Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything but this little plot! :o)

AN: Oh my gosh, I'm so so SO sorry that it's taken me so long to update. I've been so busy with a new job and getting a bunch of personal things in order so it's been really crazy. Oh well, I'm sure you don't want to hear about that and that you'd rather just read the story right? LOL Yeah that's what I thought.

Thank you so much everyone for keeping up with me and being semi-patient (i.e. Truelover hahaha) Props to "luffin edward-bella 4eva" to guessing Victoria would get the newborns from Maria, and thank you to "Abi94," "truelover," "Missy Skywalker," "Calm Serene," "ste11una," and "All The Pretty Horses" for their awesome reviews! ;o)

Oh, and to answer a few questions since I obviously didn't explain clearly, Victoria got away from Rosalie and Alice and ran. Her survival instinct greatly trumps anything else in her, so she found a way through the two of them and ran.

Now, enjoy!


Jasper's POV.

Once Alice had informed us of what appeared to be Victoria's plans on revenge, we began preparing. Bella questioned whether or not we should get the Volturi involved, as what Victoria was planning was illegal in our world but Carlisle dismissed her query saying that they would come on their own if it truly was something that got out of hand. I agreed.

I couldn't help but think about Maria and her army in the South. Alice said that Victoria was going to go down to the southern states and ask for a portion of newborns. She didn't see much past that because the decision to allow Victoria the newborns hasn't been made. I shudder to think about the damage that could be caused if she were to go through with this plan of hers.

It had now been four days since the skirmish of sorts had happened and currently I was hunting with Bella near the Canadian border. I felt through her emotions that while she was nervous about the outcome of Victoria's plan, she was currently elated from the hunt. I smiled, her exuberance affecting me positively. My little sister was such a good influence on everyone.

I watched from mid-way up a tree as she leapt and fell gracefully from the top of another tree onto her prey: a large, healthy, young Elk. Its death was quick and painless and she drained it dry. As soon as she was finished, she stood and adjusted her clothes before looking at me, "Ready to go home, Jazz?" I smiled and nodded.


As we ran home, she looked at me, her golden eyes wary, "Jasper, do you think we'll be able to defeat them?"

I was quiet for a moment, gathering my thoughts before I answered, "I do believe that we will be fine, Bells. Of course, I can't pretend to believe that we will all remain unscathed but we can hope. No leader of an army in the south will let go of many newborns; they need them for their feeding grounds."

"I think we'll be fine." Her voice was determined. I nodded.

"Yes, I suppose if worst comes to worst, we shall pull through." I winked at her and she laughed her carefree laugh.

"Come on Jazzy," she giggled, "Race ya!" And she took off. I laughed as I picked up my own pace to race her back home. It was so wonderful to have my sister back, I loved her dearly and I'll be damned if she is scared of someone like Victoria and her ill-laid plans of revenge for her mate.

We raced home. She swore up and down that she won, but Edward winked at me when he caught my train of thought that I just might have let her win.


Bella's POV.

In the past two weeks since Alice's revelation that Victoria was indeed plotting a battle of sorts, Jasper and Edward, at Carlisle's insistence, were pushing me to practice my shielding, as we didn't know the sorts of mind-altering abilities any of the newborns might have.

"One more time, Bella, I promise. One more time and you won't be bothered until Victoria comes." Jasper urged.

It was yesterday that Alice had the vision we were all waiting for; Victoria had tracked down, of all vampires, Jasper's sire Maria to ask for a small army of newborns to take us out and Maria had granted her wish.

I shook myself from my musings and once again spread my shield over our entire family, excluding Edward. "Can you hear their thoughts, Edward?" I asked him exasperatedly. I would think that they'd know that I had outstanding control over my shield, but I humored them by practicing.

He shook his head, "No, love. You're doing wonderfully."

Carlisle clapped his hands a few times, "Excellent work, Bella!" I dropped my shield and smiled warmly at our family's father figure. Esme lightly wrapped her arms around my shoulders and kissed my cheek.

Alice and Rosalie were sitting in some lawn chairs with unnecessary sunglasses on, Emmet was massaging Rosalie's shoulders while she and Alice read magazines. I went to sit with them, taking Edward's hand and pulling him along.

Jasper had gone to turn on some music and we were all having a conversation over where we would like to move after all of this blew over and our time in Washington was through. We were in the middle of a round of laughter at Emmett's suggestion of moving to some secluded mountain where we could "skydive" from the top of said mountain when Alice suddenly gasped and Edward growled.

"Alice? What is it, dear?" Esme asked quickly. Jasper appeared from nowhere to take his wife's hand, "Alice?"

"No!" She and Edward shouted in unison.

Emmett growled in frustration, "What have I told you about the lack of mindreading skills here?!"

Edward cut him from his rant as Alice shook her head to clear her head, "Victoria is coming. Now. We don't have much time. We need to get away from the house."

"Quickly," Carlisle commanded suddenly, "We must get to the baseball clearing. It's the only place we won't be found out from the noise we will make. Quickly, Esme, children, let's go!"

And with that, my vampiric family rose as one and ran at top speed to our clearing, my brother and Edward staying close to me for protection.

When we arrived at the clearing, Rosalie turned to Alice, "How long do we have until they are here?"

Alice's eyes became distant, "Not long at all," she whispered. I shivered and Edward placed a calming hand on my shoulder and we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Emmett sighed after nearly twenty minutes, clearly getting bored, but immediately stiffened and whipped his head towards the southeast, growling.

Immediately, we also caught the scents blowing in the wind and our stances stiffened. Emmett cracked his knuckles in anticipation, Rosalie broadened her stance, Alice stood straight with her tiny hand clutching my brother's. Jasper had his nose turned up slightly as he stared into the trees, Carlisle and Esme were stiff, her face worried as she chewed her lip. Edward, my sweet, darling Edward, held me to his body so tightly that I felt I would melt into him. All of our eyes were trained on the tree line as we waited.

It was a split second later when we heard the light footfalls of the newborns that were coming our way, and suddenly I heard footfalls around us. I gasped, "They're surrounding us."

Jasper nodded grimly, "Maria trained them well for being so young. But there aren't many of them. We can do this."

Edward growled, "The odds still aren't good. Even if they are small in numbers, they still outnumber us at least two to one."

I placed a hand on his chest, "My brother says we can do this, Edward. I believe him."

Our eyes met and he nodded. I saw the pain in his eyes as he pulled me even tighter and kissed me. This kiss felt wrong, it wasn't a loving kiss; it was a worried, scared kiss. I ran my hand over his cheek in comfort before squeezing his hand reassuringly. I knew the rest of my family was doing the same with their mates.

As we retrained our eyes on the trees surrounding us, we heard a high-pitched girlish laugh emanate from the forest. "Victoria." Esme whispered.

The laugh came forth again as we suddenly caught flashes of pale white skin dashing through and around the trees. We were quickly surrounded on all sides by the heaving chests of the red-eyed newborns. I took an involuntary step back, fear encasing me for a brief moment.

One of them stepped forward and from her fiery-red hair and catlike strides I knew immediately it was Victoria: the woman who thirsted for death.

Edward growled, evidently catching something in her thoughts, "Mate for mate, Victoria? Newborns? Are you out of your mind?"

Victoria's beautiful face crumbled into a snarl, "You killed James. Now she is going to die as a replacement."

"It won't bring him back!" Alice cried, "This accomplishes nothing!"

Victoria whipped her head toward Alice and Jasper immediately took a step forward to protect her if need-be, "Nothing? Nothing?! Tell me, little pixie, have you ever had your heart ripped from you? Have you ever lost anything? No, I believe you are too dainty and sweet to have anything taken from you. You've been spoiled."

It was my turn to growl, "Enough Victoria."

The snarl that ripped from her thin body would've scared me senseless had I been human, but I merely replied with my own as both groups of vampires tensed as one fluid movement, waiting for the other side to strike. We wouldn't be going first.

I heard Alice cry out as she gripped her arm. "Alice!" I screamed.

"Bella! Your shield!" Carlisle called quickly.

I nodded, throwing my protection over my sister-in-law. She immediately quieted, Jasper holding her in his arms. I scanned the newborns surrounding us for the source. My eyes narrowed as I saw it was a dark-haired male. He smirked at me.

"You are a shield, aren't you little one?" Victoria sneered, "No trouble for Bradley."

I glared at this Bradley as suddenly, for the first time in my life, I felt something tickle my brain. I shook my head to rid myself of the feeling. Edward looked at me oddly. What was that? Nothing had ever gotten through my shield before.

There it was again. I brought a hand up to my temple as the tickling grew to be a draining feeling. My strength wasn't leaving me, but I felt as if my shield was.

I gasped, "NO! Stop it!" I glared at him, "How are you doing this?!"

Another newborn that looked incredibly anxious to fight was bouncing on her feet giggled, "Bradley nullifies powers!" She was about to continue when Victoria snapped at her to quiet herself before smiling at us. My shield was so weak. I couldn't even expand it now. I looked desperately at Edward. "My shield, Edward. It's – I can't use it!"

His eyes widened and he prepared to say something when he was interrupted.

"Bradley can do one other thing too," She shrieked in laughter. "Care for a demonstration?" She nodded at Bradley and suddenly Esme fell to her knees, a hard ripping sound came from her body.

"ESME!" Carlisle cried as he fell beside her. She was holding her arm to her body; a large, bloodless gash was visible.

The sensation was back in my head but it was suddenly pushed out as a force weakened my body and shoved me to the ground. I cried out in agony. My body felt as if it were on fire.

I heard my family cry my name as whom I assumed to be Edward pulled me to their body protectively. And as suddenly as it came on, the pain stopped. I gasped for breath as Edward crushed me to his chest, his face buried in my hair.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!" Jasper screamed. I wasn't used to his voice so loud so I flinched.

"I disabled her protection mechanism and attacked her body." Bradley sneered.

Everything was silent for a moment until one of the other newborns, evidently fed up with all of our talking and the demonstrations, leapt forward and began slashing at our family. All hell suddenly broke loose.

"GO!" Victoria cried out and my family and I were swarmed. We jumped apart and each began a deadly dance of death with the newborns that just kept coming at us.

I cried out as one got a grip on my left arm and pulled back as if to rip it from my body but I was saved when Emmett jumped forward and punched the newborn in the face. I helped him dismember the intruder and we separated once again to our fights.

I caught a glimpse of red as a clawed hand flashed into my periphery. I jumped back and threw my hand out to retaliate at Victoria, catching her in her face with my fist. Once my fist connected with her face, however, she disappeared and was replaced by two crimson-eyed newborns that jumped onto my body, one pinning my arms behind my back as the other tacked me to the ground. "Bradley! Now!" one of them cried.

I heard a laugh before I felt my body weaken once again, and I screamed.

"EDWARD!" I cried. I felt my left arm pull from my body and I shrieked even louder. I sobbed in agony. I had never had this happen to me.

I distantly heard a high-pitched victorious laugh that quickly turned into a scream before silence became of the voice. I cried out again as the newborns tore at my body. My left arm barely hanging from my torso, I was flipped onto my stomach as I was punched, scratched, bitten, and torn at. I had no idea if my family was having a hard time.

The agony being poured upon me from Bradley's power suddenly diminished as I heard a roar of rage that sounded like Edward. In my pain-filled haze, I used my remaining arm to weakly throw one of the newborns from my body. I cried out again as the remaining newborn continued to bite at me.

"GET OFF OF HER!" I heard Edward scream as the weight from the other newborn suddenly lifted from my body. "JASPER!" He cried.

In my haze I saw Edward shove the female newborn towards my brother who, with the help of Emmett tore her apart in rage.

"Bella!" Edward fell to his knees beside me. I only moaned. I distantly noticed that his clothes were torn and his shirt had all but fallen from his body. "Bella, please love, stay with me. CARLISLE!" I flinched and my breath hitched. The wounds that the newborns had inflicted upon my body felt like they were on fire. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no Bella. Oh, no, they got Esme too…" He pulled me to his chest and I cried out.

"Are-are they gone?" I asked him quietly. I felt him shake his head, "No, one got a way. He's not far though."

"Is Esme alright?" He didn't answer right away, "E-Edward, is she o-okay?"

He nodded, "She will be fine. I can't see her though."

"I'll be fine," I insisted, "I want you to go check on her. Please? I need to know she's okay." I was in so much pain. I felt my body slowly beginning to heal, but the venom from the newborns was like fire on my wounds.

Edward began to protest, "Please." I pleaded. "You can come right back." I tried to make my voice steady, "I'll be fine. I'm already healing."

He looked at me desperately and sighed, "Just for a moment. I'll look for you, okay?"

He stood and walked quickly towards Esme, his eyes constantly looking back at me.

I lay on the ground waiting for Edward to return, dealing with the pain in my body. I listened to the sounds around me, Jasper and Emmett comforting their wives. I hoped they were all okay. I could tell that Rosalie was, I almost smiled as I heard her complain about the state of her hair and clothes. I wondered briefly how I had allowed myself to fall so quickly to these newborns but then I remembered the effect Bradley's power had over me, Victoria had obviously told him to focus on me rather than my family.

I was focusing so hard on my family around me that I didn't hear the footfalls until they had already left the ground. I was just trying to sit up and was immediately tackled back to the ground. I heard a "Damn it! NO!" but it was too late as the lone newborn had already bitten into my neck and was about to tear my head from my body. I looked desperately at Edward and saw him leap and pull the newborn from me and began to tear it apart piece by piece. The shrieks it gave off as my love killed it would've been heart wrenching had it not just tried to take my own life.

I lay back down on the ground, willing my body to heal; I could already feel the pieces and gashes fusing back together flawlessly. I closed my eyes and took a deep, unnecessary breath. That was too close, I berated myself, how could I have let myself seem so weak?!

"Bells? Bella?" Jasper had come to me and was holding my face in both of his hands, "Are you okay? Please!"

I opened my eyes and smiled brightly at him, the pain was fading quickly and I thanked whatever God could hear me for being a vampire. "I'm okay, Jazz. I'm feeling much better already." He breathed a sigh of relief and hugged me to him. "Already healing." I sat up and held onto my left upper arm, "That stings though." I winced. "How is everyone else?"

He hugged me tightly, "They're fine. That Bradley focused on hurting you so we were able to bypass the affects and fight properly. You however, had no chance no matter how skilled a fighter you are. We should've protected you!"

I used my good arm to pull my brother close to me, "It's okay, Jazz. I'm fine. Bradley's power wasn't mental, it was purely physical and I wasn't able to get away from it." I looked up to see Edward as he threw the pieces of the last newborn into the fire that Emmett and Alice had made and ran towards me.

He pulled me into a hug and I could feel him shaking. I didn't know if it was from relief, happiness, anger, or all of the above, but I was so happy to have him holding me. I winced as his hand brushed over where my left arm should've been completely attached to my left shoulder and he pulled away suddenly, "You're hurt still." He turned towards Carlisle, "Carlisle! Her arm…" He trailed off and Carlisle was there in a flash.

He examined me quickly and carefully ran his fingers along the jagged tear in my skin. I bit back a groan as he mused out loud, "We should go ahead and go home, she'll be fine and I can put a sling on her to keep her arm in place so it can heal faster." He nodded to himself before looking at me and smiling softly, "You'll be good as new in a matter of hours, Bella. Bradley and those other two newborns did a number on you."

He stood and I quickly found myself in Edward's arms and we were off running towards the house, Carlisle, Jasper and Alice following. Esme, Emmett, and Rosalie stayed behind to make sure the flames from the fire didn't get out of control.

I put my head in the crook of my love's neck as he ran with me, cradling me to his chest. I felt slightly ashamed that I couldn't hold my own against the newborns. I knew that it was because of Bradley's powerful gift, but I still couldn't help but feel ashamed that I was the only one who fell from his influence. I closed my eyes and cradled my left arm as I wallowed.

"Bella, stop. Please." Jasper said quietly as we neared the house, "It wasn't your fault, now quit."

I merely nodded, I'd be fine and I will get over it quickly, but I had to have my embarrassed moment at my inability to protect myself. I distantly hoped for a brief moment that I would be able to be presented with the opportunity to protect myself in the future from something, but I pushed that thought into the back of my mind as we entered the house and Edward took me upstairs to our room, followed by Carlisle.

He laid me upon our bed and held my hand as Carlisle reexamined my shoulder, 'hmm'-ing and the like. "I'll be right back," he said and he was gone and back in a flash. He had a bag with him when he returned that I supposed held whatever supplies he needed.

He pulled out a sling and set it aside and then an Ace-bandage roll. I raised my eyebrow at him.

Noticing this, he smiled at me, "I'm going to use the bandage and wrap around your shoulder and torso to keep it snug to your body to allow it to heal quickly and the sling is to keep your arm immobile for a few hours. You won't even scar." He winked at me and Edward sat me up, pulled my shirt from my body, and held me still as Carlisle fixed me up. I was hardly feeling the pain now, it was a mere sting, and I knew he was telling the truth when he said I would be perfectly fine within a few hours.

"There you go," Carlisle stood, "All finished. Just don't move your left arm for at least an hour to let it heal properly. Your arm and shoulder are already fusing back together."

"I'll take care of her from here, Dad. Thanks." Edward nodded in thanks to him.

"Yes, thank you so much," I used my good arm to hug Carlisle.

Carlisle stood and walked from the room, "You're welcome. Just don't move it for an hour."


Edward's POV

I held Bella to me as we lay on the bed. I wasn't scared of losing her anymore, but I was terrified when I saw that last newborn begin to tear at her. I felt my body tremble for a moment and I buried my face into her hair and inhaled. She would need to shower soon to get the dirt from her hair and body, as would I. Perhaps we would shower together once again… I had wanted so badly to take her when she surprised me by throwing swim trunks at me as an invitation to shower with her.

She stroked my arm with her good one, I was proud of her for not moving her left arm even a millimeter as per Carlisle's request. I lifted my head and smiled at her beautiful heart-shaped face, reaching up and running my hand along her jaw-line. I leaned in and kissed her softly, "I love you, my Bella."

She smiled brightly, "I love you, too." She closed her eyes and leaned into me, "Has it been an hour yet?"

"It's been nearly three, love."

She sat up quickly, "I thought I felt normal again… Has it seriously been that long?!"

I nodded and she rolled her eyes, muttering, "Figures," under her breath.

"We should get showers, love. We're covered in dirt."

She gasped and ran a hand through her hair, "Oh, I must look wretched. Do you think Carlisle would kill me for taking this thing off now?" She gestured at her shoulder. I shook my head, "No, it's healed by now."

She smiled and took off the sling and I helped her unwrap the bandage Carlisle had placed around her. "Go, on," I said, "give it a try."

She raised her arm above her head and brought it around in a few circles. "Doesn't hurt, moves fine…" She trailed off, "Stand up real quick."

I stood and watched as she pulled her left arm back and made a fist, I was about to ask what she was doing when she suddenly punched my shoulder.

"Hey! Bella! What was that for?!"

"I can still punch with that arm if I need to… Yep. It's good." She winked at me.

"You didn't quite need to punch me, however." I smirked at her.

She merely smiled and threw her arms around me. She stood on the tips of her toes and whispered in my ear, "Shower with me?"

I growled and picked her up and we were suddenly lying back on the bed again with me on top of her. We were kissing every inch of each other, squeezing and pulling at the other. I was lost in my mind; nothing logical coming through the barrier that suddenly appeared. She pulled at the collar of my shirt and brought my face to hers where I crashed my lips to her own. She ran her hands through my hair and down my back and my breath hitched when she hooked a leg around one of mine to pull my closer to her.

I knew we should stop due to our mutual agreement of marriage first and it was becoming increasingly harder to silence the roaring want and need of her body. I could feel as she arched her body to meet mine when I kissed my way up and down her neck and I was nearly lost again.

I began to kiss her mouth even more slowly in an attempt to clear my head and I knew she caught on when she started to settle her breathing and roaming hands. I pulled back and she moaned and closed her eyes.

I smiled at her, "Bella, my love."

She opened her eyes, and I noticed that they had gone dark. I felt a fierce feeling of protectiveness fall over me; I knew I would never allow anything to hurt her again. I could've lost her to a couple of newborns today and I was thankful that I didn't. She smiled at me, "Yes?"

"You're going to be the death of me." I winked at her and her smile grew.

"Now, about that shower… I suppose a cold one is in order?"

I threw my head back and laughed.


A/N: Well, I know it took me for freaking EVER to get this written and up and I apologize for that but it took me a couple of days to write this one out since even though I have the entire story outlined, I didn't quite know where to bring this chapter. :o/ Btw, my spelling and grammar check on my Mac didn't find anything wrong in this chapter, so I hope it functioned correctly!

LOL ;o) Oh, and this chapter has a RIDICULOUSLY large word count… Like seriously, it's 4,653 right now. Insane right? It deserves a long, nice review, right?! Hey, I was NICE and didn't have a cliffie for the first time either! … I just noticed that. HAHA

Thank you everyone! I love you all! You're ALL so wonderful to me! I hope you enjoyed chapter 10!! Now, REVIEW! :o)