"When were five, they asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up…"

It had been a long two weeks of patrolling and keeping guard over the Swan house, whilst completing finals and organising things for graduation, but it was finally here.

Graduation. I wouldn't be my last, but it was my first.

We had walked across the stage and received our diplomas. Now it was time for the speeches.

"Our answers were things like astronaut, president… or, in my case, a princess." Jessica smiled as chuckles ran through the audience. I smiled from my seat between Jasper and Alice. "When we ten, they asked again and we answered rock star, cowboy… or, in my case, a gold medallist. But now that we've grown up, they want a serious answer. Well, how about this: who the hell knows?" Cheers echoed around the auditorium. "This isn't the time to make hard and fast decisions - it's the time to make mistakes. Take the wrong train and get stuck somewhere; fall in love – a lot. Major in philosophy because there's no way to make a career out of that. Change your mind, and then change it again, because nothing is permanent…" Except vampirism, I thought. "…So make as many mistakes as you can. That way, someday, when they ask again what we want to be… we won't have to guess – we'll know."

After the ceremony ended, Jasper, Alice and I edged through the crowd in search of Carlisle and Esme. It took a few moments but we found them outside, not far from Chief Swan, Bella and Edward.

"Congratulations, darlings!" Esme gushed. "Especially you, Davina."

"Thank you," I smiled as she hugged me tightly, followed by Carlisle.

"The hype wears off after the first few times," Jasper murmured, before kissing my temple as I leaned into his side.

"Come on, guys! We should start setting up for the party," Alice exclaimed excitedly.

**TWILIGHT****TWILIGHT****TWILIGHT****TWILIGHT****TWILIGHT****TWILIGHT**

The house was decorated to mimic a nightclub, full of human teenagers dancing and celebrating. I stood with Rosalie, neither of us entirely happy about the full house. A boy I didn't recognise shoved passed us, and I wrinkled my nose at the overwhelming stench of sweat.

"Disgusting," Rose muttered. I snorted under my breath at the look on her face.

"They can't help it, Rose."

"Not the human," she said. "Them." Rosalie glared towards the front door and I followed her gaze to see Jacob, Quil and Embry standing with Bella. I focused on the conversation, eavesdropping over the loud music.

"I brought you something," Jacob was saying. He took her hand in his, and when he pulled back I could see a charm bracelet on Bella's wrist.

"You made this?" she gasped. "It's really pretty, thanks."

I glanced at Rose warily… Edward was not going to like that. Looking back towards Bella and the wolves, I noticed their attention had been drawn by something to my left. I turned, seeing Alice stood on the stairs, frozen. Moving at a human pace, I beat Bella to the stairs by a few seconds. I touched Alice's arm just as she came out of the vision, a look of alarm flicking across the face.

"Alice?" I asked softly. "What did you see?"

Before Alice could get a word out, Jacob appeared, hovering over Bella's shoulder. "Okay, something is going on. Tell me!" he demanded.

"I need to talk to Carlisle," said Alice.

Jacob put his arm against the wall to block us from leaving.

"Jacob, leave it," I told him.

He ignored me. "Why don't you talk to me?"

Suddenly, there was a hand on my waist as Jasper appeared at my side, his voice low and lethal. "I suggest you remove your arm – before I do."

Slowly, Jacob moved back. Alice looked at Jasper and I, her face pinched with worry.

"The decision's been made."

I gave a heavy sigh, knowing what that meant. Jasper's hand squeezed my waist.

"What's going on?" Bella asked. "You're not going to Seattle?"

"No," Alice explained. "They're coming here."

I peered around Jasper, catching Rose's eye. I gestured for her to gather the others and she immediately shoved through a group of humans near the kitchen. "Come on," I murmured. I took Jasper's hand and pulled him with me, the others following. I led them into Carlisle's office. Jacob waved for the other wolves to come with us, and it took barely two minutes for the rest of the family to appear.

"Alice, what's going on?" Carlisle asked.

"We're not going to Seattle," she repeated. "They're coming here."

Edward scowled. "How long?"

"They'll be here in four days."

"This could turn into a bloodbath," Carlisle sighed.

"Who's behind it?" asked Edward.

"It could be Victoria," I thought aloud. "A distraction for her to get through us to Bella. Or maybe the Volturi?"

"I didn't see anyone I recognise," Alice said. "Maybe one…"

"I know his face," agreed Edward. "He's local, Riley Biers. He didn't start this."

"Whoever did is staying out of the action."

"They must be playing with the blind spots in your vision," Carlisle said to Alice.

"Either way," Jasper said. "The army is coming, and there aren't enough of us to protect the town."

Jacob's expression was confused. "Hold up. What damn army?"

Carlisle and Edward exchanged a look, the younger shaking his head. Carlisle, however decided differently.

"Newborns. Our kind."

"What are they after?" Embry wondered.

Alice told them that the newborns in her vision had been passing around a blouse of Bella's, catching her scent.

"They're after Bella?"

"What the hell does this mean?" Jacob snapped.

"It means an ugly fight," I said. "With lives lost." I leaned into Jasper's side, resting my head on his shoulder.

"Alright," the wolf said. "We're in."

"No!" Bella cried. "You'll get yourselves killed, no way!"

"I wasn't asking for permission!" he hissed back.

"Edward?" she tried.

"It means more protection for you."

"Jacob," Carlisle asked. "Do you believe Sam will agree to an… understanding?"

"As long as we get to kill some vampires," was the crass response.

"Jasper?"

My husband nodded. "They'll give us the numbers, and the newborns won't know they even exist. That'll give us an edge."

"We'll need to coordinate," I added.

"Carlisle, they're gonna get hurt," insisted Bella, but she was ignored.

"We'll all need some training," Carlisle continued. "Fighting newborns requires knowledge that Jasper has. You're welcome to join us."

Jacob nodded. "Name the time and the place."

**TWILIGHT****TWILIGHT****TWILIGHT****TWILIGHT****TWILIGHT****TWILIGHT**

The family, minus Edward who was collecting Bella, was gathered in a clearing in the woods. It was dark, but that didn't affect our eyesight at all. I sat in the low branches of a tree, grinning down at the scene before me.

Emmett was flung through the air, flailing madly. He landed hard on is back, a loud thud echoing through the clearing, and immediately sprung back up to face Jasper.

"Again!" he growled.

However, everyone was distracted by the arrival of Edward and Bella as the Volvo skidded to a stop next to Jasper's Jeep. As they reached the rest of us, Edward announced that the pack had arrived. I hopped down from the tree, landing perfectly next to Jasper. I could see the pack starting to emerge from the treeline, eight giant shapeshifters who were as wary as we were. There was a tense moment when Emmett and Paul made eye contact.

"They don't trust us enough to be in their human forms," Edward explained.

"They came," Carlisle accepted. "That's all that matters. Will you translate?" Edward nodded and Carlisle stepped forward, slowly. "Welcome. Jasper has experience with newborns. He'll teach us how to defeat them."

"They want to know how the newborns differ from us."

"They're a great deal stronger than us, because their own human blood lingers in their tissues. Our kind is never more physically powerful than in our first several months of this life." Carlisle stepped back to let Jasper take over.

"Carlisle's right. That's why they are created. A newborn army doesn't need thousands like a human army, and no human army could stand against them the two most important things to remember are first, never let them get their arms around you. They'll crush you instantly. The second is never go for the obvious kill. They'll be expecting that, and you will lose. Emmett?" Jasper turned to take a fighting stance, as Emmett did the same opposite him. "Don't hold back."

"Not in my nature," the larger man quipped.

After Jasper and Emmett's sparring session, the rest of the family went in pairs to showcase to the pack exactly what vampires were capable of. Soon, it was my turn to go against Jasper.

For a moment, the two of us stood, watching each other carefully. Then, Jasper launched himself at me and I dodged. Gripping his arm, I twisted him over my head and into the tree above us. Jasper just used the branches to flip back over my head. Whipping around, I stared straight at him, but Jasper instantly moved his gaze. Swinging his leg up, he aimed a kick at my shoulders, but, again, I dodged and swung my own hit. I caught him in the chest, throwing him back. In a second, Jasper was on his feet again, but this time he wasn't so lucky. His eyes caught mine and he froze. I focused my gaze.

"Stop fighting," I murmured. I could see on Jasper's face that he wanted to move, but couldn't. I only held him for a second before he nodded and I released him from my compulsion, as Carlisle called it. The hours spent practicing with him and Jasper had finally paid off.

There was a small commotion from the wolves at my display and Edward hurried to explain. "No," he said. "Not all vampires can control minds. That's specific to Davina. As Bella has previously explained to you, some vampires carry over particularly strong traits from their human lives when they are turned. We believe that, for Davina, it was her persuasiveness, resulting in her gift of compulsion."

"Don't worry," I added. "I have full control now, so I only use it when necessary."

This seemed to pacify most of the wolves, though they watched me warily throughout the rest of the training session.

Bella had drifted away from us during the training. She sat with Jacob, in his wolf form, near the edge of the clearing. "Some of you are gonna get hurt," she muttered to him. "Some of you could get killed, because of me. It's gonna be a hundred times worse than this, right?" Jacob nuzzled her face and Bella leaned into him as Edward approached.

"We're done for the day," he stated briskly. His eyes lingered firmly on Jacob, a warning to leave with the rest of his pack. Slowly, he did.

Carlisle, Esme, Rose and Emmett had already said their goodbyes and had taken the jeep home. Bella was sitting on the hood of Edward's Volvo, whilst Edward finished clearing up. I followed Jasper towards her, dusting the dirt off of my hoodie.

"Jasper," Bella asked. "Are you sure there's nothing I can do to help?"

"Your presence alone, your scent will distract the newborns," he explained. " Their hunting instinct will take over, drive them crazy."

Bella sighed, relieved. "Good, I'm glad. Hey, how do you know so much about this?"

"I didn't have quite the same upbringing as my adopted siblings." Jasper kept walking passed the car, intent on ending that conversation before it started, but Bella jumped down from her perch and followed him. I sighed and flashed passed them to lean against the car.

"Those bites are like mine," Bella continued. Jasper's scars were on display in the bright moonlight.

"Battle scars," Jasper told her. "All the training the Confederate Army gave me was useless against the newborns. Still, I never lost a fight." Jasper hated his history with Maria, but I knew he was proud of the skills he'd gained during that period.

"This happened during the civil war?" Bella was persistent, following Jasper as he walked towards me.

Jasper nodded. "I was the youngest major in the Texas cavalry. All without having seen any real battle."

"Until..?"

"Until I met a certain immortal: Maria. I was riding back to Galveston, after evacuating a column of women and children, when I saw her. I immediately offered her my aid…" Jasper explained how Maria had turned him, using him to train the newborns for her vampire army.

"Maria was creating an army?"

"They were very common in the South… the cost of brutal battles for territory. Maria won them all. She was smart, careful. And she had me. I was the second in command. My abilities to control emotions served her well. I trained her newborns… an endless occupation since she never let them live beyond their first year. It was my job to dispose of them." Jasper's face was stone, hiding the remorse I knew he felt. "I could feel everything they felt."

I knew that Bella couldn't hear the sadness in his tone, but I did. I moved forward, taking his hand in mine. "I thought what Maria and I had was love. But I was her puppet. She pulled the strings. I didn't know there was another way until I met Alice. We found the Cullens and they showed me I could be a better person, I didn't have to be a murderer anymore. And then I met Davina…" He glanced down at me, an affectionate smile on his face. I squeezed his hand. "I don't know what I'd be without her."

"You'll never have to be that again," I murmured softly. I leaned up, pressing my lips to his.

For her sake, I really hoped I never ran into Maria.