Book Four Carlisle

"Love is the crowning grace of humanity, the holiest right of the soul, the golden link which binds us to duty and truth, the redeeming principle that chiefly reconciles the heart of life, and is prophetic of eternal good." - Francesco Petrarch

Chapter One: Worried

I watched the moonlight glitter faintly off my white hand as it rested on my bedroom's balcony guardrail. It was a rare, clear night, and I could actually see the stars. I forgot how much I missed them here in Forks. But of course the overcast and gloomy clouds were what allowed my family and me to lead almost normal lives.

What was normal these days? Certainly not humanity. For once in their thousands of years of existence they were in the minority; an endangered species. In fact, I'd be willing to bet my kind numbered more then the remaining humans on Earth now. The thought troubled me greatly, but before I could dwell on it, a smooth marble hand slipped over mine and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Esme asked looking up at me, her soft brown curls perfectly framing her beautiful face and honey colored eyes. How I loved her.

"I was just pondering the fate of humanity." I replied with the smile I reserved just for her.

"Oh, is that all?" she asked impishly. "I thought perhaps you were up here waiting for a certain phone call."

Ah yes, the phone call. We knew it was coming thanks to Alice's gift, and the thought of it sobered me up. I pulled Esme into my arms and hugged her tightly. She was right; I was waiting for a phone call I hoped would never come.

"You know me too well," I whispered into her hair. She knew I'd come up here to be alone, to avoid the rest of my family, and do this loathsome task on my own. Jasper had asked why I would bother trying to reason with Aro. We all knew not to bet against Alice, but I had to try. I had to believe the future wasn't written.

"Do you want me to go?" Esme murmured against my chest.

"No. But I think you should. This won't be pleasant."

"Few things in a vampire's life ever are, dearest. I'll stay." Her response was gentle but firm and I sighed. She was definitely the mother in our little family and too easily underestimated by most of our kind. It was true she was no fighter, but she had strength and willpower. And above all things, love. Love for life. All life. She and Snow were very much alike in that regard. No wonder they had naturally become such good friends. Both of them were born to be mothers.

"Snow and her group are back," she said conversationally.

"Oh?"

"Yes, and they brought a few of the humans they met, and one Soul."

"The humans had a Soul sympathetic to the human cause with them?" I asked, more surprised than I should have been. Hadn't I seen it happen over and over again? Once a Soul realized that they were committing genocide, they immediately supported the cause of humanity and closing Earth for future colonization. Of course this new clan of humans that Jared had lead his group to would have at least one Soul with them.

"They did. His name is Burns Living Flowers, though everyone just calls him Burns."

I looked down at Esme in surprise. "The fire planet?"

She nodded up at me in response and continued. "I know; we haven't met anyone from there yet. You can ask him all about it later. Right now he's catching up with Jeb and Ian, and I seem to remember Leah taking an instant liking to him - she was only mildly rude to him, which is, of course, wonderful," Esme said with all sincerity. She'd always been saddened over the fact that Leah had yet to find anyone to be with in LaPush. Like any typical mother, she wanted everyone conveniently paired off and in love.

I gave her a quick squeeze and chuckled. "You know what Leah did last time you tried to meddle in her love life, sweetheart."

"I know, I know. And I'm not going to do anything this time I promise! I'm just observing is all."

"I don't think Leah will view it that way," I responded, placing a soft kiss on her lips. I felt her mouth grin against mine, and she answered, "Well, I'll just have to be sneakier this time."

The soft kisses continued for a time; they were gentle kisses, not kisses of flaming passion (though we did have plenty of those), but of eternal love and devotion. The sort of kisses that said "we have forever to do this, let's take our time." So we did.

The phone chirped at me, interrupting our moment together, and we gently pulled apart. Her large eyes stared up at me, and a look of worry crossed her face. I was certain my face mirrored hers as I stared at the phone.

It was Aro.

I answered as Esme leaned her head up against my chest again. "Hello Aro; to what do I owe the honor?"

"Hello my friend! I was just calling to see how things were among you and the food," his rich, velvety voice responded.

"Things are fine here in LaPush. Quiet. We mostly keep to ourselves, as you well know," I said cautiously, not wanting to reveal anything through the tenor of my voice.

"That's funny, because I had heard that perhaps you and your family were planning on walking in the sunlight in front of those not of our kind."

"Aro-"

"Which I immediately discounted because that is forbidden as you well know," he retorted, throwing my words back at me.

"Nothing to say in your defense?" he asked when I didn't respond. "Come now Carlisle, we are old friends. I'm hurt you don't feel you can talk to me."

I gritted my teeth trying not to be frustrated. The last time I'd tried to talk to or explain anything to Aro, he and the rest of the Volturi had tried to kill my family. It made it a bit difficult to trust him now, but I was willing to try. Anything to avoid the destruction Alice had foreseen.

"My friend, I can tell you in all honesty that we do not intend to reveal ourselves to anyone not of our kind." That was the truth. We had no plans to tell any other humans or Souls, outside those who already knew about us, about vampires or werewolves. We were law-abiding citizens after all. Mostly.

I heard silence on the other end for a few moments, as though Aro were pondering my words. Finally I heard his voice again, friendly, almost jovial. "But you do intend to do something." It was not a question, and in that moment I knew that he had Jeb's humans: Maggie, Sharon, and Lacy.

"I-we-yes. We do intend to do something." It was time to explain to him, and perhaps change Alice's terrible vision. "A few of the Souls that live among us want the colonization of Earth to stop. They feel that by using humans as hosts, they are committing genocide. So they are going to reveal the existence of the humans here in LaPush and explain to the rest of their kind why they would like to end the invasion. The Souls are all very much alike. They will see reason. It will work. Alice has seen this."

"Did she now?" Aro asked in the same jovial tone. He seemed positively giddy with anticipation of something, and that made me nervous. I didn't tend to like the things Aro got excited over.

"Yes," I responded, cautious again. "So, are we okay now that you know what we plan on doing? There will be no revelation of our kind to anyone." The Volturi should have been satisfied. Nothing would change for them. Food was food in their eyes, just like when the Souls arrived. There was no reason to do anything either way.

"Well, my friend, we now have a new problem," Aro said cheerfully. "Do you remember the last time we spoke, many years ago at the beginning of the invasion, and I told you why we wouldn't help stop it? Because we didn't care about the Humans themselves? And that in fact, they now tasted better than ever?"

If my heart still beat it would have been hammering against my chest. I didn't like where this was going, not one bit. "Yes, Aro. I remember."

"Well, what we didn't know at the time, but very quickly found out, was that not only do they taste better with a Soul inside, but they actually make us stronger than before. It's not a drastic change, but it is noticeable. I feel a thousand years younger as a matter of fact! As strong as a newborn."

His words chilled me to the bone. "I see."

"Oh but do you really? Do you see how we could never allow you to do this, to convince the Souls to leave?" The cheerful tone in his voice was somehow menacing now. "We're coming my friend. And we will destroy your little hive of humanity starting with these three."

Before I could say anything in response I heard a woman scream in terror. She was quickly joined by two more female voices. The screams rapidly changed in tenor from terror to pain, and suddenly they were shrieking. Esme and I listened to them, staring at the phone, horrified, and unable to do anything to stop the women from being ripped to pieces by the Volturi.

Then the phone went dead, and Esme sagged in my arms.

Chapter Two: Choices

"So there you have it. We can either leave the Humans here in LaPush to be murdered by the Volturi, or we can stay and fight, and, because we are severely outnumbered, most likely be destroyed ourselves in the process. We already know what the Pack is going to do," I said calmly meeting each of their eyes as I gazed around the table. Bella and Edward to my right, Alice and Jasper at the end of the table, Rosalie and Emmett to my left, and Esme standing by my side. Nessie and the Pack were not here because we couldn't risk having any of Alice's visions blocked by their presence. Besides, we already knew what they would do anyway.

"I would think the answer is fairly clear, Carlisle. We stay. We fight," Edward said calmly with Bella nodding her head in assent. I'd expected that answer from the two of them.

Alice looked up to Jasper who in turn looked down at her; their eyes locked in a silent conversation, expressing so much to each wordlessly. Without warning they finished and both looked up at me solemnly. Jasper gave me a quick nod as he pulled Alice in close to his side. They would stay and fight.

All eyes turned to look at Rosalie and Emmett who were also having a conversation about it, though theirs was anything but silent.

"Awe, come on babe, please?" Emmett pleaded with Rosalie, who was standing straight with her arms crossed tightly against her chest, an angry look on her face.

"Pleeeeeeeeeease?" Emmett begged again clasping his hands together. "I can't miss the big fight babe. I don't know if I'll get a chance to have this much fun again!"

"Is that what you think this is? Fun?!" Rosalie snapped at him. "They are as strong as newborns, Emmett. NEWBORNS! And they have the knowledge and experience of older Vampires. This isn't a game!"

Her face softened, and she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Honey, I know you're the biggest, baddest, strongest vamp out there, but this is real danger. You could get hurt, even die – forever."

Suddenly, we all felt like we were intruding. We all looked anywhere but at the two of them to try to give them some semblance of privacy. Unfortunately, we could still hear them.

"If anything happened to you, I don't know what I'd do," Rosalie whispered softly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Emmett gather her into his arms. "Hey," he began tilting her chin up to look at him. "It's me. Your monkey-man remember? I'll be fine. I promise."

Rosalie stared at him for a long time before responding. "I suppose you'll be a total bear to live with if I don't let you stay and play… but so help me Emmett Cullen, if one hair on your head is hurt I'll never forgive you!"

"So I can stay and fight?" he asked excitedly.

"Yes," she said resignedly. "We'll stay and fight."

"Woot!" Emmett yelled punching a fist in the air as if he'd just won a gold medal. "Alright! Esme, Carlisle, we're staying!"

Esme and I looked at each other barely able to conceal our smiles. "Yes Emmett, we gathered that," Esme admonished. That got a few chuckles around the table, and the mood relaxed some. Though it could have easily been Jasper just trying to calm everyone's nerves.

"Well," I began. "Obviously we need to inform the Pack of our decision to stay and fight, though I doubt they thought we'd decide differently. What I would like to ask is that Esme and Rosalie go to Esme's Island with Nessie, and wait out the battle. I would prefer Alice and Bella accompany you, but being that we will need them in order to have even a remote possibility of succeeding here-"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Rosalie said firmly. "You need me, and just because I don't have any 'special powers' doesn't mean I'm going to run away. I'm still stronger than any human or wolf! Don't bother asking again."

I looked towards Esme, afraid of what I might see there.

"My place is by your side," she said simply, and that was that. I didn't actually think I had any hope of succeeding, but I had to try.

"Renesme will stay in LaPush with the younger wolves to be a last line of defense for the humans. Hopefully, it won't come to that," Bella said morosely.

With the family decided, we all turned expectantly towards Jasper, our tactician, and the fighter with the most experience of all of us. He had been a Major in the Civil War, and then a leader in the Mexican Vampire Wars after that, so it went without saying that he was better equipped for this sort of planning than anyone in the room.

"Well, the plan is really quite simple," Jasper calmly began, as if battle plans were a matter of course. "We will cut the Volturi off in the same meadow from before. Bella will use her gift to shield all of us from Jane's illusions of pain, Alec's ability to block our senses, and Chelsea's ability to break our emotional bonds to each other. Naturally, she will then be the Volturi's primary target, so we will array our forces in a tight defensive circular pattern around her.

"This serves two purposes. First, it protects Bella from a physical attack so she can, in turn, protect us from mental attacks, and second, since the enemy is a much larger and stronger force than we will be, it will force them to spread out to encircle us, weakening them and strengthening ourselves.

"Then of course, they will send their strongest and best fighters to attack. We'll do what we can to stop them, and continue to do that until they give up. Or we're all dead," Jasper finished in the same calm tone he began with.

"So that's it then?" Bella asked. "We fight and hope we don't all die? We hope that it's enough to save Humanity? We're not even going to ask our friends to come? To help? What about the Denalis? The Egyptians? The Amazons? Any of them - they came for Nessie; would they not help us now?"

Jasper answered her before I could. "I'm sure the Denali coven will come to our aid, but it's doubtful that anyone else will. They aren't 'vegetarians,' Bella. Like the Volturi, they probably prefer the Souls to plain old humans at this point. In fact, we shouldn't be surprised to see some of them on the other side with the Volturi on this issue.

Everyone stared at the table at Jasper's words. None of us wanted to think about fighting our friends, but we had to be open to the possibility, lest we be surprised in the upcoming battle.

"I'll inform the pack," I said, dreading the unavoidable death and destruction that was to come.

Chapter Three: Preparations

"How is your clan doing?" I asked the wiry old man standing next to me. Jeb was a survivor, and so were the humans who lived with him, but I was concerned that after the slaughter of three members of their clan, the blow to their morale might be insurmountable.

"Doc is obviously beside himself at the moment. He blames himself for what happened since he told Sharon the truth about your natures in a bit of pillow talk during a misguided attempt at alleviating her fears. I suppose he figured that if she knew what Alice was and that she could see the future, she'd be ok with the plan. Love makes people blind, I've always said."

Jeb paused a bit before continuing in the same matter of fact voice. "As for the rest of us; well, we don't blame ourselves, and we don't blame Doc – much. He was foolish for saying anything, but we've all done our fair share of stupid things. As for Maggie, Sharon, and Lacy… they took their lives into their own hands the moment they stepped out of the caves to go ask for help from VAMPIRES. Uh, no offense intended," he finished, pretending to tip a hat towards me.

"None taken," I said with a smile touching the corners of my mouth; but it was a smile I didn't feel. Despite Jeb's words I knew he was hurting and feeling the loss of a sister and niece profoundly. They all had to be.

We stood there in silence for a time watching my family, the Denali coven, and the Pack practice for the impending battle. Emmett was in the middle of the clearing taking on Jasper, Edward, Rosalie, Garrett, Kate and a few of the wolves all at once and was doing quite well. It had been Jasper's idea; he figured this was how the Volturi were going to attack Emmett since he was known for his amazing fighting ability and would be the primary one protecting Bella. Only sheer overwhelming numbers would be able to take Emmett down in a battle. Edward was, of course, the most difficult for him to deal with, but it wasn't completely fair since Edward was reading Emmett's mind after all.

Jacob was in one corner of the yard with Nessie and a few of the other younger Wolves - the teens really – teaching them fighting basics after Nessie demanded it. We all hoped there would be no need for these children to fight, but, as Nessie had so eloquently put it, they'll be just as dead with or without the training if we get overwhelmed by the Volturi, and Jacob needed to teach them how to defend themselves, if only to buy them a moment or two so they could get away.

The other Wolves were spread throughout the clearing waiting their turn to fight with Emmett, or playing around wrestling among themselves. I noticed Leah wasn't among them and wondered if perhaps Esme had been correct in her assumptions about Leah and Burns. I hoped so.

Leah had not been hostile to Snow after it was obvious that she and Sam were going to remain together; in fact, she'd acted more resigned to the fact that Sam was never meant to be with her. She'd mellowed out considerably over the years, so, more than anything, it was simply sad to see her so lonely; the only female Werewolf, and the only adult one who hadn't imprinted at this point. So, if she had in fact found someone to spend her life with, I was beyond happy for her.

"Carlisle," Jeb said abruptly. "What can we, the members of my group who are here, do to help with the fight?"

That surprised me. I figured Jeb for a practical man, so his question caught me off guard. "Nothing Jeb. If you or any other human came into battle, you would be killed quicker than you could even fathom. You see for yourself how fast we move; how indestructible we are. You would waste your lives for nothing," I said, motioning to the supernatural creatures before us as they practiced.

Jeb mulled over my words for a moment before responding. "It just don't seem right. Y'all fighting for us, for our survival, and us just sitting back and doing nothin'. Besides, you're letting Alice fight, and she's just an itty bitty thing."

I raised an eyebrow at that and gestured towards Emmett. "Alice is more than capable of taking care of herself Jeb. See for yourself."

Jeb looked back towards Emmett just in time to see Alice join the fray. Faster than most of them (though Edward was still the fastest), she was hard to follow. Using her ability to see the future, Alice was soon finding every hole left open in Emmett's defense and was always gone before Emmett could do anything in retaliation. She danced around him everywhere, and then - with the speed of a striking viper - was suddenly perched gracefully on Emmett's shoulders, his head in both her hands ready to rip it off, while Edward and Jasper secured his arms and the Wolves his feet. Emmett had been beaten, and laughing, conceded defeat.

I turned to look at Jeb expectantly, figuring that now he would see reason. I forgot to take into account just how stubborn he was.

Shaking his head, Jeb continued. "That don't show nothin', 'cept that your boy there takes a whole heap to be brought down. Look, there's got to be something that hurts your kind."

He was determined, and only the cold hard facts could dissuade him now. "The only things strong enough to rip apart our flesh are other Vampires and our teeth and Werewolves and their teeth and claws. So, being that you are neither and have neither, you cannot effectively fight against a Vampire."

"What do you do with the pieces once you pull a Vampire apart?" he asked, refusing to drop the subject.

"We burn them and then scatter the ashes. It's the only way to completely destroy one of our kind," I said, hoping that would end the matter.

"So, you can burn?" At my confirming nod his eyes lit up, and I could almost see the wheels turning in his head. "Um, thanks for your help Carlisle. I need to find Jared and Burns. I've got an idea. See you tomorrow at the final planning meeting."

And with that he was gone, leaving me to try to figure what in the world he was planning.

Chapter Four: Strategy

Two days later we were meeting inside the LaPush Clinic's waiting room, having, what Jasper called a "final mission briefing". According to Alice, the Volturi would be arriving tomorrow, and we would be waiting for them. Jasper was in the middle of explaining which wolves would stay behind with the humans and which of them would accompany the rest of us who went to the town limits to set up a defensive screen, and hopefully keep the Volturi at bay. In the middle of Jasper's instructions Jeb, Jared, Ian, Kyle, and Burns walked in, each carrying rifles with barrels large enough to shoot an egg and with very determined looks on their faces.

I couldn't help but heave a sigh. I had already explained to Jeb that bullets, no matter how large they were, couldn't hurt my kind. He and his clan were particularly hard headed it seemed.

Jeb raised a hand forestalling a comment from any of us. "Before any of you get your panties in a bind and remind me that 'bullets don't hurt vampires', I already know that. And I'm not stupid enough to try what you say can't be done. But, ol' Carlisle here gave me an idea that I figured had a shot of workin'."

Well, he definitely had everyone's attention now. Taking our collective silence as permission to continue, Jeb went on. "So apparently vampires are killed by being ripped apart, burned, and then the ashes scattered. Well, I wondered why not skip straight to the burning part?"

"Because they'd just put themselves out and not be any worse for the wear, and then jump back in the fight. So, aside from delaying them for a bit, all you've done is anger them even more," Jasper answered with a patronizing tone. "Jeb, I've been fighting my fellow Vampires for a while now. Do you not think this has been tried before?"

Jeb nodded his head at this but didn't appear to be phased in the slightest. "Yeah, you see, I thought that might be the case. So I was thinking, what if you could find a way to light them on fire and they couldn't extinguish the fire?"

If he thought he'd had everyone's attention before, he was mistaken. The room was absolutely still. I think even the Pack was holding their breath.

"Burns, why don't you explain since you developed it," Jeb said motioning Burns forward. Turning back towards me Jeb whispered conspiratorially, "Burns is a bit of an incendiary expert. They didn't call him 'Burns the flowers' back on the fire world for nothing."

Burns came forward and after flashing a big grin towards Leah – who blushed before grinning back – held forward the rifle for us all to see it better.

"For those of you who don't know, this is an M-16 rifle, standard issue to the military prior to the invasion of Earth. It's not important though since we all know bullets can't hurt vamps," He said indicating the weapon. Then, pointing at the large barrel beneath the much smaller main barrel he continued. "This is an M-203 grenade launcher. It's not really meant to be a projectile weapon - the parabolic arc the grenade needs to fly tends to make it difficult - but will work as one if you need it too."

Jasper interrupted again, looking frustrated by the delay. "Burns, this all sounds very nice, but grenades can't hurt us either. The shrapnel thrown by one is as ineffective as a bullet on our skin."

Burns grinned at him, and then pulled out a grenade designed to be launched from the M-203. "Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce you to my friend Willie Pete. Otherwise known as White Phosphorus."

A few eyes, like mine, rose at the revelation, though most faces just registered confusion. Edward had a jubilant look on his face, since he could see everything that Jeb had been planning, and Alice immediately got up off her seat and ran outside to get far enough away from the wolves in order to see how things would play out.

Meeting all the waiting stares casually, as if he were just discussing a professional sporting event, Burns went into a lengthy explanation. "WP is a flare and smoke producing incendiary agent that's made from a common allotrope of the chemical element phosphorus. The main utility of white phosphorus munitions were to create smokescreens to mask movement from the enemy. However, white phosphorus has a secondary effect. While much less efficient than ordinary fragmentation effects in causing casualties to humans or Souls, white phosphorus burns quite fiercely and can set cloth, fuel, ammunition and other combustibles – like vampires - on fire."

Burns paused here, and with a slight smile towards us all finished, "The best part about WP, is that you can't put it out once it lights itself on fire. You can't smother it, and it will continue to burn even under water. Since it doesn't need oxygen to burn, WP will only go out once it's completely burned itself up. Mr. Jasper, I'd love to see a vampire try to put out a WP fire."

Suddenly it felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room and everyone, vampire and werewolf alike, were staring at the small group of humans dumfounded. How had we not thought of this? Was it because we were all so rooted in our old ways? Or, more likely, because we were all so arrogant that we wouldn't even consider that anything could hurt us, since for thousands of years nothing could?

Jasper interrupted my contemplation's. "It could actually work. While I don't think the WP will actually kill any of them, it will put them out of the fight and damage and demoralize them sufficiently that they will not want to return to the battle. Our secret weapon could be the thing that tips the balance in our favor."

"You didn't honestly think we humans would let you guys have all the fun did you?" Jeb asked, patting his weapon. "Nope, we're coming to the fight boys – er, and girls, sorry ladies," Jeb finished by tipping his head towards Esme, Rose, Bella, and a newly returned Alice who was beaming.

"Let me guess," Ian asked. "It will work?" Alice nodded towards him before dancing back over to Jasper's waiting lap, and settling down happily into it.

Jasper automatically encircled her in his arms and looked up at Jeb. "This will, of course, require a change in our tactics."

Jeb grinned back at Jasper broadly, "Well it just so happens I've got one. I once read a novel called Gates of Fire. Have any of you ever heard about The Battle of Thermopylae"

"That's the one where the 300 Spartans held off hundreds of thousands of Persian invaders at the Hot Gates," Edward broke in.

"So we're gonna set stuff on fire? Duuuuuude!" I heard Emmett say to Kyle while simultaneously clapping him on the shoulder, which in turn made Kyle's legs nearly buckle. I chuckled at Emmett's exuberance, knowing that it was most likely going to be the last time in a while that I'd find something to smile about.

I drifted to the back of the room and stood next to Esme, only half listening while the new tactics were worked out. The battle was unavoidable, and no amount of talking would prevent it this time, much to my deep sorrow.

Chapter Five: Armies

We'd gathered near the meadow where our last confrontation with the Volturi had been held. And just as then, it was snowing softly. By the time the Volturi arrived the meadow would be blanketed in fresh, clean, glittering snow.

Adjacent to the meadow was a ravine with high, sheer mountain walls that jutted up to the sky majestically, and were covered in the tall pine trees of the area. This ravine was where we would make our last stand, where we would fight the Volturi. It would be our "Hot Gates" and hopefully, like the Spartans of old, we would succeed in holding off the Volturi.

Most of the humans were back in LaPush, where they were being guarded, albeit unknowingly, by Renesme and a few of the younger members of the pack. The few humans who did know about the world of werewolves and vampires were here; ready to fight as a part of Jeb's team. They were all armed with the grenade launchers that could shoot WP at the Volturi once they were within range.

I looked up, and even with my Vampire eyes had a hard time seeing Charlie Swan perched high up in the tree above me; they'd all done a really good job at camouflaging themselves, and I didn't have the heart to tell them it didn't matter. We could all smell them from miles away, which actually worked in our favor. Perhaps the Volturi would think we'd relocated the LaPush humans here to defend them.

I tried not to sigh audibly as I watched everyone make the final preparations. Bella and Edward were working with Jasper, Alice, Emmett, and Rosalie to determine where the best place to defend Bella would be, affording her both protection from attack, and a good view of the mouth of the ravine so she could shield all of us.

The pack were positioning themselves around the opening of the ravine, and those who had not phased yet were removing their clothing so that they could do so. I noticed that Leah had not yet phased and was lingering with Burns at the base of the tree he would soon climb and use as his shooting platform. I turned away when it appeared that Burns was about to kiss her, wanting to afford them with what little privacy they had. They were most likely saying their final goodbyes, just as the rest of us soon would.

It all seemed so hopeless, and the truth was, if the Volturi made it past us, there was no point in leaving anyone back to guard the humans of LaPush. My only hope was that once Aro destroyed all of us, he would be satisfied and leave Nessie and the others alive. I couldn't bear the thought of harm coming to my granddaughter, or anyone else for that matter. It didn't help that Alice's visions were clouded regarding the outcome of the battle. She said there were too many undetermined factors. It could go either way. The only thing that was certain was that there would be a battle.

Cool hands slipped around me from behind, and I felt Esme press her head against my back. "Penny for your thoughts?" she asked, causing me to smile slightly at her use of the familiar phrase. She could always tell when I was troubled.

I turned around in her arms so I could face her and held her tightly to me, resting my cheek on the top of her head. "You know my thoughts as well as you know me, dearest."

"I'm not Edward; I can't read minds, as much as you like to infer that I can."

"And thank goodness for that!" I responded, tilting her head up to look me in the eyes. "If you were Edward I couldn't do this." And then brought my lips crushing down on hers. It was as though an old steady fire had just had gasoline thrown on it, and it consumed us. My entire world was wrapped up in her arms, her hair, her scent, her lips, as we kissed each other hungrily. Neither of us would say the words, but we both knew that this was our goodbye.

All too soon, I felt the snow stop falling, and the entire mood in the ravine shifted. Regretfully breaking away from my wife, I looked across the meadow and saw them.

The Volturi were slowly breaking out from the trees on the opposite side of the meadow. Pausing in a line momentarily in the shadows, they stared at us, and I could feel Aro's eyes on me. Then they moved forward across the glittering snow, hands and faces sparkling in the rare sun shining down on them. Behind them were two more rows of Vampires, and we were easily out numbered, even counting the Pack, five to one.

We would be slaughtered.

The Volturi moved slowly, purposefully across the clearing until they reached the center of it, and then stopped.

"Looks like they picked most of them for their brawn, not brains," Seth said from beside me, barefoot, shirtless, and in a ratty old pair of cut off shorts.

"Aro knows that his usual fighters will have no effect on us while Bella has her shield up. These are to take her out. Then he will use Jane, Alec, and Chelsea to incapacitate the rest of us while they kill us. Shouldn't you have phased by now?" I asked turning to look at him.

"Nah, I'm gonna wait until the fighting starts to phase. Besides, I can't talk to you when I'm in my wolf form," Seth said with a sloppy grin towards me.

I was about to respond when suddenly Aro's voice boomed across the meadow. "Carlisle! We would hear what you have to say now. Come to us."

I had known this was coming, so giving Esme's hand a quick squeeze, I stepped forward motioning Edward and Seth to follow. I should have brought Jacob with me instead of Seth, but since he was currently in wolf form, and would not be able to communicate other than through Edward, bringing Seth made sense.

A thousand thoughts flew through my mind as we walked across the sparkling meadow, but one thought was heaviest on my conscience. Under no circumstances could Aro touch me or Edward. If he did, he would know all that we knew, and we could not risk the Volturi finding out what Snow, Wanda, Sunny, and the rest of the "gone native" Souls were trying to accomplish right now. The only possible positive outcome for this battle hinged on them completely.

"Remember the plan," I whispered to both of them before we were close enough for the Volturi to overhear. "If they attack you do not fight back except to get away, and you run back to our line. It's the only way we stand a chance." They both nodded their heads in assent and we finished the remainder of the walk in silence.

We stopped in front of Aro, and waited for him to make the first move. He and his brothers, Caius and Marcus, stared at us with cold red glittering eyes, that reflected the sunlight just like a Soul's did. Clearly a side effect of feeding on Souls while they were in their human hosts.

Suddenly smiling, Aro extended a hand for me to shake. "Carlisle, my old friend! Please tell me, how have you been? How is your family, especially your gifted granddaughter? I hear she's all grown up these days."

I just stared at the proffered hand until he reluctantly put it down by his side. There was no friendly smile on any of their faces now, and in Aro's all I could see was barely contained anger.

He began again, spitting his first few words out at me. "Stand down, Carlisle. If you do now, I will promise that none of your family will be harmed. There is room for all of you among us. All we want are the humans… and the wolves," he amended shooting an angry look towards Seth.

I shook my head slowly. "No, old friend. These are all my family. If you harm any of them you are harming me."

Aro's expression softened a little and he took a step towards me and in words so quiet I could hardly hear them, hissed at me. "Why are you defending them? Why turn your back on your own kind?" Taking another step towards me, he extended his hand towards me yet again, and his voice became pleading. "Please Carlisle, for old times sake. You are still my friend, are you not?"

Stepping back from him, I refused to shake his hand yet again. "Aro, you are indeed my friend, and always will be on my part. But I don't see myself turning my back on my own kind by defending humanity. They are my kind." And with that I turned on my heel and started to march away.

Before I could even realize what had happened, Edward had shoved me off to the side, and I landed in the snow just in time to see one of the bigger Volturi land right where I had been moments before, my death clear in his expression.

There was a momentary pause that felt like the collective intake of breath of everyone in the meadow and ravine (even those of us who didn't breath), and then it started all at once.

Chapter Six: Battle

I heard Aro shouting at his brothers to wait and let him try to reason with me a bit more. Aro's previous success was due in part to talk. The way he spoke, the eloquent way he twisted words. Today, in the middle of this bleak, yet beautiful field, it was his downfall.

Marcus and Caius exchanged a look, and then in unison fell upon Aro, tearing him to pieces and lighting him on fire before I could even blink. Like Aro had said, they were inordinately strong, just like newborns. And just like any newborn, talk was not what they wanted to hear. They believed and wanted only action today and were willing to kill anyone that stood in their way, even if it meant taking down the vampire that had placed them into power.

I didn't have time to think more about it, because my attacker was moving towards me again, determined to finish what he started. Seth leapt towards him, phasing into his wolf form mid leap. He landed on my attacker's back, and ripped chunk out of his neck in the process. The sound of metal being torn in two shrieked in the air as Seth continued to rip pieces off the Vampire he was attacking. Meanwhile Edward was dragging me to my feet and pulling me back towards the safety of the ravine.

"Come on, Seth!" Edward called over his shoulder. "No time to be a hero! Stick to the plan!"

Seth disentangled himself from the now decapitated Vampire and gave Edward what I perceived as a sloppy grin in his wolf form. Edward froze in his steps and I bumped into him, so sudden was his stop.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he yelled and lurched towards Seth, but it was already too late. Time slowed around us as I watched in horror as another Vampire landed astride Seth and ripped his head off in one smooth motion, a fountain of blood spewing from the now headless wolf body as it tumbled to the ground.

I stared disbelieving as the pure white snow around Seth's body was dyed crimson. Beside me, Edward lurched forward, as if his presence might be able to erase what had just happened. It took every ounce of strength I had to restrain him as I pulled him back towards the relative safety of our line. One among was lost, and I had the sickening knowledge that Seth would not be the only one. If we wanted to succeed though, if we wanted to get through this, I could not think of it now.

A bone chilling howl rose up from the Pack as they witnessed what happened, and I could tell it was only by Jacob forcing his will on them as the Alpha that kept them from launching themselves across the field at the enemy prematurely.

As soon as we were far enough away I shouted towards the treetops. "Fire at will, Jeb!" I heard more than saw over two dozen triggers being pulled, and turned to watch as WP grenades arced towards the Volturi line.

Arrogantly, they made no attempt to move out of the way from the flying projectiles and we were rewarded with the sight of most of the grenades hitting a vampire or two and igniting on impact. Initially the Volturi seemed to think nothing of the fires, but panic rapidly mounted once they realized they could not extinguish the flames, and the burning vampires fled the field, taking many of the Volturi not willing to die for this cause with them.

"Looks like Jeb's idea worked brilliantly," Jasper said from behind me. "Unfortunately, now we've lost the element of surprise, and once they get closer, they know those weapons will be ineffective since we won't risk hitting ourselves with them. And of course the odds are still about three to one."

"Dude, sweet! Three to one! I was afraid I was going to get bored," Emmett said raising his hand for a high five that never came. Rosalie scowled at him, and Emmett shrugged in confusion. "What?! What'd I say babe?" Obviously Emmett forgot that of all the Werewolves, Seth was the only one that Rosalie had actually liked. Or perhaps he hadn't, but this was his way of coping with the loss. As for myself, I was trying not to think about it and to focus on the ensuing battle instead. If I thought about Seth I wouldn't be able to think about anything else, which would leave me distracted and unfocused and unable to fight. I couldn't afford to be like that; I didn't want to lose anyone else.

The rest of what Emmett was saying was drowned out by a roar coming from the Volturi line as they raced towards us, faster than it was possible for Jeb's team to shoot at them, though they still tried valiantly until the Volturi got too close for them to aim at based on the parabolic trajectory of their weapons.

This was where the genius of the rest of Jeb's plan took place. We stood a few feet back from the mouth of the ravine, which was just wide enough for a half a dozen bodies to fight. We would make our stand here, because their superior numbers would not make a difference in such close quarters. The only thing we had to contend with was their superior strength.

Once they were too close for Jeb's team to shoot at, Alice danced in front of us, and with the skill born of countless hours of pitching practice for our Vampire baseball games proceeded to systematically throw WP grenades at the Volturi. First Marcus, then Alec, then a few others I did not recognize. On fire, they turned and ran as far away as they could into the forest. I didn't know if it would kill them, but it had certainly removed them from the fight. Demetri somehow managed to avoid Alice's throw at him, and before she could attempt to throw again, Jasper jerked her back into the line, and not a moment to soon.

Like the crash of a tidal wave our two lines met and suddenly vampires and wolves were flying everywhere.

The battle was intense and I could barely keep myself alive, much less anyone else, but still I fought for all I was worth. I would save my family or I would go down fighting for their lives.

Alice and Jasper made a lethal team with Leah. They would leap onto a vampire simultaneously, and rip them to shreds before the vampire had time to react. Even at newborn strength, three against one was insurmountable odds. Leah was fighting with a ferocity I'd never seen in her before, pouring the grief and anger she felt over her brother's death into every move she made.

Esme and I were fighting with Sam, and similar teams were taking out other Volturi successfully around the ravine's mouth. But still there were too many of them, and a team of a nearly a dozen vampires led by the tracker Demetri made their way straight for where Bella had been hidden. None of us could break off from our own fights to help. Bella was being protected by Emmett, Rosalie, Edward, and Jacob, plus she was not a bad fighter herself. It would have to be enough.

The battle raged around me and I saw with grief that next to many burning and dismembered Volturi bodies there were several wolf and human bodies as well. Apparently some of the humans had foolishly climbed down out of their trees to join the fray.

Suddenly there was a hole in the fighting around me, so I turned and ran towards Bella's hiding spot, determined to help defend her. I rounded a boulder in time to see Edward fighting Demetri, while Bella, Jake and Rosalie each fought a separate Volturi. Emmett was personally taking on two of them and seemed to be giving as well as he got, but I knew he wouldn't last long with odds like that.

I managed to take one step towards him when abruptly I crumpled and my body convulsed in pain.

Jane, I thought fleetingly through the pain. And sure enough, there she was, smiling beautifully at me as she stepped out from an outcropping. She stared at me, evil and malice pouring from her glittering red eyes, and I jerked on the ground spasmodically unable to stop her. Clearly Bella's shield around us had fallen during her fight with the Volturi.

It was the most excruciating physical pain I'd ever felt, but it was nothing compared to what happened next.

I watched in horror as three more Volturi leapt onto Emmett, who had one dismembered body at his feet, and was working on dismembering his second. It seemed for a moment that he would be able to fight them off. It seemed as if my son would continue to be the strongest Vampire known to our kind.

It seemed like it.

And yet, three newborn strength Vampires against one proved to be too much even for Emmett, and he went down beneath the three of them. Rosalie shrieked inhumanly and launched herself at them, forgetting about the vampire she was fighting.

All this I watched, unable to move, unable to fight, unable to stop as my children were pulled to pieces by the monsters that were our kind.

My body convulsed and I stared back at Jane, truly feeling hate for the first time in my life. Jane smiled at me more fully and made as if to say something to me, when suddenly Esme landed behind Jane, shoved a WP grenade in Jane's mouth, and slammed it closed with enough force to ignite the grenade.

Esme leapt away and flattened herself on the ground next to me just in time for a fire ball to fly from Jane's now open mouth as she shrieked in pain and fear while she burned from the inside out.

The convulsions ceased immediately and Esme and I raced towards Emmett and Rosalie, joined by Bella, Edward, and Jacob who had each incapacitated their foes in one way or another. Judging by the purple smoke billowing from where Edward had been, it was safe to say that Demetri was a pile of ash now. We quickly decimated the remaining Volturi attackers, but not before the damage had been done. Emmett and Rosalie's few remaining pieces were burning in a combined bonfire. I followed the trail of purple smoke up into the heavens with my eyes, and felt Esme grip my hand as hard as she could.

My world seemed to tilt on its axis as I stared numbly at the purple fire that raged. I couldn't even cry.

The sound of Soul shuttles came from overhead as three of them slowly descended into the meadow, and all fighting ceased as we all stood staring at the slowly opening ramps of the shuttles.

Numbly I made my way towards them and watched as Seekers poured out from them, guns up and aimed at all of us. At that moment I truly wished I could die from something as simple as a gunshot wound.

Then a group of Souls that I recognized as several of the world leaders who'd been present at the Global Environmental Conference in Seattle walked out, lead by none other than Wanderer and Snow.

They surveyed the scene with mouths open, unable to hide their emotions. Shock, fear, sadness, and above all horror when they saw my kind glittering in the sunlight and watched as a few of the werewolves phased back into human form.

Caius, realizing that he no longer had a reason to fight, for the Souls clearly knew about werewolves and vampires now, and not wanting to risk any more loss then he'd already incurred, ran off into the forest at inhuman speeds followed by what remained of the Volturi.

If the Souls didn't believe Snow and Wanda before, they certainly did now.

We let them run. We were in no shape emotionally or physically to pursue them.

We'd won this battle, and hopefully the war. But at what cost?

Chapter Seven: Aftermath

It turned out that we had won the war, but that the cost had been great to both the Pack and my family.

In addition to Seth, Quill and a few of the other younger wolves that I didn't know very well had died in the battle, and many wolves were wounded, though none of them were permanently maimed.

Among my family, we suffered many losses. Aside from losing two of my own children, Emmett and Rosalie, my cousins, Tanya, Carmen and her mate Eleazer made the ultimate sacrifice for human freedom. The Denali clan had been decimated, leaving only Garrett and Kate as survivors.

Even so, we tried to remain positive, to count our blessings. Most of us had survived. Initially we had thought we would all die. And those who did die, did not die in vain.

The Souls, after meeting with the LaPush Souls at the Global Environmental Conference in Seattle, had, as we all assumed, become properly horrified once they realized the mass genocide they committed. The added revelation of the existence of supernatural creatures that could not be used as hosts like vampires and werewolves only deepened their shock and horror. Ultimately, they had no desire to continue the colonization of Earth any longer, especially since it seemed that the overwhelming mindset of the Souls on Earth was that none of them were willing to allow their human children to be used as Hosts.

So it was as Wanderer had once said. The key to humanity's survival was in their children.

In addition to all this, my family had two new members.

Ian O'Shea had been gravely wounded during the battle, leaving the safety of his tree when he saw his brother Kyle engaging one of the Volturi in battle. Knowing that Kyle would die on his own, he'd joined him, and between the two of them, they managed to take out the Vampire with their WP grenades, but both had been hurt so badly in the fight that Kyle had died before anyone could help him.

Wanda had found Ian propped up against a tree with Kyle cradled in his lap, barely clinging to life. Hysterical, she'd called for Doc, not knowing he too had died in the battle, and eventually called for anyone who could help.

Esme and I both ran to her side, and kneeling beside the nearly unconscious Ian, I knew we were too late. His blood pressure was too low, and he had lost so much blood that no amount of Heal could save him now.

I turned to Wanderer and tried to explain this, but before the words were fully out of my mouth, her fragile little hand was clenched around my bicep in a death grip. Eyes never leaving Ian's face, she bit out the words harshly.

"No Carlisle, Heal can't save him, but you can." Then she looked away from Ian for only a moment, just long enough to stare into my eyes with more determination then I'd ever seen in a living being. "Do it. Please. Now. Before it's too late." Then, turning back to Ian, she leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips before I heard her whisper quietly, yet resolutely, "You. Are. Not. Leaving. Me." Each word a distinct sentence. Those words seemed to mean something to Ian, and I saw his eyes gain clarity for a moment and a smile touch his lips as he whispered back "Never," before slipping into unconsciousness.

And so I did it. I made Ian into one of my kind, and in doing so gained another son and daughter.

After beginning Ian's change, Esme and I moved as quickly through the werewolf and human wounded as we could, doing our best to help them, and save lives where we could. Unfortunately, several humans also gave their lives in the battle, Doc and Kyle being the two I knew the best among them. Thankfully Jeb did not die, and only lost a leg. He was saved from bleeding to death by a Healer, and, as was his way immediately formed a friendship with him - Fords - as Wanda called him. He was apparently an old friend of hers, and was quickly in support of the human cause, having had a difficult time supporting the colonization of Earth to begin with.

And so, this is how I came to find myself, after centuries of existence, finally feeling like, maybe, just maybe, I wasn't the monster I'd always believed I was.

Esme wrapped an arm around my waist and leaned her head against my shoulder as we surveyed what remained of the battle site from our tree top vantage point.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I asked her and she smiled lightly.

"I was just thinking about Caius, and all the Volturi that got away."

"Oh is that all?" I teased. "Not pondering the fate of humanity?"

"No, nothing so serious dearest," she teased back, and then quietly sobered. "I can't believe they're gone."

I didn't need to ask who. Our children, Emmett and Rosalie. Seth even, who was almost an adopted son. All of them had risked their lives so that humanity might survive and continue. All heroes. And all gone forever.

We had won and we had lost, but ultimately, Humanity would live on, and no one had died in vain.

I could think of no appropriate response, so I pulled Esme tight to me, and kissing the top of her head, said nothing at all.