DestinyMarch 11th, 2109

I am so glad that Edward convinced me to take up journaling. I resisted him for the longest time, saying it just 'wasn't me'. Then I tried writing on the computer, because – let's face it, I'm just faster typing and my handwriting leaves a lot to be desired. But there is something to be said about putting pen to paper and having the time to think and sort out your thoughts.

I never imagined just how challenging not having to sleep could be. I always complained about 24 hours not being enough time in the day. So this is good therapy, especially after the events over the last few weeks. Carlisle is so terribly busy trying to pull it all together – and with the added worry about Emmett.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning.

After Phil and Mom died in that horrible tour-bus-crash not long after Edward and I got married, I grew even closer to Charlie. For a long time I was devastated that we weren't able to reach them soon enough to turn and therefore safe them, despite Alice giving us a two hour head-start on news of the crash. I was even more determined than ever to stay close to Charlie and somehow we were able to keep to ourselves in that big white house in the woods and keep a low profile so that we could stay in Forks. Alice and Jasper, as well as Emmett and Rosalie would travel for long periods of time, just to be more inconspicuous, even though not having the family together was always tough on everybody. The people in town would always marvel at the fact, how young-looking I stayed and wanted to know my beauty secrets. Would they have been surprised! We kept Renesmee a secret from the outside world and she moved to the reservation with Jacob as soon as she was old enough. Well, old enough in her count of years.

Charlie – true to form – never asked questions until he lay on his deathbed. He had fallen ill with lung cancer not long after his 70th birthday. Charlie, who had lived in Forks almost his whole life, practically lived in the outdoors and had never smoked even just one cigarette! Healthy as a horse; it was ridiculous. Carlisle discharged him from the hospital and took care of him at home during his last few days. Thankfully, Charlie was still very much in control of his intellect and everything he had bottled up all these years came pouring out of him. His questions did not stop, and Edward, Carlisle and I did our best to explain everything, as did his old friend Billy Black, Jacob's Dad.

I tried to convince, even begged, Charlie to stay with us. We could have covered it all up, buried an empty casket and finally leave town. But he wouldn't hear of it. While he was surprisingly understanding and accepting of the fact that vampires and werewolves DO in fact exist and that his daughter and granddaughter were amongst them, he really saw no advantage in living forever. He said he had lived a great life, seeing his daughter grow up to become a strong, independent woman as well as loving wife and mother. He said he was tired, and he was ready to go home and be with Renee.

After Charlie passed, we all moved to Denali. We needed to get out of Forks to let time go by and to give a new generation who didn't now us personally, time to grow up before we could move back into town. Jacob and Renesmee decided to come with us. Jacob imprinting on mine and Edward's daughter didn't only produce a certain awkwardness for us, but it also caused a lot of obvious problems for Jacob on the reservation. No Cullen was allowed there according to the treaty. But on the other hand – imprinting is such a powerful force in a werewolf's life, it could not be denied. So with the help of my newfound power, being able to show all the elders her true intentions by letting them into Renesmee's and all of my family's minds, Carlisle was able to negotiate a new treaty and truce with the Quileute. We still weren't allowed to hunt on Quileute land, but we could now enter the reservation to visit my daughter and all our other friends. Furthermore, having been so successful standing united against the Volturi when they came – for what they thought was an immortal child – the wolves and the vegetarian vampires vowed to always fight together against any threat towards either "tribe". Amazing what a little "mixed breed" child can do.

However, that didn't ease the burden on the Quileute of turning into werewolves in the first place; this particular part of their genetics wasn't influenced by family, loyalty or imprinting. As long as there were vampires in their midst, there would be wolves. That's why Jacob decided to come to Denali with us. As painful as it was for him to leave his pack, he wanted to ease their burden by removing his vampire bride. Turns out, it doesn't work that way either. The connection amongst members of the pack is so strong that they could have moved to the moon and it wouldn't have made a difference. As long as one of the pack has contact with a vampire, the pack will remain in existence. But we didn't know that at the time.

Denali wasn't easy for Jacob either. If Renesmee felt out of place on the reservation amongst the pack (which she really didn't – she is so easy going, which I attribute to her mixed genes), it was especially tough for Jacob to live amongst a bunch of "leeches". His devotion and dedication to make Renesmee happy despite his own suffering finally convinced me – and Edward, for that matter – to give them our blessing to get married. Was their love really so different from ours? It wouldn't be easy for them, but as our example showed – love can conquer all.

After the last people who had known us personally in Forks had passed on, it was time for us to move back home. Isn't it ironic, that this place I loathed basically all of my human life, I now consider "home"? But it IS – it's where I met Edward, and where our daughter was born. And my best friend, who is now my son-in-law – that particular thought is still a little weird for me – lives practically next door. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Aro and Caius kept their promise and checked up on us off and on over the past century. We never thought anything of it. We should have known better than to think that they would ever give up their quest to recruit us and our "talents" as their showcase priced possessions. They were especially interested in Renesmee and, of course, me. But they never dared to do anything further, as we never gave them any reason to take us over by force. Over the years news from Italy would reach us about increasingly more horrific, unexplained deaths. It seemed that the Volturi's Illusions of Grandeur were spiraling out of control. One would have thought that after the encounter in Forks after Renesmee's birth they would tread more carefully, knowing that their standing in the vampire world was a little bit shaken. And with every gruesome bit of news out of Italy, the buzz in the vampire world questioning the Volturi's authority as the governing force grew louder. Aro and Caius heard it, too. That's when they decided to finally come after us with force. Alice saw it the second this crossed their minds.

Ever since the new treaty with the Quileute, Alice's sight around Jacob started improving. It seems that the loyalties we forged lowered that natural barrier. I thank God for it every day! Although we had a contingency plan ever since that "almost battle" Alice's vision gave us enough time to properly prepare. And we had another trump card. The Volturi didn't know that the wolves were still on our side in this matter. We quickly sent for all our friends, plus those who weren't yet, but were unhappy with the way the Volturi were running things. This time around we didn't have much convincing to do. The Volturi had abused their power one too many times. Everybody joined our side quickly and resolved to stand their ground. With Renesmee's help we projected our action plan quickly and accurately into everybody's mind. Many were reluctant at first to work in unison with the pack, but it didn't take my daughter but 10 seconds to show them the kind of loyal friends they are, and the support they would give us.

We awaited the Volturi in our baseball clearing. Mostly because it was far away from town and it was a huge field without any hiding spots or chances for an ambush. The pack circled the perimeter and our friends joined us on the field. I didn't have to be a mind reader to see that Aro and Caius were shocked when they arrived. Yet their arrogance still didn't allow them to even think they could be defeated. Carlisle, still hating conflict, met the brothers head on – under my protective shield, of course – to try to talk them out of unnecessary bloodshed. I have never met anybody in either of my lives with as much compassion and love for all creatures. Carlisle tried to convince them that maybe, just maybe it was time to go with the times and to hold some sort of election to see who should be setting and enforcing the rules of the vampire world from now on. When he couldn't get through to them Renesmee even asked to show Aro and Caius what this scenario would look like and how it would benefit everybody. But there was no getting through to them and it quickly became clear that a battle was inevitable.

I hated having Renesmee there, but she had grown into an adult vampire – well – she was still half human, but she had vampire speed, vampire strength and was virtually indestructible. (Her human side came through in other ways – but more about that later). I felt safe having her under my protective shield. As a matter of fact, my ability had grown so much over the past century that I was confident I could protect everybody fighting on our side. Well – what was that I said about arrogance earlier?

Everything was fine when the battle began. Head to head conflicts, good old-fashioned brawling, wolves and vampires working together flawlessly, my shield ensuring that none of the Volturi's mind games worked against fighters on our side, as well as physically protecting them. But then it happened. I don't know whether I was distracted or whether Emmett just moved too far and too quickly when hunting down one of Aro's warriors, who tried to get away. All I know is that all hell started breaking loose: Alice letting out a terrified scream, Edward collapsing by my side closing his eyes and holding his head as if it were to explode any second. I looked around frantically, trying to figure out what was going so terribly wrong.

And then I saw Emmett, who in his eagerness to fight had obviously somehow gotten outside of the reach of my protective shield. Jane had not hesitated even a split second to pin down our best and strongest fighter and torture him with her mind. Alice picked up on it right away and told me later – after the fight - that she saw Emmett die. Edward read Alice's and Emmett's thoughts simultaneously, and the pain that Jane inflicted on his brother was so unbearable that it almost rendered Edward ineffective as well. But since he was still under my shield, it just felt like the worst migraine you could ever imagine. Once he was over the initial shock of physical pain and the anguish of seeing his beloved brother dying in his sister's mind, he became extremely angry. And while Jasper tried to influence Jane in a way to loosen her telepathic hold on Emmett, I cried out in horror as I saw four of Aro's guards close in on him, starting to pull on each limb, trying to dismember him. I had seen first hand how vulnerable a vampire can be when little adorable Alice ripped off James' head that fateful night at the ballet studio. Thankfully Emmett is physically so strong that even through Jane's torture he was able to hold on just long enough for Edward and Jacob to get over to him. Both of them were so enraged that they made short order of the four guards. But it was Leah who took out the Volturi's most effective weapon – Jane. As Jane saw Jacob and Edward approaching, she decided that Emmett was already weak enough, loosened her hold on him and tried to pin down Jacob instead, which was her downfall. Through the connection of the pack Leah sensed her Alpha in danger and charged Jane without hesitation and with such swiftness that the vampire, despite her speed, had no time to react. Rosalie was only two steps behind Leah and got her chance to avenge her man. While Leah ripped out Jane's throat, Rosalie pulled off each of her extremities – just like I remembered the mean kids in kindergarten pulling the wings off of flies.

As soon as the guards and Jane were out of the picture I had my whole group included under my shield again. Emmett, however, was in bad shape. Not only had Jane left his mind in a state of shock and disarray, but the guards, despite Emmett's immense strength, had already started to pull him limb from limb. His right arm was just hanging from its socket with all the tendons torn, and both his hips were dislocated. The skin on his left shoulder as well as the tissue underneath had started to tear, and I believe if not for Edward's speed, Emmett would surely have lost his left arm. As it was he was unconscious, which is almost unheard of for a vampire. Esme, who until then had fought right along Carlisle, not leaving his side, was now tending to Emmett, moving him out of the clearing. I looked at Alice, who had a grin on her face and I started to relax. This was her signaling to me that the odds had turned in our favor; and then I could see for myself. I saw vampires and wolves from our group destroy Volturi after Volturi. Because of the commotion involving Emmett I had not realized that Sam had taken down Aro with a swift bite to the throat and Caius was already separated from his limbs and distributed across the field.

The Volturi were leader-less and Carlisle had enough of the senseless slaying. He could see that the remaining vampires from the Italian group seemed to be distraught and confused. He halted the fighting and once again tried to talk them down. This time they listened – with a little bit of Jasper's help. They surrendered and vowed to follow a new leadership to be established as soon as possible.

It came as no surprise to me, that Carlisle was nominated and quickly voted on and confirmed unanimously – and that included the wolves! Ever since I met Carlisle that first time at the hospital after almost getting crushed by Tyler's van, I admired his quiet strength, his resolve and then later the respect he understatedly commanded from his children. He never raised his voice or reigned with fear, but with unconditional love. I was glad that he would be able to expand that direction onto the vampire world. He, of course, ever so humble, felt unworthy at first. But when some of the families came to him for advice on how to adapt to a vegetarian life-style, he saw the advantages this position could bring to vampires, wolves and humans alike. I know he would much rather tend to Emmett around the clock right now, but Alice was able to convince him that he would be one-hundred percent in a few weeks. Therefore, Carlisle reluctantly focused on the task at hand and is working on a new set of vampire laws; or should I say vampire-and-wolf-laws? The first order of business was that the pack had just as many votes as the participating vampires - a collaboration unheard of up to this point.

This brings me to the other incredible, never before heard of – most unimaginable news I could possibly think of. After Carlisle insisted on the voting rights and integration of the pack into the vampire ranks, Renesmee suspiciously started grinning from ear to ear. Alice let out a loud shriek of delight and Edward, reading his sister's mind started growling and charging Jacob. Suddenly I understood and cut off my dear husband just in time to ask him: "Darling, you really don't want to kill your grandchild's father, do you?"

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Astrid Tryon

registration # 17814736