Disclaimer: I own only the OCs. (I highly suggest listening to the Twilight soundtrack while reading this)
Once I put my coat on
I'm coming out in this all wrong
She's standing outside holding me
Saying oh please
I'm in love
I'm in love
Girl save your soul
Go on save your soul
Before it's too far gone
And before nothing can be done
XxxxxxxxxxxxX
As Bella once again glanced at her reflection in the mirror while she paced in her study, she thanked god that her hair was unable to grey. Despite how vain that sounded, with all the stress she had been under the past 100+ years, her hair would look like Mordecai's and his was as white as snow.
Nicole was busy working on a battle strategy, her specialty, since she was able to look at problems from thousands of perspectives…plus the experience her father gave her considering he was a general when she was still human. Raven was drilling and debriefing her troops one last time while Ashley prepared the palace for war in case it ever got close enough to be an issue or if the enemy staged a second attack on the palace while most of the soldiers were away.
What was Bella doing to contribute? Nothing but worry it seemed to her. She didn't want the Cullens fighting, but they insisted despite her many protests and threats…especially Edward. He was sitting in the one free chair watching her pace with a pensive look on his face.
He noticed that she had once again paused slightly in front of the mirror and sighed. "Bella, come here." He held his arms in an open gesture which she gladly accepted.
She was sitting on his lap with her legs dangling over the other edge of the chair, her arms wrapped around and her head nestled in the crook of his neck, breathing in his calming scent as he stroked her hair. Bella relished the coolness of his skin, almost warm from his latest hunt, and the comfort and love he exuded from his body just for her. She could hear him smell her hair and feel the tingles that ran down from the places where he touched.
"Edward I love you." She whispered, trying not to betray her vulnerability and fear with her voice.
Her forehead felt as if it was on fire as he kissed her there before kissing her passionately on the lips.
"I love you too." Those simple words held so many meanings for the both of them: their past, present, and future.
In a small voice Bella said, "I'm scared, Edward, for the both of us and for everyone else."
Edward's arms around her waist tightened their hold on her as if he never wanted to let her go.
"I know. I am too."
Bella lifted her head to look him in the eyes, momentarily dazzled by the raw emotions she saw in them: love, fear, devotion, anger.
"Edward, promise me! Promise me that you won't let yourself die, that if things start looking bad that you'll run and leave me behind." She was speaking with her raw emotions at this point, her greatest fear was losing Edward and she would do everything in her power to make sure he would live.
He looked stunned before his eyes softened. "Bella how can you ask me that? I'm never going to leave you, that I'll promise you with all of my soul, body, heart, and mind. I will never ever leave you to suffer in this world alone ever again."
"Me too. I'll never leave you. You're my world, my sun, the air I breathe, and if you were to leave me my world would crumble. Please don't ever leave me. Please. I'm so scared." The last part she whispered as she clung to his solid and unblemished body with all of her strength and buried her face in his chest, trembling with the force of her words.
Edward just stroked soothing circles and patterns on her back as he began to hum her lullaby. Slowly her trembling stopped and she rested peacefully, occasionally stealing some kisses.
"Everything will work out in the end, I know it." Bella said, half reassuring herself and half reassuring Edward even though both of them knew in the pit of their stomachs that things may never be okay again.
XxxxxxxxxxxxX
Bella walked through the halls pulling Edward along by their joined hands. They refused to let go of each other unless absolutely necessary.
She stopped midway through a hall and pressed her hand to a part of the wood paneling. A key pad appeared and at a speed too fast for even Edward to see, typed in a code allowing for the wall to open up and to reveal a room.
She pulled him in and after Edward crossed the threshold the wall closed. The whole room was lined with various pieces of weaponry and protection.
"Here," Bella said, picking several pieces and placed them in Edward's arms. "I want you to use these. They're immune to powers so it should put you on an equal playing field, but hopefully not too equal."
"What about you?" Edward asked after he had applied the various weapons and semi-armor.
Bella just gave him a devious smirk. "I don't think I'll need a lot of these. The only weapon I need is Raven. Let's just say our practice spars were Tabasco compared to our Wasabi."
Bella suddenly cocked her head and appeared to be listening to something Edward couldn't hear. She grabbed his hand and began leading him through a maze of hidden passageways.
"What's going on?" Edward asked, squeezing Bella's hand tighter.
"Nicole says to get ready; it seems that Victoria is going to try to catch us off guard by arriving earlier and attacking early so we have less time than we thought." Never once did Bella look back at him and he could see the tenseness in her shoulders.
He yanked back on her arm causing her to crash into his chest and for his arms to wrap around her waist protectively.
"Look at me." He whispered and she brought her head up to meet his eyes and he could see that her fear was still plain to see despite her best efforts.
"Don't forget our promises alright? And know that I'll always love you."
Bella smiled and kissed him again. "Love you too."
XxxxxxxxxxxxX
When they finally got outside the first thing they saw was Ara and Jonathon. Ara was frantically patting her clothes and scanning the ground for something while Jonathon slightly helped.
"What's wrong?" Bella asked as they came closer.
"I lost my wedding ring." Wailed Ara.
"You didn't lose it, it's probably still in your room." Sighed Jon.
"No it isn't! I always wear it!"
"If it's that important you can wear mine." John offered, taking it off and holding it out to her.
The ring wasn't clean, it was slightly rusted and the tarnish was coming off.
"How did your ring get this bad? Don't you normally polish it?" Ara grabbed it and examined it for more blemishes.
"Yeah but things have been so busy as of late." John shrugged. "If you don't want it…"
"Hold on! Just needs some elbow grease." Ara managed to restore some of the shine but not much.
"Here, I think you should wear it anyways. Your fingers are too big, the ring'll just fly off and then we'll have no rings." Ara handed it back to Jon who put it back on his finger. "It'll be even more like we're not married."
"Hey Ara, do you know where the others are?" Bella asked, cutting into their couple moment.
"Yeah, they're waaay over there." She pointed vaguely to somewhere to their right.
"Alright thanks! Be careful!" Bella called as she once again dragged Edward with her.
"You too!" Ara called back, waving.
XxxxxxxxxxxxX
They saw the ridge where their army was accumulated and made their way to the tent where Nicole, Ashley, and Raven were stationed. In the center of the tent was a large square table where a map of the area was laid with several multicolored tags.
"Alright we have high ground, but so does Victoria. There's a valley in between: no man's land." Nicole's finger moved swiftly across the map pointing to the areas she spoke of.
"But what about the forests on either side?" Raven asked, gesturing to the parchment.
Nicole shook her head. "There's no point using them in vampire warfare. Our speed and powers have no need of stealth and secrecy. Most of this fight will be left up to fate."
"Which I believe is where I come in to da picture?" a voice rang out from behind them making them all jump and for Bella's and Edward's presence to be noticed.
"Bella!" Raven said as she ran to hug her.
"Galmaea! What are you doing here?" Ashley asked, beckoning a soldier to bring their new arrival a chair.
"To provide a little frontal support of course." she drawled, pulling her small crystal ball from her billowing sleeves.
"I think I have this covered, we don't need your help." Nicole said, glaring at the seer, but her crystal ball especially. Nicole didn't trust leaving things up to fate, felt too much like a cop out. She preferred to create her own fate.
"Of course you don't." she chuckled. "But would it not be prudent to exhaust all your options before charging in, especially blindly as ya'll would be without my help?"
Nicole grudgingly consented and let her work her 'voodoo'.
Galmaea clasped the orb in her hands as she opened her eyes to reveal glowing milky-white eyes. She sat there silently for several minutes before her head slumped onto her chest.
Ashley gently shook her shoulder, getting her to wake up. "Victoria will not use da forest, but beware of her army. It may not be large now, but even da small seed can grow into da large tree."
"What do you mean by that riddle?" asked Raven.
"I have told you this before; I am to be da partial judge of all time. I may be able to tell you what will come to pass, but you must figure out what for yourself." Galmaea stared into Nicole's hard eyes until she looked away to glare at the table.
While Ashley and Raven looked disappointed, Bella looked thoughtful. Her unfocused gaze was fixed on something unknown.
"I got it! The reason her army would start out small then grow is that one or more of her soldiers has the ability to duplicate themselves."
Galmaea did not verbally confirm Bella's theory but the small approving smile on her face was as good as any affirmation.
"Good job Sherlock but we still don't know who or how many can do that and Alice is being blocked by Victoria so she can't tell us." Nicole scathingly cut in.
"That should not be a problem to da one that it is able to see all of da field, am I correct?" Galmaea hinted.
"That's right. Naphim, come here please." Nicole seemed to know where the seer was going with this.
Naphim came into the tent with her long hair tied back in a low pony-tail. "You called?"
XxxxxxxxxxxxX
The time to assemble is now. The time to fight is now. The time to worry and fear is over.
The brightness from the sun on this cloudless day added to the sparkling light coming from the vampires that were assembled. The brightness seemed to be in direct contrast with their purpose for being there.
Victoria surveyed the chaos that was the direct contrast with the serenity. The air was still and all the animals had fled after sensing their presence.
The thundering sounds of bodies crashing together, the growls, the screams, the ineffective orders shouted all blended together to create music for Victoria's ears. The acute sounds of flesh being ripped from bone made her spine shiver in delight. With a feral grin she watched as the four queens battled their way through her troops. Bella and the raven-haired one seemed to be doing extremely well and to be extremely lethal when put together. Her eyes dilated as she smelled the fresh blood being spilt.
Matthias stood beside her; he too seemed to be getting satisfaction from the turmoil below them. At the same time, however, he seemed bored with it all, as if it didn't live up to his standards.
They watched the Cullen brats hold their own, especially the blonde mate of the seer. Victoria remembered seeing scars on his skin and the slight southern drawl; he must have come from the Southern Wars which would explain his skill.
"When do we add our talents to tip the scale?" Matthias asked into the silence.
"When Bella wants to find me the most. Once she sees her loved ones fall around her, her desire for revenge will take over, and then I will meet her and end her eternal misery."
Victoria barred her pearly white teeth at the scene below her. Most of her soldiers were not trained since the younger the better their strength was but they had less control over their talents. None the less she was able to find a way around that by taking the more powerful powers from subordinates she saw as expendable and using the younger ones for brute strength and speed only.
Suddenly a soft green light caught her attention.
It seemed the raven-haired one had a soft green glow and before her a giant crater appeared in the ground swallowing a huge portion of Victoria's soldiers, but somehow missed almost all of hers. She smirked as her men began to climb up but frowned as they began to slide back in. The blonde one was using water to slick the sides and a wind from Bella was pushing them down. Then the red-haired one appeared and caused fire to engulf the chasm, destroying the vampires for good.
Victoria's smirk grew and decided two could play at that game. She spread her arm out in front of her and vampires' limbs and body parts were rendered from their bodies before combusting.
"Was it necessary to include your own troops in that display of power?" Matthias sighed.
"Of course. It keeps them in line and it shows the enemy just how pointless their cause really is."
Matthias could not argue with that logic, despite its flaw of desertion, since the fear was almost tangible and fear is always better than plain loyalty and devotion.
This all happened in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. Victoria was growing impatient since neither side was winning and the sun was already low in the sky.
Victoria closed her eyes and focused her mind, looking for a specific vampire. Found you. The time for you to act is now.
She opened her eyes to see him nod his head slightly before ripping the arm from hand to elbow of his opponent and running.
As he ran more and more of him appeared, but not all around him. They appeared randomly throughout the battle field. Each had slight alterations so that it was not as obvious. This was the one power Victoria did not take for herself. The reason being she was too easy to recognize.
"The tides will turn in our favor. My revenge will be complete."
Matthias on the other hand seemed to focus on something. The red-head appeared to give a signal once she noticed the clones. At first, it wasn't clear what the signal meant, but then the appearance of a threat they didn't count on made it clear.
A dragon came diving down from the clouds. Its green scales reflected the sunlight off its small, sleek, and agile body. It opened its jaws wide and emitting a carefully controlled flame. The fire seemed to only attack the clones and unfortunately, the original as well.
Victoria's glare deepened. "Apparently I was taking them too lightly. I will not make that mistake again."
She turned on her heal and walked to her tent. She reemerged with her hair tied in a low pony-tail and a new change of clothes.
"Change of plans. I'm getting involved. Now."
XxxxxxxxxxxxX
Ara crouched before springing at her opponent to rip out his jugular. She spit the chunk from her mouth and made for the killing blow that would sever the head from the body.
She had been doing this for what seemed like hours, although fatigue never came. She had marks from previous opponents' teeth in her arms, legs, back, and stomach. The shirt she had had on was shredded and the pants were not much better.
She dodged as another vampire jumped, aiming for her head only to miss, and as Ara swung her leg around she caught another in the face only to be sent flying into the waiting jaws of Naphim.
This pattern of dodging, punching, kicking, leaping, and biting was never ending, so long as the enemy remained undefeated.
Suddenly Jon was in her range of vision. He was fighting superbly with his clothes more intact than hers; the opposing vampires where no match for him and from what she could see, Jasper. Both were skilled in getting the better of the younger ones' more primal natures and to maneuver them into making a mistake. The scent of the blood and venom from the already killed vampires sent them into a frenzy.
Ara battled her way through the vampires, pulling her sword out with lightning speed only to make it through faster and more effectively.
Just when she was about to get through the last wave of vampires before Jon, she felt a searing pain on her back, more exactly her shoulder.
"Son of a bitch!" She swung around with her sword to get the bastard who'd attacked her when her back was to him.
The others smelled the scent of a kill and came in faster, more persistent, and less willing to stay down, aiming straight for her.
She spun as she fought, kicking and punching, using her razor-sharp teeth where she could. For every one that fell, three more appeared to take their place.
As she brought her leg up to knee a particularly persistent one in the face, her leg wobbled slightly allowing for a minor opening in her side. Unfortunately, that was all the opening he needed. He dodged her kick and made a swiping gesture at her open side causing more blood and venom to be drawn.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jon jerk up after ripping one of his vampires in half and look in her direction. With her heightened sight she could see his pupils dilate. A growl was ripped from his throat, scaring off the ones around her only temporarily before Jon took a huge leap and landed on top of the vampire currently with his fingers in Ara's side and shattering his spine.
Jon positioned them so they were back to back. Ara's side was healing slower than usual due to all the blood and venom loss she was experiencing.
"Are you alright?" Jon asked, punching a vampire in the face.
"Yeah. They were slightly overwhelming, but I'm fine now." she clawed another vampire in the eyes before kicking him in the stomach.
"Now that I'm here?" Jon grinned over his shoulder at her.
"No need to get cheeky now." Despite her tone, she grinned back.
"Ready to take out the big guns?" Ara asked, taking out her sword and splitting it into two identical ones as she spoke.
"I'd be putting all of Raven's and Bella's hard work to waste if I didn't." John took out a double-ended javelin, twirled it, before slashing the chest of his opponent.
The group around them looked at the one that had just been slashed. "How can the metal cut us? We're supposed to be impervious to those sorts of weapons." One of the more panicky asked.
"Technology my dear boy." Ara said before she parted head from his body.
"I think therefore I am." Jon said as he took out another one.
"Wrong theory, dear." Ara said, using her husband's shoulders to do an aerial attack.
"Death from above!" Ara shouted as she barely got two in one go.
"You need to stop announcing your attack; it gives them time to react." Jon reprimanded.
After a few seconds and there was no response back, Jon looked behind him and saw Ara was on the ground with five vampires on top of her. She was trying to kick and stab them off of her, but they were limiting the movements of her limbs as they began to tear her apart.
"No!" Jon shouted as he spun his javelin with lightning speed, breaking all their necks effortlessly in less than three seconds.
Jon got on one knee and cupped his hand on Ara's scratched and bleeding face. "Are you alright?"
Ara didn't answer but stuck her sword up, impaling a vampire that was trying to sneak up on Jon while he was occupied with her.
"Never better, amore mio." Ara grinned weakly at him before her grin vanished only to be replaced with fear.
She pushed Jon away from her body as hard as she could and screamed as she felt her own sword pierce her stomach.
"Aw how touching, sacrificing yourself for your "amore mio". I may be sick."
Victoria in all her glory was standing above Ara, hand on her hip, the sun creating a fiery halo around her head. To Ara, she was the goddess of war coming to take her precious ones from her.
Jon got up and raced back over to see Victoria above his beloved. Her hand moved as if she was about to do something, he had to stop her.
"Get away from her!" He shouted as he ran at her, the end of his javelin shooting out to reveal the long chain attached to the spear point.
"And now the courageous, but stupid, husband returns." Victoria began to clap, mocking him, as she side-stepped the spearhead.
"Since your wife isn't going anywhere, shall we duel?" Victoria bowed and stood, waiting for his first move.
Their dance was deadly and would have been deadlier if Victoria could have used her powers. Jon thought before everything he did. He anticipated Victoria's moves only to be blocked as Victoria read and then counterattacked his counterattack.
The draw was finally ended by Victoria. She moved swiftly, fainting as if she was going for his head, only to knock his feet out from under him. As he fell, she grabbed his javelin and put it through his shoulder.
Jon reached to pull it out only for his hand to slip on the javelin and release the other end. Victoria, seeing this, grabbed the end and put it through his other arm, effectively pinning him there from the chest up. It was now impossible for him to wrench himself free using his legs since he would only slide up the pole. Jon looked around, trying to find a way out and saw Ara.
She had a grimace on her face and appeared resigned. When she saw he was looking, she put on a pained smile.
She reached her arm out to hold his hand and gave it a squeeze. Victoria's eyes missed nothing, but she decided not to comment just yet.
Jon gave her hand a squeeze and a smile back, ignoring Victoria; Ara was more important.
"Ti amo. Non ho dispiaceri." Ara whispered, her throat dry from all the blood loss, but no less melodic.
"L'amo anche. Non preoccupa. Saremo belli." Jon tried to pull himself closer to Ara, but the force with which Victoria had pinned him, put the javelin too far into the ground for much movement.
"Desidero che avrei potuto trovare lo squillo." Ara's voice cracked, her face was scrunched up as if she was trying to prevent the tears that would never come.
Jon cracked a smile at that one, getting one from her in return. "Lei si preoccupa delle cose le più stupide." Like talking in Italian when English would have sufficed, but Italian was what they spoke with each other in private, it being her native language.
Jon could see the effort on Ara's face. She was trying to heal herself and through their joined hands, Jon. He could tell that with the sword and javelin she could not do much, plus the fact that she had lost a lot of blood and venom necessary to work with the power.
Victoria seemed bored with all their mushy talk.
"Alright, love birds, I've given you time enough."
She moved to snap her fingers.
"L'amerò per sempre, Jonathon."
"Per per sempre Arabella."
Victoria sneered at the couple's last words and finished snapping her fingers.
She walked away from the flames and felt a presence at her side.
"You were uncharacteristically generous. Remind you of you and your lost one?" The somewhat gloating voice of Matthias jarred her ears.
"They were my first personal casualty; as such I figured they deserved a little bonus for being so generous." Victoria responded coolly as she walked there was a ring of no-man's-land around her; even her own troops were too afraid to come near the duo.
"Italian is such a beautiful language." Matthias commented as they walked.
Above them the mournful cry of Naphim could be heard, but not understood, by all.
XxxxxxxxxxxxX
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S! Hold your tongue and don't divide us
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S! Land of God, you hold and guide us
XxxxxxxxxxxxX
A/N: The First song is Never Think by Robert Pattinson and that last song is They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From The Dead!! Ahhhhh! by Sufjan Stevens. In order to get the song you'll need to play it...look on youtube. Well I did it...I killed them off..aren't you guys glad for the long wait? I'm going to update again this month since my break is next week so feel free to nag me if you review then! I hoped you guys liked it...showing vampire deaths is really hard...
TWILIGHT MOVIE!! ROBERT PATTINSON ROCKS MY SOX!!!
My assessment: Kristen Stewart can't act, everyone else can. Rob, Carlisle, Jasper, and James are sexxxyyy...they casted everyone perfectly...Taylor (Jacob) minus wig is adorable, but I hear he's not playing Jacob in New Moon..anyone know if this is true? and Catharine Hardwicke isn't directing the next movies. If there was a poster of just Rob in his sunglasses..I would but it without a doubt and hang it on my wall. The baseball scene is my favorite scene with the game and Muse making it all amazing.
Let me know waht you guys think about the movie and the chapter!
HP6 is going to be amazing. Mark my words those of you who saw the trailer and noticed the inferi in the cave.