Disclaimer: I am NOT, by any stretch of the imagination, Stephenie Meyer. Though the world might be a somewhat better place, for me, at least, if I were.

Chapter 14

Getty's POV:

"What," I said, stunned.

"Esme's been kidnapped," Alice repeated. "The Volturi have kidnapped her to try to force our hand. They think it will give them a more successful strategy. They think that by forcing our hand now that we will be unprepared for battle."

"Is that the case?"

"No. We are ready to fight them and preempt any attack from them that we may face."

I was pacing nervously throughout the entire exchange with Carlisle glaring at me as if to say 'Why didn't you think about this. I told you something like this could and probably would happen.' He was certainly livid. "Thank you, Alice," I said.

I needed to clear my head, so I went outside. Before I was able to leave, Brie blocked the door so that I was unable to leave. "I can free Esme," she said.

"How?"

"It's not really that difficult. All I have to do is sneak over to wherever it is that Esme is being held while the Volturi are distracted by the battle and bring her back with me. The thing I'm most worried about is her mental condition. She may not be willing to come with me."

Bella spoke up. "That's nonsense, Brie, and you know it. How long have you been friends with us? Esme knows and trusts you. She knows that you won't hurt her and mean her no harm and that all you want to do is bring her back to her family. She will want to go with you."

"Okay," Brie said. "Just remember that it might take some time for her to get back to how she was before all of this happened. Hostage situations are fragile. Seeing you all might be all she needs to relax and go back to being herself, it might not. I just want you to be prepared for whatever happens."

"Don't worry, Brie," I said. "I know it's a lot to worry about, but let's just get through the battle for now. Esme will be returned to us, either through your plan or through some other method. For now, though, I need to get some air."

I went for a run through the forest and paused when I heard the thoughts of a familiar eagle.

I found them. Ha! Aro will not be pleased that they ran. Just wait until those damned bloodsuckers realize how valuable Billy Black really is…

Quickly, I pulled a tranquilizer dart out of my pocket and aimed carefully. Ten seconds later, the eagle that is Billy Black fell into my eagerly awaiting hands and I woke him up.

"Billy," I said when he was awake.

"Oh, it's just you. The girl that died in her father's… wait… if you're dead, then how can you be alive? You joined the bloodsuckers, didn't you?"

"Yes. And we need help from the werewolves."

"No. The wolves have to defend our own territory. There is no available manpower."

"Well, you're coming with me anyway," I said, taking Billy back to the hotel with me.

When I walked back into the room, Billy, in eagle form, in tow, Emmett's thoughts screamed out at me:

Cool. Lunch.

AA/ally shuddered while I glared at Emmett and proceeded to tell my story of what happened since I'd found Billy. Then I turned to Bella.

"Bella, I need you to do something for me."

"Yes," she said cautiously.

"I need you to go and convince Jacob to give us the werewolves help."

"How?"

"

Do whatever you have to. Kiss him, talk to him, yell at him, go on a date with him, God forbid it comes to this, but sleep with him."

Brie interrupted. "That probably won't be necessary," she said, earning a glare from me. "Sorry. Proceed."

"We need the wolves on our side," I continued. "And I have a feeling we won't get their help unless you convince Jacob by whatever means necessary. Please Bella. I need you to do this for me; to save us all."

"Alright," she said, reluctantly resigning herself to the task.

"Thank you, Bella. Oh, Ally, would you please go with her?"

"How else is she going to get there?"

"Thank you. Okay. It appears that we have everything sorted out for the battle, so now, once we're all packed, we can head back to Forks and defeat the Volturi and rescue Esme."

Ally and Bella left immediately, with Brie following them. I didn't really want her to go too, but it would probably best to have a third person in case of emergency, and I knew Brie could take care of herself, along with others that needed help in almost any circumstance.

Back in Forks:

Bella's POV:

After our previous exchange, I was on edge about talking to Jake, but we needed the wolves to help us. Fortunately, Ally and Brie were coming with me this time. I always felt more confident in a group. There really is some truth to that saying about strength in numbers.

"Hey Ally," I said. "From how stressed Getty sounded on the way back here, I don't think we have much more time before we battle the Volturi, so if we're going to go to the wolves, we have to leave like now."

She walked up to me and said "Okay, let's get going. I hope you aren't claustrophobic." She took my hand, and we plummeted into the ground. Sooner than I ever would have thought possible, we were standing in front of Jake's door.

"How'd we get here so fast?"

"Well," Ally began, "You may have f igured out that I'm a witch. Especially after my little stunt on the way up to Tuk…"

"Yeah. I figured you were since you seem to know Brie so well."

"Anyway, I'm what's called an Earth Magus, meaning I can heal, manipulate the earth to make plants grow or die, and I can also travel through the earth, taking people with me, if I so choose. Travelling through the earth is actually the fasted mode of transportation for me. I hope Jake isn't claustrophobic."

"I don't think so," I said. "But he will be suspicious if we keep standing out her without knocking or ringing the doorbell. He's not stupid."

"Right," Ally said, before ringing the doorbell persistently, almost like a 2 year old.

Jake's POV:

Having gotten back from my all night patrols, I was ready to collapse into bed and dream about Bella until my next shift, which I did until I was woken up by an i incessant ringing of the doorbell.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," I said. God, have these people no patience? I just woke up for Christ's sake.

When I opened the door, the sight that met my eyes made me forget all of my grievances for on my front porch stood none other than Bella and the most beautiful, intriguing girl I had ever seen. Looking down the line, I also saw Brie, remembering fighting the dragons alongside her.

"Hi," Bella's companion said, drawing me out of my stupor. I hadn't realized I was staring until she said "Like what you see?"

"Oh, certainly." Way to go, Jake. Open mouth. Insert foot. "I mean it's just nice to see a new face. Living in such a small town, you eventually meet everyone and it's nice to meet new people, you know?"

"It's totally o o kay. You're a rather fine specimen yourself," she said winking at me.

"Ally," Bella said. "We did not come here for you to flirt."

"Then why are you here?" I asked, looking at Ally, still mildly in awe.

"We're here because we need your help," she said. "I'm sure that Bella has told you about the musty smelling vampire people."

WWhat the hell… 'Musty smelling vampire people'? What does that even mean?

"The Volturi," Bella said.

"Oh. Right. Them," I said "Yes, she has."

"Well, for whatever reason, they are after the Cullens again. We need you and the werewolves to help us fight."

She didn't even have to finish her request before I was willing to grant it. Hell, I'd commit torture, treason, and murder for this woman. And rob a bank. All in the same day. "You will have our help," I said. "Even if it means that I have to convince them at knife point."

Bella's POV:

After convincing Jacob and the werewolves to help us with our battle, which was far easier than expected, Ally, Brie, and I returned to the Cullen house, which looked like it had been hit by a tornado after the, I assume, departure of the Volturi, to tell Getty that we got the cooperation of the wolves too. It took us a while to track her down because all of the Cullens, save for a kidnapped Esme and a panicking Carlisle, were running around the house preparing for the battle and

"Baseball," I asked Getty. "Our lives are at stake and we're going to play baseball?"

"Yes, Bella," she said short-temperedly. "We're going to play baseball because we don't want the Volturi to know that we are prepared to fight. They currently believe that they hold the advantage, and we want them to believe that until the battle, when there's no turning back."

"

Do whatever you want, Getty," Ally said. "Your plans are beyond help anyway. And do I have to play? I suck at baseball, unless it involves throwing rocks."

"Wow, Ally," Getty said sarcastically. "Thanks for the faith. And if you don't really want to play, you don't have to. Just don't mess with anything because you're bored."

With that, we all piled into Emmett's Jeep and headed for the meadow.

Getty's POV:

Arriving at the meadow, we quickly divided into two teams. Just as we were about to start playing, Tanya came, bringing with her Eleazar, Carmen, Irina, and Kate. Not far behind her was Jacob, followed by Sam, Quil, Embry, Leah, Seth, Jared, Collin, and Paul. I walked up to Jacob, Sam, and Tanya.

"Thank you for doing this for us," I said. "Without you, we have no hope of survival."

Brie's thoughts then invaded my mind:

WHAT ABOUT ME??? I'VE BEEN NOTHING LESS THAN COOPERATIVE AND I GET NO APPRECIATION AT ALL!! NOT EVEN A SIMPLE 'THANK YOU, BRIE'!! HOW RUDE! Where's my icing?

"You're welcome," Tanya said. "But Getty, you still haven't given me the answer as to which condition you are going to meet. Have you made your decision?"

"Yes. I will be joining your coven. Unless this ends badly, of course."

"What do you mean?"

"Unless I die."

AAAn awkward silence followed, so to break it, I decided to, with Alice's help, figure out the best place for the Denali coven and the wolves to hide.

"Alice," I said. "Would you come here, please."

"Hi," she said, unnaturally perky, give the circumstances.

"Alice, I need you to look at the outcome of the battle once more."

"Okay."

"Will there be a negative outcome if we have the wolves and Denali coven wait downwind until we call them?"

"No. The Volturi will have a crosswind when they come. They are neither using it to their advantage or disadvantage, or so they believe. The wolves and Denalis will be able to tell when the Volturi are close. Jacob, we need you to tell Getty as soon as you smell them coming. We will call you when we need you."

They agreed and headed downwind to wait, flanked by the other members of their groups.

Alice and I walked back to where everyone else was standing.

"Okay," I said. "Let's play ball."

We had made it through two innings, with me blocking Edward's and Alice's powers, and my team was beating Emmett's by a score of 7-4. It was Emmett's at-bat when I heard from Jake:

Get everything put in the Jeep and don't act suspiciously. They're close.

Thanks, Jake, I thought back to him. Come in closer, but stay hidden and downwind. They don't need to know you're here yet.

I relayed Jake's message to the Cullens and, within two minutes, the Jeep was packed up and hidden, and we were lounging around and talking. Two minutes after that, the Volturi walked up. Aro was in the lead, flanked by Marcus and Caius.

"Where's your guard?" Carlisle asked, wasting no time with the niceties. "Are they too busy torturing my wife to come deal with the real problem?"

"Carlisle," I said in his ear, low enough so that only he could hear it. "Calm down. We'll get through this. Esme will be fine. I promise."

He nodded.

"Oh, no, Carlisle," Aro said. "You are not the real problem. In fact, you may just be a part of the solution."

"How so," I asked.

Aro turned to me. "It's quite simple, really. You see, the last time the Cullens came to visit us, Carlisle and I had a little chat and I told him three things: a) Bella had to be changed before our next meeting, something which obviously hasn't happened; b) Edward and Alice were to join our guard before the year was out, which also has not happened; and c) he was not allowed to add any more vampires to his coven, and you are living proof that he has broken that agreement as well. I only feel that since he is not in compliance, then he should suffer the consequences."

"Meaning?"

"If Edward, Alice, and you come with me, then we will leave with no intention of returning. If not, we will see to it that not a single cell of you remains along with his precious wife."

"They will never join you, Aro," Carlisle said. "I won't let them."

"Very well," he said, a sinister tone in his voice. "Bring her out," he said, and Alec, Chelsea, Afton, Corin, Demetri, Felix, Heidi, Jane, Renata, and Santiago all walked out of the forest, with a terrified, bound, and gagged Esme between them. She looked run down and exhausted, as if she had been constantly exposed to Jane's torture since she had been kidnapped.

"I'm so sorry," I said to Carlisle. "I had no idea this would happen. None of us did."

Brie and Ally stood. Ally spoke firmly and directly to the Volturi. "I am Allyson Marie Hunsacher, Guardian of the Pacific Northwest. I highly recommend leaving your hostage and returning to whatever hell spawned you, as the consequences for doing otherwise will not be pleasant."

"You foolish little girl," Aro snarled. "You think that you witches and so few, weak vampires can defeat us? We will not release our hostage until you surrender."

Brie tensed and snarled back at him "You were lucky that your numbers grew when and as quickly as they did, or your coven would have been squashed like a bug by the European Guardians. Your luck has run out."

While all this was going on, Alice mentally warned me that the Volturi were getting ready to attack. I called the wolves and Denalis out of hiding, telling them to come slowly because we didn't want the Volturi to think we were planning on attacking.

As the wolves and Denali coven flanked us, and eagle landed at Aro's side and morphed into none other than Billy Black. Bella and Jacob had and identical, almost instantaneous, simultaneous reaction.

"Dad," Jacob asked, incredulous.

"Billy," Bella said, equally incredulous.

"Come on," Billy said. "I think we need to talk."

"No, Dad," Jake said. "There's nothing to talk about. You're working for the people trying to kill the person I think I love."

"Jacob," I said. "Maybe there's more to this situation than you know. Just listen to him."

Fortunately, I had Ally on my side. "Jake, you should do it. For all you know, they threatened to kill you in order to earn his cooperation. You don't know until you hear him out."

"Fine," he huffed. "I'll see what he has to say."

"Thank you."

Jake and Bella went to talk to Billy, and I knew that it would not be long before one of our groups was completely annihilated.

As far as numbers go, we were evenly matched, but the Volturi believed that they were stronger. Unlike the Volturi, we had the element of surprise. We were prepared for battle, and I could protect our entire coven from the Volturi. All of this went against their knowledge, further increasing our advantage.

All of the Volturi and the guard were crouched and poised for attack. I took my cue and blocked the thoughts of every that was fighting for us; every vampire and every wolf including Jacob and Bella. Then the Volturi attacked.

Aro immediately launched himself at Carlisle's throat while Jane attempted to disable us and our allies, as did Alec. Little to her knowledge, Brie was rapidly coming up behind Jane to manipulate her power so that it affected her, rather than protected her. All I could tell as to how Brie succeeded in torturing Jane was that they were locked in a stare-down, neither willing to break eye contact. It was obvious that Jane was trying her hardest not to writhe in pain and I took advantage of Brie's attack to rip Jane's head off and throw it onto one of the fires that the wolves had built. Aro saw this, and his brief moment of hesitation was enough to give Carlisle the upper hand. Alec, also surprised by the failure of his attack, was quickly attacked by Ally. Ally, using her powers, had found a very large rock and had it suspended in the air. Right as Alec turned, Ally sent the rock throttling at his head. The force of the blow knocked him out and, while he was unconscious, the Tanya and Irina tore him to pieces, throwing each onto the fire.

Shocked at how quickly their leaders were overcome, for Emmett and Alice had already killed Caius and Marcus, the rest of the Volturi guard was immobilized, giving Esme a chance to escape. She came over to me and, while fighting off Chelsea and Afton, I released her from her gag and bindings. Carlisle was still struggling with a very determined Aro, so I sent her to help him.

Realizing how weak Chelsea and Afton were, seeing as I was able to hold off both of them while freeing Esme, I quickly grabbed a branch of the nearest tree and, using my teeth, transformed it into an impromptu blade. I simultaneously decapitated them both and threw their heads onto the closest fire, leaving their bodies to be dealt with later.

Looking to my left, I saw that Renata had joined Aro in his attempt to kill both Esme and Carlisle. I silently snuck up behind Renata and skewered both her and Aro. Before they realized what happened, Esme, Carlisle, and I had each taken at least one vital part of their bodies and burned them.

Corin saw this and turned to me with rage in his eyes. As I was turning toward him, I saw Demetri and Heidi crouch.

"Esme, Carlisle," I yelled at them. "Look to your right!" All I could do was hope that I'd warned them in time and turn back to my own struggle. This felt like it was going to be more animalistic than the chaos going on around us.

Corin and I were circling each other, him with a vicious gleam in his eyes. We stopped and momentarily stared each other down. Before I knew what was happening, he had launched himself at my throat and tackled me to the ground. I managed to move fast enough to get the improvised sword between us, but Corin was using all of his weight to push the branch down on my throat, and it was all I could do to apply enough pressure to keep it off my trachea. I may not need to breathe, but that doesn't make the feeling of being choked any less pleasant. Suddenly I heard a loud crack and saw that my weapon had broken. Edward also heard it and looked over. Looking at him with desperation in my eyes, I silently plead that he would see the battle I was about to lose. The next thing I knew, I felt a weight being lifted off of me and saw Edward holding Corin by the neck, threatening him. I took this opportunity to finish my own battle. I casually strolled up behind Corin and ripped off his arms, taking his head in my teeth.

"Getty," I heard Edward say. "Spit that out. You don't know where it's been."

Once I got to the closest fire, I willingly obliged.

I looked around, on alert for any more possible attacks and noticed that the only two members of the Volturi guard remaining were already disabled by Rosalie and Emmett, with Alice and Jasper inches away from taking the heads of Felix and Santiago.

What a way to die, Felix thought. Being straddled by a hot blonde.

"Emmett," I said. "If I were you, I'd rip off Felix's balls right about now. You wouldn't believe the perverted things he's thinking about your wife."

Emmett roared and, faster than I could see, had Felix's balls in his hand and spiked them down on the closest fire. Returning to his wife, I saw him lean down, whisper something in Felix's ear, and then rip off his head, throwing it towards a fire as hard as he could.

Looking around, I realized that the battle was over and the entire Volturi and guard dead, also the meadow was destroyed. Half the ground was burned from the fires built to burn the bodies of Volturi and the guard, all the smoke left behind creating an eerie fog, and the trees were missing thousands of branches from us dragging the Volturi guard down to meet their maker. As I surveyed the damage, I noticed that, aside from completely destroyed clothing, our coven and our allies suffered no casualties whatsoever, then I looked over and saw Jake. I had never seen anyone look so close to death. His breathing was raspy and shallow, both of his legs were broken in several places, as were his arms. His chest was visibly collapsed, and he was completely covered in blood.

As I was seeing this, Ally came up to me.

"What's wrong," she asked.

I pointed toward Jake. "I don't know how that happened, but I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect him better. I thought he'd be safer…" Before I could finish, she had gone over to Jake and was holding onto him, rocking back and forth tears in her eyes.

"No, no, no, no, no," she said, looking up at the sky. "How could you do this to me? I finally get the happiness I've been searching for for my entire life and you're just going to take it away? This isn't fair."

As she was saying this, I saw a bright, white flash of light. When I looked around, I saw that the meadow looked more pristine than I had ever seen it. The flowers were in bloom and the trees looked perfect. A gentle breeze blew through the tall grass. I closed my eyes and realized that I had never felt more at home. I looked at Ally.

"How did you do that?"

"I'm an Earth Magus."

"Right," I said. "I remember Bella thinking something about you being able to manipulate the ear to do what you want and travel through the earth, stuff like that."

"Well, she was right."

I walked over to where Ally was helping Jake get up. He had never looked more happy or healthy. I just assumed it was part of Ally's power. I didn't really want to think about it. Jake wrapped his arm around her, and we walked back over to everyone else. I looked at them all and said "Let's go home."

­­­w, though, I need to get some air."w. Esme will be returned to us, either through your plan or through some other method. For n_____________________________________________________________________________________

The next morning, I came down the stairs, having secretly been playing Edward's piano all night. I would definitely have to be sure to get one when I went back to live with the Denalis. Looking around as I scratched the back of my head, I saw Ally and Jake lying in a pile on top of the couch. I couldn't help but smile to myself. It was so obvious how much they loved each other.

"Ally," I said, shaking her awake. "You should probably eat something. From what I've heard about witches, doing what you did yesterday uses a lot of energy. And I'll probably live to regret this, but I'll make you a pot of coffee too."

She smiled weakly. "Okay. If I can disentangle myself from Jake."

She was able to and, while the coffee was brewing, we were able to talk, just like before all of this ever happened. I was wondering how we got into all of this when Ally's voice broke through my reverie.

"Jacob almost died," she said.

I looked down at the floor for a couple of minutes, then looked in her eyes. "I know Ally. I can't imagine what I would do if Scott died. He means so much to me. Almost more than Jacob means to you."

"At least if anything like that were to ever happen to Scott you could change him. What I did for Jake is all that I'll ever be able to do for him."

"And that's enough. Ally, you saved his life and I know he'd do the same for you. I saw you guys on the couch and I can tell that you are each other's whole world."

She nodded slowly.

"Ally," I said. "We're having a party here tonight. Will you stay?"

She shook her head. "I want to, but I can't. It's a long drive back to Seattle and I have classes in the morning. Besides, even if I were to travel through the earth, I wouldn't be able to get enough sleep before I had to go back. Do you think they'd mind if I stole a jar of Bella's Nutella? I love the hazelnutty chocolate."

I laughed. "No, they won't mind. And Bella has so much of that stuff here I doubt she'd notice one jar missing."

"Getty," she said. "Did you hear that piano music last night? It was really beautiful and I was just wondering who was playing."

"I'd have to be deaf to not hear it. I was playing the whole night. I took up piano after Scott went up to Canada for school. I didn't tell anyone because it's sort of a personal thing. It makes it easier for me to live in the here and now, rather than dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. I just find it very calming. Please don't tell anyone."

"I won't," she promised. "I do kind of wish that you had told me sooner. I like hearing you play. You're quite good."

"Thanks. I don't know what it is about Chopin's nocturnes, but they always calm me down and seem to fit how I feel so often. Hi, Jake."

"Hey, Getty. Ally, baby, you ready to go?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," she said.

Jake scooped her up into his arms and carried her out to the car as they said goodbye.

"Oh, and Getty," she said. "Be sure to e-mail me more." And make some recordings of you playing the piano. I'd love to hear you play more often.

"Okay. Don't have too much fun guys," I said, winking at Jake as he carried Ally out the door.

When I closed the door, Alice popped out of nowhere and said: "Let's get going. We've got a party to plan."

A/N: Wow. That's a long chapter. Sorry it was such a long time coming. School started back up on the 5th and I've got Business Law, Microeconomics, Accounting, and Statistics classes. It was hard finding time to write, especially because I had to write a hella long essay for my business law class. That took up all of my writing time for at least a week. But I'm done making excuses. There's only one chapter left in this story. If you want a sequel, let me know in a review. Just a heads up though, I have no idea what the plot would be. Ideas for that would be nice too. I'll do my best to have the next chapter out by the end of the month, but no promises.