A/N: Thanks for the reviews/comments. Many of you have been able to pick up on some clues I've been throwing in some of the chapter.

My muse is still visiting. Hopefully, she'll stay long enough for me to finish.

It's not mine, and there's no beta.

Phone convo: Normal text is Bella. Italic text is Leah.

BPOV

After Marcus had Alice torn apart, he ordered a few members of the guard to collect her venom, all of her venom. You could say that they bled her dry. I'm not sure how they went about doing it, and I'm not sure if I want to know or not.

I asked Marcus what was the purpose of draining her of all her venom and then keeping it. He explained to me that venom is highly flammable. He intended to use it for the upcoming battle. He told me of how he invented the vampire version of a Molotov cocktail eons ago. According to him, he was the first to come up with the idea of using a bottled flammable liquid and an igniter in order to create a bomb.

Anyway, by the time Alice no longer had a drop of venom left in any of her body parts, she began to disintegrate. She literally just turned into an ash like substance and then blew away in the wind. Apparently, since there was none of her venom left for her body to fuse itself back together, she was well and truly dead.

I then asked Marcus why he wanted her eliminated so quickly. He is of the mindset that the moment you show mercy, you show weakness. He believes that, while mercy is a good attribute, it should not be given in certain circumstances. Treason and treachery are just two of those circumstances.

It made sense, and I had no issue with his reasoning at all. The man's a genius. So Alice is gone, and I say good riddance!

Right now, I am calling Leah, because Marcus needs to inform Sam of the information Alice had given him. The pack is going to need to come back to continue training. I also needed to have a girl chat with her, so I volunteered to make the call.

"Hi, girlfriend, what the heck you calling me for?" Leah answered in greeting.

"We have had a new development, and my man wants the pack here as soon as they are able to come. Things are heating up, girl," I told her.

"We haven't even been gone all that long. What could have possibly happened in such a short period of time?"

"I'll give you one word, Alice."

"Damn! The shit just keeps hitting the fan, doesn't it?" she asked

"True, but this time it was a good thing. So you need to spread the word and get here already. Plus, you and I need to have a chit chat."

"About what?" she asked.

"You'll find out when you get here," I replied quickly.

"You and that hunk of yours finally did the horizontal limbo," she yelled in excitement.

"Where did you get that idea?" I asked her. I really needed to work on my acting. That girl can always see right through me.

"I know you, and don't think I didn't notice that you didn't deny it."

"Whatever, and I refuse to discuss that over the phone," I replied. "Oh, Lele, where the hell is Jacob? I haven't seen him in a while," I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Jake was running patrol. Sam made him do it by himself as a punishment. He was relieved the moment we got back to the res. I think the moron is sleeping right now," she informed me. "Which reminds me, not all of the pack can be there. Sam has increased our patrols. He wants two wolves on patrol at all times. He's even come up with a schedule."

"That won't be an issue. Marcus gets the need for being vigilant. So Sam still has Jake on a tight leash, huh?" I asked with a laugh.

"You know it. I'm getting off the phone. I'll let Sam know, and I'll wake Jake up. We'll be there within the hour. If not, I'll call you. Try to keep your hands off your mate," she ordered and hung up before I could respond.

Leah is such a brat. She's lucky I love her so much.

MPOV

Isabella came back outside after she finished her conversation with Leah. She walked over to me, grinning the entire way. When she was close enough, I grabbed a hold of her arm and yanked her to me.

"I told Leah. She told me that not all of the wolves will be able to come. Sam has increased the number of patrols. He wants two wolves patrolling at all times. I'm sure Sam will fill you in. Leah said they'll be here in an hour," she informed me as she stood on the tips of her toes to kiss my cheek.

"Very good," I responded. "In the meantime, we need to work on your shield. I know you don't want to do it, but we have to work on your ability to leech from other vampires without having to force yourself to concentrate. Both Felix and Emmett have volunteered to help you."

"Ah, you guys want to donate to the cause," she teased, looking over at the two imposing vampires

"Hell, yea," Emmett barked in laughter while he flexed his muscles. Felix chose to just nod his head in agreement. It would seem that he was allowing Emmett to supply all of the theatrics.

"Jasper, you're going to have to have everything thrown at her. She's going to need to be weakened enough to feel the need to leech off of one of you," I advised.

Jasper bowed his head respectfully, "Yes, Master Marcus, that was the plan."

I stepped out of the way to make room for the training to begin. Jasper's experience with Maria's army has proven to be a real asset. Jasper was good, and he knew it.

I have been watching each time as Jasper trained everyone, and each time he managed to impress me. At my age, it's next to impossible to do so. He has an impressive work ethic which was something he and I both shared. But the most impressive thing about him was that he was a brilliant strategist. He was able to see things from so many angles and then create countermeasures to deal with anything that may happen. He really did think outside the box. He was nearly on par with my own strategic mind, and I have a few thousand years on him. That is the reason I think that his ability to flawlessly strategize may actually be another gift. I wanted to get Caius's thoughts on the matter, since he is also a brilliant strategist.

The guard clearly respected him, and always responded positively to any of his orders or suggestions both during and after training. They recognized him for what he really was. He was a genius as well as a good leader.

It seemed that Emmett was really into helping his sister. He kept going at her, attacking her without letting up once. He went so far as to taunt her, which was clearly getting on her nerves.

In between Emmett's attacks, Felix would jump in to have a go at Isabella. Two of the largest vampires I have ever seen were playing around with my mate. They were enjoying the reactions Isabella was giving them which only fueled them on so that they would continue. It was becoming a cycle of taunting, attacking, and laughing.

However, things seemed to grind to a halt when Isabella stopped moving entirely. Her eyes glazed over, and she wouldn't respond to anything. She remained in that position for quite some time.

"I know that look," Jasper said as he walked over to me.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"That is the very same look Alice would get when she got hit with a vision," he informed me.

We both looked back over at Isabella. "She grabbed Alice by the throat earlier," I reminded him.

"Yup, and it would appear that she unknowingly managed to absorb Alice's gift."

"Wait! You're saying that Bells is having a vision?" Emmett jumped in.

"That is precisely what were saying," I said in awe.

"Why has it taken this long to kick in," Felix asked in confusion.

"I can only guess that since visions come on unexpectedly and cannot be controlled, Bella didn't have one until one finally came to her," Jasper explained.

"Wait a minute. That sounds like your saying that Bella can absorb a gift and store it away until it's needed," Emmett said.

"It fits the situation," I answered while still watching my beloved.

"I'm dying to know what she's seeing," Emmett admitted eagerly.

We all stood by and watched just waiting for her to come out of it. A few moments later, she shook her head in confusion and looked over at me.

"Marcus, does Aro have long, dark hair and a childlike exuberance?" she asked me.

"Yes, dearest, he does," I confirmed.

"Okay, then someone should probably go meet him at the airport. His plane is due to arrive within the hour," she explained not seeming to be at all bothered by the fact that she just had a vision.

"You saw Master Aro coming?" Felix asked still not fully convinced that Isabella actually had a premonition.

"I saw him and a tall, platinum blond guy talking while Aro was packing. Then I saw Aro riding in the back of a limo. Next, I saw him at the airport, holding a ticket that said Seattle, Washington. Finally, I saw him on the plane."

"Uh oh, someone better go get him. He had to take a public plane. He hates having to do that," Felix said.

"Indeed, Felix, I want you to take the limo and pick him up. You are to leave immediately," I ordered.

"Yes, master," he bowed before he sped off toward the garage.

"That vision was weird," Isabella informed us. "When it hit, it gave me this jittery feeling like I was hopped up on too much caffeine or something. It's not something I would ever want to deal with full time."

"Lucky for you, you won't have to," Jasper said, reminding her of that aspect of her shield.

"I have no complaints with that," she chuckled. "I'm just feeling a bit drained from it. Is that normal?" she asked Jasper.

"It depends on the vision and how long it is. With particularly hard ones, Alice would have to feed immediately following them. Then there were some that had no effect on her at all?" he said.

"I hate to say it, but I think now would be the perfect time to continue the training. If she's feeling drained, then it might now be too long before she responds by using her gift to regenerate herself," I pointed out to Jasper who nodded in agreement.

"He's right, Bells. We need to keep it up. Emmett, you up for some more?"

"You better believe it," Emmett said while bouncing on his feet.

"I shall leave you to it then. I need to make preparations for Aro's arrival. He's very nit picky." I gently placed a kiss on my mate's forehead before walking off toward the house. I wanted to get everything ready as quickly as possible. We really don't have a lot of time to mess around.

BPOV

I never expected to get nailed with a vision. It was an odd sensation but not at all painful. It was almost like being forced to watch a movie when you don't feel like it. I think that the idea that it was forced on me is what bothers me the most Thankfully, it wasn't dark or full of bloodshed.

Getting my first glimpse of my great grandfather was interesting. He really seems to be very energetic with an animated personality. If I didn't know any better, I would think he had ADD. All of this is what led me to believe that we are related through my mother's side. She used to act the same way, just a bit more scatterbrained.

Well, now that I have unknowingly leeched Alice's gift from her, I was even more determined to gain complete control of each aspect of my abilities. I was beyond thankful that vampires didn't sleep. This gave me more hours to work.

Emmett was a pain in the ass. He was trying everything he could think of to get to me, even lowering himself to teasing me like he was a kid. While he was joking around, he was also putting everything he had into attacking me. That jerk is strong as frick. I imagine that him slamming into me is what cars felt like when rammed by a train.

I was really starting to get tired at this point not to mention having an ever increasing desire to kick Emmett's ass. I was doing better at dodging his strikes. After all, we've been going at it now for nearly an hour. I even managed to get close enough to give him the wedgie of a lifetime. His responding scream made all the pain and exhaustion worth it. Who knew Emmett could hit such a high note?

Jasper and the guard all cracked up laughing when they heard Emmett's screech. Some of them even congratulated me for pulling such a stunt on the resident dufus. When Emmett finally managed to free himself from his panty prison, he glared at me.

"Oh, you think you're so funny, don't you?" he asked as he slowly stalked toward me.

"No, brother dearest, I know I'm funny," I answered. I managed to dart to the right just out of Emmett's reach after he managed to launch himself at me again. I laughed at his expression. I was faster than he was, and he didn't like that fact.

He continued to go at me, speeding up more each time. I was really starting to feel drained, but I didn't want to stop what we were doing. I was really enjoying exasperating Emmett. His reactions were very rewarding.

I could feel my energy seeping out of me, and I was confused. I thought that vampires never tired. Perhaps this has to do with my gift. I don't require blood, and I absorb energy from living things. With that being the case, then it's highly likely that, unlike normal vampires, I will lose energy.

Unfortunately, I was so distracted by my thoughts that I didn't even notice Emmett racing toward me until he was right up on me. He hit me hard, tackling me to the ground while landing on top of me.

"Damn it, Emmett, your fat ass is squishing me," I yelled.

"Hey, I'm not fat. I'm solid muscle," he said defending himself.

I tried to wiggle free but was unable to make him budge. I was getting weaker by the moment and it was distressing me. With both my hands, I went to shove him by the shoulders. Instead of the dork moving, he remained in that position with his eyes widening. Within a few moments, I began to regain all of my strength. At the same time, Emmett's eyes began to droop, and he fell on top of me. I shoved him off me, but I put too much strength behind my shove, and he went sailing across the yard. I sat up and stared at what I just did.

"Congratulations, Bells, you just sucked Emmett dry," Jasper laughed.

"Very well done, little one," an unknown voice called out. I turned and was greeted by the sight of my great grandfather standing near Marcus and both of them were wearing a look of extreme pride.

I stood up and brushed the dirt off of my clothing. I walked over to them, smiling in happiness that my grandfather was here. I couldn't wait to get to know him.