AN: I am so sorry for not updating this story for almost seven months. I've been having some extreme writer's blocks with this story, but I finally got my groove back. School has also prevented me from writing this story since my girlfriend and I skipped to our senior year this year in order to leave the state quicker and go to college where people don't care if your gay or not.

That also brings me to another topic, my girl has decided to write a story for Alice and Bella and wants to post it. She's afraid of people flaming it though because it's her life story about what she's suffered through and how we got together and all that stuff. So when she posts it, if you can be kind enough to give her some encouragement to write it, that would be amazing!

I plan on updating Never Back Down within this week, so be on the look out for that. Everyone is going to have to wait on the T.H.T update though because I have to convert the file on a different computer in order for me to finish the chapter. I'll try to get that done this week too if I can.

All I can say is that it feels good to be back and that I hope you guys and gals enjoy this chapter. With much love I give you chapter fourteen! XD

Chapter Fourteen

Gear Ups and Setbacks

Bella's Pov

Within the next three weeks, we managed to set up a game plan on how to stand our ground against the Volturi. We were able to contact Marcus and got him and his followers on board with us. His story was heartbreaking to say the least. Aro had Marcus' wife killed because her gift wasn't useful enough for his army. What so crazy about it, was that Aro killed his own sister. Marcus and Didyme were leaving the coven to live a happy life with one another, and Aro pretended to agree with their plan. When they were about to leave, Aro killed Didyme hoping that Marcus would stay with his coven, but what he didn't realize was that Riley, one of Marcus' followers, saw the whole thing go down and he reported it back to Marcus. After hearing about it, Marcus severed all ties with his two brothers and left taking his supporters with him, which was a third of Aro's entire army.

When we contacted Marcus we told him about who we are and what we were planning on doing, and he agreed to aid us in our fight. He and his army are coming here in a couple of days so that we can combine our battle plans and converse over them. Meanwhile on our end, we've been training our asses of to prepare for the battle. To say I'm worried is an understatement, I'm absolutely terrified about Jamie and Alice's safety during the battle. Already seeing how the Volturi were able to almost kill me and Jamie during the car accident worries me to no end. Sure they'll be heavily protected during the fight, but it doesn't mean that something cant happen to them.

Currently I'm having some down time with Alice while Jamie is playing around with the wolf pack members. Alice and I have been planning our wedding lately. We've decided on having it during the summer at the beach. We've picked out colors, and Emily is going to make the wedding cake for us. All we have to do is go order our wedding clothes and send out invitations and were good.

"Mmmm," I moaned out as I felt Alice's lips attach to my neck. I felt her smile against my neck as she started suck and lick on my pulse point. I placed my hands on her hips and stroked the small strip of skin that was exposed from her top riding up. Alice deciding to top me, is never a bad idea in my mind.

"That feels so good, baby." I said and began stroking my arms up and down her back. She pulled away and smiled down at me softly before pulling into a kiss. It started off slow and gentle and then turned into hot and heavy within a couple of seconds. It was short lived, however, when Alice pushed me away and ran into the bathroom. I sat motionless until I heard her puking, then I full on ran into the bathroom. I sat beside and comforted her until she was finished. I helped her clean herself up before picking her up and carrying her back to the bed.

"You okay, Ali?" I asked her as she rested her head onto my chest. She nodded and grasped at my hand with one of hers.

"Yeah, I think I'm coming down with something. I haven't been feeling to well lately." she replied. I pressed a kiss to her forehead and stroked the back of her dainty hand with my thumb. I felt her become nervous through our link causing my eyebrows to furrow in thought.

"What are you nervous about, Alice?" I asked causing her to look up at me with her sapphire blue eyes. She quickly looked down at our conjoined hands and tightened her hold.

"Bella, if I asked you if you would change me, would you?" she asked. I took in a sharp intake of air at her question. I want her in my life for the rest of eternity, so yes I would change her.

"Yes, Alice I would." I replied softly. Her head snapped up quickly, her eyes shining with excitement.

"Can we do it this week?" she asked as she sat up straight to look at me. I smiled slightly when I saw her start to bounce up and down.

"That would be cool and all, Alice, but what about Jamie? She doesn't know that beings like us exist, and do you think she'll be able to keep it a secret? She is really young you know." I answered back. Alice frowned which instantly made me feel horrible, but then a brilliant smile lit her face back up.

"Why don't we show her today! I mean, all of you guys have to practice today anyways, so we can show her and introduce her into it. She's also a little kid, so if she ended up telling anyone, they would just pass it off as a child's creative imagination. She can handle it, Bella." she said. I contemplated it for a little bit before nodding my head in agreement. She squealed and threw her arms around my neck. I laughed and patted her back before getting off of the bed.

"We'll tell in a little while, it's time for our mother daughter defense class anyways." I said and changed into some work out clothes. Alice and I walked hand and hand into the home gym and laughed when we saw Jamie on Emmett's shoulders with her hands covering his eyes. He had his hands stretched out in front of him to make sure he didn't run into anything.

"Baby Girl, you ready for practice!" I called out to her. She nodded vigorously and jumped off of her goofy uncle's back and sprinted over to us.

"Hi, Momma!" she exclaimed jumping into my arms. Alice and I worked out a little system so that Jamie wouldn't get confused about what to call us. Alice would always remain mommy, and I would be either momma or papa because Jamie would call me that sometimes.

"Hey, Girly, you ready to practice today?" she nodded and frowned a little bit when she saw that Alice didn't dress out today.

"Why didn't you put on gym cwothes, Mommy?" she asked.

"I'm not feeling well today, Jay." she replied. Jamie nodded, and we headed over to the boxing room where the rest of the guys were working out. From experience I know that we can take on the half vamps in our human forms, and that some of us can even take on a few of the full vamps in our human forms. We're fast enough to keep up with them and we all have training with weapons so that's taken care of. The only problems that were having are with the numbers of the army. With Marcus on our side it shouldn't be that hard, but we need to be on guard at all times, hence why we need to be training twenty four seven.

"Okay, Jamie, we're going to work on our combinations today. I've taught you about breaking out of holds already, so now we need to work on our speed and combinations so that if you can't get out of the fight, that you know you'll be able to fend for yourself, okay." I told her. She nodded and started stretching while I grabbed the punching mitts.

"Bella, do you want some help today with training?" Emmett asked walking over to where I'm standing. I looked over and saw that Rose was keeping Alice company.

"That would be great actually. You can help me out with some demonstrations if I need them. Jamie's pretty quick at picking things up though. I'll need you to train with me anyways." I replied. He nodded and followed me over to where Jamie was sitting on the padded floor.

We started off with some simple combinations like jab punches to uppercuts and crosses before moving on to the more technical stuff. I got Jamie to do some kicks like a front kick and roundhouse kick. She's a really fast learner and she's got some power in her kicks for being so small. I was starting to get a little nervous about showing her what I really am, because I don't want to scare her. She might never acknowledge me again if I do.

"Good job today, Baby Girl, why don't you go over and sit next to Mommy and Auntie Rosalie." I told her as I took off the punching mitts and gave her a mini Gatorade to cool her off. She shook her head no and went to go sit against the wall right next to us.

"I wanna watch you and Uncle Emmett, Momma." she replied. I smiled at her before warming up myself. I cranked out some pushups and situps while Emmett got ready in body armor that consisted of a padded chest guard, some padded leg guards, and big square, arm targets. We wear this gear whenever we train to lower our chances of breaking bones.

Emmett called out the shots as I followed his direction and rained down my blows on his armor. I heavy punches and difficult kicks. When I took a small break I saw Jamie looking at me in awe and I could feel a strong lust through my connection to Alice. I looked over at her and saw that her eyes were almost black and that she was breathing slightly quicker than usual. I smirked over at her and saw Rosalie grin at me, but I didn't know why.

SMACK!

"Get your head out of the gutter, Bella, and give me a spinning back kick!" Emmett yelled at me, a full blown smirk on his face. I rubbed my head where he smacked me with the arm targets, and then spun around as hard as I could while bring my leg up to about chest height. I straighten my leg out and slam it into Emmett's chest protector. He stumbles backwards from the impact causing me to smile as he huffs and pouts in anger. I heard Jamie giggling in the corner and Alice and Rosalie bursting out laughing from where they were.

After this we continued our workout. We played a game of "Dead Man Out" which consists of everyone fighting against one person in the middle of the crowd. It teaches speed, agility, and how to be on guard because you're constantly fighting against someone until they hit the ground. We finished up with weapons training and playing a couple of games of "Assassin". When we finished everyone cooled off, and I went to go and talk to Jasper, Edward, and Carlisle privately.

"Hey guys, Alice and I talked about something today before coming here, and I want to know your opinions on it." I said to them taking a seat at the table they were sitting at.

"Okay, Bella, what was it about?" my Dad asked setting down some of the battle plans we drew.

"Alice, asked me if I would turn her this week." I told them quietly. Everyone's heads shot up with smiles plastered on their faces.

"Well, that's a good thing to consider because of the fight ahead of us. She would be able to defend herself a lot easier if she was like us." Jasper replied, his smile growing larger when Edward rested his head on Jasper's shoulder.

"What about Jamie though, she doesn't even know yet, and I don't want you to change her until she's at least sixteen." Dad answered. Jamie shouldn't have to wait so long, but she'll risk exposure if we change her while she's so young. I'll have to talk to Alice about this one.

"I was thinking about showing Jamie today what we are, and we'll worry about her change later." I replied. Carlisle contemplated it before finally nodding his head yes and pulling me into a hug.

"We can do that, but first we need you to train with Shadow. I know you've been doing this all week, but you need to become one with her if want to get rid of the Volturi. We know her back story and we know how much rage she has towards them. You need to be able to control her if we want things to happen in our favor." Carlisle said.

I agreed and then walked with Jasper and Edward into the scientific chamber which is an extension off of the gym. The room was built for us in order to harness our abilities. The chamber collects data as we complete different tasks that push us to our limits. The chamber itself is a big room with four white wall then about fifteen feet up facing the north wall, is where all the data is collected as well as an onlooker room. Usually Rosalie and Carlisle sit up there researching and calculating the data, seeing as Rosalie was the one who built it in the first place.

"Okay Bella, go ahead and get ready." I heard Rosalie say through the intercom. I looked up and saw her, Alice, Esme, and Carlisle up there waiting to start. I sat down and concentrated on Shadow as my body relaxed in a meditative position.

Everything was pitch black until I saw the golden gate keeping Shadow locked in. As I was walking the red aura energy surrounded me as I got closer to her. She appeared in front of the gate, her piercing red orange eyes made my heart beat quicken as I unlocked the gate. She walked out slowly, her tiger face pulling into a fearsome smirk. She came and laid down right in front of me, her massive body making a thump as she did.

"What are you doing here again." Shadow said angrily at me.

"We have to train together in order to become stronger." I replied curtly. I haven't told her about fighting the Volturi because of the fact that she would take total control of my body and try to go after them. I've already warned Carlisle of this, so he makes sure that there are some people inside the chamber with me to try and stop Shadow in her tracks.

"I'm strong enough on my own! If you would just let me take control during fights then we wouldn't have to go through all this trouble with training!" she growled at me.

"You need me in order to still be alive! So do start saying stuff about being on your own when you couldn't even live without me!" I yelled back at her. She roared at me and tackled me to the ground.

"You know what, you're right. I can't function without you, but it doesn't mean that I can't take over your body and live through you now." she replied smirking evilly down at me. My eyes widened with fear as I felt chains start to wrap themselves around me. Shadow looked at me one more time before suffocating my body in her red aura. I screamed aloud as I felt the aura fuse with my blood, causing my body to feel like it was on fire.

Alice's Pov

I screamed and collapsed to the floor when I felt my mark burn in pain. Carlisle immediately ran to me and asked me what was wrong, but that's when we heard Bella yelling and screaming in pain from inside the chamber. I got up and looked down at her with tears beginning to stream down my face as I watched her body contort on the ground from the pain that she was in.

"What's going on with her!" I yelled at Rosalie as the machines started to go crazy.

"Shit! Shadow's taking over her body! Guys get ready!" Rosalie said into the intercom. She was frantically trying to save the data before all of the machines could override.

I watched in horror as Bella's body was consumed in a cloud of red. She was clutching at her head as her body slowly started to morph. All of a sudden the cloud turned into a black ball that surrounded her entire body and acted as a veil so that none of us could see what was going on. When the guys in the chamber with her tried to get close, they were thrown back away from her body by a force field. We all held our breaths as we watched the black orb lose it's color and show us Bella again.

What I saw scared the living shit out of me. She wasn't Bella anymore, she turned into something feral and monstrous. Her sharp canines hung on the outside of her mouth over her bottom lip and glinted in the lighting. Her eyes were a deep reddish orange color now and sent shivers down my spine when looking at them. Her body was entirely covered in a bio-hazard sign type of tattoo. Her face was the only part that didn't have it on there, except she had whisker like cuts on her cheeks. The red aura returned and covered her body like a protective shield as she looked around the room and saw Emmett, Jasper, and Edward lying on the ground.

"Well, well, well, looks like I finally got my wish." a raw and husky voice said and then chuckled evilly. My eyes widened and I looked over to Carlisle. His face was grim as watched what was going on.

"Carlisle, why don't you come down here and have a nice little chat with me." Bella said smirking up at him through the window.

"I'm not going to play games with you, Shadow." he replied through the intercom. Bella, no Shadow, chuckled again up at him. Her canines seemed to grow longer when she smiled up at him. She turned around and made a grasping motion at Emmett with her hand, causing the red aura to shoot and grab him while turning into a makeshift hand.

"Either somebody comes down here to humor me with why Bella has been bugging me for the past week, or I get to have some fun with him." Shadow said and squeezed her palm a little bit, causing Emmett to cry out in pain. I heard Rosalie sob as she watched her husband being crushed by the red hand. Not wanting to see Emmett die at the hands of Shadow, I ran downstairs into the chamber despite everyone yelling at me not to.

"Let him go, Shadow!" I yelled to the beast that took over my Bella. I watched as her body went rigid and the red aura disappear, making Emmett drop to the floor since nothing was holding him up. A look of shock appeared on her face as she turned around to face me. Her eyes were wide and once again caused me to shiver at the intensity of the color.

"Zephyr?" she asked as she walked closer to me. I looked at her in confusion and took a step back away from her in fear. She stopped and looked at me with love and amazement.

"No, my name is Alice, and I want you to give me back Bella." I told her. Her shock wore off and turned back into her devilish smirk.

"So your Bella's mate. Why don't you tell me why she keeps bugging the hell outta me about training every fucking day this week." she said and proceeded to back me into the wall.

"I'll tell you if you tell me why you did this to her." I replied. Her smirk widened causing her teeth to glint in the light again. She nodded and motioned for me to continue.

"The Volturi are planning to start a war with us, and we needed you and Bella to train and be able to fight as one body in order to help aid us in the fight." I said. Shadow's reaction made me almost have a panic attack from how loud she roared. What shocked me though, is that it wasn't just a roar of anger and rage, it also had undertones of sadness and loneliness. When she finished she looked at me with pained eyes.

"If Bella would've just told me this instead of pissing me off, then I would've agreed happily. She knows what the Volturi did to me and that I would help out no problem, but she just couldn't get off her stupid high horse and tell me that." Shadow replied angrily. She sat down on the floor and stared at it dejectedly, and I could make out tears starting to form in her eyes. I mustered up enough courage in order to sit down in front of her.

"What did they do, Shadow?" I asked her softly. Her eyes receded into a soft golden color, the same color that was in one of Bella's eyes the night we made love. The aura disappeared, making her seem less scary.

"They took my mate and I prisoner and proceeded to burn her right in front of my eyes. She was pregnant with our child and was due within the next week when I got caught off guard and they captured us. They killed me the same way, but my spirit carried on down the lines into Bella." she answered and slowly reached out her hand to run it through my hair softly. She looked into my eyes and actually smiled and regular smile at me.

"You're a spitting image of her, Alice, except Zephyr had violet colored eyes instead of blue." she said softly and then rested her hand on my stomach. I looked at her funnily.

"Does Bella know?" she asked as she continued to stroke my stomach.

"Does she know what?" I asked back in confusion. She smiled at me again and took my hands in hers.

"Does she know that your pregnant?" she replied back happily. I looked up at her in shock and heard collective gasps resound through the room.

Aro's Pov

I smiled and clasped my hands together in excitement when I felt a familiar force resound throughout the town on Forks. I looked over at Caius who smirked back at me knowing the feeling. I made my way into the training headquarters of my palace and saw my son, Kirk, training the newly turned vampires he recently created.

"Kirk, get your army ready within the next week. We're about to finish this war." I said to him. I watched as he and the army shouted and yelled in approval. I quickly made my way back to my throne thinking about my plans for world domination after I finish the Cullens.

"It'll be a pleasure having you back again, Shadow. This time I will finish you." I said aloud thinking about how sweet her and her mate's screams were when I tortured them both before being put to death by fire. How I long to torture her for the rest of eternity by making her relive that moment every waking second for the rest of her life.

AN: Wow this is not good! Now that I'm back I plan on getting the rest of this story done within the next couple of months. If you have any questions on the fighting moves, if you type in the names of them into youtube you should get clips of the moves themselves. I recommend doing this for Never Back Down also if you're wondering what it looks like.

Tell me what ya think!