"Rosalie, wait!" I yelled as the petite blonde disappeared into the forest, heading North. There was no way I could follow her if I did not know where she was going. I decided to ascend into the air and see if I could spot her.

Flying over the forest, I scanned the ground, not looking ahead of myself. Suddenly, I spotted her. I quickly lowered myself to tree-level.

"Rosalie, can you please tell me what's happening?"

"Get down, stupid! Run with me," she hissed. "Your gift is what's gotten us into this mess in the first place."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, my feet touching the ground. I immediately started sprinting with Rosalie. "What's happening?!"

"Let's just say you were spotted testing out your little ability. You'll see when we get there. Just... no more talking, please. I'd rather just run." We were silent for a considerable amount of time. Rosalie skillfully dodged tree roots and branches, almost unfazed. I had lost track of time from when everyone left the house, and I noticed it was dark again.

Occasionally, I glanced over at Rosalie. She was obviously perturbed. I couldn't help but feel guilty. She had a knack for making people feel bad. However, at this point I couldn't really blame her. This was obviously a huge deal.

"Almost there," she said quietly. She slowed down to a moderate jog, and I did the same.

"Almost where? Rosalie-"

"Shut up." Her voice was at a whisper as she stopped moving. In the darkness, I could hear muffled voices. Some of them sounded familiar. I was suddenly very scared of what might by ahead of me. Rosalie stepped forward and grabbed onto a tree, peeking around it. Then I noticed we were just outside of a clearing. There was a faint light coming from it, so I peered around another tree nearby.

In the clearing, I saw all of them: Edward, Carlisle, Esme, Jasper, Emmett, and Alice. They were all just lying on the ground as if they were dead. I gasped. Then, I noticed the bonfire that was emanating the light. I saw a group of people sitting around it, facing away from where I was.

Rosalie began to walk forward into the clearing.

"Rosalie! What are you doing?!" I whispered. She did not turn back; I stayed behind the tree, terrified. I watched as Rosalie walked toward the fire.

"Welcome back, child," a voice said to her. A figure stood up and turned to her. "Thank you for bringing the other one to me."

I was furious. Had Rosalie only brought me here to suffer the same fate as the rest as her-as our-family? Quickly, I found out that was not the case. I watched in horror as she walked toward the rest of the Cullens and collapsed like she had lost control of her body.

"Young one, come out here. There's no need to hide," the figure said. I noticed it was a man's voice with a slight accent I could not pinpoint. I immediately flew up in the air to escape.

Bad choice, said a voice inside my head. Suddenly, I had no control over what my body was doing and began to fall toward the ground. I was still conscious, but I couldn't move a single muscle. Loud cracks and snaps surrounded me as I crashed through the trees and onto the forest floor. I lay in complete silence for what felt like hours.

Get up and come to me, said the voice. I felt myself stand up, and my feet were moving toward the dark figures surrounding the fire. All of my muscles were out of my power as my body grew closer to the strangers. I couldn't tell what was worse: being unable to move or being unable to stop.

"Please, sit down," one of them said; it was the same voice I had heard in my head and the same one who had spoken to Roaslie. I was immediately seated in one of the surrounding chairs. I felt myself suddenly regain agency over my body and I sprung to my feet. Strong hands grabbed me and forced me back down.

"Who are you, and what are you doing to me?" I screamed. Struggling to stand again, I felt truly powerless for the first time since I had been sprawled by the burning corpses of my allies as my life was debated by Carlisle and the Volturi. "Let me go! Let them go!"

"Relax, or we will make you relax. I would suggest the former," said another voice. It was a woman's voice, deeper than most I had heard. Turning my head to her, I saw a beautiful woman with dark skin staring at me with a smirk. She, too, had an accent. It was different from the other man's, though.

"Now," the first man said, "since you're beginning to calm down we can explain why we have brought you to us. But we will wait until you are fully ready."

My eyes scanned the six figures who were all glaring at me. There was the first man. He had light hair and light skin. His accent, I began to pick up, suggested he was from Germany. The woman, who was to his right, wore her dark hair in long, thick braids. To her right was another woman. She, too, had dark skin, but from what I could tell, she was South Asian, as I heard her mutter something to the other woman in what sounded like an Indian accent. On the left of the first man was another man with light hair and light skin. He did not seem very talkative.

Before I could get a good look at the other two, the German man spoke again.

"As you might be able to tell, we are a group of vampires. Simply, we want to control the world. Our philosophy is also fairly simple: in order to control the world, the whole world must be represented. We have a representative from each continent. That is, every continent except North America.

"We have not yet seen a vampire from here worthy to join us. Trust me, we have been looking for centuries for someone with the skills necessary to make our team complete."

I squinted my eyes. "Okay, so why are you here? Why did you make Rosalie come get me?"

"That's just it, Bree," said the woman with the braids. "We saw you. We saw your ability and where you landed in the woods here. Unfortunately, we just missed you and found the two lovers instead. That's when we knew they would be the perfect bait to lure you back to us. It took a little longer than expected, but we got you here."

I looked over at my new family. Edward's head was turned toward the fire, and I made eye contact with him. It was obvious that he and the others were stricken by the same terrifying sensation that I had experienced earlier.

"Are you trying to get me to join you?" I asked.

"Yes," said the German. "We are. We heard about you. How the Volturi let you live. That news travels fast, you know. Essentially, you, more than anyone, know the power of the Volturi. The six of us want nothing more than to overthrow them. They have far too much influence over the vampires of this world. We are certain we could do a better job than they, and all we need is a powerful, influential vampire from this continent to complete our coven."

"We have managed to form in secrecy over hundreds of years, and we are one step away from beginning our final phase of takeover," stated the braided woman.

"What makes you so certain I'm the one for you? I'm just trying to figure out my new life! I'm a brand new vampire. Can't you find someone else?" I was frantic. At this point, all I wanted was to get out and take the Cullens with me back home. I heard as all of my captors laughed together. They knew something I didn't.

"You radiate a very strong energy, Bree," she continued. "You might not be able to tell, but we can. Especially thanks to Malechi. In that sense, he is our greatest resource."

The quiet, pale man nodded to her. "Thank you, Aza," he said.

It was silent again.

"Do not worry, though," Aza stated. "You do not have to decide immediately whether or not you join us."

"Am I supposed to be relieved?" I glared at her.

"From what would you need to be relieved? You are receiving an incredible opportunity."

I sat there, stunned.