*BPOV*
The early September air had just started to turn crisp. The first of the leaves had just begun to fall; That was when Alice said they would come.
We could hear the drumbeat of their footsteps as they marched on us, seconds away just beyond the ridge.
"Remember the plan. Remember your training. Together we are unstoppable. Together we will overcome anything they throw at us. Together we will tell the Volturi that WE " Jasper paced in front of our ranks, firing us up with his words as well as his power. "Are NOT" he paused for dramatic effect, "COLLECTIBLES!" he shouted, raising his fist in the air.
The response from the thirty-six enraged vampires who had turned up to fight was deafening as their blood-thirsty battle cries and fists filled the air.
"WE...ARE…NOT…COMMODITIES to be CONTROLLED!" Jasper bellowed to another round of cheers.
"Today the tyranny ends," he concluded with lethal finality, riling his soldiers with one last boost of rage and unrest.
The chilling sound of Aro's maniacal laugh echoing through the trees brought the raucous crowd to a dead silence as we tensed in anticipation for the enemy to show themselves.
One by one, The Guard filed through the trees, their gray and red cloaks billowing out behind them as they moved. The moment the first one appeared through the treeline was my cue to raise my shield and Jasper's cue to crank up my rage dial. Though, with how angry I already was, it was probably overkill.
Standing behind the assembled formation of twenty-five Guard members were Aro, Caius, Marcus, Alec, Jane, and…my stomach dropped. Sandwiched between Jane and Chelsea stood the tense faces of Kendra, Pink, Ember & Maia.
Beside me, Edward angrily hissed, "They struck a deal. Protection for cooperation."
"Wonderful speech," Aro called in a patronizing tone as he slow-clapped. "It gave me goosebumps," he giggled.
"I hope you'll forgive our tardiness. The shipmaster we keep on retainer for such expeditions took an unexpected leave of absence," Aro said dryly, giving Ragnar a withering glance. Then his ancient milky eyes swept back over to Jasper.
His voice turned dejected. "I must say…I'm a little hurt that my young friend here would accuse us of tyranny. Don't we let you live in peace? All that we ask is that you follow a few simple rules that guarantee our secrecy and survival.
Aro continued, "Carlisle, Eleazar, when you both wanted to leave the protection of our walls, we let you go in peace and enjoy your freedom, did we not?"
"Ragnar, I spared you when Caius wanted to reduce you to ash for aiding and abetting criminal deserters. And this is how you repay me?"
"And Edward! How very surprising! You would betray us after we graciously allowed you and your precious human to keep your lives even after you broke our most absolute law?" Aro accused in an affronted tone.
"What a mistake that turned out to be," Caius sneered.
"Yes, brother, I fear you are right. In that one instance, I let my romantic notions corrupt my better judgment. And that is a mistake we have come to correct," Aro proclaimed, locking his eyes on me as Edward snarled viciously in return.
"Dear friends, the Cullens have misled and misguided you. It would be my great joy to offer a full pardon to any of you who choose to stand with us against these traitors. No harm needs to come to you today, dear ones.
Nobody moved. Nobody spoke, except Charles who hissed at the deception.
Aro sighed. "Pity.
Carlisle's steady voice rang out, then. "Aro, my friend. May I approach so that we can discuss this like civilized men? This doesn't need to end with violence," Carlisle entreated.
"I would love nothing more, old friend!" Aro smiled and extended a hand in invitation for Carlisle to join him in the center of the clearing.
"Carlisle, I don't think this is wise," Jasper warned under his breath, an anxious expression on his face. "They can't be trusted."
"I have to try, son," Carlisle answered solemnly. "I took an oath. Violence must be the last resort."
He exchanged a meaningful look with Esme, who threw her arms around his waist, hugging him fiercely. Carlisle hugged her back and whispered into her hair, "Be strong, my darling. I'll be back soon," and kissed the top of her head. It was only then that I heard the undertone of fear quavering in his voice.
As Carlisle came forward to meet Aro alone in the middle, Esme held back a sob. The sound of her terror broke something inside of me, something vital.
Perhaps it was what was left of my humanity because in that moment I felt exactly like the blood-thirsty monster I was. I could feel the rage and power coursing through me, tingling in my fingertips.
My shield obediently moved with Carlisle as he walked briskly toward the center of the clearing where he was met by Aro halfway between their side and ours.
When Aro reached for Carlisle's hand, Carlisle frowned apologetically and said, "I'm sorry Aro, but I can't shake your hand today. Would you understand what I mean when I say it's nothing personal?" Carlisle joked half-heartedly.
Aro's smile was gracious as he pointedly replied, "Of course, Carlisle! Since I'm not the tyrant I'm accused of being, that is certainly your choice."
Carlisle pushed on. "Please, Aro, my oldest friend, and mentor. I beg of you. Reconsider. A mandatory term of service is uncalled for, unjust, and unfair given that it only applies to gifted vampires. Repeal the draft and let us all go in peace, good friends once more," Carlisle pleaded in his most appealing voice.
"I must say, I'm disappointed in you, Carlisle," Aro tutted. "Where is your loyalty? You act as if mandatory military service isn't common practice around the world! Some 85 countries worldwide have some form of compulsory service.
"Even Finland which is apparently the happiest country on Earth!" Aro laughed. His giggle was the most disturbing sound I'd ever heard– like the delighted laughter of a baby mixed with the manic sound of a hyena.
Aro went on to ask in a gradually darkening voice, "So tell me why shouldn't I just burn you where you stand for this flagrant display of treason, friend?"
As the two men spoke I heard the familiar haunting melody of the siren song crescendoing across the distance between us. I could feel the alluring power of their gift trying to breach the shield around Carlisle.
Using all of my concentration, I flexed my shield, blowing it up larger so that Carlisle wasn't so close to the intoxicating influence of the twins.
"Join us. Join us. Join us and live," Ember and Maia hypnotically chanted, but to no avail. Carlisle remained unaffected as he pleaded for civility.
"This is it," Edward whispered, squeezing my hand almost to the point of pain.
When the twins' power was useless against Carlisle, next came the hot jabs, like pinpricks, harmlessly absorbed by my shield.
"Jane," I spat.
Carlisle must've felt it to some small degree because he jerked like he was startled and then ran like hell back to Esme's side. Her relief was palpable.
Edward squeezed my hand once more and wordlessly took his place in a protective stance a few paces in front of me, shoulder to shoulder with Ragnar and Emmett, who were flanked by Tristan and Rose. Who were flanked by Tanya and Kate. Then Garrett and Irina. And so on and so forth.
Behind the front lines on either side of me stood Zafrina and Maisie. I smiled a little grimly at the almost poetic symmetry of three powerful women and their army taking up arms against three of the world's most powerful men and their army.
I don't think it escaped Ragnar's notice either because he regarded the three of us then, his eyes softening as they lingered on his beloved Maisie.
"Jeg elsker dig, min skat," he murmured in his native tongue.
"I love ye, more, mo ghaol," she smiled just a little. "Noo, let's send these bastards to Valhalla, aye?"
"Bella, I'm not sure how long I'll be able to maintain my concentration when it comes to a fight…" Jasper warned over his shoulder, never taking his eyes off the enemy.
"Don't worry about it, Jazz. I'm all over this," I gritted between my teeth, knowing that there was nothing artificial about the rage that coursed through me now.
That rage only burned hotter when I felt the pinpricks aimed first at Edward, then at Peter, then at Senna, and finally at me.
"Zafrina, would you mind giving Jane a new view," I asked pleasantly.
"Which one is Jane?" she asked, her wild eyes jumping between Chelsea, Jane, and Renata.
"The ugly one," Kate answered for Jane's benefit while pointing for Zafrina's. Jane shrieked ferally in response and sent a fiery jab directly at Kate who laughed haughtily and flipped her off.
Jane screamed at the top of her lungs then, as her head panickedly turned from side to side, clearly seeing some hellscape the rest of us weren't.
"Nice," Edward hissed with sadistic-sounding pleasure. I'd have to ask him later what it was that Zafrina had made her see, but I couldn't concentrate on that now.
Then, one of the Guard members fell flat on his back, screaming and writhing in agony. Friendly fire, it seemed, as Jane tried to burn an illusion and hit one of her own instead. I never thought I'd find myself laughing today, but there I was.
"Jane," Aro gently chided. "Perhaps it's time to let your brother have a go at it, hmm?" Aro suggested as if she were a child taking one too many swings at a birthday party pinata.
The jeering laughter on our side silenced instantly. Alec's gift was the only one we weren't sure of whether or not my shield would hold up to. Which meant if we were wrong, it would all be over very soon.
I checked and rechecked my shield, confirming that each ally's unique energy was safely enveloped by my protection. I could feel their colored auras burning brightly from within, but none burned brighter than Edward's.
Protecting Edward had become almost as instinctual as protecting myself. My shield seemed to recognize that my survival was predicated on Edward's.
As the tendrils of the cold, creeping mist made contact with my shield, I could feel the numbing effects of its poison, but I heaved a sigh of relief when it blew harmlessly over the top of my shield with a passing breeze.
Allies and enemies alike gasped when the noxious vapor demonstrated the massive size of the shield I'd cast. I thought I could hear Aro's teeth grinding in frustration over the clamor, but that could've been my imagination.
*EPOV*
I felt my shoulders sag with relief when Alec's anesthetic mist swirled ineffectually outside the borders of Bella's impressive shield. Hope began to bloom in my chest that we might actually make it out of this alive.
Behind me, I could see and hear Maisie watching the faces of her highest-priority targets. This was the part she'd been preparing for the most.
We wouldn't have much time before the fighting broke out. She'd need to be strategic about who she targeted. Demetri, Renata, Chelsea, Alec & Jane (who was less of a danger as she currently was, standing paralyzed in fear by an illusion of fire and brimstone) would be among the first to die.
Without their defensive players and Chelsea's artificial bonds of loyalty holding them together, Aro, Marcus, and Caius were sitting ducks. And without Demetri, the Volturi's tracker, any surviving members would be hard-pressed to find us ever again once this was all over. Not that there'd be any survivors, I thought menacingly.
With an ear-piercing shriek, Jane's illusion of hell became her reality as she was suddenly engulfed in flames.
Ember and Maia jumped away from the blaze as Ember patted out the singed sleeve of her borrowed cloak.
"That'll teach her to play with fire!" Rosalie cackled amusedly.
Ragnar chuckled. "If only they had a water summoner on their side. That's for Cnut, Erik, and all the others, you vile witch!" he taunted with what could only be described as glee.
"NOOO!" Alec roared as he watched his twin burn. He charged forward and the fight was on.
"HOLD!" Jasper yelled as Felix, Demetri, Santiago, and several others charged forward right behind Alec. We held our position.
Renata, who was protectively hovering around Aro, was the next to go up in flames. It was only after his personal bodyguard perished did Aro's face betray his concern.
"HOLD!" Jasper's voice boomed again as more Guard members ran forward to join the fray. His battle face was truly frightening. His eyes were huge and black as death. His teeth were bared and spittle was flying out of his mouth as he barked out orders. Still, we held our position.
When about half of the Guard was on our side of the clearing, Jasper called, "Maisie, now!"
WHOOSH
With her hands raised to the heavens, Maisie erected a great wall of fire bisecting the battlefield. In doing so, she was able to create a barrier preventing the half on our side from escaping and preventing the other half from getting to us. She couldn't hold it longer than a minute or so, but it was long enough to give us a significant advantage.
As Alec drew nearer, Bella screamed, "Don't let him under the shield! I won't be able to stop him then!"
Alec charging us was one scenario we hadn't prepared for. Ragnar shot a torrent of water so powerful directly at the chest of the child-sized Alec that he was knocked backward into the raging plumes of fire.
Cheers erupted on our side as the second column of purple smoke slithered into the cloudless dusky sky.
Next came Demetri who stumbled and fell when Zafrina blinded him with one of her illusions. He was quick to get back on his feet but unable to see who or what was around him, he staggered forward away from the heat of the fire directly into the ruckus, swinging his arms wildly.
With a vicious growl, I lunged at him. Demetri was the biggest remaining threat to my family, and he was mine.
Blinded as he was, it wasn't as satisfying as I imagined it would be to rip his limbs from his body while we screamed and begged for mercy.
"How many vampires have met their deaths blind and defenseless because you led the Volturi to them? I guess it's kind of nice that you'll die the exact same way," I hissed in his ear just as I savagely sunk my teeth into his throat.
With a violent yank of my arm, my hand fisted in Demetri's hair tore his head clean off his neck. I lobbed it irreverently into the pile of his other body parts. It bounced once, and his grimacing face rolled facedown in the dirt with his blood-red eyes wide open.
Behind me, bedlam had erupted. Eleazar ducked out of the way of Felix's flying fist which glanced off Emmett's shoulder. Felix, standing six-foot-seven, was just as tall as Emmett, but not nearly as broad.
Emmett laughed, really laughed like he was tickled to have been selected to participate.
His smile only widened as he drew back and, using enough force to stop a speeding freight train, clobbered Felix with a crushing blow to the chin, knocking him off balance.
Felix staggered but didn't fall. He recovered and sent Emmett flying backward with an explosive kick to the gut.
My eyes searched frantically for Bella through the tangled mass of brawling bodies. I needn't have worried. Rosalie, Kate, and Tanya had closed the gaps in our formation left by me and Emmett.
There was another blood-curdling scream and another Guard member went up in flames. Already ablaze, he actually ran through the wall of fire where he fell and burned to ash mere feet from where Aro now stood with Caius, Marcus, Chelsea, Chelsea's mate, Afton, & Kendra's coven.
Maisie's arms dropped exhaustedly to her sides, wisps of smoke leaving her fingertips. The curtain of fire fell away then to reveal the horrified faces of the vampires on the other side. All except Marcus, who amazingly still looked bored.
Beside Maisie stood Bella. Her brow was furrowed in concentration. Her hands were palms-out at her sides as she manipulated her shield, shaping it and reshaping it around us as the battle ebbed and flowed.
I looked around the fray to see where I could be helpful.
"Zafrina, help Carlisle!" I shouted, who had his hands full with Santiago as I sprinted over to where an unfamiliar female member of the Guard had my mother in a precarious position.
Kate was there first, though, and jolted the raven-haired woman to her knees with a powerful blast of electricity that allowed Esme to finish her off.
More screams. More torched cloaks running around in a tortured panic.
Ragnar cruelly taunted them by summoning a curtain of river water falling from the sky which he then made vanish like an oasis whenever a burning vampire ran for it in an attempt to douse the flames. And when the curtain of water vanished, Tristan would be waiting on the other side to finish them off, though often he preferred just to let them burn.
Emmett was still brawling with Felix, the Volturi's strongest fighter. But it wasn't because he was having any real trouble putting an end to things. It was just like when he wrestled with grizzly bears before making a meal of them.
Because, in Emmett's words, "What good is being a supernaturally strong vampire if I can't body slam a thousand-pound predator every now and again?"
And after the way Felix treated Bella in Volterra, I was happy to let Emmett have his fun.
To my left, Alice was running literal circles around another new recruit. It was like watching Elmer Fudd trying to catch Bugs Bunny who kept reappearing and waving cutely at him while he nibbled a carrot. When she finally tired of her game, Jasper was nearby and only too happy to add more body parts to the growing mound.
When Maisie set her sights on Chelsea next, Aro glanced nervously at Marcus and then looked straight at me.
Edward, Aro crooned. I have something, or shall I say SOMEONE of yours. If you stop the fire summoner, we might just let you have them back, Aro taunted.
My eyes instinctively lurched back to Bella, and I sighed with intense relief at finding her safely where she had been the entire time. My brow furrowed in confusion, as I looked around and found us all accounted for.
Maisie glared intently at Chelsea and moved to raise her hand.
My eyes widened in horror as I saw Afton emerge from the trees with a bound and struggling figure in his arms.
Maisie raised her hand as if in slow motion, and I roared. "No, Maisie! Someone stop her!"
Bella looked at me with confusion and then froze when she too heard the beating heart nearby. Her eyes scanned the other side for the source of the sound and a look of abject terror twisted across her face.
"DAD?!" she screamed.
