Isabella POV

I watched as the remains of the last vampire burned in the flames I had lit up not one minute ago; the dark smoke invading the otherwise clear sky. The "assignment" didn't last more than a few minutes, even when we were outnumbered. There were ten of them, and I must admit they were remarkable fighters, but why they thought they stood a chance against us I would never understand.

There was one of them, a girl with hair as red as a flame but straight (unlike Victoria's curly hair) was smart enough to run away as soon as she saw which members of the guard had come, but even at her top speed she was no match for Demitri. The ones that surrendered once they knew there was really no hope were lucky enough that Alec just wanted to get everything done with, so eight of them were paralyzed and quickly dealt with. The last one of them though … she was a different story.

Unlike the rest, she was clearly still on her first year yet her fighting skills were greater than the others. When Jane tried to hold her down, it shocked us to see that instead of the girl, it was Jane who was on the ground. She composed herself quickly, and as much as she wanted to charge at her again she knew better than that. The phrase "If looks could kill" played around in my head, and I was sure the girl would be dead if it were possible.

Next was Alec, which had as much luck as his twin. The difference was that he was a little more stubborn than her. He launched at the vampire with such grace I had a hard time not remembering another short-haired pixie-like vampire I once knew and loved, but the girl moved out of the way even faster than he did. In the back of my mind, I wonder if such speed was because of her strength or because of her gift.

I guess that, if I wanted to, I could help them keep her down and get this over with but I was having too much fun watching her make them sweat … figuratively, of course. Demitri apparently thought the same as I did, because he stood by just like I did.

"Do something!" Jane screeched at the top of her lungs, and I bet I would've jumped if I had been human.

"Let it go Jane" I said, not being able to keep the grin from my face "Clearly she deserves to go if she was able to make a fool out of both of you" At this, I heard Demitri chuckle and Alec hiss.

I turned to look at the girl. She was standing about 50 yards away from me, her stance ready to protect herself. Her eyes weren't red like Jane's or Alec's, but they weren't dark either. Much to my surprise, they were a strange golden color and I wondered briefly why I hadn't noticed that before.

"Name" I requested, with as much authority as I could manage.

The girl only glared at me, her muscles still stiff. I rolled my eyes, impatient. "I'm not going to hurt you girl, in fact, I'm the one that's going to order they leave you alone. Just tell me your name." This time, my tone was a bit softer, but still urgent.

"Vanessa" she said, barely above a whisper her eyes on the ground. I knew she could manage something louder.

"What was that, dear?" I asked, and she looked straight at me, her eyes gaining a strong emotion.

"I said, Vanessa" Her tone was hard now, not at all the tiny and shy voice she'd used only seconds ago.

"Now that wasn't so hard now was it?" I raised my eyebrow, she merely glared back. "Well Vanessa, like said before, you earned to keep your existence. Aro will be thrilled to hear that a newborn made two of the strongest of his guard flinch. Go on now, wouldn't want to see me change my mind?" She needed no more motivation; as soon as the last word left my mouth she spun on her heel and disappeared into the white forest.

Demitri stood by my side, waiting for me to tell him to track her, but I was planning on keeping my word for now. "Let's go home, I'm sure Aro waits for the news." I said, not bothering to make sure any of them were following me.

The heavy wooden doors screeched as they were pushed open to let us through. The room was as clean as ever, the guard perfectly lined, waiting for orders from the Masters.

"Isabella, dear, lovely to see you've come back so soon!" Aro said enthusiastically as the four of us walked towards him. "I expect to see there have been no problems with our little assignment." He said, walking towards Demitri to take his hand.

The expression on his face as soon as he saw what Vanessa had done to Jane and Alec was incredibly funny; but I had enough self preservation to not laugh … that could wait until I was alone.

"And you let. Her. Go?" He exclaimed, releasing Demitri's hand and facing me. From where I stood, I could see Jane and Alec smirking, but I knew the pleasure wouldn't last them long.

"You know there was no way we could've made her join us. From what I could tell, she's a mirror. Anything we tried to do against her would only hurt us back; there has to be another way to get to her of course, but until we find it, we can't just charge against her and expect her to give up. You want her alive, and alive we shall bring her once we figure out her weakness." My tone didn't shake once, which I was grateful for.

"I hope you're right Isabella. It will be your responsibility, since you were the one to let her go so easily. Find her weakness and bring her to me." He ordered and turned around to face the twins.

"Have I not given you enough training!" he scolded them, and it truly looked like a father scolding his children. "You've been on this guard for centuries, yet a newborn makes a fool of you! Have you no idea of how this might affect us? Rebellions might start forming just because rumor has it someone could take the guard." His voice was hard, and I wouldn't have the guts to answer if it were me the one who was getting punished. "You will go back to training immediately. I will not have both of you be such a weakness." He dismissed them.

"And Isabella" he spoke, his back to me "I want Vanessa's weakness by the end of this week" I took that as my dismissal and walked back to my room.

Good thing it was only Monday.