Chapter 34 – Countdown to Armageddon – Week Two

Disclaimer I do not own Twilight. All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. All songs used in this story belong to the writers, studios, and artists. No copyright infringement intended.

BPOV

I was happy with the way things had been progressing, and I was beginning to get optimistic about our plans. We had finally come up with a plan that Alice claimed would be foolproof to convince the Volturi that the kids were half breeds and not immortal children. The plan was to let Edward and Carlisle touch Aro, so he could see me going through the different stages of my pregnancy, watch the birth of the children and see how much they had grown in the past four months. If he still wanted corroboration, then he could question any of our witnesses. This was a plan I could live with because I'm determined not to have the kids in Forks while Dimitri was in the area.

From the start, I had I insisted that the kids would have no part of the confrontation. I wanted them as far away as possible. Edward and I had talked about taking them to Florida to visit Renee, and leave them there. If timing became an issue, we would ask Charlie to take them away for a few days – as long as they are not in the vicinity when Dimitri comes to Forks. Dimitri wouldn't be able to track them without meeting them first, but I wanted to keep them with us for as long as possible, so we were waiting for Alice to have a vision which would pinpoint the timing of the Volturi's arrival. Then we'd make our final decision based on the time we had. That was what we had agreed on, and I intend to stick to it.

We were all confident with the arrangements that had been made. Then, things took a unexpected turn, and when I thought it couldn't get worse, it did – talk about Murphy's Law. Looking back, I tried to see if there had been any way I could have seen this coming, but if the physic in the family had not foreseen this, then how could I?

The week had started the way the last one ended. I juggled my responsibilities as a wife, mother and hostess, dividing my days between the kids, our guests, and the pack. Jacob had taken to calling the Romanians Dracula One and Dracula Two. He didn't like them because they were the only ones to dismiss the pack's ability to kill vampires. I knew the Romanians history, so I felt empathy towards them. Carlisle had told me about them when he made up the list of witnesses to invite to the island, and all the others had heard the story before. The Romanian coven is one of the oldest vampire covens in existence. It was the original ruling coven before Aro and his band of talented guards had descended on them and destroyed their coven sometime between 400 and 500 AD. The coven now consists only of Vladimir and Stefan, and although they were as old as the hills, my heart went out to them. Like Alistair, they never mixed much with the other vampires, so I was delighted when the kids took to following them around. The kids also loved to hang around Zafrina for her pictures, and Benjamin for his tricks, but it was a mystery to me, what drew them to the Romanians.

The Romanians had spent so much time alone together they often acted as one – they seem to be able to read each other's minds and they often finished the other's sentences so maybe the kids thought they were twins too. Whatever the reason, the kids often acted like their shadows and questioned them constantly. I smiled indulgently whenever I saw the six of them together, marveling at the patience of those two ancient vampires, with the kids and their numerous questions. Then something happened that rocked me to my core. I had always strived to find good in everyone, could I have been wrong about the Romanians, and if I had been wrong about them, what other unwise decisions was I making?

Since our conversation with the kids about being different, they had taken a vivid interest in commenting on the differences of everyone and everything they saw. Usually they discussed this with us, so I was shocked when I had overheard Beth asking the Romanians about their skin – even for vampires their skin was deadly pale. A hush settled around the clearing, and everyone had stopped what they had been doing to listen and all eyes were trained on the little group. I was about to apologize to our guests because I thought they would have been offended by the question, but it didn't faze them.

They squatted to the kids' level and answered. "We sat still for a very long time, child," Vladimir said, with Stefan nodding along but not continuing Vladimir's sentences as he often did. "Contemplating our own divinity. It was a sign of our power that everything came to us. Prey, diplomats, those seeking our favor. We sat on our thrones and thought ourselves gods. We didn't notice for a long time that we were changing - almost petrifying. I suppose the Volturi did us one favor when they burned our castles. Stefan and I, at least, did not continue to petrify. Now the Volturi's eyes are filmed with dusty scum, but ours are bright. I imagine that will give us an advantage when we gouge theirs from their sockets."

I was rooted to the spot I was standing in. Shock and anger were the most prevalent emotions brew inside me. If I could have erased this from the kids' minds, I would have. I knew how much the Romanians hated the Volturi, but had not thought they have expressed their anger to the kids. As my need to protect the kids, took over, all the sympathy I had felt for them vanished. I wanted to kill them with my bare hands. What were they thinking of to tell the kids this? Couldn't they have left off the last part? Now the kids had more information than we would have given them. A round of rapid fire questions from the kids broke me out of my trance.

"Who are the Volturi?"

"Are the Volturi bad vampires?"

"Why did the Volturi want to hurt you and destroy your castles?"

"Are you going to fight these Volturi people?"

Edward and I had intervened before the Romanians told them more things we were not ready to inform them of – like how we had assemble a house full of vampires to stop the Volturi from killing them and the entire family. It was inevitable that they would have heard about the Volturi, but we didn't want to scare them with all the gory details yet. If it became necessary to tell them the full story, then we will, but for now, we wanted to keep them from living in fear. Unlike me, Edward was adept at coming up with explanations that skirted the truth, it was probably from spending almost a century lying to everyone about his identity. Out of nowhere he had come up with a plausible explanation.

"The Volturi enforces the laws for the vampire world. Similar to Grandpa Charlie enforces the laws for the people in Forks. We told you some of these laws – vampires must be inconspicuous, when they hunt by disposing of their kill. Attention should not be drawn, and vampires should not be noticed in open sunlight and vampires' interaction with humans must not draw wide attention." Of course, these were not all the rules, but we were not ready to tell them about immortal children yet or all the intricate details of that and the other vampire laws.

"The Volturi was jealous of Vladimir and Stefan's power and wanted to be the new leaders of the vampire world. Do you know what a rebellion is?" They nodded. "Well, that was what they did, the Italian Coven rebelled against the Romanians. Vladimir and Stefan are still angry and would like the opportunity to repay the Volturi for what they had done, but they had been waiting for a long time. Maybe they would have to wait some more before they get a chance for revenge." Edward looked at the Romanians, daring them to contradict him, but they didn't bat an eye. How do we tell our kids that a fight with the Volturi may be inevitable?

They nodded, but we could see that they still had questions.

Benjamin lured them away with a promise to make it rain, and they ran after him as he headed to the river. I had breathe a sigh of relief. We had skirted a major issue. Edward's explanation wasn't a lie. While the rest of us were all hoping to convince the Volturi to listen to us, the Romanians made no secret that the wanted the Volturi destroyed, so they were hoping Aro or Caius would refuse to listen and start a fight. At the time, we had not realized they had been the most realistic of all our allies. Could their explanation to the kids have been a way of shaking us out of our stupor?

I tried to continue our lives as if nothing had happened, but it was not always easy. I kept second guessing myself, and it was driving me crazy. What if we were wrong and the Romanians were right? No matter how hard I tried to get this out of my head, it remained there nagging me. With all the plans we had made and the confidence of everyone around, my nightmare had been pushed aside. I decided to take matters in my own hand. I spoke to Edward, and he made an appointment with Jenks. We still shielded them as much as possible, but with their enhanced hearing, we knew they heard more that we wanted them to. I wanted them to have a normal carefree day, where they could be kids, and not supernatural beings and my dad's house was the best place for that. I called Charlie – I knew he would jump at the chance to spend time with the kids.

"Dad, we've still got that strictly need-to-know company situation going. I know it's been a week since you saw the kids, but a visit is just not a good idea right now. How about I bring them over to see you?"

Charlie was quiet for a long then he muttered, "Need to know, ugh" and I realized it was just his wariness of the supernatural that made him slow to respond.

"Okay, kid," Charlie said. "Can you bring them over this morning? Sue will be coming over to cook; she's just as horrified by my cooking as you were when you first showed up."

Charlie laughed and then sighed for the old days.

"See you soon." I said.

~~~~HEA~~~~

"Hey, guys! It seems like it's been years! Look at you, Come to Grampa! I swear you've all grown half a foot." The kids greeted Charlie with hugs and kisses. He was just as excited to see them as they were to see him.

"It's just a growth spurt," I muttered. To speed up their growing process, we had taken them hunting every day, but I couldn't tell him that.

"Hey, Sue," I called over his shoulder to distract him. "Whatever you're cooking smells delicious." The mouthwatering smells of chicken, tomato, garlic, and cheese issued from the kitchen.

"Well, come on in kids. Where's my son-in-law?"

"Actually, Dad, Edward and I are not staying. We have some errands to run. We'll pick them up tonight. Don't spoil them too much." I teased him as I walked away.

Edward and I would use the time the kids were with Charlie, to meet Jenks. We wanted him to prepare birth certificates and passports showing the kids were eight years old and prepare other documents in the event our meeting with Aro turned into an all-out war, and no one in the family survives. We had agreed to give my parents joint custody of the children. We'll have to stress the importance of keeping the kids safe, and we hoped Charlie or Renee would agree to move to Isle Esme until the kids were fully grown, which according to Nehuel, would be about seven years. We had decided to prepare for the inevitable.

After our appointment with Jenks, Edward insisted on taking me to dinner. He took me shopping for a beautiful navy blue cocktail dress, and we went to an elegant restaurant. The food had been delicious and being in the restaurant surrounded by normal people, who were enjoying a night with their friends and family, helped me to relax and unwind. I was able to forget all the supernatural elements in my life and pretend that Edward and I were just like the other diners. Edward even ate some of his food, which put a bigger smile on my face. It was a wonderful ending to a stressful week or so I had thought at the time.

When we returned to Forks, the kids had already fallen asleep at Charlie's. They looked so peaceful we decided to leave them with him.

"Who's on watch tonight?" I asked Edward. There was always someone watching Charlie.

"Seth and Leah are on guard duty. They had joined their mom for most of the day and decided to hang around." My mind reading husband informed me.

As we drove up to the house, we heard sounds of an argument. Many low voices murmured and growled. It sounded intense. I could pick out Carlisle's voice, and Amun's more often than the others. Edward parked in front of the house rather than going around to the garage. We had exchanged one wary glance before we got out of the car.

"While we were away, there had been an unexpected arrival. Toshiro is from Japan. He had known Carlisle for centuries. He heard a rumor that Carlisle was in trouble, so he showed up unannounced. It seems that it's no secret in the vampire world that the Volturi was gathering forces to come against our family. Rumors were being spread that Carlisle had done the unthinkable – he had created immortal children. The arrival of Toshiro and the thought of someone spreading these vicious rumors about our family has Alistair convinced that our meeting with Aro will not end peacefully. After he had made that pronouncement, he had left the house soon afterward. That had stirred everyone up." He had gotten all of this information before we had reached the front door.

Inside the front room, the main confrontation was physically apparent. Lining the walls was a ring of spectators, every vampire who had joined us, except for Alistair and the three involved in the quarrel. Esme, Kebi, and Tia were the closest to the three vampires in the center; in the middle of the room, Amun was hissing at Carlisle and Benjamin.

Edward's jaw tightened and he moved quickly to Esme's side, towing me by the hand. I was grateful that the kids had not come back with us. There was no way Edward could have explained this.

"Amun, if you want to go, no one is forcing you to stay," Carlisle said calmly.

Amun was angry. He accused Carlisle of trying to steal Benjamin away from him.

Benjamin tried to comfort his maker, "Be reasonable, Amun. I'm committed to doing the right thing here - I'm not joining any other coven. You can do whatever you want, of course as Carlisle has pointed out."

"This won't end well," Amun growled. "We're all going to be slaughtered!"

"It's not going to come to a fight," Carlisle said in a firm voice.

"You say!" Amun yelled.

"If it does, you can always switch sides, Amun. I'm sure the Volturi will appreciate your help."

Amun sneered at him. "Perhaps that is the answer."

Carlisle's answer was soft and sincere. "I wouldn't hold that against you, Amun. We have been friends for a long time, but I would never ask you to die for me." As he said this, he looked around the room, conveying this message to everyone.

Carlisle had always maintained the hope that we would be able to make the Volturi stop long enough to listen, but it seemed as if the Volturi had another agenda. My hatred for the so called peacekeepers of the vampire world hardened becoming an almost tangible thing. Instinctively, I looked across the room at the Romanians who were taking this in stride. I felt a kindred spirit with them. From the beginning, they had maintained the complete opposite of Carlisle's position, and we had been gullible enough to think that it could end peacefully. Now we realized that a fight was inevitable. Maybe we should thank the Volturi because now we would be facing them with our eyes wide open.

"I'll stay, Carlisle, but it might be to your detriment. I will join Aro if that's the road to survival. You're all fools to think that you can defy the Volturi." He scowled, then sighed, glanced at me, and added in an exasperated tone, "I will witness that the children have grown. That's nothing but the truth. Anyone would see that."

"That's all we've ever asked." Carlisle assured him.

Amun's eyes narrowed. He gestured abruptly to Kebi, and they stalked past us out the front door.

"He's not leaving," Edward said quietly to me. "He was only bluffing when he spoke of joining the Volturi."

I felt better. I would hate to be the reason for Carlisle to lose his friends. Alistair now Amun. I looked around and wondered how many more of them would decide to leave if it came down to a fight.

"Do you think Alistair and Amun are right?"

"No one can be positive, but if the rumor is true, a fight seems inevitable."

Though our conversation was clearly just between the two of us, of course everyone could hear it. Eleazar answered Edward's comment as if it had been meant for all.

"We hadn't spoken much of the Volturi's agenda, but Alistair was worried that no matter how decisively we can prove your innocence, the Volturi will not listen. Amun believed Alistair and became worried about Benjamin." Eleazer said. "Personally, I think Aro is digging his own grave. He had never gone after witnesses before. Once so many people hear us corroborate Carlisle's story that the children are half vampire and have grown since we first met them, he will not be able to start a fight. If he did, everyone would know that he had an ulterior motive all along. Some may begin to question his motives. They would also wonder why he didn't send the guards to take care of the problem or order you to Volterra to answer for your transgressions. That's how he had dealt with other law breakers before. Why change the way the Volturi had operated for centuries? Is this family so powerful that he needed more than just the guards to destroy them?"

The vampires glanced uneasily at one another. The idea that the Volturi would manipulate their own sacrosanct law for gain was not a popular idea. Only the Romanians were composed, their small half-smiles ironic. They seemed amused at how the others wanted to think well of their ancient enemies. Many low discussions began at the same time, but it was the Romanians I listened to – maybe because the fair-haired Vladimir kept shooting glances in my direction.

"I do so hope Alistair was right about this," Stefan murmured to Vladimir. "No matter the outcome, word will spread. It's time our world saw the Volturi for what they've become. They'll never fall if everyone believes this nonsense about them protecting our way of life."

"I'm thinking the time has come to fight," Vladimir said. "How can you imagine we'll ever find a better force to stand with? Another chance this good?"

"Nothing is impossible. Maybe someday… "

The two of them looked at each of the talented vampires and evaluated each gift. Wondering which ones the Volturi would leave with if they won the war. In the end, they decided that the Volturi had to be stopped. If they were lucky, and we succeeded in crippling their forces, then someday, another strong group would finish what we had started.

They locked eyes for a moment and then murmured in unison. "It seems the only way."

"So we fight," Stefan said.

Though I could see that they were torn, self-preservation warring with revenge, the smile they exchanged was full of anticipation.

"We fight," Vladimir agreed.

I suppose it was a good thing. I was beginning to think the battle was impossible to avoid. In that case, two more vampires fighting on our side could only help. The Romanians' pronouncement seemed to have made the others feel the need to declare themselves as well.

"We will fight, too," Tia said, her usually grave voice more solemn than ever. "We believe the Volturi will overstep their authority. We have no wish to belong to them." Her eyes lingered on her mate.

Benjamin grinned and threw an impish glance toward the Romanians. "Apparently, I'm a hot commodity. It appears I have to win the right to be free."

"This won't be the first time I've fought to keep myself from a king's rule," Garrett said in a teasing tone. He walked over and clapped Benjamin on the back. "Here's to freedom from oppression."

"I speak for my family. We stand with Carlisle," Tanya said. "And we fight with him."

Peter looked down at his tiny companion Charlotte, "We have decided. We fight too." He looked over at Jasper with an almost sad smile. I guess he was remembering the fights with Maria and her newborn army.

"The same goes for me," Randall said.

"And me," Mary added.

"Carlisle, you know I will never go against you." Toshiro said. His quiet gentle demeanor reminded me of Carlisle.

"The packs will fight with the Cullens," Jacob said suddenly. "We're not afraid of vampires," he added with a smirk.

"Children," Peter muttered.

"Infants," Randall corrected.

Jacob grinned tauntingly.

"Well, I'm in, too," Maggie said shrugging out from under Siobhan's restraining hand. "I know the truth is on Carlisle's side. I can't ignore that."

Siobhan stared at the junior member of her coven with worried eyes. "Carlisle," she said as if they were alone, ignoring the suddenly formal feel of the gathering, the unexpected outburst of declarations, "I don't want this to come to a fight."

He half-smiled. "Perhaps you should concentrate on keeping it peaceful."

"You know that won't help," she said.

I remembered Rose and Carlisle's discussion of the Irish leader; Carlisle believed that Siobhan had some subtle but powerful gift to make things go her way - and yet Siobhan didn't believe it herself.

"It couldn't hurt," Carlisle said.

Siobhan rolled her eyes. "Shall I visualize the outcome I desire?" She asked sarcastically.

Carlisle was openly grinning now. "If you don't mind."

She put her hand back on Maggie's shoulder, pulling the girl closer to her. Siobhan's mate, Liam, stood silent and expressionless. "I hope it doesn't come to a fight, but we'll stand with you no matter what. After we meet the Volturi and I test the air, then I will visualize the outcome I could live with."

Almost everyone else in the room looked mystified by Carlisle and Siobhan's clearly joking exchange, but they didn't explain themselves. That was the end of the dramatic speeches for the night. The group slowly dispersed; some off to hunt – all of them had sworn not to kill anyone in a three-hundred-mile radius, so Edward had given them the use of his cars. Some took books from Carlisle's library and went out back to while away the time. Some went to watch televisions. The teenaged vampires went to play video games with Emmett and Jasper. Laptops and iPads were picked up while others just went out back to enjoy the solitude under the stars.

After speaking with the remaining family members for a while and delivering various packages Jenks had sent to them, Edward and I left for the cottage. Now that, everyone was convinced that a fight was inevitable, I wanted to reiterate my need to get the kids out of the area. How could I have pushed my dreams aside? I knew they always came true.

"If it going to come to a fight, then lives would be lost; I will not let anything happen to you, my family or anyone who will be putting their lives at risk for us. I think we should keep the kids with us until the last minute, and then ask Charlie to take them out of town."

"Do you remember what Carlisle had said to us about the kids' gifts?" He asked.

Of course, I remembered. "He said it's an interesting twist. Like they're doing the exact opposite of what I can. I keep everyone out, and no one could keep them out."

"That's Carlisle's theory," he said. "And if they can get into your head, I doubt there's a shield on the planet who could keep them at bay. That will help. From what we've seen, no one can doubt the truth of their thoughts once they've seen them. And I think that even Aro would not be able to resist any of the kids if they got close to him. If he allows one of them to explain…"

I shuddered to think of any of the kids so close to Aro.

"Well," he said, rubbing my tight shoulders. "At least there's nothing that can stop him from seeing the truth."

"But is the truth enough to stop him?" I murmured.

For that, Edward had no answer. I wanted to be selfish and demand we stick to our plan, but then I thought of the group of vampires and the pack, whose lives depended on Aro stopping before things turned into an all-out war. Will Aro listen to reason? In not, I had to come up with a backup plan to protect our precious babies. I would kill anyone who was a danger to them. Dimitri, no matter what, I had to kill him. I felt more at peace with this decision; Vladimir and Stefan had been right all along. It was time to put a stop to the Volturi or disseminate as many of their talented guards as we will be able to. Tomorrow I'll start training.

Parts of this chapter taken from the following chapters. Some changed to suit the chapter and the story, others were too perfect to change. I know SM wouldn't mind:-

Stephenie Meyer/Breaking Dawn Chapter 33 Forgery

Stephenie Meyer/Breaking Dawn Chapter 34 Declared

Romanian coven - Twilight Saga Wiki, (http:)/)(twilightsaga.)wikia.)(com/wiki/Romanian_ Coven)