Chapter 7: New Year's Eve

Author's note: In this fan fic, to find out how it looks by Amun's point of view please read my fan fic 'Stargate: The Origin of Vampires'.

We camped out in the baseball clearing for two and a half days. Everyone was quiet. The wolves came and went. Some of us hunted. My Jacob never left my side. Then on New Year's Eve morning, momma came into the tent after my Jacob went out to consult with Sam. Momma helped me dress in some feminine but extra durable clothes. She then had me put on a small backpack that would have been heavy for a human child but not for me.

She then looked me in the face. I put my hands on her face. She seemed troubled.

"I love you. More than anything." Momma said tenderly.

"I love you to momma." I told her aloud. I then touched the locket around my neck. "We'll always be together."

Momma suddenly looked sad.

"In our hearts we'll always be together." Momma corrected while crying. "But there might be some trouble today. Now this is very important, when I tell Jacob to go...I need you to leave me."

What!? Leave her!? Leave momma!? Of all the things I imagined that could be bad, I never imagined this!

'NO!' I thought as she read my mind.

"Will you do it for me, please!" Momma pleaded.

'Why?' I asked inside my head.

"I can't tell you." said momma with a restraining sadness in her voice. "But now I need you to do as I say. And now...when I say go...you will run with Jacob as fast as you can, as far as you can."

I didn't want to. I've only been in existence for three and a half months. THREE AND A HALF MONTHS! Psychologically speaking, at my age, the passage of time feels different to my perception; to a young person their short lifetime feels like a very long time, while an older person will feel their longer lifetime has been short by comparison. But my perception is irrelevant. My time with my family has been too short. With the absence of Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper I feel like I'm missing an arm or a leg. I just want my whole family and my Jacob to all live together all the time. And now that won't be anymore. And I'm just going to have to live with it.

Momma took out a gold necklace with a golf-ball sized diamond and secured it around her neck. I brushed it with my fingers in interest.

"Pretty." I said in acknowledgement of it.

Until momma and I have to apart today I'm not letting her go. I wrapped my arms around her ice cold neck and my legs around her waist. Momma then carried me out of the tent and over to daddy. Everything was covered in a layer of snow. My Jacob in wolf form then came to my side as I climbed onto momma's back. We waited only a few more minutes.

"They're here." said daddy.

And then 'they' appeared from the far side of the clearing. 32 people in cloaks varying from light grey to dark black. These must be the Volturi that they all have told me about. In the front were the three people from my nightmare the night Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper left. One of the hooded men was the big guy who killed my Jacob and then delivered me to the white haired man who is standing in the front.

I was curious, how did I know their faces? My brain would have conjured up the nightmare from knowledge and memories, and I have never seen any of them before. Momma and daddy have seen them, and I have genetic memories, so maybe my DNA conjured up the nightmare from their memories. But then why this setting, and place? Maybe I had a vision of the future? I'm not Aunt Alice, but my brain is extraordinary to that of a normal human brain, along with my telepathy; who knows what the limit of my brain is really capable of?

Walking behind the Volturi was a blond haired yellow eyed vampire that I assume is the one the rest of the family has been referring to as cousin Irena. She looked worried as she saw her sisters here on our side of the baseball clearing. And behind her was about forty additional oddly mismatched vampires that I guessed Aro simply brought for show.

"The Redcoats are coming, the Redcoats are coming." Garrett muttered mysteriously to himself.

"They did come." Valdimir whispered to Stefan.

"The wives." Stefan hissed back, "the entire guard. All of them together. It is well we didn't try Volterra."

"Alastair was right." said daddy.

"Alistair was right?" cousin Tanya repeated in question.

"They, Caius and Aro, come to destroy and acquire." said daddy in answer. "They have many layers of strategy already in place. If Irina's accusation had somehow proven to be false, they were committed to find another reason to take offense. But they can see Renesmee now. So they are perfectly sanguine about their course. We could still attempt to defend against their other contrived charges, but first they have to stop, to hear the truth about Renesmee. Which they have no intention of doing."

I then heard my Jacob give a quiet signal.

Sam and his pack, as well as the rest of the my Jacob's pack then came into the clearing. There were a lot more wolves then I initially expected. My Jacob had not told me that there were 17 wolves rather than just 10.

It was then that the guard decided to stop.

"Edward?" grandpa asked, low and anxious.

"They're not sure how to proceed. They're weighing options, choosing key targets, me, of course, you, Eleazar, Tanya. Marcus is reading the strength of our ties to each other, looking for weak points. The Romanians presence irritates them. They're worried about the faces they don't recognize, the Amazon's, and the Wolves, naturally. They've never been out numbered before. That's what stopped them."

"Outnumbered?" Tanya whispered incredulously.

"Regardless of the 40 additional vampires standing behind them, they don't constitute their witnesses as anyone who would help them in this fight." said daddy. "They are non-entities, meaningless to the guard. Aro just enjoy an audience."

"Should I speak?" grandpa asked.

"This is the only chance you will get." said daddy.

Grandpa stepped forward and addressed the Volturi leader who was his friend.

"Aro, my old friend. It's been centuries."

Aro then stepped forward out of the center of the formation. His shorter female bodyguard that looked like she had her hand attached to him walked with him. A few of the members of the guard went into a defensive posture.

"Peace." said Aro raising his hand to calm the guard members.

"Fair words Carlisle but they seem out of place, considering the army you have assembled to kill me and to kill my dear ones."

"You have but to touch my hand to know that was never my intent." said grandpa.

"But why must I read your mind to learn the truth Carlisle? When the truth seems obvious. For how can your intent possibly matter in the face of what you have done?" said Aro.

"I have not committed the crime you're here to punish me for." said grandpa.

"Very well Carlisle, I will take your word for it, and for that I will say that you are innocent, but just you. Now stand aside and allow us to punish those who are guilty. Nothing would please me more than and preserve your life today." said Aro.

"No one has broken the law Aro. Let me explain."

The mean looking white haired vampire named Caius interrupted before Aro could speak.

"So many pointless rules, so many unnecessary laws you create for yourself Carlisle. How is it possible that you defend the breaking of one that truly matters?" said Caius.

"The law is not broken. If you would let me explain,"

"We see the child Carlisle," Caius interrupted, referring to me, "do not treat us as fools."

"She is not an immortal, she is not a vampire, I can easily prove this with just a few moments,"

Caius interrupted again, "if she is not one of the forbidden, then why have you massed this battalion to protect her?"

"Witnesses Caius, just as you have brought. Any one of these friends can tell you the truth about the child, or you can just look at her Caius, see the flush of human blood in her cheeks."

"Artifice! Where is the informer? Let her come forward!"

Cousin Irina walked up to Caius.

Caius pointed right at me. "Is this the child you saw? The one that was obviously more than human?"

Cousin Irina, looked at me and had a look of confusion.

"I'm not sure." she said.

"What do you mean?" Caius asked.

"Her face bears a resemblance to the child that I saw, but this child is taller, older."

Caius was about to reprimand her. But then Aro cut them off.

"Be composed brother. We have time to sort this out. No need to be hasty. Now sweetling, shown me one more time what you saw." Aro held out his hand towards her.

Then cousin Irina took Aro's hand. Aro held it only very briefly. Aro then had a look of confusion on his face. I was told that Aro possessed telepathic abilities with direct physical contact much similar to my own, only he extracts knowledge from people's mind rather than put his own knowledge into theirs. "And so we have a mystery on our hands, it seems. It would appear that the child has grown, yet Irina's first memory was clearly that of an immortal child. Curious."

Aro looked around at everyone in interest.

"Very well, Carlisle. I will hear your explanation. But I would rather have it from someone who is more central to the story, my friend. I will have every facet of the truth. And the best way to get that is to have the evidence directly from your talented son. As the child clings to his newborn mate, I assume Edward is involved."

Daddy kissed momma on the forehead and then me. Then he crossed the field.

He took Aro's hand. Aro held daddy's hand for many long moments.

Momma then hissed.

"Easy Bella!" Zafrina said to momma.

"Oh my God! I doubt whether any two among gods or mortals have ever seen quite so clearly." Aro said with awe. "You have given me much to ponder Edward. May I meet her?"

Daddy nodded in permission.

"I think a compromise on this one point is certainly acceptable, under the circumstances. We will meet in the middle." said Aro.

"Perhaps you should bring a few members of your guard with us." suggested daddy.

Aro smiled and nodded, and then snapped his fingers. "Felix, Demetri."

The biggest vampire and a normal sized one were at his side in an instant.

Aro took Renata, Felix, and Demetri, and walked to the center of the field.

"Bella love, bring Renesmee… and a few friends." said daddy.

"Emmett. Jacob." said mama.

Mama carried me to the center of the field followed by uncle Emmett and my Jacob. Aro scrutinized Mama for a moment.

"Young Isabella." said Aro. "Immortality suits you."

"Thank you." said mama.

"You liked my gift?"

Mama then touched the tips of her fingers to the diamond around her neck.

"It is very beautiful, and very generous of you. Thank you. I probably should have sent a note."

Aro then waved his hand in a dismissive manner as though it was nothing. "Oh, it was just something I had lying around, and I thought that it would complement your new face. And so it does. In truth young Bella, immortality does become you most extraordinarily. It is as though you were designed for this life. May I greet your daughter?"

Mama nodded in permission.

He then turned his attention to me.

"She is extraordinary!" He looked at me with a look of both awe, longing, and greed, as though he was going to be outbid on a priceless antique at an auction. "I hear her strange heart...I smell her strange scent! She is a remarkable specimen! I have never seen anything like her in all of my existence! Hello, Renesmee." he addressed me directly.

"Hello Aro." I responded.

He extended his hand to me in greeting, but I won't have any of that. I reached out and touched the tips of my fingers to Aro's forehead, wishing to have him read my mind on my own terms. I told him everything, about our life and the way we live it just living happily together one day at a time and how all we wanted was to not break the law and to just live in peace. And I begged him not to hurt me or my family.

"Brilliant!" He said with interest at my gift.

I took my hand off of his forehead.

"Please?" I pleaded with him.

"Of course I have no desire to harm your loved ones, precious Renesmee." said Aro.

I couldn't help but feel that there was some tone of deception in his voice.

Aro then directed his next comment towards Caius. "Half mortal half immortal. Conceived, carried, and given-birth-to by this newborn while she was still human."

"Impossible!" said Caius.

"How is it impossible brother?"

Caius seemed insulted by the question. Caius thought that the answer should be obvious.

"If it was possible, we would have known!"

"How would we have known?" asked Aro.

Caius didn't respond. He was put on the spot without an answer to the question.

"I will tell you why we would never have known, brother. It is because since the dawn of time, there has never been a romantic couple like Edward and Bella. Since the dawn of time, what vampire would have had the inclination to impregnate a human woman with their seed, and have them survive. It is quite obvious brother, how this is very possible, and always has been, but we would never have known."

Caius seemed humiliated at the explanation that made him appear stupid that he couldn't figure it out.

"So much to discuss. So much to decide. If you will excuse me, my dear Cullen's, I must confer with my brothers."

Rather than go back, Aro summoned the rest of the guard over. Momma, daddy, me, my Jacob, and uncle Emmett retreated back to our side.

"How can you condone all of this Aro? Why do we stand here impotently in the face of such an outrageous crime?" said Caius.

"Because it's all true," Aro told him calmly. "See how many witnesses stand ready to give evidence that they have seen this miraculous child grow, and mature in just the short time that they've known her. That they have seen her thoughts, and memories. That they have felt the warm blood that pulses in her veins."

Caius looked in our direction and pondered.

"The werewolves," he murmured.

"Ah, brother…" Aro started to say.

"Will you defend that alliance to Aro?" asked Caius. "The children of the moon have been our bitter enemies from the dawn of time. We have hunted them to near extinction in Europe and Asia. Yet Carlisle encourages a familiar relationship with this enormous infestation, no doubt an attempt to overthrow us. The better to protect his warped lifestyle."

"Caius, it's the middle of the day," daddy stated, "these are not children of the moon, clearly. They bear no relation to your enemies on the other side of the world."

Aro stepped in, "Dear Caius, I would have warned you not to press this point if you had told me your thoughts, though the creatures think of themselves as werewolves, they are not. More accurate name for them would be shape shifter's. The choice of a wolf form was purely chance. It could've been a bear or a hawk or a panther when the first transformation was made. These creatures truly have nothing to do with the children of the moon, they have merely inherited this skill from their fathers. It's genetic, they do not continue their species by infecting others, the way true werewolves do."

Caius looked at Aro with irritation.

"They know our secret."

"They are creatures of our supernatural world, brother. Perhaps even more dependent on secrecy then we are; they can hardly expose us. Carefully, Caius. Specious allegations get us nowhere." said Aro.

Caius turned back towards cousin Irina.

"Irina, it would appear that you have been quite mistaken in your allegations." said Caius.

"I'm sorry, I should have made sure of what I was seeing, but I had no idea." said Irina.

This was unfair! Cousin Irina was only being a law abiding citizen! Caius shouldn't give her a hard time!

"Dear Caius, could you expect her to have guessed in an instant, something so strange and impossible?" Aro asked, "Any one of us would have made the same assumption."

Caius cut Aro off with a silent hand gesture.

"We all know you made a mistake. I meant to speak of your motivations. You are unhappy with the Cullen's, were you not?" said Caius.

"I was." said Irina.

"Because?" Caius prompted.

"Because the werewolves killed my mate, and the Cullen's wouldn't stand aside to let me avenge him."

"So the Cullen's sided with the shape shifters against our own kind, against the friend of a friend even. If you'd like to make a formal complaint against the shape shifters, and the Cullen's for supporting them, now would be the time. We, The Volturi, will avenge your mate for you, right now." said Caius.

"No, I have no complaint against the wolves, or the Cullen's. From what I understand, my mate tried to kill Bella who is now my cousin, and the wolves were just protecting her. You came here to punish, on the grounds of an immortal child. No immortal child exists. This was my mistake…and I am sorry!" she finished.

And then without a word, but some kind of silent signal had been given to the guard, I was horrified at the sight of, with the sound of screeching metal, the cousin Irina's arms, legs, and head were torn off, and Caius ignited the body parts with a small flame throwing device. He then looked at my Alaskan cousins with an evil sadistic smile.

Tanya and Kate ran forward but were stopped by half a dozen people. Kate was harder to stop, Garrett got his hands around her and was shocked briefly, but then he was fine, curious. Either Garrett somehow developed his own immunity to Kate's power, or momma was shielding him extremely well. That would mean that momma's power is far more developed than we imagined. I was under the impression that she had just barely tapped her power?

Daddy then told them that attacking now would not do any good.

Irina didn't do anything wrong. Tears came to my eyes. She was gone and was never coming back.

Aro's witnesses now had a look of confusion on their faces. Obviously Aro was hoping for things to go differently.

"Irina has been punished for bearing false witness against this child. Perhaps now we should return to the matter at hand?" said Aro.

Bearing false witness against me? I never wanted this!

Aro then looked at grandpa.

"Just to be thorough, I'd like to speak with a few of your witnesses, Carlisle."

"That's why they are here." said grandpa stating the obvious.

Aro then drifted to the end of our line and faced Amun's direction.

"Amun, my southern neighbor!" Aro said warmly. "It has been so long since you visited me."

"Time means little; I never notice its passing." said Amun.

"So true," said Aro. "But maybe you had another reason to stay away?"

Amun stood stiff with nervousness. He flexed his fingers of his left hand that wore a strange gold glove with an orange glowing jewel on it.

"It can be terribly time-consuming to organize newcomers into a coven," Aro continued, "I know that well! I'm grateful I have others to deal with the tedium. I'm glad your new additions have fit in so well. I would've loved to have been introduced. I'm sure you are meaning to come to see me soon?" said Aro.

"Of course." Amun said in answer to Aro's question.

"Oh well, we're all together now! Isn't it lovely?" said Aro.

Amun nodded in polite response to the statement.

"But the reason for your presence here is not as pleasant, unfortunately. Carlisle asked you to witness, did he not?" asked Aro.

"Yes." Amun responded.

"And what have you witnessed for him exactly?" asked Aro.

Amun looked in my direction as momma held me in her mother's arms, then he looked back at Aro.

"I have observed the child in question. I will admit, the first second that I saw her I was suspicious, but, it was evident almost immediately that she was not an immortal child…"

Yeah, I thought to Amun, you were the one who thought I was from outer-space. But it didn't matter because right at that second Aro cut Amun off in mid-sentence, "Perhaps we should rephrase our terminology, since there seems to be no official classification. When you say 'immortal child', you are referring to a human child that has been bitten, and thus transformed into a vampire?"

"Yes, that is what I meant." Amun told Aro.

"And do you believe that the child to should be allowed to live?" asked Aro.

Half the vampires in our line growled in protest at Aro's question, and then they all looked at Amun for his answer. He had a nervous look on his face at this.

It was a clever game that Aro was playing; Amun would either need to answer 'yes' to his question, that I should be allowed to live, and therefore give Aro his excuse to kill Amun because he has, sided with us and all of our friends, or as grandpa's witness answer Aro's question with a 'no', therefore giving Aro every excuse to kill me, and all of grandpa's friends excuse to kill Amun for his testimony against me; a very compromising position Aro has put Amun in.

"I did not come here to make judgments." said Amun deflecting Aro's question.

"Just your opinion?" Aro laughed lightly.

"I see no danger in the child." Amun answered. "She learns even more swiftly than she grows."

Aro nodded, considering. After a moment, he turned away.

"Aro?" Amun called after him.

Aro turned back in Amun's direction. "Yes, friend?"

"I gave my witness. I have no further business here. My mate and I would like to take our leave now."

Aro smiled warmly. "Of course. I'm so glad we were able to chat for a bit and I'm sure we will see each other again soon."

Amun touched Kebi's arm and they both ran at vampire speed into the woods.

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