A/N: Thank you so much for your wonderful thoughts.

Sorry for the delay! Those of you who know me know that Spring Break usually means no updates. But we're back, and we're almost done!

Betad by the lovely Michelle Renker Rhodes. (All remaining mistakes are mine).

Most characters belong to S. Meyer. The rest is mine.

Chapter 26 – Your Blood is my Strength

"Do we assume then that Jakob has turned the entire Seattle Police Force, perhaps even the SWAT, FBI, and ATF – everyone involved in the manhunt?" Jasper asked.

"Yes," Edward replied. "We must proceed as if they're all shifters."

"Jesus," my father breathed, "but what if they're not?"

There was a short moment of silence. "It changes nothing," Edward finally said. "In the grand scheme of things, it changes nothing. It's not as if we were planning on going to any of them for help in the matter. And if they come after us…"

"True," Emmett sighed. "Well, what about Charles Swan? Do you think he's a shifter?"

"No, I don't believe so. In Roman times, he was Karolus, Rena's father, who made a deal with the Garwalf, Iakobus, and was killed during the eruption of Vesuvius. In the middle ages, as the Lord Karles of Castle Swein, you and Bellaria's father, he was human as well. I myself killed him during the castle raid."

"Then that must mean…" Jasper began.

"He was reincarnated," Edward finished.

"My God," Emmett added. "How does one man manage to be reincarnated as the father of three such powerful women?"

"There are still facets to this which, one thousand years later, we do not understand," Jasper concluded. "Something must've happened ages ago, during times to which we cannot even begin to trace back."

All the while, in the background, the TV droned on with the news of the day; specifically, with the news story which would most likely dominate all social media outlets for the foreseeable future. And as the muted sun finally began to set behind Mount Rainier, thankfully signaling the end of this disastrous day, I stood silently by the window, listening to the men in my life, to the TV, and watching the meager light fade from the sky in what was, for all I knew, perhaps one of the last sunsets in my life.

My dad cleared his throat. "Gentlemen, I think there's another question we're failing to address here."

Poor Carlisle Cullen. When one thought about it, he'd been thrust into the supernatural world over two decades ago in much the same way Edward had almost one thousand years earlier: by falling in love with the wrong woman.

"Well, why did he return at these two specific times - during Bellaria's birth and…to father my daughter?"

"I don't see that as a question," Edward replied. "The answer to that is simple, and I believe we all know it."

I sighed.

No one else said much following that.

OOOOOOOOOO

That night, Edward and I lay in my full-sized bed in my small room in the cabin. We didn't speak much even though there was so much to say after the events of the day. Instead, he held me spooned against him while he ran his fingers through the length of my hair. Despite everything, despite all the stupid things I'd done and said over the past twenty-four hours, Edward still soothed me. Or perhaps he soothed me because of everything I'd done in the past twenty-four hours. I no longer knew the difference.

I picked up his other hand, the one resting lightly on my stomach, and brought it to my mouth, brushing my lips back and forth over it.

"No matter what, even when I've brought the entire Washington State police force down on us, you still comfort me."

He snorted quietly, his warm breath fanning across my neck. "Comforting you is what I was made for, and I've dealt with worse than the entire Washington State police force."

"Edward, I'm so-"

"Shh. Go to sleep, my love. We have a couple of long days ahead of us, and you need your rest."

I tangled our fingers together and returned them to our stomach. Despite all the thoughts racing through my mind, with the lull brought about by his ministrations, I must've fallen asleep. I knew I was dreaming because we were back at the university, and the campus's abundant cherry blossom trees were in full bloom. Unlike the last time I'd seen them, the delicate flowers hadn't fallen off the branches yet. They crowded the tree limbs in pale shades of pink and white. The rest of the campus landscape was also as resplendent and undefiled as it had been before yesterday's events. However, there was something different about the campus buildings. They were intact, yet they weren't the same buildings I'd once admired for their old-world charm.

Edward stood under one of the trees, as tall and handsome as ever, but…there was something different about him too, something I couldn't quite place. I tried to focus. Knowing it was a dream, I tried zooming in as if I were examining the scene through a magnifying glass. Yet suddenly, instead of sharpening, Edward, the campus, and the cherry blossom trees all faded into the background, and another figure, a much smaller one, slowly drew closer.

I startled awake, staring up at the wood-beamed ceiling. For a few seconds, in spite of the confusing dream as well as the momentary disorientation of my surroundings, I felt an inexplicable sense of…peace course through me. Then Edward appeared, hovered above me.

"Edward," I breathed, reaching up for him. I cradled his cheek in my hand, wanting to tell him so much, to tell him I'd seen him under the cherry blossom trees. Instead, I gasped when my hand left behind an imprint of blood. It was then I noted the expression on his face. His handsome features were contorted in horror, infused with pure anguish and the deepest despondency imaginable. He palmed my cheek and sobbed brokenly.

"I am sorry. I am sorry, my Bellaria."

I opened my mouth and tried to speak, but the only thing that poured forth from between my lips was a warm, sticky liquid.

"Wait for me, my wife," Edward said, choking on his tears, his green eyes clouded in a way I'd never seen. "Wait for me as you promised - as always, for always. I will find you, Bellaria, wherever you go, and we will be together for eternity."

Again, I tried to speak, to tell him that this wasn't happening, that it was just a dream, a horrible dream. But I simply couldn't make my mouth move. And suddenly, I felt so exhausted. While Edward's tears fell on my cheeks, my eyelids fluttered. Yet before they closed entirely, flashes of bright blue framed by darkness caught my attention to shift just beyond Edward's shoulders, the color almost glowing in its intensity.

Even when my eyes fell shut, I could still hear Edward's tortured howls as he gently eased me down over a cold, hard surface. Then there was more yelling, the sound of swords being drawn and colliding, of shuffling accompanied by screams. And then…Edward's voice rang out, once again loud and strong:

"Mark me well, all in this room: God's teeth upon you, for in this life or the next, you will all pay for this evil - from the faithless priest to the simplest flute players to you, Lord Karles, the high-necked fowl." The ensuing silence was broken by what sounded like gasps of horror. "I am no longer bound by man or god. Her blood will be my strength, for my soul will not rest until I finish you all..."

Her blood will be my strength, for my soul will not rest until I finish you all.

Her blood will be my strength, for my soul will not rest until I finish you all.

I awoke with a long, breathless gasp, clutching my throat with one hand, and with the other, reaching for Edward. The moonlight streaming in illuminated his tall form standing rigidly by the window, his jaw squared tightly. Full and high in the sky, the moon itself set the forest aglow in its white haze. Its beams framed Edward in the room's dust particles, which danced like glitter all around him.

"Edward," I murmured, sitting up and reaching out for him, my chest still heaving. "Edward, I had the strangest dream."

Edward turned his head sideways and met my eyes. His own eyes were black and stood out against his pale skin.

"Don't do it, Bella," he said.

"What?"

The silver light filtering in suddenly morphed into a deep orange and then a red so crimson and fiery that it turned Edward's face into what I imagined a demon's face would resemble.

"Don't, Bella," he repeated, his tone pleading now.

"I…I don't know what you mean."

A loud blast preceded the explosion which collapsed all four walls of the room. The window shattered. Abruptly, I was outside in the dark, the bed surrounded by forest, and the forest surrounded by falling ash and debris.

"Don't do this," Edward begged. "This isn't you."

"I can't stop it," I sobbed quietly. "I can't stop it without you."

"Yes, you can," he said gently, in total contrast to the destruction around us. Then he smiled, and the sharpest sliver of pain imaginable coursed through me. "Yes, you can. Bella, I will always love you."

I awoke with a gasp.

"Shh." Edward's arms tightened around me. "Shh. It's okay, Bella. You were dreaming. It's okay."

I shut my eyes. "I don't know what's real and what's not anymore."

He eased my back on the bed and hovered above me, his mouth tenderly meeting mine. "Feel this. This is real, my love. We are here together."

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him flush against me, swallowing back the sting in my eyes.

"Was it…did you dream of-"

"-of Bellaria?" I finished for him. "Yes. I dreamed of Bellaria's death. She died, and that was the end of her. I'm sorry."

He tightened his hold around me. "Bella…"

"Then I dreamed of exploding mountains. I dreamed of fire."

He was quiet, his body wrapped around mine, his lips brushing back and forth over my lips.

"Why did she, my mother, want us here – so close to the mountains?"

"I don't know, Bella," he murmured. "But I believe she must have had a good reason."

"I'm afraid of my lack of control," I confessed. "I'm afraid of what might happen to all of us, one way or another if I can't-"

He pulled away and met my gaze. "Bella, these dark dreams are simply your doubts manifesting themselves. You must let go of these doubts," he pleaded. "We will defeat them, Bella, and then-"

"Then, what?" I snorted. "We can't go back to Seattle."

"No, we can't," he admitted with a sigh, "not for…a long time."

I cradled his face. "Here's the thing, Edward. I don't care. I don't care about any of that, and I know how ridiculous it is considering it was I who insisted on staying until the end of the quarter. I caused all this with my stubbornness, with my unreasonableness-"

He placed two fingers over my mouth, preventing me from saying more. "Stop. This was all going to happen. Was it unreasonable of you to want as normal a life as possible? No," he answered himself. "It is what anyone would want, to lead a life as close to normal as possible, a life full of achievements, possibilities, and love. Do not do this to yourself, Bella."

I pulled his fingers away. "Why are you always so ready and willing to defend me, even when I contradict you? You even defend me from me."

"Because it's what I was made to do," he replied matter-of-factly, "to defend you and to protect you."

I searched his eyes. "Edward, since the moment you came into my life, you've been the best, the most human part of me, and if anything ever came between us, I don't know how I'd deal-" I choked back a sob.

Edward's nostrils flared. "Is that what you fear? Bella, you will make it through this. I swear that to you."

"That means nothing if you don't make it through with me. And now you have the man who fathered me, Charles Swan, and perhaps every other law enforcement official on this coast after you."

"You have to let go of all these fears, Bella. We will make it through this, you and I. Bella Cullen," he emphasized, "and I."

I dropped my head to his chest quickly to hide my tears. "I love you, Edward, for always," I murmured, placing a kiss over the spot where his heart failed to beat.

"I love you too, Bella." He kissed the top of my head. "For always."

I was sure it didn't escape either one of us that we'd skipped over the first part of that age-old saying between him and his Bellaria.

OOOOOOOOOO

Just as they'd probably done for ages and ages, the morning birds sang their sunrise songs.

Edward woke me with soft, ghostlike brushes of his lips on my mouth, my cheeks, and my closed eyes. They skimmed downward to my collarbone and my breasts. He sucked my nipples into his mouth before his mouth trailed lower, and he pushed open my legs. Then he sucked on the tender skin of my inner thigh, where my femoral artery lay. I writhed and whimpered quietly.

"Edward…"

When he moved to the other leg, my back arched off of the mattress.

"Edward…"

He licked between my thighs, and I threw back my head wordlessly, my mouth falling open. When he finally pushed himself inside me, I opened my eyes and was met by the muted orange haze of daybreak streaming in, and Edward moving over me, gazing down at me with so much love, it pushed away all the events of the day before.

"All this…" he breathed while he rhythmically thrust in and out of me, his hands wrapped around my face, holding my gaze, "all this I would only ever share with my soulmate, with the woman who owns my heart and soul and whose blood rules me. No matter what else, she is you."

With a whimper of both pleasure and relief, I nodded, meeting his hips with my own.

"Only you, Bella," he growled, thrusting harder. "You are my strength."

"Yes, Edward. Yes. And you're mine."

At that moment, nothing else mattered. When Edward and I were as one, who I may or may not have been in another life took a back seat to being the one loved so perfectly by him at that moment.

"Only you…"

I closed my eyes, lost to the sensations of his love-making, of his reassurances, and of the all-consuming pleasure taking me away. I floated on a cloud of bliss. It was only when I heard him chuckle lowly that I reopened my eyes.

"What's so funny right now?" I smiled.

"Look around us, my love," he murmured, his hips still pushing and pulling against mine.

Unwillingly, I turned my eyes away from him. Then, I gasped.

The wood-beamed ceiling was no longer as high up as it usually was, and the bed…the bed was a few feet below us.

"We're floating," I breathed. "I was thinking…I was thinking to myself that making love with you was like floating on air, and now..."

He chuckled again. "You are so powerful, my love. So extremely powerful that when you let go, when you truly let go, you can do the most amazing things."

"Edward…"

With a lustful grin, he increased the tempo of his thrusts. "Let's see how long you can keep us up here."

I wrapped myself around him, melding our bodies together, chest to chest, hips to hips. For one long moment, we floated away in our mutual heaven.

OOOOOOOOOO

"I'm going hunting this morning," he said, the mattress soft and supple under us once again. I lay comfortably on his chest while he stroked my bare back languidly, the pads of his fingers ghosting up and down the grooves of my spine. "The solstice falls in two days' time, and we must be ready."

"I know," I whispered. It was six-thirty in the morning, about an hour past sunrise. On the longest day of the year, the sun would rise at five eleven a.m., which meant we had fewer than forty-eight hours until then.

"Jasper scouted the area yesterday evening and found a cave nearby. It's dark and quiet inside, and he was able to get some sleep there. Emmett and I will be gone for a few hours. Jasper and your father will remain, as well as a handful of our friends who arrived in the night. They are guarding the perimeter and will remain out of sight until I return later this morning."

My eyes widened at the realization that we were now surrounded by vampires who were completely unknown to me.

"Edward, why are they so willing and ready to help us?" I asked, stroking his unyielding chest. "I mean, not that I'm not grateful."

"Most of them have been our friends for centuries," he explained. "What's more, they understand that should Jakob succeed, it would mean the eventual annihilation of our kind."

An unbidden thought, infuriating for the very fact that it had apparently implanted itself in my mind despite how much I abhorred it, coursed its way through my memories.

You're simply a pawn to him, a means to an end…

Cringing, I shook away the thought.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. So, their assistance isn't entirely based on altruistic purposes."

"No," he snorted, "not entirely, but they are our friends."

"Perhaps…perhaps you should've just changed me as soon as I found out everything. Not only would I be a strong, powerful vampire right now, but it would've ended any of Jakob's plans to put his monster inside me."

His fingers froze on my back. "That wouldn't have been a solution, Bella, for many reasons."

I lifted my head from his chest and met his wary gaze, quirking an eyebrow. "Such as?"

"Such as," he repeated, his upper lip curling, "the fact that we have no idea yet how you'll take to the change. As I've told you, it's a long and complicated process in and of itself."

"What else?" I asked.

He huffed irately. "Bella, you are a strong and powerful creature in your own right. Stop questioning those things which do not merit questioning and focus on all those magnificent strengths within you."

Do you truly believe he'd change you into one of his kind and keep you for an eternity? If so, why hasn't he already changed you?

I was unable to stop myself from flinching at those remembered words.

"Christ's love, what goes through your mind?"

"Nothing important," I lied, unwilling to add to the tension already between us. "I don't completely agree, but I suppose it's too late to change me before the solstice now. So exactly how many vampires are we expecting?"

"About a dozen," he replied tightly.

"Will that be enough?" I frowned.

"Bella, you must remember, my love," he said in a much more conciliatory tone, "that one of our kind can easily defeat a dozen of their kind, sometimes even more."

"Like yesterday."

He nodded. "Like yesterday. Just the thought of you being in danger…" He shook his head quickly. "Bella, I was not exaggerating when I said you were my strength."

"But Edward, you said yourself that Jakob and his kind have hidden from you for centuries, preparing for the day when they believe their prize would be within reach. You also said that yesterday, Jakob was simply testing us and that on the solstice, he and his kind will be at their strongest."

His jaw tightened. "Do you phrase it that way because you don't believe they'll achieve their goal or because you still don't believe you are the goal?"

"What difference does it make, and you're completely ignoring the real concern there."

He exhaled heavily, shutting his eyes and fisting his hair.

"I don't believe I am, but I'm so tired of arguing with you, Bella." When he reopened his eyes, they were now clouded with frustration.

"So am I," I said in resignation.

"Whatever you meant, you must practice your gifts as much as possible between now and the solstice."

"I know. I will." I swallowed. "But please be careful, okay?"

He pushed back a few strands of my hair, still damp from our lovemaking. "Do not worry about me. I'll be fine. For now, we are well hidden and well-protected here."

"For now," I echoed.

He held my gaze meaningfully. "Yes, my love, for now." Then very gently, he eased me off his chest so that he could rise and dress. Yet before he left the bed, he turned to me once more, cradling my cheek in his warm hand.

"Bella, how I wish you could always remember, not just when I'm next to you or inside you, that when you let go, when truly let go, you can do the most amazing things imaginable."

OOOOOOOOOO

Just as Edward had implied, the newly-arrived vampires kept to themselves. Still, I knew they were around. It wasn't exactly something I could explain or fully describe. It was more like a literal sixth sense, a tingling sort of sensation deep in the back of my head. It was strange, but it was better than the massive headache which the proximity of so many shifters had caused me the other day on campus.

I kept my word. While Edward and Emmett were gone, Jasper and I moved to a nearby open field and kept busy, practicing my gifts. My dad remained in the cabin, in charge of keeping track of what the news outlets were reporting.

As for my powers, yes, they'd improved by leaps and bounds over the past few weeks. Nevertheless, I still couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. And I was terrified that what was missing was the fact that I wasn't Bellaria; therefore, these imperfect, uncontrollable and sometimes erratic abilities were all I'd have to help keep us alive.

The entire time we practiced, the newspaper articles Edward showed me soon after I'd discovered the truth, the ones about the mysterious disappearances of hundreds of people throughout the world, circled my mind. What was it that Edward said just a few hours earlier: one vampire could easily overpower a dozen shifters? If on the solstice, Jakob appeared with a gathered army of let's say, five hundred shifters, we'd need approximately forty-one vampires to defeat them. Instead, we had a dozen. We were headed into battle with one dozen vampires and a second-rate sorceress.

"My lady, you're not focused," Jasper suddenly said.

With a sigh, I dropped my hands to my sides and returned Jasper to the grassy meadow. "Sorry."

He approached me with an understanding smile. "Perhaps we should take a short break."

"Jasper…" I held his gaze, "why do you call me my lady when you don't really believe I'm she?"

He lifted a pale brow. "I've never said I didn't believe."

"But you doubt."

Jasper drew in a deep, unnecessary breath, sweeping his eyes toward the mountains in the distance as he exhaled. Then he ran his fingers through his spikey, almost white hair. For the first time since I'd met him, Jasper Whitlock - Jasper of the white locks - seemed to search for the right words.

"Bella, I don't doubt. Rather, I have questions."

"It's the same thing."

He gave me a wry grin. "It's not the same thing. You and I, we're very like-minded, aren't we?"

"Yes, we are," I grinned in return.

With a sigh, he took a seat on the dewy grass, bending his knees upward. I took a seat beside him. His gaze remained on the snow-peaked mountains in front of us.

"That which your father pointed out last evening has true merit. Why would Charles Swan be reincarnated to father both Bellaria and you?"

"I do see the point they're trying to make: because of having the same father, Bellaria and I must be one and the same. Yet, he was Rena's father as well. What's more, I dream of Bellaria's life and death, but I also dream of Rena. None of it changes the fact that my birth doesn't hold true to Rena's prophecy. Rena's prophecy said nothing of Karolus or Karles or Charles, but it did say that the chosen one would be born from women of the bloodline. My birth breaks with that prophecy, no matter how you split things."

His bright blue eyes met mine, and he held my gaze for one long moment before slowly nodding.

"Yes, there continue to be questions. Nevertheless, there is one thing I don't question."

"And what is that?"

"I don't question how much Edward loves you or how loyal he is to that love. As long as he believes, I will believe."

"But you have your own mind, Jasper. His beliefs shouldn't have to be your own."

Again, his eyes panned away from me and toward the mountains.

"Sometimes, I wonder…" He paused, yet instead of breaking the long silence which ensued, I allowed him time to find his words. "Edward and Emmett, as humans, both knew love. Throughout the centuries, I have seen how that has shaped them, has sustained them. Perhaps not in exactly the same manner," he smirked. "For almost one thousand years, Edward refused to lay with any woman, while Emmett has lain with his fair share. Nevertheless, their minds have both been filled by one woman, respectively. Mine, however, was focused on the world around us. Mind you, I don't hold this against their intellect," he mused.

"So generous of you," I chuckled.

He chuckled with me, then once again paused to collect his thoughts. With a sharp intake of breath, he reached what I assumed was the crux of his speculations.

"I do often wonder if that love has somehow been the basis for our differing approaches to the world in which we live."

"Because you never fell in love, and therefore, your mind has been clearer."

This time, as I watched him, his bright blue eyes appeared to glaze over, as if he was seeing something other than what was before us.

"There was a maiden I once knew before I became a vampire and before the events which occurred in the castle. Her name was Alise."

"Alise," I echoed. "Where did you know her from?"

"She was the daughter of a swordsmith, of a brander. She was very pretty, dark-haired, petite, and very witty, what one might call mouthy today." He snorted. "Alise was not the type of girl to play shy or coy – in that respect, she reminded me of my lady Bellaria. We used to…" he chuckled sheepishly, and I got the distinct impression that he'd be blushing if it were at all possible. "We used to flirt."

"Ah," I smiled at his admission.

"Please don't misunderstand. She was very proper. There was nothing beyond a flirtation between us, no formal understanding," he made solemnly clear. "There could not be, for I was naught but a mere squire and still too green to take a wife. But…I used to imagine achieving knighthood and speaking with her father. I'd almost convinced myself that she was expecting it, waiting for it." He swallowed. "Waiting for me."

"Jasper," I whispered, "were you in love with her?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I don't believe I was, not truly. My notions and inclinations hadn't quite reached that level. Although, throughout the ages, I have wondered if it was merely a matter of time; if I'd lived and known her just a short while longer…"

I waited, but he didn't complete that thought.

"My point, my lady," he smiled, meeting my eyes again, "is that throughout the ages, I have tried to picture the type of individual I'd be had I reached that level of feeling with Alise. Would I be different from how I am now? Would I be able to see that which can't be seen or proven? Would I believe in abstract notions, in that which could not be touched or measured? Or would I still be exactly who I am?"

I had no answer for him.

"I have no answer either." He shrugged as if he could read my mind. "But that is why, despite my own continuing questions, if Edward believes you are Bellaria, then I will operate under that belief as well. I do not know how a man like he, a man in love, measures such things. Since I don't know, I can't contradict him."

I snorted. "You can't contradict what you don't know. Well, I am in love, in deep, everlasting love, yet I still contradict him."

His ensuing laugh was full of genuine mirth. "Perhaps, my lady, somewhere therein lies the answer."

I chuckled. "Perhaps. So what happened with Alise? Do you know?"

The humor faded from his handsome face, and his eyes became as hard and dark as Edward's tended to become when he was infuriated. He turned away from me and glared at the sky.

"She married a man by the name of James, a hunter. He did not appreciate her wit. She must have answered him back or defied him somehow one night, and she was found one morning beaten to death. Women were their husband's property back then, and so he feared no retribution, no justice. I killed him the following evening," he said casually.

I clamped a hand over my mouth. "Jasper, I'm so sorry."

"It's all right, my lady. As I said, I did not love her – not yet. But sometimes I wonder…if this existence ever ends, will I see her again?" He met and held my eyes once more. "Would Alise be waiting for me still?"

A/N: Thoughts?

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