Chapter Twenty-Two: Shadows and Flame
The Waterfall House - February 1st
"Good morning." Eliza said as Leah opened her eyes, a beam of sunlight hitting Eliza's face just enough to cause a slight glow across her skin. Leah reached up and touched the spot that glowed, and Eliza smiled.
"Good morning sunshine." Leah yawned hard and sat up, feeling a little disoriented but happy. She looked over at Eliza who sat up next to her. The sunshine had moved down to her arm which also glowed slightly in the beam of brightness.
Eliza caught Leah staring and chuckled, "we don't sparkle like most vampires."
"You're really not like the rest of them. Maybe that's why I could inprint?" Leah caressed her fingertips across Eliza's cheek, and in response Eliza closed her eyes and pressed into the touch.
"Maybe, I honestly don't know. What I do know is I like waking up with you." Eliza kept her eyes closed as she spoke, opening them to meet Leah's gaze as she finished. The widening smile on Eliza's face gave Leah a rush of emotions. Then it dawned on her, Eliza was still there.
"You've been up for a while haven't you?" Leah's question implied something else, that Eliza had been watching her sleep for hours. Of course that was the assumption, Eliza was graceful enough to have gotten up and done any number of things while Leah slept, but she hadn't changed out of her night clothes.
"A couple of hours, I let myself sleep longer than usual." Eliza said languidly, stretching out her arms above her head, and met Leah's gaze.
"I can only get about five hours a night anymore." Shaking her head, Leah only had vague memories of taking naps and sleeping until noon during summer holidays.
"So what do you want to do today?" Eliza asked brightly, her smile somehow widening with excitement.
"Breakfast, look in on Seth and then… well anything you want." Leah shrugged, but couldn't help smiling back, restraining the impulse to kiss her.
"I want to see how fast you can run." Eliza's eyes widened slightly, and her eyebrows raised up high.
Leah gave her an incredulous look, "okay, is this curiosity or scientific research for your Volturi masters?"
"Research of course, muhahaha…" Eliza stopped and giggled for a few seconds, shaking her head. "Sorry I can't pull that off."
"That wasn't bad actually." Leah smiled reassuringly with a small shrug of acceptance.
"Thanks." Eliza gave her a genuine grin back, then frowned slightly as an unpleasant thought crossed her mind which threatened to sour the general brightness of the morning so far.
Eliza paused for a second, then launched into her thought, "I was thinking about what you said last night, and I have a question about your wolf link."
"Normally that would be off limits information, but you have special privileges." Leah tried to deadpan but Eliza actually bounced a couple times with joy in response.
"Yay." Eliza grinned and did a little arm dance, making Leah laugh at the absurdity of it.
"What's the question?" Leah managed through a grin that was starting to hurt her cheeks.
"Is it a full sharing of minds or just communication? Because we kind of unloaded a lot of personal information to you and Jacob and it isn't really for the pack." Eliza winced slightly, not sure how Leah would take it but in turn Leah just shook her head with a small smile.
"So the pack link is weird, we share thoughts and emotions freely across it, but it is surface, mostly." Leah paused, and moved her jaw considering how much more to say. Given what Eliza had shared it felt right to reciprocate.
"What do you mean mostly?" Eliza asked with a worried tone.
"Nothing you have to worry about. Pack leadership, me and Jacob and occasionally Paul, can dive deeper if needed. However, we only use that kind of invasive search of memories for disciplinary reasons under extreme rule violations exclusively. A normal pack member doesn't have the strength of will to invade another pack member's mind or memories that way. In fact the only reason I can is because I've been a wolf for a century and Jacob has shared his power with me for that long." Leah looked down at the pattern on the bed spread, trying to push away her thoughts of inadequacy. Eliza took her hand and squeezed tightly enough to be reassuring.
"From what I've seen, you have your own power." Eliza said with the kind of confidence that Leah felt she lacked lately.
"Jacob comes from a long line of Alphas, in the Clearwater family tree there's been like one wolf and they were only a pack member." Leah said quietly, admitting her long held belief that Jacob had only chosen her as his second because she was there for him when he needed her, and Seth was too young.
"That doesn't mean anything. Jacob trusts you, and I trust you. You are strong and compassionate and loyal. Isabella said that in that tunnel, you were amazing on point." Eliza didn't like seeing her struggle, but with Seth injured, Leah was starting to let go of her tightly held issues with confidence and self worth. All stemming from two early traumas which she never really addressed.
"She said that?" Leah asked meekly, feeling vulnerable.
"What's wrong?" Eliza simply cocked her head slightly, her voice calming and it was clear all she wanted was to help and listen to Leah's problems. Leah immediately felt a heavy weight on her chest as she realized that someone was finally there for her. Not just her brothers, because Jacob and Seth would do anything for her, but with Eliza it was different and perhaps more powerful.
"Honestly, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. You are more than I expected, and it's making me realize I've never had anything like this and I'm not sure I'm worthy of your attention." Leah had trouble meeting Eliza's gaze all of a sudden, and looked down at the blanket again.
"Hogwash." Eliza said, waving her hand dismissively before reaching out to lift Leah's chin forcing her to look at her. "You are absolutely worth my attention."
Leah kept looking into Eliza's eyes and felt a bit of a release of her pent up tension, but could only shake her head. "I haven't told anyone about this, not even Seth is aware of what happened."
"You can tell me, I promise to keep it to myself. I can hold stuff back from my mom too." Eliza promised, leaning low and whispering to avoid other people in the house from hearing.
Leah shook her head once, "she can know, and it happened so long ago that I'm not sure it matters."
"Okay, what happened?" Eliza pressed her forehead to Leah's and stared into her eyes. Leah closed hers and lowered her head against Eliza's shoulder, speaking low with obvious pain.
"When I shifted for the first time, I was having an argument with my father. I was so angry, and it just happened. Except, he was so caught off guard and terrified that he had a heart attack. He died because of me." Leah's voice was tiny, fragile and deeply sad. A pain so ingrained that she could barely say it out loud.
"Oh my… but Leah, that's not your fault." Eliza shook her head, and lifted Leah's chin up so that they could look at each other properly.
Leah leaned back and shut down a little, burying her hands in her lap and lowering her head, "isn't it? Sam hurt Emily in exactly the same way and he never forgave himself."
"But that's not remotely the same thing! Sam already knew he was a wolf right?" Leah nodded at the question. "That means he knew it was a possibility and didn't keep his distance. You were the first woman to shift into a wolf within the history of your people. That means you had no idea it was even a possibility, let alone expected it to happen. Hell, did the pack even know about you?" Leah shook her head again.
"No, but that doesn't matter. I turned and he died." Leah was still quite despondent, unable to pull back out of her shell because she was finding all of it overwhelming.
"Hon, it was basically an accident. You were no more at fault than Jacob or the rest of the pack for failing to protect my mom. It was horrible and unfair, but from what my mom remembers of your dad I know he would never have blamed you." Leah looked at Eliza intently, and found herself nodding. Even though the memories of her father were a bit fuzzy she only remembered his humor and his kindness. They always had a good relationship, it was just hard because she had been so angry before she turned. Her recklessly abnormal behavior in the wake of becoming a shifter forced him to confront her. Harry had been so worried about Seth shifting that it never occurred to him that Leah could as well, until it was too late.
"Mom did." A tear slipped down Leah's cheek, as she thought about the fractured relationship with her mother. A relationship that remained broken until the day she died.
"Did she actually say that?" Eliza reached out and squeezed Leah's shoulder, then then pulled her in close. Leah just nodded, as more tears began to fall.
"Not exactly, but she was so distant with me after I turned. Eventually she moved in with Billy and we barely spoke until she died." Eliza just listened, and stroked Leah's hair which had been cut to just below her shoulders.
"I like your haircut." Eliza said softly, and Leah looked up and smiled at her. "I can't deny that the emotions behind what happened to your father are complicated, and I cannot entirely blame your mother for reacting the way she did, but I do blame her for throwing away those years.
"I wish it were that simple." Leah said through a resigned sigh.
"Leah, you had some shitty things happen to you. None of it is on you, from what I have seen you have been a loyal member of the pack and have done a lot to help the Quileute. From the money you guys have generated for the tribe to the organization efforts put into the relocation of La Push after that major beach erosion. So you had a crap boyfriend who fell for someone else, and lost your father to unforeseen and tragic circumstances. If your mother couldn't see how special you were, then yes it was on her." Eliza's impassioned words forced Leah up so she could look at her, and they brought a new wave of intense emotions accompanied by tears.
"Thank you." Leah wiped away her tears and took a few calming breaths before meeting Eliza's gaze again. "Okay so back to the question… um there is only one other thing, the link is limited to our wolf forms. We cannot hear each other when in our human form."
"Good, I know I get caught up in the emotions of things… So you'll be okay?" Eliza looked genuinely worried, but Leah just shook her head and reached up to squeeze Eliza's shoulder and found it surprisingly human, soft almost. At least until Eliza flexed and her shoulder muscles felt like coiled steel.
"I think so, and trust me, I understand. It's a hole in our defenses, but does provide some privacy. I'm not sure why it works that way, but we've adapted. So why are you curious about how fast I can run?" Leah's expression had lightened, and Eliza let herself relax in turn.
Eliza shrugged, "it's kind of just a general interest, we found that your senses cannot see through my cloak, I want to know if you are faster than us."
"Why don't we race?" Leah suggested with a wide smile.
Eliza's eyes widened again in excitement, "ooooh… I love that idea. Let's get ready."
They got dressed separately, and Eliza grabbed a bag with a change of clothes for Leah after the run. Leah went off to check on her brother, and Eliza went to the Batcave to check on her mother, where she found her playing solitaire on one of the computers.
"How did you find solitaire? Nevermind, I thought you were deeply invested in research mode." While incredulous, Eliza kept her tone mostly playful.
Isabella shrugged, "I ran out of information to sort though. Although some headlines caught my attention."
"Oh?" Eliza asked, feeling a touch of concern, and cocked her head in curiosity. Isabella pulled up a couple of tabs with headlines detailing explosions of two buildings. A large estate in Chicago and the top several floors of a tower in Tokyo.
"Someone has openly attacked the Tokyo coven and Chicago. Literally destroying their bases of operation, no word on if the covens survived at all." Isabella shook her head slightly in worry, she didn't like the systematic approach to this.
"Mei." Eliza said breathlessly, the name bringing up a concern that Isabella hadn't even considered.
"Yeah, I'll send a message. I also spoke with Aro, he is aware and has dispatched Santiago and Renata who are gonna look into the attack in Tokyo." Isabella pushed back from the desk and spun towards Eliza, folding her arms over her chest.
"Does he want us to go to Chicago?" Eliza asked, raising an eyebrow.
Isabella shook her head, "as you know Chicago has been a no-go for over a decade. Despite the explosion, there are no reports of anything supernatural occurring in the area. I have no idea how they remain so remarkably clean."
Eliza nodded, "I've heard rumors of a pair of gifted vampires that the coven leans on to clean up their dirty laundry."
"Do we know who they are?" It was Isabella's turn to be curious and gave her daughter a quizzical frown. In response Eliza frowned deeply and shook her head.
"They're not on the list, and apparently refuse to present themselves to the Volturi. We don't even have names for them, since the Caravelli's won't admit they even exist." Eliza opened up the secure folder on the Volturi internal network to see if there was anything new, and noted two recent searches from outside the network.
"What's up?" Isabella asked, looking over her shoulder.
"Probably just Jane or Felix accessing the portal, but someone has been in this folder recently." Eliza scrunched up her nose, and half smirked in frustration.
"Chicago?" Isabella clarified.
"Yuppers. Which is a bit weird." Eliza shook her head and closed the shared drive folder.
"Probably Jane, I mentioned the midwest the last time we spoke." Isabella guessed, but Eliza gave her a look because it seemed unlikely to her.
Eliza pursed her lips and shrugged, "right, well these mysterious vamps with powers almost warrant a visit."
"I would agree, but right it isn't going to happen because Aro thinks we should table any investigation into Chicago for the time being. On another note, I spoke to Henry, he is withdrawing me from school. He looked a bit conflicted, so we'll see." Isabella rolled the chair back towards the desk and took over at the computer terminal as Eliza backed away.
"I'm gonna head out with Leah, and I think we're officially dating now." Eliza said somewhat casually, but still drew her mother's attention.
Isabella kept her expression flat, but sent a strong wave of joy and relief towards her daughter, "I'm glad, but it is a bit fast."
"She's special." Eliza countered easily.
"I know, and I trust her with your heart, an imprint is basically a sure thing." Isabella turned back towards the computer thinking that was the end of the conversation but Eliza lingered. She looked back towards her daughter with a touch of concern.
"I'm not worried about her." Eliza said after a long pause.
"You're worried about yourself." Isabella offered with a knowing nod, her own emotional turmoil involving a certain raven haired vampire was still circling around in the back of her mind. Eliza nodded, "you should move slowly, figure out how you feel. You tend to rush into things."
"Mom, this is my first real girlfriend… I don't know how to slow down." Eliza said with a bit of panic, but Isabella gave her a half shrug.
"I wish I had more, I'm sorry, I'm not exactly qualified to give advice." Isabella winced, but Eliza just sighed and gave her a soft smile.
"It's okay, I know how it's been for you. See you later. Oh mom, don't forget to check your phone the message light is blinking." Isabella rolled her eyes and went back to stare at the computer. A little while later she reluctantly picked up her phone, only to realize service was hovering around one bar. She walked out of the cave and immediately several missed calls and text messages showed up on her phone.
"Shit." She muttered to herself as she began to scroll through the missed alerts; Carlisle called twice and left a voicemail, Alice, Rosalie and even Edward left a text message. All of them asking for help.
North of Forks - February 1st
"Now, let's see who can't keep up!" Eliza grinned at Leah and darted into the trees. Leah immediately gave chase.
A couple of hours passed, and in a pleasant surprise they discovered they were relatively evenly matched. While Eliza was slightly faster and capable of shifting directions and turning quickly with obstacles such as trees in the way. Leah as a wolf could win in an all out sprint on open land. After figuring out their strengths, they made a game out of the whole thing. Each pushed forward as they moved from forest to grasslands, further and further north, like a supernatural game of tag.
When they reached the Salish Sea Eliza stopped cold and it took several strides before Leah noticed. It took her a moment, but as she padded back along the beach she realized what was wrong. She moved towards a small copse of trees and shifted, her bag containing a change of clothes. Eliza was standing as still as a statue as she approached, and risked brushing against Eliza's hand. Without hesitation Eliza grasped at Leah's touched and intertwined their fingers.
"I've never seen these waters." Eliza said with a haunted expression. "In person."
Leah nodded softly before responding, "I haven't been back in nearly a century. Since we returned after finding that cabin."
"You found it?" Eliza looked over.
"Yeah, I don't know what she went through exactly. But given the condition of that place, it wasn't hard to imagine. Jacob never forgave himself." Leah felt her stomach turn from the mental images conjured, shutting her eyes tightly to push the thoughts away. Eliza put a hand on Leah's shoulder, bringing her back to the moment.
"I could tell you everything, but I don't think it would settle your mind. If it helps though, it wasn't his fault, or yours." Eliza offered but Leah shook her head.
"I know, but that didn't change things. Well, it didn't change how we felt. When we found that place, it was because Jacob left the pack." Leah wasn't sure how much Jacob had told Isabella, but from Eliza's expression she could tell Eliza didn't know their side of the story.
"He left the pack to find my mom?" Eliza sounded a bit shocked, her mouth partially agape in confusion.
"Sam had gotten to the end of the search and tried to force Jacob from continuing the search. Jake was a bit obsessed, so he used his power as a chieftain's son and broke away. At the time it felt like the right move to go with him. I didn't know it would come to define our lives." Leah sounded a bit lost and at the same a little nostalgic.
Eliza lowered her head deep in thought and muttered mostly to herself, "there's so much history here. I thought I knew everything, but I was wrong."
Leah nodded, "after Bella… Isabella disappeared, we checked on everyone. Charlie Swan vanished, and a few of Bella's friends too. For everyone that died or disappeared we watched over the remains of their families over the years, just in case that bitch came back on a whim. Thankfully they lived normal lives."
"Wow, I never would've thought… Thank you. Mom would be deeply touched that your pack cared that much about her." Eliza was shocked again, but this time the emotions threatened to make her cry.
"Or we felt guilty enough. Doesn't matter much anymore, most of them have moved on. Eventually only one of the Webber brothers stuck around." Leah hadn't thought much about that family, having delegated the family watch to one of the pups who gave Paul weekly reports. The last she heard of Isaac, he had passed well over a decade ago.
"Webber, as in Angela?" Eliza's brow furrowed and she leaned in feeling a weight of responsibility. She would never have imagined any other connection in town, but thinking about it the eventuality made sense.
"Yeah, I didn't know her personally, but her great grandniece goes to Forks High." Leah shrugged, trying to remember the name from the last report.
"Oh no, please no. What's her name?" Eliza pressed, having a bad feeling in her stomach. What were the chances? Was fate fucking with them all again?
"Um… M something, Madison. Oh, shit. That Madison?" Leah's eyes went wide, and Eliza's shoulders fell.
"Fuck. Well that figures. I guess that's another reason to watch over her. Let's not tell my mom about that one yet." Eliza pouted, she had so much going on that she was starting to have trouble keeping everything together. From the wolves laying injured in her new house, to the realization that the Cullens were not the devil incarnate and finally to Leah who had suddenly become very important to her.
"Might be a good idea. Um, so about that kiss, if you feel weird about it please don't worry I…" Eliza shook her head and pulled Leah close, kissing her softly.
"Kissing you is nothing to be ashamed about, you're gorgeous and sweet and even without the imprint I would probably be into you. The fact that you did just makes it easier to trust, which is the thing I have the hardest problem with. Although mom did warn me that I tend to over do it sometimes."
"I won't hold it against you." Leah cracked a smile, and pressed her forehead against Eliza's. That's when she caught motion on the far distant shore, a group of seven figures emerging from the water and immediately breaking into a panicked run… towards Forks.
"Company." Leah pointed, and Eliza turned to catch a tall male vampire with brown hair disappear into the treeline.
"He looked vaguely familiar… Garrett. Denali. Why on Earth would they be running? Crap!" Eliza pulled out her phone. "No bloody service, and I told mom and I didn't listen to my own advice."
"Someone might be following them, I'll alert the pack and watch for what we're dealing with." Leah volunteered, and Eliza almost shook her head with an emphatic no. Instead she held onto her forearm and squeezed it slightly, nodding once.
"I don't like it, but fine. Be careful, I would be upset if I lost you now." For emphasis, Eliza leaned in and kissed Leah before turning and taking off. Looking back once as she moved out of line of sight with longing and fear in her heart.
The Cullen Residence - February 1st
Carlisle frowned and closed his book with a snap expressing his frustration, quickly tossing it onto a stack on a table next to his favorite chair, "Alice, could you tell me when to expect our guests?"
"They're almost here." Edward announced, giving Alice a side eye stare.
"Three minutes." Alice said, sending a glare towards Edward. Esme took a deep breath and stood, as Carlisle moved over to stand next to her. The rest of the family gathered behind them, positioned facing the door. Exactly three minutes later the front door slammed open wide, without the harbinger of a knock, and seven vampires ran into the house with an air of terror and utter panic in their expressions.
"Carlisle, do you know what's coming?" Tanya said, looking around at the Cullens.
"Danger enough to force you to abandon your home, but the details are difficult. The future kind of blacks out soon. I have nothing." Alice frowned, but guessed it had something to do with either the wolves or Isabella and Eliza. "Things have been blocking my gift lately."
"Wonderful, Edward, can you hear anything coming?" Tanya said, turning towards Edward in frustration.
"My range is only a mile, I'll sense whatever is coming before they get here. But it will be a last alert." Edward shrugged, he wasn't even sure if that was accurate. He had been bad at keeping track of even his own family's minds lately.
"We need to get ready, or run." Tanya said with panic widening her eyes.
"Whatever it is, there are fourteen of us, we can handle it." Emmett said with anticipation in his eyes.
"No, you don't understand, it's a bigger army than I've ever seen or heard of." Tanya said urgently.
Jasper spoke up, "How many?" He asked his question while sending everyone a wave of pure calm in an effort to soothe the room.
"It was hard to keep track as we ran, but Irina counted between fifty and sixty vampires, mostly newborn. Plus maybe fifteen to twenty massive wolves. Did your Quileute tribe finally decide we needed to be killed?" Laurent's thick accent was tinged with both fear and disgust.
Jasper's jaw dropped open. "That's... insane. There hasn't been an army anywhere near that size since the Volturi put down the rebellions almost two centuries ago. Anyone with that many uncontrolled newborns is just begging for the Volturi to step in and destroy them."
Tanya spoke urgently, Jasper 's wave of calm was the only thing taking the edge off of her panic. "We have to run; they could be here any minute."
"Run where?" Rosalie asked the room in general, "Just keep running with an army on our tail?"
Jasper shook his head. "There's no way we can defeat numbers like those."
Alice was about to respond, but any response was cut off by a sudden and surprisingly gentle knock on the glass of the back patio door. The entire house turned as one where a black hooded figure politely rapped glass again. Crouched on the handrail of the back porch behind her was another black clad form, facing away from the house.
"Mon dieu! Gendarme!" Laurent exclaimed, reverting to his native tongue again.
"Who the hell is that?" Tanya asked laconically, surprised by the new arrival and Laurent's outburst.
"Volturi guard." Eleazar said in a calm murmur as he frowned at the two figures. He suddenly stiffened and let out a small gasp, rocking back on his heels in surprise, openly staring.
"What's wrong El?" asked Carmen, concerned at the expression on her mate's face.
"I've never known them to actually help in a situation like this." He whispered into his wife's ear. She gave him a pained look but nodded once slightly to let him know she understood the danger.
"They are here to help." Carlisle said calmly, moving towards the patio doors. Isabella stayed motionless but Eliza hopped down and pulled back her hood.
"Leah…" Eliza started but Tanya reared back and hissed as she took in Eliza's unique eye color.
"Executioner!" The word came out like a curse.
"Hardly, I fraking hate that name. As I was saying, Leah is keeping watch and gathering the pack. We may be able to draw off the wolves and some of the newborns."
"Good. Isabella?" Carlisle looked towards the other black clad figure who also pulled back her hood.
"Irina is right, around sixty. There is also a pattern, someone is doing this systematically around the world. Chicago, New York, London, Cairo, Moscow and Tokyo have all been hit. The council has sent out investigators, but I doubt we're going to find much more than charred bodies and heads." Isabella's cold delivery sent shivers down the spines of most of the Denali clan who were struggling to accept a Volturi as an ally.
"You already have the Quileute involved?" Carlisle asked, wondering if the pack would be up to the challenge with two members healing from their last conflict.
"They are our allies, so yes." Isabella said without inflection.
"So how do you suggest we solve this imminent problem? It's not as if we can fight those numbers. Even with the two of you in the mix." Edward said with obvious disdain in his voice.
Eliza rolled her eyes, and looked around at the group, her voice shifting into something overly sweet. "If you'd be so kind as to stay here, we'll take care of this."
"You want us to stay here? As if you're going to handle all of them by yourselves?" Edward stated, looking puzzled, still smarting from Isabella's casual dismissal.
Isabella cocked her head at him and smiled. "Feel free to join us, but I promise it will be the last thing you ever do."
Edward's eyes flew open wide and he began to sneer, "How dare you insinuate I cannot hold my own in a fight. I'm one of the most dangerous vampires alive!"
Isabella flashed over to him, so fast he could barely track her movement. Her emotionless expression forced him to step back once to distance himself from her gaze. "You are hardly the most dangerous vampire alive. I have seen guard recruits with more acumen than you could ever have. You spineless waste of space."
"What's wrong with you?" Edward said through gritted teeth. "You were kind and compassionate once."
"I don't have time for you." Isabella turned away, and Edward tried to reach out to grab her shoulder. Her left hand snatched his extended wrist and as she turned she held him in place. Then she pulled him close, within an inch of her own face. "I warned you about trying to touch me." She stared into his eyes and began to squeeze. At first he didn't flinch, and then he started to wince and looked over at his wrist in panic.
"How, what… stop! That hurts!" Edward tried to pull at her fingers with his free hand, but she just started to smile as her eyes turned pitch black. Then there was a loud crack that echoed through the cavernous room and Edward took in a deep breath of fear and fell to his knees, closing his eyes and clenching his teeth with his lips parted.
"Isabella, please stop." Esme pleaded, and Isabella broke her intense glare towards Edward and looked at her.
"Fine." Isabella let go of Edward and he fell to the ground clutching his wrist as the crack which had radiated up his forearm began to heal. Her eyes cleared back to their crimson red and she knelt down and made sure he was paying attention to her.
"You do not get another warning. If you cross my personal space, threaten myself or my daughter… or Alice again and I will kill you. Rip you apart and burn the pieces until you are nothing but a bit of purple smoke and a memory." Isabella's voice was more than threatening, and Edward finally seemed to absorb that his life was in actual danger, he nodded a couple of times which seemed to satisfy her.
"So what are you going to do?" Garrett asked with a small twinge of excitement on his face, he had heard of these two Volturi enforcers and was curious what they were capable of, on top of watching such a display of strength that he was beyond impressed.
Isabella glanced at Garrett and stood, before turning to her daughter, "how do you want to handle this one?"
"I'm thinking shiny." Eliza said with a big grin. Isabella audibly sighed and hung her head.
"That is dangerous and foolish." Isabella pursed her lips, "but I don't have a better idea. Although, I will never understand how you can distill a major principle from the 'Art of War', down to 'Shiny'."
"Practice! Plus I excel at being dazzling." Eliza waggled her eyebrows and began to look around the room.
"Oh, you want to do it?" Isabella looked concerned, but curious what her daughter had in mind.
"Of course, because you are about as shiny as a dirt road." Eliza frowned, and Isabella sighed again, shaking her head in exasperation.
Isabella shook her head, "fair enough. Where should I set up?"
"Best place is in the clearing right here." Eliza replied.
"Okay, I'll position myself in the trees and remain cloaked. This better be good." Isabella
"It'll be classic." Eliza winked and picked up an old decorative broom sitting by the fireplace. The straw bunched into a point was perfect for her purposes. "May I borrow this?"
"Ah, sure." Carlisle said in utter confusion. The rest of the room realized a split second later that Isabella had vanished from sight.
"One more thing, does anyone have matches?" Eliza looked around and found a pack of matches sitting on the mantle. "Nevermind. Perfect. Alright, stay here and don't come out. This will be a bit improvisational." Then Eliza was out the door, as the group watched her leave in stunned silence.
"That one is crazy." Irina said, shaking her head in disbelief.
"She isn't crazy." Alice said softly, moving up to the patio doors and closing them.
"Are we really going to stand by and let them get themselves killed? From the rumors I've heard about those two we might stand a chance as a group if we work together." Tanya asked, looking out at the wide expanse behind the house. The small hill was surrounded by very tall evergreen tree trunks and capped by a river that was wide enough to provide a natural barrier for the property.
"I agree, there are fourteen of us. If we go out there…" Emmett started but Alice shook her head.
"We die." Alice interrupted.
"How can you be so sure?" Esme asked with worry, giving her a look clearly wondering if this dire prediction was tied to a vision.
"Because most of us are non-combatant. I can fight, but without my visions I'd fare no better than Esme, because right now I'm blind. Edward uses his telepathy to gain information from his opponents, but if he is surrounded that will be of little use. Sure Adara, Emmett, Jasper, Garrett, Laurant and Kate can all fight, but that means our numbers are half a dozen at best." Esme frowned, and the rest of the family looked around at each other realizing she had a point.
"So you're just going to trust that two Volturi enforcers are strong enough to take down a newborn army numbering at least fifty?" Irina said with a bit of hostility.
"Yes, and you should trust in that as well." Alice nodded confidently.
"Maybe, I mean the Volturi have always had a habit of collecting powerful members. I know you're all aware of the witch twins, Jane and Alec." Tanya began, pausing for just a second to make sure everyone knew of them. "Well, rumors have been floating around about a new set of twins they have. The Assassin and the Executioner. I've never heard them referred to in any other way. Up until very recently anytime there's unrest it's always those two have been associated. They don't play, they kill quickly and without mercy if needed. But do not cull, it's strange and not the usual Volturi MO."
Kate nodded and expounded. "We saw them once about twenty years ago. There was a vampire in Juneau, starting to leave a mess of bodies. We went to investigate because it was getting close to our home. We tracked them down only to find two in Volturi robes leaving an old gym on fire."
"How do you know it was those two the rumors are about?" Emmett interjected.
Tanya smiled without a trace of mirth. "Because for the briefest of moments they looked at us, and I could only see the black eyes of the Assassin and the violet eyes of the Executioner. The same unnatural black as we just saw on Isabella when she manhandled Edward and there is no mistaking the other one. Black and purple, I've heard that they're scary enough that even other Volturi are uneasy around them."
"Anyone's eyes can be black." Edward scoffed and shook his head, although he was still clutching his arm and his eyes were a bit wide from fear.
"No. Not like that." Tanya shuddered a little bit.
Edward suddenly stood and even dropped his wounded arm and moved quickly over to stare out at the sprawling grass behind the house. "They're here, they almost all share the same thought, repeated again and again. 'Kill the Denali. Kill the yellow-eyes.' It consumes their thoughts, leaving nothing else." He winced and put his hands to his head, the chorus now sounding deafening as they approached, forcing his hands to his head to try and block them.
"We're sorry we led them to you." Tanya said quietly to Carlisle.
"Nonsense. No matter what happens, our families stand together." Carlisle said as he turned to stare out the window. "Besides, I think those two may have a trick or two up their sleeves."
Behind the Cullen Residence - February 1st
The sound wasn't natural. More than just the stomping of feet and the crashing of bodies through the underbrush. There was a guttural noise akin to a soft growl that rose up like chaos incarnate from the writhing mass of newborn flesh that surged almost as one amorphous beast towards the Cullen house. They emerged without hesitation moving towards a black clad figure standing in the center of the field. She stood motionless, waiting for just the right moment.
Then from her right arm she brought around the broom and lit the straw on fire, as the flames quickly consumed the top in a dramatic flare of orange fire, she projected out her voice as loudly as possible, "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" Slamming down the handle of the broom to the ground with enough force to cause a small tremor shattering the wood and using her mother's ability to cause shadows to furl out surrounding the approaching newborn army. Her voice carried through the shadows, reverberating in an ever growing echo of sonic power, hitting each vampire nearby in the chest forcing them to stop in place. While most of the newborns cowered in terror, a few cocked their heads in confusion, although both reactions achieved the proper affect.
"Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me." Isabella sent across the link as she leapt into action at their rear flank of the army.
Eliza heard her mother's reaction and couldn't help but smile. While in reality she was nothing more than a single crazy vampire wielding a burning broom, to the masses she looked like a sorcerer wielding shadows which had begun to surround and enclose the collected newborns in a writhing black cage.
Isabella struck out silently, eliminating six before anyone noticed she was attacking. On the next attack she made a screeching sound empowered by shadows to make her presence known. It had the desired effect of scattering the vampires nearby her, not that it would have mattered; It was already too late for three other vampires as they lost their heads. From that brutal attack and the nine bodies at her feet, the rest of the group began to back up in fear, as the first of their shouts of shock were uttered. The leader and most of the vampires in front spun around at the sudden sounds of attack and death. This second distraction worked perfectly, and a moment too late the dark haired lead vampire realized his mistake and started to spin back around just in time to see Eliza's fist as it parted his head completely from his body.
Less than a minute into the battle the element of surprise and the confusion had rendered nearly half of the newborns incapacitated or dead. The loss of their leader kept them from organizing an effective resistance, but as surprise wore off, the rest began to rally. The slightly older newborns started to fight back, blocking and dodging instead of blindly attacking into Eliza and Isabella's offensive.
Yet Isabella switched tactics quickly, fighting with a cold and deliberate precision. Her movements quickly became a dance of strike and counterstrike, dodge and sidestep, spin and hit with a force calculated to inflict the most amount of pain and damage as possible. She became lost in the combat, her entire demeanor became detached, as anything resembling anger vanished beneath her icy gaze. She fought like a machine, utterly aware of her surroundings, continually eliminating an opponent and searching for her next target. With each blow that connected, she made sure that they shared her inner pain as she risked being consumed by a cold rage that was building with each kill.
Eliza was the exact opposite. Her movements were no less effective or devastating than Isabella's but she fought with a verve and energy that bordered on playfulness. Her movements took on a different fluidity than Isabella's, her dance a samba rather than a waltz. At times Eliza seemed to be dancing to music only she could hear as she darted and twisted between the vampires. There was a savage beauty to her movements, emphasized by her belittling taunts and bursts of almost maniacal laughter. It unnerved most of the newborns that dared to attack her.
"They're exquisite. I've never seen their equal." Garrett said in obvious reverence as he watched Eliza get hit in the stomach, catch the vampire's wrists and twist both of his arms off in a single fluid motion.
"They are so different, but the same. Look how the Executioner tripped that one right into the Assassin's attack." Laurent marveled, glancing at his brother with an appreciative grin.
"That was your human?" Kate said to Esme, who nodded without responding.
"Isabella was my mate." Edward said with a strange smile on his face. Alice glared at him but didn't say a word as she returned to watch her beloved dispense brutal violence.
"Really, she must've been fierce in the bedroom." Garrett said, nudging him with a knowing grin.
"He wouldn't know." Rosalie said with a smirk, crossing her arms and glaring at Edward who flashed his teeth at her.
"Really, was she not the loving type?" Garrett said furrowing his brow at his cousin.
"Will you stop it Edward." Alice said without taking her eyes off of Isabella. "She was not truly your mate, and she never will be."
"I beg to differ, once this is over I will win her back." Edward said confidently, looking almost aroused by how Isabella moved through the newborn army like they were weeds. Then as the fight began to narrow and the most skilled of the newborns were left numbering less than a dozen things got more tricky. They rallied yet again, and managed to find a measure of coordination in their attacks. One managed to grab Isabella's cloak, and soon she felt herself jerked back mid-leap and slammed to the ground.
Immediately Isabella rolled to the side to avoid the follow up attempt to smash her head in. She reached up to her throat and unhooked the cloak freeing her and she quickly turned things around as she used the cloak still in his hands to cover his head. Then she swept her foot out, tripping him and followed through with her foot slamming into the back of his neck, separating it from his shoulders. She stood up, and felt an explosion of pain in her shoulder, just as she heard a cry of surprise and pain from Eliza.
Isabella turned as she saw three vampires forcing Eliza face down to the ground. One was biting her shoulder while the other two had arms and legs in their deadly embrace. Isabella snarled and vanished from sight, flashing forward and throwing herself into them. The one biting Eliza's shoulder lost his balance and was knocked on his back. The two holding her arms and legs were pushed back a few steps, forcing them to let go. Isabella landed above her daughter, who immediately used Isabella's thighs as leverage to get herself to her feet.
Eliza turned towards the one that had bitten her, and Isabella attacked the other two. The rest of the vampires had backed away from this melee for a moment, trying to figure out how to move in and dispatch these terrifying creatures. In seconds Eliza had pulled her next opponent up off the ground and twirled him with an almost girlish giggle. She spun him so hard that when she let go he flew towards the rest of the gathered vampires like a wrecking ball knocking all but three down. She tossed his severed head to the side and launched herself towards the downed vampires disappearing again in mid-step.
The vampires looked around in fear and panic, trying to find some clue to her position, but they didn't wait long as she reappeared behind them repeating her first maneuver and four of the remaining seven died before they realized what was happening. The other three died noisily within seconds. Two fell to Isabella, the third from an attack he didn't even see coming as Eliza hit him from the side.
The field was macabre, and Jasper shut his eyes in pain flashing to the battlefields of his past. Pieces of fifty plus bodies scattered across the meadow, all quickly turning shades of gray. For several seconds everyone remained motionless. Isabella took several calming breaths and looked at Eliza.
"How bad?" Isabella asked, her voice soft and concerned.
"It was nothing." She rubbed her shoulder and felt the heat of her body healing the small wound from the bite. Isabella looked around at her phantom cage and dropped her control over the shadows.
"Why didn't they try to run?" Eliza looked around the corpses in mild confusion. The cage was impressive, but mostly illusionary. If more than a few had tried to escape it wouldn't have held.
Isabella opened her mouth to try and work it out, since most newborns were mindless monsters. However the older ones should have had a flight instinct when their numbers began to dwindle. Instead they all stayed to fight.
"I don't know." Isabella said as she surveyed the scattered body parts and realized after a moment that it had seemed… almost too easy. Isabella dismissed the thought as she looked up and saw several wolves pad into the clearing. Eliza saw Leah's familiar shade of gray and rushed over, wrapping her arms around the wolf's neck.
Leah leaned into the embrace, but her focus was on the field of violence behind Eliza. She whimpered slightly, and Eliza pulled away and looked down in shame. Leah just nuzzled against Eliza's cheek and they looked into each other's eyes for a moment. "Go get dressed, there's a lot to talk about."
Jacob moved over to Isabella, and then glanced at the two families starting to step out from the house. Alice flashed over towards Isabella and Jacob first.
"Jacob, right?" Alice said with a pleasant smile. The wolf nodded once, before looking at Isabella.
"Clothes, we need to figure out what to do next." Isabella said, crossing her arms. Jacob padded off into the forest and Isabella turned towards Alice.
"Thank you." Alice said, catching Isabella's gaze and keeping it. They kept eye contact for several seconds, with both trying to work out what to say next. Isabella broke away first and looked over at Eliza, then moved over and picked up the remains of the burning broom.
"Eliza, seriously? Gandalf's last stand? I mean, you remember how that ended?" Isabella's voice was dripping with sarcasm, but a light smile gave away her amusement.
Author's Note:
I had to move a somewhat short scene form this chapter to improve flow, it was moved to the beginning of the next chapter. This also is a small departure from the original with the logistics of the attack playing out differently. That's why more time is devoted to Leah and Eliza. Obviously the chapter was titled after the famous scene in the Mines of Moria in The Lord of The Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. I hope original readers enjoy the slight changes to the scene.
