~ Chapter Eleven ~

Harleigh could tell from where he stood that Isabella Swan was freezing. In the middle of an open field, the surrounding forest did little to help shelter them from the wind and the cold. Harleigh had used a charm to keep from freezing; the shifters naturally ran hot, so they weren't bothered by the weather at all; a vampire didn't feel the weather, so it just left Miss Swan unprepared for the long night. Of course, the mortal hadn't dressed to keep warm but that wasn't Harleigh's problem.

"How long are we going to be out here for?"

The whine from the human was highly irritating. An hour had already passed while they patiently waited for Edward to create a scent trail leading from the Warehouse to their location. They wanted nothing to be left to chance, the newborns would follow the scent directly to their death.

"Edward is close by now, we shouldn't have to wait long before this is all over." Esme soothed.

Not five minutes later, Edward ran into their clearing with only a nod to indicate the newborns were behind. Everyone readied and as soon as all the Newborns raced towards Bella, it was on.

The destruction of the newborn army started with the Shifters blocking their retreat. They were guarding to make sure none of the newborn vampires managed to come to their senses and flee before they were taken out. Every newborn that attempted to flee was taken apart piece by piece by the Shifters or Edward then thrown into a pile. The mounting body parts were only further added to by the others as they tore into more Newborns.

Rosalie and Jasper worked well together, moving swiftly and with deadly aim. They attacked together, one grabbing the newborn while the other took it apart, swapping up the roles when it suited their position. It was a striking contrast to Emmett and Alice who chose to pounce on their target and rip away at them with less finesse. Yet, they couldn't compare to Harleigh and Carlisle.

While Esme stood and protected Bella from potential strikes that broke through their attacks, Harleigh and Carlisle danced around their opponents. Every vampire Harleigh froze in place with magic would be taken out a split second later by Carlisle, cleanly removing their heads in one solid hit. In turn, as Carlisle held a vampire down, Harleigh would simply touch them with fire, returning them to the dust. Elegant and brutal, their attacks were swift and aided to keep most of the attack under control and away from Bella.

As the numbers dwindled, and the newborns ended, Jasper noted, "Victoria isn't among the dead."

Harleigh frowned, if they hadn't been able to draw her out with the destruction of her army then it would be difficult to leave after this. Victoria would still pose a threat and Isabella would remain constantly in danger.

"We may have another problem." Rosalie scowled, nodding towards Edward and the Shifters.

The group turned towards Edward standing at the edge of the clearing with one of the newborns, the Shifters paced around the pair, acting as a barrier between the newborn and Bella. No one really knew what to say. After spending a solid half hour pulling apart newborns, having one suddenly amidst them without attack only caused them to question Edward's choices.

"Why is she alive?!" Isabella exclaimed.

The poor girl looked pained at Isabella's exclamation, visibly shifting to hide behind Edward.

"Edward…" Carlisle began cautiously.

"Carlisle, she has never tried human blood. When all the newborns fought for food she would remain at the edges of the warehouse. The only reason she is out here now is because she thought it best to run with the crowd, Bella's scent does nothing for her hunger."

Harleigh could see how Edward's thoughts were affecting his choices. This girl could be saved since she hadn't lost herself in the bloodlust, their diet could be applicable here especially if Harleigh decided to give her help. She also wasn't a danger to Isabella given her hunger wasn't exacerbated by the human's scent.

"Why would you allow her to live? She's still a danger to me?!"

Isabella's whining wasn't what Harleigh wanted to hear. Despite the potential danger to Miss Swan, Edward had chosen to allow this girl to live. If anything, this showed Edward's willingness to go against Isabella's wishes, something Harleigh had thought impossible when they had first met.

"It would be a family decision." Carlisle cautioned. "She would need to be watched for quite some time before we can be sure she'll be alright around humans."

"It shouldn't be a family decision!" Alice insisted. "After all, you will be leaving with Harleigh after this is all done."

Carlisle frowned at Alice's tone but didn't dispute her claim. The group stood in the clearing uncertain with the choices they now faced, only for the silence to be broken by a triumphant laugh.

Victoria jumped from a nearby tree, knocking both Esme and Seth out of the way. She fell upon Isabella with her second strike, teeth injecting venom into the human's veins. No one was fast enough to stop her trajectory despite their enhanced features. They only reached the pair after a significant amount of venom had been deposited into Isabella.

Edward ripped Victoria from a screeching Bella, Alice knelt to help her friend. Harleigh summoned a small amount of sympathy for the pain the human must be in at the beginning of her transformation, but it would only get worse from here and she would eventually fall quiet, too tired and in too much pain to utter a word.

"This was your plan?" Edward demanded, pinning Victoria to the ground. "Why would you want to turn Bella?"

"I didn't want to turn that wretch of a girl," Victoria spat, "I wanted to kill her, but I didn't manage to succeed in ripping out her throat as I wanted."

The group crowded around, some of the members worrying over Bella while the others stood around Victoria. No on truly seemed to know what to do with their current situation. Here they had a currently turning Isabella, an unintroduced newborn, and a revenge driven Victoria.

"It wasn't Bella's fault! Your mate chose to attack Bella, we had to kill him to protect her!" Alice retorted.

"We killed your mate not Bella. You should be angry with us; your revenge should be targeted towards us." Edward agreed.

Victoria snarled, pushing at Edward to stand. They allowed it purely because Jasper was using his ability to keep her urge to attack under control. She was still angry but that was a given considering what she had lost.

"She is the reason I lost my mate. If you hadn't taken her in, allowed her to see what you truly are, then he would be alive."

Harleigh could hear the raw pain in her voice. He could understand having everything you cared for ripped away cruelly.

"All this effort, purely to kill one human, was it worth it?"

His question caused Victoria's attention to snap towards where Harleigh stood; Carlisle moved to stand nearby ready to defend if necessary. Yet Victoria didn't attack or question his presence amongst their number.

"I should be allowed to kill her in retribution."

Harleigh nodded in agreement, knowing she was speaking about the rules of magic. The vampires clearly disagreed as did a few of the Shifters but they didn't know any better. Knowing what you are and learning about your past were two separate things especially difficult when the knowledge was lost to you.

"I will settle for her infected nature."

"That's it, you're just going to leave?" Alice, outraged at the thought, stood. Carlisle held her back.

"What will you do now?" he questioned.

The anger which once decorated Victoria's face with cruel lines had softened into sorrow. She shook, trying desperately to keep her emotions in check.

"There were other groups we could have joined. I'll head towards one of them and hope they will be as understanding as your witch."

Carlisle tensed at Victoria's words but relaxed as Harleigh agreed. "I wish you all the best."

Alice fumed in the background but returned to tend to Bella. Edward seemed wary but agreed to let Victoria go. The others purely agreed, glad to be rid of the one causing problems in their lives. Before she could leave however, Victoria fell to the floor, teeth clenched in pain.

"When we heard of a Newborn Army this wasn't what I had in mind when we arrived to deal with it."

From the tree line, a group of vampires all bearing a significant crest and red eyes walked to greet their gathering. Carlisle greeted the Volturri by name, fighting to remain where he stood and not step in front of Harleigh. The strain of these events was beginning to take a toll on everyone present and they didn't need to get into a battle with the Volturri on top of everything.

"As you can see, we have everything under control." Carlisle insisted.

The gathered Volturri didn't look impressed.

"This scene looks anything but controlled." Dmitri replied.

"Certainly, we must clean up, but then all we need to do is look after Bella during her turning. Everything else is fine." Alice tried to smile but the tense situation made it rather tight.

"You seem to be missing two very important people here." Jane grinned as Victoria continued to scream, before turning here eyes onto the newborn vampire Edward had saved.

"What is your name child?" Dmitri enquired.

The shaking newborn stood, uncertain what to do, and helplessly gazing between the two groups. Hesitantly, the reply came, "Bree Tanner."

"We'll take care of the two stragglers." Jane insisted.

Edward hissed, reading from Jane's mind what she planned to do. Harleigh, however, didn't need to read her mind, the glee from torture made it simple to read. Clearly, Rosalie also knew what they had planned for the two as she spoke up.

"You don't have to kill them, we can look after Bree, and Victoria is leaving."

Dmirti shook his head, striding forward. "Victoria's fate was sealed after she created her army."

The snap of Victoria's neck seemed to echo throughout the grove despite Isabella's continued screams of pain. Dmitri then turned towards Bree.

"Wait, we can look after Bree, she is innocent in all of this and shouldn't be punished for her sire's actions." Esme pleaded.

Despite the words of the matriarch of the group, the Volturri smiled sinisterly.

"Miss Swan has just begun her turning, having two newborns amongst your number is going to be a problem."

"You can save one or the other, not both, choose."

Harleigh's eyes turned cold. Forcing the Cullen's to chose between the two girls was nothing more than a show of power. Given their number, the Cullen's could easily look after both girls at the same time with little trouble. No, the Volturri didn't want the Cullen's gaining any more in their number. Not that it mattered, their number currently was divided with their thoughts on Isabella Swan, but that wasn't something they needed to know.

Seeing little choice in their response, Harleigh stepped forward. "I'll do it then."

The Cullen's immediately started protesting, but only Carlisle's words reached him.

"Harleigh… doing this isn't right. We shouldn't have to choose between Miss Tanner and Miss Swan. You can't protect one life over another."

"It's what you chose though, isn't it?"

The words were harsh and cutting, meant to silence Carlisle before he could speak further. Perhaps, it hadn't been fair for Harleigh to bring up their past here, but he wasn't about to allow Carlisle to mess this up. Only he could accomplish this with as little death as possible.

Sighing, Harleigh walked up to Carlisle and placed a hand on his arm in apology, "I'm sorry for my words Carlisle but do you want the Volturri's cold hands to be her last memory of this world?"

Carlsile frowned but didn't say anything. Glancing at Bree, he could tell she was confused and alone. She should have been taught to live their life, to be eased into a new world where she could be free to explore the new abilities forced upon her by Victoria. Yet, this was her story, a short second life that never got explored. Giving Harleigh a nod, Carlisle turned to see how Miss Swan was handling her turning, desperate not to see the end of the young girl's life.

Harleigh walked calmly up to the newborn and smiled reassuringly. "Miss Tanner, stand close to me and don't be afraid. Everything will be alright."

The girl, though uncertain, did as she was told and the instant Harleigh placed his hand on her arm she disappeared in a shower of dust. There was no pain just the end.

"My, my, you are something different."

Of course, the moment Harleigh revealed he wasn't human, or vampire, was the moment he became interesting in the eyes of the Volturri. Harleigh hissed in annoyance. He wanted this done. He was tired from everything that had taken place today and wanted nothing more than to return to Carlisle's house and rest before he could pack and leave.

Turning towards Jane, Harleigh snarled, "Oh, you wouldn't want to play with me."

"What are you?" Dmitri questioned. "We've never met anyone who could do what you do. You also smell strange…"

"I'm complicated but we'll start at the basics for those unlearned individuals." Harleigh's mocking tone caused the Volturri to shiver in anger. "I use magic to cast spells so I guess one would label me a witch. As for the smell, well, given I'm not your prey of course I don't smell appealing."

Edward shifted uncomfortably in the corner of his eye but Harleigh ignored it.

"How long have you known the Cullen's?"

"The Cullen's I've known only for a little while, but I've known Carlisle my entire life."

Half truths were always fun to play with, Harleigh mused as he watched the Volturri's anger grow. However, it was causing one to become rather reckless. Jane turned toward Harleigh, glee in her eyes and a smirk on her lips, ready to punish him for not granting their every desire.

"Go ahead, try," Harleigh goaded, "but I won't be the one on the ground screaming in pain."

A snarl turned viciously into a scream as Jane fell to the floor in agony. Alec dropped to his sister's side, unable to do anything to relieve her pain. For ten seconds, Harleigh kept her under the curse, her small body flailing around unlike that of Victoria, before he released it and walked to where they lay.

"I warned you." Harleigh smirked cruelly down at the twins on the ground. "Power, something you covert so badly in your little organization, yet you do nothing with it but lord over those you believe to be beneath you. Sitting in your hideaway, you don't care for anything other than power and hoarding it for your use. Yet, you are nothing compared to me. You must learn, there will always be something or someone stronger than you. One day, you will anger the wrong person and they will wipe you out. I hope I'm there to see it."

Jane and Alec stood, Jane wavering slightly. Crucio, it would seem, left its mark on any being it touched even if the being's muscles were nothing but stone. Its attack was pure torture though much deserved.

"You would like answers from me so here are the basics. I am a witch, stronger than you are, and there are many of us, but we choose to hide from beings like you. Vampires normally can't be trusted so when we find groups such as yours, we make sure you never get your hands on us. I won't join your little group and neither will anyone from the Cullen's family. You will leave now, and when everything is settled here, I will do the same. For your sake, I hope we never see each other again."

The suggestion Harleigh wove into his words with magic settled into place. Never again would the Volturri bother the Cullen family. Fear of what could be done to them would keep them compliant. Even if they were to find a witch again, they would never stand the power of even the youngest. Always would they be weak to the influence of magic. It was a curse Harleigh was only too willing to bestow upon anyone who would wear the Volturri sigil.

Volturri fled through the tree line, unwilling to remain in Harleigh's presence any longer. The group finally relaxed, the events of the night ending. All they had left to do was wait for Miss Swan to turn and destroy the evidence of what occurred.

"What do we do with the corpses?" Emmett questioned, earning a smack from Rosalie.

"I'll burn them. My fire won't touch any of the woodlands so it's the best option if you want no one to know what we've done." Harleigh offered.

The Shifters agreed and said their farewells through Edward, not wanting to remain anywhere near Bella when she woke as a vampire. Harleigh couldn't blame them, he wanted to be far away from Isabella Swan when she woke. The threat was over, and he was ready to go home. Unfortunately, they still had a family to sort out.

Sparing a glance at Carlisle, Harleigh could tell he was tired, he needed time to unwind but they couldn't afford to do so yet. Isabella needed his full concentration. Harleigh watched as the venom burnt its way through Isabella's screaming form, a virus with no cure but death. He couldn't wait to be done here.

x-x-x-x-x

An epidemic spread through their little haven. It had started with a few people and what appeared to be nothing more than a seasonal cold. Yet, by the end of the month, half of the town had fallen ill, and all non-medical personal were to remain indoors to help contain the spread of the disease. Those that were ill had been taken to the nearby hospital, a rather small building where the beds now lined the hallways.

Carlisle often remarked the sick could not be treated appropriately in such conditions. There wasn't enough medicine to help every single person, so the doctors were forced to treat only those young and strong enough to survive their illness. The elderly was kept comfortable but given no hope of survival. Everyone else suffered and there was nothing the doctors could do but wait.

Harleigh found himself with little care though not when Edward faced the same illness. Despite Carlisle's insistence Edward was strong enough to survive the illness, Harleigh's magic insisted on being agitated especially since Edward's mother had fallen to the illness the previous day.

After everything they'd gone through, the years they had spent in this town, this wasn't how he wanted to leave. Carlisle had suggested it would be for the best for them to leave during the epidemic to disappear amongst one of the hundreds already dead; while Hareligh could agree they would easily disappear, he wouldn't leave Edward.

Their fledgling relationship hadn't been explored, however, Harleigh and Edward were comfortable exploring at their own pace. Of course, it didn't help they needed to sneak around and pretend to everyone else they were nothing more than good friends. But Harleigh didn't care, for the first time in decades he'd found someone he was willing to share his life with instead of the meaningless covers he normally chose. He didn't want to let that go. Harleigh's immortality, however, presented a problem he wasn't certain he could fix.

The door to their small apartment opened, revealing a flustered Carlisle fresh from the hospital.

"I turned Edward."

Harleigh shot out of his seat.

"Where is he? Is he alright? Are you alright?"

Despite being a vampire, Carlisle looked visibly shaken by the turn of events. His hair was ruffled, hands shaking, and medical uniform torn from running through the undergrowth. Yet, Carlisle shook of Harleigh's concern, more concentrated on Edward's new position.

"He is at a shack a few miles away from town where it would be impossible for him to smell a human."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Harleigh stood gathering a few of his belongings and placing them in a nearby bag. If he could be near Edward and offer his help during the painful transition than he would leave everything behind. He hadn't been present for Carlisle, but what he felt through their bond had been agonizing. He wouldn't allow Edward to be alone, not during this.

Turning around, he could see Carlisle hadn't moved since he'd sat down upon entering their home.

"Carlisle…"

Harleigh frowned as Carlisle sighed.

"The turning had a few side effects. Edward's memory is patchy. He remembers his mother, as clear as anything; his father he remembers little. Of me, he recalls I am his neighbour but not of the time we spent together during outings."

The more Carlisle spoke the more Harleigh's heart sunk.

"And me?"

Carlisle could do nothing but shake his head.

"Edward doesn't remember me?"

Harleigh sat beside Carlisle leaning against him for support. He couldn't speak, uncertain as to what he could say. They didn't often spend a long time in towns, but they'd spent nearly a decade here and had been unwilling to leave. Now though, if Edward didn't remember him…

"I don't know whether he will ever remember you, Harleigh, and I don't think it would be a good idea for you to be near him during his transition. We don't know how Edward will react to you and I don't want to risk a confrontation between the two of you. I promised his mother I would protect him, and I can't do that if he attacks you."

Harleigh could acknowledge that for their first encounter it wouldn't do to have Edward attack. Maybe, given time, Edward would settle into his transition and slowly begin to remember their relationship. Until then, it would be better if Harleigh didn't encounter a newly turned vampire despite desperately wanting to be near Edward.

"What are we going to do?"

"I think it would be best if you kept your distance for a time, just until Edward adjusts to being a vampire. We'll give it a decade and then we'll re-join you. But now, it is time for us to leave this town. I'll join Edward and remain with him in the shack, you can leave tonight and travel to the next town, I'll contact you every month to keep you updated."

Harleigh could only nod in muted silence as Carlisle rose and gathered his most important items, trusting that Harleigh would pack the rest of their belongings and travel to their next destination, this time alone. He couldn't even speak as Carlisle said goodbye and left the apartment.

Everything had been going so well and now Harleigh was alone. The last time he'd been alone, he'd only had chains and books to keep him company. Carlisle's father would often visit but they were moments of extreme pain he'd rather forget. Harleigh had never known this new life without Carlisle and now he wasn't even given a chance to ease into it.

Taking a shaky breath in, Harleigh stood and slowly collected remnants of the life he'd led here with Carlisle and Edward. Books and small knickknacks were packed away carefully amongst clothing until there was nothing left of their presence within the apartment. Knowing he would regret leaving it behind, Harleigh shoved a small, poorly carved, wooden figurine of a horned serpent into his bag before closing it.

Harleigh closed the front door without a glance backward.

Next chapter is the final for part one. Get ready.

~MidnightEmber