Disclaimer: If they were mine, they'd never have shirts on ;-) *smiling to myself imagining it*

9. Stand-Off

"EDWARD!" Bella screamed.

"Fuck!" Dean cursed. The vampires were sprinting across the clearing, and there was no way the brothers could outrun them. Sam tossed Dean his crossbow and the brothers formed a two man wall in front of Bella. "Don't you fucking move!" Dean swore at her.

The entire family was running in their direction – Edward in the lead by several yards. Dean aimed down the bow and pulled the trigger. He heard the snapping sound of Sam's arrow letting loose not a second later. Dean's arrow slammed into Edward's chest at thirty yards out, the impact causing him to half turn before falling to the ground and skidding to a halt in the grass on his side. He clawed at his chest, howling in unbearable pain. Jasper had leapt over his still falling brother, and right into Sam's arrow. Jasper, too, crumpled to the ground, trying to crawl and unable to. The carbon-composite quarrel protruding from his stomach prevented him from crawling, so he tried to pull himself along the grass on his side, desperate to reach his brother. They were only a few yards apart, but with the agony they were in, there may as well have been a mile between them. Sam was loading another arrow while Dean pulled his knife from his waist and threw it at Emmett. His aim was slightly off due to the quickly disappearing distance, and it sunk into Emmett's leg mid-thigh. The big, burly vampire stumbled and dropped as the dead man's blood entered his system.

Rosalie let out a shriek of pure rage and went to run past her fallen lover, when Emmett reached up and grabbed her arm, yelling, "Baby! No!" yanking her down and shielding her from Sam's second arrow, which thudded into Emmett's back. It was a testament to Emmett's obvious great strength that he's been able to protect her at all, but he was now suffering from the double effect of the poison.

The entire exchange had lasted all of four seconds.

Esme had grabbed Alice around the waist to keep her from launching herself at the hunters. The tiny vampire looked like a demented little kid as she struggled against her 'mother', hissing and snarling in fury, hurling curses and threats at them. Sam had loaded another arrow, but Dean tossed his crossbow to the ground, pulling his machete from the sheath on his back. He would have liked to keep the bow, but Sam was wearing both quivers and Dean couldn't get another arrow without leaning awkwardly to get it, and risking exposing themselves or Bella.

Now if Sam were standing on my other side…He thought, mentally rolling his eyes. I'd be able to reach them better. But no…Sasquatch has to wear them so they're slung the other way.

Bella was screaming behind them, calling out for Edward who was clawing at the ground and trying to reach Jasper – who was still trying to drag himself towards Edward. Dean watched as Carlisle skidded to a stop, held his arms up like he was under arrest, and slowly walked closer to them. Dean could see out of the corner of his eye that Sam had the crossbow trained on Carlisle's chest.

"What did you do to them?!" Bella screamed.

The hunters ignored her. "Stop right there Doc." Dean growled, holding the machete aloft in front of him. Carlisle stopped about fifteen yards from the brothers. Esme had managed to stop Alice from struggling, and the two of them stood next to him with their arms up as well. Alice was glaring daggers at them, getting madder and madder by the way her eyebrows were furrowing.

"Let Bella go." Carlisle said calmly.

"Fat chance, Bloodsucker." Dean cursed.

"What did you do to my family?" He asked, still calm.

"Evened the sides up a little." Sam responded.

Did the Doc not know about dead man's blood? How could you not know your own weaknesses?

"Who are you?" Doc's eyes narrowed. "What are you?"

Dean saw Rosalie pull the quarrel out of Emmett's back, and then the knife from his thigh. She draped his arm over her shoulders and helped him to stand, struggling under his bulk.

"You stay were we can see you Rosie." Dean commanded.

She glared balefully at him from under Emmett's arm. "Where do you think I'm fucking going?" She bristled. "What did you do to him?" The blond demanded.

Emmett roused a little at the sound of Rosalie's wrath, but he was pretty much out for the count. He was twitching and breathing in great ragged breaths – one leg trailing dead-like behind him as Rosalie dragged him with her.

He ignored her question. "You just stay right where you are." He pointed the machete in her direction.

"What are you?" Carlisle asked again, but Bella was still screaming for Edward and the sound of it was driving him nuts.

"Bella. Shut. Up." Dean ground out, "Or Sammy will plug Alice." Sam re-aligned the crossbow on tiny Alice and Bella actually clapped a hand over her mouth, tears building in her eyes. "That's better."

"Please let her go." Carlisle pleaded. "If you want money, it's yours. Just don't hurt her."

"We're not here to hurt her." Dean growled. "We're here to protect her…To get her away from you fuglies before you get yourselves massacred."

"You can't protect her. Please…Just go…We won't follow." Carlisle took a step closer but Sam tightened his grip on the crossbow and swung it back to the head vamp.

"Don't move Doc." Sam threatened. "You're fast, but not faster than this."

"Please…"

"So what's the deal with the Seattle vamps Doc?" Dean threw at him. "Piss somebody off did ya?" He could see the Doc flinch a little bit but he said nothing. "Well, what about the Volturi, huh? They're coming to town for a little visit aren't they?" Bella gasped from behind him.

Guess she didn't know about that.

Dean could see that Jasper had finally made it to Edward, wrapped his hand around the arrow shaft and pulled it free of Edward's chest. He wasn't too worried about those two – the poison would take hours to fully wear off, and he was planning on being long gone by then.

"How do you know these things?" Esme asked.

"You'd be surprised what we know, Lady." Sam replied.

Edward had managed to pull the poisoned arrow out of Jasper's stomach, and the two were leaning heavily on each other as they slowly made their way towards the hunters. Edward's face was a mask of pain and fury, resolutely staring at Bella, still safe behind the brothers. Jasper's face wasn't much different – only he was looking at the hunters, and there was murder in his black eyes.

We should probably plug him again – just to be sure. Dude has a total quiet rage thing going on.

"Edward?" Bella called, her voice shaking.

"M'okay," he slurred, "Did they hurt you?"

"No. I'm fine."

Edward glared at the brothers as he came level with the rest of his family. Alice ducked under Jasper's arm and tried to help keep him upright. It looked kinda funny because she was so small that the rangy vamp's arm couldn't even drape over her shoulder properly. Edward leaned heavily on his mother's shoulder, hand pressed against his chest wound. Edward's eyes narrowed. "What are you?" He asked through gritted teeth. "What did you do to us?"

"Come on Eddo," Dean taunted. "Can't you just read our minds and find out for yourself?" Edward scowled at them in response.

It must be a sore spot with him.

"He can't hear you?" Bella whispered from behind them.

"He hears what we want him to hear." Sam replied tersely.

Fuck you dickface! Dean let out from behind the wall. "Did you hear that, Asshole?" Dean bellowed.

"Loud and clear."

Rosalie held her nose in the air and took a deep breath. "How come we can't smell you?" She demanded.

"Just a little quirk of ours."

Alice was still glowering at them from under Jasper's arm. Her forehead was creased in concentration. Edward looked sharply at her, and she shook her head. They were talking telepathically about something. Was she channeling a vision? The brothers had no idea how her visions worked, or if she could control them.

"You had a scent when you came to see me at the hospital." Carlisle said. "And you were in my home." Dean shrugged non-committedly. They weren't wearing the amulets then, but like he was going to tell the vamps anything that might help them. "Breaking and entering is a crime. So's impersonating a Federal Agent."

"If you want to go throwing stones about alias' and impersonating official professions Doc, go right ahead. Where did you study medicine again? Oh wait…you didn't." Dean threw back.

"I did study medicine."

"Yeah? When? 1850?"

The Doc shrugged. "So I've got a lot of experience."

"Look," Sam interrupted, "if you guys want to go to war with the other vamps, fine. Makes our job a hell of a lot easier. But we're getting her out of here before you all get her killed – or worse." He glared at Edward as he said it.

"What's worse than getting killed?" Bella asked quietly. Dean shot her an incredulous look over his shoulder. "…Oh."

"What are you?" Edward ground out, hand still clutched to the wound in his chest.

"They're hunters." Jasper grunted, trying to stand on his own, but failing. He leaned gratefully against tiny Alice, who still looked like her head was going to explode. He nodded wearily towards Dean's hand where his silver ring resided. "Brotherhood by the looks of it." He swallowed hard, the effort of talking loud enough to be heard was difficult for him. "I thought you guys were all dead."

"Funny, we thought you leeches were extinct too." Dean smiled. What did Jasper know? "Looks like this is just one big happy reunion."

"Never been shot with Dead Man's Blood before…fucking hurts." Jasper wheezed. "There were hunters during the wars in the south. They didn't make it out."

"Did you have a hand in that Spike?" Dean sneered. Jasper was definitely getting another shot of Herb Masterson's O-negative.

"The Volturi took them out – along with the warring tribes. That's what's going to happen here if the Volturi know you're here. They don't like hunters."

"Yeah, well, we don't like them either."

"Please let me go." Bella pleaded from behind him. "The Cullens are good. They don't hurt people – they feed off animals. Victoria's coming after me, and you'll get killed if you take me."

"Victoria the one leading the Seattle vampires?" Sam asked, never taking his gaze from the line of vamps in front of him. Finally, they were going to get some answers.

"Yes." She whispered, clearly afraid.

"Why does she want you so bad?" Dean snapped.

"Because I killed her mate." Edward rasped. "Now she's coming after Bella and all of us with an army of newborns she created so she can have her vengeance."

"So that's why the number of missing people is so high in Seattle?" Sam concluded. "She's turning people?"

"Yes." Carlisle nodded. "We want to stop her. We don't want all this bloodshed."

"James, her mate, was going to kill me and the Cullens saved me. Edward sucked James' venom from my hand to keep me from turning." Bella whispered to try to convince the brothers of the Cullens good intentions. "Please, just go. You're not bad men – you can't be, or you wouldn't be here trying to save me in the first place."

Dean turned on Edward. "If you're trying to protect her, why didn't you just put her on a fucking plane out of here, huh?" He snapped.

"I can't run." Bella cried. "Victoria has an army, and she'll tear the town apart to find me. My dad, my friends…they'll all in danger if I run."

"So your seven animal sucking vamps are going to use you as bait or something instead? Against an army? Yeah…That's a great idea." Sam replied hotly. Using people as bait was a sore spot with Sam – courtesy of John Winchester.

"Let us take her." Dean growled. "She'll be safe with us and you can have your royal rumble. If you win, we'll send her back. But if you lose, she won't be here to be snacked on and torn to bits by this Victoria bitch."

And hopefully she'll come out from whatever brainwashing thing you did to her, you sick fuck. He let out through his blocks.

Eddie scowled. "I did no such thing, and we won't lose." He insisted.

"Do you have any idea how many vampires are in Seattle?" Sam asked incredulously. "You can't take them all on."

"They are newborns," Jasper coughed, "they are untrained and instinct driven. We will destroy them."

"You're outnumbered nearly three to one!" Sam yelled. "I don't care if how well you fight. You won't be able to protect her if she stays here."

"We're going to have help." Carlisle added.

"Who? The Volturi?" Dean demanded. Those sons of bitches were every bit as bad as the vampires in Seattle. Dean was willing to cut the Cullens some slack because there was no evidence they'd fed on anyone – but the Volturi? Those bitches were charcoal.

"No." Edward grinned a triumphant smile through the pain of the poison. There was a low growl from behind the hunters and Dean felt the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck stand up. "Our new allies."

Crap.

A/N: Heating up isn't it? I hope everyone is enjoying this. Special thanks to all those who have left a review, egging me on. They really do inspire me to do my best and type faster. Thanks – H.