{{{Moira}}}

"Alice! Jasper! Rosalie! Emmett!"

The horrified voices that emanated nearly inaudibly across the crowd from Edward and Bella on the other side of the room sent grotesque images dancing across my consciousness. Guilt and remorse gripped me as I drew assumptions of what events must have transpired to cause such alert beckoning, assumptions that led me to one unacceptable conclusion: Renesmee had been unable to resist the temptation and my Mathias was dead.

In moments, the Cullens stood beside Esme and me in the back center of the ballroom, behind Alice's treasured fire pit. The others' faces were just as perplexed and concerned as my own, the twinkle of their amber eyes dancing in the bouncing light radiating from the low flicker of flame. Esme, perhaps making the same inference as me, clutched my heated hand in her own icy one. I couldn't help but reflect on Alice's theme for our Boo Ball: fire and ice.

"Mathias and Nessie are fine."

Edward cut off the running of my imagination. I gasped, having forgotten to breathe for at least twenty seconds. Esme's arm circled around me comfortingly. But the tension in Edward and Bella's faces forced us back from the momentary relief.

"Then… what could possibly be…."

My voice trailed off as they entered the room, three black robes gracefully bellowing out behind them as though the wind had caught them, swirls of fog from the ill-advised fog machine tossing in every direction.

"Oh, god!" Esme panted. "Oh, no, all the children."

My concern was more focused on the two children in the tower, probably unaware of the very danger both their lives were in. Edward picked up on my thoughts.

"They know. They saw them on the security cameras."

"Security cameras?" Emmett queried, tossing his head left and right to identify this new discovery.

"Are they still behind the entry way of the tower?" I asked Edward. He paused for a moment and then nodded his head.

I didn't know why the Volturi had come, or why they choose to send their scouting party at this particular moment, but I could guess. The Volturi had been charged with one simple task: keep our world a secret from humans. The means they used to accomplish this goal had always been of their own choosing. Their choices were harsh and implied a near zero tolerance for disregard of the prime directive. The triumvirate, no doubt, had sent three of its most powerful guards perfectly timed to coincide with a house full of humans to ensure that there would be no temptation to make a scene.

"Should I get Nessie and run?" Emmett asked. Rosalie's eyes never faltered tracking the trio as they locked unto us from across the room.

"You cannot outrun them," I said. "Demetri has surely sensed your intellect now. He will track you across the continent, if necessary. And Mathias must be protected as well."

"But we can't just leave them on their own!" Esme pleaded.

"Don't worry," I assured her. "They'll be safe in the tower."

"Oh. My. God."

Edward's astonished voice reflected the benefit of his talent and allowed him to preview my intent. I realized that, though he had been able to deduce Mathias's ability by our own unguarded stray thoughts, he had only a vague idea of the reach and breadth of mine. How fascinating he must find me now- and how dangerous.

"We will speak of this later," he assured me.

I agreed. This was not the time for philosophical discussion or historical query. "Do you concur with my decision?"

He gave a curt nod.

Bella's face was stricken with both submission and revolt. She was trusting of Edward's decisions, but frustrated by not being privy to our half-spoken conversation.

I sharpened my thoughts around the tower's pressurized security door that would seal the panic room from the inside, protecting the occupants from harm from nearly any outside force, and willed it shut. The echo of the metal locks sliding into place and the seal vacuuming shut was drowned out from the humans' ears by the music. The Volturi guard, however, paused, trying to identify the source of the sound.

"Edward, Renesmee…" Bella pleaded. "Tell me what's going on."

"Don't worry, love, she's safe."

He embraced her and laid kisses on each of her cheeks, then turned towards Alice.

"How come you couldn't see this coming?" he harshly demanded.

Alice shied sheepishly, her lips twitching but unable to generate words. Jasper became defensive.

"Back off, Edward. You know she doesn't see everything. Especially when Nessie and Moira are concerned!"

The animosity with which he overly accentuated my name set me aback. The implication was clear: maybe Alice could see far enough Renesmee's cloudy psychic boarders, but my presence rendered her blind. If I was party to the event, she could see nothing. He held me to blame for this danger being unforeseen.

"Easy, Jazz," Alice found her voice in an attempt to soothe him. "This isn't the time to pick a fight amongst ourselves."

I looked again across the ballroom. Perhaps afraid to appear too inhuman, Jane, Alec and Demetri overcompensated with a slow pace. Only fifteen feet from us now, I knew we had only a few more seconds of audile isolation, and that due only to the pounding base kicking out from the speakers at the far end of the room. When they were standing next to us, this fact would also provide them cover to speak in voices too soft for any human ear to detect, but perfectly sensible to us. They would be hiding in plain sight.

"They do not wish to engage us here," I concluded. The crowd was too big and the witnesses too many. Jane and Alec were keen choices as emissaries: as hardly teenagers themselves they would blend most easily amongst the youthful crowd. Demetri, however, was sent as a warning: don't try to make a run for it. "Let me talk first. Bella, keep your shield down until we understand their purpose better."

I stepped forward to meet their advance; the Cullens followed right behind. Jane's tempest smile bared her razor teeth menacingly as she curtsied. Demetri and Alec gave a little bow, but otherwise remained stoic as they assessed the presence of the seven vampires standing behind me.

"La do il benvenuto alla mia casa, i miei ospiti onorati," I greeted. It had been over sixty years since I had encountered them, and I did not know anymore which their lingua franca was.

"Great Sekhmet," Demetri answered. Ah, so English it was now. "We are most humbled by your welcome."

Alec suppressed a giggle. I wished that I could ask Edward the reason, but so was my disadvantage now.

"I had not been made aware that a delegation was to be sent, and such a prominent delegation at that. To what do I owe the pleasure of such company?" My words were measured and diplomatic, but the underlying message was clear. What the hell are you doing in my house?

"Your grace," Jane sweetly stated. "I'm afraid you misunderstand. Though your welcome is most gracious, we were not sent to seek you. In fact, we are most surprised to find you here…with them. What of the accord?"

"It stands. The Cullens are merely friends and neighbors," I explained. "I must point out, however, that under our accord, the Volturi are to make known their intention to send any representative."

"Again, milady, our apologies, but there is no malicious intent. We were sent to address the Cullens, and you're being present is an uplifting delight."

Demetri shifted his eyes to Bella and Edward, as though trying to diagnose their reactions.

"He's lying," Edward declared. "They were sent to deliver a message to us, but they were fully aware that they would find you here."

I couldn't suppress presenting the question my heart ached most to have answered. I drafted the English in my head concisely:

"Do they know about Mathias?"

Edward whispered a muted "no."

I stared down Demetri with as much contempt as I could muster.

"I trust you are well acquainted with my friend's insightfulness," I said, tossing my head back to indicate Edward. "I would appreciate then if we can skip with the formalities and rhetoric. Tell me why you are here."

Jane laughed and started swaying back and forth with the music. She looked around at the student body as they jumped and shimmied, looking very much like fish caught on a line.

"So many pretty poppies," she said, looking slowly from one to the other of those dancing nearby. "I wonder which one tastes the sweetest?"

Esme shifted her body around the side of our contingent, placing herself firmly beside Jane in order to block any action she might take. Of course, she would not kill one. But how hard would it be for a twelve-year old to accidently cause someone to "trip" while dancing and break a leg or an arm. Or, just to collapse in a sudden ball of unanticipated and unimaginable pain?

"Why, Mother Cullen, what are you implying?" Jane giggled mercilessly.

"If you touch one, Jane, the last pain you will feel is my teeth through your throat," Esme growled.

Demetri pulled Jane back to his side and cast her disparaging looks. He then turned his gaze to Edward. "You are being extended an invitation to present your daughter in Volterra for a formal audience."

"We decline," Bella proclaimed without pause, tightening her grip on Edward's arm. "There is no reason for them to see her. You had your answers to all your questions seven years ago. She is not a threat to you or to anyone else."

"If dead men could tell tales, there would be a corpse in Washington that would contend that sentiment," Demetri returned. I saw Bella and Edward flinch, realizing that the Volturi were more than aware of the near exposure caused by Ren's mishap. "If you feel she is no threat, why not let us see her now? If she seems controlled and composed enough, perhaps we can send message back to Aro and the others that there is nothing to be gained by a trip to Italy? We've already checked your home and followed her scent up here. Bring her out from wherever she's hiding."

My mind immediately flashed to the tower, where Ren was surely safe enough behind an impenetrable door. But standing with her behind that door was my Mathias, whose doom would surely be sealed if Demetri was able to convince his way into the panic room. Even if Mathias and Ren had not known why I had forced the door shut, surely they would were watching now on the security monitor. The exterior camera was mounted just a few feet away outside the adjacent window. My first task when adopting Mathias was to have him memorize the faces of the Volturi from pictures I had gathered from thousands of well-sifted Volterra tourist photos. He knew these faces. He would recognize the danger.

But would he be smart enough not to open the door? Or would he try to be the hero?

"I am tired of waiting!" Jane suddenly and fervently declared. "Answer!"

"No!" Jasper cried, sensing before we were ever able to see the waves of pain that were crashing over Edward, causing him to double over, his abhorrent cries drowning out even the pulsing boom of the dance music. Bella's shield was over us in moments, but Edward's body was in rapture from the shock.

The dancing of the nearby students had ceased, as they to find the source of the screams. I heard the whispers of a few:

Was that Edward Cullen?

Who are the people in the robes?

Is he okay? He looks like he's hurt….

"How dare you!"

I rebuked Jane even as her laughter reverberated. Concern and curiosity had drawn the crowd's attention. Even the music had hushed. The silence of a mass of students and others staring wordlessly at what was so clearly a tension-filled standoff weighed heavy on my senses. It became all too apparent what they were doing: they wanted the attention focused on us. They had the clear advantage: they were not accountable to a public persona that these humans near the way we were. Certainly if I so choose, anyone of us could leap out and attack Jane or Alec, and with Bella's shield over us a victory would be likely. I was sorely tempted to do just that. But how would that look to this ignorant audience: the high school history teacher laying waste to two twelve-year olds?

With every ear now focused on us as well, we were even hostages to our words. I wasn't familiar enough with Bella's gift to know, while we stood behind her shield, if Edward and Jasper would still be able to pick up any mental indications I sent their way?

"I can hear you," Edward whispered acknowledging, his teeth still clenched as he tried to recoup.

"Don't you see? This is part of their plan- they want their thoughts safe from you. Jane did that on purpose so Bella would block you. They already have a plan. What's the last thing you heard?"

I turned my back on the guard and focused on Edward and Bella. He rose cautiously, Bella bracing him under the arms for support. A quick nod to Demetri was followed by Edward's response.

"He will go find the thing he's been sent to find and take it by force."

Edward was wise enough to make his words vague, knowing that two hundred pairs of eyes from all corners of the room were now focused on us, with a matching set of hungry ears. Demetri's mouth twisted into a self-assured, wicked smile, seeing that we understood what the threat was, and believing he had created a situation in which were powerless. Fine, live your abhorrent vegetarian lives. But if you don't want your cover blown, you'll hand over the child without a struggle. And if you do resist and expose yourself, we'll have the excuse we need to take you all out.

"What do we do?" Esme gasped quietly, her body stiff and motionless.

"Simple," I answered, looking in turn from Edward to Emmett and to Jasper, the three warriors. "We shift the advantage. Edward, they think the crowd is their leverage. Let's make it ours."

"How?"

"Just follow my lead."

I turned to the sea of eyes focused ever more curiously upon us.

"Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys," I called out in my best teacher-making-an-announcement voice. If anyone had not been watching us before, they surely were now. "Let me take a moment as your hostess to thank you for gracing us with your presence tonight. As you may or may not know, all of our festivities today were coordinated by Ms. Alice Cullen, and I would like to extend thanks on behalf of the Bridgeport Academy for organizing the Boo Ball."

My heart leapt with guilty pleasure as I saw the confusion spread across the guards' faces.

"Some of you noticed our little scene over here, and I want to say, so sorry Mr. Cullen for stepping on your toes, but I did warn you that I had two left feet when you asked me to dance. I'm sorry they both kicked you in the shins."

A murmured chuckle ran through the room as Edward bowed his head in a faux acknowledgement of my apology, and let me know for certain he was playing along.

"Now, Alice tried to convince me that we needed other entertainment this evening than just enough food and music to put a Kennedy wedding to shame, but I refused to waste anymore of your parents' well intentioned endowments on such frivolities."

From behind, I heard a little huff, and then Jasper whispering very low into her ear, "She's not being sincere. Go along with it."

"Lucky for me, and unlucky for you all, Alice somehow found out about my checkered past as an amateur magician. Yes, it's true. I'm not proud, but," I motioned around the room to the mosaics on the adjacent wall and the ornate crystal chandelier taken for the Prague Opera house dangling from the ceiling, "I had to pay the bills somehow."

Again, a pleasant mass chuckle. I could see Demetri's face contort as he tried to put together what I was plotting. Jane and Alec were similarly occupied, perhaps debating internally on whether to make threats with their gifts, or flee given they had clearly lost control.

"So, if we could lower the lights? Oh, and remember, emphasis on amateur in amateur magician. Nonetheless, let me give it my best go by employing everything in my bag of tricks."

Obligingly, someone across the room dimmed the chandelier, though those who I most wanted to see could see clear as day.

"And, DJ, perhaps some music? Something that would be good for pulling a rabbit out of hat…."

"The one I was asking you about before," Alice called over the crowd.

Jasper's grip on her tightened at the realization. She had seen this happening. At least in part. Enough so that she'd known which song to play. The implication struck me numb; she'd only see a future moment such as this if her blind spot had been removed. As I didn't anticipate dying in this moment, I suddenly understood that path I must take, and I was going to need every ounce of assistance the venom could give me.

A low-buzzing, followed by ambient base electronic beat filled the room, creating an air of suspense.

"Edward, we'll need to control the twins."

"Emmett," he called quietly. "Stand with the two junior high kids, okay? Just to be safe. I think Moira's trick involves an element of …danger."

Emmett rushed forward more than eager to assist. In a mock gesture, he took both the twins beside him, nudging them playfully in the hair with his knuckles, looking very much a big brother. The twins, perplexed, and with a reluctant but willing nod from clueless Demetri, allowed themselves to be directed to stand next to the Cullens. Emmett delivered Jane to Jasper, where he placed his hands on her shoulders and steadied her to the spot. Emmett did likewise with his charge.

"Now," I continued in my announcing tone, "prepare to be amazed."

The venom surged into my veins the moment I let go my hold on it. The scent of the crowd, already a low hum to my senses all night long, quickly caused an avalanche of thirst to bound upon me.

Focus. You must do this to protect Mathias. And Ren. And everyone.

The game was in motion, and I was past the point of no return, if for no other reason than the audience expected something to happen. Three seconds later, I opened my crimson-ringed black eyes, and saw Demetri shudder in fear as I bore the venom's saturation into my brain. Demetri and I were no strangers. Once, he had fought at my side, and willingly so. In those days, he had been so very young and untested. Now, he was the biggest threat to anyone who would try to escape the Volturi's will. As I approached him, my eyes again shifted as the mental stream I was honing began to burst forth. The Eye of Ra: the blackest of all eyes, not merely the retina, but the entire eye.

Demetri understood. He'd seen me kill too many times in this state. He understood that he was going to die.

"But the accord?" he gasped in desperation.

The last leverage he had, my promise not to raise a battle against the Volturi, my promise not keep a coven; for any coven, no matter how small, would make me too much a threat.

I leaned in close to him, and spoke the last words he would ever hear, making sure they were just loud enough that Jane and Alec would also hear, and carry the message back to Italy.

"I hereby dissolve the accord. The Cullens are mine."

And then it was easy. Easy to let my consciousness flow, to allow the muscle of my ability to flex.

To play out the illusion, I raised up my arms toward the ceiling, though this was purely for show. I did not need to make any physical movement at all, I had only to will him into the air, like some old time show of levitation. But merely making objects fly was not the whole canvas of my strength. No, I could use my will to tear him limb from limb.

I forced his body to hover to a position over the fire pit- what a great idea that had turned out to be after all. I wonder if Alice had actually seen how I would use it?- and then, with a nanosecond of intention, I snapped him in half with my mind. His body dissolved into a myriad of pieces, flesh and bone and venom, and fell as I released my hold. The fire belched black clouds of smoke as each fleck hit it. It had happened too quickly for the humans to comprehend: all they had witnessed was a flying man disappearing into a rising flame and a cloud of smoke. The Cullens and the twins, however, held horror in their gazes.

Demetri was dead. The Volturi tracker was dead. And with nothing more than a decision needed on my part, I could do that same to them faster than they could blink.

Harder and harder I forced myself to draw back the strings, but the seconds were passing away, even as ignorant, foolish students clapped at the charade and hit me on the back in congratulations. I stood stoic with my eyes closed. At least I had pulled back the forces to house within me. But, the venom refused to surrender the ground I had let it gain.

I opened my eyes and looked at Alice, who smiled at me crookedly, because I knew at that moment not the content of what she saw, but that my whole future had become crystal clear to her.

I was not dead, but I had gone too long. I couldn't come back.

Ever.

The anucktumai were dead.

Long live Sekhmet the Destroyer.