Jane, Alec and I stood with my father and uncles ten days later in the throne room waiting for the Cullens who we knew were to arrive any minute. We were all extremely tense. If there were as many as Alice said then would the guard of forty be able to hold against them? The Volturi had defeated the Romanians once long before I was born but that had taken centuries and many lives.

The doors were opened and the Cullens stepped through, perfectly in their normal lines. Uncle Carlisle with the girls to his left and the boys behind. Edward in the gap between him and Esme, Emmett between Esme and Rosalie and Jasper between Rosalie and Alice. I relaxed slightly at the sight of them, sitting up straighter in my throne from where I had been leaning my arm on the rest and my head on my fisted hand. I smiled at them sleepily which was a strange way to feel since I didn't need to sleep. My father and I rose at the same time to greet them. He went straight to my uncle so I circled around behind him to hug my aunt.

'Did you have a nice honeymoon, dear?' Esme asked as she wrapped me in a tight hug.

'It was wonderful,' I beamed at her, 'and I love the house, thank you so much… and those paintings. I love the montage above the fire place, it's so perfect, you're so talented.'

Esme laughed, pulling away, 'don't be silly, it just a knack I have but I'm so glad to hear you have a wonderful time.'

I smiled at her and I was sure my worry was clear on my face because she placed a hand on me cheek and smiled at me motherly, in a way that clearly said that everything would be okay. The greetings I saw Edward received were extremely tense after everything that had happened at the wedding. I noticed my father finishing his conversation with my uncle and I began to turn towards my uncle who would always be my favourite person.

'Uncle!' I beamed as he turned toward me and I noticed that Alec and Jane were greeting people as well as I threw my arms around his neck.

'How's my girl?' he asked, hugging my though not as tightly as his wife, something I was grateful for.

'She's good but tired,' I replied, clinging to him a bit before stepping back and smiling up at him as brightly as I could managed. 'How's her Uncle?'

He chuckled, placing a kiss on my head, 'good.'

'I'm so glad,' I said and he pulled me back into a hug.

I then flittered quickly back to my husband's side as my father addressed everyone.

'I know you have just arrived but I would like to gather all the detail's straight away,' he spoke with authority. 'So if, Isabella, you and Alec could once again gather the guard in the meeting room while Jane and I escort the Cullens, we will discuss what we know so far.'

Alec and I nodded and sped of in different directions to gather the permanent guard. We were at the meeting room, which was simple a large room with a long table in the middle, within ten minutes. My father took a seat at the head with my Uncle Caius and Marcus either side. I had the "honour" of the other head seat with Jane and Alec at my sides. The rest simple filled up the table.

'Alice, my dear, what can you tell us?' my father addressed my hyper, psychic cousin. 'What have you seen?'

'Not much, I'm afraid, Aro,' Alice replied from her place next to her husband. 'I can see them completely surrounding Volterra and there's so many of them. Victoria's creating them in Seattle, I'm not sure why -'

'Perhaps to try throw us of the trail?' Felix suggested and I thought that actually sounded reasonably plausible if Victoria didn't know about Alice's gift was I was sure she did.

Alice shrugged before continuing, 'the Romanians are staying in Romania. Oh, and as I told Isabella, I think it will be late autumn, early winter before they come but you need to be more prepared, everyone seems extremely panicked.'

I cringed slightly, knowing my father would really hate that comment and Alice got a slightly irritated look from him for saying it.

'So,' my Uncle Marcus spoke up before anything could happen, 'are we going to wait for them to come here or are we going to go to them?'

We spent the rest of the day trying to decide what to do. Phoebe shot down nearly every idea that the guard came up with and I felt myself getting weary and faint. Strange since I had never been sick in my entire existence, I hadn't even thought it possible.

'Please excuse me,' I said to everyone at a pause and I saw eyes turn to me concerned. 'I'm just going to go lie down. Continue.'

I rose gracefully from my chair, shaking in my head at Alec to stay and that I was fine but I heard someone else following me. I sniffed the air subtly and noticed it was my uncle so I waited for him. He threw an arm around my shoulder and I leaned tiredly into him.

'Really, Uncle, I'm fine,' I told him in protest as he led me to my room. I could tell by his face that he had gone into doctor mode and sighed, knowing him well enough that he wasn't able to be able to get him to snap out of it until he was satisfied though I tried anyway. 'Go back to meeting, I'm sure I'll be fine if I lie down for a while.'

'You've never been sick in 314 years and now you are, that's cause for concern,' he told me sternly, forcing me to sit on her bed and I rolled her eyes though I was slightly surprised he remembered my exact age. 'So what's wrong?'

Having never been sick before, it was hard to explain what I felt like, 'tired and, just tired … and weak.'