2. CONFLICT

THE TIME HAS COME. THE BATTLE I was trained for since my rebirth had arrived. The newborns sauntered to the trees of the woods. There, we came across a dark lake and we stopped at the edge. Riley was the first to dive in and we followed him. I dived in the lake and my cold body emerged in the colder water. All I could hear was the water and felt the newborns' swimming techniques. Some were good and some were downright awful.

I swam forward in the lake and followed the newborns, who were following the scent of Bella Swan. I think we were swimming forward for an hour at least. Luckily, the sun didn't burn us underwater (wait, it shouldn't have any).

As the afternoon sun arrived, we rose from the river like an army of serial killers. The water droplets trailed from the top of our heads. We marched out from the river and into the woods, ready for battle.

We marched and marched on until we noticed six people standing in a line. They must be vampires or else who would be stupid to fight an army of newborns? What was unique about them, to me, was that they had golden eyes. I think they may have been old vampires that lived for years. Centuries, maybe. The newborns started to run to them with super speed and were ready to attack. I don't think we stood a chance against them. I ran behind a tree with the newborns who never spotted me. I wasn't surprised by that. They were more interested in getting the prey. I saw the newborn Bree hiding behind a tree so I decided to go to her and we watched it all unfold.

The newborns were being defeated and destroyed one by one. The army could lose and they will never get the prey. Come to think of it, it was for our good, especially Bella. Then, a few of the newborns got the upper hand, until something monstrous happened. A group of large wolves leapt out from the bushes and started to attack the army. Riley never warned us about these wolves. I didn't know these types of wolves before.

We were taught to stay out of the sun. We were taught to not draw attention. But we were never taught how to fight back. And I was so glad that Bree and I didn't take part in the battle. The newborns were being torn apart limb from limb, head to toe. I turned my eyes on Bree, who watched the battle continue. She reminded me of Louise: innocent, timid, fragile.

"Bree, are you okay?" I asked her.

She turned her head and her red eyes moved like a confused puppy. She looked everywhere and her face was scarred.

"Who said that?" Bree questioned.

"It's me. Violet." I answered her and she gasped.

"Where are you?" She sounded confused and scared.

I don't know what Bree was talking about. I was literally next to her, so how could she ask me where I was. It took me a few seconds to calm my nerves and not let the anger get the better of me.

"I'm right beside you," I said in a calm tone.

"How?" responded Bree fearfully. "I can't see you."

"Stop being a pain." I slowly started to get mad. "I'm right here."

"Violet, are you invisible?"

Then, it hit me. I looked down at my hand and I couldn't see the pale skin on my hand. It was as if it was gone. My clothes were also gone. I wore black ripped jeans, a leather jacket, a grey vest top and a pair of black trainers. I couldn't see any of my clothes yet I could barely see the outline of my hands. I am invisible. No one could see me.

Bree ran away from trees until she was stopped by two vampires, one male and one female. The male had blonde hair, pale skin and gold eyes. He seemed to have this charm about him. So fatherly. The woman had dark brown hair with a hint of caramel colour within, and like the man, she had pale skin and gold eyes. They must have been a couple judging by their shoulders nearly touching each other.

Why wasn't Bree fighting against them? While invisible, I walked from trees and I listened.

"Carlisle?" she asked in a confused voice, staring at Bree.

"She doesn't want to fight," he told her.

The woman touched his arm. He was still tensed to spring.

"She's so frightened, Carlisle. Couldn't we..."

The blonde, Carlisle, glanced back at her, and then he straightened up a little, though I could see he was still leery.

"We have no wish to harm you," the woman said to Bree. She had a soft, soothing voice. "We didn't want to fight any of you."

"I'm sorry," Bree whispered.

"Child," Carlisle said, "will you surrender to us? If you do not try to harm us, we promise we will not harm you."

And I believed him. I think Bree did too.

"Yes," Bree whispered back. "Yes, I surrender. I don't want to hurt anybody."

He held out his hand encouragingly. "Come, child. Let our family regroup for a moment, then we'll have some questions for you. If you answer honestly, you have nothing to fear."

Bree got up slowly, making no movements that could be considered threatening.

"Carlisle?" a male voice called.

And then another yellow-eyed vampire joined us. He was blond, like the first, but taller and leaner. His skin was covered in scars, spaced most thickly together on his neck and jaw. A few small marks on his arm were fresh, but the rest were not from the brawl today. He had been in more fights than anyone could have imagined, and he'd never lost. His tawny eyes blazed and his stance exuded the barely contained violence of an angry lion.

As soon as he saw Bree, he coiled to spring.

"Jasper!" Carlisle warned.

Jasper pulled up short and stared at Carlisle with wide eyes. "What's going on?"

"She doesn't want to fight. She's surrendered."

The scarred vampire's brow clouded, and suddenly I felt an unexpected surge of frustration. He was going to hurt Bree.

"Carlisle, I..." He hesitated, then continued, "I'm sorry, but that's not possible. We can't have any of these newborns associated with us when the Volturi comes. Do you realize the danger that would put us in?"

I didn't understand exactly what he was saying, but I got enough. He wanted to kill her.

"Jasper, she's only a child," the woman protested. "We can't just murder her in cold blood!"

It was strange to hear her speak like we both were people like murder was a bad thing. An avoidable thing.

"It's our family on the line here, Esme. We can't afford to have them think we broke this rule."

The woman, Esme, walked between Bree and Jasper. Incomprehensibly, she turned her back to her.

"No. I won't stand for it."

Carlisle shot Bree an anxious glance. I could see that he cared a lot for Esme.

"Jasper, I think we have to take the chance," he said slowly.

"We are not the Volturi. We follow their rules, but we do not take lives lightly. We will explain."

"They might think we created our newborns in defence."

"But we didn't. And even had we, there was no indiscretion here, only in Seattle. There is no law against creating vampires if you control them."

"This is too dangerous."

Carlisle touched Jasper's shoulder tentatively. "Jasper. We cannot kill this child."

Jasper glowered at the man with kind eyes, and I saw Bree getting angry. Surely he wouldn't hurt this gentle vampire or the woman he loved. Then Jasper sighed, and I knew it was okay. My anger evaporated.

"I don't like this," he said, but he was calmer. "At least let me take charge of her. You two don't know how to deal with someone who's been running wild so long."

"Of course, Jasper," the woman said. "But be kind."

Jasper rolled his eyes. "We need to be with the others. Alice said we don't have long."

Carlisle nodded. He held his hand out to Esme, and they headed past Jasper back toward the open field.

"They're coming." I heard a female voice.