Renesmee arrived at school feeling exhausted from a night of poor sleep. Her parents and Carlisle had arrived home that night around three in the morning. All three seemed nervous and on edge about something that had happened in Volterra. But all three had come home safe and one piece. That was all she could really ask for. As she took her seat in first period, she tried to ignore the stares of the strange dyed dark haired girl in the back of the class. Ever since her first day of school that girl had hovered non-stop, constantly watching Ness with this look of confusion like she was trying to solve a puzzle. But then again everyone treated her like a side show. The infamous mysterious daughter of the Cullens. She was popular only by topic of conversation.

At least the strange girl was treated like a freak as well. Through the many curses of middle school, something must have happened that warranted such a response of hatred and coldness towards the girl. She went by Star but the teachers called her Madison White when she often was caught listening to music in her poorly hidden ear phones or never doing homework. At least once a week she was sent to the dean to be straightened out.

One day Ness was walking down the hallway on her way to eat lunch outside alone where people would not notice her lack of human food and start another rumor of her starving herself. But she caught Star sitting in the office obviously in trouble again.

"People have stopped caring about your little charade. People have stopped giving you excuses. I don't care that your parents are dead and living with your aunt is hard. You can't keep using it as a reason to lash out. The school has tried to offer grief counselling and help you the best we can, but we are sick of it," the balding man yelled slamming down a manila folder on his desk. A record.

"Murdered, they were murdered I saw it! Just no one believes what I saw!" Star shouted back jumping up.

"Get out of my office. The school has offered its help, and you vandalizing it was the last straw," he hissed as she got up in a hurry, whipping the door open not seeing the pale girl eavesdropping.

"The fuck do you want, Cullen?" she spat.

Ness smiled, trying not to be hurt, "Would you like to eat lunch with me outside?" Her grandpa had taught her that compassion goes a long way.

The human froze foe a second before she broke down sobbing, not knowing how to react with the kindness. Ness lead her outside to a private lunch table to avoid the stares both were accustomed to.

"My life use to be normal and happy. Then last summer I heard a noise and was walking down the hallway to see what it was. I thought maybe my cat had gotten stuck in the laundry room again. But my parents' room door was open. And it was never open! I heard this really deep growl, like a monster. And there it was. This wolf creature thing EATING MY PARENTS! The police and everyone says I am just suffering from PTSD and it was just a normal animal attack or that my mind was repainting the killer as something not human but I know what I saw. It was a werewolf," everything bubbled out of the dark dyed girl. Ness helped wipe away the smeared mascara and poorly drawn dark eyeliner and the black clad girl continued crying uncontrollably.

It's going to be okay. You aren't crazy, Ness thought.

"What did you say?" Star snapped eyes wide looking at where Ness had placed her hand to wipe away her tears. "I didn't say anything," Ness snapped.

"How did-"

Ness took off running tears forcing their way down her perfect cheeks. This could not be happening. She had used her power on a human. She had broken the law of secrecy. And already living under the threat of the Volturi searching for her and her family to make a mistake. Not to mention because she was different. They would not be lenient for what she was. That and her family would be forced to move. Away from Jacob and the pack. Because her family was different. Her father was right. She should never have gone to school. Ness ran and ran and ran and ran before falling to her knees in the February snow of the Olympic Mountains that stood like so many things in her way.

Alps Border Town, Austria

The five of them had hid themselves in an empty warehouse. Now in cell service the three strangers were able to have internet access to at least work on translating to break the troublesome language barrier. At first it had been taken seriously as they introduced themselves explaining a brief synopsis of their lives. The twins did the same. Jane was surprised to hear that their parents had been dhampirs and their grandparents and great-grandparents as opposed to the traditional vampire-human union to create dhampirs. It was the first time either twins had seen proof that dhampirs could even procreate. The three of them looked in awe when they said they were only fifteen, and the twins were surprised to hear all three of them were centuries old. "But you look so young?" Jane snorted. She thought they still looked like teenagers but happy to have people to commiserate with in being forever young. "Mee-lit-ah-ry age," Roman tried to read off the screen to correct her. It seemed just about right. In comparison to the rest of the dhampirs they had met who were over seven years and had reached maturity, most would fall loosely in the category of military age. Some slightly younger looking while some looked slightly older despite many being centuries old. But eventually the long hours of the day won over and the phone was later used to translate less serious matters. It quickly became a game of trying to say as many dirty words and sexual phrases as possible whole laughing uncontrollably at the others. Despite the comic relief Alec felt very uncomfortable. The now living girl Asya kept staring at him while thoughtfully spinning the knife in her hand and studying his face like he had suddenly grown purple facial hair. But whenever he caught her still staring at him, she would quickly avoid eye contact with him and go back to fidgeting with her knife. He still was confused as to how she was alive. She had been dead for a solid hour. Then awake and alive as if nothing had happened. The rules of mortality that he had known for a thousand years were changing and he didn't know how to feel about it.

Asya finally thought she connected the dots. Their new acquaintance Alec had very similar facial features as her still dead friend Damien. The only way to have such similar features were if Damien was his son. She didn't know if Alec knew his son was dead since he had died the same day she had. Asya suddenly felt regret for smashing their phone to check if it was recording them. But should she be the one to tell him? Or should he wait until he returned to their masters and prevent distracting them from completing their task? The sooner they both finished their quests, the better. The happier both groups' masters would be. Plus Damien would be alive again long before the twins returned home. "What's with you? You've been awfully quiet," Roman joked wrapping his arm around her, holding her close to him as she lowered her head from Alec's eyes. "Nothing. Just still not quite feeling myself yet," She faked a smile so he would stop worrying about her.

Alec needed to know why she was staring at him suddenly. Maybe he would try to break the sudden tension with small talk. "Asya is a really pretty name. Does it mean anything?" Alec asked forcing a smile himself. She looked down avoiding his eyes, biting her lip to the point where it started bleeding. "Resurrection," was all she whispered as if she was ashamed of it.

Damien didn't know what was happening. He kept feeling like something was clawing around inside his chest. He kept waiting patiently hoping it was a sign he was going to wake up soon. What scared him now was that he kept hearing this ticking noise and vibration inside him. He didn't know how long he had been in whatever purgatory know held him. Days? Years? He thought pain did not exist here but slowly the tendrils of Thirst starting to slither up and down his throat. He asked Hadley about it.

"Trust me it gets worse," was all he said with a grimace. Damien pitied those who had been here for centuries. "The Thirst gets so bad after years and years of being here that it eventually drives you mad. That and the longer you are here, the more you forget who you were before you died. That's why we are trying to stay as a whole group. It safer in numbers where they can't get you."

"They?"

"The Rabids," was all he had said before he returned to breaking up another fight.

Now Damien sat in on for the ashen trees around the perimeter of the clearing. He pulled the ring he stole from Hadley from his pocket. It was surprisingly bulky. "Harvard Class of 1944", it read. Hadley had graduated Harvard? It felt warm in his hand as he waited for whatever his power did to take effect as he slid it on to the same finger Hadley had held it on before.

He was chained to a bench in a police station. Looking down his wrist and arm were tiny indicating he had to have looked like a six year old as his dirt caked bare feet swung unable to reach the floor. It was stuffy and hot as the humidity made is shirt cling to his back. Looking around he found a calendar that ready July 1921 with a picture of Mississippi nature scenes. A man sitting at a desk with a confederate flag for decoration in tan fiddled with a shot gun watching him as if he planned to shoot him. "Found him soaked in blood out by the woods. They say he killed Cletus Aberdeen. Sheriff found the kid chewing on the son of a bitch's throat like fish fry. Craziest call I ever got," a man with a drawn out southern accent talked to two young men sitting across from him in a room down the hall. "Do you know if Cletus had any relation to the boy? Step-father perhaps? If there had been a young woman perhaps who has disappeared?" one of the young men spoke. "Now you mention it. Cletus' wife Lorraine was found dead in the same sticks we pulled the kid and Cletus' out of. Serves her right. Rumor has it she was knocking boots with some gentleman she claimed was an angel. But the boy. Never seen him in my life. And this town only has about a thousand people," the policeman laughed, "Why you want to know?" Both of the young men pulled out what seemed to be badges of some sort. "We are a special branch from Washington and this is now our investigation. Since the boy is a minor he will be placed in our custody. It would serve you best if all information is handed over regarding this case," the young man spoke again in a threatening tone. He heard the sound of paper being shuffled as the three of them walked out of the room. Damien froze. They were both dhampirs dressed as government workers. One was brown haired with blue eyes. And one of them was Donovan. Donovan walked towards him holding the keys to the handcuffs. He watched in confusion as Donovan undid the restraints and he felt Hadley stand up to follow them out of the station and to the train station as he boarded a train for New Orleans.

The scenery blurred as he sat at a table with a gas light. He feet now reached the ground and his hands still itched from wearing the gloves that concealed his ability. "I still don't get why you are going through all that trouble and for what? Living a human life? Being a good little boy?," a female's voice snorted. He looked up to glare at a dhampir girl who looked about nineteen dressed in revealing clothing with dark hair that curled and twisted around her back as she brought a smoldering cigarette to her dark painted lips. "I am going to get a perfect score on the SAT and I am going to get into college and I am going to get a scholarship and I am going to become a lawyer and I am going to help people," the words flowed with conviction out of his lips as he clenched the pen in his hand so hard it burst all over the books he had stolen to help him study. "Leave him alone Eva," a blonde girl with green eyes chirped from the balcony of the small cramped apartment as jazz music leaked from the street below. "Moira the Mother," Eva sighed exasperated as she sat on the lap of a young man reading a newspaper dated March 1939 before planting her lips on the top of his blonde hair.

The scene shifted again. He was spinning, dancing. The same blonde girl was spinning around him. "So Mr. Fancy Lawyer?" she laughed as he spun her around in a floral flowing dress that swished around her calves as a radio played the Beatles on a New York roof top. He had been working as a lawyer for the division in New York for a couple of years. That way he couple help dhampirs when legal problem arose such as murder trials or even getting documentation. For some reason he loved getting himself lost in legal documents and finding clever loop holes while still obeying the laws that held society together. He may not believe in a God, but he did believe in justice. "So Ms. Future Seer?" he laughed smiling as she kissed his lips, "How does the future look?" She laughed spinning, spinning, spinning. "I'd say our future looks good."

Butterflies battered around in his stomach. The calendar in his office now read March 2005 as music pulsed downstairs. "I heard you got elected to be the next leader of the New York division," a voice stated. He looked up from the legal forms he had been going through. He say Donovan staring at him. "Yes, my work keeping law enforcement at bay and representing our kind in a legal setting has gained popularity," he felt proud of himself. Donovan crossed his arms stone faced. "Is Moira okay if I were to win?" Hadley was nervous. Moira had suddenly stopped talking to him and had been distant since January. She wouldn't let him touch her as if she was scared he would read her mind. Had she seen something terrible?

Hadley was shaking trying to calm himself down. Moira and he had just had their biggest fight yet. Not know what to do he resorted to finding comfort in the library. He sat down catching his breath at one of the dimly lit tables. A book sat there abandoned and alone just like him. "History of the Volturi" it read as he flipped to the first page curious. The Volturi were a threat no one talked about. If the existence of dhampirs went unnoticed, they were safe. But he paused looking at the portrait of their leader. Aro. He had never seen the face of the Volturi before. Reading further about Aro he learned he had the same ability as Hadley. The same nose. The same hair color. The same smile. He still had never discovered who his father was. Reading further he learned during the twenties the Volturi were in the South trying to manage the Newborn Armed emerging again. He felt his heart stop for a second as an icy feeling spread over him. He was Aro's son. He could tell no one. He would lose his position as a leader. He could be killed. He had to keep it a secret. Reading further he learned that the Volturi had two borderline children vampires by the names of Jane and Alec. A portrait showed Aro hugging both. Hadley threw the book into the fire wanting all of them to burn.

"I need to see him. Meet him just once," Hadley steamed frustrated as Damien watched through his eyes. "No, absolutely not. You would endanger all of us by doing that!" Moira hissed, "Think about it. You have read the mind of almost all the dhampirs in New York. A simple handshake and Aro knows everything about everyone!" He had just received news that the Volturi had met a dhampir named Renesmee Cullen. Defeated at the moment but still having his mind toss and turn with new ideas he followed her to a meeting with some of their friends. There had been a growing sentiment to kill the Volturi to secure their safety. Moira had revealed that she saw a prediction that the dhampirs and the Volturi would go to war, with high casualties on both sides. A dozen or so damned vampire lives for the sake of hundreds. It was a no brainer. Hadley wanted them dead as well, but for more personal reasons. Still Moira avoided him not matter how much he wanted to kiss her and hold her.

His world was on fire and Damien felt like he burning from the inside out as he layed curled up on a damp brick floor. It was dark he couldn't see anything. Three figures, two smaller and one taller, stood looking down on him. Red eyes bore into his as his world was on fire. Jane, Damien wanted to scream, Stop. But he couldn't form the words. He couldn't change the past. Alec watched as he lay screaming until his throat couldn't handle it anymore as his heart seemed to be seizing up, smiling pleased with himself and in admiration as Jane slowly tortured him. Please help me, he wanted to sob.

Damien felt hands shake him as he dropped the ring. "Rabids! We have to move!" Haldey yelled as a dhampir lunged with wild eyes ready to try to shred them to pieces. The older boy grabbed him by the back of his shirt pulling him away from the wild creature as he kicked it from the tree, "Don't you understand me!"

Damien understood him, more than Hadley could imagine.

Dusk finally came as the five of them ran as fast as their legs could carry them. They would make it to the location of the Immortal Children by dawn. The terrain was rocky and varying in places, but they were thankful for the winter's long nights. The twins were amazed by the stamina of the dhampirs. "The longer we have been drinking human blood, the stronger we are," Roman answered simply.

Eastern Europe was not the most desirable places to be when you are a vampire. Everyone suspects you as they run around with powerless crosses and garlic. It was rather annoying how ignorant humans could be. Eventually they reached they reached the outskirts of the town closest to where the map indicated there target was. Alec and Jane debated feeding on the town's people, but something about them already on the lookout for blood drinkers told them to hold off. Alec checked the list.

- Blizzard

- Hounds

- Snow Ninjas

- A debt paid to the Sewicks

- 17

- Cowboys

- Old Kings Court

The next thing on the list of death was 17.

The winter wind whipped through their cluster. It was tainted by the smell of vampires. They were close. Instinct took over as the five of them began tracking the children and their creator. This should be an easy task. There was only supposed to be maybe five children?

An adult vampire ran out when he smelled the approaching enemies. "Stop! Aro said we could create Children!"

"Yes, half-vampire children and even that has a limit per vampire!" Jane countered. He looked confused.

"Dhampirs created through sexual relations with a human woman. Like these guys. Notice the difference?" Alec asked rubbing his face frustrated while pointing at their three new friends.

"You and your children are going to have to come with us to Volterra for processing," Jane ordered.

"No! Not my children!" he gasped in shock throwing himself at her feet as pain racked his body.

Alec readied his Mist as they ran up to a large cottage hidden in the woods. He quickly surrounded the area. The five of them went through the Mist counting the children.

"Ten, eleven, twelve," Asya called testing English out more.

Jane finished counting, "Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen. Seventeen children."

Alec sighed, "Ah Fu-."

Volterra

Heidi had suggested that Marina take up a new hobby to distract herself from Damien's death. Tiago had thrown himself into helping Felix repair the down stairs training room. Olivia had become obsessed with Gossip Girl. Marina found the ballet shoes Heidi had given her for Christmas. But no one on the Guard knew how to teach her. "You can borrow my laptop," Joan had offered generously, "Perhaps you can look up videos that could teach you."

And so Marina spent her free time learning ballet. When she wanted to change things up, she found videos on gymnastics. She was surprisingly good at copying what she watched. Occasionally Tiago would come down and copy the videos with her. Or at least work as a spotter assisting her with hand springs and different back bends. Or if she got stuck in a painful position he would help untangle her. In return Marina would help tutor him in math. They had come up with the technique of her shouting a problem as she kicked the futebol towards him and he had until he trapped it to answer before passing it back to her. It worked so well they tried it for all the subjects they were learning. Since Damien was now gone, Marina was the only one in the advanced group. Tiago was determined to be in the advanced group with Marina no matter what. He thought Demetri would be proud of him for working hard and doing better in his classes. Instead the tracker seemed to be glaring daggers at him constantly. Soon Tiago was too scared to hold Marina's hand under the table like he normally liked to do. He had overheard Felix and Demetri talking one night.

"Looks like Tiago and Marina will end up mates," Felix had said calmly.

"Not a chance. They are way too young," Demetri snarled.

"Think about it. I doubt Aro will allow them any other options for companions. Tiago and Olivia see each other as siblings. Just wait until they are teenagers when the hormones really start kicking in," Felix sighed.

Demetri held his tongue. He knew Felix was right.

"They feel very connected to each other but it is not of sexual desire. More of adolescent romance and friendship," a voice spoke up. It was Marcus, "They will become mates in time. Maybe not today. Maybe not for years. But there are worse things. For now I advise you monitor your children and guide them in wise decision making so they are not faced with a problem neither are mature enough or ready to handle."

Marina had been sneaking into his room each night. She assured him Demetri could not track her.

He sat watching her practise dancing. It felt eerily familiar, like he had seen a picture of her spinning in the training room mirrors. Even with Damien gone, he would find some way to keep her safe.

"My dad's coming," she said pausing. Sure enough Demetri came into the training room. He wanted to talk to Tiago in private as he asked him to come with him into his office. Tiago wanted to protest, but he finally understood why Damien kept what he saw and felt a secret. There was no clear evidence to back up gut feelings. Tiago left the room glancing back at Marina, taking in her blushing cheeks and radiant blue eyes.

Marina went back to practising. She wanted to get better at spinning without getting as dizzy. She had a theory of how to use her ability to help her not get as disoriented.

Spinning, spinning, spinning. Stop.

Marina felt a disturbance in the air. Someone was downstairs.

Spinning, spinning, spinning. Stop.

Marina looked around over her shoulder. Someone was definitely down her with her. She didn't recognize him or her.

Spinning, spinning, spinning. Stop.

A darken figure stood in the mirror behind her.