Power

"Chelsea is trying to break our bindings," Edward whispered. "But she can't find them. She can't feel us here…" His eyes cut to me. "Are you doing that?"

I smiled grimly at him. "I am all over this."

Edward lurched away from me suddenly, his hand reaching out toward Carlisle. At the same time, I felt a much sharper jab against the shield where it wrapped protectively around Carlisle's light. It wasn't painful, but it wasn't pleasant, either.

"Carlisle? Are you all right?" Edward gasped frantically.

"Yes. Why?"

"Jane," Edward answered.

The moment he said her name, a dozen pointed attacks hit in a second, stabbing all over the elastic shield, aimed at twelve different bright spots. It didn't seem like Jane had been able to pierce it. I glanced around quickly; everyone was fine.

"Incredible," Edward said.

"Why aren't they waiting for the decision?" Tanya hissed.

"Normal procedure," Edward answered brusquely. "They usually incapacitate those on trial so they can't escape."

I looked across at Jane, who was staring at our group with furious disbelief. I was pretty sure that, besides me, she'd never seen anyone remain standing through her fiery assault.

It probably wasn't very mature. But I figured it would take Aro about half a second to guess— if he hadn't already—that my shield was more powerful than Edward had known; I already had a big target on my forehead and there was really no point in trying to keep the extent of what I could do a secret. So I grinned a huge, smug smile right at Jane.

Her eyes narrowed, and I felt another stab of pressure, this time directed at me. It was fiercer, more concentrated, and I had to concentrate harder on protecting myself while continuing to extend the shield over the others.

I pulled my lips wider, showing my teeth as I snarled in both spite and concentration.

Jane let out a high-pitched scream of a snarl. Everyone jumped, even the disciplined guard. Everyone but the ancients, who didn't so much as look up from their conference. Her twin caught her arm as she crouched to spring.

The Romanians started chuckling with dark anticipation.

"I told you this was our time," Vladimir said to Stefan.

"Just look at the witch's face," Stefan chortled.

Alec patted his sister's shoulder soothingly, then tucked her under his arm. He turned his face to us, perfectly smooth, completely angelic.

I waited for some pressure, some sign of his attack, but I felt nothing. He continued to stare in our direction, his pretty face composed. Was he attacking? Was he getting through my shield? Was I the only one who could still see him? I clutched at Edward's hand.

"Are you okay?" I choked out.

"Yes," he whispered.

"Is Alec trying?"

Edward nodded. "His gift is slower than Jane's. It creeps. It will touch us in a few seconds."

I saw it then, when I had a clue of what to look for.

As strange clear haze was oozing across the snow, nearly invisible against the white. It reminded me of a mirage—a slight warping of the view, a hint of a shimmer. I pushed my shield out from Carlisle and the rest of the front line, afraid to have the slinking mist too close when it hit. What if it stole right through my intangible protection? Should we run?

A low rumbling murmured through the ground under our feet, and a gust of wind blew the snow into sudden flurries between our position and the Voltruri's. Benjamin had seen the creeping threat, too, and now he tried to blow the mist away from us. The snow made it easy to see where he threw the wind, but the mist didn't react in any way. It was like air blowing harmlessly through a shadow; the shadow was immune.

The triangular formation of the ancients finally broke apart when, with a racking groan, a deep, narrow fissure opened in a long zigzag across the middle of the clearing. The earth rocked under my feet for a moment. The drifts of snow plummeted into the hole, but the mist skipped right across it, as untouched by gravity as it had been by wind.

Aro and Caius watched the opening earth with wide eyes.

Marcus looked in the same direction without emotion.

They didn't speak; they waited, too, as the mist approached us. The wind shrieked louder but didn't change the course of the mist. Jane was smiling now.

And then the mist hit a wall.

I could taste it as soon as it touched my shield—it had a dense, sweet, cloying flavor. It made me remember dimly the numbness of Novocain on my tongue.

The mist curled upward, seeking a breach, a weakness. It found none. The fingers of searching haze twisted upward and around, trying to find a way in, and in the process illustrating the astonishing size of the protective screen.

There were gasps on both sides of Benjamin's gorge.

"Well done, Bella!" Benjamin cheered in a low voice.

My smile returned.

I could see Alec's narrowed eyes, doubt on his face for the first time as his mist swirled harmlessly around the edges of my shield.

And then I knew that I could do this. Obviously, I would be the number-one priority, the first one to die, but as long as I held, we were on more equal footing with the Volturi. We still had Benjamin and Zafrina; they had no supernatural help at all. As long as I held.

"I'm going to have to concentrate," I whispered to Edward. "When it comes to hand to hand, it's going to be harder to keep the shield around the right people."

"I'll keep them off you."

"No. You have to get to Demetri. Zafrina will keep them away from me."

Zafrina nodded solemnly. "No one will touch this young one," she promised Edward.

"I'd go after Jane and Alec myself, but I can do more good here."

"Jane's mine," Kate hissed. "She needs a taste of her own medicine."

"And Alec owes me many lives, but I will settle for his," Vladimir growled from the other side. "He's mine."

"I just want Caius," Tanya said evenly.

The others started divvying up opponents, too, but they were quickly interrupted.

Aro, staring calmly at Alec's ineffective mist, finally spoke.

"Before we vote," he begean.

I shook my head angrily. I was tired of this charade. The bloodlust was igniting in me again, and I was sorry that I would help the others more by standing still.

I wanted to fight.

"Let me remind you," Aro continued, "whatever the council's decision, there need be no violence here."

Edward snarled out a dark laugh.

Aro stared at him sadly. "It will be a regrettable waste to our kind to lose any of you. But you especially, young Edward, and your newborn mate. The Volturi would be glad to welcome many of you into our ranks. Bella, Benjamin, Zafrina, Kate. There are many choices before you. Consider them."

Chelsea's attempt to sway us fluttered impotently against my shield. Aaro's gaze swept across our hard eyes, looking for any indication of hesitation. From his expression, he found none.

I knew he was desperate to keep Edward and me, to imprison us the way he had hoped to enslave Alice. But this fight was too big. He would not win if I lived. I was fiercely glad to be so powerful that I left him no way not to kill me.

"Let us vote, then," he said with apparent reluctance.

Caius spoke with eager haste. "The child is an unknown quantity. There is no reason to allow such a risk to exist. It must be destroyed, along with all who protect it." He smiled in expectation.

I fought back a shriek of defiance to answer his cruel smirk.

Marcus lifted his uncaring eyes, seeming to look through us as he voted.

"I see no immediate danger. The child is safe enough for now. we can always reevaluate her later. Let us leave in peace." His voice was even fainter than his brothers' feathery sighs.

None of the guard relaxed their ready positions at his disagreeing words. Caius's anticipatory grin did not falter. It was as if Marcus hadn't spoken at all.

"I must make the deciding vote, it seems," Aro mused.

Suddenly, Edward stiffened at my side. I stole a look at his face—it was set, like he was concentrating very hard on something. Like he was seeing something. Or, more to the point, hearing something. I clenched my fingers even more tightly around his hand. He squeezed back, and then let go, stepping forward toward Aro.

There was a low reaction from the guard, an uneasy murmur.

"Aro?" Edward called.

"Yes, Edward?" Aro replied smoothly. "You have something further?"

"Perhaps," Edward said quietly. Voice growing stronger, he continued, "We are operating under the assumption here that our daughter is the only one of her kind." There was a questioning tone to his voice—I was suddenly picturing Edward as a lawyer, gently probing a suspect, trying to find a hole in his testimony.

And then I realized.

Edward was stalling.

He had to be.

He was speaking slowly and deliberately… but why? It seemed hopelessly futile—after all, no one was coming to save us.

Aro was speaking again. "Yes, Edward, you are correct."

"The danger you foresee from my daughter—this stems entirely from our inability to guess how she will develop? That is the crux of the matter?"

"Yes, friend Edward," Aro agreed testily, but Caius interjected.

"This is foolishness!" He snarled. "There are no more of her kind! Aro, we would know if there were. He is simply attempting to forestall our vengeance."

"I am doing nothing more than seeking justice for my family, Caius," Edward replied smoothly, though there was an undertone in his voice that was seeping with pure anger.

"You know the ways of our world, Edward!" Caius bit back. "The child is something that we do not know, and cannot explain. She is a danger to our way of life… an abomination… a half-child."

I crouched low, feeling rage rip at my throat, before exploding as a snarl. My Renesmee was not an abomination. If I had to tear out his innards one by one and burn them to make my point, no vampire in the world could stop me.

The Volturi all turned their gaze to me again. Some of the witnesses looked at each other nervously.

Marcus turned his head lazily, a look of boredom still spread across his face.

"You would do well to control your wife," Caius said with a sneer. "She is, after all, a newborn. It would be extremely unfortunate if more blood was spilled here tonight on her account…"

I snarled again.

Behind me, Carlisle murmured, "Calm, Bella. Calm."

"You would spill our blood regardless," Edward said icily. "It is the Volturi's way, is it not?"

Aro jumped in. "Now, now, friend Edward," he said over Caius. "Let us not be hasty to condemn our purpose here. We have always thought ourselves to be fair and just. We simply wish to safeguard ourselves and our world. We act with the interests of every vampire in mind." He half-turned to face his crowd, raising his hands for their affirmation. Like dutiful students, they nodded in unison.

I was seething. I saw what Aro was doing—he was turning things back his way. The Volturi had been unsettled by Edward and I, but Aro had put them back on track. Reminded them of their purpose.

"Edward," Aro began again imploringly. "We are just. In fact," he said, looking around. "We would spare your covens entirely. There are those among you who have such interesting gifts. It would be my honor to host you in Volterra—I am so curious about the things you can do. Wondrous, to be sure…"

"Our coven includes the child," Edward said. "She would be spared, too?"

Aro sneered. "Let us not forget why we are here…"

My frozen blood boiled. This was Aro's sense of justice. He would slaughter my baby… then imprison myself, my husband, and our friends. And he thought that that was fair.

"We will go nowhere with you!" I yelled suddenly. The throbbing need for blood was continuing to grow. I wanted Aro. I wanted him to meet his end at my hands. I wanted to kill.

Behind me, I heard several murmurs of agreement.

"Aro!" Caius called. "They have chosen their fates! Let justice be delivered… let them die defending that thing--,"

Between the half-second pause between his last words, I sprang. With every ounce of strength I had, I crossed the chasm that Benjamin had created, and was on Caius's back. Raw instinct kicked in, I bit, clawed, broke everything I could in a blind frenzy. I heard the faint roars and snarls behind me, and I knew only one thing…

It had begun.