A/N: Helloooo! Please welcome to the stage, Sam and the Fluffy Boys! :D

"Sam is on his way," she bit her lip.

"What?" I asked, a jolt going through me. "Now?"

"Yeah, I'm really sorry, Bella! I was talking to him and I accidentally let slip that you were bringing some friends here and he flipped, just assuming they would all be vampires or something. He's bringing the whole pack."

I growled, "Does that boy never learn?" My teeth ground together as I thought. We weren't at full strength, not at all. Birch and Archer were gone, I would not allow Rosalie to fight, what with the pregnancy and all, and Edward and Jasper were off training. That left just me, Alice, Carlisle, Esme, Rafael and Alia to defend the place because Holly wouldn't go up against the pack. "Will it come to a fight?" I asked as Alice walked outside, pulling her phone from her pocket and dialing her wayward brothers.

"I'm not sure. Sam's pretty mad, but not in a killing way, more in a 'I've had it with the Hunters' kind of way."

"Fine," I snapped. This was a meeting we would have to have sooner or later anyways, I had just been hoping for later."

"I'm really sorry, Bella..." Holly said, miserable.

I sighed. "I know, you didn't mean it. I swear are all the wolves so hot headed? I mean I know it's kind of their thing, but after so long! They need a real alpha to sort them out," though by that point I was just grumbling to myself as I hitched Archangel to my hip.

Holly pursed her lips and waited as I led her and the two Cullens from the Forge. "Loki!" I called out and he appeared at my side, along side Holly's fox, Renia. "What do you think?"

"They'll listen to reason if you lay it out correctly," he said, rolling his shoulders as he pulled a more solid form to his bones. I jumped up onto his back and we ran back to the house, myself astride Loki's withers, Holly on Renia's, and the Cullens running beside us.

As we came streaking up Esme and Rosalie, who had practically moved in with us to assist in building the war room, both came to stand on the porch. "What's wrong?" Rosalie asked, hands immediately going to rest on her stomach, which happened to be showing early signs of her pregnancy already.

"The wolves are coming," I said. "But don't worry, I'll make sure no one gets injured. Besides there's always the-" A sound similar to a brass bell being struck with a soft mallet rung through the air, along with a few high pitched yelps. "-barriers for them to worry about," I finish with a bit of a grin.

Holly smacked my arm and said, "Bella!"

"Calm down, they're not set to burn, just to repel." Holly continued to glare at me to I said, "Fine, I'll let them in. But they better behave." I reached out with my magic and felt the energy that made my physical boundaries recede.

"Don't act like they're my pet dogs or something!" Holly said, a bit of a smirk at the corner of her lips.

"Isn't Seth?" Rafael asked, appearing from inside the house as well.

Holly lunged, trying to hit him but I intervened, stepping between the two. "We have more pressing matters to worry about right now, don't we? They should be here soon."

On cue, the paw steps of the wolves began to thud through the air. I turned and saw their shapes appear between the trees, sighing. I stepped forward and instead of facing them with a sword drawn as I'm sure they expected, I sat on the front steps. This caused Sam to slow as I had hoped it would. He slunk behind a tree, Jake and a wolf I assumed was Jared accompanying him, and emerged once more as humans. Sam's voice was still angry when he called out, "What in the hell is going on?"

"Hello to you, too!" Emmett scoffed.

I turned to the big vampire and said, "Emmett, take Rose inside please."

He opened his mouth to protest but Rosalie did not, instead just grabbed Emmett's elbow and dragged him along behind her. It was for her protection either way. "Call if you need us, Bella." Rosalie said gently.

"I will," I smiled at the two before turning back to the wolves. Jacob and Jared flanked Sam, in human form, Seth stood on a flank as close to Holly as possible. Leah stood on Seth's side along with Colin, Quil and Embry stood with Paul on the other flank. I had eyes only for Sam. "You wanted to have a discussion, Sam?"

He looked a bit surprised at the civility but he got over it quickly. "Damn right we do! What's this I hear about you... you massing an army? A battle of some kind?"

I glanced dryly at Holly who was staring pointedly at her feet. Well, I knew she wouldn't be able to keep all the details from Seth for long, likely Sam overheard. "Well, that is true for the most part. I have been meaning to discuss it with you, in the event that you would like to be a part of it."

Sam was sputtering and the wolves in the clearing were now growling as well. I rolled my eyes.

"Would you at least listen to me before going all... growly?"

Sam's mouth tightened into a thin line but he didn't say anything, so I took that as an invitation to continue.

"See, my Clan is about as close to evil as you can get without literally destroying everything. They are corrupt and greedy and violent and willing to do all sorts of bad things to preserve and increase their power. I am the heir to that line, the largest and most powerful of the Hunter clans. I refused to lead because I didn't want anything to do with it, so they sent me here hoping that between you wolves and the Cullens my tribe and I would be destroyed."

"Aren't you extremely powerful, though?" Sam asked, bewildered.

I smiled, "Yes, but they were unaware of the extent. I wanted to remain under the radar as much as possible to avoid more... refined, assassination attempts. Now, because of the turn of events involving myself, Alice, Holly, and Seth my Clan has decided to come and wipe us all out, labeling us as traitors and dangerous and all that. Hunters, Cullens, Wolves, it won't matter. Thanks to one of my tribe members, Birch, we were given enough forewarning to do something about it, even though we are still mostly fuzzy on the exact date of our impending execution."

"And what are you going to do about it?" Sam asked.

"Sam, you can't honestly be listening to-" Jake began behind him.

"Shut up, Jake. Let Bella finish." Jared said, kicking some dirt at Jake's heels.

"Thank you," I nodded to the intervening boy. "So far we have several plans in effect. Alice? Will you run and get a few examples of the things we've been making in the Forge?"

"Of course," she murmured, smiling at me as she blurred off.

Thanks, I said in my mind. "You've already encountered our barriers, but they don't just repel, they can do all sorts of other nasty things. I'm bringing in a few friends I've made over the years-"

"More vampires?" Sam asked, stiffening.

I gave him a dry glance and said, "I'm getting there! Some, yes, but for the majority, no. Right now we can count on a few clans of Elves, and hopefully in the near future I'll have concrete information pertaining to whether or not we can count on the WereTribes, Dragons, and possibly some of the Greek Gods, maybe some of their children as well. My tribe is massive, numbering around seven hundred or so, and they're teaming up with the Volturi. Heard of them?"

Sam seemed to busy processing what I had told him thus far to scoff, so he just shook his head.

I chuckled, "You call yourselves vampire slayers yet you know so little of them," I shook my head. "The Volturi are the leaders of the Vampire world. They make their home in Volterra, Italy. They are conniving and operate much like my Clan does. They have many vampire servents but the core fo their group number only slightly higher than the Cullens here. As such, the Volturi see the vampire side of my family as a threat and have quite the vendetta against them. The Volturi employs a guard of around twenty vampires and I wouldn't put it past them to rally more troops if they suspect we are massing a retaliation force."

Alice reappeared then, arm's loaded down with several weapons and pieces of armor. "Here."

"Thanks," I reached my neck up and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "In the past week or so we've been forging weapons specifically designed for the fight." I laid the pieces out as a few more wolves ran back to the woods to shift back. As they reappeared I waved them forward saying, "Come on, have a look. We can be nice if you can."' They stepped forward tentatively and I rolled my eyes, continuing on, "See? For instance I have armor here that will repel spells for the most part, weaker ones anyways. I have swords that ignite anything they cut through, very helpful for fighting vampires. I have jewelry that can slow down anything that comes too close to you. All sorts of things."

"Fighting these guys should be a piece of cake then, shouldn't it?" Jared asked, stepping up to handle a sword.

"Ah, but my family has magic to. I figure that at the most, my enchantments will just negate theirs. As soon as all out forces have arrived here my Tribe and I will begin battle training. Now," I paused, looking Sam in the eyes, "We do have vampires assisting us as well."

"How many?" Sam asked through gritted teeth.

"Less than thirty," I said and Sam growled, despite his human form. "Not all of them are vegetarian, but-"

"I can't allow that, Bella, despite the good you're trying to do." I could hear the strain in his voice. He was trying his hardest not to explode so I had to give him credit for that.

"But, I have a solution for that, one I think you'll rather enjoy. Carlisle?" I asked. He was still wearing the amulet from earlier, and he handed it over with a slight frown. "Earlier today, Alice came up with the idea for this little beauty."

"A necklace?" Jake asked, skeptical.

"No, an amulet," I waved him off. "I spelled it to dampen a vampire's thirst and make the taste of human blood unpleasant. It's all a mind trick, but the point is it works and if any vampire would hunt and kill a human despite the spell, the amulet will set off a signal so that we can find them. We were going to give them out to every vampire that comes to Forks to ensure they do not damage the human population and maybe even switch around their eating habits for good."

"Well then," Sam said, unsure of how to take this.

"Sam, how do you know that's even for real?" Paul burst out. "They could very well be lying just to win our trust, and quite frankly, I do not trust freaks like them!"

Seth whirled on his pack mate and growled, "You're talking about my Holly's entire species here, Paul, you watch your mouth!" Holly smiled and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around Seth's waist. I would have teased her for it, but there were more important things on my mind.

"Honest to god, who's to say this whole thing isn't just some big plot to wipe us out? They are in league with those bloodsuckers after all and all they've done since they arrived is walk all over our pack. I'm not trying to cook up some... conspiracy theory or anything, but honestly! Doesn't this seem a little suspicious to anyone else?"

I noticed a few of the wolves frown in agreement and I sighed, thinking hard. Oh! I thought, standing up in a flash. "Well here, let me-"

"Bella, no!" Alice said, flashing to my side, much to the bewilderment of the wolves. "Let Carlisle just run back to our house, we have-"

I quieted her with a swift kiss. "That would take too long, and I've had worse, don't you worry. Thank you for the concern though." I ignored the wolf whistles from a few of the more easy going pack members and disappeared into the house. I returned later with a pewter goblet and a dagger and sat on the front porch. Alice's worried thoughts ran through my mind and I did my best to sooth her. The pack watched with a certain fascination and I grinned, flourishing a hand at the goblet like a magician.

"Now, for my next trick," I muttered. I held the goblet between my knees and before anyone else could object I brought the blade of the dagger to the flesh of my palm. The cut was long and deep and hurt like hell, but we were trained to ignore pain, so I did. The pack gasped and the vampires growled in concern. Alice was nearly beside herself and most of my focus was on keep her calm as my life blood flowed out. Well... I could understand her concern. As soon as enough blood had flowed down my fingers and into the goblet I held my hand palm up to the pack and healed it without a word. Once the wound was closed I wiped the blood off on the wood of the porch. I set the dagger beside me and stood.

"Smell this." I held the goblet out to Sam. "Have you smelled human blood before?" He nodded before extending his head to sniff the cup's contents. "Does it smell the same?"

Sam's nose twitched and he sneezed. "God, no! Ugh, that is potent."

I smiled as other pack members stepped up to sniff it as well and each went back sneezing and complaining. "The difference between Hunter Blood and Human blood is that it has concentrated magic in it. Think of it like humans have red and white blood cells, well we have red and white and magic blood cells. Kind of. Anyways, I'm going to remove the magic from my blood so all that's left is the human in it. Do you know what happens to vampires when they smell human blood?" My tone was that of an elementary school teacher asking her class about simple math.

"Their eyes darken and they go feral," Sam muttered.

"Good!" I swept my hand around the cup in an unnecessary flourish as the magic was removed. I finished the motion by wafting the scent towards the Cullens. "Sorry about this, guys," I muttered as the wave of scent hit them. Each of them in varying degrees were affected. Carlisle was unchanged, his eyes darkened only to a gold hue, where as Alice's were slightly darker, Edward and Esme's were a deep brown and Jasper's were jet black. He seemed to be struggling so I said, "Now, watch this." I tossed the amulet to Edward and said, "Place that around Jasper's neck, please."

Edward did as he was asked, and once more as soon as the amulet was seated around the blond vampire's head he relaxed to the point of nearly stumbling. His eye's became a glowing butterscotch and he gasped. "Bella, this is fantastic!" He strode forward and took the goblet from my hands, in haling deeply and came away grimacing. "Ugh, that smells like horse shit," he grumbled, his southern twang slipping through in his neglecting astonishment. I took the goblet away from him and ignited the blood inside, burning it away so as to stop the torment of the other Cullens. I held a hand out and he returned the amulet back to me.

I turned back to the wolves and raised one eyebrow. "Well? Are you satisfied?"

Sam looked at the amulet through narrowed eyes and said, "How many of those could you make?"

"As many as I needed to," I shrugged. "Enough to put you out of work, that's for sure." I grinned.

Sam seemed to mull the entire situation over for a long time, seeing as he was silent and intent for almost an entire minute, before he finally smiled and said, "Count us in."

"Hm?" I asked, surprised.

"We'll fight with you, if you'll have us. I figure we can look at this in a simple way. Your evil family is teaming up with evil vampires, you're changing vampires from bloodsuckers to veggie munchers and on the defensive. We're in."

I grinned. "Fantastic." I turned to Esme. "When will the War Room be ready?"

She smiled back at me. "Tomorrow, for certain. Though probably in the evening."

I nodded to her and turned back the alpha, saying, "Meet us here tomorrow at about seven in the evening. We'll make some kind of plan."

"I have a question," Jared said, raising a hand and smiling.

"Yes sir?" I joked.

"Do we get swords and armor?"

I just smiled.

Later that night I held the scrying mirror in my hands. We were in my study once more, on the plush love seat, and moonlight streaming through the window was turning everything a silvery hue. Alice sat beside me, head resting on my shoulder. I heaved in a big breath and let it out as slowly as I could. I leaned my head on top of Alice's and asked, "Why is this so hard?"

Alice leaned her head up and brushed her lips along my jaw line. She murmured, "Well, why shouldn't it be? You're trying to convince yourself to do something you've told yourself your whole life that you would never do. Of course it's hard,"

I laughed and leaned back, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her onto my lap. I buried my nose into her hair and breathed in deeply once more. When I let my breath out she giggled. I questioned her wordlessly in my mind and she answered simply, That tickles. I smiled and brought my hands up to ghost along her shoulders and neck. She shivered and I smiled, proud of myself for having discovered this.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly, even though I knew it would be no issue for her to pick up on.

"Whatever for?" She murmured, relaxing into me.

"A lot of things." I pulled her even closer to me, in sudden need of the comfort. "For dragging you and your family into my issues. For redirecting your lives so drastically. I also haven't been spending nearly enough time with you as I should." It was woefully true. I had swept into her life and claimed her as my own, yet I hadn't been treating her even half as well as I should have. Berated myself harshly for being so selfish.

"Now you stop that," she said in return to my thoughts. She flipped herself around on my lap so she could look me in the eyes, simultaneously straddling my waist. She grinned at my blush but it didn't deter her from speaking. She cupped the sides of my face and said, "You know how I felt before you 'swooped into my life?'" She asked, her tone serious. "Content. It wasn't until after I met you that I realized what I had been missing. Looking back, I seemed dead in comparison. Now everything is so lively and colorful and new, it's like I became a vampire all over again. I figure this must be what the others were always going on about when they spoke of the differences between being human and a vampire," she laughed a little. "The point is, you are my other half, and life without you seems so painful I don't even want to think about it. Things are crazy now, but they'll settle down and then it'll be just you and me." She smiled and leaned in to capture my lips with her own.

"I still don't treat you like the queen you should be. I should be lavishing you with gems and trophies of war, crafting you musical instruments and jewelry and all that," I said, only half joking.

"Are you kidding me? You've given me an entirely new world, Bella. You gave me an entirely new life and most of all you've given me yourself. What else could I possibly need?"

She smiled warmly down at me, and I realized I had never felt so loved.

A/N: Eh? Yes, No, Maybe? I dunno. I tried for more fluff, really I did! At least at the end there... *sobs* This version of Bella is just so 'all work and no play' it's hard to get the muse for her romantic side. And of course she's still an awkward turtle, so that doesn't help either. Please, for the love of Gaia, help! I need more fluff ideas ):

I figure maybe another two chapters or so until the big battle :D You pumped? I'm pumped.