A/N - Welcome to the second chapter of ignite! I'm so happy this got so much positive feedback, I really appreciate it. So, instead of studying for finals I'm posting the second chapter and in the process of writing the seventh; I know, I know, I should just post them all now. But if I keep them all and post consistently y'all will be much happier.

Disclaimer - as always, Stephanie Meyer own these lovely characters. I'm simply borrowing them!

I followed Felix into the guard's wing of the castle.

"Did Aro not tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"He didn't want the Cullens to know about your talent in case we'd have to fight them one day."

I just looked at him, confused for a second. Then it clicked; if they didn't know we'd have them by surprise.

"It's not like it makes a difference anyways. They were bound to find out some time."

"Aro is literally going to have my head off."

"Felix, don't worry about it, okay? I already look like I'm on duty and I'm not." I looked down at the cloak still on my shoulders. "I'll talk to him."

"Don't put it off, do it now."

"Would you rather your head off or me clawing your skull open? Don't tell me what to do," I threatened.

"Just… do something about this," he said, walking away.

I went to the end of the hallway and knocked on my dad's door.

"Dad? It's me."

"Come in!"

This is literally something only I'd be able to do. Not even Caius could just walk into my dad's room.

I walked in and shut the door behind me. Dad was at his desk reading some old book.

"Why didn't you tell me I wasn't supposed to tell the Cullens about my shield?"

He looked up from his book and muttered 'damn it' under his breath.

"Sorry, I didn't know. I saw them in the hallway and Edward was wondering about why he couldn't hear me so I told him. Then Felix was practically hysterical telling me you didn't want them knowing. Just… don't punish Felix; it's not his fault I didn't know."

"It's okay Bella." He was weirdly calm about it. "Why don't you organize a guard fight training meeting in the throne room? And invite the Cullens?"

I could see where he was getting now… we were just going to have to intimidate them.

"Would you like to come too, Dad?" I asked. I hadn't fought him in a while… a really long time actually.

He hesitated but I gave him the puppy dog eyes and he caved. "Okay."

"Yay! I'll get Demetri to round everyone up!"

I was just about to leave when he stopped me, "I would like you to invite the Cullens yourself, Bella. Don't force it upon them, just invite them."

I growled, "Fine."

I ran down the hall and knocked on Demetri's door.

"Demetri! Dad's letting us fight!"

Suddenly the door burst open; Demetri looked like a kid in a candy store, "Really? I'll get everyone."

"He wants me to personally invite the Cullens," I rolled my eyes.

Demetri scoffed, "Why?"

"Because I may have accidently told them about my shield."

His eyes glowed with excitement. "Oh," he said, understanding immediately what was going on, "I'll let everyone know then."

As I skipped down the hall to the guest wing I heard Demetri yelling in the guard hall that Dad was letting us fight. He was then startled by Dad coming out of his room down the hall and telling Demetri that wasn't exactly the 'rounding-up' he had in mind.

I went into the guest hall and heard all the Cullens in the same room, which was helpful so I didn't have to knock on four separate doors.

Carlisle answered the door, "Bella, it's nice to see you."

"Hello Carlisle. My dad and I would like to invite you to come down the throne room. We usually have guard meetings where… well basically he's letting us fight; to keep us conditioned and all."

"Well," he opened the door all the way and I saw all the Cullens gathered together. Carlisle turned his head to them, "What do you guys say?"

Emmett gave a quick, "Hell yes!"

Carlisle laughed and turned back to me, "We'll be down soon."

With that he closed the door.

As I made my way down to throne room, I was excited to be able to fight, the guard hadn't in a while and we were getting restless.

We didn't have to wait long for the Cullens to get there.

"Maybe they're just as antsy as us," I muttered to Jane beside me.

"Unfortunately for them, we don't have a 'no powers' rule," she whispered back.

Demetri was eager to go first and picked Felix to fight with him. Just as Demetri had Felix's head, Felix grabbed his torso and flung him to the ground and I saw his torso start to rip. Then he hit the ground and Felix dug his foot into Demetri's stomach and his teeth were at his neck.

"Nicely done, Felix," Dad exclaimed. He hadn't watched us do this in years.

"Let's go Bella; time for a re-match!" Felix pointed at me to fight with him next.

"I wouldn't underestimate me again, remember what happened last time?" I raised my eyebrows, remembering the time Felix ended up as my personal errand runner for a week.

I went to stand a few feet across the room from him.

"Place your bets now folks!"Heidi joked.

We circled each other until I lunged at him, which then got me thrown at the wall. As soon as I hit the ground I was lifted back up, Felix holding me by my neck.

"What are you gonna do now… Isabella?"

Felix liked to call me my full name just to get under my skin.

"Do you want me to kiss you or kill you?" I flirted.

He grinned and it gave me just enough time to kick him with all my strength across the room. His hand let go of me and I fell. I sped towards him before he could hit the ground and forced him into the floor by his neck; breaking the tile.

He grabbed my arm and held it as tight as he could; causing me to wince in pain and let go. Then he took my arm, spun me and held it in an uncomfortable position behind my back.

"You just lost an arm," he grinned.

"Well you haven't ripped it off yet."

I used my free hand to reach back and grab his neck and flung him forward to the ground in front of me. I sped around to stand on top of his arms and put my hands on either side of his and started to pull enough to make it hurt (not enough to rip it off).

"You just lost a head," I said, kissing his cheek.

I let him go and he sighed in relief.

"You owe me a round without powers," Demetri whispered to Alec.

My dad came up behind me, "Well done Bella. But you know I have to replace to tile again now."

"It's not my fault Felix is so heavy!" I countered. "Who's next?" I asked the room.

I got no reply. Then I had an idea. When was the last time anyone saw my dad fight?

"Daddy?" I said in my sweetest voice and turned to look at him.

The room filled with laughter.

He looked at me for a second and finally said, "Okay."

Everyone cheered on who they thought would win as they watched Dad and I. I wasn't expecting to win; he had me pinned in about 35 seconds.

"Would you like to pick someone to fight next, Dad?"

"I think I'll sit the rest of this out," he chuckled. Then I saw a sudden glint in his eye.

He turned his head to where the Cullen were standing, "Edward, why don't you and Bella go next?"

What on Earth was that man thinking? Edward Cullen was the last person I wanted to do this with.

I looked over at Felix who didn't look very pleased.

"It would be a pleasure, Aro."

Edward took a place a few feet away from me, as Felix and I did.

Edward lunged at me first and I decided to go for the gut and kicked him across the room. I let him fall to the ground and come running back to me. This time I stopped him from advancing by blocking him with the side of my arm. As I went to knock my other fist into his head he blocked it with his arm.

Then he caught me off guard and swung his leg to knock over mine; I hit the hard ground on my back and felt the tile crack beneath my head. I quickly jumped to my feet and launched at him but he threw me over his head; expecting me to crash into the wall again. Instead, I landed perfectly on my feet and charged back at him.

Our bodies smashed together and we both flew into the opposite wall. My hands went to his shoulders and his arms wrapped protectively around my waist as we crash to the ground with him on top of me.

It was like I was in a different world as he kept looking into my eyes like he could see my soul. I couldn't concentrate properly as his hands still gripped me around the waist. There was electricity running between us a mile a minute.

We could have laid there for years, or seconds; but when I came back to reality I used the distraction to my advantage and quickly rolled us over. With our eyes still connected I stood on his arms as I did to Felix and gripped his head between my hands.

"You're dead," I said using almost no voice at all.

He looked at me and then closed his eyes and chuckled, finally letting my gaze go. I got up off of him and looked at the room around us.

"You've got quite the fighter there, Aro," Edward commented, looking at me again.

I looked toward Felix, giving him a get-me-out-of-here look.

"Jane dear!" Felix went into the middle of the room, "I've been practicing!"

Out of habit, I put up my shield to everyone but Jane and Felix – because Jane could get carried away sometimes – and went to stand beside Alec.

"Please tell me that didn't last long," I whispered so only he could hear me.

"What ever are you talking about Bella?" he whispered back sarcastically.

I elbowed him hard in the gut, and he let out a grunt.

"That's for betting against me; you know what I'm talking about!"

"It wasn't that long… just long enough for everyone in the room to notice."

Great, I sighed.

I didn't even know what went on; it was strange, something I'd never experience before. I wondered about Edward's power, and if it might be more than reading minds.

Felix's screams brought me out of my thoughts and my immediate reaction was to pull my shield over him too.

He sighed in relief, and Jane laughed.

"Get some more practice, bud; Bella isn't always here to save you." She patted his head, and sauntered back over to where Alec and I were standing.

Dad proceeded to actually give the Cullens a chance to fight and let Jasper and Emmett have a turn.

"So," Jane looked at me, waiting; probably for me to say something about what just happened.

"Yes?" I looked back to her.

She raised her eyebrows and kept waiting for me to say something, but I just ignored her.

After Jasper beat Emmett, we watched a few others fight, and retired to our rooms for the night.

I don't know how on Earth I spent the whole rest of the night thinking about Edward; but I did.

When I looked into his gold eyes it was almost as if I could see his too. And, if it was even possible to do so, he looked right back at me the same way. Almost as if…

No, I thought, that's not even possible; how could I let myself do that?!

It was almost as if he was reading my mind.

I was so stupid! I'd never let anyone let their powers get through unless they were my dad; ever!

For the first time in my vampire life I felt claustrophobic in a giant room; like I was unnecessarily suffocating.

I jumped off my bed, ran to the rooftop garden and sat on the bench we had on the edge of the roof. It was around six in the morning and the sun was mid-rise in the sky. I looked down to see my skin sparkle.

That was my favourite part about the garden; you could easily enjoy the sun without humans seeing you. Plus, it was the best place to get fresh air. The garden looked down onto the nearby forest, so you could see all the tree tops.

I felt panicked, confused. Honestly, I just felt like crying. My eyes felt pricked with tears, but I knew I just imagined them; the tears that would never fall.

I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see my dad. I felt anger. Why would he even think to put me up against Edward? I turned back towards to trees, pulling my knees up against my chest.

"Are you alright, Bella?" he sat down on the bench beside me.

"Do I look alright?" I snapped.

He just looked at me, waiting for me to elaborate.

"Why do I always have to explain myself?!" I yelled in annoyance. First Jane and now my dad? "Why is everyone on my back? Just leave me alone!"

I stood up off the bench and stormed off.

As I made my way through the hallways of the Castle, I bumped into a figure.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I-"

I looked up at the face of Edward Cullen himself, and became even angrier.

I got straight to the point.

"What did you see?"

He looked at me, confused.

"In the throne room? When you landed on top of me? I don't know how you did it, Edward Cullen, but you got into my head. And I wanna know if you found what you were looking for."

He sighed, "You're the one that let me in. I wanted to know what you were thinking and then I could hear you."

"Yeah? And what did you find?"

"Bella!" I heard Demetri calling me.

I turned to leave in the other direction and Edward grabbed my arm to look at him. He pulled me up against him and whispered in my ear.

"You have a beautiful mind, Bella."

Suddenly I felt warm inside.

"Bella!" Demetri kept calling.

I turned away from Edward just as Demetri found me.

"Bella! We have a situation in the throne room. Grab your cloak."

"Do I always have to do his dirty work?" I said, trying to sound exasperated. When, right now, I wasn't at all.

"It's not exactly that," Demetri hesitated; Edward was still standing behind me.

That's when I heard the commotion downstairs. Above it all, I heard a child crying.

I sighed, "You've got to be kidding me." I grabbed a cloak out of a nearby closet; it wasn't mine, but it was the same colour. "Does no one listen to rules anymore?"

I started off with Demetri then remembered Edward still standing in the hallway.

I shouted back to him, "Don't let your family come downstairs!"

So, what'd ya think? Leave me a review and let me know! I know, it's another cliffy. And I'm gonna be honest; whatever is in the next chapter is a much better follow-up to this cliff than the last. So get excited!

P.S. if you feel like you're seeing unnecessary U's... I'm Canadian.