Playlist:

Garbage - Untouchable

Kanye West - Stronger

Fort Minor ft. Styles of Beyond – Remember the Name

Fall Out Boy - Centuries

Taylor Swift – Delicate

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the words. Stephanie Meyer owns the Twilight series, and the songs belong to their respective people.

Untouchable

Once Chen had led the group up to the lofted storage area and opened the rusted steel door to the portal, Bella balked. She grabbed the back of Edward's suit coat and pulled him back, motioning for the group to stop.

"Oh hell no. I'm not going through that piece of junk. There's not even a guard attached to it."

Edward peered past the door. All he saw was the same nothing and blackness that defined all the portals he had ever encountered.

"I assure you, it is perfectly safe, Babygirl. Hundreds of people have used this portal."

Bella's face grew predatory and pleased, like a hunter who had just made the kill.

"Hundreds? Interesting."

Chen instantly panicked and shifted to the stairs, but Marcos intercepted him and slammed him into the wall. Bella was in Chen's face a heartbeat later.

"Geez, Daddy. Marcos is just a thorn in your side, isn't he? I mean, at first, he was just a minor annoyance, but then he foiled that whole plot with Erik when I danced at the club. If he and Kay hadn't interfered, I'd have been back in the Badlands before I could blink. You lost a lot of money on that deal. And his business is really taking off, what with him actually respecting his customers boundaries and providing them with safe drugs and all that. Between Marcos stealing your customers away and the Spellmans moving in on your territory, you had to cinch your belt loops a bit, didn't you? Poor Chen."

"Business comes and goes. I've done nothing wrong. You have no right to threaten me like this. We made a deal." Chen had gone remarkably pale, switching his focus between Marcos' snarling face inches from his own and Bella's congenial countenance.

"No, as much personal offense as I take to your leading Erik here, it wasn't illegal. Not yet." Bella paused, a wicked gleam in her eye. "But then I took off."

"The club doesn't look so good, Chen. Something has to give. You did what you do best. You made a deal with Erik. Portal access for any of Demetri's beetles into the mortal world or the bloodline compounds, out of the reach of the portal guards or my defensive measures. For anyone with enough coin."

Chen's snarky confidence returned, even after Marcos slammed him into the wall again. "You can't prove anything. Erik? I hardly even know him. Why would I make a deal with him for anything other than your favorite indulgence? Everyone knows the portal guards don't take kindly to those who attempt to go around their reach. Why would I risk it?"

Bella got impossibly closer, her face a grim mask.

"Because Ariam told you to."

Chen went still. His face crumpled.

"Ariam is your Chosen, isn't he, Chen? And Erik is his best buddy. So, when Erik joined forces with Tomas and The Master, Ariam followed him, and he pulled you into his mess. That's where all the money goes— to support Tomas' forces. Do you know what Ariam has done? Do you know why he joined forces with Erik?"

There was the sudden smell of blood, and Bella's sword was at Chen's throat.

"So he could Bind his five-year-old daughter to himself and make her serve the Master. Ntombi is dying. Nhamo is hurt, bad."

Chen's eyes went wide. The man fell to his knees when Marcos released him. "Nhamo? Ntombi? No, Ariam has loved Nhamo for years, he wouldn't..." Then, Chen's face grew hard with realization. "You must know, baby. You must know I wouldn't have done it if I had known."

Bella looked at him disdainfully. "I knew that, once. Once upon a time, I would have trusted you. But you would have sold me to Erik simply because he was the highest bidder."

She took a centering breath, her face unreadable. "You know what would be really useful to you right now, Chen? A back pocket get-out-of-jail-free card. Take care of it, Marcos."

"Gladly." Marcos led Chen down the stairs, past a malicious Kaedra who stopped them to meet Chen's eyes and slap him in the face.

"And Chen? Don't let me see your face again, and I'll let you live. That's the deal. I'd take it, if I were you." Bella turned and regarded the steel door, picking up the keys Chen had dropped when he panicked.

When Marcos returned, Bella was standing with her hand outstretched towards the portal, eyes golden and muttering under her breath. He approached where Kay sat on a crate with the vampires sulking next to her.

"Do I want to know what Izzy's doing?"

"The portal is an over-used piece of crap. Izzy is trying to patch it enough to get us through."

"She can do that?"

Kay shot him a "well, duh" look. "Apparently."

Bella's eyes faded back to brown, and she approached them. "Well, the good news is we won't disintegrate into our compound elements before we get to no-man's land."

"And the bad news?"

"I can't set up a protective shield without input from the Portal Guards. We'll be vulnerable to attack in transit."

The music from the club below seemed louder in the thick silence. Marcos pinched his nose. "You're saying we might have to fight- inside the portal. If we touch the boundaries of the connection between here and there, that's annihilation. The Nothing will come for us."

"Yep."

Kay exploded. "Seriously? Goddammit, if it's not one thing it's another. I'm all weepy over the kid too, but how far are you willing to go here?"

"As far as it takes. I'm not letting Ntombi die because of the possibility of..."

"Of non-existence? Of complete and total eradication?"

It was Bella's turn to yell. "So what? I get almost eradicated every other Tuesday. I will not see Ntombi killed, Kay. Not for anything. We're getting the air blessing. We're bringing her back. End of story. You got a problem with it, there's the door."

Marcos put himself between the two snarling girls, and Carlisle spoke up.

"If I may..."

"What, now the vampyr have something to say? You don't know shit about this, doc."

"Kay. What, Carlisle?"

"I merely wished to point out that whatever risk we face inside the portal, anyone who chooses to attack us will face the same risk. Perhaps they can cancel each other out- perhaps even provide an advantage."

A sultry smile suddenly grew on Kay's face. "Isabella, you never told me the vampires were devious."

Bella rolled her eyes. "I never told you they weren't, either. You're the one who assumed they're all goody-two-shoes. Carlisle is over three hundred years old, Kaedra. He's been around the block a few times. I also feel obligated to remind you that he is happily married."

"That's not always a problem."

"To Esme."

"Damn shame, that." Kaedra stopped leering at Carlisle as Marcos spoke up.

Marcos went to stand by the portal. "So, we doing this or what?"

Edward sent Bella a soft look and she took his hand.

"Nobody die. If someone grabs you, push them as hard as you can. Hopefully they'll fly out of the path of the connection. I'll pull the Core through when we get halfway. Hold on to your lunch, this is gonna get bumpy."

Stronger

The black around them strobed sporadically as Bella felt herself being pulled through the portal. Edward looked green next to her. Bella reached for his hand, but before his skin touched hers, she heard it. Drums.

The Master's drumbeat was pounding around them from somewhere deep in her mind, encompassing the group with its deafening sound. Kaedra shuddered at the noise, curling into a defensive ball.

Suddenly, Edward was wrenched away from her, and everything went black. Bella could see her friend's auras, Edward's scarlet and Carlisle's ice blue, Marcos's green and Kaedra's royal purple. There were others there too, in the black. Erik's glowed a menacing red, and a soldier glowed a deeper purple.

Shit.

Bella couldn't see anything but the auras, and the unfamiliar purple was entirely too close to Marcos, but Erik's had some sort of hold on Edward.

Bella ruthlessly suppressed the sound of drums all around her, blocking them out with the ease of long practice. She rushed Erik and threw a sharp jab of psychic force at him, almost succeeding in throwing him into the Nothing all around them. She saw Edward shoot past her, and his shove was strong enough to obliterate the soldier that had been attacking Marcos.

The pain was all encompassing as it hit her, throwing glitches into the darkness around them.

Master was here.

Bella screamed as it shot through her like a blade: the despair, the hopeless fighting, those black eyes always watching from a beloved face.

No. Master, please.

The Master drug sharp claws through her aura, ripping through beloved gold with hateful black poison. It grabbed hold of Erik ruthlessly, pulling him away from where they were headed and to another destination. Bella did not envy him.

She could distantly feel Edward clutching at her, sheltering her in his arms as the glitch wracked her body and mind. It was Marcos' aura that flared brightly, shoving the Master's presence away with a mighty psychic shove and grabbing hold of Kay's aura before it could be consumed by the Nothing.

Marcos' thought echoed around them. You want her? You'll have to come through me.

Bella felt her golden magicks throw an instinctive cast, her desire to be away manifesting as the last bit of energy they needed to get through the portal. Bella curled herself into Edward desperately and pulled, bringing Jasper, Emmett, Alex and her soldiers with them through the Void.

As fast as it had started, it was over.

Remember the Name

Jasper was listening to Alexandra explain what to expect from the Master's Shades and the battalion they were about to face, surrounded by sparks of magick and the impatient grumbles of Camp's soldiers all around them. In the blink of an eye, he was suddenly standing in a small clearing in the woods, at the base of a mountain packed with summer snow. He looked around wildly, but Bella, Edward, Marcos, and Kaedra were nowhere to be seen.

They came into existence with the sound of nails on glass not six feet from him. Kaedra was on her knees, shuddering, as Marcos threw up a few feet from her. Carlisle was kneeling a few feet from them in the dirt, looking for all the world like he was about to throw up. Edward was shaking a limp and empty-eyed Bella right next to where Jasper stood.

"Bella. Bella, come back, breathe. We're here. Holy shit, what was that? Bella, come back. NOW."

Bella gasped like she was surfacing from underwater, her back arching as she breathed. She curled into Edward's chest like a frantic child, holding herself to him and quivering, black tears bleeding from her eyes.

Marcos looked up from where he had spit bile onto the ground. He squinted his freshly bruised eye at Bella. "Can we never do that again? Fuck, Erik got away. Thanks for the save, Edward."

Alexandra put one hand on Kaedra's shoulder as she helped the regent stand. "Rough trip?"

Bella was coming back to herself now. "Oh, you have no idea. I am so ready to go home. Fuck the blessings." She was still shaking.

Bella looked frail and human to Jasper in that moment, and then her eyes clouded a shimmering white. Her resemblance to Alice was like a punch to the gut. When her eyes cleared, Bella stiffened, and her shaking stopped immediately. She screamed a battle cry and drove her fist into the ground under them, casting huge platforms of rock that carried them into the sky.

Emmett cried out in panic as the ground under him flew, but Jasper couldn't help him; he was too busy maintaining his own balance as the earth shattered apart. Bella levitated with Alex in midair below the platforms carrying the battalion of their allies, with Kaedra and Marcos planting their feet firmly on the last of the level ground below them.

Bella drew herself level with the platform where Edward floated and shot him a serious glance. Jasper saw his brother nod at her. Then, Bella turned urgently towards the mountains. Standing facing the clearing on three sides stood at least two hundred men in solid black, and at their head, Ariam.

Jasper hadn't had a good grasp of just how powerful Bella really was in comparison to other Fae. As he watched her tear the battalion apart, he couldn't help but be a little intimidated. Where other Fae mostly used one or two elemental powers, sticking to their affinities in battle, Bella used all four of the physical elements at will. The enemy forces quickly began to go out of their way to avoid her, leaving her free to assist with her soldier's personal conflicts.

Emmett drove into the enemy like a bull at a matador's flag, leaving carnage in his wake, but Jasper was careful to take advantage of the high ground that Bella had gifted them, targeting his attacks on the main force and picking off the leaders before retreating to his platform.

Bella and Alex made a deadly duo as they flitted around the field of battle. Alex created sharp spikes and jabs of stone, grabbing onto heavy stones that Bella had levitated into the air with the platforms and crushing their enemy ruthlessly. Bella used Alex's brute force approach to disguise sharp shards of ice and spouts of wicked fire that their enemy had no chance of defending against.

Marcos and Keadra fought on the floor of the battleground, managing the melee that was the front line. A hundred soldiers fought with them. Marcos shouted commands at each man, driving the enemy back towards the tree line and caging them into the middle of the clearing. Ariam was starting to look desperate, and soon he pushed in with his reserves.

As soon as Ariam led his men into battle, Emmett's attack merged with Marcos'. Jasper grinned from his platform above. If only he were closer. Bella took in his position before she smiled, and Jasper's platform flew towards the front line.

Jasper leapt to the ground near where Marcos and Emmett fought, landing a powerful punch on the man to Ariam's right. He got there just in time to hear Marcos shout at Kaedra. "Damn, but where did these vampyr learn to fight? I'm thinking we should lay off Izzy about bringing them along. On your left!"

Kaedra ducked right just as a fireball flew past her towards Jasper. He dodged, but Kaedra put it out just as it reached him, so he shattered it to pieces with his fist. Marcos sent the shards towards the men trying to cut off their exit.

Kaedra nodded at Jasper but spoke to Marcos. "Agreed."

Jasper leapt back to safe ground.

"Hey big guy! You wanna join the Core?" Marcos shouted at Emmett as he slammed his foot into the ground, throwing up a wall of flames that melted the ice shards threatening to cut off Emmett's arm.

"Fuck yeah!" Emmett twisted the neck of the spellcaster and threw his body at Ariam, who was defending himself against a feral Edward. Bella covered Edward's rear effortlessly.

"Then don't get killed! Behind you, dumbass!"

Jasper rolled his eyes as he jumped down to defend his idiot brother's back from the two-pronged attack of Ariam's guards.

Marcos looked shocked, glancing back at the platform that was Jasper's safe ground. "Okay, damn. Jasper, you can join too. Fuck."

Their enemy was falling to their strength rapidly, and for just a moment Jasper was assured of their victory. Edward pinned Ariam, forcing him to make the jump to the platform above. Bella flew to intercept him, knocking him ruthlessly into the ground below and ripping a pink diamond from his neck. She let loose a panther's scream and held it high, where it reflected the sun.

The battle seemed to pause, all attention on Bella and the blessing in her hand. For just a moment, all was still. Then, the ugly cry of a bird broke the stillness, and Bella curled her hands over her ears, dropping like a stone from high above.

Edward met Jasper's eyes desperately. He flashed, catching Bella before she could fall to earth. She was still screaming, her eyes bleeding black. Marcos rushed to her side.

Ariam ran, but Emmett and Alex cut off his exit. Jasper snapped his neck as he rushed to Bella's side. His vengeance and satisfaction at the commander's death was almost an afterthought as Jasper focused on the ugly bird-shapes in the sky.

Centuries

The massive birds on the horizon were close enough for Emmett to make out the details of their features. They were bird-shaped, but no bird had ever looked like this. The wings on the creatures were skeletal and bat-like, with pulsing, black-filled veins crisscrossing them in patterns that were somehow violent. Their bodies were emaciated and decaying, with rotting eyes and a wide mouth splitting their skeletal faces in two, lined with wicked teeth coated in dark blood. Emmett wouldn't have thought a vampire could still feel like throwing up, but disgust roiled in his gut anyway, almost making him wretch.

The grotesque creatures flew a lap around the area before they landed in front of their retreating enemy, shuddering and screaming as their bones popped. The seven shades the Master had sent to accompany his soldiers transformed from the ugly bird shapes that were their true form to take on the appearance of the Cullen family, screeching and cawing to each other as they shifted. Their eyes stayed a consumed black that bled down the mimic's faces. Emmett would never forget that strange hatred on Carlisle's face.

"Do not look into their eyes." Marcos materialized an axe from nowhere, twirling the heavy iron in his hands. "Shades can transmit the Master's presence, fuck with your mind and make you unable to tell what's real. Their main target is Isabella."

Kaedra snorted as she materialized a sharp tipped spear. "It's always Izzy. Be glad the beetles found you guys before the Shades did, or we would have had a very different first meeting. The only way to kill a Shade is to cut out its heart. She won't be able to tell the difference, Marcos."

"Yeah, I know."

"What do you mean?" Jasper was on the other side of Emmett, and his eyes were fixed on Bella, who was kneeling in the dirt with Edward muttering soothing nonsense to her, black tears dripping from her cheeks. Emmett's most fragile sister was shaking and twitching with her grip white-knuckle tight on Edward's suitcoat, her head buried in his chest.

"The Master has a nasty habit of convincing people that what they see is not real. Your Bella spent a great deal of time alone with him, and he didn't just leave scars on her body. He left her mind scarred too. The Shades' main threat are their telepathic attacks, and right now they are focusing that attack on Isabella. Pushing at every trauma, playing on every weakness. There's a reason they've taken your shapes. She won't be able to tell the difference between them and you. She won't attack them; she won't risk it."

Emmett felt rage spark to life within him. He was so tired of Bella's care for his family being used against her. "Well, what the fuck are we waiting for then? We just gonna stand here and let them fuck with her head? Let's cut out some ugly bird hearts."

He made himself ready to attack, but Kaedra held him back. "We have to wait until Izzy gets a hold on herself. She'll think we're attacking you guys; she'll attack us. You do not want to be on the wrong side of her temper. Trust me, I've been there."

"You may have to worry about that..." Jasper spoke softly, meeting Emmett's eyes with determination in his own. Emmett grinned at his brother.

"...but we don't." Emmett finished for him.

Kaedra smiled sharply, nodding at them and handing Jasper her spear. "Don't break it. It's older than you."

Marcos blew his long hair from his eyes as he threw his axe to Emmett. "Ditto."

Bella screamed again, curling into Edward's chest. It was enough to make Emmett let loose of his bloodlust, and he glared at the Shade wearing Edward's face as it stepped forward. Jasper had his focus on Emmett's Shade, his grin rapidly becoming feral.

"Well, Emmy-bear. Shall we?" Jasper motioned Emmett to go first.

Emmett took off running immediately. "Hey! Only Bella gets to call me that."

He didn't even use the axe at first, instead ripping Rosalie's heart out of her shade with his bare hands. When her visage exploded into dust, Emmett was glad he didn't dream. Jasper was defending his back against Alice, Carlisle and himself. Jasper, Esme, and Edward circled Emmett, darting forward to scratch at his stone skin. One of them caught his arm, and Emmett shouted as his skin tore and leaked venom.

"What the hell? I'm not exactly made of tissue paper, here!" Emmett struck out at Esme, driving the axe into her forehead and ripping out her heart besides, simultaneously dodging the shade-Jasper's attack. He and Jasper were soon back-to-back, and even Emmett could tell they were in trouble.

Carlisle's Shade suddenly jerked and caught flame. An ice shard pierced its chest, and Emmett saw Bella's consumed golden eyes glow fiercely from where she stood tall in the circle of Edward's arms. Jasper succeeded in tearing Alice's heart out, and the rest of the battalion joined the fight once they saw Bella had a hold of herself.

The snow on the mountain rumbled from behind them, and an avalanche began to roll down the cliff face. Emmett was startled into looking up towards it, right into the eyes of Edward's Shade.

The world fell away quickly as Emmett was blinded by a timeless darkness. Within it, he heard a hissing sound, like a snake uncoiling.

The strong one. Yesss, he will do nicely. Come and save your brother, Isabelle.

Emmett struggled against the iron hold of chains wrapping his mind, felt his body go lax from somewhere far away. He saw horrible visions, his memories and fears flashing in front of him— glitches of himself helpless to stop Bella's death, helpless to stop Rose from being hurt. Alone in the dark, Emmett felt the pain that radiated all around him. Black eyes gleamed from a handsome face, and Emmett knew he would die here. He reached out into the dark, begging for help from any corner, for any escape from the madness leaking into his core.

Golden magicks reached back for him.

Suddenly, Emmett was surrounded by streams of water. Adeline screamed from all around him, and there was a sensation of burning pain in his shoulder. For an instant, he was consumed by screaming and death and the end of all things, and then he was floating in a warm bath of golden waters.

Hush now, Emmy-bear. It's okay now. He can't reach you here. I need your help.

Bella glowed before him, younger somehow and clothed in blood-spattered white. We have to find her, Emmett. Find Ntombi's aura. Protect her. You'll know what to do. I'll distract the Master.

The young Bella tossed him the air blessing and shoved him away from her, into the current of golden waters. Emmett felt himself float down the river, somehow away from the dark place where the Master snarled viciously and grabbed hold of his sister. Gold faded from the current, and Emmett felt the damp of a cavern. For uncountable moments, he thought he would be lost in the dark. And then he saw the shine of weak orange glimmering at the bottom of the water.

Emmett reached for Ntombi; he felt something sharp cutting into his arm, radiating pain through his aura. He ignored it, thinking of Rose and his family and Bella; thinking of how badly he wanted the girl-child safe. For just a moment, he felt the sensation of Rosalie's hand stroking his forehead sweetly. He wrapped himself around the orange light with all his instincts to protect, shelter and felt the orange curl back into him.

There was a flash of shining light, and then Emmett was back in his physical body, watching Bella's eyes close and her body collapse on the snow next to him. Edward had his own Shade's heart in his hand.

It was over. They had won.

Delicate

"Ntombi! Emmett!" Bella jerked herself awake, already panicking. Josephat grabbed her before she could leap out of the medical bed.

"Ah-ah-ah. The vampires are safe, including your Edward. They are with Marcos and Kaedra and Nhamo and Ntombi, retelling your latest adventure. Your people celebrate the acquisition of the air blessing, which is stored in a safe place. Erik is gone, Ariam is dead. Now, sit down before I sedate you."

"Ntombi's okay? How's Emmett? Where's Edward?"

"Sit. Down. Or I will tell you nothing more."

Josephat raised his eyebrows at her and glared until she sat. She opened her mouth, but Josephat simply used the opportunity to examine it. "Would you care to explain to me how you got stabbed? Your friends have been reticent to share that particular portion of the tale."

"Uh, Marcos and I had a fight."

"I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later. What happened to your aura?"

"The portal wasn't secure, Master reached for me inside it."

"Any negative effects from the use of the air blessing?"

Bella hesitated for just a second too long. "No."

"Are you lying to me?"

"Yes."

"Alright." Josephat rubbed his eyes. "What about the exposure to telepathic attack from the Shades?"

"I feel...okay."

"How is your perception of what's real? Give me your reality matrix on a scale of one to ten. One being completely sure that this is real."

"Not too bad, about an eight."

Josephat fixed her with a glare. "I want you back here for an aura examination in two days, Isabella. I'm concerned about the way the silence is playing into the echoes. You manipulate echoes better than anyone I have ever seen, but you've been having more glitches than I would like."

"Uh, yeah. There's a reason for that. It seems to be a side effect. I think I can... well. I think mastery of echoes is a noble goal, don't you?"

Jo's face showed his panic briefly before it grew deadly serious. "Isabella! We have spoken previously on the lack of circumstances where it is appropriate behavior to experiment on yourself. Do I want to know what you're up to?"

"No, definitely not."

Josephat signed his notes and packed them away before he turned to his queen with an imploring look. "Isabella. Your body needs time to heal. Please, please try to take it easy for the next few days. And quit lying to me. You know how it irks me."

Bella grinned at her healer mischievously. "But you'd get so bored if I were an obedient patient."

"Trust me, I would not. I will send your lover in shortly."

The curtain closed behind him, and Bella was alone. She put her head between her knees to center herself through her shaking. Holy Fuck, everybody lived.

The thought was almost ridiculous. Bella would take her injuries a thousand times over if it meant everyone lived through every adventure. Ntombi was alive. Nhamo was going to be okay. Holy Fuck, everybody lived.

She was almost hyperventilating until she felt Edward's cool hand begin rubbing soothing circles on her back. He whispered gently to her. "Should I get Jo again?"

"No. No. You are all I need right now." She laughed helplessly. "Everybody lived, Edward. We all lived."

"Yes. Because of you. Ntombi is alive because of you, because you fought for her. Emmett says you saved him from the Shade. In fact, the only person who required healing other than you was Marcos, and I'm not sorry for him. Bella, what am I going to do with you?" Edward shook his head. "You've bewitched me completely."

"Edward..."

"Please, let me say this. Bella, I'm sorry. I was treating you like a child, like I had ownership over you. I don't. I'm sorry I yelled at you, I'm sorry I was so jealous and angry. I love you, Bella Swan. Gold eyes, brown eyes- it doesn't matter. You light up my world. When you collapsed in the snow after the battle, I thought "This is it, I've lost her." The thought that we could've been fighting over my jealousy killed me."

"Edward, you do have rights to me. I give them to you. I choose you. Every time, in every way, I choose you. I need you to choose me- to trust me. The Master twisted because of his jealousy. It led him down the path he is on. I love your possessiveness, Edward. I love your jealousy, to an extent. But I have fought too hard for the right to make my own choices to let anyone make them for me. Even you."

"I don't want to make your choices for you, Bella. I just want to know you. I love you so much. Even though it kills me that you got injured, I loved seeing you fight for your people. I see now, why you do what you do. Bella...I don't know how to feel about Adeline and Fiore. But I know that loving them is a part of you. And I love you." Edward pulled her away from his chest to meet her eyes. "I am so sorry that loving them hurt you. I am so sorry you lost them."

Bella tucked herself back against Edward's chest. "Just don't go, Edward. Don't make me lose you too."

Edward kissed her forehead. "Never, little witch."

Later, the group crowded around Bella as they walked to the attic. Marcos whistled cheerily. "So Izzy. Ariam's dead, thanks to scar-face and boy-wonder over here. I think you better pull out your dancing shoes."

Bella stopped dead in the hallway before the Attic door. "Oh no. Please tell me that doesn't mean what I think it means."

Marcos grinned wolfishly, turning to Kaedra.

"You owe me 50 coins. I told you she'd hate the part with a ballroom dance the most."

"Oh no. No. Not a gala. Can't I risk my life or fight someone or something? Please don't make me suck up to all those stuffy old bags."

Kaedra pulled a small purse from her bra, handing it to Marcos, who glared at Kaedra's ample chest and wiped his hand on his shirt after touching it. "We need their money, Bella. Especially if you don't want to have to turn people away at the gate, now that Ariam is dead."

Bella groaned as they reached the kitchen and threw herself in a chair. "I already miss the days when I could just go to work for money."

"Did I seriously just hear you say you miss working for your money? 'Cause I mean, I'd let you work at the club. I wouldn't get mad or anything." Marcos had an exaggerated begging face on, and Bella snorted.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Marcos. Down boy."

"Yes. Down, boy." Jasper would have shut up too if Edward had looked at him like that.

Bella laughed and took Edward's hand. "Well, back to business as usual, I suppose. Let's never do that again, okay?

Over the next week, things got crazier and crazier for Bella. She had finally given up the fight against the never-ending paperwork, at least on the civil level. She spread it out between Kaedra, Marcos and Lizzie respectively and left herself with only the high-level stuff and the military reports. Her time was mostly spent mitigating her people's fears for the future and coming up with red-boxed contingency plans to ensure the survival of Camp regardless of her life or death. Any spare time she had was spent at the training grounds, running drills with the soldiers or hidden away in the dojo with Kaedra and Marcos pushing her to the limit.

Though the Cullens still had free run of Camp, they had each found their niche in Camp's day to day life and she barely saw any of them. Carlisle was in high demand in the medical wing; his conduct during their mission had proved him a skilled healer, and he had a knack for using the least amount of his Fae-partners' magick necessary to heal wounds. Esme was happy in the kitchens, and helped Lizzie manage the day-to-day affairs that cropped up in Bella's household and Camp proper. Now that there would be a gala, Esme would be too busy to think, let alone relax. Alice was once again training with the Seers, this time without Jasper by her side. He accompanied her about once a week, but Jasper and Emmett mostly haunted the training grounds.

Jasper was teaching strategy to the first year Core and enjoying it. That was a surprise to Bella, who thought teaching strategy to a bunch of ramped-up soldiers sounded remarkably like beating her head against a brick wall. Emmett was often seen getting his ass handed to him by the more experienced members of the Core. There had been some naysayers, but most of the soldiers accepted Emmett easily, despite his lack of magical ability. He improved every day. Marcos was especially proud of his progress.

Rosalie had approached Bella with another surprise, requesting to be assigned to monitor the children's training and look after the young ones. Bella knew she valued children and wished for one of her own, but Rosalie's skill with them was alien to her. Bella had never had time to be a child and didn't really understand how to relate to children. Still, she had given Rosalie the role eagerly, glad to have someone who could stay with the kids on a permanent basis, instead of the usually rotating group of fierce Fae who couldn't stay more than a day.

She warned Rosalie that most of the children of Camp were prodigies or had come from disastrous backgrounds, and to expect them to be more mature and adult-like than mortal children. Rosalie took her advice and meshed well with the kids, especially Ntombi, bringing a great many of them out of their shells and gifting them with a golden childhood that would have otherwise been lost to war.

Edward had found a role to play too, though he still watched Bella during his free time. The librarians had discovered him organizing a shelf of books at vampire-speed during one of his days researching Fae relationships. They were practically salivating to have him organize the restricted room, where Camp's most dangerous and controversial secrets were kept. Bella bid them be patient and turned Edward's attention to the organization of Camp's collection of grimoires instead, arranging for him to receive lessons on the Fae language. She often had to drag him out of the Library for dinner herself, and he would excitedly explain what he had learned about Fae-magicks or culture that day over his usual pitcher of blood in the dining hall.

It was the beginning of the next week when Josephat cornered her in the dining hall over dinner, shooting her a stink-eye that had been known to make the children shudder and confess their sins. "When was the last time you slept an eight-hour stretch, my Queen?"

Bella paused in scooping potatoes onto her plate, watching Esme and Carlisle stiffen and move their attention to her and Jo's quiet conversation from across the dining hall. Damn vampiric hearing. "Um, it hasn't been that long. I get a few hours every night." Bella would hardly give up the pleasure of Edward stretched beside her, even if most of the time she simply meditated or organized her chaotic thoughts instead of actually sleeping.

"Uh-huh. You'll recall that you were telepathically attacked and got stabbed last week. Date of last full sleep please. Be specific."

Bella sighed and cast through her memories for an answer that was honest but wouldn't get her in too much trouble. She didn't find one. "Um. Tuesday, I think?"

"It is Sunday, Isabella. I know your dreams haunt you, but the body needs rest. Fae are still human, remember? Even Fae as exceptional as you. You are relieved from duty for the rest of the day. Go to sleep directly following dinner please. Put some protein on your plate."

"Jo-oh! I need to..."

"No excuses, Isabella. A full eight hours, or I'll drag you back to the medical wing. Carlisle will accompany you to the Attic to make sure of it." She saw Carlisle nod from his seat at the long table. Nosy, good-for-nothing healers. Why did Bella have to be surrounded by people who gave a damn about her?

Oh, the problems she had, she thought sarcastically as she approached her vampires with her dinner in hand. The Bella of Miami and the Master's company would have gladly died for the chance to experience such care. No one had cared about her sleep schedule so much since Fiore. Bella stopped that train of thought in its tracks. No need to spoil her dinner by coughing up blood.

"Fine. But not tonight. Edward is going to hunt with his siblings, and I don't want him to miss it for something as boring as watching me sleep."

"How about tonight and tomorrow then? You need rest, your majesty. Exhaustion is written all over you." Damn. Her diversion had been defeated. Maybe she needed to attend Jasper's strategy class.

"Ugh. Fine. But no promises. If I have a nightmare, I'm not going back to sleep."

"All I ask is that you try, my dear."