've deceived us, we will make sure you will be taken to court."

Without another word they whirled around and moved away from the field as one.

The small dark haired vampire held out her hand in a cautioning gesture. "Do not move a muscle. They will send Demetri back in about half an hour to check if he was right that there was someone left. For your own safety and ours, please stay hidden until I come back for you."

I realized only then that she was talking to me. I was too scared to let Edward know my answer mentally, but as I debated it, she spoke again. "I know you will try and I hope you'll last. We'll have to go home to avoid suspicion, so it's up to you. I'll be back when it's safe."

I swallowed thickly at the idea of being left here to my own devices, next to a burning pire of my former coven members. What was I supposed to do when my concentration slipped?

I watched helplessly as the four couples left the field without looking back and once they were out of sight I tried to clear my mind and just keep a hold of my shield.

Ever since I was turned I felt like time had started racing by me. Days just slipped by without me noticing, but now it seemed to have slowed down to a nearly complete stop. I mentally calculated the chances I had to climb a tree while keeping my shield in place. It wasn't a good chance, but I'd take whatever I could at that moment.

Moving only inches at a time, I managed to reach the trunk of the nearest spruce. I knew I couldn't jump and keep the shield in place and neither could I afford to lose my shield for only a moment, because for all I knew I was already being watched.

So instead, I just leaned against the tree and held tight to my shield.

As Alice had predicted, the large dark haired Volturi guard entered the clearing after a while. He stood on the edge of the field with his eyes closed, his face lifted into the wind to try and catch a scent. He growled loud enough for me to hear, but I managed to keep my fear at bay for the moment.

He ran around the clearing, grabbing at air every now and then, but never did he come close enough in my direction to indicate that he knew I was still there. After having run through the field for the umpteenth time, he growled loud enough to be heard up to a mile away.

After only a few moment the rest of the guards showed up. Jane was glaring at the guard that had come to check if I was still there and for a moment I felt sorry for him. Thankfully she didn't use her power on him, sparing me another look at that horrible talent of hers.

After they left, I stood frozen in place for an unbearable amount of time.

If I had been human I would have suffered from hypothermia or some other ailment that would have been sure to have killed me.

Then, when I had almost given up I heard Alice's bell like voice.

"Edward, will you stop hovering! You've seen my visions, she's no threat to us."

"You don't know that, Alice. We both know that your visions are subjective."

I released my shield and both of them hissed at me at my sudden appearance.

I stepped back, bumping into the tree behind me and then tripping over my own two feet, landing hard on my ass.

I quickly covered my face, too embarrassed to look at either of them. God, how stupid could I be? I hadn't been clumsy in a while, but somehow all that bottled up, innate lack of equilibrium just popped right up to humiliate me.

I hated my life.

"Bella?" Alice asked, amusement clear in her voice.

"Don't laugh," I muttered petulantly.

This, of course, triggered Alice's carefully contained laughter. I attempted to hide in my arms even further, but it only managed to cover so much of me.

It was a tentative touch to my hand that made me look up to find Alice smiling down at me, her hand out as if to help me up. Grimacing a little I took the proffered assistance and stood.

"Don't be embarrassed," Alice said. "I really wasn't laughing at you."

I shrugged one shoulder. "It's okay. I was hoping I had gotten rid of that clumsiness by now, but it apparently just waited before it came back with a vengeance."

"Aw, hun. You'll grow out of it. You have all the time in the world to."

"Thanks, I guess."

A harrumph from Edward drew both our attention. "Are you ready to leave yet? They could come back you know."

Alice rolled her eyes at him. "They're already on the way to the airport and they'll be in a plane to Italy within the next hour or so. I told you this. You've seen it for yourself."

"Let's go already. This place is giving me the creeps."

I chuckled under my breath, but quickly shut up when I caught Edward's outraged glare. "Sorry," I muttered.

"You're lucky every one else trusts you, if it were up to me you'd have been on that fire with the rest of them," he hissed before stalking off into the woods.

I was left staring after him with the ridiculous urge to cry.

"Don't worry. He'll come around," Alice said. "You ready to meet the family?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." I muttered, not knowing if I had made a mistake by waiting for them to come get me. Perhaps I would have been better off running with Bree and Diego.

A/N: So, here's my frist Twilight story. I hope you liked it so far and will let me know what you thought by using the review button below.

My plan is to update bi-weekly so I have the opportunity to create chapter of quality and some good lenght.

Thank for reading,

A.N.N.