*EPOV*

The next guests to arrive were our cousins from Denali followed by a three-member clan I'd never before met who were acquainted with Carlisle. Their leader, Ragnar, was a real-life Viking from the middle ages.

Of course, he had assimilated over the centuries so that he wasn't dressed in a tunic and armor or anything. But he had carefully curated his appearance so that he could blend into the modern world without attracting much notice while maintaining some facets of his Viking culture.

This was evidenced by Ragnar's stately blonde beard, which was an ashy blonde around his mouth and chin but darkened to a shade of milk chocolate down around his throat.

His straw-colored hair was styled in a clean crew cut, closely cropped on the sides and in the back, with a little pomp of longer hair in the front neatly combed to the side. His straight-nosed and thin-lipped features were unquestionably Scandinavian.

He was joined by a curvy redhead with a thick Scottish accent named Maisie and a tall, lanky fellow named Tristan. She was freckled and fair and as untamed as the sea. Tristan was scruffier in appearance with a mop of disheveled dirty brown hair, a five o'clock shadow, and a permanent smirk stretched across his chiseled square jaw.

While introductions were being made, Emmett asked with his usual tactlessness as he shook Ragnar's hand, "Aren't Vikings supposed to be, like, really tall?"

"Were you expecting Alexander Skarsgård? Five-foot-nine was really tall a thousand years ago," Ragnar harrumphed. He spoke in a tenor's voice with a thick Danish accent that sounded similar to a German one, but with a throatier, more sing-song quality.

"Zeus's beard! You're a big one, aren't you?" he added as he took in my brother's stature.

"That's what she s–" Emmett snickered only to be cut off by Rosalie's elbow in his ribs. "Put 'er there! The name's Emmett."

"Carlisle, why didn't you tell us you have such charming friends?" Tristan asked as he made a little bow and kissed Tanya's proffered hand. Like the flirt she was, Tanya lowered her chin and batted her eyelashes coquettishly.

"The pleasure is all mine," Tanya greeted with an intrigued smile.

"Not yet, but it will be," Tristan winked before moving on to Irina.

"What a large family you've made for yourself, Carlisle!" Maisie marveled as she surveyed all of the extraordinarily beautiful yellow-eyed vampires standing around.

At the time she'd first met Carlisle, she'd never met another vampire before or since who shared his objections to killing humans. She truthfully thought him a little eccentric for his beliefs. And here she now stood, outnumbered by the strange yellow eyes, and not by a small margin.

"So good to see you, Maisie!" Carlisle beamed, welcoming her with a kiss on the cheek. "Yes, my apologies for not staying in better touch. I guess you could say that I've been a little busy since I got married and the kids came along," he chuckled like a doting father of six who'd bumped into an old high school classmate at the grocery store.

"Let me introduce you! This is my lovely wife, Esme. My eldest, Edward, and his newlywed bride, Bella, who is brand new to immortality. You've already met Rosalie and her Emmett. And this is Alice and Jasper who joined us not long ago, back in the 1950s…"

He then introduced our cousins, further explaining that they weren't part of our coven (anymore) but that we'd all grown to be like family since the Denalis shared our vegetarian lifestyle.

I guess that's how you know you're talking to a vampire, Bella mentally quipped. Because when most of 'em use dates, they specify the century.

I barked out a laugh, drawing the attention of our guests who looked at me quizzically. "Sorry, Bella just had a funny thought," I quickly explained. Though my explanation did little to dispel their confusion.

"I didn't hear her say anything," Ragnar replied.

Carlisle took it upon himself to clarify. " Like you, I am blessed with a gifted family, Ragnar. It's why we're all here. Edward has the gift of mind-reading."

I could now see my face from three different perspectives in the inquisitive minds of the visiting clan.

Like Aro? wondered Maisie.

"Not exactly," I answered. "I don't need to touch you to hear you, though I don't hear as much as Aro does. Just what you're thinking at the moment," I answered truthfully.

Maisie gasped in astonishment and, to a lesser extent, a sense of violation at the knowledge that her private thoughts were no longer, well, private. It was a very typical reaction.

"Well, that explains your objection to the draft," Ragnar deduced.

Emmett snorted. "You don't know the half of it." Then pointing us out around the living room, he announced, "Mindreader. Mental shield. Empath. Future teller, and I'm extraordinarily awesome," he finished, pointing to himself with his thumb pressed to his chest and dimples on full display.

Normally this sort of honesty would earn Emmett another elbow to the ribs, but there didn't seem to be any reason to hold back from them now. Not when we'd all be working together toward a common goal.

"Gods, you are a talented lot!" Ragnar nodded appreciatively.

"Beg your pardon, but did you say future-teller?" Maisie cut in in a disbelieving voice. Alice smiled brightly at her and gave her a little four-fingered wave.

"Since we're all declaring ourselves," Kate interjected, I have an offensive gift. I can send an electrical current over my body that will knock anybody who messes with me on their ass."

"It's mighty annoying, but I wouldn't call it offensive…" Emmett mumbled thickly.

"Offensive like a lineman, Em, not like werewolf stench," Jasper explained under his breath.

"Gotcha."

"Are you hearing this, Ragnar?" Tristan laughed delightedly, slow-clapping a few times. "This is like a Ronco knives infomercial. It just keeps getting better! The foppish dandies won't know what hit 'em!" he bellowed enthusiastically.

Carlisle opened his mouth to insist that it would be a peaceful demonstration, but Jasper interjected before Carlisle could get a word in edgewise.

"Carlisle said you were also a talented family. If I may ask, what gifts are you bringing to the table?" Jasper asked with polite interest.

Eleazar chimed in then, crossing the room to shake hands with the blonde-bearded man. "Ragnar can manipulate water, as well as being a damn fine sailor. How odd that we should meet again under circumstances such as these," he mused.

"Eleazar. I almost didn't recognize you without your cloak," Ragnar acknowledged coolly.

"Best Captain to set across the seven seas, alive or dead," Tristan boasted, giving the more stoic man a playful shove.

"That's how we met. Ragnar captained the ship that took me to the New World. Tristan and Maisie were members of his crew. It's a real shame what happened to the others," Carlisle added, bowing his head in respect.

Ringing in Ragnar's ears was the never-forgotten screams of his long-lost crew as they burned alive. He could've put out the fires and saved them if only Jane hadn't incapacitated him.

"We've been waiting over two hundred years to get our revenge on the nīðing. It would seem that our time has finally come," Ragnar said with a grim smile and a faraway look in his ruby-red eyes.

"Ok, I'll be the one to ask…what happened to your crew?" Emmett tentatively asked with morbid fascination.

Ragnar grunted with displeasure. "I ran a side business smuggling Volturi-defectors and other criminals to the New World. You see, not everyone to leave Volterra was as fortunate as Carlisle to leave on such good terms.

"Those who could not pay joined the crew and worked off their debt on my ship. And some, like these two tåber, stayed long after their debt was paid. The others…well, when Caius got wind of my operation, he had them all killed in retribution. The only reason we were able to escape with our lives was that I negotiated a deal.

"You see, the old ones, they don't care to swim or fly. But they do, on occasion, need to travel. Discreetly. And that's where we come in."

"Ragnar transports the Guard now. He and I crossed paths many times in my Volturi days when Aro would send me around the world recruiting gifted individuals to join our ranks," Eleazar supplied.

"And the gods' honest truth is I preferred the company of the criminals," Ragnar sneered in disgust. "No offense," he threw in as an afterthought for Eleazar's benefit. He had no ill will toward Eleazar, who had always been courteous in their dealings, if not pleasant.

"None taken," Eleazar answered back, one side of his mouth pulling up into the beginnings of a smile.

Then Eleazar took a step to his left to get a read on Tristan but detected no special abilities. Then standing in front of Maisie, he concentrated for a brief moment and was so taken aback by the strength of her power that he stumbled backward a step as if pushed.

"¡Dios mío!" Eleazar shouted and all of a sudden all of the unlit decorative candles around the room now flickered brightly with flame and the stone hearth lit up from within with a blazing fire.

"Fire and water…together?" Eleazar gasped as Ragnar pulled Maisie close with an arm wrapped tightly around her waist. "I think Aro might be interested in more than your transportation services, mis amigos," he marveled.

Ragnar's smile was smug. "The tides do not command the ship. The sailor does," was all he said in reply.

Jasper's eyes lit up like the candles at the prospect of adding the power of fire and water to our arsenal of gifts. As he stared into the dancing flames of the fireplace, he victoriously imagined Aro, Caius, Marcus, Alec, and Jane standing helplessly in a ring of fire. As long as Bella could keep everybody shielded, with these gifts on our side, any battle was as good as won.

Carlisle sighed with resignation. He was no fool. He could hope for a peaceful resolution all he wanted, but unfortunately, he didn't have his friend Siobhan's gift of outcome manipulation. And rightfully terrified of crossing the Volturi, her clan had declined to get involved.

I was no fool either. I knew that if it came down to a fight, Bella would never turn tail and run when she could defend her family and our way of life. As I watched Bella standing beside me, silently taking in all the same information, I had to admit, it made me hopeful.

*BPOV*

With everyone eager to flex a little, all three clans moved outside to the large clearing that we had designated as the training field. "Alright, Bella. Let's show 'em what you can do!" Jasper coached, clapping me once on the shoulder.

"Hey Jazz, hang on, I have an idea," I said, placing a halting hand on his forearm before he could run off and join the others. When I told him the gist of it, he grinned broadly.

"That's pretty clever," he nodded in agreement. "Let's try it."

This time, the goal was to maintain my shield around Maisie while I was being pursued by Tanya, Irina, and Ragnar who were acting as Guard members Felix, Demetri, and Renata.

Edward, Emmett, and Tristan acted as my defenders. In all honesty, it sort of looked like we were running a football play but without a ball, and I was the quarterback, darting to and fro so that I wasn't an easy target.

Meanwhile, Maisie was to produce a ring of fire around Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Alice, Carmen & Eleazar, who were portraying the most critical members of the Volturi, all while Kate (acting as Jane) stood by trying to electrocute her.

"Shield up, Bella," Jasper directed. Doing as I suggested, he then used his power of emotional manipulation to incite my rage which served to sharpen my focus and strengthen the durability of my shield.

With a red-hot fury I had never felt before, I cast an unbreakable shield over Maisie protecting her from Kate's debilitating power. I could feel the unfamiliar energy encapsulated under my shield. If Emmett's energy was bright white like burning magnesium, Maisie's energy was like strontium chloride–which, unsurprisingly, burned a brilliant red.

I pushed harder, expanding my shield to enclose everybody except Kate because when this was the real deal, there was no way I was leaving anybody vulnerable. So I needed to practice protecting as many moving targets as possible.

On Jasper's signal, Tanya, Irina, and Ragnar advanced, feinting and weaving, trying to break through the defenses of Edward, Emmett, and Tristan.

Despite Kate holding on to Maisie with both hands and her power being turned up to 'high,' Maisie remained unaffected and the ring of fire that burned a safe distance around my family only burned higher and hotter.

From all around me, I could hear growls and snarls erupt as Tanya, Irina, and Ragnar gave it all they got to try and stop me. But not even Ragnar summoning the water from a nearby stream and creating a torrential downpour in the middle of the cloudless summer day could put out the billowing flames.

And just like that, with a snap of Maisie's fingers, the fire snuffed out leaving nothing but a smoldering circle of earth in its place.

"Bella, love?" Edward called excitedly, running toward me from where he'd been sparring with Irina. His voice was wild with pride.

I spun around to face him at once. "WHAT?!" I roared with my hands balled up into fists at my sides. Caught off guard by my reaction, Edward froze, not daring to take another step closer. "Bella?" he asked again, this time in a more cautious tone.

"Jazzy, you gotta turn Bella back down," Alice giggled, and then the all-consuming rage dissipated in an instant and I immediately felt horrified at myself for taking such a hostile tone with Edward, of all people.

"Oops, sorry about that, Bella," Jasper chuckled ruefully.

Edward didn't waste another moment in claiming his place by my side. Taking my face between his hands, he looked down at me in wonder. "What an incredible woman you are," he murmured, his velvety voice brimming with reverence. "You are going to change everything," he breathed.

*EPOV*

While Emmett was having the time of his life playing high-stakes defensive tackle against Ragnar, and Tristan was busy wrestling Tanya to the ground while whispering sweet nothings in her ear, I struggled to stay in the right state of mind.

Not only could I see Irina, Tanya, and Ragnar all ducking and weaving with the intention of incapacitating my Bella, but I could see Bella in their minds and hear how they planned to overtake her.

Once I sank into that defensive crouch, my rational brain was not always the loudest voice in my head. It became harder to remember that these were allies who were helping Bella hone her abilities, not enemies attacking the reason for my existence.

It was a scrimmage for my very worst fears coming to pass. And it felt way too real.

After Maisie put out the flames, we all stood there for a moment in stunned silence at what we just witnessed. Hope. That's what it was. We had real, tangible hope that we could put an end to the meddling ways of the Volturi once and for all.

Bella in her element had been one of the most impressive things I'd ever seen. She was glorious with her power radiating through, amplified by Jasper's influence.

Nonetheless, it hadn't been a perfect simulation. And never more desperate for perfection than I was right then, I tried to find any blind spots or weaknesses in our game plan.

I wished we could've tried again with different groupings. Tanya and Irina made poor substitutes for trained fighters such as Demetri and Felix.

But Alice had silently cautioned against putting them in the circle of fire. Even a thousand years after the fact, it would still be extremely triggering to the sisters to be in the circle after witnessing the burning deaths of their mother and her immortal child. I could hardly argue with that.

And after witnessing with my own eyes just how much Bella's abilities had improved since the last time we had tested them, I could hardly argue with Jasper anymore, either. Unless the Volturi had some secret weapon that we didn't see coming, they didn't have a leg to stand on. Not as long as Bella held.

And I would go up in flames before I let anyone touch a hair on her head.

We practiced again and again and again until Bella and Maisie grew weary from the mental exertion, at which point we all broke off for a celebratory hunt. Ragnar, Tristan, and Maisie, who would feed on humans, took their leave, agreeing to Carlisle's request not to hunt in the immediate area.

But that still left thirteen vegetarian vampires. And thirteen vampires could do a lot of damage to a single ecosystem, so the rest of us spread out in smaller groups, traveling as far away as was necessary to hunt discreetly and responsibly.

As confident as we already felt in our ability to topple the Volturi, even more unbelievable was that more vampires were still expected to arrive. A lot more. With unique gifts of their own.

It almost felt like overkill, but it helped me breathe a little easier. With Bella's life on the line, as well as the rest of my family, there was no amount of protection that could ever be considered superfluous.

A/N More training. More new allies. I hope you're enjoying my original characters. Some of the ones from BD will be turning up to help out, others won't. I haven't really made any of those decisions yet. So if you're a big fan of the Amazons or whomever and you really want to see them in upcoming chapters, shoot me a comment! I'll try to write them in. (Probably not the Egyptian coven, though, because Benjamin is sorta redundant at this point.)

In other exciting announcements, you wonderful people nominated SMBP for a Twific Fandom Award! And that's in addition to the Top 10 Best Fics of 2021 nomination! TWO nominations, you guys? I'm tickled pink!

So if you would be so kind as to shoot over to the two contest pages below and vote for She's My Blackberry Pie, I would be the happiest little author in town! (For the Twific Fandom one, you'll need to scroll down to the "Favorite My Emotions'' category).

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