A/N: LOGIC DICTATES THAT MORE REVIEWS EQUATES A QUICKER UPDATE. SO TO FALICITATE YOUR READING ENJOYMENT REVIEW YOU LAZY $##%&*!!!!!

Disclaimer: I got a lot of the information and ideas for this chapter from chapter 29 in Breaking Dawn so I'd like to give big thank you and of course credit to Stephanie Meyer.

Chapter Thirteen

The Brave Will Take Flight

"Do you know how many are coming? Do you know when? Why?" Carlisle asked, after a lengthy silence. Most of the family was still frozen with terror. Jasper leaning protectively over Alice, Emmett and Rosalie clinging to each other, Esme's shaking. Carlisle was the voice of reason. Edward was still too horrified to think.

Alice squeezed her eyes shut, while she scanned the predicament they found themselves in, Carlisle explained what was going on the Sam and Jacob. They didn't take it any better.

"Everyone is coming," Alice said at last. "The whole of the guard, Aro, Caius, Marcus, even the wives."

"That can't be right," Jasper said. "The wives never leave the tower."

"They're leaving now!"

"But why?!" Rosalie yelled. Allegra cooed in her crib and then cuddled back to sleep.

"Keep you voice down, Rosalie," Edward said blandly. He got up slowly and made his way to the stairs when Emmett stopped him. "They've been waiting," he muttered, seeing the visions running through Alice's head. "Waiting for an excuse to destroy our family. We're the largest coven they've ever come across other than there own. We're a threat they can't afford. And with mine and Alice's gifts just killing us all is a waste. They were looking for an excuse, Victoria gave it to them. Allegra. They'll be here in a little over a month."

"But Allegra isn't an immortal child!" Rosalie exclaimed. "She just a baby!"

Edward barely paid attention to the aghast look on Rosalie's face. He was too focused on spending the last few weeks he had with his daughter. There was no way they could keep her from them, not with Demetri's talent. Edward had been all over the world in his search for Bella, including Volterra.

"Is there anyway we can stop her?" Carlisle asked.

"No, she's almost there," Alice said.

"Then what do we do?" Esme asked, thoughts of her family's untimely destruction running through her head.

"We fight," Emmett said, solemnly.

"Definitely," Sam muttered in agreement. He was thinking about how exactly he was going to sell the idea of protecting the Cullens to the rest of the pack.

"I don't think there's any other option." Jacob was thinking about how mad Bella was going to be at him, she'll probably rip my head off if I let anyone else attack her baby, he thought.

"She's just a baby!" Rosalie insisted again.

"And this isn't exactly the kind of crime they hold a trial for, Rosalie," Edward murmured. His tone was barely interested. "They'll have proof enough from Victoria's thoughts. The memory of Laurent telling her about the strange smelling, oddly intelligent infant living with the Cullens."

"Then we fight," she said.

"We can't win," Jasper said. "The entire guard is coming. That means every last one with all of their immeasurable strength and powers, even with the help of the Quileutes pack we'll be sitting ducks."

"I think you're forgetting your biggest advantage," Jacob said. He nodded towards Kaatya, whose smile was slightly patronizing.

"We don't want this to come to… mass violence," Carlisle said to Kaatya. "If your family gets involved bleed shed is assured."

"I don't think we'll have any other choice," Sam said. "If what you said about the Volturi is true they aren't going to stop for just anyone and listen to reason-"

"That's it!" Alice exclaimed jumping up. Edward turned to her sharply listening to the thoughts running rampant through her head. "We just need to make them stop and listen."

"They'll hear she has a heart beat!" Esme said, her mind flooding with hope. "They'll have to admit that she's not an immortal child."

"That might work," Edward said, finally pulled from his miserable stupor. "But if we're surrounded by house sized wolves they'll never stop long enough to actually hear anything. They'll just attack."

"We can hide in the forest, a few miles off," Kaatya said. "And not just the family, but the whole pack. My father cares for Bella and loves Allegra, he'll drop everything for them. We'll have one of the small wolves stay closer by, that way we'll only be few seconds away if it comes to a fight."

"They'll never stop for just us and the Quileutes," Edward said, still not entirely convince this plan would work.

"Then we'll get back up," Alice said.

"We cannot ask our friends to fight the Volturi," Carlisle said.

"No, but we can ask them to be witnesses," Emmett said. "Think about it. If we can get the Volturi to stop and listen they probably won't be convinced merely by the beat of her heart. They'll want the first hand account of her crying and sleeping and breathing and eating and doing all the other non-vampire things she does every day!"

"It's nothing huge," Alice agreed. "And it's certainly nothing that we wouldn't do for any of them."

"Who do you think we can ask?" Jasper asked. "Peter and Charlotte, maybe? We'll need a lot of people."

"Tanya's family, Soibhan's coven," Alice listed. "Amun's coven as well. And we'll need as many nomads as we can get. Garrett and Mary along with Peter and Charlotte. Maybe Alistair."

"What about the Amazons?" Carlisle asked. "Kachiri, Zafrina and Senna. They'll definitely help."

"Maybe. They'll all need to be shown very carefully."

"Shown?" Edward asked.

"With Allegra's special little gift, of course," Alice mumbled. I wish I could talk to Lyra. She'd know exactly how to deal with this.

"You're doing the best you can, Alice," Edward encouraged, warming to the idea. "And there's no telling if Lyra would even divulge what would happen." Alice nodded, still unhappy about her many blind spots.

Carlisle rushed to the phone, making the necessary call to Denali. He was talking a mile a minute merely requesting that they come, not explaining why he wanted them to. No one asked why he was making his strange request, especially after Alice yelled out in the background that they were needed.

While Carlisle was making his calls the rest of the family was getting ready. Emmett and Rosalie were going nomad hunting. Carlisle and Esme would be traveling to Ireland and Egypt to gather more witnesses. Alice and Jasper would be running through the Amazon forest looking for Zafrina's coven.

The family gathered once more in the living room before departing.

"You'll be dealing with the guests on your own, Edward," Carlisle said. "Do you think you'll be able to handle that?"

"Yes, I called Hannah while you were getting ready. She's said she'll be here in a few days," Edward said.

"Tanya's family will be here in the morning. They know it has something to do with Allegra, but aren't sure what." Edward nodded at Carlisle.

"Remember, everyone," Alice said. "We have a month and week before they get here at most and we need time before that to come up with a game plan."

The family nodded, said their farewells and left.

Edward stood at the door, staring blanking at the place where his family had been only moments before. Sam and Jacob came up behind him slowly. They were curious about the vampires coming into town. Edward turned to them not sure how they would respond to the truth.

"The only vampires coming that hold the same reverence for human life are the Denali," he said. "We will make sure that when they hunt it isn't anywhere near the Quileute reservation or Forks. Is that going to be a problem?"

Sam opened his mouth. He was going to say, 'yes,' but Kaatya came up behind them before they could. "Of course it won't. My father has access to bottled Pagan blood. Not Dien blood, of course. That stuff'll kill them, but Siren and Nymph blood won't even spoil. Nice right?"

Sam sighed and Jacob smiled. He desperately wanted this plan to work. Not just so Bella wouldn't hate him once she returned, but for Allegra's sake as well. He knew just like the rest of them that the Volturi wouldn't be able to kill Allegra, but they would be able to kill everyone else. He was thinking about what he would do if the Cullens were killed, if the plans fell through, if Lucien's pack was too late. He would snatch up Allegra and run like hell. He would make sure that the Volturi would never get their hands on her. He would protect her with his dying breath.

"Thank you, Jacob," Edward said.

"You're welcome, man," he said. "I'm not just doing it for you though. Bella was my best friend for a while there."

"Still, I appreciate it." Edward sighed and made his way back up to the living room.

"Kaatya, if you could get that blood before any of the non-vegetarians arrive?"

"Of course."

"Thank you."

"This'll work, Edward," Jacob said. Edward could see that he really believed that it would. "There's no other option. I can't imagine a higher power cruel enough to give you something as precious as Allegra just to take her away so horribly."