Nothing Ever Stays the Same

Chapter 28- The Reckoning

It all happened so fast, in the next minute the Egyptian boy Benjamin, who was standing behind the Romanians, was hurling all of the elements at us, and it was all up to Arthur to stop it. I tapped my runner on the shoulder, he turned around looking thoroughly spooked

"Make sure that Arthur is well protected with a guard, and if he isn't, make sure he gets it" he nodded and ran off "Zafrina" I called, and in the next second the tall Amazonian was at my side

"Yes Jane?" she asked

"Find Benjamin, put him under an illusion, scare him to the next life" she nodded reluctantly "I know this is hard for you" I said just before she did what she needed to do, she just nodded again. Just then my runner came back.

"The Cullen's are covering Arthur ma'am" he said dutifully

"Good, now run to Alec and find out what he plans to do, and tell him I have the Illusionist working on Benjamin" I told the runner, he nodded again and ran off, I turned to Athenadora "You really want to tell me this is like the Trojan war?"

"Absolutely not, this will be a lot more fun" She said and just after she finished Caius was at our sides

"Alright" he began, a hungry look on his face "Marcus and I are going to make the first run at them, Alec is going to numb as much of the line as he can for Marcus, and you Jane are going to vivify as many as you can"

"How many fighters do you need?" I asked

"A hundred" I nodded at him, and then my runner came back

"Alec says that, that is a good plan for now, but that later on you will need the illusionist to work on their entire army while he numbs Benjamin and you kill him while Arthur does a number on the rest"

"Very good" I told him, "now stay behind me until I need you again" I looked back at the battlefield it was a mess of flying rock, fire, lightning, and water; so far as I could tell Arthur had settled for a shield that was much like Bella's, which meant we were now protected from physical and non-physical attacks.

"First quarter get ready to march" I yelled "Back quarter get the defence prepared" I walked forward to the very front of the line with Caius, I looked down the line and I saw Alec and Marcus doing the same, we made eye contact and gave each other a brief nod, this meant that we gave the order in ten seconds.

"Are your fighters ready?" I asked Caius

"Yes they are" He declared looking behind him

"Then good luck" I said before yelling "NOW" at the same time as Alec, and in the next moment two hundred vampires ran out led by Caius and Marcus, my heart was in my chest, waiting, just waiting to get the moment right

"Athenadora, for the next few minutes you are going to be in charge" she nodded, and I began my offensive, my eyes flicking faster than ever before as I bored the full strength of my power into the front lines of the Romanian defence, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, I was mowing down ten a second and at the seventh second Caius reached their lines and I switched my focus to the next line who would be bracing themselves, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, one hundred, hundred and ten. I managed to get to one hundred and thirteen when I was grabbed by Athenadora who physically turned me to the left where I saw three hundred vampires running at us from the side.

"Volturi to the front" I commanded "Athenadora, get behind me"

"Not likely, give me fifty soldiers and I'll run a counter-attack" she said

"Alright, take them from the back" I told her, before she ran off "And to the rest of you, if any of you have any good tricks up your sleeves, now would be a wonderful opportunity to stop them"

"But what about Arthur's shield?" came the voice of Corin

"Arthur's shield will hold for now, but I would rather not see what will happen if he has to deal with three hundred vampires battering at it, and god knows what's happening at the other end"

"Okay, does anyone have neat tricks?" Corin asked, and then a quiet vampire with mousy hair came up to us

"I have a sonic scream" I looked at Corin and gave her a 'what-are-you-going-to-do' shrug of my shoulders

"Go for it" I told her and she sped off and proceeded to scream her head off "Corin hold the line, I have an idea I would like to try out" I ran and stood next to the little banshee and gave my idea a whirl. I was trying something I had never thought of before which was to focus the pain to one part of a vampires body, normally I would just make everything hurt and they would stand in one place, but if I could focus the pain to a specific spot, say the legs, then hopefully I could make them fall over which would make them vulnerable for longer. I stood gazing at one vampires legs carefully inflicting myself upon them, and then, as luck had it they fell over, tumbling over and over as they did, a few vampires running immediately behind her didn't have time react and went down with her. I kept doing it, and together with my little banshee we managed to hold them off for a bit, and then thankfully just before they hit the shield the counter-attack arrived.

The counter-attack came in the form of trees being hurled like javelins and being used like mace's as several vampires came through swinging massive trees wildly

"Excuse me?" came a voice from behind me, I looked and saw a tall, blonde woman standing behind me "I think I may be of service" her Australian accent was permeating through her polite words

"How?" I asked shortly, which was rude, but then again, I didn't really have the time to make every feel warm and gooey

"I can change my physical structure and become intangible" she explained quickly "I can get into the enemy lines rip them apart quickly without being touched"

"But you would have to become tangible in order to attack, that leaves you very vulnerable" I countered

"Not if you are well practiced" she argued

"Are you well practiced?" I asked her bluntly

"Of course" she said confidently

"Then go" I told her, and just after she left I received a runner from Arthur.

"Arthur has said that they have a teleporter over here who keeps trying to break in, he also requests that you try and finish up over here, the main force are attacking the centre now" I nodded at him

"Tell Arthur that I'll get there as soon as I can" I told the runner before he sped off again, I turned to my runner "Get to Alec and tell him to initiate Blitzkrieg"

"Blitzkrieg ma'am?" he asked"Blitzkrieg" I clarified.

Turning to the remaining two-hundred and fifty soldiers that I had I said to them

"Remember your training, and get in file, we are about to initiate the Blitzkrieg manoeuvre" I told them "Athenadora, get ready for Blitzkrieg" I looked out to the field and I saw that our shadow-cat was currently fighting bitterly with their teleporter. Once Athenadora had pulled her soldiers out and behind my force I ran out. The idea behind Blitzkrieg is that we have a continuous wave of fighters attacking the front line, and that once we have killed one vampire we pull back to the rear of the force, the main point of the manoeuvre was to kill as many as we could, as constantly as we could whilst having the minimum number of fighters in danger. "Everyone be prepared, we have no idea what we are going to come up against the minute we step outside those shields" I told everyone "Get ready, NOW" I screamed as everyone began to run forwards. Again I used my power to distract the front lines as we charged, as we did it the enemy didn't quite seem to notice what we were doing and I waited as long as I could before I got my hands around someone's neck and pulled, the lucky individual looked genuinely shocked at having my hands ripping his head off, after I did that I ran back to the rear of the column, took a quick count. Twenty-five, we had lost twenty-five vampires in that attack, and we only managed to kill seventy-five of the enemy. I withdrew myself from the Blitzkrieg tapped five members of the Volturi who were in the legion and ran to take them from the back; it worked for the most part, the six of us hacking our way from the back forward, as I jumped from body to body ripping and tearing for all I was worth, only one or two managed to trap me into a fight but for each of them I ducked and weaved under their arms, swept their legs out from under them tore each of their limbs off. Then something stopped me from continuing, it was a god almighty scream, it tore from the inside out, it was scream I knew I would hear, and hoped that I would never have to make…someone had just seen their mate die, I looked up, using my power as a temporary shield to stop people from coming near me, I saw the pain in her face, the sadness in her eyes, and the slow bloodlust that was now overcoming her, I saw Siobhan of the Irish coven stand over the scraps of Liam bellowing as she tore his killer limb from limb and once she had finished, like a boulder she threw herself into enemy lines breaking from the formation, I looked at my fellow Volturi and gave a shake of my head that indicated for them to follow as we cut our way through the Romanian lines trying to get to Siobhan who was now further and further making her way into the enemy ranks, I saw Athenadora take Corin and Santiago as she made the same move as us.

After seven minutes of emotionally draining fighting as I cut myself ruthlessly through the Romanian rank and file and I watched Athenadora do the same, except there were too many for just the nine of us a before long Siobhan found herself in the same position as her mate, the only difference was that she died at the hands of Victor. With remarkable timing, both Athenadora and myself landed in front of Victor

"Looks like you'll have to deal with the both of us Vicky" Athenadora taunted

"Lucky for me, I have thing for masochism and dear, sweet Jane here will only excite me" He replied

"That is perfectly acceptable Victor, I wouldn't ever dream of giving you satisfaction" I told him through gritted teeth

"You two are both naïve to think you can beat me, I am older than the both of you combined"

"History lecture aside" Athenadora said "You can't cross the both us and expect to live, and the fact you are courageous enough to do it doesn't tell me you are old and wise"

"What does it tell you then?" he asked

"It tells me how monumentally stupid you are" Athenadora declared, and without warning Victor pounced on her, but as quick as that I managed to grab one of his feet and pull him to the ground, then Athenadora and I started circling him, when he stood up he made a motion with his head and two vampires went for Athenadora and I, we both dealt with them quickly and went for Victor, but he was fast, ducking and weaving, parrying everything that we did, and eventually Athenadora and I fell into rhythm with each other and we were sweeping his legs, punching at his head at the same time, then we started ducking in and around each other as we attacked, attacking him sporadically, doing this forced him onto the offensive and when he flew a arm out I would grab it and Athenadora would take it off, then he went for a roundhouse kick aimed at my head, I dodged easily ducking the attack and then I grabbed his leg, twisted it, and travelling up his leg to his lower back I put my arm down trapping his leg and stopping the movement of his lumbar spine, then Athenadora made her move getting his neck in her hands and yanking as hard as she could before I took his leg and broke his spine. Victor was no more, Siobhan had been avenged, and now the group attacking us had lost its captain it became a headless chicken, and even though we had lost over a hundred fighters we still came out the better annihilating the enemy.

"Rally to me" I yelled once the killing had been done, once everyone had assembled I began "I want fifty of you under the command of Athenadora to go and support the right flank, if or when they are in the clear you are to fall under Alec and join in his legion; the rest of you will follow me as we support the rest of the army"

We got there just in time, the front line was about to start crumbling, Caius and the hundred soldiers he had take earlier had been greatly diminished and he was now standing next to Aro trying to salvage what was left of their legion, and Arthur was still having a long distance fight with Benjamin. I looked around to see what had changed and that's when I saw it, newborns, the Romanians had just brought on an extra force of newborns, but they looked quite controlled fighting brutally against our lines, I gazed around the field looking for the reason; when I found it, I found it in the form of the Vampire Godiva, she was sitting at the very back of the lines and looked to be meditating.

"Alright, recommence the Blitzkrieg formation" I commanded, my soldiers nodded and began strategically attacking the opposition of newborn vampires "Corin, Santiago" I gestured for them to follow me

"What is it Jane?" Corin asked me

"There is a vampire who I think is controlling the Newborn's, I need you two to back me up" I explained to them, they nodded and off we went to claim the next victim, we disappeared into the woods in order to loop around, and it seemed for the most part that the Romanians were quite content with attacking head on, so confident and careless with their numbers that they would rather throw their weight around than use any form of legitimate strategy, no wonder they lost all that time ago, they are proper idiots. What I did next I am not proud of, mainly because I do not condone attacking someone from behind, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and I was very desperate. I used my power against her, choosing this time to focus entirely on her head since that is where I assumed the control was and while I did that Corin and Santiago were to blindside her, the plan was flawless, the execution was flawless, in fact the only flaw in the plan was sheer underestimation of the target, as Corin and Santiago flew at her she stood up grabbed the two and then using their momentum against threw them off into the distance. I watched wide eyed as she turned to me

"Only children know pain, and I am no child" she said stiffly, though the attack wasn't perfect, her control lessened and I watched over her shoulder as the behaviour of the newborns became more erratic, their attacks more sloppy, and I watched as our army gained a more even foot to begin a counterattack.

"It's a shame that I can't leave this at that and go" I said with a sigh

"You will fight little one, though you stand little chance against someone as old as I" Godiva gloated

"How old are you then" I asked politely

"Eight-hundred years old" she announced proudly "You will not be able to best my skill and my experience"

Sick and tired of her talking I jumped at her, feigning a high kick I dropped to the ground, slipped under legs grabbed her ponytail and pulled her to the ground.

"By the time I am finished with you, you will know pain" I told her as I flipped myself back onto my feet. When she was back up she ran at me, trying to use her massive frame against me; anticipating what she was going to do, I crouched just before she threw her arm out in a punch, I stood up deflecting her arm with my palm and doing a quick turn I made to make a high kick to catch her in the chest, she however caught it, so moving quickly I thrust myself upwards and brought my other foot up to strike her in head, the hit landed but then before I knew it I was being hurled at the ground, because it seemed being hit in the head didn't cause her to relinquish her grip on my feet, I figured a quick concentrated dose of pain to her hand would sort her out, and it did, her hand recoiled. In the next moment however she was too fast for me and she unleashed a flurry of attacks on me, I could barely keep up with the onslaught of attacks only barely being able to defend myself. But then my saviour came, taking her legs out from under her, coiling their hand around her throat as they thrust her back down to the earth. I looked up to see Alec standing there

"What took you so long? In the time its taking you to overwhelm three hundred vampires, I've done the same, located the vampire responsible for that scene over there" I said pointing back to the main battle "And almost had my ass handed to her on a silver platter, not to mention that I killed Victor with Athenadora"

"Oh well I'm sorry" He sarcastically retorted "But Sulpicia isn't half as helpful as Athenadora in a battle situation, its like Athenadora is actually Athena but Sulpicia is more like Aphrodite, not to mention I just saved you and your ass from that silver platter"

"Fine, fine, lets just finish this together" I stated to finish the argument, not wanting to augment the situation

"Alright then" Alec agreed, and at that moment Godiva decided to get back up. She went for Alec first seeing as he was the one to knock her down, but as she lunged for him she forgot about me and I yanked at her ponytail, then gripping it in my head I forced myself to climb onto her back, then I slipped down onto her shoulders like she was giving me a view of something, like a father would do for a child, then I threw my hands out and Alec grabbed them, then using all the strength that he could muster flipped us into the air, while in the air I switched my position so that I was looking at her in the face. Just before we hit the ground though, I put my arms out and used the momentum gained by Alec to extend my legs force her into the ground face first. The result of the vicious attack that Alec and I had only few opportunities to execute was a Godiva face down in a small crater, her body full of cracks from the impact, standing up I walked over to her body, straddling her shoulders I pulled her head up and whispered into her ear.

"If we are to go by what you said earlier, you didn't lose because I ganged up on you, you lost because I am nine-hundred years old, and am a far more experienced killer."

On our way back to the main battle Alec and I ran into two very special people, who seemed incredibly distraught by the turn of events in this war. Stefan and Vladimir were attempting to make a getaway, abandoning the people that had rallied to them.

"I always knew that you two were scum, but this is something I thought would be below the two of you." The two looked genuinely surprised to have run into us.

"Those who break the rules are scum." Alec began.

"But those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum." I finished

"And a little birdy told me that the two of you have always wanted to get your hands on us, well here we are." Said Alec. The two Romanians gave each other a look, as if they were weighing up the cost of fighting us to the cost of running away, the look they shared suggested that they wanted to fight us, and that was alright by me.

"We will have our revenge." Was all that Stefan said

"You should really stop placing so much emphasis on your broken dynasty." I snapped at him, and as he ran at me and Vladimir ran at Alec I braced myself to use my power, but the second before I could use it he darted out of my line of sight, such a clever boy, I thought to myself, the one actual pitfall to my gift and he was exploiting it, put I didn't need parlour tricks to put him in the ground. I stood still, perfectly still and listening dutifully to my surroundings, the second he went to attack me he would have to make a noise and I would use that against him. He launched at my left blind spot and I nimbly stepped to the right to avoid it, then he quickly made a pivot a turned around following me, he made a another turn and made to get a kick, but as his leg moved parallel with the ground I did a back flip over the leg, landing on my hands I tightly coiled my body and then I uncoiled myself kicking out as I did so, I managed to catch him in the chest. After I had returned to my feet I looked at his face and he looked extremely surprised, I made a cry-baby face at him to taunt him, and I it worked; he came at me with a renewed vigour, thrusting this way and that way, he was fast, possibly faster than me but luckily I was fast enough to keep up with the movements.

"Stay back, stay back; this one is mine." I heard Arthur bellow from somewhere behind me, I took a quick break from my fight with Stefan to look up and see what was happening. The battle had broken, the Volturi were for all intents as purposes winners, but as I looked around I could see that there were still several one-on-one fights that were occurring; there was mine and Alec's; There was the fight between Arthur and Benjamin; Caius was engaged in a fight with a unknown vampire and close beside him Athenadora was also still fighting. Compared to the fighting that had been occurring earlier, the fights that were being played out now looked professional, and everyone executed their technique perfectly, it was the best of both armies now fighting against each other. Stefan had now changed his tactic, and now I was engaged in a legitimate hand-to-hand combat fight with him, we looked like two martial arts masters as we ducked and weaved around each other, our fight reduced to a flurry of arms and legs moving with a blinding speed. I noticed that Stefan wasn't defending his head very well so when the opportunity arose I landed a high kick to his head, unable to defend the attack in time Stefan took the brunt of the blow to the head I went crashing to the ground head over heels. In the next moment there were two Volturi guards present and apprehending Stefan so that he couldn't move and I looked over to Alec and Vladimir, that too was a very even battle; I managed to make eye contact with Alec, he inclined his head to the left which meant he wanted me to intervene, then he moved it to the left again, this meant that he wanted me to engage Vladimir while Alec prepared to use his power. I nodded at my brother, walked over to where he and Vladimir were fighting, tapped Vladimir on the shoulder and when he looked around I brought my fist into contact with his face and he went plummeting to the ground and before he could get back up he was under Alec's power and then he was being apprehended.

When I turned around to watch the rest of the battles I saw that the only fight left was the one between Arthur and Benjamin; it was a spectacular fight to watch, Arthur knocking down boulder after boulder with his hands as the came flying at him, ducking in and around massive gusts of wind as they blew in gales around him as well as dodge waves of water as they crashed around the field. I wondered briefly as to why he wasn't using his power to block all these attacks and then my question was answered when Benjamin began blowing a huge torrent of fire from his mouth and Arthur used his power protect himself. Arthur was on the back foot and couldn't quite seem to get a grip on the fight, but the way he perfectly dodged everything that came at him, the way he seemed to be sitting just below Benjamin suggested to me that Arthur had a plan. The fight continued like this for several minutes when eventually Arthur turned sideways, thrust one hand out towards Benjamin, and with the other he made some movement and then every boulder that Benjamin had used was flying back at him as well as every little stone and twig; then Arthur ran at him and as soon as the torrent stopped Benjamin didn't have enough time to defend himself against an Arthur who was now in close-range; Arthur just put his two fists together and with all the might he could muster brought it down on Benjamin's head. The attack I'm sure would have shattered Benjamin's head, but it didn't because in the next minute Arthur was gesturing to Alec to put him under which meant that Arthur wanted to have Benjamin judged. I ran to him and threw my arms around him, thankful that we had both survived this terrible and difficult ordeal.

"Next time," he whispered into my ear "you take the elemental, because that was much too difficult for my comfort.

"Next time," I whispered back "I don't think there will be another elemental."


A/N: Thank-god that, that's over I think I can safely say that this has been the most difficult chapter to write. Thank-you to all those who reviewed last chapter, it didn't make writing this easier but it certainly made me more positive about the whole ordeal. Also if you could keep up the reviews that would be nice, it makes me feel warm and fuzzy!