Hey everyone! Here's the second to last chapter... yes I know it's sad, but all things have to end. Before you start to read, however, I just wanted to apologize to all of you who have been following and reading my story, and who I left hanging with the last chapter. I ended up getting sick for a week, and I wasn't able to even get on the computer, and then my computer program (which had the rest of this story) stopped working so I had to get it fixed. So I just wanted to say that I'm sorry that it took so long to get this up, and I hope that it was worth the wait! AND WE REACHED 100 REVIEWS!!!!!!!! YEA!!!! I'm sooooo happy,... thank you all so much!!!! so without any more ado, Sweet Surrender!

(Shea's POV)

I stepped out of the door behind Meg, and the scene before my eyes was utter chaos. Our people (as I was starting to think of them) were rushing around the inside of the wall, trying to repair as much damage to the wall as they could, but the ram kept beating on the gate, and there wasn't much they could do about that. My mind almost shut down. It seemed like I was looking at the scene from behind the eyes of someone else. This was it. They had come for us, and now they were going to kill us. There was no way out. Sure, we had our own army, but judging by the size of theirs, we didn't stand much of a chance.

Meg turned quickly around to face me, and pulled a silver knife out of her sleeve; approximately eight inches in length, it was light in my hands. Without any explanation, Meg just gave me one last look, and turned back, rushing down into the chaos.

I faintly heard Meg shouting out above the noise to Carlisle and Adrian, gathering the men together to try and block the gate with their own bodies when the metal and rock finally broke. I saw the fear in the faces of the men and women, and I could smell the sweat, and smell of something burning. Flames licked over the tops of the trees, confirming that they had set some of the woods ablaze to try and keep us from running.

Just as the gates gave way with a mighty crashing, I felt myself being pulled backwards, back into the house. A young woman of about twenty or so was pulling me through the halls and into Meg's room, the furthest room from the front gates. Five people stood around me, two women and three men, including the woman who had brought me in. They all had their eyes on the door and windows, and they had formed almost a semi-circle around me.

The girl was the one to speak, and tell me what was going on. 'Our orders are to keep you safe. No matter what happens, we are here to protect you, do you understand that? Don't worry about what happens to us… the main thing is to keep you alive. If anything happens to us, then I need you to run. Go and find either Meg, Adrian or Carlisle. Do you understand?'

I nodded, showing her that I understood perfectly, even if I didn't agree with the plan. These people shouldn't be here guarding me! They should be out there; fighting for their freedom, for the chance to escape! But before I could do much more thinking, I loud crash came from the front of the house. All eyes turned towards the door, and the group positioned themselves between me and the oncoming threat.

Before any of us were really ready, the door of the bedroom was smashed in, and two men came in, both dressed in tight black clothing, blood dripping from their faces. They launched themselves at the guards, and just like on the grounds of the mansion, I couldn't see what was happening, they were moving so fast.

Another set of four vampires entered the room just as one of the first two fell to the floor dead. The girl who had brought me into the room was holding her arm, trying to stop the bleeding, while one of the men was still in a deadly dance with the vampire. I just watched, terrified that one of them would turn on me. I clutched the silver knife in my hand tightly, ready to use it if I had to.

One of the men who were guarding me fell to the ground, not moving, not breathing, just as another vampire came into the room, having smelled the scent of blood and death. It was now almost two to one. I heard one of the men shout at me, 'Shea, run! We can't…' before he was slashed down. I glanced towards the door, but my escape was cut off in that direction. My only hope was through the window. I hurdled over the bed and hit the window with my shoulder, trying to pop the screen out, seeing as the glass was already open. The screen ripped under my weight, and I scrambled through the frame, away from the chaos inside.

However, outside was no better. Bodies were strewn everywhere, but since I wasn't sure who all the people were from our army, I couldn't be sure who was suffering the most casualties. I searched the grounds quickly, trying to find someone I could run to. I saw Carlisle in the distance, with a small band of men. I turned my feet to run towards him, but was stopped by a hand grabbing me roughly by the arm.

'And where might I ask, do you think you're going? Didn't you know I would find you eventually?'

My heart stopped beating. I swear it did. I couldn't breathe. My lungs had closed.

I was spun around the face the smug, sneering face of Caleb. 'I'm so glad that I found you! You have no idea how much trouble you've save me by just happening to pass by my post. But I guess I just have good luck.'

'Let go of me.' I tried to sound tough and unafraid, but I'm sad to say that my voice didn't sound intimidating at all. I sounded rather like a mouse caught in a corner by the house cat.

'And why would I want to do that? Your skin is so soft and warm…' He ran his thumb along the bare skin of my arm and I shuddered. He pushed me up against the wall, and leaned in towards my neck. But instead of biting me, he just ran his nose along my jaw line. I would have hit him if I hadn't been pinned.

'Let her go.' A voice growled from behind Caleb and I opened my eyes to see Jason standing there, hands by his sides. He would have looked completely calm if his eyes hadn't given him away. They were a deep red with anger.

Caleb put his forehead to my neck, and I could feel his mouth turn up in a smile. 'Now, why would I want to do that? I am enjoying myself. If you come back in, lets say, 20 minutes…' he let the sentence hang, and ran his hand suggestively around my stomach.

'I said, don't touch her,' I could hear the growl in Jason's voice, and saw him advance a step towards Caleb's back.

Backing up from me a little Caleb turned around to face Jason, but still had me pinned to the wall with his back and hands. 'I heard you the first time. I think, however, that this time, I'm going to keep this one for myself. So if you would be so kind…'

But Caleb didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. Jason launched himself at Caleb, fangs bared, fists flying. Caleb flung me sideways into the ground. But with the fighting going on all around me, I didn't have anywhere to go, so I curled up behind one of the bushes that sat next to the house. Peeking through the branches I could see the two whirling around each other. A quick look at Jason, when he stood still, showed blood trickling down his face from a cut above his eye, and he seemed to be favoring his one leg. Caleb sported a cut to his cheek, but seemed otherwise to be unharmed.

I closed my eyes and prayed. Please, let Jason be okay. I didn't know why I wanted him unhurt, seeing as it looked like he had led Caleb's army right to us. But he was fighting for me now, and I couldn't stand seeing more people hurt and dying just to protect my life.

A cold fist grabbed my hair and yanked me out from behind the bush. I was pushed up against the wall with Caleb standing about 5 feet away, pointing a crossbow at me. The silver tipped arrow glinted as it pointed at my chest. How he had gotten that, I had no idea. Probably one of his vampire 'magic' tricks. Jason was on the ground to my left, looking at us with fear, hatred, and pity in his eyes. Fear of what was going to happen, hatred of Caleb, and pity for me. Although his eyes were back to that beautiful hazel color… wow, what your mind slips to when you are facing death.

'Well, well. It seems that I've won again. Doesn't it Jason?' Then looking at me, he said, 'and my love, I would dearly have loved to get to know you better, but I just don't think that's going to get to happen. The best thing for all of us right now is just to end this. I'm very sorry Shea… well, maybe not. Goodnight…'

I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the cold arrow to pierce my stomach. But the pain didn't come. Instead I felt a presence in front of me, blocking me from Caleb. I peeked my eyes open enough to see Jason standing between us. Caleb chuckled.

'Oh look at this. Could it be love? Eh, cousin? Do you really think that standing there is going to stop anything.' When Jason didn't answer Caleb laughed again. 'Well then, I guess you've picked.'

I heard the twang of the crossbow firing, but Jason didn't convulse in front of me. Instead I heard him gasp in horror, and I peaked around him to see Meg, the arrow protruding from her stomach. She clutched it in her hands, and looked up at Caleb, a glint in her eyes. With a last effort she hurled herself forward and plunged a silver knife into Caleb's heart. His eyes widened in surprise and confusion as he gasped his last breath and fell to the ground.

I pushed around Jason, and screamed running to Meg, who was laying back on the ground. Tears streaked down my face as I knelt before her. She looked up at me, breathing heavily and smiled a small smile.

'Meg, oh my Gosh Meg. Why did you…' I was hysterical at this point. Beyond feeling as I took her head in my lap.

She smiled up at me again, and whispered 'You have no idea Shea. How he looked at you. I couldn't let that die. I couldn't let… never mind. Just know that I love you. I love you so much Shea. Remember…' She faded, her eyes closing, her hand going limp in mine. My body was racking with sobs, and I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Jason's arms wrapped around me and we sat there, me crying, him comforting, until I couldn't cry anymore.