A/N

Many Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read and review and to those the added me as a fav or alert.

Special mention to BeckaR for correctly working out who is behind stirring up the horents nest with the Volturi!

:)-J

Chapter 25

We spent the next week sweeping the width of Italy for any groups trying to approach Volterra from the North.

Any vampire that surrendered was allowed to head back North as long as their feelings matched their words. It was from these that we heard the rumours of the weapons; one vampire that could body swap and another that could confuse or disorientate a group of vampires leaving them vulnerable to attack.

The time for the rendezvous closed in on us, the numbers of Vampire coming into the area increased. We didn't manage to find out any more about the two Vampires with gifts. We did however manage to significantly reduce the influx of forces before they got into place.

Jasper got another chance to do his 'Oli' impression when he phoned in to confirm his forces were en-route.

Peter got a shock when his direct line to 'Stan' started ringing. They wanted his small force to wipe out Forks and La Push. He was warned about the wolves but they were dismissive about their abilities. I could see the shock on Peter's face but he kept his voice steady and enthusiastic.

Peter looked at us eyes wide as he hung up.

I looked at Jasper in distress, "Who else could it be? It can only be her".

Jasper just nodded, "The Cullen's are the only other possibility but they are long gone, we didn't even realise they started shifting again. To know about the wolves it has to be someone that has come across them. I think you are right. We left you..., left you to deal with that".

He dropped his head in shame, I hugged him tighter, "Hey, it's the past. You are with me now. Our actions have prevented that attack. Things may have got a bit out of hand but we are sorting it".

Garrett was looking at us, "I think I need to know your full past. I guess those are the people you were trying to keep safe with your silence?"

Jasper sat down, pulling me with him. I curled up on his knee. I patted the grass next to me. I started telling my story from leaving Renee in Phoenix to go and live with my Dad, through all the ups, or more to the point downs, until I met Garrett. I clarified our fears that Victoria was the person that set all this mess into motion.

Garrett just stared at me when I finished. He blinked a couple of times, "Wow! I guessed at some details but, I never... You really are a survivor. I didn't think it was possible to respect you more than I already did but... so strong, you are amazing. I'm lost for words".

Silence reigned as Garrett face went though a range of emotions, I could almost see him process everything I had just told him, "So you think Victoria has turned her 'mate for a mate' vendetta against the Volturi since Edward is now in the guard? She must have made some powerful connections to raise this scale of army".

It hit me, "All this death, all because of me".

Jasper was putting self-loathing out in buckets, "I should have pushed and stuck to my guns. I should never have listened to Edward when he maintained she wasn't a threat".

Peter piped up, "You two are as bad as each other. She should have been eliminated at the time but you weren't in a position to it then. You did what you could in the circumstances. Neither of you were in a position to take the blame for lack of action. My little danger magnet, you may get sucked into the chaos but you didn't cause it. What sort of brain dead idiot thinks two or three nomads can take on a coven of seven vampires for a runty little human, without any losses?"

"Hey!" I exclaimed when he called me runty. Then I looked at my short stature compared to his height and shut up.

I started giggling. Sometimes there only two options in life – laugh or cry. Jasper was accepting it wasn't his fault either so with his emotions slowly lifting, laughter helped both of us.

"So two or three vampires are brain dead for taking on seven. What does that make us five for taking on an army?" I raised my eyebrows at Peter.

He was having none of it, "You have to remember we have already taken out an army on one Continent, with our little danger magnet working in our favour they haven't got a snowballs chance in hell," his eyes softened, "You won't even let them touch us, with you on our side we can take on the world".

"I never wanted the world, I just want a quiet corner to live in peace. Things never work as you plan," I said with a sigh.

Jasper looked at me, "But if things went to plan, would you be with us now?"

I smiled at him, "When you put it that way I wouldn't change a thing. But even you must admit the pebble that was set into motion when I joined you for that baseball game made a pretty impressive avalanche!"

Peter smiled at that, "The Volturi have made many enemies, they will always attract those seeking power for themselves. The avalanche would have happened at some time with or without that pebble but without you it would have done so much more damage".

We took our last few hours to feed. Much to Peter and Charlotte's disgust we persuaded them to have a couple of animals since the numbers of human drinkers in the area made for thin pickings. Garrett gave himself over to hunting animals with excitement and enthusiasm to try something new.

Garrett had great fun hunting and chasing his prey. According to Jasper so did Peter but Peter just complained incessantly about the taste. Char didn't say much, her feelings were more in line with Garrett but she sided with Peter, much preferring the taste of their normal food source.

At dusk we made our way around the outskirts of the massed forces. We were trying to find the leaders. Many groups tried to get us to join their number but we talked our way out claiming to be meeting up with friends, it was slow progress.

Fighting had started as we approached.

Jasper or 'Oli's' phone went off as we walked. Jasper had a simple excuse ready, he claimed our flights had been delayed but we were only an hour behind schedule.

I spotted a flash of red on the rise ahead of us.

We talked our way into what appeared to be the leaders compound.

In the centre was a small woman pinned down by four large vampires. The angry screams from the prone body didn't sound like they belonged. I realised it must be the body swapper.

Victoria was stood off to the side arguing with five other vampires. Two looked like they are made of chalk, one fair haired, the other dark haired. The other three all look oriental in origin, one appeared to be dressed as a Japanese shogun. The other two looked straight out of a Kung Fu film.

"Hey Vicky, fancy seeing you here!" I called over to her.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" she shrieked at me.

"Oh Vicky, you spent so long trying to get to me I'm surprised you don't remember me. Don't you recall James deciding to make a game of taunting a coven of seven vampires to get to sweet smelling human me. Then you got all upset when he got killed for his efforts. You spent, what a year trying to catch poor little human me without success then you fell for my fake death. You tried to get to Edward when he was forced to work for the Volturi but you couldn't even get that right. What did you tell all your friends here to persuade them to help you to get your revenge?" wow, her facial expressions look like she is going to explode. Her little friends don't look too happy. Hey, I don't know for sure about Edward or what story she used to bring them all here but it came out sounding good!

"I killed them all, all your mangy wolves and any other humans in the area. They will all be dead by now. You'll be next. Kill her," she screamed.

A couple of bodies start to bounce off my shield. We ignored them.

"Oh Vicky, Stan hasn't killed anyone back home. He is right here," I pointed to Peter.

Peter grinned and in his best 'Stan' voice, "Sorry Madam, but Forks and La Push are unharmed".

Her face screwed up even further, looking even more feral.

"Such a shame your plan failed. It's you that will die today, not me," I pounced. Even more bodies dived for me but they couldn't get a hold of the shield. Victoria lost her head before she properly realised I was a threat.

The five vampires Victoria had been stood with, started making lots of noise with their excuses and threats but they soon followed her example. It's much harder to talk without a head. I didn't even attempt to fight them, there is no need with my shield in place. Between Jasper and I we decapitated them all before the scale of the danger fully registered with them. Peter, Charlotte and Garrett all stayed busy trying to ensure the woman under guard remained safe but still secured until we could find out more.

The woman was held down by only two vampires now. The other two had joined the fray and their remains plume up into the air with the Victoria and those that opposed us

She was screaming, "I'm Aro of the Volturi".

The body shifter was a frail looking woman with a mousey face. The voice coming from it held power and a tenor of authority that didn't fit the body.

I turned to him, umm her? and said, "I need you to lie still. If we kill this body I don't know if you will die with her body and her personality will stay in your body. Talk to us, tell us what you learnt while she has been in your body. As soon as the body moves or you stop talking we will assume the bodies true owner has returned to find out what has happened up here. I will immediately decapitate it. We are quite visible in our current location. When you return to your body coordinate your forces, we don't know what information she has fed them. We'll meet you in the middle".

He stilled his movements and started talking.

I removed the heads of his two remain guards, warning him with my expression that the slightest movement from him/her would result in decapitation. I remained with Aro in the woman's body. I calmly listened to him as vampires dived at me and him from all directions. He kept flinching as the attackers targeted him but he was a good boy and remained stationary. Using my excellent vampire peripheral vision I watched for the approaching threats without my eyes ever leaving his. I could see fear in his/her eyes as the body lay still and prone on ground, how much of the fear was for me and how much for his current circumstances, I have no idea.

My shield kept us all safe, including the body shifter body. Any threat that came near I used my newborn strength to rip off their heads. Bodies fell left and right but his/her eyes never faltered from mine, all his energy went into talking knowing that was the only thing keeping him alive.

He told me what he overheard from Victoria, the Romanians, the Chinese and Japanese Vampires leading the attack.

Victoria had spent months building forces in the United States. When she had enough people in place to continue she travelled the world stirring up anyone that had any would listen. She lied through her teeth about the Volturi in an effort to get the others on board. They all wanted to take over as leaders and saw it as a great opportunity to overthrow the Volturi. He had put two and two together from my conversation with her and recounted Edward's memories and how they too had discounted her as a major threat.

Aro went on to tell us he overheard that the American forces were delayed but were due within the hour. The Southern American forces arrived in Italy early and were due any time. Many of the European forces would be arriving on foot. The Chinese and Japanese forces were all down in the combat zone. He started telling us about the Russian forces when he went quiet then the body leapt. It was the last thing it did. Another head joined the fire.

We left our position on the rise, it was none too soon, the fire we built was getting too big for such close proximity. We started to fight our way towards the Volturi's defences.

There wasn't much doubt by now that we were fighting for the Volturi not against them. We were buried in attacking bodies. Not that they could do anything too us. My shield kept us all safe.

It became quite monotonous in a macabre way. Bite, rip the head off, move to the next neck. The most frustrating thing was getting from under the mass of bodies and differentiating live from dead. Keeping your feet firmly planted to maintain balance and keep fighting with all the spare limbs and bodies got annoying.

We cut quite a swathe though them. The bodies seemed to wash up to us like waves on a beach.

We veered off when Garrett spotted an a determined group that was having too much success. I think one of them was the vampire with the gift to confuse. I felt a strange prickling on my shield until his head came off. He looked the part of a greasy used car sales man!

Even more bite, rip the head off, move to the next neck followed. We took it in turns to build fires throwing body parts in from under our feet, leaving a fiery trail in our wake.

The numbers around us dwindled, I had to start using the shield to drag them to us, away from the Volturi defenders.

Aro didn't manage to meet us in the middle. We had to go to him. The Volturi forces were in all out defence mode. They prevented any of the forces from getting past them but they made no headway.

We had the advantage of not having to defend ourselves, all our energy went into eliminating the attacking forces. We may only be few in number but our decisive action decimated the oppositions troops.

The attackers were at last realising they were on the losing side. Some threw themselves into hopeless battles while others turned tail and ran.

We had turned the tide. We approached biggest group of Volturi fighters, hearing a clean up ordered. They were sending teams out to burn the remains and capture any stragglers.

Smoke billowed up into the sky causing a haze as far as the eye could see. The smell was not nasty but the knowledge of what it was turned my stomach if only figuratively.

I heard someone saying, "Aro, do you think they will fall for the chemical explosion again?"

I smiled as I called out to a dark hair man, "Aro, you didn't keep your side of the bargain, you were supposed to meet us in the middle. What kept you?"

He turned and looked at us closely, "I thought there must be more, but it's just you five".

I smirked, "Goes to prove quality over quantity."

He laughed a roaring belly laugh. He extended his hand to shake mine, "I think I like you!"

His smile disappeared, "I can't read you".

I still had the smirk plastered on my face, "Do you want to try the traditional way then? I'm pleased to meet you Aro of the Volturi, I am Bella Swan. My comrades are Major Jasper Whitlock, Peter and Charlotte Whitlock and Garrett Wolfe," I sent Garrett a grin.

Garrett laughed, "I think I'll go by Garrett Swan, if you will allow me to continue as your brother".

"It doesn't matter what name you go by I am honoured to call you my brother," I said with emotion.

Jasper hugged me closer to his side and placed a kiss in my hair.

Aro's eyes widened at Jasper's name. He watched our internal conversations then asked, "Are you 'The Major'?"

Jasper rolled his eyes and laughed, "I was but that is officially my past since we wiped Maria and Carlos out. I hope the newborn wars they perpetuated will be a thing of the past".

Jasper's response made me smile, he has come so far in accepting and dealing with his past.

Aro really was wearing his emotions on his face. He was still expecting Maria, Carlos and the army from the States to make an appearance, "They are no more? What of the other forces from the States?"

Peter laughed, "We wipe them all out! There are no others we wiped those out weeks ago. We led Victoria to believe that Stan and Oli were her back up plan, obviously she missed out on the excellence that is Laurel and Hardy," Aro face changed from relief to confusion at that statement but Peter ignored him and continued, "Maria and Carlos met their demise last week. The rest of this week we swept the North of your fair country preventing the stragglers joining this fight. Those, I assume, would have been the European and Russian forces you were concerned about".

Aro's relief at our news was palpable.

He immediately ordered more forces to round up the remaining attackers now he knew the defenders should no longer be needed in such numbers.

I looked at the five of us. The last two weeks we had spent on and in the ground. The smoke tainted our clothes. I spoke up, "If you think you can manage the remaining riff raff, we would really like to clean up?"

Aro bowed, "I am being remiss as a host, please feel free to use any facilities inside the castle. Tell them at reception I sent you all and they will be at your service".

"Thank you, we will fill you in more when things have settled down," I smiled at him. He nodded and turned back to the task of clear up.

A hot shower and new clothes, small pleasures make me feel so much better.

We had a few hours of peace before a knock at the door informing us of a meeting in the great hall.

The five of us stuck close. We may have fought for the Volturi but trusting them is another kettle of fish entirely. Jasper kept his arm around me as if it was attached. Not that I was complaining I had my arm wrapped around his waist just as securely.

We strode into the hall. Many took a step back from us as we entered.