Disclaimer- All recognizable characters belong to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer, whereas all new characters belong to me.

Chapter 10- Back To Business

From the reaction on my friends' faces when they first saw me, you'd would've thought I'd been going to years with no contact, instead of the brief two weeks-maybe even less-I'd been gone. As soon as they came barreling through the door, they tackled me, throwing me to the floor. I grunted and said, "My chest is crushing."

"Get up, get up!" Flora instructed everyone.

Manny, Mike, and Ash leapt back up to the floor, a huge smile on their faces. "You're back, finally!" Ash exclaimed. "Did you kill the bastard for taking you?"

I shook my head. "No, I was lucky I managed to outrun his minions."

"Did he hurt you? I'll kill him if he hurt you," Manny glowered.

Flora looked at him with a smile. "Calm down Manuelo, she's fine."

"Cómo sabes eso? You can't read minds Flora."

"Look at her, would she be so calm if Nicholas had done anything?"

I waved my hand and smiled. "Hello, I'm right here. You can just ask me, ya know."

Flora sighed. "Sorry Noleen." She came up to me and embraced me, smelling like a mixture of flowers. "How are you?" She asked, her lips close to my ear.

"I'm fine," I answered her honestly. "Nothing happened with Nicholas. I stopped him before he could do anything. So none of you need to worry about anything."

Ash chuckled. "That's my girl! You kick him where the sun don't shine?"

I smirked. "You know it. Now, what are we gonna do about her?" I jerked my thumb behind me, pointing it at Rosemary. She growled, trying to get out of the custom made handcuffs Yuzria had made. They were magically bound, she wasn't going anywhere.

"We should just kill her," Mike said, looking at her with disgust on his face.

"No, we can't do that. She's important. No matter how much I hate to admit it, we need her."

"For what?" Lanina asked, walking into the room with Travis. They took a sit, looking up at me intensely. "Why can't we just kill her? Pretend that she's still alive. I mean, Annebelle thinks she's wearing your face still. It would be easy to fool her."

"No, it won't be. She'd know right away. Nicholas is easy to fool, not Annebelle."

"Shouldn't I get a say about my impending death?" Rosemary snapped.

"No," we all responded, not even looking at her.

She growled, but didn't say anything else. I was actually quite surprised. She was being oddly quiet.

"They're planning on invading Volturi in two days. We need her. So, until they come, she stays alive. Got it?" I asked my friends, my hands on my hips. No one argued. Good. I didn't like when they argued.

"Well, where are we going to put her then?" Ash questioned, her arms crossed across her chest.

I licked my lips and sighed. "That's the problem, I have no idea."

"You think one of the wolves will watch her while we converse with them about our plans?" Aro cut in, his eyebrow arched.

I thought of Jacob and held back a snarl. I'd been hoping he'd be gone when I got back. He wasn't. "It's possible."

"I'll go ask while you all get reacquainted."

And then he was gone. I smiled. Aro really was something. He made you think he was this evil monster, when inside, he was a giant teddy bear. . .well, a teddy bear that occasionally eats humans. But, that's just not that point.

"Are you really alright?" Travis asked, rubbing my back gently.

I nodded my head and laid my head on his shoulder. My friends closed in around me, hugging me tightly. "I'm fine, I swear to you all. He just. . .he wanted me to 'join him', as usual."

"I really wish our enemies would stay dead when we killed them," Lanina mumbled, her eyes black.

I snorted in agreement. "Yeah, join the club."

...

I sat at the table, along with the other Volturi members. Jose and his clan sat on one side of the table, while Phillip and his sat on the other. I met Derek's eye, the vision of him bent over a dead woman-blood and flesh dripping from his mouth-made me shudder. Jacob was sitting beside Jose, his eyes on mine. Also in the room were the other faeries from the Delva tribe, Kirasha standing proud in front of them.

Aro stood, his long hair swaying slightly. "I know all of you were expecting time to practice, to hone your skills before Annebelle made her move. But, it's come to our knowledge that she will be attacking in two days time."

"How do you know?" Phillip asked.

"I made a phone call, disguised as Rosemary. Nicholas spilled the beans," I told him with a grim smile.

"We'll be ready." Kirasha said strongly. "While you were gone I've informed my people of our duties, and what we must do to stop her."

I nodded my head. "Good. Now, I figured that the werewolves could do a crash course

of sorts in our basement. It's perfect for sparring and such."

"We'll start immediately." Jose insured me.

"Excellent. Now, has Laurent brought Eliza to a safe house?" I asked Aro.

He shook his head yes. "Both her and the baby are fine. They're being watched over by a witch I know."

"Great. Alright people. . .this is it." I told them, a big grin on my face. "Let get the fuckers."

A/N: Alright, to begin things off, I'm really sorry about the shortness of the story. I'm going through quite a bit right now, so my writing is suffering a little. My brain pretty much just frazzled out on my at the end of this chapter, but I wanted to give you guys something to read. Hope you enjoy it nonetheless. I promise, the next chapter will be longer. And hopefully I'll be able to update it soon. Sigh.
Thanks to: kimberly128, bracinni09, kikyo88, mjsnotebook, FireInHeaRt29, twilighterfan26, animallover0109, dorkiegrl2, ElleG20, Elven at Heart, Miss Wannabe, AlternativelyxxObsessed, LunarEclipse4, Sarah307, and Neferlinde for reviewing. You guys are amazing! And to all my silent readers, thank you so much.
Again, I do hope you like this, even though it's atrociously short :) Let me know what ya think!
Faith