Rebecca Lahote's POV

"No. No way. No way in hell!"

I was shouting out loud, my voice growing increasingly more adamant with each denial.

Besides me, my younger brother, Marc was laughing his head off.

Quil looked a little bit pissed that he wasn't made Alpha, but I couldn't care less how annoyed he was. I was beyond annoyed.

All my life, I've just wanted to live a normal life, I thought to myself furiously. I just wanted to, you know, be good student. Study some physics and literature and math and all that "boring shit", as Marc put it. Then, someday, I planned to move to a city and get some run-of-the-mill job and be happy. I never wanted to come back to La Push again, other than to see family. I never wanted to be a part of this community, beyond my family.

And now what is this shit? Alpha? Because Shauna and Theo had the audacity to run off without talking to us about anything? Oh, no, I don't think so. In fact - fuck no.

"Rebecca." A strange woman named Bella, who was clearly a blood-sucking tick, was trying to calm me down. "Your pack is in a state of crisis. They need you."

"Says a vampire," Liam remarked skeptically. "How can we trust you?"

"I'm putting myself in the middle of four young werewolves. Do you really think I'd do something this risky if I wasn't in an alliance with your Elders?" Bella said impatiently. She swept her long brown hair from her face and turned to glare at Liam. Her stench, which became more potent as she tossed her hair back angrily, made us all cringe.

"I can't believe you," Bella said, frowning at us all. "No wonder Shauna felt she had to do this on her own. None of you feel any sense of responsibility to the pack, do you?"

"Hey, lady, cool it," Quil growled at her. "We just got thrown into this mess because of your kind. You don't get to say things like that to us."

"Yeah, and especially not to my sister," Marc added protectively, shooting me a worried look.

But I was too busy glaring slits at Bella. The alarm was still ringing incessantly in my head: Alpha? Really, Alpha? I'm going to kill you for this when you get back, Shauna.

At Marc and Quil's words, Bella took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. You're right."

"But please," she said, looking over at us and making eye contact with each and every one of us, "understand how serious this situation is. Nobody created this situation for you to suffer. Far from it. Think about it. Carlisle left because he means to sacrifice himself to stop anyone else from phasing. And all of your leaders went to support and save him. Don't you see how important this is?"

When none of us responded to her, she continued, "Lift yourself out of your own indignities and think about others, please – whether vampire or werewolf. We have to come together if we're going to survive. You must see that our interests are aligned. They have been for a long time, now."

Bella's eyes softened when she saw Nadine – fourteen-year-old Nadine, trying her best to look brave.

"I know it's scary," Bella said kindly. "But this is what it means to be supernatural."

Still, not a single one of us moved or otherwise gave any response to her words.

"Listen, now that you have my scent, you'll know where to find me,' Bella told us, sighing a little. "I'll be at a house with large glass windows, at the end of the main road running through the forest, towards the east. Edward and I are both there, so if anything happens, please feel free to come to me for help. All right?"

Still, there was only silence, though Nadine fidgeted a little. Quil looked over at her, half-irritated by her and half-worried about what she was thinking.

With one last nod at us and a lingering gaze at me, Bella left us.

After Bella Cullen left, we all let out a breath we didn't know we'd been holding.

Nadine was the first one to speak. "I don't – I don't know exactly what she means, but it does feel like something serious is happening. And if Shauna and Theo are in trouble, can't we help?"

"You're staying out of whatever's happening," Quil told his little sister firmly.

"But we do need to do something," Liam agreed with Nadine. When Quil glared at him, Liam became uneasy, but he stood his ground. "Shauna and Theo aren't the type of people to go after something for no reason. There's something big at stake here. I don't agree much with what that vampire said, but I think it'd be foolish of us to ignore what's staring us in the face: something important is going on."

"Yeah, we're going to regret it if we do nothing," Marc said, backing up Nadine and Liam.

I sighed. "Well, I can't deny that..."

Quil shook his head slowly. "Damn it! It's like I've been saying, though, we should have moved faster. We should have gone after that vampire to figure out what was going on. Then, we could have all dealt with this together."

"Too late for that now," Marc said simply.

"Damn it," Quil cursed again through gritted teeth. "Stupid Shauna. What is she thinking, doing this all alone? She doesn't know the first thing about leadership! She doesn't even know how to ask for help..."

I knew that Quil was worried for Shauna, and I also recognized that he was regretting the fact that Shauna hadn't felt like she could come to him, or anyone of us, for that matter, for help.

But Nadine glared at Quil, not understanding that he wasn't actually angry with Shauna.

However, not wanting to fight him, Nadine instead turned to me. "Rebecca? You're our Alpha now. What do you think?"

I closed my eyes. Damn it all to hell. How am I supposed to know what to do? I've spent all of my life avoiding this very situation.

Huffing out a breath, I finally said, "We need more information."

"Rebecca, I know you're the smart one and all that," Marc said, "but I don't think this is the time for sitting down and reading through books-"

"Shut the hell up," I snarled at my brother, far more impatient with him than usual. "We're going to go and talk to an Elder."

"But they're gone," Liam said, confused. "You heard Bella. Sam and Jacob are gone."

Nadine scoffed. "They're not all gone! Come on, stop being such a prick."

Liam looked at Nadine helplessly. "I'm not trying to be a prick…"

"Nadine's right. You're all dumb as rocks," I said, not sparing any sentiment. "We're going to go talk to Sue Swan."

"Oh!" Liam said, his eyes lighting up. "Sue Swan is Sue Clearwater – of course."

Besides him, Quil nudged Liam's shoulder and muttered, "Glad it's you who messed up for once, and not me."

Liam shot Quil a look, scowling.

Marc grinned at them both and nudged Quil's shoulder. "Come on," my little brother said chirpily. "Let's go before our new Alpha kills us all."

Charlie and Sue were not as surprised as I expected them to be when we all filed into their living room.

"Who gave you the heads up that you were going to be ambushed?" Quil asked, amused. He loped in comfortably and immediately made himself at home.

"Bells stopped by," Charlie told us, chuckling a little.

"Bells?" Liam said, frowning.

"Bella Cullen," Sue explained. "She's Charlie's daughter."

"What?" Liam's jaw dropped. "That Bella is your Bella?"

"Sure is," Charlie confirmed, nodding.

"You're horrible with names, Liam," Marc chortled.

Ignoring them, I said seriously, "Sue, I hate to be so demanding, but surely, you know that something is going on."

Sue nodded. "Yes... Sam called me," she admitted.

When Marc reached for the basket of blueberry muffins on the table, I reached out and swatted at his arm to stop him. Turning back to Sue, I continued, "We need to know what's going on. Who are the Cullens? Why do we have a pact with them? Why have they gone after the Volturi? And why did Sam, Jacob, Leah, Shauna, and Theo feel it necessary to involve themselves in this?"

Upon hearing my flood of questions, Sue and Charlie exchanged a look.

"We'll have to take turns," Sue said finally. "I can tell you about the history of our pack, of course, but Charlie knows the recent events better."

"Charlie does? I didn't realize he knew all of the tribe's secrets, too," Marc said, looking Charlie up and down.

"That's not it," Sue replied. "It's because his daughter, Bella, was front and center-stage in the trouble that led to all of this."

Charlie nodded at Sue's explanation.

"All right," I said. I took a deep breath, willing my impatience to settle down. "Tell us. We'll listen."

I shot the others a look, warning them to behave. Under my no-nonsense gaze, everyone drew in together. We all sat around in the living room and naturally, we sat as though we were sitting around a fireplace.

Sue suddenly smiled, and her eyes became moist as she thought of herself as little girl, learning these stories. She realized how these stories had passed down from her ancestors to Harry and Billy and now to her. She began to speak, and the words flowed like water in a clear stream: "You know, of course, of the story of the Quileute tribe and the Cold Ones."

We all nodded.

"But there was a group of the Cold Ones who said that they were different, that they only hunted animals," Sue said, almost chanting. Her voice carried all the authority of her prior husband and prior Elder, Harry Clearwater. "So, our forefathers made a treaty with them. This was over a hundred years ago. That same family, the Cullens, now larger in number, moved back just over twenty-five years ago. At that time, Charlie's daughter, Bella, came up to Forks to spend more time with Charlie."

Charlie nodded, remembering along with Sue's story.

Then, Sue said something amazing. She relayed, "According to Charlie, when Bella was still human, Edward Cullen fell in love with Bella Swan."

"What? A vampire fell in love with a human?" Liam said, amazed.

"Yes." Sue nodded. "It took incredible strength on both of their behalf, but they managed to do it. They made enemies along the way, however. In particular, Bella was hunted by a vampire called James. The Cullens killed James. But his mate, Victoria, was furious. She began to hunt Bella. Because Bella was a human, the werewolves and vampires allied to protect her."

Charlie shot Sue a look, as though Sue was leaving something out, but he didn't say anything.

"Victoria, too, was disposed of. But this drew attention from the Volturi, who are the reigning vampire clan. They began to fear the Cullens because of their numbers and their strength. Then, Bella, as a human, became pregnant with child. Edward was the biological father."

"How is that even possible?" Marc wondered.

"Let's not go into that right now," Charlie said quickly, shooting Marc a look that clearly said "don't-go-there." "Or ever."

"Why did having a child draw attention from the Volturi?" Liam questioned.

"The Volturi feared this child because she was an unknown," Sue explained. "At the time, we believed that Renesmee was the only hybrid vampire-human."

"But there are others?" Marc asked.

"Shush," I told him. "Listen. We don't have much time."

"Yes, there are others," Sue replied kindly. Then, she continued, "But as I said, we didn't know that at the time. Thus, when another vampire spotted Renesmee, they believed her to be an immortal child, a vampire child who could not be tamed."

We all shuddered at the thought of a thirsty, uncontrollable vampire child. How could anyone kill a child, and yet…

"The Volturi came to demand justice from the Cullens," Sue said. "They even brought witnesses- scores of them."

"But," Charlie said, taking over Sue's narrative, "Renesmee isn't dangerous at all. She's the sweetest little thing. She wouldn't hurt anyone, and she's smart too. She would never expose the vampires' secret."

"Yes." Sue smiled at Charlie, recognizing his tender love for his grandchild. "And most importantly, she was no important child. She grew and learned, and quickly."

"I bet the Volturi didn't like that," I said thoughtfully. "They'd already set up a stage to demonstrate their power. But it all came crashing down, since their hook was wrong."

"Exactly," Sue said, nodding approvingly at me. "All of a sudden, their own witnesses had become a liability. The Volturi were caught in their own trap. They didn't want to let the Cullens go, but it was only too clear that to harm the Cullens in any way was to step beyond the law and any form of recognizable justice."

"So, did they just walk away?" Nadine asked.

"No, I'm afraid not," Sue said. Her eyes shadowed over, and she fell silent.

Charlie reached over and took her hand before he spoke up. "They tried to pretend that the alliance with the werewolves was somehow against their laws. They tried to make a deal with Carlisle to let the Volturi slaughter the tribe. Then, the Cullens would be free to go, including Renesmee."

"But Carlisle wouldn't have that," Sue said softly. "He refused to step aside. He nearly died, but his wife, Esme, stepped in to protect him. She died."

"She… died?" Nadine said, horrified. She clasped her hand to her mouth.

I suddenly wondered if Nadine should be hearing this. True, Nadine was way more mature than any other fourteen-year-old I knew, but she was still only fourteen.

Quil moved over and pulled Nadine into his lap. "She died for a good reason, though," he said softly, trying to comfort her. "She died saving someone she loved."

"You get it, right?" Quil asked her gently. He hugged his little sister tightly in his arms.

Nadine nodded. "I do. I just… That's so sad. Poor Carlisle."

"So, it seems that we're in Carlisle's debt," Liam said slowly. "I mean, his wife died because Carlisle refused to step aside, right?"

Sue nodded. "I believe so. Our tribe is very powerful, but against the full force of the Volturi, I'm not sure if we would have all survived..."

"But that happened twenty-five years ago," I said, looking at Sue and Charlie. I was trying to understand how this all came together. "Why now?"

"Because it never finished," Charlie said, with a heavy sigh. "Ever since that event twenty-five years ago, the Volturi have been feeling unstable. They've been tracking down every witness that they brought or that came on Carlisle's request to protect Renesmee and have either locked them up and killed them, or freed them only on the condition that they bring the Cullens to the Volturi."

"And from what Bella has told us, the Volturi have also been telling a great many lies to the vampires still in the Volturi's service," Sue said solemnly. "The Volturi has made up all kinds of stories about how Carlisle and Esme originally tried to create an Immortal Child, and how Renesmee is a second attempt to have a vampire child. Of course, none of that is true. But you see what the Volturi are doing?"

"Yes," I said at once. "They're trying to rewrite history so that the remaining vampires will want to eliminate the Cullens. The Volturi are effectively trying to paint the Cullens as a risk to the supernatural world..."

"Wait, that's why the other vampires came here," Liam realized. "They wanted to see if the Cullens were here."

"Well, it's a bit more complicated than that," Sue said. "The Volturi sent vampires here in order to force our tribe to transform because they knew the Cullens would come running to protect us and try to stop us phasing at whatever cost."

"And they succeeded," I said in a low voice. I finally understood. "That's why Carlisle left to offer himself to the Volturi. It's to protect his family, but it's also to protect us… To stop us from phasing again."

"Yes," Sue agreed. "Once you phase, your life … stops. You have accelerated growing, but then you stop moving forward. You have to stop phasing for a very long time to start living a truly human life again."

"I know," I said quietly.

"What do you mean, you know?" Marc asked me, frowning. "You just found out about werewolves a week ago, with me!"

"No," I replied. I sighed deeply before I finally confessed what had been weighing on my all of my life. "... I knew before."

"What?" Quil blurted out. "You mean, you knew about our tribe being a pack of werewolves?"

"No way," Liam said. "How would you have found out before you transformed? No one else knew. Not even Shauna..."

From Quil's lap Nadine was staring at me with wide eyes.

Marc, too, was looking at me as though he suddenly didn't know who I was. Hesitantly, he said, "Rebecca...?"

"I'm the oldest of you all. I was born the closest to when this all happened. And you know Dad, with his temper…" I shut my eyes as I continued speaking, "It really took him a long time and lot of effort to stop phasing. I used to overhear conversations between him and Mom about phasing. I didn't know it was connected to all this, of course, but I got the gist. It's part of why I never wanted to be a part of this tribe… why I was scared to lose myself in my own culture… I didn't want to get stuck, the way Mom and Dad did. I was so adamant about my education because... I wanted to avoid becoming part of a pack."

I let out a terse breath as I opened my eyes again. "But I guess none of it mattered," I muttered bitterly. "Here I am..."

Sue was gazing at me with utterly sympathetic eyes.

"Becca…" Marc murmured softly. "So that's why you... All this time..."

"But enough of that," I said abruptly, shaking my head. "What's done is done. Now, we have to figure out what to do."

Quil nodded. "She's right. But what can we do?"

Sue hesitated. "I don't know what you can do, except wait. Everyone has left. The fight is with the Volturi now."

"Can't we go after them?" Nadine asked.

Quils' arms around her tightened, but he remained silent.

"No," I said firmly. "Shauna and Theo were right. We can't leave this place unprotected. Besides, Charlie's daughter and grandchild are still here. We can't just leave."

"Well," Quil sighed, "I never thought I'd say this, but… It looks like our best option is-" He looked over at Liam.

At the same time, they both blurted out, "- perimeter watch."

Quil had to haggle with Nadine about her staying home. Initially, Quil had tried his best to persuade her to stay with Sue and Charlie, but Nadine resisted, knowing that she would be kept out of the loop. Finally, much to Quil's discomfort, they had settled on Nadine staying with Bella, Edward, and Renesmee. As Nadine put it, "if you want me to pretend I have a normal life, at least let me make some new friends." Quil was thoroughly repulsed by the idea, but Nadine was admirably stalwart in her decision. Through gritted teeth, Quil banked on his last hope, that their parents, Quil and Claire, would say no. But Quil's parents were friendly with the Cullens and readily agreed. Poor Quil's jaw nearly dropped to the floor when he heard how easily his father gave Nadine permission to "go play with the vamps," as he put it.

Quil was still grumbling when we started our perimeter runs. Quil and Liam teamed up to cover half of the terrain, and Marc and I teamed up to take the other half.

Quil, you pretend to be such a big tough guy, but from what I've seen, you've lost every argument against your little sister, Marc thought.

Shut up.

He's kinda soft with me too, Liam thought vaguely, not really intending that thought to go out to us. But it did.

Hey… Quil said, a bit disarmed, but also slightly defensive.

Well, I like that about you, though, Liam thought fuzzily to himself.

But we could all hear it.

I sighed loudly in my head. Take your love story elsewhere. Tonight's not the night, damn it.

There's no love story, Liam said, embarrassed.

Yeah, right, I snorted. I heard your mom telling my mom all about how when you phased, Quil was in your bedroom. At midnight. Without your parents knowing.

What!? You know… about that? Liam said.

Liam, you're not helping our case, Quil huffed, but we could all hear his amusement in his thoughts.

We were just…! We were just… playing cards, Liam offered feebly.

Even Marc had caught on by now. Slyly, he suggested, Strip poker, you mean?

Liam grumbled.

Oh, come off it. We weren't going to be able to hide it forever, Quil said, rolling his eyes mentally. Yes, we're together.

Liam's mind went blank for a second. Then, a subtle, yet absolutely overwhelming and frankly, nauseating wave of tenderness and happiness washed over us all.

Oh, boy, Marc muttered.

Wow, Quil said, I didn't know you felt all that for me. When we get back –

Enough. Stop right there, I said.

Then, Liam suddenly grinded to a halt.

Quil blew past him, but then he also stopped. He turned around and trotted back over to Liam.

Liam? He asked, cocking his head to the side.

That… scent… Liam frowned. I've smelled it before.

What scent? I said, trying to pick up on his sensations as well as his thoughts.

That burning, metallic scent. Liam suddenly froze from head-to-toe. He growled softly and hunched down. Quil stood beside him protectively.

She's here, Liam growled. That female vampire.

Marc whined softly.

Come on, Marc. Let's go help them, I said. In truth, I wanted to send Marc home. But I knew that if Marc was safe, then our numbers out in the field were too few. Plus, Marc had quickly risen to the ranks of being our best fighter, after Theo. His growth spurt, while late, did not disappoint. Plus, he had a mind for fighting one-on-one. I wished it were otherwise, so that I could send him home in good faith, but it simply wasn't true. And I had to be an Alpha. As much as I hated it, I had to play my role right now. As much as I despised it, I intended to do it right.

Let's go, I repeated to Marc.

Liam, we're coming! Marc shouted out in his head.

I smell it now, too, Quil said. But I could hear his hesitance in his voice. But her scent… Quil continued. Why's is so muddy? Almost like it's been covered over… Liam, is the scent blurry for you, too? It is, right?

Yeah, Liam agreed. Like it's masked by something…

Marc and I were panting by the time we reached Liam and Quil. As it were, Marc and I took a moment to gather ourselves together.

Then, Liam trotted forwards a way. Following the scent, he thought, Her trail goes past our perimeter…

I bet they know by now that we won't risk it, Quil said, a bit frustrated. Under Shauna's orders, we've always held back. Always just stayed within perimeter. I bet the vampire's banking on that. I bet she's just out of our reach, watching us now, and thinking we won't come after her.

I hesitated, weighing the odds in my head.

How many were there last time? I asked.

Three.

I paused. That was two more than I'd like… But we're up against a time limit here, I realized.

In that moment, I made a snap decision. Go after her, I ordered.

I felt everyone's surprise. What? Liam said uncertainly. But the orders were to-

I'm changing them, obviously, I told him impatiently. We have to chase her.

Really? Quil said, pleased but surprised.

We're losing valuable time, you numbskulls. I started running. Every second she's running, it means it'll take a faster rate to catch her.

Can't you speak normally? Marc's thought bubbled up into our channel of communication.

It is normal.

No, it's physics-speak, which I hate when you pull that shit on me.

Marc, I warned. Focus. I'm not going to let you get hurt just because you think I talk strangely.

We raced forward into the pitch-black forest – only it wasn't pitch-black to us. We could hear and see and sense everything – even the vampire hiding in the trees above.

She's alone for now! We've got to catch her before she can go for help! Liam shouted.

Growing and yelping, we increased our speed, flat-out charging through the thickets.

The vampire, whom I could see was a female, seemed shocked by our mad dash towards her. Quil had been right. She had been banking on the fact that we would stay within our designed perimeter.

After an initial moment of shock, she turned and tried to outrun us. But Liam, who was fastest among us with Shauna absent, was already nipping at the vampire's heels. He managed to trip her up, and Quil pounced right on top of her.

However, the female vampire was not so easily outdone. Showing an impressive display of fighting, she kicked Quil in the chest. He went flying. His back slammed against a nearby tree and he fell in a heap.

Quil! For a brief moment, Liam was distracted.

I'm… fine… Quil huffed. Marc leapt over to him and gently nudged his side, helping him up.

In the moment that Liam was distracted by Quil's injury, the female vampire took her opportunity. Grinning, she ran up the tree lithely.

I growled, unable to follow her. I pawed furiously at the trunk.

Shit, I thought, she'll get away again at this rate.

Then, suddenly, we heard the female vampire shriek. Her high-pitched, almost metallic scream ripped through our eardrums, and all of us werewolves yelped in discomfort. Then, the sound of tussling and breaking branches ripped through the air. The branches started breaking at the top, and then snapped all the way down – until the female vampire fell out of the tree and onto the ground. On top of her, another vampire – a male vampire with dirty blonde hair and a very rugged look – was choking her and pinning her to the ground.

I yelped in surprise and jumped back.

It's him! Liam shouted in his thoughts. It's his scent that was covering hers. That's why her trail smelled so muddy!

I lunged for the male vampire. Liam and Marc waited behind me, ready to catch the female vampire should she try to move.

But the male vampire deftly avoided me while still holding onto his prey by the neck, choking her. Her hands scrabbled at his fingers wrapped around her neck. He grimaced, but he still didn't let her go as he dragged her back.

"I'm trying to help you God damn mutts!" the male vampire yelled aloud. "If you make this any more annoying for me, good luck catching her without a tracker!"

We paused.

Is he a Cullen?

No…

Is he faking it or really trying to help us?

"Here," the male vampire said, and he tossed the female vampire to us.

Ignoring his own pain, Quil immediately leapt on her, pinning her down. Liam helped him, and Marc stood right besides her. I slowly approached the male vampire, sniffing.

"There, you trust me now?" he asked, highly irritated.

I hesitated. I looked back at the others to see that Quil now had his fangs sunk deep into her arm and Liam was sitting on top of her legs.

Knowing that our captive was secure, I phased back into my human form.

"Hmphf." The male vampire looked me up and down. "Not bad," he muttered.

Marc growled behind us, baring his teeth.

"No offense meant," the male vampire said, raising his hands quickly.

"Who the hell are you?" I demanded, crossing my arms over my breasts in a challenging pose.

"Name's Alistair. Old friend of the Cullens', if that means anything to you," he said.

Quil, Liam, and Marc all looked at each other.

"Why are you helping us?" I asked him.

"Because," Alistair sighed, as though this were all a great inconvenience to him, "my stupid tracking ability won't let me go anywhere else until I've done this."

Under his breath, he muttered, "Getting caught up in this was the worst mistake I've ever made… First Annabelle, now this…"

"Annabelle?" I repeated sharply. Annabelle had been that vampire who had come to our meeting to ask for our help in saving Carlisle.

"Yeah, that's what I said." Alistair squinted at me. "What about it, wolf-girl?"

"Do you know Bella, Edward, and Renesmee Cullen?" I asked him.

He snorted. "Unfortunately, yes."

"Good. Then follow me," I said.

Marc whined at me, clearly asking me what the plan was.

"It's time to see if the alliance lives up to its reputation," I said grimly. "C'mon, we're taking the female vampire to the Cullens."

I transformed back into my wolf form, in order to move as fast as possible. Alistair kept up with us, following me. When he murmured, "I wouldn't mind following you from behind in your human form," Marc tried to slam his snout hard into Alistair's side. Alistair step sided Marc's lunge easily, only allowing Marc to graze his side, but thankfully Alistair shut up for the rest of the way there.

Edward had heard us coming because apparently, he could read thoughts. That's what he said in response to the look of confusion on my face when he opened the door before I had even gotten up the steps.

"I heard you coming."

"You did?"

"Yes. Your thoughts. You're Rebecca Lahote."

"Yes…"

"Come in. Quickly, please."

As we shuffled in, I heard Edward say, "Alistair, thank you. Thank you for coming back."

"Don't thank me, unless by thanking me, you mean to get this over with as soon as possible," Alistair said gruffly. "But where's Carlisle?"

"He's not here," Edward replied, his voice tight. "He… He went to offer himself to the Volturi."

Alistair paused. Then, he cursed, "That fool. That damn fool."

Then, Alistair asked, "Where's the puppy?"

"Puppy?"

"Annabelle?"

"She went after him."

"Well, that's just the worst-case scenario, isn't it?" Alistair chirped in total sarcasm.

Overhearing our entrance, Bella, Renesmee, and Nadine rushed into the living room just then.

Running over to her brother at once, Nadine wrapped her arms around Quil. She frowned when she saw him grimace.

"Quil?" she said, with concern etched all over her face. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"Don't worry," Quil assured her, patting her head. "'M gonna be okay."

Edward frowned, reading the pain scrolling through Quil's head. "You'll need to receive treatment."

Quil just shook his head at Edward.

Standing beside Quil, Liam wrapped an arm around him gently, allowing Quil to lean on him, which seemed to help Quil significantly.

"Sit down," Bella offered, but Quil shook his head, wanting to see what was going to unfold.

"Let's see what this damned vampire has to offer," Quil said gruffly. "She's been causing us trouble for a hell of a long time..."

Edward forced the female vampire captive, who was bleeding severely, into the chair. Edward wrapped tight ropes around her, but he also wrapped a piece of clothing as a bandage around her arm.

When she fidgeted, Edward hissed, "I can hear your thoughts. You think one more time about leaving, and I'll end you once and for all."

She stilled.

"Who are you?" Bella questioned her.

"Fuck off," the female vampire growled.

"It's Sabina, isn't it?" Edward said, reading her thoughts.

Sabina glared at Edward, then at Bella, and then her eyes found Renesmee. A flash of surprised recognition ran through her eyes.

Edward's eyes widened. "You were one of the witnesses, weren't you?" he realized. "Twenty-five years ago… In that snowy field…"

"Curse you," Sabina spat at Edward. "You and your damn family. Thanks to you and that- that cursed child over there, you've put all of us in danger. You've no idea the mayhem you caused..."

"We never wished for mayhem," Renesmee told Sabina in a quiet, but regretful voice. "We only wished for peace."

"Hah!" Sabina barked out a wholly unamused laugh. "You can wish for peace all you want, but the undeniable result has been nothing short of carnage."

"But you're still alive, Sabina. How are you still alive?" Edward wondered. He read the answer in her mind. "I see. The Volturi released you on the condition that you bring Carlisle or Renesmee to them. But you were smart. You figured most of the other rogue vampires given the same bargain would go looking for Carlisle, so you focused on Renesmee."

Bella growled, stepping protectively in front of her daughter. "You'll die before you lay a finger on her."

"Mom, I'm okay," Renesmee told Bella softly.

Sabina laughed mirthlessly. "You say that now, but we got close, oh so close… Then, these overgrown mutant wolves came and fucked us up."

Quil growled at her.

"And then we fell apart," Sabina said, now mostly talking to herself.

"We?" Edward picked up.

"You mean those two other vampires," Liam said knowingly. "The one with black hair and the other with orange hair…"

"We were supposed to capture your freak child together!" Sabina spat out, now enraged. "But Levine betrayed us, that piece of shit. He saw Carlisle leave, and he tricked that newborn vampire into following him straight to the Volturi. He always was a tricky bastard. And Mikhail went after him! I told him not to… I always knew Levine would turn on us. I remembered Levine from our past exploits. He was always the most treacherous of us all, and he hated that Mikhail and I were mates, since Levine never found his mate. And it's no wonder. He's a cold-hearted and unfeeling son of a bitch."

Sabina's eyes suddenly filled with tears. Heartbroken, she mumbled, "Mikhail... You fool..."

Edward suddenly paused. His eyes lit up. "You have a gift, don't you?" he realized. He walked over to Sabina and leaned down, staring into her eyes. "The gift of perfect recall…"

"Edward!" Bella jumped forward as Sabina suddenly made a move, pushing hard against the ropes to claw at Edward.

Immediately, all of us werewolves were bristling.

Alistair was the only one who didn't react at all, except for a sigh. "I told you to tie her tighter," he complained behind us all. "You're a soft-hearted bastard just like Carlisle, Edward."

"I'll take that as a compliment, Alistair," Edward said, trying to lighten the tension for all of us.

Then, Edward focused on Sabina again. "Answer me – or don't. I'll know anyways. But you have perfect recall, don't you?"

"What's it to you what my gift is?" Sabina hissed.

"Because," Alistair drawled from behind us, "perfect recall is exactly what we need to give us leverage against the Volturi. No one can dispute what you saw… Surely, you could see that one coming."

"And you were there, that day," Bella said. "You saw how the Volturi overstepped their own laws…"

Edward's eyes dimmed. In a heartbroken voice, he murmured, "She was standing right next to Esme when Felix killed her on Aro's orders…"

"If you mean to save Carlisle, you should get a move on," Alistair said. "Time's ticking."

Edward nodded. "Let's go, Bella."

"Wait." Bella grasped Edward's arm. "Renesmee-"

"Go," Renesmee said firmly. "Mom. Dad. Please go. Everyone's suffered enough on my account. It's time to repay the favor."

In Bella's mind, Leah's words rang out: "How could you do this to us? How could you let our daughter go? We protected Renesmee when her life was on the line. How could you just let Shauna go on a- a suicide mission?"

"Bella?" Edward said, picking up immediately on her suddenly forlorn and complicated expression.

"Edward, I don't know if we can just leave… After all, Sabina just admitted that they're after Renesmee, too," Bella said, torn.

"I actually want to go myself," Renesmee spoke out.

"Absolutely not," Bella growled.

"I know," Renesmee said calmly. "That's why I'm asking – would you please go in my stead?"

Renesmee's voice trembled slightly as she said told her parents, "It's not easy for me to ask you, either. I know what the Volturi are capable of. When I ask you to go, I- I think of what happened to Grandmother and I… I'm afraid I'll lose you, too."

However, Renesmee's gaze turned steely and determined as she finished, "But this isn't just about us. And if I can't go, then I want you to go… You need to save Shauna. Uncle Jake and the others saved me when I was younger. Don't you think we ought to repay the favor this time?"

Bella sighed. Her eyes searched her daughter's face.

"Our daughter's right, Bella," Edward said quietly.

"And she'll be safe with me!" Nadine promised fervently.

Renesmee smiled at Nadine's eager declaration. Kindly, Renesmee agreed, "Yes, I think I'll be safe with her."

Bella turned to me. "Rebecca? Can you hold the fort here?"

"Yes." I nodded firmly. "We'll all go together to Sue and Charlie's place. Sue can help with Quil's pain, and Renesmee will be safer on reservation territory once you're gone."

Edward nodded. "That makes sense. Thank you, Rebecca."

"You have to come back to me," Renesmee said, hugging her mother and looking over her shoulder at her father.

Edward nodded, his face pained. He stepped closer and hugged both of them.

"Of course we're coming back to you," Edward murmured. "There's nowhere else for us to be. We're your parents."

"We love you, baby," Bella breathed out. "You're our life. You're our everything."

Alistair looked truly done with this entire situation. Meanwhile, Sabina was still busy glaring at all of us.

Finally, they broke apart.

"Rebecca," Bella said feelingly, turning to me, "thank you. Thank you for stepping up."

"Please," I said, "go save them. All of them."

Edward nodded. "We will," he promised.

"Alistair?" Bella asked, looking over at him. "What about you?"

"No force on this sorry world will drag me back to Volterra, but I'll go with you some part of the way – until my tracking senses pull me in a different direction," he replied.

"And if they don't?" Edward asked, amused.

"Well, then," Alistair said straightforwardly, "I guess I'm fucked."