Author's Note: Surprise! Haha, I smashed out this chapter pretty quick, and I'm not impatient to wait until this coming Sunday to post it, so I'm posting it now. The next chapter should be up within this week. Enjoy!

Thank you to my wonderful recent reviewers: saphira88 and regrets-collect98!

Revelation

"I've got to hunt," I announced from my tree branch. Seth was lousing on the lawn with his arms crossed behind his head. His eyes were closed peacefully, and his face appeared so innocent, so oblivious to the evil surrounding him. The silky yet messy cropped mop of hair was unruly and brushed across his forehead in the soothing whistling wind. It was lightly snowing, and snowflakes fell upon Seth's abnormally lean frame for his young age. He was blissfully unaware of the frazzled chilly season looming around him.

At my abrupt words, his eyes snapped open from a light slumber. His gaze fixed on my immediately and he scrutinised me in confusion. "Why?"

I rolled my eyes, jumping gracefully from my tree branch. "The battle is tomorrow – several hours away. I need to feed."

It was New Years Eve, several days after the debacle at the La Push cliffs with Seth's mutt friends. On Boxing Day, Seth had arrived at the Cullens' house, and offered an apology for what had previously happened, and I just responded by thanking him for the ridiculous Christmas gift he'd had delivered to me. That was it. I kept myself at a reasonable distance from Seth, preserving the condition of my frozen heart, a condition that Seth had threatened without my knowing until it was nearly too late.

I had learnt my lesson. Seth was a werewolf, I was a vampire. He was warm and kind, I was cold and rude. His overbearing heat had melted the barriers protecting my poor excuse for a heart. Somehow Seth had managed to make me feel like my heart still existed, like it was still viable. It was a feeling I couldn't describe, it was too overwhelming. When I saw the look in his eyes, the fierce protectiveness he had over me, it shocked me into a trembling fear. I'd never seen anyone hold that kind of intense emotion, most especially over me.

Seth made me feel things that I never thought possible for a vampire to feel. He made me feel like I wasn't a soulless evil creature of the night. Up until that moment on the cliffs, I'd been content with my simple Southern vampiric life. Now I couldn't stop myself from craving more of what Seth had offered me.

"I'm going with you," Seth automatically stated.

I scoffed. "No."

He stood, showing his stubbornness. "I'm going with you," he repeated.

I rolled my eyes with a sigh. "I eat people," I reminded, "you don't like that."

"You don't have to eat people." His eyes were weighed, torn. I flicked it off my mind, ignoring his sad stare.

"I like to eat people," I replied frankly, and watched intently as he flinched very slightly.

"I'm still going."

I couldn't understand why he wanted to accompany me to Seattle, where I would pick a victim off the streets and drain them of life. He was certainly opposed to my killing of people, and I could see a sense of unease every so often when he looked in my bright crimson red irises, which candidly displayed my choice of diet.

I didn't reply, and instead turned and whisked into the forest, with Seth hot on my heels. I heard the ripping off his clothes before a huge horse-like wolf came bounding beside me, giving a small bark towards me as we raced through the thick woodland.

It took over half an hour to arrive in Seattle, the stormy skies settling above us, shedding snow upon the city. After Seth slipped into a stranger's backyard and snatched a pair of shorts from their clothes drying line, we entered the depths of the city. Seth uncomfortably adjusted the pair of shorts, scrunching his nose in dislike.

"They're too big," he complained, huffing.

I snorted, my eyes steadily fixed ahead, searching for a meal within the vicinity. "Judging by the triple extra-large sized shirt next to those shorts, I'm not surprised."

Seth gave a sound of annoyance, before falling into silence as I felt his eyes bore into the side of my face. "Why can't you just drink off animals?" he suddenly whispered, melancholy prominent.

My face hardened. "Humans taste better than rabbits," I grimaced. "Carnivores," I added.

Seth sighed, clearly confused. "Then kill bears, lions," he paused. "You don't have to murder humans – people."

I didn't glance over to him, continuing to keep my eyes trained ahead. "Why buy the runt of the rams when you can buy the award-winning stud?" Seth made a noise, disapproving of my metaphorical use of comparing purchasing sheep to eating people.

"Her?" He murmured, following my watchful gaze towards a middle-aged pencil-skirted woman. She was babbling into her smartphone, standing impatiently by the sidewalk. He shuffled, moving out of our dim spot and moving towards the woman.

"What are you doing?" I snapped, narrowing my eyes at the shape-shifter.

"Luring in your meal," he muttered without looking back. I blinked, frowning. He was helping me now? After his persistent talk about weaning me off human blood?

I watched as he approached the lady, offering a friendly smile and meek wave. She murmured into her phone's speaker before holding it against her shoulder, looking at Seth expectantly.

"Sorry to bother you," he smiled harmlessly at her, and gestured towards something unbeknownst to me. "It's just, I couldn't help but notice a strange man watching you – an ex maybe – and he didn't look very happy at all. Maybe a stalker actually," he corrected, wringing his fingers. "I just think you should get in your car and go home. It's getting late and he seemed… angry."

I stiffened, glaring heavily at Seth's back. How dare he? The woman's mouth opened slightly in shock, and she glanced around wearily, her expression drowning in instant worry.

"I… okay, um, thank you," she managed, and hurried away, hissing at the person on the other line of her phone in distress. Seth watched after her, before turning and returning to me. I growled at him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" My teeth grinded in vehemence. He looked back uneasy, and waved his arms helplessly.

"You were going to kill her!" he exclaimed exasperatedly.

My eyes narrowed further, into slits. "What do you think I do when I hunt? Pick flowers?" I shoved past him, leaving the envelope of darkness to locate a new victim. "If you're going to try and be a hero, leave."

"She didn't deserve to die, Ruby," he whispered carefully. "No one does. She has a family, people who love her and who would miss her. There are other ways to satisfy your thirst. Please." He was begging, staring at me pleadingly, hoping I would understand his need to protect human life.

I stepped back. "I'll be back soon," I informed him emotionlessly, and turned away. I blurred into a run, quickly finding a forty-year old man jogging through a nearby park. I narrowed my eyes in concentration, and approached the man from behind, my wrists catching around his throat. He gasped loudly in surprise, and I wrapped my fingers around his mouth, arching his head sideways as I lowered my intimidating canines onto the soft flesh of his neck. With a grumbling growl low in my chest, I sunk my teeth in, withdrawing blood from his veins. He struggled beneath my grasp, and I could taste the horror in his delicious blood. He was terrified as he attempted to scream, to yell for help.

As his body began to become limp, I managed to ease my sharp razor-like teeth. I sniffed carefully, making sure I couldn't smell any of my venom inside his pumping veins. Satisfied with my diagnosis of his venom-free system, I dropped his body, prying his mobile phone from his pocket and dialling an ambulance. After feigning terror and begging for an ambulance to come and help a man who'd kneeled over randomly in the park, I dropped the phone on the grass by the man's unconscious form, and disappeared.

I relocated Seth easily – his stench was an alarming contrast to the delectable human scents in Seattle. He was sat at a sidewalk bench, his head bowed and his posture sullen.

His head perked up when he heard my sudden arrival, and he looked up at me, peering under his dark lashes.

"Brighten up," I requested, "he's still alive." Seth blinked in shock.

"What?"

"He's not dead. I didn't eat him – I only had a nibble," I phased bluntly. Seth's face was swept with a broom of elated pleasure.

"Thank you," he genuinely acknowledged me. I just shrugged it off, downplaying the incident that occurred moments earlier.

I'd never released a victim who wasn't completely drained of blood. Once more, Seth had shifted my entire concrete-bounded beliefs as a vampire. Why was he constantly making me question myself? Why was he thoughtlessly capable of making me feel guilty of what I was?

The vampiric army arrived to slaughter us all.

I'd experienced vampire armies for my entire immortal life in the South, but none as sinister as this one. Those armies didn't have power like Alec and Jane, numbers like the Volturi guard, manipulative strength like the Volturi held. Those armies I wasn't afraid of – but this one I was.

They appeared in a cloud of flawless and confidence intimidation. Power radiated from their cloaks, probing the defensive shield Bella cupped like a dome over our heads. I let out a breath of relief as Jane's power flicked violently against the shield, and was reflected with mirroring strength.

Beside me, Peter held Charlotte close by his side, his grip tight with security. I stood alone, a meter from Peter's nervous form. Behind me, Seth was huffing lightly in anticipation and similar nervousness that Peter had. Snowflakes were nestled in his thick sandy fur, and his big dark eyes were intense with barrelling thoughts as his gaze flickered to the back of my head every few seconds. He was afraid. The rest of the wolves were by the trims of the forest, except Jacob, who stood in his large wolf form beside Bella, Edward and Renesme. Everyone on our side of the clearing was in the arms of their perspective mate, in a mean of protection. Those who were without mate stood with those they held closest to their frozen hearts. If Jasper was here like he should've been, I would have stood beside him – but instead I had Rosalie in his place.

Aro spoke first, a wind of carefulness and intent in his words. I couldn't help but be angry. The Volturi were power-hungry vultures. They spent more time searching for gifted vampires instead of upholding the power they already held in our supernatural word. They had good intentions of sorts, besides their hunger for more power. If it weren't for their lawful coven, the vampiric world would've been exposed around the globe. They held stability and order in our world, but they constantly felt the need to strengthen their guard, their coven. People noticed – they noticed they were desperate for powerful gifts, and that in itself was tugging the Volturi into a dark ocean of weakness. They were slowly ruining themselves. At least, I thought, they weren't being completely obvious about their intentions of taking powerful vampires and using them for their own benefit within the Volturi.

Aro beckoned Renesme forward, to touch her hand and see her thoughts. His ability was like Edward's – telepathy – but he held the ability to see every thought one person ever had with one touch, whereas Edward's was constant.

The back and forth motion of the verbal battle rolled by, and I found myself tuning out of their conversation, bouncing a fallen log in the far distance of the clearing. I didn't want to lose control of my temporary vocal filter. I didn't want to yell at the Volturi and sentence us all to our deaths. So I kept my mouth shut, staring at the log between the encasing trees.

The Volturi leaders turned their backs in order to make a collective decision of the guilt of the Cullen family. Everyone within the dome instinctively turned to their mate, settling kisses upon each other's lips, and my fists balled. I wouldn't die in a stupid battle about a falsely accused hybrid that I didn't even particularly like. Edward and Bella talked softly about Jacob taking Renesne and escaping from the grasp of the Volturi, before the black-clad leaders turn around and decided on the inevitable course of killing us all.

As Jane and Alec attempted to pierce the shield Bella still had wrapped around us, there were requests for opposing fighters. Vladimir wanted Alec, Tanya wanted Caius – her eyes were still ablaze with anger at the ancient immortal after he just killed her sister and burned her into nothing.

"I want Aro," I imputed, my eyes narrowed at the skull of the milky-eyed ancient.

"Let me remind you," Aro spoke, having turned around and was watching us choose our opponents with theatrical sadness, "whatever the council's decision, there need be no violence here."

I suddenly chortled at the laughable words of Aro. Violence was what the Volturi were hoping for – to knock off powerful opponents and convert others to their side. Edward let out a similar, snarly laugh.

Aro peered at the broody vampire with sadness evident. "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, Ruby… dear Ruby, you have such a powerful gift…" I stiffened into a mould of cement, my gaze hard with fiery vehemence. "How is it so that I have no yet encountered you, dear Ruby?" He cocked his head to the side. "Not in my many years of immortality have I come across one with telekinesis. You are a delicacy." His tongue ran across his teeth. "Young one, would you do us great pleasure and join our ranks?"

Behind me, there was a crackling, deep growl of protest, and a wet snout nibbed my back protectively. I stood rigid, my expression one of indifference.

"No," I bluntly denied his invitation, my gaze challenging his, our sinister red eyes clashing against each other's. "Thank you," I added, grimacing mentally at my very apparent rudeness and dislike. I couldn't get on the bad side of Aro – it would end in less than desirable consequences for me.

Aro gave an over pronounced sigh of disappointment. "How sad," he mused, shaking his head, "a Volturi robe would suit you very so."

"No," I repeated, my eyes flickering in irritation. I was uncomfortable under the eyes of the entire Volturi guard, as it would earn me more attention than I desired. "I don't speak very well Italian," I informed him candidly.

His eyes widening, Aro let out a shrill laugh of delight, clapping his hands. Once again, a protective snarl sounded from Seth's snapping jaws. Aro blinked in childlike curiosity, as his sudden and piercing laugh died. He peered over my shoulder at the large bear-like wolf, who was leaning back on his hind legs, growling lowly at the vampire who stared at him with interest.

"This… creature has abnormal loyalty towards you, Ruby," Aro admired aloud, smiling. "It's such a shame these beings aren't reliable guards…"he trailed off, obviously still disappointed by Edward's words earlier, when he informed Aro that the shape-shifters had no particular loyalty to their coven, and definitely could not be used as guarding dogs.

Surprising both myself and everyone else watching, I growled loudly, moving in front of Seth in a defensive stance, my eyes narrowed in slits as I observed Aro, abruptly threatened by his intent.

Seth nudged my back with a slight whine, but I didn't move until Aro raised his hands delicately in a way of surrender, smiling slightly. I swallowed, realising I'd just openly revealed a weakness, a way of breaking through my defences. I growled at myself, angry at my stupidity. Why did Seth have to bring out such unfamiliar emotions in me?

"I do not intent harm towards your… pet, lovely Ruby." Another growl rippled in my throat at his sickly voice, soaked in faked sincerity. He intended more than just harm towards Seth. Servitude – forced servitude. The kind of servitude I had been punished with for two years during my human life. Whilst majority of my human life had become faint, barely comprehendible, my years as a slave were the clearest, like piercing daggers cemented in my soul.

Aro backed away from the sensitive subject as tree branches tore from their hosts, whirling above the heads of the Volturi, dropping violently around Aro like deathly spears. His eyes widened at the act I'd committed, and I could almost see his thoughts reeling. My expression was hard, uncracked. I gave nothing away as I shifted into a slightly more relaxed stance.

There was a moment of silence, only broken by the soft howling of the wind, beckoning snow across the clearing. Seth made a wolfish purr of approval at my defiance against Aro, nuzzling the small of my back gently. I didn't respond to the act, but the smallest smile came upon my lips.

Edward made a noise, seeking Aro's attention.

"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?"

Aro agreed, aware of the direction Edward was going with his words. Glancing around briefly, everyone seemed unaware.

"So, if we could only know for sure," Edward continued, "exactly what she will become… then there would be no need for a council at all?"

Aro further agreed, and his voice grew in shrillness as he spoke to Edward. "If there was somehow to be absolutely sure."

"And we would part in peace, good friends once again?" Edward asked of the ancient leader. I almost snorted at the mere irony.

"Of course, my young friend. Nothing would please me more." Aro's shrill voice rose in octaves.

Edward let out a chuckle, seeming victorious. "Then I do have something more to offer."

With narrowed eyes, Aro replied, "she is absolutely unique. Her future can only be guessed at."

Edward disagreed with a smile, "not absolutely unique. Rare, certainly, but not one of a kind." Edward added a courteous request for Jane's pressing attacks against Bella's shield to stop, which they reluctantly did.

Edward raised his chin. "Why don't you join us, Alice?" He called loudly through the clearing. My eyes widened considerably. Alice? Jasper?

Everyone murmured their shock, and Edward continued to smile faintly. My head snapped towards the edge of the forest line, where the petite vampire danced into view, with my honey-haired brother closely behind her. Behind the mated couple, three strangers ran – two females and a male. They shared Amazonian qualities.

One by one, they all fluidly jumped into the dome-like shield Bella held around us. As several reached to touch Alice in welcome, I gave a sound of greeting to Jasper, my eyes displaying my gladness in finally seeing him again. He gave a small smile in return, his eyes fierce.

Edward beckoned Alice to introduce the three guests she had brought into the tense clearing.

Caius snarled in furious protest. "The time for witnesses is past!"

Aro held a slender, silencing finger towards Caius.

Alice stepped forward gracefully, and gestured towards the strangers. "This is Huilen and her nephew, Nahuel." I frowned lightly, confusion swirling in my brain. What was the importance of these vampires – one noticeably less fluid and graceful. My frown warped slightly. The less fluid of the vampires, Nahuel, reminded me of the young hybrid child, Renesme. My brows creased further.

I made a tiny noise of realisation, only heard by those few closest to me. Nahuel, the slow male, was a hybrid. He was half human, half vampire. Huilen, the physically oldest vampire, began the tale of her life.

I felt no need to attentively listen, I knew what this was leading towards. Nahuel was the key to avoiding our deaths. He was the assurance that Renesme held no danger for our kind.

Huilen told the Volturi in an accented voice of how her sister had been seduced by a beautiful man – a vampire – and she quickly became pregnant with his child. The child had ripped through Huilen's sister, killing her as it tore from her womb. The child bit Huilen, in turn changing her into a vampire. They became immortal companions. It was over a century and a half ago.

Aro appeared obviously intrigued by the hybrid, and pressed him for answers. After Nahuel released more details of his lifestyle and history, Aro turned to Caius.

"Brother, there appears to be no danger. This is an unusal development, but I see no threat. These half-vampire children are much like us, it appears."

Caius scowled. "Is that your vote?"

"It is," Aro confirmed softly.

Aro turned to his army of witnesses and his guard. "Dear ones," he called, "we do not fight today."

In unison, the entire guard nodded, straightening their postures, ready to depart. Alec's creeping mist at the edges of Bella's shield dissipated. As the guard and witnesses began drifting into the forest, Aro lingers, and offered his formal apologies towards Carlisle, which Carlisle accepted stiffly. Aro gradually followed his guard from the clearing, disappearing from sight.

It was quiet following their leave. There were murmurs from Edward and Bella.

"Seriously, people," Alice laughed to everyone. "They're not coming back. Everybody can relax now."

Another pause of silence passed, before an explosion of cheers erupted. There were hooting howls and shouts of sheer happiness and relief. Mates turned to each other with peppering kisses, and I rotated slightly, facing Seth's bowing, large head. I peered into his eyes.

"You're not a guard dog," I stated, as if justifying my odd reaction to Aro moments prior. He whined in agreement. I reached out gingerly, and my fingertips lightly brushed through his silky fur. He pressed the side of his head into my head, humming in contentment.

For whichever reason, I was more pleased that Seth hadn't been plucked from his life and formed into a robotic guard dog than I was about the confrontation with the Volturi ending.

Seth flashed his pearly teeth at me in a doggish grin.

Author's Note: What do you think? We're exploring more of Ruby now, as Seth starts getting through to her. I know Ruby hasn't been the happiest ball of cheesy sunshine, but she's real. Some readers have told me in reviews that she's a bit of a bitch, haha, but I love her. Please, please review. Love you all!

Thanks!