Chapter – 21

Her head was pounding, her body felt like a bulldozer had ran her over, twice, and to top it off she couldn't move. No matter how much she tried to open her eyes, or stretch her arms and legs, her body was not cooperating. Lily had only felt like that once before, the morning after Nicky's sweet 16, then again polishing a bottle of Patron and two of Hpnotiq can do that you. Hangovers are the worst, only problem was Lily had not been drinking at Maggie's party, no drinking, no hangover, she also didn't remember how she ended up in bed.

Relying on her senses was her only option. There was no doubt she was on a bed, going by scent, no flowery freshness meant she was not on her own and no woodsy earthiness meant it wasn't Jake's either. He was next to her though, by the burning in her hand, he was holding it. Focusing on the scent alone, she immediately recognized the unmistakable sweet scent of lavender and freesia, she was at the Cullen house, and by the light she felt on her skin, she was in Edward's old room, her room. But why was she there and how did she get there?

She tried to remember but that only caused her head to feel like it was gonna explode. She frowned, internally, or least she thought it was internally.

"Doc!" Jake shouted, instantly shifting his body around but still holding her hand.

"Don't shout, Jake" she whispered, surprised the sound actually came out.

"She's coming around" he whispered, which meant Carlisle was next to him.

She tried to open her eyes but couldn't get them to focus so she left them closed but by the sudden increase in scents, the room was full.

"Told ya" Nick smirked.

"These damn vampires never listen to us" Maggie laughed

An icy hand took her wrist; Carlisle wouldn't be checking her pulse or heart rate since he could hear that from across the room so he must've been checking her temperature.

"Her vitals are normal" Carlisle informed everyone in the room.

"Why is she having trouble moving, Doc?" Jake asked anxiously

"Give her a few" Nicky answered

"Honey?" Esme asked a second icy hand was placed on her shoulder "How do you feel?"

"Like I've been beaten and tossed aside" she whispered with a little smile

"That's to be expected" Carlisle answered "You've been unconscious for two days"

Two days??? Lily sprang up and snapped her eyes open "Whoa!" Not a good idea. The entire room circled around her and she felt like she was falling sideways.

Jake immediately grabbed a hold of her and laid her back down. Surprisingly it was Nicky and not Carlisle who rushed to help.

"Breathe" she instructed "Slowly, in and out, concentrate on only that" Lily did as she was asked and soon her heart slowed to its normal rate. "Good" Nicky said, a smile in her voice "Now open your eyes and focus on the ceiling above you" That was a little harder but she did it "Only the ceiling until the swirls go away"

Lily did just that for a few minutes. Little by little the spinning stopped and her head didn't feel as heavy.

"I wanna sit now"

"You sure?" Jake asked at the same time Carlisle advised "I don't think that's a good idea"

"I'm good" Lily assured at the same time Nicky did "She's good"

She sat up with Jake and Nicky's help and saw her senses hadn't failed her. She was indeed in Edward's old room, her room as the Cullen's jokingly called it since that was the room she used when sleeping over. Indeed the room was full, Jake was sitting on the bed, his eyes full of worry, locked on her face, Nicky was sitting on the other side, smiling, Jess standing right behind her, Carlisle and Esme were at the foot of the bed, Emmett and Rosalie next to the door, Edward and Bella, who had Nessie in her arms were at the window, Seth and Maggie sitting in the corner on the window sill, and she could sense the rest of the pack was just outside, and probably with the same worry as everyone else, apart from Nicky and Maggie. Alice and Jasper were probably outside too.

"Better?" Nicky smiled

"Much" Lily nodded

Jake let go of her hand and wrapped his arm tightly around her, pressing her body against his. From the heat that remained in her hand, he had been holding it all of the past 48 hours.

"God, I love you" he whispered in her ear "Don't ever do that to me again"

"Trust me, it wasn't my intention" she chuckled

Jess leaned in to kiss the top of her head "Love you" he whispered before jumping out the window.

Her little brother wasn't much for expressing his feelings, especially with an audience. She and Jess didn't have to verbally express themselves to one another, with one look he expressed his worry, his relief, and his happiness she was better but that fact that he went as far as expressing it, was huge.

"Lucy, you got some splaning to do" Nicky laughed

"Me? I thought you would be explaining to me, what the hell happened?"

"You told me you had already gotten your full powers" Nick stated a bit accusingly

"I did" Lily answered "Right before the big fight with the newborns"

"You got a burst of power but that wasn't it, cause you just went through the progression" Nick explained "I went through it at the precise moment I turned 18"

"Blacked out for 2 days" Maggie added "Scared the hell out of me"

"I don't know why grans didn't explain ay of this to us" Nick shook her head "Scary shit to go though on your own. I did some research online but not the same as having the Book of Shadows"

"I have the book" Lily answered "Grandma gave it to me"

"And you haven't read it???"

"Parts of it" Lily admitted "Some spells and the vampire section which saved my life, if I hadn't taken Emmett's blood…"

"You've taken vampire blood???" Nicky laughed "Oh man!" she laughed even harder as everyone looked at her like the nut she was "Do your gums hurt?"

Lily lapped her tongue over her gums and they were a little sore. Her wince had Nicky in tears of laughter. Lily traced her tongue down her incisors and her eyes widened as she noticed they were longer and definitely sharper. "Oh my god!" she cried before placing her hands over her mouth

"What is it?" Jake cried

"She has fangs" Nicky in full laughter

The room collectively sucked in a breath of air as Emmett joined Nicky's laughter.

"Fangs?" Jake asked in disbelief "Let me see" he said taking Lily's face in his hands.

"How bad is it?" she asked, opening her mouth to allow him to take a look.

"Not bad" he smiled "Maybe a millimeter or two longer and a little sharper" he laid touching the tip his thumb "But nothing too perceptible. Humans will never notice"

That was a relief, not that she minded resembling her vampire cousins, she just didn't want to explain to people why her fangs were more pronounced. Vampires. Alice dropped the bottle of Patron. A vision. The Volturi. The Volturi in Forks to kill them all.

"Why does the Volturi want to kill us?!!!"

"That was not random" Emmett laughed

"You wanna take this one?" Jake asked Edward,

He let go of Bella and walked over. Nicky got up and stood next to Jess, allowing Edward to take her place on the bed. Whatever he was about to say was not gonna be good, then again, someone out to kill you never is.

"The Volturi does not like competition" Edward stated "Our family is the biggest clan after theirs, our unity and our powers is something they do not take likely. They've been waiting for an excuse to eliminate us and thanks to Irina, they've gotten one"

"This is my fault!" she wept "If I hadn't gone chasing Seth, he wouldn't have phased and none of this would've happened"

"Tell her everything" Jake snapped

"This is hardly your fault, Lily. Irina felt betrayed by us because we didn't not help her kill the pack. She had not gotten over that, but she was willing to try to come to peace with us because her family asked her to do so, and like us, family is the most important thing to her. We're not sure how much she saw in the wood that night, we searched for weeks, no trace, then she returned, she came here"

"What?" Bella exclaimed "Why didn't you tell us anything?"

"I didn't want anyone to worry" he answered apologetically "Jake and I decided it was best to wait"

"You knew?" Lily asked Jake, who gave her a nod with the same apologetic look Edward had.

"The problem is, when Irina arrived, Jake and I were outside with Nessie, Collin phased as he approached and ran to take Nessie in his arms. Her hiss is what informed us of her presence, Jake and Collin went into protector mode and phased as Nessie jumped into my arms. Irina was far too upset to be reasoned with and we thought it was best if we had her sisters talk to her so we let her go. We never imagined she would infuriate to the point of going to the Volturi"

"She has told the Volturi that we have exposed ourselves to humans, that we have allied with werewolves and that we have turned a child into a vampire" Carlisle added "None of which the Volturi would ever forgive"

"We can run" Lily suggested

"Demetri would find us anywhere" Edward answered

"Not if I place a concealment spell" she argued "But that would mean everyone would have to run, werewolves, imprintees, not a good plan, ha?"

"Unfortunately, no" Edward shook his head "The only thing we can do is make them listen to the truth"

"We've been busy tracking all our friends" Rosalie informed "They will come, see the situation and place testament of what is really going on"

"What if that doesn't work?"

"We fight" Emmett smirked

"We fight" Lily nodded in agreement.

….. ***** …..

A fight meant to the death. Jake wanted nothing more than to pack up Lily's stiff and send her off with Nicky and Maggie, but he knew that was never gonna happen. She would be at the frontline no matter what anyone said or how much he pleaded her not to.

"Of course, you knew we're in" Sam stated as he walked in the room with Paul and Jared. "Glad to see you're better, Lil"

Jared smiled at Lil as Paul smiled with a little wink.

"Nick, you have to go" Lil ordered "And you gotta take Mags with you"

"Excuse me!" Maggie snapped

"If you think for one second that I'm gonna leave while you fight those mobster draculas" Nicky raged, placing her hands on her hips "You got another thing coming! I aint going anywhere!"

"Will someone help me out here" Lil exclaimed, looking around the room for backup.

"What do you think we've been trying to do for the last two days" Seth exhaled

"Not happening" Nicky smirked "Face it Lil, you need all the help you can get. You would turn a witch away? I can come in handy and you know it"

"Fine" Lil sighed in defeat "You stay, but Mags leaves"

"Of course"

"I'M NOT LEAVING!" Mags snapped, stomping her foot as her face turned red in anger

"Listen up, shorty" Paul smirked "You leave on your own, or we'll tie you down and take you"

"TRY IT!"

"You better get your girl on check, kid" Paul laughed at Seth "She's gonna get herself hogtied"

"Enough" Sam ordered

Paul didn't say anything, but he smiled tauntingly at Maggie, which of course infuriated her more. She glared hatefully at him and a second later his cutoffs burst into flames.

"Holy shit!" Emmett laughed as Paul ran around like a chicken with his head cut off while everyone tried to help him extinguish his shorts.

"Maggie!" Lil and Maggie chorused in a scold "Stop it!" Lil added as she held her arms out, palms up. The fire was out a second later and Paul was nothing but a cloud of smoke.

"Ok, ok, you made your point" Nicky said "You can stay"

"Hell yeah" Emmett laughed, placing his arm over Maggie's shoulders "We tear'em up, you torch'em"

"So there's no way of convincing you not to do this?" Jake whispered as he ran his fingers through her hair.

Lil turned around and placed her small delicate hands on his cheeks, her glorious eyes staring deep into his soul as she smiled "Did you ever think there was?"

"Nope" he sighed in defeat. He never did.

She gently kissed his nose and then landed those lovely lips of hers on his before turning to the group. "How long before they arrive?"

"Little over a month" Edward answered

"Ok" Lil nodded with a look he knew and didn't like very much "That should be enough time"

"What are you up to?"

"Baby" she said, taking his face again "I need you to be understanding and reasonable of what I'm about to ask of everyone"

"You're scaring me"

"I have to admit I'm with Jacob on this one" Edward added

"She knows what she's doing" Jess stated as he jumped in "We know it, we don't like it but we know it"

Jake didn't like where things were going. Anytime Lil got that look in her eye, it meant fear and worry for Jake. When she jumped off the cliff, when Jess was turned, when she decided to be at the clearing during the newborn fight, when she had bitten Emmett and when she had slit her wrist, same look, not good for him.

"There's a good chance we are gonna have to fight for our lives, and not with unskilled, untrained newborns but with vampires with centuries of experience in killing. It is absolutely crucial that I know the limit of my powers. I need to know how much I can take and how much damage I can do and I can't do that without your help" she held out her finger, stopping them for arguing "It might save our lives. I need to spar and practice and not playing around like I do with Emmett and Paul. I need you to give me your word that you will throw your best at me. Please!"

Blondie was the first to answer "You have my word"

"Me too" Emmett added

Jake's body tensed as she went down the line. One by one, they gave her the nod she wanted.

"Of course" Paul smiled when she got to him.

"I'm sorry, Jacob" Sam stated fullheartedly before turning to Lil "You have our word"

Maggie and Nicky smiled, no nod needed but Jess and Seth stared at Jake, waiting for his approval. Lil took a deep breath and spoke without turning back to him.

"I'm gonna do this with or without your approval, but I would love your support" A witch, a warrior, that's what she was, that's who he was in love with, but could he handle it? Could he really turn off the killer instinct and allow her to fight with his brothers, his friends? His body tensed, his heart raced and his head battled with thousands of thoughts. Bella walked over and squeezed his hand in encouragement as Nessie reached out and touched his shoulder, showing him hundreds of images of Lil and him, happy, in love, laughing in each other's arms. "If you love me as much as you say you do, you will trust and believe in me because that's what I need from you"

Jake felt like his head weighed a ton as he nodded slowly, allowing Seth and Jess to give Lil the nod she was waiting for. The sigh of relief was collective.

Lil smile at him and everything else was meaningless as she ran to him and jumped into his arms.

"God, I love you"

They kissed passionately until the giggles, fake gags and comments to 'get a room' caused them to stop. She jumped off him with a smile and finally picked up that someone very important to her was missing. Everyone tensed, knowing the words that were about to leave her mouth.

"Where are Alice and Jasper???"