AN: First, thank you mauigirl60 for making this chapter make sense!

Thank you all for reading this tale.

Enjoy!

Chapter 10

Edward pulled away from Bella's mouth with a whispered, "Fuck!"

He landed face first in the sand. Bella watched in horror as he trembled and twitched. Quickly kneeling down next to him, she gathered Edward into her arms and stroked his back. She started screaming, "Esme! Garrett!"

It was like watching the world go by in slow motion. A young girl and boy approached her, followed by the feral looking Carlisle and Jasper. Bella was certain the children were just barely in their teens, but their red eyes signaled their inhuman nature. The young girl's hair was the color of corn silk and braided into plaits. A Hello Kitty t-shirt peeked out of her black robe.

The boy wore a similar robe, but his hair was darker in color than the girl's. His fingers were laced with hers. It appeared to Bella that the boy was very tired.

"Why isn't the woman on the ground?" the girl asked. She regarded Bella as if she were a scientist doing a research project on a new species of insect.

Carlisle glanced at her. "It seems the young lady is a shield of some sort. Edward can't read her mind."

The boy asked with a chuckle, "Was he trying to read her mind with his tongue down her throat?"

"Alec!" Jane hissed and, at her admonishment, he threw a hand over his mouth.

Bella's emotions were going haywire. She felt fear. That wasn't a shocker, but it was mixed with pity for those eternally motherless children.

Jasper shouted out in annoyance, "Darlin', you're an emotional roller coaster! Let's just snap her neck!"

"She has nice eyes," Alec said quietly. "She looks like my mama, Janie."

"You ate the last woman who looked like your mother, Alec." Jane squeezed his hand.

"It was an accident," he said with a pout.

Bella felt disgusted. She focused her attention on Edward, who was still groaning on the sand. Where was Garrett? She tried to distract the child-like demonic duo, who were with Carlisle and Jasper.

"How old are you?" she asked.

Jane sighed. "Decades."

"No. When were you changed?"

The doll-like vampire frowned. "Thirteen."

Her boy's face mirrored hers. "Fourteen."

"Are you brother and sister?"

"Mates," Alec grinned, kissing her palm. It was a demented Romeo and Juliet starring child vampires.

Carlisle clapped his hands together. "Young lady, enough with the questions! Aro is quite desperate to meet you. He has some tests to try and figure you out."

He came over and tapped her nose. Edward started twitching as Jane shocked him again before he could push Carlisle away. He let out a garbled, "No!"

"I'm sure Aro will let you hold her hand during the experiments, son." Carlisle's smile was sickening. "A vampire falling in love with a human. It's almost inconceivable."

"Not at all, husband. I think it's lovely and romantic," Esme stated, coming up behind Bella and Edward. Edward clutched Bella's hand. "How exactly did you find us, Carlisle? Not that you haven't been missed, but a head's up would have been lovely. Em could have dusted your study."

"Esme, my love, are you going to return with me to Volturi?" He leered at her.

"No, darling, I believe we'll be detoxing you and our dear Jasper. You've been very bad boys." She shook her head at him in disappointment. "Wolves' blood? Really? How silly!"

"Don't knock it, darling," he retorted.

Esme frowned. "It's disgraceful and you're better than that. You can come willingly or we can make you stop."

Emmett came up to Bella, as Carlisle and Esme continued bickering. "Hey little cutie, how ya doing?"

He was surrounded by Garrett, James, Laurent and a mysterious woman. She was lovely with her honey hair pulled into a thick braid. The woman looked more like a college coed in her t-shirt and khaki shorts than a blood thirsty vampire. Then, Bella noticed a wolf standing behind them with his dark brown fur.

"Seth, get out of here! It's not safe!" Bella glanced at him, filled with worry. She couldn't help noticing the hungry looks he was getting from Jasper and Carlisle. "You need to watch Sarah and Jason!"

"A group went out hunting, but we have guards for the kiddos," Garrett attempted to reassure her. "We left them with Al—"

"These two?" Out of nowhere, a huge, hulking dark-haired man walked across the sand. He held up a struggling Alice in one hand and Tanya's head in the other. He glanced at the head, his fingers twisted in her strawberry blond tendrils. "She was a pretty thing, a good lay supposedly, but you can't ever trust a traitor like this lady. Come take your wife, Jasper. She's a kicky thing."

As Jasper took Alice from the man, the blond version of the other hulking man appeared, Sarah and Jason wriggling under his armpits. "Felix, love, these kids reek! Couldn't we have just locked them in a bedroom?"

Bella jumped up and ran toward the blond man, her fists out and ready to fight. Though he could swat her as easily as a fly, she didn't care. Her one and only desire was to get to the children.

Garrett rushed to her and pulled her back. "Honey, he'll kill you!"

"Let them go, you stupid fuck!" Bella screamed, trying to get out of Garrett's arms.

Edward stumbled up from the ground as a weeping woman shocked Jane, who was moaning on the ground, Alec quickly following. He took Bella away from Garrett. "Kate needs you."

From the corner of her eye, Bella saw Garrett pull the woman who was named Kate to him. All of a sudden, Bella had an idea. She yelled, "Kate, the big blond!"

It was as if Bella could see the electrical current transfer from Kate and onto the man. Bella hissed at Edward, "Get them!"

Edward was faster than she was and headed to the kids. Bella ran toward Felix; she needed to distract him just for a moment, so Edward or one of the others could get to Sarah and Jason. Felix dropped the head and screamed in anguish, "Demetri!"

"I think your boyfriend will be okay. Just a little shocked." Bella tried to keep a brave face on. The look he gave Bella as she approached was murderous. He would surely kill her.

"Aro will survive without your visit, lady. You smell delicious." He rushed at her and Bella skidded into the sand. Perhaps it was a bit of luck or divine intervention, but she slid between his running legs. James and Laurent pounced. Working together, they started ripping Felix to shreds. Garrett and Seth finished up Demetri, who was still weak from the shocks that Kate hit them with.

Then, all hell broke loose. Bella barely heard the screams as she ran toward Sarah and Jason. They were bawling in Edward's arms, all snotty-nosed and pink streaked cheeks. The droplets from their eyes were soaking his shirt.

"My babies," Bella whimpered, as she took them while the chaos went on around them. "It's okay. Mama's here. It's okay."

She repeated the words, over and over, like a religious chant. Edward held them all, rocking slowly.

Jasper's leg flew over their heads. Alice was rabid in her ire, tearing him limb from limb with Emmett's help and occasional bad jokes. He chuckled and sang, "The leg bone is no longer connected to the pelvis bone!"

Esme was following suit with her mate. It was as if all her frustrations were coming out. Her screams came from rage and heartbreak when he ripped off her finger. She paid him back with the loss of an ear.

When all was said and done, Carlisle was just a torso and head which lay on the sand complaining, as the waves hit him. Jasper was over near a rock, begging Alice to piece him back together like Humpty Dumpty. Alec and Jane were still being shocked by Kate like her personal stress balls.

Garrett picked up Carlisle's arm and stuck it in a pile along with Jasper's assorted body parts. "These going in?"

He motioned toward the bonfire. Felix and Demetri lit up the night sky. Bella watched dispassionately. The children were curled up sleeping on her. They refused to leave her side and go back with Seth to the main house.

"Do it!" Carlisle screamed.

"Must you be so dramatic, Carlisle?" Esme sighed and glanced at Alice, who hovered by the furious Jasper. "Darling Ali, can you see?"

Alice gave a tiny smile. "It should work."

She smiled at her daughter and patted Carlisle's head, as his mouth tried to snap on her hand. "Drying out is so hard, love. I'll try to make it as relaxing as possible."

Emmett sat with his head cocked, watching Jane and Alec. "What should we do with the Children of the Corn?"

"I guess add them to the fire," James suggested.

Alec turned and looked at Bella with sorrowful eyes. He stared and whispered, "Mother."

It broke her heart. Bella murmured, "No. They need this place."

Then, Alice's face went blank. She shook her head with a cheery grin. Going over to Alec and Jane, Alice knelt beside them. "Will you be good?"

Jane moaned, "Yes! We promise!"

They could only hope that whatever Alice had seen was the truth.

XXXXXX

The children were snuggled up into Bella's bed, as she stood at the window, looking out at the rising sun. It was the dawning of a new day, she could only hope as she tightened her robe. The chilly morning air gave her goose bumps.

There was one thing she was positively certain of.

"I fucking hate the beach," she muttered, looking at the glittering sand.

"I'm somewhat fond of it," Edward whispered behind her.

Bella arched an eyebrow. "Yippee for you."

"It was romantic last night."

"Yes, because almost dying again and having the children terrorized was the most swoon-worthy moment of my life. I'm sure there's a classic romantic movie starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant with that plot."

He wrapped his arms around her waist. "I was talking about the beginning."

"That part was nice, but it kind of went downhill from there." She looked down at his fingers interlocked on her stomach. "You're awfully touchy-feely this morning."

"I guess almost losing your soft skin and beautiful blush would do that to a man." He kissed her head.

There was a slight breeze coming in from the window. Bella glanced at her sleeping children all buried in sheets and blankets. Sarah was restless. Her tossing and turning was a clear indication that last night's terror was still on her mind. Jason snored quietly, as he clutched a bear that Rosalie had gotten for him. Bella looked down at Edward's hands and rubbed the tops of them. "I'm sorry about your friend."

"Who?"

"Tanya."

Edward grew grim. "Don't be. She's been spying for Aro Volturi since I went to Italy. I don't know how she got around Alice's visions."

"You heard all that from listening to the scary Cabbage Patch Kids?"

He tapped the side of my head. "Those two have busy brains. You just have to weed through Jane's Hello Kitty obsession and Alec wanting you to be his new mommy."

"I feel sorry for them. They were just young teenagers. I bet Jane was still playing with dolls."

Edward just smiled. Jane was clutching one of Sarah's dolls at that very moment.

"How did you get wrapped up with those monsters? Drinking wolves' blood?" She couldn't help but be curious. He didn't seem the type to get addicted or be a part of those evil-doers.

"Carlisle heard that the Volturi were targeting certain villages in Europe to be eradicated. You would be surprised how easy it was for them to cover the carnage with flash floods and forest fires. Carlisle was convinced we could get them to stop. It was a fool's errand."

Bella's mind imagined screaming people being pulled from their homes by red-eyed vampires, as the flames of their homes made the night sky glow orange. Her body trembled as she envisioned that horrible Felix sinking his teeth into a neck of a child.

"Why in the world would they do that? Scaring the populace for giggles?"

Edward frowned. "They were villages of wolves. Aro knew he could control wayward vampires with their blood and he needed to make sure that the prophecy never came to light. He has whole communities in the dungeons of his estate."

"Damn." Bella thought about Jacob and the ritual. She'd always hoped it was just that the band of wolves were going insane. "It's real then. The ritual."

"Somewhat. It won't make Jacob become the chief. All it does is give them more power to phase at will and make them more bloodthirsty." Edward kissed Bella's shoulder. "The majority of wolves are like Seth. They find the change to be a curse and would prefer to live their lives remaining simple and human. The ones that want the power are few."

Relaxing into his embrace, Bella asked, "Then why did you drink the blood?"

"We were tricked. They gave us goblets of animal blood as a gesture of goodwill. The part that was left out was that the animals were the shape shifters. It's highly addictive, making your worst traits emerge. The headaches when detoxing are legitimately the worst pain one could ever imagine." His face twisted up at the memory.

The screams from the basement where Carlisle and Jasper were drying out were finally quieting down, their limbs in plastic bags.

"This whole thing is madness! I would love to take just a simple vacation in the mountains in a cabin. The kids can play by a lake and blow bubbles into the sky. Absolutely no beaches anywhere!" Bella said with a wistful sigh.

Edward turned her toward him. "I will take you all there after this is over. There will be no Volturi and absolutely no homicidal wolves to worry about."

He kissed her, hoping that she would believe his promise. Her fingers twisted in his hair. She whispered, "You like distracting me with kissing, you perv."

"You love it. What does that say about you?" he whispered back, his lips placing a kiss on her ear.

"I'm a pervert too. I guess you missed the memo," she joked.

He laughed loudly.

"Mommy?" Sarah sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Can I have some water?"

Bella and Edward jumped apart. She gave him a little grin and went over to her daughter, placing a kiss on her head. "Sure thing, baby cakes."

"I can get it," Edward offered.

"No. Watch them for me, just in case something else comes out of the shadows." She squeezed his hand. "I could feel you watching over us last night, you silly stalker. I know you can obsessively watch things. Keep them safe while I'm in the kitchen."

"What about you?" He looked nervous.

"Do you hear any scary brain whisperings?"

"No." He still worried. "But—"

"There will be plenty of our undead buddies wandering about. It's good." She pecked his lips and headed out toward the kitchen.

The staircase was lit by a small circular window where the sun peeked through. Bella shivered a little at the way the shadows hit the walls.

She was about to reach the bottom, when a little blond head peeked around the corner. "Hey, Miss Bella."

Alec looked at her awkwardly. He wore an old Batman t-shirt and sweatpants. A handsome boy, with skinny limbs and bare feet, he looked like he should be skateboarding on a sidewalk with his buddies, not creeping about the large house. He held out a muffin. "I was bringing this for you."

She took it and gave him a big smile. "Thank you, Alec. I was getting Sarah some water."

He looked at her sadly. "Your kids seem nice."

"They are. You'd like them and I bet Jason would love the bat on your shirt." She patted his arm. "Come keep me company. I need some coffee."

Alec's face brightened and he followed her like an eager puppy. She smiled at him as she grabbed the coffee container. "Where's Jane?"

"Hiding in the library, reading Anne of Green Gables. She says she won't leave until she's done reading all of them." He played with the edges of a placemat. Bella couldn't help grinning at the thought of stern Jane lost in the adventures of Anne Shirley. Alec continued, "I'm bored."

"You can come with the kids and me to play on the beach after breakfast," Bella suggested and was happy to be rewarded with another genuine smile. Her own smile became a frown, as her finger was cut by the sharp edge of the can of coffee. "Damn it!"

The blood pulled to the surface and Alec pounced. His teeth ripped into her neck, as he cried sadly, "Mother!"

The pain ripped through Bella as she struggled to pull him off. She would have better luck moving a brick wall.

Then, Alec was thrown across the room, hitting the wall. She was now cradled in Edward's arms. Garrett's hands were wrapped around Alec's neck, the boy's mouth dripping with Bella's blood. Alec whimpered, "Bella, I'm sorry!"

Garrett went to twist Alec's head like a bottle cap when Bella managed to spit out, "No! It was an accident!"

"My love!" Edward cried out.

She grimaced at the pain. "Please! Don't! He needs a moth—"

Her energy was waning, as the pain increased.

She started hearing tidbits of conversation.

"—an accident. Take him to be with Jane."

"I don't want to hurt her!"

"It's too late for that! Man up or I'll do it!"

Then, something was biting her skin. It felt like knives ripping into her. She wailed at the pain.

"I'm sorry, honey! I love you!"

Bite!

"I love you!"

Bite!

"I love you!"

She screamed.