Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight!
Thank you to my beta venomaddict for all of your help with this story. This is it, the end of the story. Hold on tight.
"Jane." Edward nodded to her curtly.
"You know why we're here, of course." She smiled in a peculiarly friendly manner, more fitting for a social setting than a battle field, with the corpses of the dead still littered around her. "Very careless of you. Did you know your little dive in Calgary was on CNN?"
"No I didn't. How interesting, I'll have to watch out for fans when I get back home." I was surprised to hear the genuine humour in Edward's voice, especially considering the anger boiling in my stomach towards all of the Volturi before me. But the pleasure Jane seemed to be taking in this meant I reserved a whole new level of hatred for her, the fury I felt towards her making my head physically hurt. I could feel the new power that resided in me pulsating with my desire for vengeance.
"I think you know why we're here Edward." Jane's tone changed suddenly, and her smile narrowed into something remarkably less pleasant. "But we're only here for you and Bella. Everyone else is free to go." Her casual dismissal of the rest of our family with a wave of her hand sounded fake, and it was clear that she knew as well as the last contingent of the Volturi that we had met, that no such thing would happen.
"If that's the case, why did you attack the house, when you must have realised we weren't here?" Edward angrily swung his arm in the direction of Tanya's house, drawing attention to the bloody scene before us again.
"These creatures are our enemies; it's our duty to destroy such beings wherever we find them. It's only your coven that seems to feel that our natural enemies should be embraced." Her eyes shifted until they rested on Hudson. "Whatever they are."
"None of these people are or were our enemies Jane. You've committed crimes of your own here today." Edward's tone was steely, but Jane still showed no sign that she was anything but amused.
She shrugged her shoulders casually. "Not in the eyes of the law. We'll finish what we started as soon as we've dealt with you today." Her eyes shifted back to Hudson. "And you Hunter, very handy your coming to us. Saved us a job at least."
She raised her hand suddenly, in the same way Caius had before he initiated the attack near Calgary, but before she moved Carlisle stepped forward with his arms raised high above his head.
"Stop!" He shouted, his voice echoing around the snow filled clearing. "Please listen to me. We have already fought with Caius on this day."
Jane's hand drifted downwards slowly, a look of puzzlement slowly spreading across her features. "You... fought?" Her unspoken question was clear, how had we fought any contingent of the Volturi and survived?
"We destroyed them all, Caius included." Edward cut in, giving no indication as to how we won our last battle, undoubtedly protecting me. "If you attack us, we will have no hesitation in doing the same to you."
I watched as Jane considered what had been said, her eyes flickering between each of us quickly. Even to me, Carlisle and Edward's words sounded like a bluff, and I could see it in her eyes when she came to the same conclusion.
"If that's true, then all of you now deserve what's to come." Jane raised her arm suddenly and flung it forwards in a signal to attack, and immediately a swathe of the Volturi guard crossed the one hundred feet gap between us to attack.
This time I had no hesitation, my vacillation so far today had already cost too many lives, but now I was ready.
"Get behind me." I hissed, and as one, my family and Hudson flitted backwards, putting me between them and the Volturi guard. The only one who remained at my side was Edward, who stood beside me to face our enemies.
Immediately I threw my shield towards the Volturi, remembering what I had done in the forest earlier, and trying to replicate the sensations in my mind. I had no trouble in generating the emotion I seemed to need to create this level of power. The rage and grief filling me more than enough to drive the entirety of the attack back hundreds of feet, well behind the remainder of the guard.
Again I felt my mind stretch impossibly for an instant, and I had to hold back a scream of terror and pain as I felt my fragile mind distort under the intense stress of forcing so much power outwards so suddenly. My head snapped backwards violently as my shield returned to my body, leaving a vibration in my mind that left me disoriented for several precious seconds.
When I regained my senses Edward was grasping my arm, almost holding me up, and his expression was apprehensive. I looked forwards to see the Volturi regrouping quickly as he whispered in my ear.
"Bella! Are you ok? You looked as if you were going to fall..."
"I can't do that too often yet... I feel as if my mind might snap." As I spoke, Edward's expression changed to horrified.
"Then don't do it again!" he hissed, as another surge of the guard charged towards us, more of them this time, leaving only Jane, Demetri and one other behind.
I clung to him as I pushed the advancing guard away again, but this time they were not thrown back nearly so far, and the effort it took was far greater. My legs almost went out from under me as I felt my mind shiver, this time when my shield snapped back into place it felt wrong, too large for my head somehow.
"Bella, stop!" Jasper stepped up behind me, resting his hand on my shoulder. "I can feel what's going on in your mind, it's not right, you can't keep doing this."
"What choice do I have?" I mumbled as I batted away the next contingent of the guard. They were attacking in wave after wave, seeming to understand that I was the cause of their violent deflections, as every time they were all now converging directly to me.
The guard before us formed a military pattern, lines of soldiers formed one behind the other, each attacking and falling back as I deflected them, leaving room for the next row of soldiers to take their place. The attacks were constant, giving me no time for recovery between them, and I knew I couldn't continue as I was for long
My head was beginning to feel crowded. Every time my shield snapped back into place it felt bigger, as if it was pushing part of me out to make room for it. I began to feel confused, my only remaining desire to protect my family and friends at any cost.
When the next round of guards attacked I reached out and crushed one of their minds, at the same time as batting away the remaining guard, hoping against hope that a demonstration of what I could do to them would cause them to fall back.
Instead they only intensified their attack, the next time they drew forward the entire body of soldiers was in line for the assault.
I could feel a presence behind me, and when I turned for an instant I saw seven wolves standing behind us. They and the remainder of my family, as well as Hudson, readied themselves for the fight. I felt the quiver of anticipation in the beings around me, my family preparing for the final battle, and my last resistance fell. I would destroy everything that threatened them, and reap the consequences when they were safe.
As the final surge careered towards us, all that was mine leapt towards the Volturi as one. The crashes as marble hit marble echoed around me like thunder.
As they fought I began to reach out as quickly as possible, my utter fury increasing my strength and helping me to crush the minds of our enemies as they met the people I loved. I kept a special watch on Edward, knowing that with his injuries from earlier that he was especially vulnerable. I wouldn't allow any vampire near him, ensuring that I destroyed anyone approaching him before they even reached him.
The battle was short-lived. By the time I had crushed six of the guard, the high pitched screeching had attracted the other's attention, and rather than attacking, all of the guard began to fall back quickly.
"What are you doing? Attack!" Jane shrieked at her soldiers, her expression radiating hatred towards us as the guards fell back quickly, fearing for their lives.
Within seconds my family, the wolves and Hudson had returned to my side, watching as the Volturi guard retreated as fast as possible. But I couldn't stop. My mind felt fractured, and all I could see was death and destruction, my goal clear and certain.
Even as the guard retreated I continued to reach out and catch them, crushing them as they ran, my face curled into a snarl close to insanity.
"Bella stop! They're retreating!" I heard Carlisle shout from somewhere beside me, but his voice sounded distant and immaterial to me now.
Seven
Seven deaths, but still I couldn't force myself to stop. My shield had become its own master, its driving need to destroy our attackers removing my conscious mind from all control.
"Bella, no more, we've won." I felt rather than heard Jasper, his hand appearing on my arm suddenly. The calm he was broadcasting began to seep into my mind, but too slowly and gently to make any impact on the raging need I felt to annihilate my enemies.
Eight
"I... can't...stop." Part of my mind began trying to put the brakes on, but it was with horror that I realised I had lost control. I had no idea how to stop myself in my rampage of destruction. I would continue to break, kill and destroy until the only thing left to shatter was myself.
Nine
All of the Volturi were running now, heading away from us as fast as they could, but before they reached the trees on the other side of the Denali house, I reached out and caught them all with my mind, holding them in place to prevent their escape.
Edward was by my side trying to calm me, but it was too much. The growth of my gift had happened too quickly, and I couldn't find enough of myself now to even try and stop what I was doing. The best I could do was to save the ones I loved.
"You have to... run."
Ten
"I don't know how to stop. You have to run!" Panic was building up in my chest, only making my grip on my control worse, but I had only one concern. What would I do when I had no more Volturi to throw my rage at?
Eleven
"No!" Edward stood at my side, and I could feel him holding me by the arms as he tried to gain my focus. "Jasper, you have to pull her out of this!"
"I'm trying. It's... too much." Jasper's fingers were digging deep into my bicep, but the waves of calm he was sending me weren't even touching the rage that filled my every pore.
Twelve
I felt another presence by my side, and I began to feel an alien serenity wash over me. Part of me became aware of the second influence, as well as Jasper's waves of calm I could sense Hudson trying to influence me, to drag me away from the precipice I was so close to toppling over. My fury raged against them, demanding vengeance, demanding its existence be acknowledged, battling with my sanity for control of the unbearable power my mind now bore.
I heard other voices around me, urging me back, calling me to them, telling me to fight.
Thirteen.
Suddenly my line of sight was broken, Edward stepped in front of me, facing me and looking directly into my eyes, despite the screams from around us at him to stop.
"Bella." His eyes focussed on mine as my shield reached out again, encountering his mind in front of me before any other.
"No..." I wailed, as I felt myself suck his mind into my own, wrapping it in my shield as I had done so many times before, in the way I had done to every member of the Volturi guard as I destroyed them.
I stared at his burgundy eyes, still beautiful despite the human blood from the hospital still in his system, and waited for the moment I would see his soul vanish from them. Because in that second I could see it, his soul was staring back at me, willing me to save or destroy us both.
The moment never came. The familiarity of Edward's mind wrapped tightly in my shield was the balm I needed; the calm serenity that Jasper and Hudson were trying to force into me suddenly flooded my mind, overwhelming me as I dropped forwards like a stone.
Firm arms caught me, lifting me upwards and holding me on my feet as the world span and I struggled back to reality.
I could see Emmett, Jasper, Hudson and Carlisle pursuing the remnants of the Volturi guard, as my vision swirled and settled. I saw Emmett take down three of the guard, tearing them limb from limb, channelling his own rage into death and destruction. Meanwhile the others gathered the three remaining vampires, Jane, Demetri and another vampire who I did not recognise, and dragged them back to where we had made our stand, all of them thrashing and snarling in desperate bids to escape.
By my side Alice held my hand, leaning against me as I clung to her, and still directly in front of me stood Edward, his eyes still fixed on mine as I tried to ground myself in him.
I still held his mind in my own, my only rock in the storm that had threatened to drown me, and as we stared at each other I heard something almost ethereal calling me.
Bella... Bella... come back to me...
Edward?
Oh Thank God. "Bella? Please, for the love of God speak to me!" He grabbed me by the shoulders and dragged me closer to him, crashing our bodies together, our faces so close that our foreheads were almost touching as he leant down towards me.
I'm here. I can hear you. "Edward, I'm alright." My voice sounded shaky in my own ears, and it had the most bizarre echolike quality.
Thank you God, thank you God, thank you God. "Bella, just lean on Alice, we have to finish this." He pulled away from me, leaving me to cling to my sister as she whispered soothing words in my ear.
The three remaining members of the Volturi were pulled into a short line by Emmett and Hudson, as Edward walked towards where they stood. Carlisle and Jasper stood in front of them, watching silently as the Volturi struggled against their captors, hissing and spitting like demented demons.
Edward stepped in between Jasper and Carlisle at the same time as Emmett and Hudson dragged Jane, Demetri and the unnamed vampire to their knees before them. Emmett and Hudson stood behind our prisoners, holding them down on the ground. Alice and I stayed apart, and watched our mates decide the fate of the creatures before them.
"You Cullens will pay for today! When Aro hears of this, nothing will stop your destruction! We will raise an army to defeat you!" Jane screeched, despite Emmett holding her on her knees by a tight grasp around her throat. Her eyes were wild, her veneer of sanity long gone, the true madness that stalked her clear on her face. With wild hair whipping around her face in the breeze blowing across the snowy battlefield, she was a picture of the lunatic witch that we had already known her to be.
"No Jane." Edward took a half step forwards and addressed her from his full stature. Always the unacknowledged second in our family, he took the lead this time, I suspected as he was in fact speaking for not just himself, but all three of the men who had united in front of the remaining Volturi.
Jane began to screech incoherently, and with an earth-shattering crack, Emmett hit her, rocking her head across her shoulders violently.
"This is the end." Edward's voice rang with authority, and I found myself listening to him in awe. "The Volturi do not belong in the New World. This is now our land, the American continents belong to us. You are hereby banished."
"You can't do that! We uphold the law! You are nothing but criminals!" She shrieked and thrashed as she spoke, refusing to accept that there was nothing she could do against her captor. I felt her gift attack my family incessantly, and I was relieved that even in the state I was in, I was still able to protect them.
"No. We are the law." Edward replied. "This is ours. Consider it a coup. Any Volturi touching the soil of the Americas will be a criminal in our eyes, and we will stop at nothing to destroy them."
Jane stilled under Emmett's grip, though her face still shone with madness. "Aro will not allow that."
"Then I suggest you convince him." Edward took another half step towards her and loomed over her menacingly. "You have seen what we can do, and next time we won't take any prisoners."
"You? No. What your whore can do, you mean, and it looks like it has pretty well killed her too." Jane grinned at me maliciously, and I suddenly felt a barrage of attacks from her aimed directly at me.
Enraged, Edward punched Jane in the face and head, beating her repeatedly as Emmett continued to hold her down.
When he finally stepped back, she began to giggle, finally throwing her head back and laughing like a maniac.
"She's insane." Edward stepped back, but spoke loud enough that any vampire in the vicinity could hear him. "Her mind, it's snapped. She's actually insane, I can hear it."
Jane continued to giggle and shriek, as Emmett dropped her to the ground. She curled up into a little ball, and for a heartbreaking second, when I could no longer see her malevolent eyes, I could make out the child who had been burned at the stake, and then turned into a vampire so many centuries before.
"Leave her. Please." Demetri looked up from Jane's shaking form, at Edward, Carlisle and Jasper, his eyes begging them for mercy. "I will do as you ask."
"You will return to Volterra with our message?" Carlisle said, his expression dark and dangerous.
"I will."
"You understand, that we will not hesitate to destroy you all if you return to our land?" Carlisle continued.
"I do." Demetri was being held down on his knees by Hudson, but in a show of submission her bent his head, and curved his body down lower.
"Then leave." Edward spat the words at Demetri, who continued to submit. "Do not return. If you do, we will consider it an act of war."
Emmett looked at Edward and Carlisle disappointedly as they gestured at him and Hudson to let them stand. "They don't deserve to live Carlisle. This is my vengeance, I have the right to it. Why are we releasing them?"
"Because Emmett, someone has to convey our message to Aro, and I believe these three will do so loud and clear." Carlisle gestured to the three remaining vampires, including the lunatic still rocking on the ground. "Your vengeance will be best served by that."
Emmett released his grip on the third unknown vampire, at the same time as Hudson released Demetri. Quickly they scooped Jane up from the ground, and flitted to the trees. Before I could take another breath, they were gone, leaving us to our wounded and dead.
There was quiet in the field for a second. The only sounds were the gasping and panting breaths of the wounded wolves behind us, as well as the uneven breathing of several of us, as the implications of what had just happened began to whirl around our minds.
Suddenly I heard a familiar voice, and my fractured mind was whole again for it immediately. "MOM! DAD!"
Ness came hurtling out of the Denali house, not quite as fast as a vampire, but far faster than a human. She was across the fields in an instant, with Tanya, Kate and Garrett hard on her heels behind her.
"MOM!" She shrieked in my ear as threw herself at me, Edward was by my side in an instant, wrapped around us both as we sobbed.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't hold her back anymore." Tanya approached us all more slowly, eying me warily as I hugged my daughter, doubtless nervous about what she now knew I was capable of.
"JAKE!" Ness suddenly broke out of our grip, and rushed towards the russet brown wolf, which lay behind us, panting in quick broken breaths as his blood wept across the snow.
"Ness..." I realised I couldn't ask her to stay away from him, as she fell to her knees beside him sobbing hysterically. Her need for Jake was obvious in the few seconds Edward and I watched her try and comfort him, and I knew that sometime in the last few days she had found what she was looking for.
Before I knew it, Edward was beside her, examining Jake. His eyes were full of concern as he looked up towards me, before he searched around with his eyes for Carlisle. "Carlisle, can you come and take a look at him please?"
Edward took Ness's sobbing form in his arms as Carlisle flitted towards them, bending down to speak in Jake's ear as he lay on the ground. "Jacob, you have to phase. I know it will hurt, but it's the only way I can help you."
"No! He won't survive that!" Ness had looked up from Edward's shoulder, her eyes flashing at Carlisle, as she tried to move back to Jake.
"Sweetheart, you have to let him do what needs to be done. Go to your Mother, let us help the wolves." Edward turned towards me. "Bella, you need to take Ness inside, none of this is going to be pretty."
I wasn't sure how I did it, but somehow I made it inside shortly afterwards, with Ness, Alice, Tanya and Kate. Edward and Carlisle had insisted that they be left to deal with the injured wolves, and Emmett, Jasper, Hudson and Garrett had stayed with them. Between them all they tended to the wounded, while we stayed inside baking and preparing sandwiches, for when the time came for what remained of the pack to return to the house.
As we worked, I could smell the familiar smell of incense in the air as the Volturi burned. I tried not to look as Hudson and Emmett built pyres around the clearing to finally destroy our enemies.
At one point I heard an agonised howl change into a human shriek, and I hoped that it was a good sign for whoever it was who made that noise. Ness froze for a few seconds after we heard the cry, and that made me assume it had been Jacob.
Eventually, the pack began to return to the house, one by one. We had watched from the window as they buried their dead, four grave markers now blotting the snowy landscape, and the atmosphere was dark as they returned to us. The first in the door was Seth, limping, but well enough to be carrying Leah, who he carried upstairs immediately to a bedroom. She was still struggling for breath, but after Carlisle had examined her, it seemed she would survive the internal injuries that she was suffering from.
As the other wolves entered, Ness and I looked up every time, searching for Jake. Eventually Carlisle entered, carrying his still form, and he also carried him straight upstairs. Edward walked in behind them, looking exhausted, distracting me from my daughter for a moment, as she chased up the stairs after Carlisle and Jake.
"Bella." He whispered as he took me in his arms before he virtually collapsed against me.
"Edward! Crap. Are you ok?" I felt him squeeze me a little tighter for a second before he pulled away and looked at me for a moment in silence.
"It's just..." He took a deep breath and sighed. "I think I'm done."
"Shhh." I led him to the couch, where we both finally collapsed, exhausted beyond reason, beyond how I'd ever known a vampire could even be exhausted. Mind, body and spirit; all completely used up.
We lay still for hours. I neither knew nor cared how long for exactly, only that the sun set and rose again in the time we rested, unspeaking, but still leaning on our other half for support. Wolves and vampires came and went, but everyone seemed to know to leave us be, tucked away in the corner of the large main room of the house, both checked out of life for a while.
Eventually I broke the silence between us, a couple of days after we had originally sat down. It felt completely natural, as if it were the continuation of a conversation we had been having only minutes before.
"What did you mean, when you said 'We are the Law'?" I had hardly registered what he had been saying at the time, it had taken me a couple of days to fully digest everything that had happened over the last week.
"Exactly what it sounded like; we have usurped the Volturi here. Carlisle and I have been thinking for a while that maybe... it's not enough, what we do."
"What do you mean not enough? What's not enough?" I didn't have it in me to be worried by his words, but I did have enough to register the hope in his tone as he spoke.
"The Volturi will never let us be; I saw that in all of their minds today. The only way for us to live our lives in peace is to change the rules, so we are now the Volturi here." Excitement seemed to be building in him as he spoke, but he hadn't answered my question.
"But what's not enough Edward?"
"For us to continue to live an alternative lifestyle without trying to teach others about it, for their sake, not just the people they feed from. We live a life Bella, and maybe if we could show others of our kind that, then they could live one too. Alongside humans, rather than hunting them."
"So, you want us to be the Volturi? We're not soldiers Edward."
"No... Did you know I've been reading a lot of religion and philosophy recently?" I shook my head as he continued, wondering where this was heading. "Many cultures do not believe you are born with a soul, they believe you earn it with the life you live. If that's true... I have some ground to make up."
"Oh... I see."
We were quiet again for a while, and I realised I had no idea how Jake or any of the rest of the pack were doing. Finally I saw Carlisle enter the room, and I called him over.
"Carlisle. How are the wolves?" Edward didn't look too concerned as Carlisle approached us, so I guessed that would mean reasonably good news.
"Recovering. Jacob and Leah were the most severely injured, but they are both much improved from where they were, and both are out of danger." He shuffled his feet for a moment. "I received some things from Aro, not so much a surrender as a terms of agreement to work together for the common good. It's not perfect, but I think it's worth looking at, we don't want to fight anymore."
Edward kissed my temple softly before he got up from the couch to follow Carlisle. I stayed where I was, deciding that I wasn't ready to move yet.
I thought back over the last week as I rested my mind, wondering where it left us. I remembered the people I had just begun to know in Calgary, and the life we were not going to get to live there. I grieved for the woman whose death led us to where we were today, and I grieved for my sister, who I had grown to love as much as any of my family.
And I grieved for a little bit of myself, the part of me that died the day I finally understood what I was; what we all were. I hoped that I wouldn't always be haunted by the death of Anna Stoker, but part of me also didn't want her to be forgotten. I wondered if maybe she was always part of our destiny, my final lesson in life as a vampire.
Finally I considered what had happened with the Volturi. I could hardly bring myself to think about what I was now capable of, and the death and destruction I had rained down that day, but I did. If only to burn it into my memory, a reminder of what I could become if I allowed myself to.
What of our future? If we were to really become the law here, how would we fight the battles that would sometimes be necessary to protect our secret? I could hear Edward and Carlisle elsewhere in the house talking about this, and I knew that at some point we would all need to be party to it. But not today.
A little while later Edward returned to me, and we settled into each other again. I didn't ask him what he and Carlisle had discussed, and he didn't volunteer it to me. There was only one thing I needed to tell him tonight, before we returned to our family, and tried to pick up the pieces of our lives.
"You're wrong you know." I was looking into his beautiful burgundy eyes, as tired as I had ever seen them, but as full of love as they had ever been. "You already have your soul. I saw it that day in the battle."
"You know I don't believe that Bella. I wish I could." He looked at me wistfully, and I shuffled closer to him so that I could look straight into his eyes.
"I could see it, and it was beautiful. You knew that I could have killed you in that moment, but you stepped in front of me to save me from myself. No one can love like that without a soul Edward. If I have to, I'll spend eternity making you believe it's true."
He smiled and pulled me to him, but I could tell that he would not be convinced that easily. "It might take eternity love, but I'm willing to let you try."
And try I would, because now I knew the one thing that I could give Edward in repayment for everything he had given me. The only thing I could give him apart from myself. If it took me eternity, I would show him his soul.
A/N – So here we are. This is the end of my story, I hope you have enjoyed it!
Can I please take this chance to thank everyone who has read this tale. It was something I wanted to do to address some of the things I didn't like about Breaking Dawn, I hope I've made the saga a little darker for you!
Could I ask you one little favour? Even if you've never reviewed this story before, would you mind just clicking the green button for me, just this once? It would be nice to hear from you, reviews make writers extraordinarily happy you know. ;)
If you haven't found it yet, please check out my new story "Waking Up", Human Edward is funnier than the vampire, and he's even more gorgeous, in a dishevelled kind of way!
Til the next time.
Ria