I do not own anything in the Twilight Universe. I only wish I did.

Change of Guard

Quil set in the booth in the back of the diner, his food cold and untouched. The waitress gave him a wary look as she asked for the tenth time, if there was something wrong with the food. Bo got so grumpy, when customers sent back their food. It would just make the day go that much slower. And it was moving at a snails pace now. As usual the place was empty. There real crowd was late at night. The young man seemed extremely nervous, his eyes never resting on one place for long. He didn't look like one of the homeless that chose this place for rest. Otherwise she would have asked to see his money first. Now she was regretting her earlier decision not to. She hoped that he wasn't up to something. If he planned on robbing the place, all he would collect from the till was dust. Distracted, he told her everything was fine, then started looking toward the front of the coffee shop, through the front wall that was all windows.

As the waitress left, uncertainty heavy in her eyes, Quil drummed his fingers on the table top. It had been about an hour. He couldn't stay here much longer, and would have to trade places with another member of the pack. The rest of them were staged all along the coffee shop's perimeter. In their phased state, they were still connected to Seth and Collin, who were with the Cullens. Alice had seen glimpses of Claire and Micah walking through the city, but they were just glimpses, not giving too much more information than that. Quil was torn between wanting to be here, where he would be the first to see her, and be there where he could judge Alice's reactions, instead of getting the knowledge from the pack mind, and their own interruptions. Embry had come in and met Quil in the bathroom to give him the first update. He wanted to ask his own questions, because the pack didn't think to ask things like what she looked like, what was she saying in the visions, and what was she not saying. All he got was vague descriptions of the locations of where they were at the time.

He wanted to know what Micah was doing, if he was treating her alright, because if he wasn't, he was a dead leech. Again, he felt the eyes of the waitress on him, as Jared made his way from the entrance to the bathroom. As he stood up the cook behind the counter moved to talk to her. They both stopped to watch him with wary expressions, as he followed the other Quileute into the restroom. Jared turned at the sound of the door. "Well?" Quil asked, with the little patience he had left. Jared's lack of enthusiasm was not a hopeful sign.

"Alice sees them coming into the coffee shop in a couple of hours from now." Quil nodded, happy that it was almost over. When Jared paused, he waited impatiently for the "bad news".

"What?" Quil practically shouted when he could not wait any longer for more. Jared swallowed and said with concern, "The Volturi will come as well and there will be a battle. She sees Aro with Claire, then it fades. Alice is trying to pinpoint the time better, to see if we can intercept them. Sam wants you to take the perimeter and I will stay in the diner."

Quil's mind swam dizzily with turmoil. How had the Volturi found the location? They knew the Volturi were here, what could they be planning, coming in broad daylight. Didn't they want to avoid attention? Why would they risk this? Quil nodded and made his way out of the restroom. He was met by the cook and the waitress, both of them tense and waiting for a fight. The cook reached up and grabbed his arm.

"Look buddy, I don't want any trouble here. If you are doing any illegal drug deals or something, I would appreciate it if you would not use my diner. Just eat your meal and get out of here. And take your friends with you. I don't need your kind in here." Quil could smell the guys fear, as it pulsed out of his pores with his accelerated heartbeat. Not wanting to give the man a heart attack, he handed the man a twenty dollar bill and made his way out of the diner to talk to Sam. He needed answers and thought that if he could question the Cullens himself, he would get somewhere.

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Faith stepped up to the door to Renesmee's room, ready to open it, to get some answers, when a hand, from behind her, held it closed. She jumped in surprise, and turned around to be pinned to the door. She looked up into the mischievous eyes of Alec. Faith tried to slip out of his enforced enclosure but he danced in the same direction, that she moved, with that inane little smile at the tip of his lips. "Where are you going?" He asked when she stopped in frustration. She felt so uncomfortable around him. Although she pretended not to notice, she could feel his eyes on her. And she did not want to antagonize Jane. No one was allowed to hold Alec's attention without repercussions.

"What are you doing here?" She turned the question around, "I thought you were assigned to the Cullen mission. I was just checking on Renesmee, to make sure that there would not be a problem." Alec did not react right away to her statement, he just stared at her. Once again, she moved to step out of his loose embrace, and this time he let her. She made it a few steps, before he moved in front of her again.

" Don't go too far, Aro wants you to join us. Looks like you'll be taking a little trip. Speaking of trips, where is that insane brother of yours. He has a lot of work cut out for him. We need to transport some of the new recruits to the mission site. ASAP." Faith bristled at his insult to her brother. There was nothing wrong with Fisher. Being deaf was not any hindrance to his intelligence. She hated anyone who was either too bigoted to understand or just stupid not to know. Her anger gave her the courage to stand up to him.

"You leave Fisher alone. There is nothing wrong with him. He's smarter than you are, and infinitely more human...." Alec stopped listening to what Faith was saying, when his concentration was distracted by the movement of her lips. All of his focus narrowed on the dance that they were doing, unconsciously his head lowered as it was drawn in their vicinity. Faith's eyes widen at the sudden invasion of her personal space. She dodged the maneuver and spun around to move to the door again. " I need to check on our guest." Alec shook his head as if waking from a dream, and followed closely, not letting her open the door.

" Seriously, I need your brother. We need to transport several of the newborns to the site." Faith's head jerked up at the newborn term. Surely, she had not heard right. The newborns, were nothing more than animals. Even with her power of persuasion and inner healing, she could do little more than calm their more vicious animal instincts. They were basically chained until she could reason with them. If several were to be released on their own recognizance, there would be a virtual bloodbath. This army he was building, was years in the making. The yearling's were just starting basic training. There was no way she would be able to control so many at one time. It was suicide.

"Aro can't mean to release newborns? It would be total chaos. I cannot possibly control that kind of situation." Alec leaned in and brushed a curly lock of hair, from her cheek that had flown there in her agitated state. Involuntarily, she shivered at the unexpected touch. Quickly, she regained her composer and stepped back, in which he followed, causing her to be backed up to the door again.

"He doesn't expect you to control them, that is my job." He smiled as her confused look, turned more bewildered as she thought through what he was saying. Alec could literally see the wheels turning in her head.

" But all you can do is numb them, they will still not be reasoned with, if you turn them loose....." He shook his head yes, letting her come to the conclusion herself. " Aro wants a bloodbath? But isn't that what he has us patrolling to stop? I thought ..." Alec could not believe that she was so gullible. Was there anyone anymore that still thought good won over bad? Was life so black and white to her?

Interrupting her, in a taunting manner, "What? We were the good guys? What if there are no good guys? What if the world was not black and white, but just varying shades of gray?" She stuttered as she reasoned in her own head.

"I do not believe that. There is definitely right from wrong, black and white. And this is definitely wrong. What have the Cullens done, that would justify an all out war? And what has that girl in there done to be a prisoner of that war?" Faith looked up into his eyes, trying to see any fragment of humanity still swimming in their depths of crimson. His normally teasing glint was overshadowed by the appreciation of her passionate views. When her feathers were ruffled she had a heady mix of virtue and passion that stirred the core of his being. He could not remember having such strong emotions on anything in his life. For a moment he forgot what she was asking him, but it came back as he took in her expectant gaze, waiting for his answer.

"What have they done? Nothing really. Well except, challenge our very way of life. With their self righteous indignation and their unusual eating habits, they can be as annoying as hell." Faith tilted her head at his description.

"Eating habits?" Alec scrunched up his face, to show his opinion on their choice.

"Yes, they have this noble idea that animals can provide the nourishment they need without bloodying their hands with killing the local populations. Personally, I think it messes with their minds, gives them their delusional concept of superiority." Faith was lost in the thought that they did not kill to eat. Her mind whirling, she placed her hand on his chest to get his attention. And attention she got. He instantly paused looking down at the contact. No one had the courage to touch him. The heat from her hand seemed to burn a spot through his chest.

"Are you saying that they do not feed off of people? Is that truly possible? I thought that we would die if we did not feed on blood, people blood." Alec slowly looked at her face, lost in her uncertainty.

"What? No, you don't need human blood to live, we can't die that way. But the thought of animal blood leaves a lot to be desired. You are so young. And innocent. It is refreshing to see such naivety. It will be a sad moment when you realize that your humanity is truly dead."

"Renesmee was telling the truth, when she said that they do not hunt humans?" Faith continued, lost in her own thoughts. A noise on the other side of the door caused both of them to jump. Alec let Faith step forward as he pulled the door open. Renesmee and Fisher were in a heated conversation. She was pleading with him to help her escape, he was grunting, obviously torn by duty and the need to help her. Alec quickly stepped up to the two of them.

"Fisher, you have a job to do. There is no time to stand around making a play for the young lady. I need you to transport myself and your lovely sister to the site, then I need level one of the newbies brought over. We do not have time to waste. Lastly, I need you to bring Renesmee. It's show time."

Faith felt trapped taking in the young girls fearful state, and her brother's agitation of her heartfelt pleas. He looked from Alec's condescending smile to his sisters panicked expression. He turned to Faith for guidance.

Alec took the young man by the arm and said, "Come on, Aro is waiting." With a grunt, Fisher blinked out. Faith looked to Renesmee who was shaking.

"What are you planning? Why are you sending new vampires to the states? You're planning a war! You can't do this." Renesmee grabbed the other vampire's arms to get her attention. Faith looked at her, horror mirroring in her face. Fisher would not be long before he started transporting the newbies. She had to get to level one and catch him before he got too many of them moved. She had to talk to him. This was going too fast. She needed to think.

" I have to go." Faith moved to shake Renesmee off of her, but found the little girl stronger than she thought.

" You can't let this happen, it will be a slaughter. I need to be with my family. Please you have to help me!" Faith pried the girls hands off of her and made her way through the door. As the lock clicked, she heard the hybrid's hands claw the other side of the door, frantic in her movements.

"Please, you can't just leave me here. PLEASE!" Her screams turned to sobs as she slid down the door, her body pooling to the floor. "I need to be with my family, please."

Faith ran to level one.

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"I know it doesn't make sense, but there will be an army of newborns in this clearing any minute. Aro wants us occupied. He wants to make sure that we are distracted, separated from the pack." Edward told the group after interpreting Alice's latest vision. "I just did not have any idea that he had amassed this large of newborns."

Carlisle knew that his old friend was possessed by his passion for power, but he thought he would not break his own rules to obtain it. Obviously, the value of their friendship was overestimated, if he was planning the slaughter this early. Carlisle knew that war was coming, but he thought it was years away. Something has happened that he took a volatile threat. Renesmee.

Jacob passed, trying to sort out his confusion, "So Aro is dropping newborns here, so we have to fight, keeping us from being with the pack. Alice does not see the rest of the Volturi here? Just the newborns?" Edward turned back to Alice to get her affirmation, she shook her head yes. Edward and Carlisle looked at each other as realization dawned to them as well.

"So there will be two battlefields going on at the same time. Aro had no intention on swapping Nessie for Claire. He intended to eliminate the pack and the coven at the same time. And we fell for it."

The family fell silent as they thought of what was about to take place. Esmee ran to Carlisle her face seeking assurance, that he could not give her. His family stood before him looking for his leadership. The pack frantically relaying the information, trying to prepare them for the battle. A battle that was leaning in the enemy's favor.

Sorry, the update is late. I hope you haven't given up on me.