Blah blah blah...I don't own Twilight or its characters.

Previously in UKM:

Bella & co come up with a plan to evade the nomads and deal with the Volturi. She heads to the res to recruit Jake and the pack, when things get out of hand she realizes she has a physical manifestation of her shield.

The shield also shows up when her and her mother get into an altercation about the Volturi.

Edward and Bella exchange "I love you"s.

Alice bellows and becomes the bearer of bad news.

Chapter 14

EPOV

Visions of blood drenched taffeta and shattered tiaras danced in Alice's head. She was absolutely right. The nomads had decided to crash the homecoming dance. None of the visions were comforting in the least. It appeared to be a losing battle and I was beginning to wonder whether we should even bother to show up.

Bella hunched over in her chair and buried her face in her arms. Her heart beat more rapidly than was usual and I could see the muscles in her neck tensing. Alice continued to share the gory details of the night's possible outcomes. Bella shot up.

"They go to the dance, right? Can't we just stand post at the entrances and stop them before they get that far?" She began to relax as she sat back in her chair.

"That's another problem. While I always see them at the dance, I never actually see them go in." Alice tried to focus on the finer details in her visions.

"What does that mean? They haven't decided how they go in? That's why we post at each entrance," Bella snapped.

"Well, yes. But, it could also mean they've already made their way into the school. Or, that they haven't actually decided to go to the dance only that they've decided to follow your scent. The subsequent murders could be the result of James's exuberance." Her tone was even and she gave me a pleading look.

As if I could rein Bella in even if I wanted.

"Noted. The dance starts at nine, right? We get there at eight, watch the doors into the school and the entrance to the gym from the inside. We're bound to catch them before they get inside." Bella crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned her head back.

"We'd be too weak," Jasper interjected, coming to Alice's aide. "There's three of them, if we split up to cover too much space, we'd be down two in any scenario. There'd be more luck in infiltrating the dance."

"Funny you should say that." Alice grinned and Bella slumped back in her seat.

"Don't freaking tell me we have to go to the dance. Aren't the vamps on a seek and destroy mission for my life enough? You want me to go to a school function? And what about the Volturi? They'd level the whole town if they caught us having a showdown at a high school dance."

"She's right," I had to say something before Bella spontaneously combusted. "The Volturi would likely erase Forks from the map if they found us in combat out in public. We need to move the nomads from the gym to somewhere else as quickly as possible."

"The only chance we have is if we go to the dance," Alice repeated. "I've looked at it from every possible angle. We're too vulnerable if we split up. They're not giving me a clear picture of where they are in the mean time, so we can't find them first. If we show up at the dance, we might be able to lure them out. But, we have to go in suits and dresses."

Alice was right. The only vision that had a remote chance of working involved a done-up Bella and a suited-up Jasper. I assumed that Alice and I were also dressed to impress. It was absurd.

"I get it." Bella surrendered. "We'll draw too much attention to ourselves if we don't look like we belong."

I could hear Renee's thoughts quickly approaching. She had overheard our brainstorming session and was ready to put in her two cents. Bella bristled next to me as her mother entered the dining room in a flourish.

"Let them demolish the dance," she offered.

"Are you insane?" Bella's eyebrow quirked in Renee's direction.

"If you get involved, aside from destroying Forks, they'll destroy all of us. The Cullens included."

"No," Alice replied after a moment. "Vampire showdown at the school will definitely get us all killed. However, at this point, changing venues or killing the nomads can go either way for us."

"Think about your future, Bella. You won't have one as a Cullen." Renee's eyes narrowed and Bella shot straight out of her chair.

"No future with Edward is better than an eternity with the Volturi."

The two were face to face now, the top of Bella's head just barely grazing the tip of Renee's nose. She was shaking with anger and I was anticipating another psychic break down. What occurred next shocked all of us, even Renee.

"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way." With that, she turned on her heel and stormed out.

"Look, can we wrap this strategy session up? " Bella slid back into her seat and slumped over again.

"We go to the dance. Bella, I have the perfect dress for you. We find the nomads before they find us, hopefully Edward and I will give us and advantage. Then, we'll have to figure some way to lure them out of the gym and out into the woods where the wolves are waiting to descend." Alice folded her hands in her lap and gave a self-satisfied smile.

"If anybody needs me, I'm going to try to get some rest. And of course I'm going to let you dress me up, Alice, even though the whole idea is completely ridiculous." Bella pushed away from the table and shuffled out of the room.

"She's going to be okay, Edward. She's going to be amazing tonight, you'll see." Alice smiled but I didn't feel reassured.

"Hon, why don't we stop predicting the future and get to planning for the fight of our un-lives." Jasper shot me a sympathetic glance and a wave of relaxation.

I sat at the table alone for awhile, trying to think above the din. It was difficult because everyone's mind was on overdrive. Alice was picking out dresses while Jasper explained different battle tactics. She was mostly ignoring him as she matched eye-shadows for the evening. Renee was far enough away that I could barely hear her. I worried, momentarily, that she was going to tell Aro about Bella's recent transgressions. But, from her thoughts, I assumed she was standing out near the trees thinking about where she went wrong.

I could hear Bella's heavy breathing and the slowing murmur of her heart, but not her thoughts. Either she was still awake, or she was working on controlling her unconscious shield. If I was still able to be sick to my stomach, or feel any sort of human physical reaction to emotional pain, I would be feeling it for her. While I didn't doubt her ability for a moment, I could tell the unyielding plot twists in the last 24 hours were beginning to wear her down.

I wanted to resent Renee for making such a mess out of her daughter's life. The more time I spent in Renee's presence, the more I grew to hate her. However, it was a chain reaction of sordid events that forced Bella to Forks and into my life. As much as I knew the world wouldn't stop turning if I lost her, the possibility of losing her had me wondering if I would be able to go on. How would I ever be able to get over the impact she'd already had on my life?

The soft murmur of Renee's one-sided phone conversation distracted me from my thoughts. I felt Alice stand behind me for a few minutes, her hand on my shoulder.

"Who do you think she's talking to?" Alice asked.

"I'm not sure I want to know," I sighed.

"The Volturi are on the move, Edward. I think I know exactly who she's on the phone with. Suit up, we've got to get this dance on the road." She breezed through the room quickly and I heard Bella stir upstairs.

It was going to be a long night and I could only hope we were ready for the disaster that lay ahead.

Jasper snuck into my room and adjusted his tie in my mirror. He was avoiding Alice's fashion forwardness, leaving Bella to handle the tsunami on her own.

"She's gonna be okay, y'know," he drawled as he buttoned his cuffs.

"It's only Alice, Jazz." I rolled my eyes and focused on tucking in my dress shirt.

"With everything. She's stronger than you realize," he replied as he handed me the tie Alice picked out.

"I know," I whispered, straightening my collar around the blue tie. I stared at my reflection in the mirror and ran my hands through my hair. "She's stronger than I am."

"You'll both be fine as long as you get your hands outta your hair. Alice is gonna kill you if you walk down there with it sticking out everywhere." Jasper chuckled and handed me my jacket.

"Alice is waiting for us." I shrugged my jacket on and followed Jasper out onto the staircase.

The girls were waiting in the front room. Alice yammered on about more plans and the back of Bella's head was lolling to the right, probably day dreaming. Jasper tried to filter the different emotional energy charging the house. She must have noticed in the atmosphere. Or perhaps she only felt my eyes staring a whole through the back of her perfectly curled head. Whatever it was that pulled her, she spun around to face me.

And she was gorgeous. Just like every time I see her, but always more beautiful than the last. There's no amount of flattering adjectives that would do her any justice. Her brown hair curled down her neck and past her shoulders. She flipped it back in an act of irritation and shot a glare at Alice. The dress was almost too short, flowing down in ribbons of blue a few inches above the knee. She kicked her leg back and adjusted the strap of her heels. She stared up at me through a curtain of waves and blushed. Once her feet were firmly planted on the ground, she adjusted the strap on her shoulder and held her arm out for me.

"Walk me to my car? I need to grab something that may require your fine physique." She gripped my forearm as we linked arms and headed out the door.

"You look beautiful," I whispered in her ear and she shivered.

"I feel ridiculous, but thank you. How am I supposed to do anything dressed like this? I'll rip this thing to shreds and it's probably worth more than Charlie's flat screen." She popped open the trunk and rummaged through a few bags.

"What is all this stuff," I asked, pulling out what looked like a modernized cross-bow.

"A collection of sorts. That beautiful piece of machinery in your hands was stolen from a group of slayers. They still think a shot to the heart or the loss of a head is a game over." She continued dumping out the contents of some bags and throwing other items into a separate bag.

"Are you sure we're playing on the same team?" I flipped a ten inch blade over in my hands and looked over at Bella.

"Keeping vampires and humans safe from each other is a fucking dangerous job, Edward. You don't think I'm rolling out to the middle of nowhere with only my wits to sustain me? Most of these I confiscated from hunters and slayers during attacks. Besides, you know as well as I do that none of this stuff alone can actually kill a vampire." She handed me a bag of weaponry and slammed the trunk.

"Did you know about the armory she has?" I yelled after Alice on the way to the Volvo.

"Of course I did, I know everything. Now get in the car, we have a dance to save."

The school looked strange. A place that most students dreaded spending any time in was packed. Of course, I had been to dances before. Purely as a matter of reputation. The thoughts were always so strange, equating dancing and quick bass pounds with heartbeats and lust. It could almost be poetic if it wasn't so pathetic. To see such a timeless exercise in alienation, humiliation and mating seen through the eyes of a sixteen year old girl is rather entertaining.

As Alice sometimes says, it's almost like a Lifetime movie.

"Are you ready to go Romeo?" Bella leaned against the side of the Volvo with her skirt hiked up to hide some kind of knife in her garter.

I swallowed thickly. Perhaps the teenage mind was not so ridiculous after all.

"Aren't they going to check for that?" I'm fairly certain I stuttered as I watched her slide the weapon from the outside of her thigh to the inside.

"Are they?" She asked, looking up at me as she adjusted the hem of her dress.

"No, I guess security is low this year," I muttered, slightly embarrassed.

"Just our luck, kids! Oh, Bella. I do such good work," Alice gushed as she motioned for Bella to spin.

"Let's get this over with," Bella sighed while appeasing Alice's whim.

Strobe lights flashed inside the gym and reflected off metallic streamers. Students were grouped in some generic high school caste, dancing in circles to the over produced noises that could barely be considered music. Unfortunately, it only took about ten seconds to realize there was a greater flaw in the plan that Alice could have never anticipated. Bella stilled beside me.

"Do you see them?" I whispered, searching for Alice and hoping she would see our latest problem soon.

"No, but I do see a pair of morons that could be an issue." She smiled and waved at Mike and Tyler. Mike was appraising her form and I stepped slightly in front of cut them off.

"Well, you boys certainly clean up nice," she joked and shot me a warning glance.

"Excuse me, gentlemen. The lady needs water," I lied. I wasn't sure leaving her alone with them and their savage thoughts was really worth finding the nomads. However, the arch in her eyebrow suggested I'd have bigger problems if I didn't stop trying to protect her from everything. Teenage hooligans not excluded.

I walked the perimeter of the gym trying to lock in on thoughts that might be indicative of vampires. It shouldn't have been difficult considering the amount humans gathered in such a small area. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to hear much over the fleeting thoughts of lust and desire. Worse yet, I was hoping to hear the same kind of thoughts from James which was making the task nearly impossible. I straightened my tie and leaned against a cardboard pillar, my eyes scanned the sweaty dance floor.

"Have you heard anything?" Alice asked as she caught up with me by the refreshments.

"Nothing useful. Have you seen the problem that will occur if we don't find these vampires soon?"

"I have," Alice replied, practically squealing.

"I understand that while that may be exciting for you and your impeccable sense of all things fashion, I'm not sure right now is the best time to shine a spot-light on her," I huffed.

I looked up and saw the woman in question, Tyler and Mike trailing closely behind. She sidled up next to me and shrugged my arm around her shoulder. Clearly, it was acceptable to take possession of her. I smirked at Newton who was beginning to understand he didn't stand a chance against me as Bella's date.

He did, however, think he stood a chance as the Homecoming King to her Queen. The votes were in, but it wasn't Mike Newton who would be receiving a plastic crown tonight.

"Hey, isn't that your friend from the beach?" Tyler asked Bella, motioning to the gym entrance.

I heard a quiet 'fuck' before she excused herself to go deal with the wild dog problem. Dumb and dumber spent a few more awkward moments in our presence before Jasper showed up. He made them much too uncomfortable, it seemed.

"Things are just getting too complicated. We'll never be able to smell the nomads over those dogs," Jasper sighed.

"This is good. I mean, I can't see anything once the wolves get involved, but this is good. That means they won't smell us either, but they will smell our furry friends. There's no way they'll stick around." Alice scanned the crowd and tried for a few visions.

"At the very least, they'll be easier to spot once they're on the defense," I replied as I picked up on a thought that didn't quite fit.

I began weaving through the gaggle of dancing and flailing Forks students trying to follow the thought that had captured my attention. I was pushed in different directions as I rudely cut through entire circles. I ignored the irate thoughts and picked up a familiar scent. The crowd began to fade behind me as I focused all my attention on the growing panic in the corner of the room. A small female with blazing red hair was flattened against the wall, her eyes wide with surprise.

I followed her gaze to Bella and the wolves at the door. On my way to confront the panicked vampire, I caught another thought. He had to James, because he was also focused on the door. But it wasn't the small pack of wolves that had his attention.

It was the angel in blue. The very possession he had been searching the Americas for.

My Bella.

A growl caught in my throat as I headed to Bella's side.

"They're watching," the tallest Native American spat as I joined them.

"I know. We need to lead them out." I wrapped my arm around Bella's waist and began pulling her out of the gym.

"There were only two. There should be at least three." Bella whispered as I ushered her out the door.

"Don't worry, they'll follow."

As I hoped, James was already getting ready to track us. My claim on what he believed to be his was enough to distract him from the relative buffet of young blood Forks had to offer.

"Jake and his pack think the, uh, governing agents have arrived. That's why they've come. We're running out of time." Bella let out an annoyed breath.

"James and the female are getting ready to trail us. Jasper will follow on foot. Alice is waiting for the third to show up. She thinks it's some kind of distraction. You and I will go on as planned. Alice can't see anything now that the wolves are here, but she takes that a good sign." I leaned into the open passenger door and watched as Bella adjusted her seat and stared back at me.

We drove out of Forks heading further north, some place closer to Port Angeles that Alice had seen in several visions. I could smell the adrenaline pumping through Bella's body, filling the car and wrapping around me in thick layers like a blanket. It felt like suffocation, but not unpleasant. Some kind of sweet masochistic vindication.

"Where's the pack," she asked after we'd driven about 15 miles out of the city limits.

"They were following on foot, but I can't hear them anymore. They may have phased."

She unbuckled her seatbelt and slid into the backseat. The sounds of fabric and clanking metal followed, and I resisted the urge to check her in the rearview mirror. In an instant, the night took another plot twist.

"You may want to get up here and buckle up, now," I yelled.

She jumped over the console and slid into the seat next to me, now clad in her original jeans and t-shirt. Her arm reached back and grabbed her boots before she clicked the belt.

"What's wrong?"

"I think I just found the third nomad," I replied, pushing the pedal to the floor and reaching 110 miles per hour.

"Where?" She looked out the window wildly, searching.

"Hold on tight, he's about to land."

Within seconds, there was an impact on the roof of the Volvo. Out of the corner of my eye, three wolves were running after the vampire hanging onto my car. Bella was gripping the arm rest as the car careened to the left causing it to spin slightly before I could regain control. There was another shift in the car's direction as he jumped off the car and onto the road. I swerved sharply to the right to avoid hitting him. He bounded off in the same direction the wolves were coming from.

"Call Alice, tell her to leave the dance and meet us at the clearing." Bella was already on the phone before I could finish my sentence. She was also unbuckled and reaching into the back seat again.

She was holding the same small cross-bow I found in her trunk earlier. There was also a road flare in her other hand. Before she spoke, she pulled her boots on piled her curled hair onto the top of her head.

"You tell me when you hear him coming back," she began, as she threaded her belt through the safety handle on the passenger side. "I have an idea, but timing is everything."

"The wolves are chasing him now, but they're keeping him close by. They're a few miles ahead of us, but he plans on doubling back and hitting us from underneath." I replied.

"Okay, I need you to slow down to something close to 80, let me know if he notices." She was replacing the arrow locked into the bow with the road flare.

"What are you doing?" Not being able to read her mind was beginning to test the limits of my sanity.

"Fire. When he comes back I'm going to shoot him with the flare. It'll catch his clothes or that disgusting hair of his. It's not going to do much but piss him off and slow him down. Either the wolves will catch him or he'll be easier for us to spot. Just let me know what direction he's coming from."

"How do you know you'll even hit him?" She was being unreasonable.

Bella turned to me with the most serious expression I'd ever seen her wear. The cross-bow was pointed in my direction as her eyes locked with mine.

"I'm an excellent mark, you'll see." Her weapon dropped and she winked at me before returning to the belt she was securing.

"He's coming from my side, fast," I yelled as she rolled the window down.

"Get ready to have your mind blown, Cullen!" She grabbed the belt looped near the window and slid half her body outside the car.

The nomad was coming from the side and was getting ready to duck under the Volvo. Bella yelled something about keeping straight, her left foot tried to hook under the arm rest. He was approaching the driver's side and I heard the fuse light on the flare. I said a silent prayer to whatever deity listened to the undead and hoped her plan would work. His claws scraped the back of the car then I heard the release of the bow. Suddenly, a pile of flames rolled away from the back of the car.

Bella slid back into the passenger seat and threw her seat belt on. She rolled the window back up once I began accelerating back to 100.

"He really is angry," I offered, glancing down at her.

"Yeah, if the wolves don't rip him apart he might take that out on me later. I have a feeling his two friends are going to be pretty mad about it, too." She chuckled as she smoothed her shirt down.

"It's going to be a long night, isn't it?" I sighed, pulling off onto a country road.

"Just one big party," she replied, slipping another weapon into her waistband.

"By the way, you were voted homecoming queen." I smirked.

"Fantastic," she sighed and rested her head against the seat.

a/n: okay, so two months is really not an acceptable. But, I don't know if you guys have ever seen the movie Office Space? I'm actually the GM of a restaurant, but I have like 5 other bosses. It's inspection time. But it feels like the that part in Office Space where everyone is reminding him about his TPS reports...only in my case everyone keeps reminding me about food storing procedures and sanitation rules. Most days I can't even think. So, I apologize. But, I'm gonna need you to come on Saturday.

I think I've already said I've held of on revisions of older chapters so that I can finish it. I'm hoping to get the next chap out in a few weeks. But, I'm thinking I have 4 total left, at most. I'm aiming more for three. The EPOVs kill me every time though. I'm pretty sure I wrote this chapter three seperate times. I suck. But, I'm gonna finish it if it's the last thing I do!

If you're looking for recs, check my favorite stories. A lot of them completed in the last few weeks!

Musical Guest Stars:

Making an Entrance (at the dance): www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=1mB0tP1I-14
Searching through the crowd: www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=0k5OGafl4G8
Leaving the dance: www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=dvf--10EYXw
Car scene: www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=AG8fugqFn9Q&feature

Also, the crowded dance floor sequence was actually what spawned this whole story. (And, I almost didn't write it. Wtf, right?) But, it was inspired by 3oh!3's album "Want".