Bella

The last six days have been a grueling exercise meant to get us ready for what was coming to our door. It's now the seventh day and we all met again in the throne room. The battle is today and we are all freshly fed and as ready as we are going to be for what is to come.

"My friends, my dear ones, a battle is approaching quickly and I am ever so proud of the work all of you have done in this last week. Now it is time for us to ready ourselves so we are as prepared as possible for what is to come. Young Bella will now give each of you shields so that no harm will come to you while we defeat the forces arrayed against us. Please get into your groups and form a line."

There were sounds of surprise but none from the elite guard. I assumed Aro had waited till just this moment to announce my ability so that it stood no chance of getting back to the Romanians.

Demetri was at the head of the line and I kissed him quickly before I crafted for him a close-fitting shield that would allow him to fight.

I went down the line one by one, becoming overwhelmed by the number of shields I had to create. I was greeted with smiles by the elite guards and mutters of thank you from some of the normal guards. When I finished with the shields of the guard, I stepped up to the thrones and did the same for Aro, Caius, and Marcus.

When that task was complete I tried my own shield and found it still strong and impenetrable. I was relieved. I feared giving away that many pieces of my shield would leave me vulnerable. I was panting at the exertion by the time I was done and Demetri was by my side in a moment.

"Are you alright, my Bella?" He asked me solicitously.

"I'm fine," I panted, "that was just more work than I had anticipated."

Aro smiled at me and then addressed the group. "Each of you has shown yourselves a treasure to the Volturi and a strong, fearless warrior in your own rights. Take us to victory today and show these Romanians why they should fear the Volturi,"

There were cheers from some of the guards while others stood solemn and serious.

"Jane, your group will guard the entrance in the tunnels, Alec, you will guard the front door with your group. Felix, you will guard the underground entrances to the catacombs, and Demetri, you will keep us safe here in the throne room."

Each group bowed as their team leader's name was called and then went off to their assigned posts. Demetri's group spread out in the throne room and we all became still as we waited.

We waited through the day and the night. We heard the first sounds of battle as the new day dawned.

We were tensed and ready when the battle reached the throne room. It had begun.

I worried for my friends in other parts of the castle but forced my focus to the troops arrayed before us. Demetri was closest to the door and joined the fight immediately. The entire team, barring me, rushed to his aide. I had to keep all of these shields strong. That was my task and it was a formidable one. As I watched though I saw a woman giving Demetri an inordinate amount of trouble. I surrounded her with a shield and collapsed it, turning her into dust.

No matter the cost to myself I would protect my mate. I repeated this over and over, keeping the number of combatants in the throne room to a minimum and stopping anyone from getting close to the thrones. After the first wave had passed, the guards spread out in the room, giving themselves enough room to fight without stepping over the dismembered pieces of the force that had been arrayed against us.

The battle raged around me and every time someone came close to getting overwhelmed with too many combatants I used my shield to free up the guard and let him or her get things under control again.

Each time I had to act my anger only grew. I was growing tired and thirsty as well and it wasn't helping my outlook. Eventually, the inevitable happened and I lost control of my shield.

The room was full of combatants and I could feel it coming. I forced myself to hold on to the shields of every one of the guards and let my shield expand as it would. I shouted, "Get down!" and all the guards on Demetri's team hit the floor. My control broke, my shield expanded and all of the combatants were vaporized. Luckily, those on the team were simply swept into the corners of the room and were all safe. I saw Demetri stand, still tall and strong before the darkness claimed me.

Demetri

When I heard Bella scream get down I tackled the closest guard to me and watched in horror as the masters were thrown into walls, our opponents were disintegrated into dust and the thrones, along with everything else in the room turned to no more than dust.

I watched Bella as she stood, her eyes meeting mine. I stood up, unhurt only to see my Bella go down.

I ran to her, crouching over her protectively as the newest group of combatants filled the halls. Our shields were gone now and I worried that Bella was seriously harmed. I kept everyone from the Masters and Bella, sometimes taking on four at once.

Eventually, the battle ceased and I carried Bella to where the thrones used to sit. "Get me some bagged blood," I ordered the guard and two of them left at a run. I talked to her, caressing her hair as the remaining guard piled the parts of our enemies and set them to flame.

When the guard was back with armfuls of bagged blood I opened a bag and dripped it slowly into her mouth. I hoped this helped. I prayed to whatever god listens to vampires that my Bella wasn't permanently harmed.

By the time Bella started coming around even the dust, that used to be vampire had been swept into the fire and all of the damaged items had been disposed of. The guard ringed me and the Masters, faced outward, guarding against all threats.

I held my breath as Bella started to stir, twitching only a finger at first. Soon she opened her eyes and looked around. Her face was a mask of horror as she saw the Masters standing over her, no thrones on which to sit.

"Did..." she said weakly, "Did I hurt anyone?"

I took her into a tight embrace. That had been the longest wait of my very long life.

"You hurt no one, your shields protected us from the blast and only our enemies were swept away in it." Aro reassured her.

"Did anyone die without my protection?"

"I don't know my love, none of the guard have reported in yet."

I sat her back on the empty platform and handed her the blood bag. "Drink, my mate. Get your strength back."

As if my words were a cue the guards from around the castle began filing in. Bella tried to get up but my hand on her shoulder kept her down. I didn't want her to strain herself in her weakened condition.

When we were all assembled Aro asked, "Any fatalities?"

"None," Jane was the first to say.

"None," Felix reported.

"None," Alec said.

"See Bella," I whispered to her, "No one was hurt."

"You have all served admirably today, you fought long and hard and our long-time foe was vanquished and we will have a better world for it." Aro addressed the group.

"Permission to see to my mate Masters'," I asked the kings.

"Granted," Aro said with a small nod.

I gathered Bella into my arms and took her down to the catacombs for a proper meal.

"You will have another," I argued with my Bella after she had just one.

"You don't have to worry so much Demetri, I'm just a little shaky now."

"Another one," I ordered, refusing to be swayed. "I'll feed too, goodness knows this was a long day and you gave me the scare of my very long lifetime."

"I'm sorry Demetri, of course, I'll feed again if it will make you feel better."

We fed together, our eyes on each other. After that was done, and I knew I would lose the argument that she feed again, I scooped her back up in my arms and carried her to bed.

I held her gently on our bed and ran my fingers through her long silky hair. Bella's eyes closed and she rested.

I took the next two days off of work to keep my stubborn mate resting and in bed. She was convinced that she was fine but I still felt terror running through me as my mind replayed the sight of Bella meeting my eyes before she fainted, or whatever had happened to her as she fell. I hadn't gotten over the sheer terror yet, if I ever would.

Finally, I insisted Jasper help me out and he came up briefly and shot her up with enough lethargy "to take out a small army," as he insisted.

Then Bella fell into an unconsciousness that seemed like mortal sleep.

Each of the elite guards visited Bella briefly once she woke from her "stubborn man-induced nap" to check on how she was doing and give her news about the castle.

I took another two days off of work to see that she was recovered fully.

On the fourth day, Bella seemed back to full strength and I had run out of excuses to keep her confined to our rooms. She insisted on at least going to help the newborns.

"Helping them out isn't taxing Demetri. I'm not going to wear myself out combing their hair," she insisted and I finally gave in. She left with a smile and a passionate kiss that almost had me taking her to bed for other reasons.

I went to the elite guard's training room while she was gone. Felix had been in charge of training in the last few days and they were all working diligently when I stepped in. When I appeared they all stopped, turning to me.

"How is Bella," Jane asked.

"She insisted on going down to help the newborns."

The guard laughed, "You knew you couldn't keep her in bed forever Demetri," Chelsea noted.

"I was hoping on a few more days, but her strength seems to be back," I explained.

"Well if you have the training, I have a young mate to see to, Demetri, may I be dismissed?" Felix asked.

"Of course Felix," I answered. "In fact, the rest of you take the day off as well. Goodness knows we've all put in enough hours the last few weeks."

A smiling chorus of, "Yes Master Demetri," greeted me, and the room cleared as if they thought I was going to change my mind. I went down to the catacombs to watch over my mate. Strength returned or not I couldn't get the picture of her collapse out of my head.

Felix

After Demetri released me to go to my mate I went to the regular guard's training room. It was being used to train the newborns as well. I saw Alexis, but I didn't interrupt Jasper as he discussed controlling blood-lust with them. They were all sitting on the floor deep in their discussions. Jasper was telling them about the feeling of being around humans again and I realized that our receptionist hadn't been replaced with a new human yet.

Heidi had been handling the position in addition to her fisher duties and I rather expected it to stay that way for the next year. All of our human housekeeping staff had been replaced with the youngest of vampire guards, as far as I had seen and it seemed that Jasper was doing everything he could to keep these newborns out of temptations way.

We didn't want to have any more newborns join the group right now and Jasper seemed in his element teaching and training them to be productive citizens of the vampire world. I had no doubt that some would go their own way after their newborn time was up but some would stay.

I was surprised when I saw Bella walk in with Demetri at her side their arms piled high with towels of all things. What in the world did these newborns need with four large laundry cycles full of towels?

I watched avidly as each newborn was given ten towels and the discussion changed to controlling their vampire strength. I decided it would be okay to show myself now that so many of us were here so I went to sit by Alexis. I was greeted with a smile and a quick kiss before she turned her attention back to Jasper.

I watched as Bella and Demetri left hand in hand, saying something about a shopping trip and focused back on Alexis. She was getting frustrated with her towels and I put my arm around her back and rubbed it softly to calm her. She smiled at me and got back to work at a much calmer pace.

When their day had finished I took Alexis by the hand and led her up to our rooms. This was the only concession Demetri had given me where Alexis was treated differently from the others. She lived with me while the others lived on an upper floor with younger guards. I would have moved to the upper floor with her if I'd had to but Demetri had reassured me that this would be fine and I could stay in my home of more than eight hundred years.

We made love slowly and tenderly that night. She was still getting used to physical intimacies and she said she liked to look into my eyes while we made love. There was all the time in the world to show her the adventurous side of sex and I was perfectly content having my Alexis writhing under me. Afterward, I held her until it was time for her feeding, and we started the day all over again. I was a lucky man.