"HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUFFY!"

I nearly sliced several people that I love and care about deeply, as they jumped out from behind some bushes in the cemetery.

"WOAH! Take it easy, little sis! No need to go postal and kill us all." Emmett said with a grin.

Edward walked past him to pull me into a hug.

"Sorry, love. They insisted on surprising you, no matter how hard I tried to tell them your loathing of surprises." he whispered rapidly into my ear.

I could feel Jasper start to diffuse the air a bit with his gift and laughed.

"Thanks, Jasper, but it's unnecessary at this point." I said, dropping my sword to my side.

I actually started to look and noticed that Alice and Emmett were carrying party balloons.

"How's the patrolling going?" Edward asked.

"Oh, not much. Just another dead night in the cemetery." I said, slightly smiling at my little joke.

"Enough chit-chatting. We're going to be late!" Alice interjected.

"Late? For what?" I asked.

He sighed.

I hated when he did that.

"What? What is it?" I asked, curiously.

"Promise you're not going to be mad, love…"

I really hated when he did that.

"Mad about what?" I asked again.

Emmett started to say something, but Alice sent him and Edward threatening glares.

"I swear, if either of you say one word, I'll dismember you myself."

Edward and Emmett sighed. With that, Alice, Jasper and Emmett ran off in a blur.

"Edward, what's going-"

"If I tell you, she'll kill me. Let's just go before she comes flying back here." He scooped me up in his arms and we ran off into the night.

(Edward)

I got us to Carlisle's house in record time, thanks to my speed.

I set Buffy down and she noticed instantly that it was dark inside, which it never was.

"Edward…"

"Don't worry, sweetheart." I smiled, reassuringly.

We walked up to the door, and as soon as I put my hand on the door handle, I could smell it.

Fear.

Absolute and endless fear chased down with worry and anguish.

I looked at Buffy and judging by the worried look on her face, she seemed to feel it as much as I could smell it.

"Edward, I don't know if we should go in." she whispered.

"Buffy…"

"It doesn't feel right. It feels like a trap."

I started to say something, but my phone started buzzing in my pocket.

I answered without saying hello. I didn't need to.

"Don't go into the house."

"Alice…"

She sounded almost in tears, if she could be.

"Don't go in. Just come home. I'll explain everything when you get here."

She hung up.

"What's going on?" Buffy asked, nervously.

"I don't know. Alice said to-"

"Meet her at our place, I know, I heard."

"Let's go then."

I picked her up once more and ran us the few miles to our ocean view bungalow.

It didn't take very long, a minute or two at the most, and before I even set her down, we both felt it.

"I don't like this, Edward. This, right here, feels like even more of a trap than Carlisle's house did."

"I agree." I said.

We stood silently for a second.

"Well, let's get going with it then." Buffy said.

I nodded. We linked our hands together tightly and walked up the steps, into the house. The front door opened into the living room, and it was empty. Every light in the house was on. We carefully maneuvered our way through the entire first floor and upstairs, finding nothing. Only horrid feelings that the both of us wore very plainly on our faces. Wewere headed back outside, when Buffy's face lit up, not with excitement or happiness, but with realization. I heard her thought and nodded in agreement.

The training room.

We started down the stairs and instantly knew we were right, not by feelings or thoughts, but by sight.

Alice, Emmett, Jasper and were all cornered into one section of the large room, with coldhearted, yet worrisome and horrified, looks upon their faces.

"Ah, it's about time you've arrived. You're missing all the fun." a wicked voice boomed.

I caught their thoughts before I saw them. I growled loudly and turned towards the direction our family was looking.

Jane , Alec, Demetri and Felix stood there.

Faith laid on the floor in front of them, unconscious.

Felix held Dawn tightly, with one arm around her waist, pinning her arms to her sides, and one arm around her neck.

Buffy noticed and instinctively ran towards them.

"Dawn!" she yelled.

"If you come any closer, I'll snap her neck." Felix growled.

Buffy stopped short, noticing Faith.

"What did you do to her?" Buffy hissed.

Jane laughed, loudly."She thought she could take us, by herself. I proved her wrong, instantaneously."

She was still alive, I could hear her heart beating faintly. Very faintly.

"What. Do. You. Want." Buffy growled, fiercely.

"We already have what we came for." Felix said, with a nefarious smile.

Jane , Alec and Demetri laughed.

"If you hurt her, I swear to God, I'll torture you so slowly you'll wish you were dead." Buffy said, darkly.

They all laughed. "Don't worry, vampire killer. The Volturi, they have great plans for your sister. Whether you like it or not, she's coming with us. There will be no harm done to her. Until it's time, anyway." Jane smiled.

Suddenly, Willow fell over, screaming in pain.

"HOW DARE YOU TRY TO ATTACK US, WITCH!" Jane bellowed.

Before, I knew what was happening, Buffy ran over and tackled Jane down to the ground, breaking her away from Willow. Alec wrapped his arms around Buffy, trying to peel her off from his twin sister.

I sped over and twisted his neck, ripping it completely off.

His skin cracked and his body fell over.

Jane, sensing her twin's death, sent Buffy flying off of her and set her dangerous eyes on me.

The next second, my body was filled with the same excruciating pain that Willow and Faith had undoubtedly felt.

My knees buckled and I fell to the floor.

My body, my veins, every piece of me, filled with endless amounts of horridly piercing pain.

My vision blurred out from the amount of hurt.

I was sure that she was going to kill me.

Then, the pain stopped just as suddenly as it started.

I opened my eyes just in time to see Buffy chop Jane with her scythe.

She chopped at her cold, stone body over and over and over, until Emmett finally pulled her off of Jane's cracked, dead stone body.

I managed to pull myself up off of the floor and ran over to them.

Willow and Faith were still unconscious on the floor.

Emmett grabbed the scythe from Buffy's hands and set her down.

Alice let out a dry sob. "Demetri and Felix are gone. They took Dawn."