Part 7

Bella grinned as she eyed each and every one of the Cullen's. Not everyone met her gaze. That was to be expected of course, they were after all in a shit load of trouble right now.

"So, maybe we could start with introductions?" She offered but was met only by silence. She paced across the room, grateful that Jane remained in place and close to Alice. She didn't really think anyone would be stupid enough to try anything, not in this moment, not when she would respond by killing.

She eyed Carlisle until he dropped his eyes from her. It made her chuckle. Oh yes, Carlisle understood exactly how difficult a position his 'son' had placed him in.

"Well, why don't I go first?" She continued as she was watched carefully. "For those of you that don't know," She paid attention to the two new vampires to the coven. "My name is Isabella Volturi and I am partly responsible for the upholding of our laws. And just to be clear, that makes me a… vampire slayer!" She said with the touch of a laugh.

She heard Jane sigh from her spot beside Alice and it made her smile, Jane had been present for this part of Bella's little speech on many occasions. Well, if it worked why change it? Plus, Bella found it highly amusing given the recent human fascination with her kind and the supernatural world in general. She wondered what their puny little minds would do if they found out what they considered purely fantasy was her reality.

It was almost enough of an incentive to expose herself just for the fun it would bring her.

Alas she would have Aro demanding her head if she tried it.

Maybe one day though.

She grinned as she eyed the two newest Cullen's. "I'm sure you'll understand if I insist you go next, won't you? I am aware who the rest of the Cullen's are. And we'll get to Alice after that." They do say to leave the best for last, and Alice was by far the best thing in the room to Bella. She turned to the human and sent her a wink before glancing back over at the blonde male. "I'm waiting." She prompted as she bounced on her toes.

Jasper straightened his posture. "My name is Jasper Hale, previously Whitlock, I was born 1844 in Houston Texas, I was change 19 years later as a Major in the Confederate Army by a vampire by the name of Maria," Jasper paused as Bella growled as the name passed his lips. He gave her a questioning look but could feel none of her emotions. "I took part in the Southern Wars but later went my own way where, many years later I came across Alice." He sent the human a warm smile but returned his gaze to Bella as she growled again. He cleared his throat and looked around the Cullen's. "We met this coven two years ago and have travelled with them since."

Jane snorted. Two years and no word to Aro that they had increased their number or had a human living with them? She eyed Carlisle as her lip twitched to reveal a fang. He didn't hold her gaze for long.

Bella understood Jane's reaction and she agreed with it, but if Aro had kept closer tabs on this Coven then he wouldn't have this problem to deal with.

"Interesting." She muttered but her tone made it quite clear she was unhappy. She then looked at the female standing beside him, Jasper hadn't mentioned her, yet she could clearly see they were mated. "And you?"

Bree looked to Jasper for direction, clearly worried about what to say.

"Just tell the truth, my dear." Jasper told her as he took hold of her hand and used a small amount of his power to ease her fears.

"My name is Bree Tanner, I was born 1990 in Las Vegas Nevada and I was turned in 2006 by a passing nomad tribe, but they left me." That wasn't true. They had been disgusted by her inability to feed from humans, and after many violent encounters where one of the two males claimed killing her was for the best, she had ran. She hadn't stopped running for a few weeks before coming across Jasper out in the woods one day. After that, well, things were better. "Jasper found me a few months ago, and I was accept into this coven."

Bella turned her head and eyed Jane for a long moment. Sixteen was close to the limit on turning a human. Jane and her brother had only been weeks away from their fourteenth birthday. Today if the Volturi came across a coven with such vampires they would most often be killed because it was thought that the human wasn't mature enough to deal with the change properly.

Bella smirked as she remembered Jane's look when Aro had brought up control issues when he had condemned a vampire that had been turned at fifteen.

She watched Jane roll her eyes before turning back only to find Jasper had shifted so as to stand partly in front of Bree. She wondered if he thought that would do him any good if she meant the female harm.

Because it wouldn't.

"Very interesting." She said as she eyed him. She was slightly pleased when he held her gaze and stood his ground. She spared him a grin even as she heard Jane hiss at the insult. Jasper's reaction could have been taken as a challenge to her authority but Bella understood a vampires need to protect their mate, something Jane was yet to experience.

Still, it was just one more thing that would play right into her hands and allow her to have the Cullen's on their knees should she want to take it that far.

There was so many issues that Bella wondered where she should start with Carlisle.

Two years Jasper and Alice had been with them, two years.

That in and of itself was astounding. For the Volturi to not have that information, to allow a restricted coven such as this to increase their numbers unnoticed. It was a blatant disregard for the laws and sanctions placed upon them and by right both Jane and Bella should take every one of them before the Masters to answer for this. The feeling to do just that was so strong that Bella was truly unsure of what her next move should be.

She looked at Carlisle and gave him a hard look. "And in the last two years you have mentioned none of this to Aro?" She knew the pair often talked as Carlisle was still fondly remembered by Aro and Aro felt the need to keep in contact as he tried to persuade Edward to join the Volturi, or at the very least visit for a period and see how he would like it. "For shame Carlisle."

Carlisle pursed his lips. "We are adjusting to our new members, it was the wrong time to pay Aro a visit."

Jane narrowed her eyes. "You are not allowed to adjust to new members Carlisle, your coven was and is under restriction." She said, he already knew this though so he had no excuse for this blatant infringement.

Bella sighed and shifted across the room to glance out into the forest. "And we haven't even got to the mutts living across these woods." She muttered in annoyance.

There was some infringements that could be ignored. But this one, this one Marcus had given very clear instructions on.

Instructions Carlisle was in complete knowledge of having been with the Volturi at the time of their inception.

Alice gasped breaking the silent tension in the room as everyone turned their eyes to her in question.

Alice looked first to Jasper and then to Rosalie and Emmett before sweeping her eyes over to Bella. "Everyone's futures just disappeared, I can't see anything." She whispered fearfully.

Bella was intrigued by Alice's claim. Going just on the words it would sound like everyone was about to meet their end, but she knew herself and she knew Jane, there was very little in this world that they would fear losing their lives to.

But even Bella could tell the human, her mate, was distraught as Rosalie moved slowly over to the girl.

Jane however paid more attention to the interaction going on between Jasper and Edward. The younger of the two not nearly as surprised by Alice's statement as the rest of the room. And the way Jasper was glaring at him…

It was certainly enough to make Jane wonder what it was that had made the blonde cough earlier.

And now she knew it likely had to do with Edward she was all the more eager to meet out her own brand of punishment, after they had dealt with the cause of the human's alarm.

Bella felt her nape hairs prickle and she turned back to the wall size pane of glass that stretched across the room. After a few beats of the humans rapidly beating heart she saw the reason for her reaction.

They were being surrounded.

Shifters were hiding in the treeline, no doubt just waiting for the signal to attack.

Bella turned her eyes to Carlisle. "If this is your doing it will be your last." She warned him casually.

Jane's eyes narrowed and she called on her power, allowing it to gather and build, just simmering at her fingertips waiting to be unleashed. She just had to wait to find out from Bella who it was she should be aiming for.

Bella smirked as Jane looked at her questioningly, asking to be filled in. She jerked her thumb back over her shoulder to the glass and the forest outside. "We're being snuck up on. And not very stealthily." And as the mutts didn't react to her talking about them, she assumed the Cullen house was well sound proofed.

"Amateurs." Jane muttered as she moved closer for a better look and it didn't take her long to notice the unnatural movement within the trees and shrubs being swayed by the gusting winds. Growling the blonde spun and inflicted almost all of her power on Carlisle, bringing him to his knees with an agonised gasp. "Start talking." She instructed him after releasing her hold on him.

Esme crouched beside her husband as he slowly recovered. She glared at Jane. "He doesn't know anything." She told the Volturi guard member.

Bella put her hand out to her friend as she was about to argue back. "Carlisle may not, but someone else in this room clearly does, and as head of the Coven the actions of the members rests with your mate." She informed Esme, although she did try to sound compassionate and regretful. "If the meaning of those actions were to result in either my death or of Jane's then your whole coven will pay the price. I suggest you think hard on your next actions as they may seal the fate of your…family."

"What then of your human?" Edward asked with a smug look. "As part of our coven would she not then be subjected to the same fate?"

Bella glared at the boy. She had her suspicions on who exactly was responsible but it would be better for her to deal through Carlisle and have him at her mercy than to go after Edward directly as that would leave her open to pleas and bargaining from the head of the Coven.

"As she is human and my mate, her future is of no concern to anyone else in this room." She told him with a touch of warning in her tone. If he had any brains at all he would have tried to lay blame with the half-breeds outside and plead ignorance instead of showing such a relaxed attitude to an impending attack on his home and family by neighbours that were built for killing vampires.

"Or should we assume that those things outside are your friends?" Jane asked Edward with the quirk of her eyebrow. "And you invited them over for tea?"

Edward shrugged as Carlisle was helped unsteadily to his feet by Jasper and Esme. "They do live around here, maybe they spotted you arriving? Why not go and ask for yourself?" He told her with a gleam in his eyes.

Bella felt her fangs twitch as the thought of killing started a chain reaction in her body that caused her eyes to darken and her emotions to close down so that death was her only focus. "I might just do that Cullen, and when I have my answers from them, I'll come back and get them from you, personally."

The threat hung in the air and made Carlisle struggle to regain his speech as he tried to beg Bella not to start a war. With an arm still around Jasper he lifted the other towards Bella. "Please, I can talk to them, they're just children, nothing more."

Jane hissed. "They seem to be here for reasons other than to talk Carlisle." She reminded him. Perhaps he had forgotten that to attack a member of the Volturi was to accept that your own death would follow the moment you failed.

And they always failed.

"Please?"

Bella turned away from Carlisle and watched as the mutts attempted to get closer to the house without being seen. She rolled her eyes, they were so young and stupid they had yet to realise they had already been spotted.

And Bella knew if the pane had been opened, even just an inch, they would all be able to smell their stench.

Well, everyone bar the human. Bella turned and caught Rosalie's golden eyes. "Make sure she is unharmed." Both Rosalie and Emmett shifted to guard Alice and Bella liked that. It would spare their lives if it came to it.

"Wait, what's going on?" Alice asked as she watched Jane and Bella start for the stairs. Were they leaving? Bella wouldn't just go without saying goodbye would she?

Alice eyed Rosalie who was stood where Jane had been standing next to her chair.

She stood and went over to Bella, feeling compelled to stop her from going. "What's wrong?" She asked the red eyed vampire.

Bella sighed as she let Alice approach her, the human's face was full of concern. She reached out to the girl and brought her into her body in a hug. "It's okay Alice, there is a problem outside that Jane and I are going to deal with so please, stay here with Rosalie and Emmett." She told her as she gazed into her eyes. Having the human in her arms again felt almost magical. To have her warmth seep into Bella's cold body and hear the thump of her beating heart against her, it made Bella realise that the human was hers. Alice was fragile and precious and Bella was going to protect her with every fibre of her being and if that meant killing every mutt outside these walls then that's exactly what she would do.

Bella cupped Alice's face gently in her hands. It was taking her a bit of getting used to but she was dealing with how delicate she had to handle the girl. "Please stay inside, for me?" She asked pleadingly.

Alice pouted, she didn't understand what was going on and why the rest of the Cullen's weren't offering to help with whatever was wrong. Her visions had gone blank and she was terrified that something bad was going to happen and she had only just found Bella.

"Will you be okay?" Alice asked softly, her eyes searching out Bella's needing the reassurance.

Bella chuckled as a grin took over her face. "I will be just fine, if it remains safe enough you may watch from the window." She offered, gesturing to the glass wall with a clear view of the approaching shifters.

Alice could do nothing but agree and after Bella pressed her lips gently to her forehead and left with the blonde Alice turned her attention to Jasper, surely her brother would give her some answers if the others wouldn't.

Jasper sighed as Alice turned her trusting eyes his way. He had cared for the human for the last few years, providing for her and keeping her safe. He glanced towards the glass wall and then back at Alice as he felt Edward seethe in anger at his decision.

Jasper looked at Bree, his own mate, and pressed his lips to her hand before stepping towards his sister. "Everything will be fine Alice, but perhaps Bella and Jane would be grateful to have some company." He then spared her a confidant grin and followed after the two Volturi members.

Alice watched her brother leave and took note of the worried looks on Carlisle and Esme's faces while Edwards looked nothing but angry, a common state for him lately.

She then looked to Rosalie and Emmett, surely they would explain what was going on.

Rosalie sighed and took hold of Alice's hand, slowly guiding her over to the view of the back yard. The mutts were now plainly visible as was Jane, Bella and Jasper as they faced off yards from the house.

Alice's eyes widened as she took in the scene. "Oh no!" The large wolf creatures were surrounding them. Alice put her hand on the glass as she could almost hear the growls. She looked at Carlisle, he had to do something, he had to be the one to stop this.

"Why won't you stop them?" She asked desperately.

Carlisle stayed silent as he stood with his mate and their son. If the shifters somehow managed to kill both Isabella and Jane then they might just escape with their lives and the human girl would never be subjected to the horrors of life in Volterra.

"Maybe Jasper will do us that favour." Edward muttered too quietly for Alice to hear as he watched the Major stand to one side of Bella as Jane stood at the other and the wolves looked ready to attack.

Emmett scowled. "What do you mean?"

Edward snorted as he turned to his brother, Emmett always was a bit slow. "You don't really think he went out there to help that monster did you?"

Bree scowled. Jasper had offered his help, she trusted her mate not to lie to her.

"And what will happen to us if she kills them all?" She asked softly. Had they considered that? Had they thought what they would do when Bella and Jane returned and demanded Edward's life for setting this whole thing up?

"I hope you're ready to stand by your actions Edward." She muttered with a frown.

A gasp form Alice drew her attention away from Edward and back to the scene outside.

The fight had started.