Disclaimer: The characters, over-arching plot and even the settings belong to Stephenie Meyer. Good thing too.

AN: I've made two assumptions for this chapter, based on SM's books as well as fanon agreement in general. The first assumption is that Demetri's gift works in a similar way to Edward's, in that he cannot track a mind that he has never 'read' at least once before. The second assumption is that Alice's gift works in such a way – especially when you put in the wolves – that she can't actually see all futures at all times and some don't manifest until people make a decision regarding certain things.

And a completely made up assumption that hard rain would wash away a human's scent and hopefully a vampire's too, but that the concentration of wolves on the res would remain unaffected because of the 'stench' involved.

I've also made Author's assumptions. The first is that, when I rewrote the James affair in East of Albuquerque, I had James much less dependent on Victoria. Also, they interact a lot less. Victoria doesn't know about Alice's link with James, or her gift (or Edward's). She never got near the Cullen property, so she only has a vague idea where it is, from the scents she caught. Also, Rose and Esme kept her away from Bella's house, so although she knows where it is, she never got close enough to pick up Charlie's scent and only has Bella's from the baseball field.

Chapter 6

Alice was so busy trying to see the wolves, she missed the advanced guard. Afterwards, no one would blame her for the slip, but it didn't stop her from blaming herself.

Though Carlisle sent word to the reservation – specifically to Billy Black and the Elders – the Cullens heard no word from the tribe in return. Billy even refused to talk to Bella when she attempted to call him and even Charlie was willing to acknowledge that his drinking buddy had been acting a little weird and that he hadn't seen sign of Jacob for weeks.

April passed into May and Bella was entirely too concerned with the end of senior year to really give that last part much thought. The wolves would have to meet with the Cullens sooner or later, Edward assured her, but for now he and the others were being careful to hunt to the east and away from tribe land. No reason to rile the Quileutes more than they obviously were, they all decided.

Occupied with school and the big move to Vermont in July, it was a quiet Friday night in early May before any of them realised that the wolves were the least of their problems.

Jasper and Emmett were in the corner playing chess, while Rosalie half watched them and half pretended to read a magazine. Edward was at the piano and Bella had curled up in the chair nearby, content to watch him instead of read Hamlet, their last assigned literary work for the school year. Carlisle was still at work and Esme was upstairs with Alice working on something to do with the house.

Bella didn't hear it when it happened, but she was instantly aware that the four vampires near her froze all at once.

'What?' she asked Edward, who was paused with his hands on the keys, not even breathing. 'What's wrong?'

No one answered her. Suddenly, Jasper vanished, and Bella realised that something must have happened to Alice upstairs.

Emmett and Rosalie seemed to come back to themselves too. 'Edward, what's she seen?' Rose asked her brother.

Edward's eyes were still distant, locked onto whatever vision he had read in Alice's mind. 'I don't...How could she have missed this?'

'Missed what?' Rosalie hissed.

Edward's eyes were guarded when he looked at her. 'They've sent a guard.'

There was a very long pause at that statement.

'The wolves?' Emmett ventured, in a voice that said he knew otherwise, but was really, really hoping he was wrong.

Edward shot the big vampire a less than polite look, one that would normally have earned words from Rose, but she was obviously too horror stricken to comment.

'Why?' was her next question, so low that Bella thought maybe she'd heard it wrong.

Alice and Jasper appeared in the doorway then with Esme a step behind, in a rushed conversation with someone – probably Carlisle – on the phone.

'I can't...I can't see,' Alice whined, collapsing onto the sofa. 'I've been so focused on the wolves I didn't even notice! How could I not notice?'

'Just explain, in very simple words, what the hell is going on,' Rosalie butted in one more time.

Alice gave her sister a completely unreadable look and Jasper glowered beside her. 'There's two of the guard; they'll be here tomorrow.'

'Seriously?' Emmett cut in until everyone else in the room, even Bella, gave him a look that said 'shut up'.

Alice went on as if he hadn't interrupted. 'I don't know why they were sent. I didn't see. They have their orders already.'

'Look further ahead, Alice; are the rest of them coming?'

Bella was getting more and more anxious trying to figure out what was going on. 'Edward,' she all but whined, heart near to pounding in anxiety. For the first time ever, Edward ignored her completely. That only made the anxious feeling worse.

Alice's face went blank for a few minutes and then returned more worried than before. In fact, she looked down right terrified. 'They're coming!'

'What, all of them?' Both Jasper and Rose asked at the same time.

Alice nodded her head. 'The guard and the Volturi themselves. I see them here right after graduation. Yes,' she caulked her head to the side, 'yes, only a day or two after grad.'

Bella didn't understand much of what was happening, but she understood Volturi well enough. 'Edward?' she tried again, panicked.

'Why are they coming Alice? Why now, after all this time? Does Aro miss Carlisle?' Rose started firing questions at her sisters, the last of which earned a glare from Esme. She ignored her mother.

'It's not good,' Alice admitted. 'I see – wait – the red head by Aro,' she said, face blank again.

'Victoria!' Edward exclaimed so loudly that Bella fell off the chair she had been sitting on the edge of.

Five voices together this time shouted 'what?' loud enough it could probably be heard from the highway.

'I see her with Aro. She must have gone to them. She hates what we did to James so much she went to the Volturi for help in destroying us.'

'Alice,' Jasper said, voice surprisingly calm, even as everyone else grew more alarmed at this news. 'They need a reason. We had every right to destroy her mate. Why are they coming here?'

Alice turned terrified eyes on her husband and whispered barely loud enough for Bella to hear: 'she told them about Bella.'

Every eye in the room swivelled to the human on the floor.

'No,' Edward ground out sharply. 'She's one human and she's...Bella's my mate. They can't hold us guilty for breaking the law!'

'They do,' Alice defended, knowing Edward could see the truth in her head.

'No,' he said again and finally acknowledged that his alleged mate was curled into a ball on the floor having an anxiety attack. He had Bella in his arms instantly, encasing her so tightly she would probably be bruised the next day. Bella didn't seem to care.

The front door slammed opened just then and Carlisle appeared in the room. 'What has happened?' he asked the room at large.

Esme rushed right into his arms and they had a very rapid conversation in hushed tones. By the end of it, Carlisle's face was even whiter than normal, if it was possible, and he was shaking his head in an attempt at disbelief.

'I cannot believe that Aro would be drawn in by that woman.'

'Well, he has been,' Rosalie stated, somewhat scathingly and once again ignored the look Esme shot her. 'So we better figure out what the hell we're going to do about it.'

'Run away?' Emmett said, though he was clearly joking in a very real sense.

'They Volturi have a very able tracker. There is no where that we could run,' Carlisle reasoned.

'Demetri,' Alice whispered.

'You saw him?' Jasper asked.

'He and another will be here tomorrow.'

'Running is definitely out then. Can Aro be reasoned with?' he asked their leader.

Carlisle's eyes were pained. 'At one time, I might have believed so, but they give no quarter to law breakers. If I have any understanding of them, it will not be Aro who leads this mission, but the other, Caius. We have never been on amiable terms,' he went on and Edward snorted. Carlisle gave his eldest son an unhappy look. 'Yes, perhaps that was too polite a way to state our relationship, or lack thereof. Still, Caius is the strictest when it comes to the law; he will not be reasoned with once his decision is made. I saw many try in the years I lived with them; none ever succeeded.'

'So, we really shouldn't be here when they come then, right?' Emmett asked again, a bit more serious this time.

'Running, as Carlisle said, would gain us no ground. There is no hiding from Demetri once he becomes aware of us. They would find us sooner rather than later. No, we must find another way. Alice, have they determined a number to send yet?' Edward asked; half his attention devoted to a vain attempt to calm Bella down. She was now shaking in his arms, too overcome by the whole situation to do more than listen, panicked.

'Not yet,' Alice replied. 'Not until their advanced guard returns. I'll keep close watch now, I promise,' she said, clearly still very upset that she hadn't seen anything earlier.

'Alice, with their tracker on the hunt, I'm not certain knowing before now would have made a difference.'

'It would have given us more time,' Jasper groused, but immediately softened when Alice gave a small cry in guilt. 'I'm sorry. You're right, it would not have helped. What would we have done? What will we do?' the strategist asked.

Bella was calming down a bit now. The shaking slowed to a stop and she managed to find the presence of mind to lift her head out of Edward's shoulder. 'They're coming for me?' she asked quietly.

'No, Bella,' Edward said, stroking her hair. 'They are coming for us; you are simply the excuse.'

'Because I'm human?'

'No; because you know about us.'

'And I'm human,' she repeated, pushing away from his protective embrace and struggling to stand. Edward rose with her, one hand out as she swayed dizzily. She ignored the help though and gasped in a deep breath, forcing her body to calm down. 'Humans can't know what you are,' Bella stated. 'What if I'm not human when they get here?'

'Great idea Bells,' Emmett boomed too loudly.

'The tracker will be here tomorrow; that's hardly enough time,' Rosalie disagreed.

'But before the Volturi come? If they get here and I'm a vampire, then they can't say the law's broken, right? At least not anymore. We can say you were just waiting to change me until graduation, so that people didn't wonder why I disappeared and ask questions. Trying to keep a low profile, right?' Bella went on, anxious once more at the look on Edward's face.

'No,' he finally hissed. 'Turning you is not the answer.'

'But we agreed,' she went on to remind him.

'Yes, but not like this. Not because of them.'

'Does it matter why? I want this, Edward. I know you do too! Why not now? We can fake my death, just like you told me last year. And I'll be strong! Maybe the Volturi won't want to fight me.'

Emmett was the only one that laughed at that comment.

'We must give this all careful consideration,' Carlisle finally decided; the calm voice of reason once more. 'Nothing can be done before the guard arrive tomorrow. I am doubtful they will attempt to make contact, and we should not attempt to approach them. It would be better they do not know we are aware of them. For now, it is best they remain ignorant of our gifts,' he explained.

'Aro covets what he cannot have,' Alice whispered.

'Yes,' her father answered the unspoken question just as quietly. In the stillness of the room though, it carried enough for Bella to hear.

'We stay near the house tomorrow, agreed?' their leader asked.

'Agreed,' they echoed.

'We will discuss this further after the guard have left. Bella, I believe it might be best if you were to return to your father's house for the weekend.'

'I'm not leaving her unprotected!' Edward exclaimed, half standing up.

'The instant the guard see the two of you together, their belief will be confirmed. We must cast whatever doubt we can into Aro's mind,' his father reasoned.

Edward clearly thought otherwise. 'Her scent is all over this place.'

'Yes. Alice?' Carlisle asked.

'Um, I don't know. A heavy bleaching of everything might work and definitely dump Edward's bed linens somewhere, in case they come into the house. It's supposed to rain heavily tonight, so that will help too. I don't think the tracker will be able to find her without her scent as a guide. If she can block Edward maybe...'

'Maybe she'll block Demetri's gift too. It's similar, in many ways,' Carlisle picked up Alice's train of thought.

'Exactly,' she agreed. 'If there's no connection between Bella and us, he'd be left blind, I think. Aro might have had an image from Victoria's mind, but he can't have passed that on to his guards. Unless she gave him the address...' Alice trailed off, still searching. 'I don't know,' she finally decided. 'But Bella should home go now, alone. Charlie's going down to the beach tomorrow to join Billy,' she went on. 'I just looked and he's disappeared. Maybe you should go with him Bella. The guard won't follow you there; not with the wolves stench and they might not even pick up your scent at all that way.'

'There's an idea,' Jasper agreed. 'It is possible the smell of the wolves will distract them. I doubt the Volturi have encountered shape shifters like these. If they venture onto the tribe's land to investigate, will the wolves defend themselves?'

'Yes,' Carlisle spoke up. 'It is there sole reason to exist. They will see any vampire on their land as a threat. There are at least two wolves that we know about; perhaps more. It might well be an even match.'

'We can hope it will be better than that.'

'No, we don't,' Alice put in. All eyes swivelled to her. 'The last thing we want is to give the Volturi another reason to come here. And what about the wolves? They'd be outnumber even worse than us. We can't do that to the tribe.'

'It's a good point. Carlisle, you must contact the tribe before tomorrow. They cannot allow themselves to be seen by the guard.'

'Yes, I agree. I'll go to the border tonight if I must. Alice is correct; such a thing would bring the Volturi down upon us without mercy,' he reasoned, one arm still tightly wrapped around his wife. Esme seemed to upset to even form words, content to let the others decide.

'Will it work?' Edward asked.

Alice shrugged. 'With the wolves...I can't tell. I don't see the guard coming into the house here, which is good. They don't want us to know of their presence. If we hadn't been warned, they would have arrived tomorrow to find Bella here. Or worse; you and Bella at the meadow alone. My way is better.'

'Fine,' Edward agreed, though it was obvious he was loath to.

Bella leaned into him. 'I should go then.'

'Yes. You keep your cell on you at all times this weekend, understood? If you think anything is wrong, call me. Or any of us,' he implored her.

'I will,' she promised, leaning up to kiss him. 'If you promise to stay safe and call me if anything happens?'

Edward managed a small smile at that. 'I promise. Be safe,' he said and let her go.

'Good luck?' Bella hedged to the rest of them.

Alice smiled surprisingly brightly. 'Thank you!'

'Right,' Bella sighed and left them to the conversation she knew they needed to have. She just hoped that Edward would remember his recent promise and fill her in later on the details. Contemplating Alice's idea about bleach, Bella headed home to wash her own bed linens and try to air her room out of Edward's sent. Hopefully the rain would do the rest.

Bella knew as well as the Cullens did, however, that none of their security measures would make a difference.

I want to thank everyone that has favourited this story or added it to story alerts. I'm delighted to know you're enjoying it! However, it would be amazing if those of you who are reading and enjoying drop me a quick note to say what you like and what you don't. Feedback makes me a better writer! If you don't let me know, I either assume I'm awesome (on my good days) or my writing is so bad that everyone hates it (on most of my other days). So please let me know!