Leah's POV
Just as Alice had predicted, the entire pack showed up at twenty minutes before noon. Sam, Paul, and Jared were in the lead and they all looked uncomfortable and uneasy but none as hostile as Sam himself when he spied me sitting on Edward's lap. Quil, Collin, and Brady came in behind them and Quil was quick to hug and pat backs while the younger boys...16 now and experienced compared to the 13 and 14 year olds that had phased right after Renesme's birth...just waved with smiles. Embry, Seth, and Jake had spent the night and were still droopy-eyed and dazed as the wolves shouted and yelled over one another to inform the Cullens that they'd picked up the scent of bloodsucker.
We wolfed down, literally, the huge banquet of a breakfast Esme had prepared and I gave my cubs and Renesme hugs and kisses and tried to calm them even as my heart beat like a drum with adrenaline. Edward followed my lead, somehow being more reserved yet heartbreakingly sincere and sorrowful about the entire thing. I wanted to elbow him, hiss that he was freaking them out. He was freaking me out. But I didn't and we just gave last, forced smiles as we trudged outside while the kids were kept inside.
It didn't take long to set up a formation for the confrontation. Jasper was pretty much the fucking master when it came down to strategy or anything at all military. He wasn't the best with talking when he wasn't charming panties off girls but he could lay out a plan, everyone's places in the plan, and back-up plans like he'd been doing it for a lifetime. Which, I guess he had.
Edward and I were in the center, since we'd be speaking. I was the only wolf that wouldn't be already in wolf form when the Italian dousche bags deigned us with their presence. I could hear Edward snort at my thoughts but besides a small smile, I stayed concentrated on Jasper's instructions on how to present ourselves. Carlisle was to Edward's left, the diplomat in all this, while Jasper stood close to my right. Mostly because I was treated as a weak girl or invalid ever since the birth although I told them all millions of times that I felt completely recooperated. I would never admit that having Edward and Jasper at my sides made me feel safe. I didn't need to though if Edward's soft smile was anything to go by. I kept forgetting about my mental shield around him.
Alice was by Jasper's side and Emmett and Rose were on the other side of Carlisle.
The wolves were spread to either side of us except for Embry and Seth, who were sort of the last line of defense therefore they were pacing by the bottom of the staircase if anyone somehow got past us. They would take them out before the enemy got to Esme and all the children upstairs.
When they finally did arrive, the three leaders had only brought about fifteen more of the 'Guard' with them. I was a little confused, since I knew they had like fifty in their guard and since Jane and Alec's powers were pretty top-notch, it didn't seem like they'd even tried.
They came from the treeline as if they'd been floating serenely all the while, though I'd heard their running footsteps a mile away. They were all calm and collected now, in their matching cloaks and straight faces, looking apathetic and peaceful and somehow superior like they were being magnanimous by coming as if we'd called for an audience with them. I could feel a tremor along my spine at the sudden hateful rage that filled me, something I hadn't felt since I was the old, bitter Leah.
It didn't take long though for me to discover why there were so few of them, because Jane looked a little weary and suddenly Edward did too as I noticed one of the members that had been described to me before.
Chelsea was nothing special in the looks department, not according to vampire beauty anyway. For a human, she would be a supermodel but she had nothing on Rose or even Alice. Jane had said she wasn't much of a great fighter or even aggressive at all but she had the ability to manipulate the bonds that attach people. Their relationships.
While Bella had ran to her 'masters' as soon as they'd stepped out of the trees into view, I watched in growing horror as Jane, Felix, Missy, Demetri, and Alec moved, as if being pulled, toward the leaders as well. When they looked back to us on the other side, they looked sympathetic but not forced. They knew that they were being forced to feel that way but it didn't make the feeling not there. And they felt as if the Volturri were more important then the Cullens.
Okay, so it just went to 22 against 19 (I never believed Bella would fight on our side as she'd made it abundantly clear) in our favor to 24 against 17 in their favor.
I tried to do the math in my head quickly. Felix against Emmett, Jasper to Demetri...but God, I did not want to kill the people we'd all got to know these last few weeks.
Not to mention that Jane could drop the whole pack in one swoop if she targeted Sam or Jake and we didn't have Bella to protect us this time. I could fight through the dull throb it gave me but the others would be down. If we could take out Chelsea, break all those bonds, we'd be alot better off. That should be a priority.
Or maybe that woman that shadows him and shields him from all physical attacks. She was going to be a problem too because none of us had defensive gifts except maybe Jasper's emotion manipulation.
Aro and Carlisle were chatting, in that politely tense way that people who can't stand each other but want to look like the bigger person do. Swapping pleasantries and how-do-you-do's like we weren't all aware of what was coming. Sometimes I really preferred the wolf-way. Growling and snarling and pouncing. Vampires always wanted to pretend they were civilized when they all had those animalistic instincts.
"...see the children." Aro was saying, grabbing my attention. We'd all knew he would request it but I felt my hackles raise all the same. He'd seen Renesme, completely calm and docile, and still wanted to kill her until Nahuel had rushed into the clearing and proclaimed himself a hybrid as well. We were pretty sure there weren't any half-vamp half-wolf hybrids. Maybe vamp-werewolf hybrids. But technically, we weren't werewolves, we were shifters.
Which was stupid, by the way. We got animalistic, we became wolves, if anything we were more werewolf than children of the moon. They were human 24/7 except one night a month. We were more half-half than they were.
Anyways, back on track..."Skip the crap." I heard myself blurting. "You've already seen the memories Carlisle has. You know what they look like and how they act and you've already made your decision so let's hear it."
There was no words to hear. As if they'd already communicated, already established a cue that I never saw, they all rushed forward.
The sound of ripping apart diamond-hard skin and teeth clashing was louder but not as frequent as the snarls, growls, and hisses that filled the Cullen's backyard. I had time to mentally wish we'd gotten to that clearing like before so my cubs wouldn't have to hear this before I was slamming into the chest of an unknown male and ripping the front of his throat away. I dug in with my jaws and shook, pulling his head from his body with a blood-curdling scream and grating screech.
With a quick glance, I spotted three piling over Jasper and ran to yank the closest away, ripping off a leg and going for another. Jasper fought the third off himself, military precision in all his moves even with the ferociousness he put into it. I went back to the staggering leeches behind me, both missing legs and hurriedly ripped out two more throats.
A backhand suddenly caught me off guard and I sailed through the air, slamming into the ground with enough force to hear a crack in my back. I was up before it could heal, wincing but not backing down. I'd been thrown through trees...I could do this.
The bitch in front of me was crouched low to the ground, hissing out through bright teeth. She was a stereotypical ninja. Chinese, long dark hair wrapped in a scarf with all black clothing. Nothing covered her face and she didn't have nun-chucks but she might as well have.
She made a few lunges, trying to provoke me, and it worked. She was too close to the house and nothing could have ever worked me up as much as my babies at risk.
And the whole ninja-look? It wasn't for show. If I'd been in human form, I'm sure there would have been lots of blocking and punches and kicking but I wasn't. She grabbed my front paw, twisted her body so she was holding it over her shoulder, and then pulled down with all her weight. I felt my leg breaking even as my feet left the ground and I flew over her shoulder to hit the ground again. A heel-kick slammed into my chest and I blood spurted out with the wheezing cough that she forced from me. I rolled away from the body slam she started. and staggered to my feet. What the hell? She was doing wrestling moves over here dressed as a ninja! This had to be cheating of some kind.
As the bones in my arm and breast-plate realigned, I circled her slowly and eyed her form. I saw the twitch signaling her move and feinted as if to duck it. When she repositioned, I hit her in the left side and knocked her back. A rake of claws over her face tore a shriek from her throat and I ripped off both arms on the sole purpose of making her suffer.
A bark sounded to my side, buzzing in my head focusing enough to hear Jacob shouting he went in the house, he went in the house! as he grunted through his fight with a mountain of a vampire. I snapped from my mini-vengeance and got back on track. This needed to be done quickly. There were too many for me to get sidetracked.
And that was when I spotted Chelsea.
She was stood back, almost hidden in the shadows of the treeline as everyone else fought. She didn't look particularly scared or caring about any of the outcomes of the fight though I knew of three deaths already just by my hand. It was like this guard didn't care for one another at all.
I could hear screams, meaning Jane was causing pain, and panicked yells that probably signified Alec was freaking people out by stealing their senses. Even more were the screams of my wolves shredding and the Cullens knocking heads off and pulling arms from sockets but Chelsea looked as if none of it mattered to her. Like she was untouchable and nobody would think to come for her. Like her power would save her.
The decision and reasons weren't even thought out before I was running at her, leaping over fights and swerving to get at her. What can I say, we wolves have impulse problems.
The sad thing was, it was ridiculously easy to take her down. A few people started to come for her aid but being the fastest it really awesome. By the time Demetri got there, her head was gone and he was looking at me in confusion.
The whole area went a little quieter as Jane's victim...oh, that had been Jared...and Alec's victim, which had been Paul and Sam, were released and Felix and Emmett stopped sounding like mountains crashing together. And then the fight amped up as Jane, Alec, Felix, and Demetri started to pitch into the fight with us.
Rosalie had started a fire and was chucking pieces in and I ran for the house, now content that the pack wouldn't die without my help as I hoped Seth, Embry, or at least Esme had stopped whatever vamp had got in. Most didn't have that good of powers.
When I burst into the house and up the stairs, my heart froze in my chest. Why hadn't I noticed Aro had gone missing from the fight and come up here?
And his shield was with him.