AN: Okay, so I'm a liar, and I'm sure you all hate me for not updating faster. But at lest you're still reading my story! Don't give up on me! I may have lost some of my interest in this story, but I would never just abandon it! I can't stand authors who do that, and what kind of a hypocrite would I be if I did the same thing? But anyway, on with the story!

Disclaimer: If I owned Twilight or any of its characters, I would've made Edward leave Bella for me! At the very least, I would have made Bella slightly less whiny! Nope, Twilight belongs to the great Stephenie Meyer! We all worship at her feet.

Chapter 13: Hopeful Strategy

EPOV (Back to Edward this time)

Somehow, in the hours I had been stuck in this hell, my brain had stopped registering the passing of time. At this point, I had no idea how long I had been here, or how much more time I had to rescue Bella. I had been trying to come up with a strategy of how to get out of here and save her. Dents adorned the steel walls I was trapped between, from all of my attempts to break out. That had been the stage when I had gone into a blind rage and tossed strategies and planning out of the window. After a couple of hours of pummeling anything in my line of sight, I had finally come to my senses and got back to planning. It was helpful that I could hear the thoughts of the people/vampires around me.

Paying attention to the newborns' minds outside of the steel prison helped me to learn a lot about Victoria's plans for Bella and I. Obviously, Victoria didn't see me as a threat to her plans, if she would allow so many newborns, untrained in controlling their thoughts, to be around me where I could easily decipher what the knew.

I can't wait for the fight! I jerked upright at the word fight coming from one of their thoughts. I knew that Victoria planned to kill Bella and I both, but with herself, Noah, and so many newborns, it really wouldn't be much of a fight. I concentrated harder to figure out what the newborn was thinking. I hope Victoria's right about those other vampires coming to help. She said that all of the... what were their names again? Oh right, she said that all the Cullen and Denali vampires were coming to rescue the other two. Ha! We'll take care of them easily, she says. It will hardly be a workout, according to Victoria. There are only eleven of them, not including the two we've already got, and there are more than twenty of us. I blocked out her mind's rambling as she continued to go on and on about how easy it would be. I didn't care about that. But this news, that they were coming for us, gave me hope.

Still, although my family and the Denali clan were much more skilled fighters, twenty to eleven odds still weren't good. Besides, Victoria was bound to be changing more newborns even as I was thinking this. Although saving Bella was the utmost thought in my mind, I still couldn't help the nagging tinge of worry for my family. But they were strong, they could handle themselves. Bella, however, was defenseless, at least by vampire standards. Sure, she could take on your average axe murderer without breaking a sweat, but despite being a newborn herself, there was no way that she could take on even one of the newborns in Victoria's army. That was why I had to find some way to get out of here before it actually came to a fight, so that I could find and protect Bella.

If only I knew what my family was planning, that would only make this so much easier.

APOV

"What did you see Alice, dear?" Came Esme's voice from across the room, once I had made my revelation. What had I seen? Only the most horrifying sight I could've begun to imagine. Bella, standing across from almost twenty newborn vampires, while Edward was being restrained by at least another five. This was not good. Edward could never take on that many newborns, and Bella, with her almost human state, would definitely perish within moments. Thankfully, this wasn't going to happen for at least another couple of days. Whoever was the cause wasn't entirely sure yet as to when they were going to execute their plan. As for who, well, I had a pretty good idea. But at least we weren't too late to save them!

"I saw Edward and Bella against more than twenty newborn vampires," I replied sharply, not intending my voice to come out so harsh, but I was worried and having a hard time controlling my voice at all. "Twenty three, if their numbers don't change. And Victoria was there, along with the vampire I originally saw Bella with. We're going to need to help them. It's going to be a fight." I warned, looking at the faces of my family. I saw Carlisle's face tighten a bit with anxiety. He didn't like violence, especially when the odds were against him and his family. Rosalie looked half annoyed and half concerned. No doubt she was annoyed with Bella, she had never liked her and now we were all going to fight for her. Still, I knew that she would definitely help, because the concern in her eyes was for Edward. She would never let anything happen to her family. Jasper didn't seem to show any emotion, but I knew that was typical for him in situations such as these. He had seen fighting before, and although he didn't seem to like it, he took it with grudging acceptance. Esme's face was unlike anything I had ever seen in her expressions before. There was the usual concern, but underlying that was a sort of grim determination. With her protectiveness over her family, I would loathe to be anyone that stood in the way of their safety. Although Esme was one of the gentlest people I had ever met, there was nothing that angered her more than people putting her family in danger. She would fight to the death to save Edward and Bella. I sighed, knowing what I would see when I finally turned to see Emmett's face. I didn't need any psychic powers to tell me that much. Emmett's eyes lit up, and he looked like a little child in a candy store.

"Bring it on!" He shouted enthusiastically. "This will be fun!" Despite the gravity of the situation, we all couldn't help but roll our eyes at Emmett's blatant enthusiasm for the approaching war.

"Emmett shut up!" Came Rosalie's sharp retort. "Why should we help her? It's her own fault she got her self into this mess in the first place, and thanks to her, Edward is being dragged down too!" Everyone in the room pointedly ignored both Rosalie and Emmett's comments. We had all been able to predict their reactions, and just as strongly as we had known what they were originally going to say, we knew that Rosalie would come around, simply because she cared about Edward.

"We're going to need some help." I began hesitantly, looking Carlisle in the eyes before giving a pointed glance to the clan of Denali vampires who had been sitting silently throughout this whole ideal. He gave his head a sharp but small nod, indicating that he knew what I was getting at. "There are too many for us to take on alone. Even with help, it will be a challenge." I bit my bottom lip. I was incredibly worried. All I could think about was the fact that we couldn't possibly get enough help in time and some of us might not survive this encounter. Although I would have been glad for the help of the Denali vampires, I wouldn't protest if they chose not to help us. It was going to be dangerous, there was no denying that.

"Tanya," Carlisle spoke up finally, interrupting my troubled thoughts. He turned toward the leader of the Denali clan. She was the 'Carlisle' of their family, so to speak. "Would you all be willing to help us?"

Tanya looked around at her family for a moment before turning back to Carlisle. "As much as we want Edward to be safe," The family pointedly ignored the fact that she neglected to mention Bella, since she had been after Edward for a while in the past, it wasn't really surprising. "I will not put my family in danger. I'm sorry, but we can't."

That threw me for a moment. I had been sure that they were going to help us, and now we were going to have to take on a newborn army by ourselves. And I was not at all sure that we could come out of this in one piece.

Some of us might not survive. And yet, we would go anyway. Because no matter the cost to our family, we

would die with no regrets to save family.

Edward was family, and since a year ago when Bella entered our lives, so was she.

AN: Okay, okay! I'm sorry for the fact that it's short and I'm sorry for the fact that it took so long. But I can see that people are starting to lose interest in my stories. I'm not getting near as many hits or reviews! Just tell me, is it because I take so long to update? Or is my story just not interesting anymore? Let me know if you don't like it anymore, because then I will hurry up and end it. I have a plan to draw it out at least another five chapters, possibly ten, but if you don't like it, I suppose I could finish it up in another chapter or two. I'll probably need two. But please REVIEW!! I need to know!

P.S. I'm thinking of having them run into the werewolves and the werewolves helping them with the fight. Tell me whether you think that's a good idea or if they should just fight alone. I have ideas either way and either way the outcome will most likely be the same. Let me know!