AN: Alright, my lovelies, here we go again!

Thanks to all who are still reading, favouriting, following and reviewing this story! It was good to see I still had a few reviewers after my stupidly long hiatus!

sycoscorpio66691, catgrl, traceybuie, Kyra, and charverv! Y'all gave me the motivation to keep writing this! Which is good because we're in the home stretch now!

So without further ado I give you Chapter 16 with warnings for *violent battle scenes*

Blessings,

-BMW

Chapter 16

Isa's POV

Well, the former Denali coven (who had opted ta become Whitlocks) were basically fucked. They had two newborn hybrids. The eldest by a few hours, Sofía, had turned out to be Emmett's mate, formerly Cindy (the vampire I had sired whose body Esme had hijacked, an' Esme was now using the moniker of Luna).

Anyone confused yet? It's okay if you are cuz I'm a vampire an' I can hardly keep all this shit straight.

An' as if that wasn't enough weirdness for them, Tanya can't even hold her own kid. Cuz his mom on her deathbed named him Vasilii an' she's still tryin' ta come ta terms with that. But that's okay, since Alice has been more than happy ta help Rose with the baby. Evidently, Alice's now in the same tough spot that Emmett is.

That's right, you heard it here first, Folks. Little Vasilii, it turned out, was destined to become Alice's Vasilii.

So my mates and I had been doin' what any rational vampires would do under such circumstances. Which would be ta stay the fuck outta all of it. It ain't really any o' our business, an' we had enough to worry 'bout, what with preparin' for war.

Oh yeah, speakin' of which, Pete's intuition kept tellin' us ta be ready but he didn't know why yet. Could be Maria. Could be the Vultures (as we'd begun lovingly dubbin' the Volturi). Could be some more o' my ex lovers. Who the hell knew? All I knew was, we were gonna be as well trained as we possibly could.

Eleazar had been workin' with Jasper an' I on our gifts. An' he an' Carl were teachin' us how ta handle battlin' with gifted vampires, an' how my shield could help with that. Eleazar said Petey's gift was a total gong show an' there really was no way ta train it, it'd always be unpredictable.

One day, Eleazar had pulled us aside ta speak ta us about Char's gift in private.

"Charlotte, I hate to bring this up because I have a feeling I already know the answer. But I feel like I need to ask...are you aware of your gift, Prima?"

Charlotte looked at her feet an' nodded, bittin' her lip. I rubbed her back ta comfort her as best I could.

"Did it do what I think it might have?" Eleazar winced.

"Twice," she whispered barely audibly.

"¡Ay no!" Eleazar breathed.

We were all silent for a few moments. It was a grave thing indeed.

"Does anyone else know?" He asked gently.

"No, and we'd appreciate it if it stayed that way, at least fer now," Jas requested.

"Of course, I won't breathe a word," he vowed. I think he was a little afraid of her now, and really who could blame him.

After that lil' chat, we all got back to work.

By the time we considered the property acceptably decked out as a fortress of defense, we had everything a state-of-the-art security system needs and then some. There were cameras on every section of the property, enough that we had no blind spots. And each camera had night vision mode, thermal mode, and infrared mode. There was literally nothin' that would get by us unseen.

Not only that, we had purchased drones which would circulate the surroundin' area an' were small enough an' durable enough that we shouldn't have any problems with them. An' we had a ton of booby traps set up in all the nearby forests that would not trigger for humans or animals, only vampires.

I didn't want to jinx it, but it was starting ta feel like we were ready for just about anythin'.

Which was good, because one day, Alice came barging into our bedroom, just as Jasper was makin' me cum with his skillful tongue.

"She's coming!" She yelled.

"Uhhh, yeah, Pixie, we can see that." Pete snickered, though he clearly knew what she meant as his own gift had him redressin' quickly an' throwing our clothes at us.

"Not Isa, you dipshit!" Alice all but growled. "Maria!"

"Oh shit!" I yelled, movin' faster than I ever had. "Let's get everyone mobilized!"

The house itself had an impenetrable, well-stocked, fireproof, nukeproof, disaster proof panic room. We sent the babies in there with Carmen and Rose ta care for 'em. An' as was our contingency plan in such an event, we called Ramone an' asked him ta send us a couple o' his feeder humans, in case the four of 'em had ta stay in the panic room fer longer than they could reasonably go without feedin'.

Ramone's bar was in El Paso an' he was sendin' the feeders ta us on a private plane. Maria an' her newborns would be runnin' north from the Monterrey area. So the feeders should be here long before we needed ta go into lockdown.

In the meantime, we did the only thing we could do. Found out as much intel as we could from Alice an' Petey an' ran drills accordingly ta better prepare.

"It looks like she's bringing about a hundred and fifty newborns. She has four lieutenants, herself and her lover who...oh shit!" Alice exclaimed. "It's Ravanica!"

Ooooh, daaang! Ferdinand was Ravanica's sire and her biological father. An' we had his head in a backpack. If she was bringin' Maria ta us, this was about revenge for both of 'em. An' they surely didn't intend ta back down. They were either comin' ta kill us or else they would die tryin'.

"Alright, well then, that means she ain't comin' in blind." Jas told everyone, goin' into full military mode. I could tell The Major was in total control an' I was tryin' ta focus on what he was sayin', not on how hot he was while sayin' it.

"Ravanica prolly knows just as much about our operations as we knew about her daddy's. The only savin' grace is that she raised all the hybrids fer her daddy an' we have two of 'em, who could be his fer all we know. Which means she likely won't even tell Maria about the panic room. So I'm gonna propose we don't bother posting any guards in the house. That way, all our fighters can be right out in the open where we need 'em most.

"Pete, I want you an' Alice an' Edward within' earshot from me at all times, in case anymore info comes in via yer gifts. Isa, I want yer shield coverin' as many people as ya can without bein' spread too thin. Char, Em, Carl, Ele, I want y'all on crowd control. Dismember as many as ya can as quickly as possible. Don't anybody light a pyre until we know we're winnin' though or it could backfire in the worst kinda way.

"Kate, I want you to go around zappin' newborns an' then as they hit the ground, Tanya an' Irina dismember 'em. You three stick together, please, y'all seem ta work real well as a team.

"Angel, since newborns are easily distracted an' loud noises tend ta scare 'em, I want you an' the band ta get yer instruments amped up an' just play the fuck outta all them songs you been writin'. If we need ya ta switch ta fightin', I'll let ya know."

"Sweet!" She laughed. "We've never gotten to play a concert during a battle before. Although we did perform at a reenactment once!"

"Yeah, this'll be louder an' more chaotic than a reenactment, but otherwise it should be kinda similar." The Major assured her. "Everyone who has their assignments can get to their posts now."

"What about me, Jasper?" Luna asked since he hadn't given her a job yet.

"Well, Luna, ya kinda have a few advantages right now. Yer a newborn, so yer strength an' speed will match theirs. Ya have yer memories from yer time as Esme, an' I know Carl trained ya how ta fight. And yer new body is pretty tiny, so ya have more maneuverability than most, an' can easily dodge an' evade as necessary. So I don't want you locked down to one position. I'd like ya to just keep an eye out fer where yer needed most an' help out wherever ya can, okay?" he suggested.

"Sure, Jasper, that sounds perfect, thank you." She nodded.

It was easy to see that after havin' been killed once already, she was a lil' nervous about fightin'. But clearly The Major's assessment of her strengths had given her back some o' that lost confidence. She stood a lil' taller after that pep talk. Carl seemed relieved ta see her gain back a bit of her old self an' I'm sure he was grateful.

We all got into position an' after what felt like forever, Ramone's employee arrived with the two feeder humans, a couple o' stringy lookin' street youths. The Major quickly got 'em set up in the panic room. Then he put the whole house into lockdown mode so nobody would be gettin' in or out until after the threat was resolved.

"Alright, so if Maria's strategy is still similar ta what it used to be, she won't be with the first o' the newborns. I always led from the frontlines, but Maria likes ta make others do her dirty work. She'll be bringin' up the rear so that if the Volturi were ta show up durin' a battle, she could claim she was never there because no one woulda seen her. That was how she stayed off o' their radar as often as she did." The Major explained. I had to admit, this authoritative side o' him was makin' me wet, an' I knew Pete an' Char prolly felt the same.

He raised his eyebrow at me, clearly sensin' my lust. I just shrugged an' blew him a kiss by way o' explanation.

"So, as we start dismantlin' newborns, everyone keep their eyes peeled an' once Alice or Pete or Ed have any idea where she might be at, I will deal with her personally. This ends today but it won't until she burns," he advised.

"Incoming in about ten minutes, Major!" Alice warned, breakin' the silence a lil' while later.

"Thank you, Alice. Brace fer impact people, shit's about ta get real," he growled lookin' like the warrior he was.

I put up my shield and tested the borders of it ta see who was protected an' if anyone would be vulnerable. "Can I request that no one go chasin' off into the woods until I know how far afield my shield can cover, please? I'd hate fer someone ta get hit with a mental gift if we can help it."

"Good idea, Isa! Y'all heard her. Stay tight everybody. An' remember, when we get eyes on Maria...she's mine!" The Major reiterated.

An' just then, the first group o' newborns, led by an angry lil' man with a very Stalin-esque mustache, began crashin' through the nearby forest. We could see 'em on the video monitors fer the drones. But even if we didn't have that ability, we'd be able ta know where they were because the birds in the area began flyin' away in droves, sensin' there were predators nearby.

It was kinda like in one o' those monster movies when the ground rumbles and the wildlife goes crazy before somethin' big n' scary comes on the screen.

An' then, it was chaos. I kept my main focus on shieldin' the others, but whenever any o' the newborns got near me, I'd either clothesline 'em an' quickly dismember 'em, or kick them into the air like a football, if they came straight at me, an' watch as they went flyin' an' bowled into more o' their own.

Man, bein' a newborn was fun!

Before the first group had been even halfway dispatched, Alice yelled that another group was comin' in from the opposite direction.

An' that was when I realized I could do somethin' pretty cool with my shield. Apparently, I could use it defensively and offensively at the same time. It's hard ta explain, but basically what it amounted to was this…

As any o' the newborns with metal gifts tried ta use 'em, they'd hit my shield an' not be able ta penetrate it. But...all o' that mental energy was somehow storin' itself in my shield. An' it would build up an' build up until it couldn't store anymore. An' then it would send out a powerful blast o' pure mental energy that would hit everyone in the vicinity outside o' my shield.

So a bunch o' the newborns all hit the ground at the same time clutchin' their heads. That was kinda handy, I had ta admit. Apparently my shield was actually as cool as everyone had told me it would be. Which is good, cuz I'd been startin' ta have my doubts. I mean, defense is great, but attack powers like Kate's are way cooler.

Speakin' o' Kate, the Succubi sisters were just a wreckin' machine! They worked together like a well oiled conveyor belt of destruction. Kate would reach out an' grab two newborns by their wrists simultaneously, one on each side. She'd tase 'em an' Tanya would dismember one while Irina dismantled the other.

Luna was pretty crazy too. She'd sneak around without bein' noticed because o' her size an' then jump on the back of a giant hulking newborn an' pop his head off before he knew she was there. It was actually kinda funny in a grim sorta way.

The 'crowd control' group of Charlotte, Emmett, Carl, and Eleazar, were quite somethin' as well. I knew my Char would be amazin' since she'd faced off against newborns before. An' I had ta assume that Carl an' Ele had as well, durin' their time with the Volturi. But Emmett? I'd eventually hafta ask him if he had experience as a fighter or was just naturally talented in that regard. Either way, he was keepin' up with the other three pretty damn well as far as the sheer number o' foes they had downed.

An' even though The Major had Pete an' Alice an' Edward honed in on their gifts fer intel, they were still makin' just as much of a dent in the enemy side as everyone else, if not more. I had ta imagine when yer gift was a constant input of information, ya prolly got pretty good at multitaskin', outta necessity.

Speakin' of The Major, he was a sight ta behold. His battle face was stoick an' he wore a mask o' dispassionate brutality as he slaughtered his way through the masses o' frenzied newborns in search o' his sire.

It wasn't until about half o' her hundred an' fifty newborns were lyin' in piles o' parts that Alice was finally able ta get a vision o' Maria herself. "She'll be coming in from the west, Major!" Alice cautioned.

Shortly after, Pete started snickerin'. "Yeah an' she seems ta think she can sway yer desire ta end her with an impassioned speech about her powerful vagina." He shrugged.

"Well fuck. As if I still care about that cunt. Literally." The Major snarled.

An' that was when I saw her. Through the trees at a distance, but I would have recognized her anywhere.

Well shit.

"Uhh...Major...tell me that isn't Maria…" I winced, unable ta take my eyes off her.

"Yeah…why?" He frowned.

"Apparently we've met before." I sighed, takin' a step toward the woods.

"Hey, Bitch, I thought ya said yer name was Anahi…" I grinned, my teeth gritted.

She shrugged as she walked casually toward us, the battle still ragin' all around us. But my mates an' I only had eyes for the queen o' the damned in that moment.

"Oh shit." Pete laughed bitterly as his gift gave him the deets. "Well, I guess we solved the mistery o' how she an' Ravanica came ta know each other."

The Major looked at me an' all I could do was shrug. "I mighta, sorta, introduced 'em." His brow furrowed as he tried ta puzzle that one out.

"Anahi is one of my middle names. So you see, I did not lie, Hermosa. But as you can imagine, once I knew you had an association with the Cullen clan, I knew I needed to lie about my identity, in case you had valuable information I could obtain. I needed you to let your guard down." She shrugged. "And even though you did not have any information of value to me then, you did unknowingly gift me with the power of a Seer."

"Yes, well, ya let me believe ya were just a peon in one o' the Southern armies, not the leader o' one! An' I didn't introduce ya ta her because she was a Seer. I just thought ya might need a rebound because ya seemed so sad when I dumped yer ass." I huffed.

"Silly Sirenita! Your lure is not that strong. I was sad because you had not been very useful, not because I could no longer fuck you." She laughed.

I wasn't phased by her insults cuz her opinion didn't matter one iota ta me, but my mates sure as hell didn't seem ta like it very much when she started trash talkin' me, since a round o' snarls went up from all three o' my beloved ones.

"Isabella, as I'm sure ya know, is far too good fer yer pathetic self. An' yer just butt hurt that ya couldn't hold on ta her. Just like ya couldn't hold on ta the rest o' us back when either," Char retorted.

"Oh, I could have, I just didn't want to. Just because you use that tongue of yours often, Charlotte Dear, does not mean you use it well. If you had, perhaps I would have spared you from destruction and you would not have needed to run away like a little bitch with your coward boyfriend.

"No, it was only ever The Major who could hold my interest. The rest of you were simply cannon fodder. You and Peter had your chance to impress me on the battlefield as well as in the bedroom and you managed to do neither. And as for Isa, she is nothing more than a common slut, I'm afraid." She shrugged. Again, my mates looked ready ta kill her but she ignored that fact an' began walkin' toward Jasper.

"Don't you see, Mijo? You were always so much more than these common, talentless hacks. You were my greatest creation. And you could make me cum without lying a single finger on me, your gift was that powerful. We were nearly evenly matched in that regard. Do you remember the power of my vagina, My Sweet Boy? When you came to me, a teenage, human virgin, and I sank my teeth into your flesh as you sank your penis into me? We were so good together, you and I, remember?" She coaxed, having stepped close enough to him to rest her hands on his shoulders. Her mouth was millimeters from his as she spoke.

It was all Pete n' Char n' I could do not ta lunge fer her. But Jasper had assured us all that he wanted ta handle his sire himself, so we left him to it, in spite o' our instinctual jealousy at her proximity ta our mate.

"I remember it very well, Maria." He smiled, looking into her eyes. "An' do ya know what my favorite moment with you was?" He said softly, pulling her gently closer to him so that he could whisper intimately in her ear.

"What's that, My Love?" She asked, her fingers twinnin' in his hair.

"Watchin' you die."

He told her calmly, hittin' her with a wave o' lethargy so strong that she went limp in his arms an' all he had ta do was tear her head off, tossin' it aside. He held her headless form in his arms a few moments before lettin' her go and I knew, if he could, he would have been cryin'.

I'd talk to enough vampires by that time ta know that Siracide was one of the most emotional experiences in the world. The act of killing one's sire was a deeply painful and personal experience. Thankfully, very few o' us ever had to go through that. Jasper was gonna need our support more than ever, goin' forward.

So, I did what I could in that moment. I let Pete an' Char go to him, because they'd been there back then an' had known exactly what she'd meant to him. So I left them to it while I took over command o' the battle.

"Light the pyre! Find Ravanica! When ya do, that bitch is mine!" I growled, rippin' the head off a nearby newborn.

Em an' Ele lit the pyre and Luna an' Edward started collectin' parts to throw in.

"Before we get too overzealous with the burning, can someone find my arm, please?" Tanya requested.

Evidently, while my mates an' I were confrontin' Maria, things had gotten a lil' hairy fer everyone else for a bit there. Alice had already helped Em reattach his leg at one point, an' Elvira was nursin' a reattached finger. But once Tanya had her arm back, everyone would be whole.

Thankfully there were no casualties on our side, which was a huge relief. I personally hadn't anticipated we'd fair quite so well.

Evidently a hundred an' fifty untrained newborns were no match fer seventeen well-trained vamps possessing many gifts an' abilities an' havin' the home turf advantage. In fact, many o' the enemies were dispatched by our traps. Which reminded me, we'd have ta search the woods after an' check fer stray parts.

But first, I had a bitch ta find.

"Any sign o' Ravanica?" I asked around.

No one seemed ta know where she'd got off to.

Maria's lieutenants weren't bein' burned until we'd had a chance ta interrogate 'em first, so I picked up the head o' Mustache Man.

"Hey Amigo, any idea where I can find Ravanica?" I asked him.

"As if I would tell you!" He snarled.

I turned expectantly toward Edward, hopin' he'd been able ta get a location from the man's thoughts.

"Well, that's interesting. Apparently she was never here. She gave them all the information they needed to come after us, and even travelled part of the way north with them but she never stuck around to join in the fray. He thinks she might have been headed to New York." Edward shrugged.

"What the fuck?! New York? What're we supposed ta just chase her around the fuckin' globe like Carmen Sandiego? I don't fuckin' think so! Ugh, damnit!" I sighed.

"Well, since there is not a lot we can do about it now, let's just finish dealing with the problem at hand and get all of these newborns burnt and the last few stragglers destroyed. Because Rose has been going insane inside the panic room since around the time Tanya got her arm ripped off." Edward winced. "I'm frankly surprised she hasn't tried to bust the door down yet."

"Oh shit! Right, okay, yeah." I nodded.

We turned our focus back to takin' out the last remainin' newborns, most o' whom had switched from attackin' us ta hidin' in the woods once it became clear we were winnin'.

Once we were pretty sure we'd found 'em all, we gathered up the last o' the limbs n' heads n' torsos ta burn. Soon, all that was left fer the pyre was Maria.

I walked slowly over ta my mates an' knelt down where they were gathered in the grass.

It was quite a sight indeed. Jasper was sittin' there, clutchin' Maria's headless form. He had her lying in his arms like a baby. Her head was sittin' on the ground starin' at him, beggin' him to reattach her.

"Why didn't ya cover it with somethin'?" I whispered ta Petey as I sat down with them. He was on one side of Jas and Char was on the other and they were clearly tryin' their best ta lend their support ta him.

"We tried, but he wouldn't let us. He just keeps sayin' 'If I can't even look at her, how can I burn her?'." Pete sighed.

"Shit." I shook my head with worry.

"Jasper? Baby, look at me, please?" I whispered, turnin' his head gently ta face me. "Hi, okay, good. Okay, now just listen, please. The hard part? Is over, Jasper, you already did it. Now all that's left to do is light the match."

"What if I can't?" he spoke in barely a whisper. "She made me, Isa. I wouldn't be here without her. Neither would Pete or Char. Can I really kill her when I owe her my very life?"

"What's the alternative, Babe? Carry her head around in a backpack like Ferdinand? Wouldn't it be more humane ta put her outta her misery? I mean, normally I'm all fer second chances, but you know she ain't never gonna change her ways," I reminded him gently.

"Yeah. I guess that's true. Could ya help me, Darlin'? With yer shield...I don't wanna...feel what she's feelin' when I…" he pleaded.

"Say no more, of course, Baby." I nodded, throwin' my shield up around him an' handin' him my zippo.

He lit the lighter an' carefully ignited her hair. I was protectin' him from her emotions but I know he could still use his gift to project calm an' serenity onto her fer her last moments an' he did.

"Que tu alma baile con las estrellas," he whispered.

"That's beautiful, Jas. What does it mean?" I asked him.

"'May your soul dance with the stars.' It was somethin' she used ta say ta the newborns she destroyed," he explained.

"Hmm, maybe she wasn't quite as evil as she let on." I mused.

"Maybe not. I guess we'll never know." He sighed tiredly.

"Okay, let's get you inside. I'm gonna draw a bath fer you and then we're gonna try somethin'." I advised, as my mates an' I helped our man ta his feet.

Pete glanced at me with an eyebrow raised. "You sure 'bout this, Sugar?" he whispered, obviously knowin' through his gift what I intended ta do.

"It's what he needs, Petey. Even if he don't know it yet." I shrugged.

"Alright. We'll try it." He conceded as we helped Jasper inside.

AN: Feel free to hit me with some feedback, People. I crave it like these vamps crave blood!