Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Twilight or from the Mercedes Lackey "Heralds of Valdemar" series. I only own Artemis, Apollo and Delphina and any other characters that you don't recognize. So, if you think I'm making any money from this, you are sadly mistaken. :p

Chapter 2

For Now We Stand Alone

After hunting, Artemis made her way back to her house in the middle of the Amazon. She smiled with pleasure as it came into view. That's the bonus of being immortal, she thought to herself as the environmentally friendly glass house welcomed her. She had managed to keep all of the modern necessities that she had come to love, while not being a drain on natural resources. As she walked into the open living room, she settled on the couch and booted up her computer. She smiled as she recalled the day that she had the satellite dish installed so that she could have television and internet. The installer had looked at the house in awe and asked her why she lived in the middle of nowhere. She had responded that she liked her privacy and she didn't allow much to change the environment in the forty square mile area.

As her browser came up, she thought carefully about what her visions were telling her and set the search parameters. As the search ran, she let her mind wander back to her childhood memories, which had been bubbling in the back of her mind all day.

When Artemis was eight, she started noticing that things were changing. Aros was never around and when she tried to talk to him, he brushed her off as a pesky child. Luckily, her older sisters Delphina and Didyme, and her twin brother Apollo managed to keep her mind off the question of what had happened to the older brother she adored.

Over the following three years, she rarely saw Aros and she never made time to talk to him, but that was soon about to change. It was in the spring when both Delphina and Didyme were Chosen and name joint Heirs-in-Right. She knew then that Aros would never be made King and his mood reflected that. Something tugged her to find him, to talk to him like she hadn't for a while. So after Delphina and Didyme were installed into the Collegium, she began her search.

She first wandered the halls of the Old Palace, the part that was original to the building, were all of the royal family had rooms, but she didn't find him, so she moved her search to the palace gardens. After wandering aimlessly for a while, she thought she heard his voice. She moved towards the direction, rounded one of the tall hedges and found him with a group of the courtier's children. Smiling happily, she began to walk towards them until she recognized the noble children as the ones who terrorized the young children in the Artificer's Collegium.

Feeling more cautious, she slowed her walk and changed directions, hoping to come up on them unannounced. As she crept closer, she noticed that in the center of the circle of young adults was a small child. Dylin, if she remembered his name correctly. He was the son of a tavern owner in one of the poorest districts of Haven, who had showed amazing abilities in mathematics. She smiled, knowing that the other boys were probably bullying him and Aros had to be protecting him from the horrid boys, who only picked on him because he was slightly built. When she got into hearing range, she was shocked to hear what Aros was saying.

"Oh, look at the little baby crying," he was sneering. "Maybe we should just send him home to his mother." Aros' smirk grew bigger as the other boys began to laugh. "Oh, wait! His mother abandoned him."

Artemis flinched as her image of Aros shattered into a million pieces. She continued to listen to his verbal abuse of the boy until something inside of her snapped. "Stop it!" she yelled as she burst out of her hiding place, her face livid with rage.

"Get out of here, Arte," he ordered her. "This is none of your business."

Artemis stood her ground, her hands clenching into fists as her eyes bored in his. "No," she finally said belligerently.

Finally, Aros backed down. "I was done here anyway," he sneered again as he turned and his pack of bullies followed him out of the gardens.

Artemis drew a deep breath, trying to calm herself down before she turned to the frightened boy. "Are you okay?" she asked softly.

Dylin nodded. "Thanks," he said before running back towards the safety of the Collegium.

Artemis sighed as the beep of her computer tore her mind back to the present. She glanced at the computer and saw that she was going to be traveling to Washington. It's been a while since I've been to the States, so this will be interesting, she thought. As she shut down the computer so she could prepare to leave, she wondered if she should fly, take her boat or go for safety and stealth and go on foot, per se.

Finally, she decided that if Aros was thinking properly, and there were rare times that he didn't, then he would know that Alice Cullen had probably already seen what he was trying to do and was going to rally the troops. He and the Volturi would be monitoring all of the forms of transit and if he knew where she was going, then he would likely attack sooner. So sighing, she brought out her boxes and quickly packed up her wardrobe for shipping to her property in Oregon.

As she packed, she also made a call to her property management team, thankful that she had the foresight to keep properties all over the world. While the home in the Amazon was her favorite and the one where she spent most of her time, she did like to go out and experience the different cultures that the world provided. Her manager assured her that the house would be ready by the time that she made there in a month. She had even arranged to pick up a car in California, so she could make the last part of the journey in style.

After her wardrobe was packed, she loaded the boxes into her Land Rover and began the drive to the closest city to ship them out and to put the SUV in storage for an unspecified length of time.

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The month following Alice's vision was one of preparation for the Cullen family. With the exception of Bella—who was feeling a bit left out—all of the vampires were contacting their friends to see if they would be willing to make a stand. Rosalie and Emmett had left the day after to scour the world the find anyone that would stand with them.

Alice and Jasper left the following week—Alice letting her visions guide her—and Carlisle and Esme left the week after. Edward and Bella had decided to stay at the house in Forks and were trying to coordinate everyone's efforts so the hunt would be efficient.

Jacob and Nessie were the most involved with getting the packs ready for the upcoming battle by working with Sam to ensure that La Push was not left without guardians. As a result, they spent most of that time on the reservation.

Bella had just gotten off the phone with Carlisle, who had confirmed that Amun would not be joining the fight, but Benjamin would, when Edward walked into the bedroom. She looked up at him, her desire in no way dampened in their decade together. "Benjamin's in," she told him.

Edward nodded. "Good. So that brings the total to how many?"

Bella looked at the computer screen. "Twenty-two."

Edward frowned. "That is not enough. Even with your shielding, they still outnumber us in sheer numbers, so if it came to a physical fight, we're not going to win."

Bella nodded. "I know," she said with worry in her voice. "Why won't they leave us alone?"

"It's quite simple," Edward began. "We made them look bad when we managed to defeat them last time. As a result, dissention in the vampire community has been building and they are losing their power base."

Bella just shrugged. "And we are the only people that are willing to stand up to their tyranny in fifteen hundred years. Great."

Edward smiled as he pulled her into his arms. "We'll be okay," he reassured her.

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Artemis picked up her car in Southern California and soon the sleek sports car was eating up the miles on the highways on the spectacular drive to Astoria, Oregon. She marveled in the changes that had changed the landscape from the one she had seen on her last trip to the States, some fifty years ago. Fifteen hours later, she was pulling up to her house in the woods. She unlocked the door and noticed all of the modern conveniences that were installed in the modest house. She quickly unpacked all of her belongings and checked the time. It was a little after four. She calculated the time that it would take her to drive to Forks and she decided to clean up before she left.

A little after five, she got back into the car for the four hour trip to Washington.

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Bella was enjoying her time in the wilderness. It wasn't often that she and Edward didn't hunt together and sometimes it was nice just to let herself get lost in the game. She inhaled, catching the scent of a large predator nearby, but was interrupted by her phone vibrating in her pocket. Sighing, she withdrew it with annoyance that faded to worry as she read Alice's name on the screen. "Hey," she answered, speaking softly enough not to disturb the animals nearby.

"Hey," Alice responded. "When will you be back?"

"Probably a couple of hours," she answered her. "I take it your back home. Why?"

"Oh, I just think that it's important all of us to be here tonight," Alice answered vaguely.

"Okay, then I'll finish hunting and head back," Bella assured her before hanging and getting her mind back to the hunt. With a feral smile, she took off to the northwest to stalk her prey.

Two hours later, Bella was back, her golden eyes gleaming in the moonlight. Edward met her at their cabin as she was walking up to the house. "Everyone is back," he said simply.

"I know," she told him. "Alice called me. Do you know what she saw?"

Edward shrugged. "I have no clue," he admitted with a smile. "She's translating the Gettysburg Address into Hindu in her head."

Bella laughed and they both turned to walk towards the front door of the house. As they got closer to the door, both of them tensed when the caught the scent of another vampire. Bella turned to Edward, unease evident on her face. "Anyone you know?"

Edward shook his head and with a grim look on his face, ushered her into the house, to the relative safety of the rest of the family.

AN: Wow. Thanks for the response guys!!!! Side note, if anyone has seen a green and purple dragon that goes by the name Lexi, can you send her home? My muse is missing and it's driving me crazy!

babes93 - I'm glad you like it! I hope you like this chapter as well. :p

Maddy - It's a good thing that my muse is gone for you then! I expect this to be 10 or so chapters, so it won't be very long. Maybe that'll help! Thanks! (I'm really trying to work on TWAH, but alas no ideas whatsoever.)

Soccer - Thanks! You are getting them in advance so you can make sure that I keep all the canon characters true to form. :D