A/N: So herr it is, the fight you guys have been waiting for. I just have to say this is probably my favorite chapter. I loved the way it turned out. And if I wasn't so OCD (having to have my story end on an even number like 40) I would have ended the story here. But I'm not that mean, I will definitely give you a heads-up when it's the last chapter. So, I'm hoping to stop it at 40, but I don't know if I can sqeeze 3 more chapters out of this story. Let's see, I'm just excited to start with Cassie's story.

Read B-)

Review :-O

and &

Enjoy :-D

Chapter 37: The Beasts We Are

And then a hero comes along
With the strength to carry on
And you cast your feats aside
And you know you can survive
So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong
And you'll finally see the truth
That a hero lies in you

'Hero' by Mariah Carey

So there we were. Standing in the clearance on the Cullens' property, waiting.

Rosalie was smiling at an energetic Aaron, who was running around like a kid normally would. Emmett surprised me by ignoring the little boy. I thought he would be excited to finally have a kid but he hasn't cracked a smile since Rose confessed.

I rolled my eyes at whatever problems they may be having. All I knew was that we needed to convince the Volturi that Aaron was nothing but a normal – or as normal as he could get – kid.

And if that didn't work, I guess we'd be having a barbeque soon.

My pack and I were in our wolf forms; they were all ready for my command because we caught the scent of a whole lot of vampires coming through the woods towards us.

There was growling and snarling, from who exactly, was unknown. My focus was on the three head vamps – Aro, Caius and Marcus.

When they came into view I looked to Bella and she nodded. Doing her thing, she covered each of us with her little protection bubble.

Aro met Carlisle in between the two covens and they shook hands. Carlisle tried his best to make the contact brief but Aro caught his intentions anyway.

"Preparing to attack, old friend?" he asked Carlisle.

Carlisle seemed calm even though we had just lost the element of surprise, "Only if you attack first."

Aro smiled at Carlisle as if he'd just received a threat from a three year old. "Oh dear Carlisle. I assure you we are not here for violence, we are only here to glance at this child in question."

Carlisle nodded faintly then motioned for Rosalie to come over with Aaron in her arms.

"As you can see Aro, this child is not one of vampiric origins. He is in fact, half human as well as half vampire."

Aro seemed very interested in the toddler. He walked over to touch his cheek but Rosalie pulled him away with a growl.

Aro broke out of a sort of trance and said with a smile, "If you do not mind me asking, how was this child made? This hybrid of species."

Rosalie was about to answer when there was a growl from Edward.

We all looked towards him while he and Aro seemed to have a silent conversation.

"Don't tell him anything Rose," he said with a snarl.

Confused, I looked in between the two.

Aro, no longer smiling, looked towards Rosalie and said, "Rose, my dear, I ask again. How did this child come to be?"

Rosalie looked from Aro to Edward and back.

"I- I don't think I want to tell you." She finally said while backing her way into the protective circle of Bella's powers.

Carlisle also came back into the protective bubble and all were tense. All the vampires seemed to understand what was happening but I was utterly confused.

"Aro wants to know how Aaron was created because he wants an army for himself. If Rosalie told him what happened, there would be millions of hybrids running around in a few years." Came Melanie's soothing voice.

I was shocked and disgusted by the notion that Aro would want to do such a thing to innocent people.

I growled loudly, glaring at the opposing coven.

As if just realizing we were there – which is hard to do, since we're the size of horses – Aro's coven seemed to shrink back.

They've honestly never seen one of our kind up close before. They probably have no idea what we're capable of. And I was glad, for ones who are in fear, are so much easier to take down.

Aro swallowed – such a human thing to do for such an old vampire – and said with a voice that didn't show his fear, "We demand that you tell us how this child was created."

"Why should we Aro?" asked Alice in her little pixie voice. If you were blind and just listening to what was going on, you would have thought a child asked that question. A very scary child, that is.

"That is none of your concern." Marcus replied as he stepped forward. Seth growled at him.

Marcus's face showed his fear but his body went rigid with determination to not shrink away from us.

Caius came over and grabbed Aro's hand, letting him know of his thoughts.

With a smile, one that put me on edge, Aro looked towards me and said, "If you do not want to tell us how this child was created, then I believe there is something we have that will change your mind."

A small blonde girl, that Edward told us that must be Jane, came forward holding a struggling Cassandra in her arms.

"Daddy! Mommy! Embry!" she yelled out with tears running down her face.

Jane brushed them away and shushed her. As if that was going to comfort her. It just made her cry harder.

My heart squeezed seeing my little girl like that. Embry rushed forward but I ordered, "Stop!"

His body froze; Embry was about two steps from coming out of Bella's protective bubble.

He growled at me but understood that his actions could have caused someone to get hurt.

Aro smiled evilly, "Now that you know what is at stake, would you like to tell us what we want to know?"

Edward looked towards me for an answer. Even though it killed me to do so, I knew what I had to do.

I shook my head at Edward, letting him know to keep his ground.

Edward relayed my answer to Aro, "No, we will not allow you to know how Aaron came to be."

Aro shrugged nonchalantly, even though his rigid shoulders showed he was furious.

"Fine, if that is the way you want it to go…" he trailed off. Aro looked over to Jane where she nodded and looked into Cassie's eyes.

My little girl started to twist and squirm in Jane's hold and started to cry out in pain.

My heart felt like it was about to leap out of my chest. Edward told me what Jane was able to do, it was one of the main reasons why Bella had us protected. She was causing pain to my little angel.

Embry looked at me desperately, he wanted to do something but I couldn't allow him to do it.

Noticing that we hadn't made any motion to do something, Jane must have increased the pain because Cassandra started to scream bloody murder.

I fell to the ground, the screams of my princess weakening me. Jasper was doing his best to calm her down but it was futile.

Embry was howling out in pain. His imprint was in pain, so no doubt he was as well – mentally, emotionally and physically.

It lasted for all of thirty seconds when I could take it no longer.

In my head, I yelled as loudly as I could, hoping to drown out Cassie's screams. I ordered my pack, "Attack! Kill them all!"

We all ran forward, I was the first to reach to Jane. I could feel that she was trying to penetrate the bubble Bella had us in but she couldn't.

I ripped her arms off that were still clutching Cassandra. Embry came behind me and put her on her back.

"Take her to the house with Esme." I told him, "Then come back here and kick their asses."

Embry nodded and ran off with Cassie on his back.

I looked towards Jane who'd reattached her arms and was glaring at me.

I lunged at her and with one sweep, took her head right off. Jasper had started a fire that looked like those huge bonfires that college kids did in celebration.

I picked her head up by the hair while she cursed at me and flung it in the fire. Hearing her screams brought peace to my heart, knowing she was suffering for what she did to my baby girl.

I looked behind me to see that the Cullens were fighting the Volturi. Quil and Seth protected Bella while she concentrated on protecting us all.

Like I was informed earlier, 90% of the Volturi had special powers. But with Bella protecting us, their efforts were fruitless.

I captured Jane's body and threw it into the fire as well. The purple smoke that emitted from it burned my lungs but I knew it was just the beginning of our victory.

The three leaders snuck away and ran for their lives. But there was no way that I was letting them escape.

I sent up a howl, alerting my pack to follow me.

All you heard was growling and snarling as we chased down Aro, Caius and Marcus.

Caius was first, Leah leaped and caught hold of his ankle and pulled him down. She dismembered him with the help of Wendy and they both carried the body parts back to the clearing to have it burned.

The next one was Marcus, Paul took him down and he actually begged for his life. Begged for us to let him go and promised to never return here. If this was a different situation I would have laughed but it wasn't. Paul looked to me and I nodded.

As we continued to search for Aro, all I heard were the cries of Marcus as Paul carried him off to his death.

It was only Melanie and I. The only other wolf that wasn't accounted for was Ana and she was back protecting my kids with Esme.

Melanie was faster than me so at the moment I happened to be trailing her. She caught a hold of Aro but he flung her into a nearby tree.

I heard her rib crack as she cried out in pain.

I ran over to her, "Mel, honey? Are you alright?"

She just smiled up at me, "I'll be fine baby. Just go get Aro okay? I'll be fine…" she trailed off, then she blacked out.

I could feel the fear and pain in my heart as I howled out for someone to come help her.

I could hear laughing behind me. I turned around slowly with a deep growl that seemed to echo in the quiet forest.

Behind me was Aro with an evil smile on his face.

"I don't understand why my brother was so afraid of you. I guess we confused you with the real werewolves that live in the forest near to our home. They're the real animals; you are nothing but a shape shifter. They're the ones who are heartless beasts while you sit here worrying over your fallen whore. What? Sad because you'll never get such a good lay from her again?"

I growled louder and started to circle him while he laughed, "I cannot believe that we were actually cautious of you. You may have been able to take down my brothers but I was always the strongest. I assure you, I won't be so simple."

The circle that I was making around him closed while he continued with his tirade. I let him, the more distracted he was, the more likely I was to get him off guard.

"It was also the most hilarious thing in the world to see you crumble on your knees because your little girl was suffering. Such powerful beasts, but your hearts make you soft. Maybe that is why our hearts beat no longer, it shows just who is the most dominant creature."

My circle was only a few feet around him. I was so close that my tail occasionally brushed his leg. But he was too caught up in boasting he didn't realize what danger he was in.

When the last word left his mouth, I attacked. I leapt onto his back and dug my claws into this marble skin.

He cried out in agony as my paws left bloodless gashes in his back. I raised a paw and brought it down on him with such force that his upper body was severed from his lower half.

He tried to crawl away but I dragged him back to me.

I breathed in his face and watched the realization hit him, he was about to die; after living so long, he was about to die because of his cockiness.

The fight left his eyes, as if to say, 'Yes, kill me, I deserve it for my foolish actions.'

You didn't have to ask me twice. I brought my paw down and decapitated him.

There were the sounds of paws and feet making their way over to where I was. My pack came up to me and carried back Aro's remains to be burned.

Carlisle lifted Melanie in his arms and ran her back to the house for treatment.

I was then left alone in the woods, thinking about what brought me here. I looked up to the sky to see the full moon. It had started to rain and the drops of water hit my face in a soothing rhythm. I smiled.

Lifting my head straight up into the sky, I howled. The chorus of my brothers and sisters soon joined me. And we all howled at the moon like the beasts we were.

Thanks to my (7!) reviewers!

EclipseLover97: Thankies! :)

jacobblackismineduh: Yeah, me too.

visitor - litonya bentlee!!! :): That's a great idea! The last few chapters could be some much needed fluff between the two! Yay! Inspiration!

Anime. Freak. 00001: I like it, short and sweet.

Leah Alice Emily Whitlock: Hey, no problemo. Glad to help. And I like taking names from reviewers becasue it makes them feel like they had an imput in the story.

Samlanova: Thanks, I don't really hate Edward, he's just too perfect. I just hate Bella, that's why I'm so totally TEAM JACOB!

xmukax: Yeah, even bitches like Rose needs happiness.