A/N - Hey everyone! While it saddens me a bit to say this, we are quickly approaching the end to this story. I just wanted to say a quick thank you to all who have read and help support me through this journey. I have a few shorter stories in mind for the future featuring BellaXVictoria, BellaXRosalie, BellaXChelsea and BellaXTanya. Eventually, I will start on a much longer story featuring a BellaXJasper pairing, just for something new. If any of those spark your interest, make sure to keep an eye out for those! In the meantime, I recently did post a BellaXAlice oneshot called The Ghost of You and I. Check it out if you're interested!

Chapter 28

The cold and weathered stones shone with a slight shimmer as the faint sheen of water coated the aged and cracked tile, worn down from ages upon ages of use. Edward glided across the stones, the slight clicks of his dress shoes echoing through the vacant and otherwise silent hallway. His crimson eyes stared unblinkingly in front of him as his pale hands pushed the massive wooden doors open with ease into the throne room of the Kings themselves. He moved gracefully forward and immediately fell on one knee, his satin and velvet raven colored robes cascading down and the hood falling just above his lips as he displayed pure submission to his leaders.

" You sent your summons for me, my lord?" Edward asked in a cool collected voice as Aro stood up from his throne and walked slowly towards his most recent addition to the coven.

"Yes. My dear, Edward. We have heard wind about a potential exposure concern, which needless to say is a top priority and concern over anything at this point, including the curious invite from your former coven. There appears to be a rather impressive guild of rogue vampires of sorts in your old hometown of Forks. From our intel, we have gathered that they are planning on attacking the Cullens and are currently at war with the shifters that you have informed us of. While I am sure that the Cullens with all their gifted members would be able to withstand such a battle, we have made the decision to move up our meeting with them. We are heading out in the next few moments, and you are to join us. I apologize for the late notice but we needed to make the snap decision to keep little Alice from spoiling our surprise" Aro informed, his ancient eyes carefully watching his young apprentice's movements with a certain amount of warranted caution, after all, what type of vampire leaves their own coven?

"It will be as you wish, my Lord." Edward nodded in confirmation, earning a cheerful glee of a smile from the ancient vampire.

"Splendid! Now then, you are dismissed. Please meet us back at our private jet as soon as the afternoon feeding is finished. We need not waste any time to deal with this rather unpleasant change of events." Aro instructed and Edward rose from the ground and made his way to his personal chambers, grabbing his select personal affections and items needed for battle which he stowed away in the deep inner pockets of his robe. His eyes moved to a picture secured on the wall by a knife. He moved forward, his dark crimson eyes sweeping across the faces of those who he had once called family.

"We will settle this, Bella. Soon…. Very soon." Edward murmured as his eyes locked onto the picturesque version of Bella's eyes, " Shortly, everything will come to light and you will understand."

He ran his fingertips against the picture before turning swiftly and heading down to the nourishing hall. He heard the multitude of hearts pumping and the blood rushing through their unexpecting veins of the tourists that Heidi had so effectively lured into the castle. It was time to feed.

The lush forestry landscape passed by as nothing but a blur as Alice and Bella ran as quickly as their legs would take them back to their home. The very thought of a shifter or perhaps even shifters breaking the mutually agreed upon treaty that was formed after Bella and Jake's altercation was overwhelming to say the least. Bella found herself cursing the fateful timing of Taha's and her meeting over and over again, knowing that if he had not intervened, she would have been at the house along with Alice and would have been able to defend the coven against what appeared to be a direct assault on them. Never had she been so regretful of her previous actions that caused that chance meeting to take place.

Not soon enough, Bella and Alice found themselves back at the house and Bella wasted no time as she rushed past Alice who had stilled on the patio and threw open the front door and quickly moved inside, ignoring Alice's call to her to wait. She rounded the corner and entered the living room, only to find her knees buckle at the disheartening sight before her. Bella's widening golden orbs met those of a troubled Carlisle and a comforting Esme as the broken and altogether destroyed body of Seth laid out on the living room couch, his shorts and tang top torn to shreds, similar to his flesh.

Bella locked eyes with the youngest shifter and found herself moving forward, completely captivated by his unwavering stare, blocking out the rest of the family with ease, including that of Alice who had moved into the living room and put a trembling hand over her mouth at the sight before her. She knew little about Seth but she could easily make out that he was just a boy, and in no way shape or form should he have ever been involved in this type of altercation.

Bella walked over rather numbly and kneeled in front of Seth, as her eyes roamed over him making note and taking in the significant damage to his body. There were at least seven bites given by a vampire located at various points throughout his body and one nasty gash across his chest, down to his abdomen that Bella knew had to have been afflicted by a shifter as she recognized the markings as they were similar to the ones that she had marked on her own imprint all those months ago. Bella reached out and wiped some of the sweat beads that had found themselves across Seth's brow as he struggled for breath time and time again as her eyes lingered on the slash wound, knowing that only one shifter and one shifter alone could have been responsible for this amount of damage. None of the others would have been able to fight the will of the Alpha and betray the tribe, not like this.

' Jake, my god, my god. What have you become' Bella thought bitterly as she moved her eyes back up to meet Seth's gaze who had not moved since Bella had entered the room.

"I am beyond sorry to say this Bella, but there is simply nothing that we can do. There is too much of our venom in his bloodstream and it is far too late to try and suck it out. I have given him medicine to allow for comfort but his time is closing in quickly." Carlisle murmured rather bitterly as he averted his gaze from Bella's understanding orbs to the ground; comforted only as Esme ran a reassuring hand against his shoulder blades.

"I know and trust that you did all you could, Carlisle. Thank you. You will never know just how much that meant to me" Bella murmured softly as her eyes darted momentarily from Seth to Carlisle and then back.

"Bella, you are here. I'm so glad I was able to see you, one last time." Seth murmured out as he let out a wet cough. Bella gripped his hand in her own as she focused on the broken young man before her.

"Seth, what happened? Who did this?" Bella asked urgently as she used her free hand to brush a few sweat laced ebony locks from his forehead and away from his eyes.

"I wish I knew. Jake… He was leading a group of raging and seemingly uncontrollable vampires with red eyes who completely swarmed the reservation. They said anyone who did not give information up for the golden eyed vampires in the area would be cut down. I- I just couldn't bear to put you, any of you in danger. You didn't deserve it. Apparently, we all thought the same and decided unanimously to attack rather than betray you. Unfortunately, we underestimated them." Seth breathed out as he closed his eyes briefly, clearly in pain.

"Where was Sam? How did you end up taking on this fight on your own?" Bella asked with a wavering tone as her mind struggled to grasp the set of events that had led to this point.

"Sam along with the others received word of a potential threat rather far from the reservation and went out to investigate. They were not at the rez when the vampires attacked and didn't make it back in time. I couldn't wait around for them, I needed to get here to ask for help. I know I broke the new treaty and I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do" Seth responded back his hand gripping at the couch tightly.

"Seth, I swear. We had no idea this was going to happen," Bella paused as she affirmed with Alice who sadly shook her head, confirming that there had not been any premonitions, knowing full well that she would not have received one regardless as she could not see any of them" I wish I would have known though. God, what I wouldn't give to be able to turn back time. I would have been a better friend to you if I had only known it was going to end like this."

"Bella, if anyone should be apologizing its me. I saw how Jake had been acting, I knew of the discord that was taking place and felt the beginning of the division of the tribe but I didn't want to bother you with it. You seemed to be so comfortable with the family here, I didn't want to cause you any issues..." Seth responded out in a breath.

"Oh, Seth. You shouldn't be apologizing for that, any of that. That… All of it was my fault and responsibility to bear. You did nothing wrong, please trust me. I need you to understand and be certain of this" Bella murmured back as she attempted to comfort the dying shifter, who nodded in silence.

"Bella, do you remember when you called me at three am when you went to that party out in Seattle?" Seth breathed out after a few moments of silence and Bella couldn't help the slight blush that rose up her cheeks or the chuckle that escaped her throat.

"Oh, how can I forget that night. It was definitely not one of my shining moments as a human." Bella responded, feeling the Cullen's curious looks against her back.

"I still don't know how you got so drunk and was still able to function long enough to call me after Jake and you got into that fight and he left you at the club in Seattle. I was so surprised to see that I was the one you had called out of everyone." Seth grinned despite the pain.

"Well, yeah. I knew I could reach out to you and you would come without any type of judgement and you also were likely the only one still sober on a Saturday night." Bella smiled softly as Seth grinned his effervescent smile.

"I'll never forget that night. I was there as soon as possible to drive you home. You got sick halfway home and threw up outside the window of my new truck. You apologized over and over again, but do you remember what I said?" Seth asked with a raised eyebrow, causing Bella's eyes to water with the memory.

" You told me that even through any and all of the hard times that would come, you would always be on my side and that I could always count on you." Bella sighed as she struggled to keep her voice from breaking.

" Bella, listen to me. I know my body is failing and my time is just about up. I am not like you unfortunately, and simply cannot handle this amount of vampire venom in me. I came here to talk to you, so please just listen as this may very well be our last chance," Seth paused only to cough out another wet cough, this time coughing up a handful of blood in the process, " You and I are much the same. Neither of us find the joy in fighting even though it is in our blood to do so. Thinking back to all of our philosophical debates on life, death and the meaning between the two, I know you and I have a very similar thought process. The tribe never understood that about me and I know that the Cullens never truly understood this about you either. We both value life too much to do so. But Bella, these beings… these monsters that came onto the reservation, they do not have an ounce of mortality left in them."

"Seth…this is not the time to be discussing this. You really should be saving your strength. You never know, you could pull through." Bella interrupted despite herself.

" No. You need to hear this, Bella. Sam told us all about you becoming a hybrid and I can sense your aversion to it, to both sides of you. But for the sake of the people still fighting and trying to defend the reservation, please, let it go. It is not a sin to fight for the right cause. There are those who words alone will not reach, no matter what you say or how much you try to reason. These… Monsters who are insisting on war with us are such. I know how you feel, Bella. You are gentle; you do not like to hurt others, no matter how badly they hurt you. But please, try to understand. It is because you cherish life, that you must protect it and I think you are the only one left who can. Please, drop your restraints. Protect the life, the ideals, the family I loved. You have the strength and the ability. Please…Help us." Seth groaned out as his body began to convulse as the toxic vampire venom spread out through his body, finally collecting together and reaching his heart, causing to speed up its beating painfully.

Bella gripped his hand tighter as she watched his eyes grow wide, gripping her hand firmly, almost to the point of pain but Bella did not move her hand or her gaze, wanting nothing more than to make sure that he knew that in his final moments, he was not alone. She moved her free hand to cup his hot skin of his cheek against her palm.

"Seth, thank you for always believing in me and being the person, you are. I assure you, you will always be a special part of me. Your body may end here but you and your memory will live on forever. Your sacrifice was not done in vain. Please, let your soul rest." Bella all but whispered out as Seth took in his last breath, and it slowly released from his now lifeless corpse, his deep onyx eyes staring unfocused at the ceiling, a faint smile still etched on his lips.

"Oh, Seth…" Alice breathed out as she along with the rest of the family heard his heart stop, knowing that it was done. Seth Clearwater was dead.

Bella let out choppy breaths as she buried her face into Seth's sliced chest, her face and hair instantly becoming coated in his free flowing and slowly clotting life supply. Bella let out a painfilled sob as the pain of loss wracked through her body. After a few moments, Bella tore herself from Seth's lifeless body and stood up, running a shaking hand throughout her hair as she practically hyperventilated from the shock.

"Bella…" Rosalie attempted to soothe as she took Bella into her arms but was stopped as Bella tore away from her grasp and continued pacing before clenching her fists together tightly, her eyes locked to the bay window as the first snowflake fell. Bella stopped her movements completely and thought back to the note from Edward. Here it was, the first snowfall of the season.

"Bella, please. Try to get a grip on yourself. Now is not the time for vengeance, it is a time for mourning." Carlisle said softly, knowing his words were falling on deaf ears as Bella shook her head.

"Did you not hear him? He said that the attack is still going on. There are defenseless humans on the reservation who do not deserve to be killed. We need to do something, we need to protect them" Bella murmured out as she felt her jaw startle to tingle, making it slightly difficult to speak. The words that Seth had spoken seemed to resonate deep within her body and she could feel the odd sensation of what could only be described as the combination of ice and fire meeting together in the center of her chest, causing her eyes to flicker. Not used to the sensation, Bella found her hands moving up to her eyes, rubbing them.

"Bella, you have our deepest sympathies regarding Seth and yes, we all heard that but we need to plan. We cannot jump into battle, please consider that before acting rash." Carlisle tried once more to reason but Bella let out a light growl in frustration.

"Damn your sympathies. You don't know the first thing about Seth. He was a child, barely past the age of 15. He had so many ideas, so many things he wanted to do in this life. He was a genius and incredibly innovative. He also possessed one of the purest, sincerest, kindest hearts of anyone that I have known or likely will know. He's dead now and hell… He never even experienced his first kiss as he was waiting for his imprint…And now, now he will never get to. These vampires want us, they want me and he sacrificed himself to protect us all. How could you even begin to think about not returning that favor now and honoring him?" Bella snapped back, her emotions suddenly heightening.

"Bella, please. You need to understand. This type of involvement will surely get into the line of sight with the Volturi. We need to stay here and stick to the course. I understand that this is tough to bear, but shifter affairs are not our concern. We have always let them be as they have us. We should not get involved." Carlisle attempted one last time with reasoning.

Bella paused as she tried to collect her thoughts before responding to what she would call the most ridiculous statement she had ever heard come from Carlisle's lips.

"I apologize for my bluntness on the matter but… What the hell is the point of you deciding to drink animal blood if when called upon to actually protect humans you cower in fear?" Bella retorted with words of wisdom that did not appear to be her own.

Carlisle and the rest of the family could not respond, but looked upon Bella in shock and awe as she squared her shoulders, and flicked her hair back as she locked a sidewise glance at her family.

"You can do whatever you think is right. Far be it from me to judge your moral compass. I understand I don't have years worth of bias clouding my judgement. But I refuse to sit back and allow some group of rogue vampires murder the innocent. Our future and fate with the Volturi are sealed but the death of these innocents is not. You do what you feel is best as the Coven leader. For myself, I am going to do all in my power to prevent any more senseless killing." Bella murmured out and took one step forward before she felt a cool hand grip tightly within her own. Her eyes shot to the left where she met the gaze of her one and only mate, Alice.

"Anywhere that you go, I will follow. Always. My place is not in front or behind, but rather beside you and that is where I will remain, from now until the ends of time. Alice murmured, her darkened orbs locked onto Bella's own that were flickering in color schemes that Alice had not yet witnessed.

" I love you, Alice. I could not have chosen a more suitable imprint, even in a thousand years than fate did when it chose you" Bella spoke once more in a manner that was not her own, and Alice simply smiled.

"I love you too, my Bella. Now, let's go. We have some innocents to save." Alice responded and didn't care to even share a glance behind to her family, her eyes focused in front of her to where the present and future lay, and reason for such, who was standing right beside her.