Told from Bella's POV. Thanks for reading!

'And why were you trying to kill our kind?' I demanded.

'Easy!' Cid retorted, 'They tried to kill us. Now can you please let me go?'

Jasper dropped him, though I suspected it was more in surprise than compliance. Across, Edward released Valentine.

'Thank you,' Cid said sarcastically and dramatically massaged his throat.

'I find it hard to believe that anyone would want to kill you,' Emmett said.

'I don't,' Rosalie muttered.

Valentine shrugged at the ominous death threat. 'They said something about getting revenge because I killed someone's mate a while ago, and that some lady's planning a full scale attack on this place.'

From my right, Alice gave a horrified gasp. Edward tensed in response to her thoughts.

'That vampire,' she moaned. 'I knew it. I've been seeing it for all those months, but it was so blurry I wasn't sure.'

'What vampire?' Emmett asked.

'The one that Vincent killed, all the way back in February –'

'But he's dead,' Emmett argued. 'How the hell can he cause all that trouble?'

'He had a mate.' Alice's shoulders sagged a little. 'And she wants revenge…'

'Oh man,' I groaned. 'I thought Victoria was the last of our troubles. What is it with all these people wanting revenge?'

'Who's Victoria?' Cid asked.

No one paid him any attention.

'So she's creating newborns?' Rosalie asked. Edward noted mutely.

'That doesn't make sense,' Esme broke in. 'How's she controlling everyone? Remember when Victoria created that army, a lot of humans were killed in Seattle? Surely, if there's going to be a full scale attack on Forks, there'd be some news about humans dying. It's impossible to keep a crowd of newborns under control.'

'No,' Jasper countered. 'It isn't. Difficult, but not impossible. If you select carefully, and you have someone supporting you with certain abilities, it's possible to keep newborns from human notice.' He smiled wryly. 'It's what Maria used me for in my early years.'

Cid thumped his spear on the ground impatiently. 'What's going on? Who's Victoria and Maria?'

'Put that stick away,' Rosalie ordered coldly.

'It ain't a stick, missy. And I'm not putting it away until you tell us what's happening and who attacked us.'

'You are in no position to bargain with us,' Rosalie replied scornfully.

'I'm not trying to bar –'

'There's going to be another vampire invasion?' Sam interrupted. Around him, the Quilettes' eyes brightened in excitement.

'It's not our fault,' Edward snapped. 'We're not the reason for this attack. Vincent's the one who drew the newborns here. And he cannot be held entirely responsible either, because if you remember, that was vampire was killing innocent lives, and had to be stopped.'

'It was just a stray thought,' Sam replied, looking annoyed.

'No one is to blame here,' Carlisle said quickly.

'What should we do?' I asked, though I already knew the answer.

'Easy,' Emmett said, smiling in an offhand way. 'We fight them.'

{}{}{}

'Are you sure it's tomorrow?' I asked Alice. She nodded and rolled her eyes.

'Bella, my vision may be blurry with the wolves and those two around, but ever since Vincent killed the little minions of that vampire, the future's clear as a bell. Well, at least, the future of the attack date's clear. Now you just worry about shielding everyone.'

'Will it be alright?' I couldn't help but ask.

'Hmm, let's see,' Alice said patiently, with the expression of someone teaching a little kid the alphabet, 'we've got Sam's pack, Jacob's pack, eight highly capable vampires and two lost souls from some unknown bogan country. It's more than enough to take on a newborn army. Heck, half of us could sit out and nothing would happen.'

'I'm glad we only got back yesterday,' I said.

'Why?'

'I'd hate to sit around for a week or so waiting to be attacked. This way, it'll be over quickly.'

{}{}{}

The familiar sense of déjà vu rushed to me as we spread out in the forest the next day. I remembered Victoria's failed attack on us, and my helplessness as a human at the time. Today, though, I was no longer a useless human.

'Remember,' Jasper reminded quietly, as though afraid to break the eerie silence of the forest. 'Unlike last time, they know about the werewolves, so we don't have surprise on our side. But the newborns will go for Valentine. Their narrow vision will allow us to pick them off one by one easily, as long as we keep them off balance.'

'Yeah, sorry buddy,' Emmett said, patting Valentine in a brotherly sort of way. 'You've got a big target on your forehead today. Not that it's visible, of course,' he added, glancing at the scarlet bandana on Valentine's head.

'Ha!' Cid muttered. 'Serves you right for having a pretty face.'

From somewhere out of sight, one of the wolves – Embry, it sounded like – gave a short bark of warning. Cid shot a reproachful look at the direction of the sound and twirled his spear briefly.

'When are they coming?' I asked Alice.

'Soon, I think. In like five minutes.'

The five minutes felt like an eternity. I was first alerted of the strangers' arrival by the presence of a thick white mist. It floated all around us, until I could barely see a few feet out in front of me.

'Are you alright?' I looked at Edward in panic. 'Is it Alec?'

'Yes, I'm fine, and no,' Edward replied. 'It's not the Volturi. And this mist isn't like Alec's. It doesn't smother anyone. More like it's just there to block people from being seen. I think – woah!' He leapt forward and pushed me to the ground as something whooshed past overhead.

'Look out!' Jasper yelled somewhere in the mist.

Edward snarled and launched himself off me. There was the sound out two boulders smashing together, and in that horrid moment I realised the purpose of the mist: to block out the sight of the invaders.

We were now blind.

Edward and Alice fared the best; their respective abilities allowed them to pinpoint the locations of their attackers. The rest of us were nowhere near as lucky. I tried to throw my shield out to drive back the mist, but it was physical, not psychological, and my shield passed through it harmlessly.

'Jasper!' I heard Edward yell. 'Cover me! I know the one who's making the mist, once I take care of her we'll be able to see properly!'

'Edward, wait!' I screamed, but there was no reply. He was gone.

It was complete, utter, chaos. Someone grabbed me by the neck and I felt a searing pain along my arm as they tried to rip it off. Out of nowhere they were wrenched away from me, and in their place I saw the bladed tip of a spear.

'Thanks!' I managed to gasp. 'I owe you one!'

Cid winked. 'I wouldn't wanna be you!' he shouted into the mist and jumped high into the air. The mist obscured his figure, but I heard him coming down and swiping his spear through the air. A massive explosion ensued, clearing the mist temporarily for me to see that there was a circle of burnt shrubs and cinder around him.

My amazement was short lived, however. The vampire that had attacked me came back and pinned me to the ground. I struggled to throw him off, but he was too strong for me. The mist was sliding back again, but before everything was blocked I saw that we were rapidly losing. Edward and Jasper were gone; I could only hope that they were still alive trying to take out the vampire creating the mist. I couldn't see anyone else from my family, but no fires were lit, so I knew they hadn't been totally destroyed. White fragments crawled on the ground; I turned my eyes away from them for I knew what they really were, while I saw many wolves lying motionless on the ground. A lump formed in my throat and I looked away.

Cid was backed between two trees by two vampires. I tried to help him, but in the moment I took a step forward the mist closed again and I was completely blinded. Oh, please don't hurt Charlie and Nessie, I thought pleadingly.

Through a break in the mist, I saw Valentine outnumbered three to one. He was making wild movements with one arm, and a strange fire-like substance began flowing out. It seemed to slightly pain the three vampires, but also cleared away the mist. I rushed in to attack; grabbing one of them by the shoulder, I braced my hand against him and ripped.

The vampire gave a scream of pain as his arm was torn off. His two friends surrounded me and dragged me off him. I kicked out, but one of them managed to yank my arms behind my back while the other bared his teeth in preparation to tear me apart. I shut my eyes in dread.

Then suddenly, both were pulled away. I opened my eyes and saw Valentine standing over me defensively. The two vampires were thrown almost forty feet away.

'Thanks,' I panted as I climbed to my feet. 'Why don't you do your demon thing? It'll finish them off quicker.'

'What demon thing?' Valentine replied, keeping his eyes on the two stunned vampires.

'You know, uh,' I flapped my arms at a weak imitation of wings, 'that flying thing you turned into last February.'

'Oh, you mean Chaos? I don't like him taking control. I thought materia would be easier.'

'What materials?' There was no reply as he leapt away to fight. I sighed, used to this by now.

The vampire I attacked lurched about, groping on the ground for his arm. He seemed too distracted to pay any attention to me, and quick as lightning I struck him down. His cry of alarm was never finished as I whipped a lighter out of my pocket and set fire to him.

A sick feeling rose up in my throat as I watched him burn.

'Nice work,' complimented a snide, girlish voice I only knew too well. 'Really nice. Glad to see you've improved.'

Like the flick of a switch, the mist was gone. The fire from the vampire I killed threw dancing shadows across the forest. Everything was clear again, but now, I wished that I couldn't see the three hooded figures that materialised silently into the forest.

'Hmm,' Jane said in a bored tone, examining her nails. 'That girl with the mist had a very useful ability. Pity we killed her really.' She smirked. 'And pity you won't survive today.'

Eh, sorry I've left out a lot of stuff like where Vincent and Cid spent the night before the invasion and all that. I'm just too lazy to put in extra info. Besides, I didn't have a clue myself, and making Vince sleep in a coffin felt weird. I mean, where are they going to get it, and where's Cid gonna go?

Forgive me for using {}{}{} during the 'breaks'. For some strange reason the stars/asterixes no longer upload properly on Fanfiction (for me anyway) so this was the only way I could think of to denote breaks.

Oh, and I'd like to give some credit: when Cid says 'serves you right for having a pretty face' comes from a book called Running Scared by Elizabeth Lowell (I think. Can't remember her last name) and the part where Cid says 'I wouldn't wanna be you' is a direct reference to Fang's Highwind attack in FFXIII.

This chapter may be a bit clichéd and over the top with all those newborn attacks; I honestly don't know. I'll try and make it less overblown in the next chapter.