[Edited]

Disclaimer: I do not own this story. It belongs to Stephanie Meyer. I only own the unfamiliar plot line, other characters and anything else unrecognisable

Chapter 37

"Casey! Casey, please wake up!" The young Quileute boy yells at the top of his lungs, pain and sorrow washing over his body. "Sey, please. I need you." he whispers brokenly as thick tears flow down his tan cheeks. He holds his imprint's limp body flush against his chest, burying his face in her fiery hair, his cries muffled. He holds onto her for dear life, her body turning a nauseating blue color.

"My Casey." He sobs, every inch of his usually scorching body becoming icy cold. "Don't leave me. You promised. You promised nothing would happen to you." He screams, almost angrily.

"I love you Sey. I need you."

Three days earlier

Casey's POV

It's been a hell-filled three days. If it were even possible everyone was even more on edge since the moment Brady announced that the snow was in fact sticking. Jake, Sam and Embry, who refused to be left behind, made their way over to the vampire coven and discussed matters with Carlisle and the others. I was made aware of nothing, although Leah did manage to sneak me in a few details over the past twenty-four hours since the whole Pack, bar Collin and Brady who were on imprint duty, met up with the vampires. All I know is that the Volturi are coming and we all might die. Everyone I love is going to fight an army of vampires all because my father got greedy. I never said I wanted immortality. Hell, I never knew vampires and werewolves existed. Until a rough and I mean literally rough couple of months ago, life was blissful and peaceful. But the moment he left my life took a whole different direction. A supernatural direction. Dad left to become a vampire. Owen dumped me and I met Embry who was destined to become a wolf barely a week later. And then the imprint happened and my life was bombarded with all these supernatural things. The new born battle. How I afraid I was for everyone. Then dad returned to take mom and me away and I guess he was intending to hold up his end of the deal with the Volturi but it really wasn't his deal to make. He was in no way right to make a decision like that for either me or mom. The wolves, Embry in particular, clashed with my leech father and things got so ugly that he attacked my mom. His wife; the woman that was supposed to be the love of his life. Although it was nowhere near supernatural related, the fight I had with Charlotte brought out overwhelming realizations and as a result of the extent of these realizations, I had so much anger that I felt supernatural. And now this, yet again my life has been uprooted with the supernatural. Now, it hasn't all been bad. I mean the Pack, Embry, everyone has been great. Supernatural gave me love, gave my best friend love, granted me a lifetime's worth of friends that became family. But there are some aspects, some things about this life that has me in a corner with no way out. I'm afraid. So deathly afraid. From what the Cullen's have been saying, the Volturi are a ruthless bunch of vampires who don't take easily to rules being broken. They will not spare me and mom. They will take us because that's the deal my father made with them. He didn't hold up the end of his but they will hold up the end of theirs.

"You've got to stop worrying so much." Leah exclaims as we walk into Fork's Supermarket. Why they insisted we come all the way here for food, when La Push's supermarket has more than enough food to keep everyone filled, I have no clue. My shoulders were practically dragging on the ground behind my feet. I sigh heavily rubbing my eyes from exhaustion. I haven't slept for the past three days. How can I when the nightmares are so vivid and vicious? I've tried so many times, Embry coming as close as forcing me to but every single time I'd doze off for two seconds I'd jerk awake and am overcome with body quaking sobs.

"I still don't understand why we needed to come all the way here." I say dryly. I literally feel Leah's eye roll. We've gotten close since our little talk that night. I was right about her. She's just misunderstood and hurt. Like I used to be. I recognized in her what I saw in myself all those months back. Things aren't sunshine and daisies between her and the Pack but they've come to an understanding. She even agreed to be Emily's maid of honour at their wedding. Everyone thought she'd slap Emily in the face and punch Sam when they asked her but she gracefully and politely said she'd consider it and walked out of the house. I know she went home to bawl her eyes out because I walked in on her staring up at the ceiling of her room asking her father why this had to happen to her. Angela and I sat with her and she told us how she wanted so much to be happy for them. That she understood that they couldn't control it. But it hurt so much that the only way to channel the pain is to replace it with anger and bitterness. It was easier that way she said. I was lucky I had Embry. Otherwise I'd have ended up angry and bitter too. After plenty of crying and heart-breaking stories about our exes, Leah wiped her face of any tears, held her head high and marched over to Sam and Emily's. She agreed to be there for them on their day. It didn't mean everything was okay, she had said, but she was willing to move forward and stop letting the past get in the way of her future. She wasn't doing it for them. She was doing it for herself. So she could move on and learn to live without Sam. And she could do it. She was stronger than she thought she was.

"Because you were driving me insane with your moping." I glare up at her but quickly chuckle at the expression on her face. Her infamous Leah Clearwater scowl was embedded in her face. It's funny, that face used to scare me.

"Whatever." I stick my tongue out at her.

"Mature." She mutters.

"Where's Ang?"

"She was supposed to park the car. I wouldn't be surprised if my almighty Alpha got to her so they could get rid of some tension. I'm telling you, all this stress and tension is going to give me a premature heart attack."

I sigh. "I'm scared Leah." I admit. Her face softens and she puts her hands on my shoulders.

"Hey, it's okay to be scared. I'd be worried if you weren't scared. But this will blow over. Just like the new born war."

"But you guys aren't going up against some crazed new vampires just out for blood. This is the Volturi. The vampire mafia basically. They are centuries-old vampires who are highly trained in combat. They know what they're doing. They wouldn't be so famous amongst the vampires if they didn't. They're evil Leah."

"I'm a little scared myself." She sighs. "We're supposed to be. But we were made for this Casey. We exist so we can protect human life against vampires like the Volturi. We were made for this exact thing. So it's different than the new born war and we have more at stake this time but we will walk away alive. All of us."

I hug her because that's the only thing that makes me feel even a little better. Her words make sense but they don't calm my fears.

"Geez! It's about time. We thought Mr Almighty Alpha kidnapped you." Ang breathes a laugh.

"Where were you?" I ask.

"Uhm," she hesitates. "I ran into Owen." She says slowly and cautiously.

"You did?" I say after a long pause.

"The Dick?" Leah pronounces her nickname for him with the same amount of disgust that she always did.

"Yeah." Ang nods.

"Okay." I shrug. They both look at me weirdly.

"What?"

"The Dick is here somewhere and your reaction is "okay"."

"It's whatever. I really don't care."

"Wow." Angela says. "For the first time since your break-up I truly believe that you're over him."

I smile lightly.

"I guess I am. I have bigger things to worry about. Owen doesn't deserve any space for thought in my mind. There are bigger, more serious things happening right now and I can't be bothered to worry about running into him." They both look at me solemnly and nod.

Leah smirks. "Here's to getting over our exes."

For the first time since Brady's discovery Emily's house is quiet and in some weird way peaceful. Paul, Jake, Billy, Rachel and Ang are all at the Black house getting some well-deserved rest. Carlisle said that the Volturi will definitely turn up tomorrow. No one questioned it, everyone is too afraid and tense to worry about whether Carlisle could be wrong or not. Whether they come tomorrow or a week from now, they will come. Leah, Seth, Sue, Brady and Collin are staying at the Clearwater house. They made Charlie Swan stay there too after hours of trying to convince him. Jared, Kim, Claire, Quil, Embry, mom, Embry's mom and I are staying with Sam and Emily.

"Hey," Embry whispers as he comes into the guest room we were sleeping in. Quil and Claire were already fast asleep on the twin-sized bed.

"Hi." I whisper back sleepily.

"Tired?" I nod. Embry sits down beside me on the floor and pulls me into his arms as he lowers his entire body to the ground.

He strokes my hair gently with his large hands humming softly. I can feel the exhaustion taking over my body, pulling me, forcing me to fall asleep. But my mind is wayward. I was thinking and worrying about too many things at once. And my brain just wouldn't shut down.

"Your heart is racing." Embry murmurs. I take a deep breath and snuggle deeper into his chest.

"I'm scared." My voice breaks.

"I'll keep you safe." He whispers, his voice shaking a bit. "I'll always keep you safe." His voice sounds firmer and more certain this time. "If anything ever happens—" his voice breaks. I am immediately overcome with body shaking sobs, thick salty tears flowing down my cheeks.

"I love you Casey." He smothers me to his chest. "I love you so much."

I lift myself from his chest after a long silence and glance up at him. Embry takes my face into his hands and wipes away my tears.

"I love you too Embry." I whisper using my thumb to dry away the tear escaping his eye. "But nothing is going to happen." I wasn't so sure because I feared for everyone but I had to be strong. Even if I didn't feel that way. "You'll be me safe right? Then there's no need to worry. I promise everything will be okay. Everyone will be okay." I kiss him gently on his lips. The simple kiss quickly turns into something more as Embry lowers us back onto the floor and hovers over me. His deep brown orbs burn into mine, twinkling because of the tears. He caresses my face gently with his thumb, his touch leaving goose bumps in its wake. He slowly lowers his face to mine and kisses my forehead, both my cheeks, my nose and then finally touches his lips to mine. Every inch of emotion; fear, pain, joy, hope, courses through my veins as Embry's lips touches mine. He kisses me gently then assaults me by ramming his tongue into my mouth. The sensation that hits makes me moan loudly, forgetting that there's a two-year-old toddler and one of Embry's best friends in the room.

"Wait," I say breathlessly and push Embry back lightly. "Not here." He nods a serious expression looking so odd on his normally smiling face. Embry lifts us both off the ground, cradling me in his arms bridal style and heads downstairs. Kim and Jared are asleep on the floor in the sitting room so we're careful not to wake them. Or anyone else in the house. As we step out through the front door of the house I'm immediately assaulted with the cold. Embry holds me close and walks super-humanly fast over to his house. When we make it to his house he kicks open the front gate and practically sprints up the lawn, opens the door and takes us up to his room.

Embry gently lays me down on his bed, closes his room door and removes his t-shirt. He walks back to the bed and lowers himself on top of me. I snake my arms around his neck and pull his face close to mine. Our lips touch and we get lost in each other.

Third Person POV

The army of ancient vampire royalty stare at the number of covens before them in awe. Aro, one of the three ruling brothers, was aware of the number of allies that the Olympians possessed but he was most surprised to see that they were actually brave enough to stand on the opposite side of the Volturi. Or stupid enough. What really caught the Volturi's attention was the pack of horse sized wolves behind the vampires. Werewolves were supposed to be extinct. Cauis, another co-leader of the Volturi, made sure of it when he was attacked by one to a point near death so many centuries ago.

"Carlisle, I see you have gathered many." Aro began.

"Only to stand as witnesses." Carlisle's soft voice floats over to the opposite side of the field where the army of vampire royalty are gathered.

"Witness?" Aro frowns. "What would they be witnessing?"

"My grand-daughter," Carlisle points over to the little pale, rosy cheeked girl in Bella's arms. "You are here to punish us for a crime we did not commit. A crime you think my grand-daughter is the result of."

"The girl is there, we see her, do not treat us as fools." Caius sneers.

"She's not an immortal child." Bella shrieks.

"Isabella," Aro chants. "Immortality becomes you. From the way the child is clinging to you I have this feeling you are involved with the creation of it. Edward?"

Edward takes an unnecessary deep breath before averting his gaze to Aro. He glides easily across the field to the army of translucent faced vampires. Everything that happened after that is like slow motion. Things escalate from a calm, though tension filled, discussion to a ruthless, vicious outburst of vampire against vampire, wolf against vampire.

Edward "shows" Aro how Renesmee came to be, how they did not create her, she was born. Half vampire, half human. A hybrid. Irina, one of the Denali sisters, is killed for her "false" accusations but Aro is still determined to find something, something he can link to the Olympians so he can finish them once and for all. They were a threat and the Volturi did not take lightly to threats.

Alice and Jasper come back, with Nahuel, another hybrid. This is proof that Renesmee will not be a threat, that she won't reveal their secret. That's what they care most about after all.

"Ahh, now that that's settled. There was another reason I came here." Aro says smiling sadistically. "You wouldn't happen to know someone by the name of Casey Storm now would you?" A chorus of growls emanate across the open barren field.

"I see that you do." Aro says gleefully.

"She is a mate of the Pack; they guard their secret as we do ours." Carlisle says.

"Oh but old friend, this has nothing to do with our secret or theirs. We are here to hold up our end of a deal."

Although Casey could hear nothing that was happening around her, the tenseness around her was speaking volumes.

"Casey, please," Aro holds his hand out to the pale, trembling red-haired girl clutching onto a gray-black spotted wolf like she was holding on for dear life.

"I don't bite. Not at first anyway."

Embry growls, barring his teeth at the ancient vampire. There was no way he was letting his imprint anywhere near that thing. He'd die before he let him touch her.

"Well then," Aro has a brief glimpse of excitement in his eyes before the entire Volturi guard break out and charges toward their opposition.

Casey, who was supposed to get on Seth's back and get out, has somehow gotten caught in the crossfire as Seth is brought to his knees by the evil mental pain inflicting twin.

Jane smiles sardonically as Seth cowers and whimpers as she destroys him from the inside out.

"Leave him alone!" Casey scream-sobs. "Please stop. Seth!" she cries. "Are you crazy?! Leave him alone." She begs the non-merciful vampire. Jane, getting fed up with Casey's annoying screaming and pleading, turns her torture onto Casey. The blood-curdling, hair rising, heart wrenching scream that pierces through the cold air hits every single supernatural being with a force. It's as if slow motion is happening in slow motion as everyone watches Jane torture Casey to death.