Hello my faithful readers! I know I haven't posted for a long time but now as I am out of high school and my finals are over, I have lots of free time so I will be posting regularly. I made some corrections and edited the chapters from Ch 18 onwards, so I would recommend that you read them again so that you won't be confused later on.

I have introduced some new characters in this chapter, hope you like them! See you at the bottom, enjoy!

Chapter 20 : Loss

One month had gone by since we met the Amazons. Since then we had visited almost every corner of the world to look for our vampire friends. The Volturi stuck to their dirty tactics and thanks to Alistair, almost each coven had a missing member. When we had reached the heart of the Amazon forest, we found that Zafrina had been missing since a week. It was as if the Volturi was into our mind and was planning 10 steps ahead of us. Now we all were assembled into our house in New Orleans –Vampires and Werewolves alike. All the vampire covens and Nomads who had stood as witnesses with us last year were gathered with us in the living room along with a few new members that we had been able to locate.

Carlisle had found his friends from the Indian coven while he was in India. It consisted of three members- Natasha, Aarav and Amaya. They all were extremely beautiful with olive skin undertones and flowing black hair. Natasha and Amaya were sisters and Aarav was Natasha's mate. The Chinese coven consisted of only two members who were mates- Lin and Jian. Emmett and Jasper had run into their Russian acquaintances – Aida and Nicholas. They both were nomads and they lived in different parts of Russia. Aida was a vegetarian vampire like us who survived on animal blood and lived in the mountains while Nicholas hunted humans and lived in Petropavlovsk-Kamcha, the rainiest city in Russia.

A week ago, we had a surprise visit from an English nomad named Ethan. He was an old friend of Emmett and had stopped by after hearing about how the Cullens were collecting friends and acquaintances from all over the world. After hearing the story, he decided to stay and fight for us just for the thrill of it. Ethan was by far the most attractive and good looking vampire in the group. He was tall, standing at about 6 foot 3 inches and was slender yet muscular. He has messy blonde hair that always kept falling into his eyes and I could swear my life on the fact that I had caught Aida staring at him twice.

Carlisle stood up and went into the middle of the room and everyone fell silent. The room was very crowded, with either vampires or werewolves occupying every available space. Only Alice and Jasper were missing as they were out hunting into the woods since the morning and Alice needed some space to focus on her visions. I was sitting on the sofa with Renesmee in my lap. Edward sat on my right and Natasha on my left. I liked the Indian coven and felt very safe around them. Jacob was perched on the armrest of the sofa on Edward's side and was glancing around everywhere, looking suspicious of the new vampires.

"I would like to thank each and every one of you for assembling here on our request on such a short notice." Carlisle began. Kate opened her mouth to say something but Carlisle held up a hand as she fell silent and nodded for him to go on. "I believe that we all are in grave danger. Half of us are missing with from almost each coven. These mysterious disappearances were covered by a letter from the missing person stating almost the same thing. We all know for sure that the Volturi is behind this as they want to take their revenge from us and want an excuse to finish us all off." He stopped for a moment and surveyed the room. Everyone looked grave and serious, even Emmett. Carlisle continued

"I am apologizing to each and every one of you for putting you and your families in danger. This all is happening due to the events of the previous year and-"

"Carlisle, we are your family. There is no need for an apology, we knew what we are getting into and we don't regret it." Carmen spoke up, cutting off Carlisle.

"Yes Carl, we are your friends. We will stand with you till the very end mate." Ethan said in his heavy British accent and cracked a smile.

Carlisle looked overwhelmed as he opened his mouth again and then closed it, unable to form words. Esme stood up and took his hand and smiled at him as he finally whispered "Thank you."

I bit my lower lip and looked away, overcome by emotions. Carlisle was apologizing for us. Almost three years ago, I had met him first in a hospital. He had been so kind, so caring. Even at such a young age, he had been such a great father to all of us. I stood up and handed Renesmee to Edward and walked up to Carlisle and I simply hugged him. He looked surprised but hugged me back.

"Thank you for everything, Dad." I whispered to him. He looked down and smiled at me genuinely as he leaned down to kiss my forehead while Esme beamed at us. I went back to the Sofa and Edward took my hand instantly and squeezed it lightly. I looked at him and smiled and mouthed "I love you." Jacob rolled his eyes from the side but I ignored him.

"You have a lovely family, Bella." Natasha said to me. I smiled at her and nodded my head. Indeed. Renesmee patted my face and showed me Natasha's image in my mind. I laughed and handed her over to Natasha who was more than pleased as she took Renesmee in her lap and started playing with her.

"We must all get ready to fight, because this time it will come to a fight. As much as I hate the idea of a war, we will have to fight to win our loved ones back. We will fight to death for Tanya, Maggie, Zafrina, Benjamin-"

"Alice."

We all turned around to look at Jasper who had just walked in through the door. He was clutching a note in his hand and his eyes looked crazed. A feeling of dread coursed through my veins as I looked at Edward who had frozen in his place on the Sofa.

"No..not Alice…" He began as we got up and hurried up to Jasper who looked unstable and wild. We all gathered around him as Carlisle asked him "Jasper..where is Alice?" Although we already knew the answer.

"Gone…the Volturi..this.." Jasper started pacing back and forth as he handed the crumpled piece of paper to Carlisle. I read it over his shoulder.

"Dear Jasper,

I am sorry but I can't do this anymore. I already went through this once but I don't have the power to do it again. You know I love you and the Cullens very much, and I know you love me too and that hopefully with time you will forgive me. I wish you all the best for the future. I am sorry.

-Alice."

Carlisle handed the note to Esme as he put a hand over his eyes and sank into the sofa. All of a sudden he looked a lot older. I was totally numb with shock and it was like nothing would be right again. The feeling of dread was getting stronger with every passing second. The Volturi had Alice and god knows what all she was going through at this very moment. Esme started sobbing tearlessly and buried her face into her hands while Jasper was looking around like a madman as he spoke to himself

"They took her..they..from right under my nose..I couldn't save her.."

Rosalie came forward, looking angry "Jasper, how could you let this happen?"

"Rose, back off." Edward snarled as Jasper looked up at her, his hands shaking from anger.

Emmett stepped up in front of Rosalie as she shut her mouth and glared at Edward and Jasper in quick succession.

"Well now with Alice gone, we are with a huge disadvantage." Ethan said. From the look on Jasper's face, I instantly knew what was going to happen as I shouted "Jasper no!"

Jasper was totally out of his senses as he lunged at Ethan and slammed him against the wall. The wall cracked with the force as Jasper held Ethan by the neck and snarled at him "How dare you speak about Alice like she is just a tool? Everything be damned, I just want my wife back do you understand?"

Edward and Emmett rushed to Jasper and pried him off Ethan who slumped down on the floor, looking dazed. Aida rushed to him while Emmett wrapped his arms around Jasper who was kicking around like a wild animal and lead him off. I was rooted to the ground in shock while Renesmee clung to Natasha. Jacob was standing in front of them, his stance protective and his hands shaking.

"Are you alright Ethan?" I said as I walked over to him. He jumped up to his feet as he looked down at me, his eyes apologetic.

"Bella..I didn't mean it like that…I just.." He began, rubbing the back of his neck. I nodded to say that I understood. "I know Ethan. Jasper is out of his mind right now..I…I'll go check on him." I replied hastily and left the room.

I needed some fresh air to clear my mind so I could process the events clearly. I went outside and quickly jumped over the river and landed onto the other side. I was careful enough and didn't stray far enough from the safety of the house. It was cloudy outside and a strong wind was blowing from the left. I settled against the trunk of a thick tree and started pulling out the grass from the ground and watched it blow on with the wind. This whole situation seemed unreal. It was bad enough hearing about the others but..my own family? Alice was more than a best friend. She was my sister. My dead heart ached as I thought about it. Outside I seemed calm but inside I was screaming. I wanted to thrash around, to break something, to hurt someone just like Jasper but I had to stay calm. I had to be strong for my family.

I heard Edward talking at a distance so I got up and ran into the general direction of his voice and I came upon Jasper, Emmett and Edward. Jasper was slumped against a tree just like I was a few moments ago and Edward and Emmett were hovering over him. Edward turned around as I walked into the small clearing and he came up to me. It broke my heart to see the expression on his face.

"He is under control ...for now." Edward said as he sighed. "I read his mind Bella. It is the Volturi without a doubt. Alice and Jasper went hunting this morning and they split up to hunt at different locations. When Alice didn't show up after a while, Jasper went looking for her and found the note under a rock.

I nodded as I digested the information. Alice and Jasper had been barely five miles away from our house when she was abducted. So close..

"Edward, what I don't understand is...you saw the note right? I mean, it was definitely Alice's handwriting. How did they make her write it?" I said.

"I don't know Bella...maybe they threatened her into it." He said his expression pained. I wrapped my arms around his waist and let it all go. I sobbed like I hadn't done in my entire life. For once, I wished I was human so I could let my emotions go, let my tears flow for the loss of my sister, my best friend. Edward just buried his head against my shoulder and I felt his torso shake with grief. I don't know for how long we stood there just like that, crying into each other's arms, with Jasper looking like a dead statue and Emmett just standing there beside him, looking grave. I was losing hope.

*Peeks from behind a rock* Okay so don't kill me. I hated writing this part about Alice being abducted but oh well. I hope you liked the chapter. I will be posting really soon, within the end of this week probably! Please review and tell me how much you liked it (or hated it :| )

Until next time!