A/N: Chapter 50! 100+ Reviews! 3,000+ Words! Thank you all so much for your support, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

NEWBORNS

"I can't believe you are all graduating," I mused at the lunch table Monday. "I can't believe it's already been three years" and I haven't had to move yet, I added silently in my head. A week from today was graduation. We had the entire day off of school, but it was encouraged that we go to support our graduating class. I didn't have a choice. Edward, Alice, and Bella were graduating along with Andrew, Alex, Justin, and Fiona. I also knew that Tyler and Mariana would be there because Mike and Angela were graduating as well. Needless to say, there would be a lot of goodbyes.

Graduation wasn't the only issue in the future. With graduation came Dad's promise to Bella. She was going to be a vampire soon. This wasn't something I could openly talk about with my friends, but it was something that hadn't been able to escape my mind. After graduation, everything was going to change.

"College is going to be so much fun," Alex said. "I'm definitely going to join a sorority," she winked.

"That's gross," Tyler told her. "You'll sleep with everyone in your house."

"That's the plan," Alex smiled. I rolled my eyes.

"It's going to be so weird without you all here," Mariana whispered. Mariana was going to be lost without Angela around. They weren't super close, but she was always there. I guess I would be too if all of my siblings were actually going away to college.

"For sure," Tyler agreed. "At least one of our relationships will still be intact," he nudged Ronna. He got a few hisses from the broken couples in the group. He shrugged.

"It will be nice not having Mike around all the time," Tyler changed the subject.

"But your mom's gonna make you work more," Justin smiled. Tyler's face dropped.

"It'll be okay, honey," Ronna patted him on the head.

"Where's Edward going?" Andrew asked.

"Dartmouth. Him and Bella are going together," I told him. At least, that would be Edward's perfect plan. If Bella gets her way, things are going to be a lot different.

"And Alice?" Mariana asked. She liked Alice.

"She's joining Jasper at the UT Houston," I nodded.

"It's going to be so weird having that big house to yourself," Fiona threw out there. I smiled.

"I'm looking forward to going through all of their stuff. I've already stolen a bunch of Rosalie's dresses," I laughed. It was all a lie, of course. I would die if I stole one of Rosalie's dresses or went through Edward's room.

"It's definitely going to be different," Tyler mused. He was about to say something else, but the bell cut us off. Out of nowhere, Alice was by my side.

"We're having a graduation party at our house next Monday night. Bella is writing the invitations. It's going to be a joint party, but I'm sure you know what that actually means. Also, don't go with the red – it makes you look tacky."

"Alice, what the hell?" I yelled at her as she scattered down the hallway laughing. It made me miss having Jasper here to protect me from her antics.


The next morning, I walked downstairs where my Dad and brothers were intently watching the news. Something was wrong.

"What's up?" I asked them, but my mom just ushered me to the kitchen. Whatever it was, they were trying to hide it from me.

"If you tell me that this is 'grown up' stuff I swear I'm going to-"

"Do nothing because I am your mother and you will do as I say," my mom finished for me. I half expected to get the finger treatment as well, but she withheld that.

"Seriously, can you tell me anything?" I questioned.

"I will after you eat breakfast. You're still expected to go to school."

"Alright," I whined.

By the time I was finished with breakfast, Bella and Edward were here. That's how I knew something was really going on.

"Did you see that they're considering a serial killer now?" Edward questioned Dad. Dad nodded.

"They've had two specialists debating that possibility on CNN all morning," Dad sighed.

"Is this about Seattle?" I asked. I had heard my brothers talk about it in short bursts, but they usually didn't linger once they caught on that I was listening. Edward nodded.

"We can't let this go on," he declared.

"Let's go now," Emmet boomed, making me jump. "I'm dead bored."

There were many disagreements on that idea.

"We'll have to go sometime," Edward scarily agreed with Emmett, releasing the beast that is my sister.

She ran down the stairs and stood next to Emmett. We all thought she'd be angry, but her expression was emotionless.

"I'm concerned. We've never involved ourselves in this kind of thing before," Dad spoke up. "It's not our business. We aren't the Volturi."

"Thank God for that," I mumbled, but of course everyone heard me. Mom came and stood beside me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"However, I don't want the Volturi to come here," Edward countered. "It gives us so much less reaction time." And less Bella and Dani time. I shuddered.

"And all those innocent humans in Seattle," Mom sighed from behind me. "It's not right to let them die this way."

"I know," Dad agreed.

"Oh," Edward said sharply, turning his head slightly to look at Jasper. "I didn't think of that…I see…You're right, that has to be it…Well, that changes everything."

"Maybe explain to the non-mind readers in the room?" I asked him. I was getting anxious, plus, everyone else was confused and all of us were a little annoyed.

"I think you'd better explain to the others," Edward said to Jasper. "What could be the purpose of this?" Edward started to pace, staring at the floor, lost in thought.

"What is he rambling about?" Alice asked Jasper. "What are you thinking?" Jasper hesitated, reading everyone's face before continuing. He spent the longest time on mine, but then stopped at Bella's. "You're confused," he told her.

"We're all confused," Emmett grumbled.

"You can afford the time to be patient," Jasper told him. "Bella should understand this, too. She's one of us now." His words took me by surprise. I didn't know what he was talking about either, but apparently I was in the "you can afford the time to be patient" category.

"How much do you know about me, Bella?" Jasper asked. Emmett sighed theatrically, and plopped down on the couch to wait with exaggerated impatience.

"Not much," I admitted. Jasper stared at Edward, who looked up to meet his gaze.

"No," Edward answered his thought. "I'm sure you can understand why I haven't told her that story. But I suppose she needs to hear it now." Jasper nodded thoughtfully, and then started to roll up the arm of his ivory sweater.

I was just as lost as Bella. Jasper was the only one of my siblings where I didn't know much of his past. Alice didn't really have one, Emmett wasn't shy about sharing, Rosalie loved telling me stories from her childhood, and Edward told me when I asked. Jasper never mentioned it and always tried to redirect my questions.

Bella and I watched as he held his wrist under the edge of the lampshade beside him, close to the light of the naked bulb, and traced his finger across a raised crescent mark on the pale skin.

"What is that?" I asked him, shocked. Bella registered it almost immediately.

"Oh," she breathed. "It's a scar. Jasper, you have a scar exactly like mine."

She held out her hand that held the scar from James when James attacked her last year.

"I have a lot of scars like yours, Bella," Jasper pulled his sleeve higher up on his arm as if to prove his point

"Jasper," I whispered sadly. The thought that my brother had experienced that much pain was terrifying. Alice came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. This story was as hard for her as it was for me.

"What happened to you?" Bella asked, nearly unfazed.

"The same thing that happened to your hand," Jasper answered in a quiet voice. "Repeated a thousand times. Our venom is the only thing that leaves a scar."

"Why?" I shuddered. "Why would someone do that to you?"

"I didn't have quite the same…upbringing as everyone else here, Dani. My beginning was something else entirely," Bella gaped at him, appalled at what he was saying. I couldn't stop staring at his scars.

"What does that mean?" I asked him, curiously.

"It means you're off the hook for school today, darlin'."


As Jasper told his story, and I learned more about my brother, I couldn't help but think back to Bella's birthday party, when Jasper shoved me into the wall and I ended up in the hospital. When he tried to kill Bella. I couldn't help but think back to all those times when I was a child and my father would usher me out of the room if I got a scrape – while everyone else's eyes were on Jasper. I didn't understand why everyone was so worried about him – I mean, I did, but I didn't realize that it was more than just pure lack of self-control. It was a conditioned response inside of him to kill and destroy that he was fighting ever since he met Alice.

My poor brother had gone through his vampire life tortured. He didn't have the advantages that the rest of my siblings had. Somewhere in the story I started to tune out – subconsciously protecting myself from the horrors of my brother's past. Eventually, Alice nudged me.

"Hey, this is the good part," she smiled, but I could see the sadness in her eyes. She was glad that the events Jasper went through led him to her, but it didn't mean that she didn't wish he never had to go through that.

All in all, my brother was a good person, he was just taught to believe that he was a monster.

"I was in Philadelphia. There was a storm, and I was out during the day — something I was not completely comfortable with yet. I knew standing in the rain would attract attention, so I ducked into a little half-empty diner. My eyes were dark enough that no one would notice them, though this meant I was thirsty, and that worried me a little. She was there — expecting me, naturally." Jasper stopped his story to smile at his wife. He chuckled once.

"She hopped down from the high stool at the counter as soon as I walked in and came directly toward me. It shocked me. I was not sure if she meant to attack - that's the only interpretation of her behavior my past had to offer. Yet, she was smiling, and the emotions that were emanating from her were like nothing I'd ever felt before. 'You've kept me waiting a long time,' she said."

Alice went to go stand in between Bella and Jasper, then. "And you ducked your head, like a good Southern gentleman, and said, 'I'm sorry, ma'am.'" Alice laughed at the memory. Jasper smiled down at her.

"You held out your hand, and I took it without stopping to make sense of what I was doing. For the first time in almost a century, I felt hope." Jasper took Alice's hand as he spoke. Alice grinned.

"I was just relieved. I thought you were never going to show up." They smiled at each other for a long moment, and then Jasper looked back to Bella, the soft expression lingering.

"Alice told me what she'd seen of Carlisle and his family. I could hardly believe that such an existence was possible. But Alice made me optimistic. So we went to find them."

"Scared the hell out of them, too," Edward said, rolling his eyes at Jasper before turning to Bella to explain. "Emmett and I were away hunting. Jasper shows up, covered in battle scars, towing this little freak" — he nudged Alice playfully — "who greets them all by name, knows everything about them, and wants to know which room she can move into." Alice and Jasper laughed in harmony, soprano and bass.

"When I got home, all my things were in the garage," Edward continued. Alice shrugged.

"Your room had the best view." They all laughed together now.

"That's a nice story," Bella said. Everyone looked at her like she was insane, including myself. "I mean the last part, the happy ending with Alice."

"Alice has made all the difference," Jasper agreed. "This is a climate I enjoy."

"Are you okay, honey?" Mom asked, noticing my blank expression. While the rest of the family was joking, I was still stuck on the suffering Jasper had experienced.

"I'm okay, Dani. It's over now," Jasper assured. He calmed me. I shook it off.

"It's not. It's not fair you went through that," I said, looking at my feet. In an instant he was by my side, forcing me to look at him.

"Did you hear me? This is a climate that I enjoy. That part of my life is passed, little darlin'. It's taken me a long time to recognize that, so I understand why you don't, but you don't have to worry. It's upsetting, but I'm not who I once was."

"I know," I feigned a smile. Jasper winked, and pulled me into a hug. We would talk more about this later, probably.


"An army," Alice whispered, putting Jasper's story together with the conversation we had been having earlier. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought I must be interpreting the signs incorrectly. Where is the motive? Why would someone create an army in Seattle? There is no history there, no vendetta. It makes no sense from a conquest standpoint, either; no one claims it. Nomads pass through, but there's no one to fight for it. No one to defend it from."

"But you've seen this before," I told him. It was just like in his story. Jasper nodded.

"There's no other explanation. There is an army of newborn vampires in Seattle. Fewer than twenty, I'd guess. The difficult part is that they are totally untrained. Whoever made them just sent them loose. It will only get worse, and it won't be much longer till the Volturi step in. Actually, I'm surprised they've let this go on so long." I shuddered and glanced at Bella.

"What can we do?" Dad asked.

"If we want to avoid the Volturi's involvement, we will have to destroy the newborns, and we will have to do it very soon. I can teach you how. It won't be easy in the city. The young ones aren't concerned about secrecy, but we will have to be. It will limit us in ways that they are not. Maybe we can lure them…" Jasper trailed off.

"Maybe we won't have to," Edward mused, but his voice was bleak. "Does it occur to anyone else that the only possible threat in the area that would call for the creation of an army is us?"

The room visibly tensed. No one wanted to think that our family was in danger. I felt Mom place a tight grip on my arm.

"Tanya's family is also near," She denied.

"The newborns aren't ravaging Anchorage, Esme. I think we have to consider the idea that we are the targets," Edward argued.

"They're not coming after us," Alice insisted, and then paused. "Or . . . they don't know that they are. Not yet." Alice collapsed into her visions – going in and out of awareness.

"What is that?" Edward asked, curious and tense. "What are you remembering?"

"Flickers," Alice said. "I can't see a clear picture when I try to see what's going on, nothing concrete. But I've been getting these strange flashes. Not enough to make sense of. It's as if someone's changing their mind, moving from one course of action to another so quickly that I can't get a good view. . . ."

"Indecision?" Jasper asked in disbelief. "I don't know. . . ."

"Not indecision," Edward growled. "Knowledge. Someone who knows you can't see anything until the decision is made. Someone who is hiding from us. Playing with the holes in your vision."

"Who would know that?" Alice whispered. Edward's eyes were hard as ice.

"Aro knows you as well as you know yourself."

"But I would see if they'd decided to come. . . ."

"Unless they didn't want to get their hands dirty."

"A favor," Rosalie suggested, speaking for the first time. "Someone in the South . . . someone who already had trouble with the rules. Someone who should have been destroyed is offered a second chance — if they take care of this one small problem. . . . That would explain the Volturi's sluggish response."

"Why?" Dad asked, still shocked. He didn't like to believe that people were bad. "There's no reason for the Volturi —"

"It was there," Edward disagreed quietly. "I'm surprised it's come to this so soon, because the other thoughts were stronger. In Aro's head he saw me at his one side and Alice at his other. The present and the future, virtual omniscience. The power of the idea intoxicated him. I would have thought it would take him much longer to give up on that plan — he wanted it too much. But there was also the thought of you, Carlisle, of our family, growing stronger and larger. The jealousy and the fear: you having . . . not more than he had, but still, things that he wanted. He tried not to think about it, but he couldn't hide it completely. The idea of rooting out the competition was there; besides their own, ours is the largest coven they've ever found. . . ."

I stared at his face in horror. He'd never told me this, and from the looks of it, he had never told Bella either. I couldn't imagine my family as a part of the Volturi. They would never let that happen. Alice and Edward would never join then.

"They're too committed to their mission. They would never break the rules themselves. It goes against everything they've worked for," Dad argued.

"They'll clean up afterward. A double betrayal," Edward said in a grim voice. "No harm done."

Jasper leaned forward, shaking his head. "No, Carlisle is right. The Volturi do not break rules. Besides, it's much too sloppy. This . . . person, this threat — they have no idea what they're doing. A first-timer, I'd swear to it. I cannot believe the Volturi are involved. But they will be."

They all stared at each other, frozen with stress. "Then let's go," Emmett almost roared. "What are we waiting for?"

Dad and Edward exchanged a long glance, a conversation none of us were privy to. They were making a decision for the rest of the family – whether or not we were going to fight.

"We'll need you to teach us, Jasper," Dad finally admitted. "How to destroy them."

I had only seen my father this sad once before, and that was when Edward was AWOL. He hated the idea of hurting someone else, that's why he became a doctor. Whoever created this army, they were forcing his hand.

"We're going to need help," Jasper said. "Do you think Tanya's family would be willing? Another five mature vampires would make an enormous difference. Then Kate and Eleazar would be especially advantageous on our side. It would be almost easy, with their aid."

"We'll ask," Dad answered.

"We need to hurry," Jasper said, handing Dad the cell phone. I could tell Dad was shaken, and it terrified me. I was doing everything I could to hold myself together. Mom still was still beside me, rubbing my arm, trying to keep calm by trying to calm me. Unfortunately, calm wasn't a thing the Cullens could do right now.

"Oh," Dad said, his face falling. My eyes shot up to his. Edward was scowling. "We didn't realize that Irina felt that way."

"Damn it. Damn Laurent to the deepest pit of hell where he belongs," Edward groaned beside Bella.

"Laurent?" Bella whispered, just as terrified as I was. I took a deep breath. They will fix this. My family will fix this. I chanted to myself. They have to.

"There's no question of that," Dad said in a stern voice. "We have a truce. They haven't broken it, and neither will we. I'm sorry to hear that. . . . Of course. We'll just have to do our best alone."

"What's the problem?" Emmett murmured to Edward.

"Irina was more involved with our friend Laurent than we knew. She's holding a grudge against the wolves for destroying him to save Bella. She wants —" He paused, looking down at me.

"Go on," I said as evenly as I could. I was trying not to think of the possibilities of what Irina wanted. His eyes tightened. "She wants revenge. To take down the pack. They would trade their help for our permission."

"No!" I gasped. "No they can't do that! Please tell me we didn't agree to that!" I was freaking out. The wolf pack was my family now. Edward rushed over and put his hands on my shoulders.

"Dani, relax," he told me in the most relaxed of voices I had heard all day. "Of course we wouldn't agree to it. Laurent had it coming, and I still owe the wolves for that."

"This isn't good," Jasper admitted. "It's too even a fight. We'd have the upper hand in skill, but not numbers. We'd win, but at what price?" His eyes flashed to Alice's face, and I cringed.

We may not know who the mastermind behind this was, but I knew one thing. I was not going to lose my family because of them.