I drove too fast down the lane to the house and parked the Volvo. Edward was waiting for me.

"You are going to be the death of me Bella!" He was yelling at me.

"Really." My tone was dry.

"I told you I wished you would leave Seattle alone!"

"I'm your wife not your servant."

"I was freaking out." He was lowering his volume as he sensed my ill humor.

"You are still freaking out."

"I'm sorry. I'm not used to you being able to take care of yourself."

"Well get used to it Edward."

Edward needed to get used to the idea that I wasn't going to sit on my hands in times of trouble. He needed to see me in action. He needed to start respecting my independence.

"Please tell me the next time you decide to go investigate and outbreak of newborn vampires."

"Fine." I was weary of his overprotection. "So you believe me about the newborns now?"

"Yes. What did you find out?"

"I found their hiding place. It is an old industrial warehouse. They are homeless people no one will miss."

"Someone is making the homeless into vampires?"

"Yup."

"Tell me what happened."

I told him my story, omitting the part about the human I had altered. He listened quietly until I was finished.

"You didn't touch them?"

"Nope. All my practicing and I come across this now. It would have been useful seventy years ago."

"Oh?"

"It would have made training the newborns much easier."

"You made newborns?"

"Not me. Nathan and Darius did all that. I just had to teach them how to keep the secret and win battles."

"You and Jasper have many things in common."

"I suppose so."

"Who are Darius and Nathan?"

"I spent ten years with them a long time ago in Mexico."

"Sometimes I feel as though I barely know you."

I kissed him and walked into the house. Alice jumped in front of me looking furious.

"Isabella Cullen! How cold you do that to me?!"

"Not you too Alice."

"Your future is so hazy. All I saw was a dark street and fire."

"I burned down a vacant building. It was nothing major."

"I wish you wouldn't put yourself in danger." Esme joined us.

"I wasn't in any danger Esme."

"What happened?" Jasper asked.

I told everyone the story, again omitting my alteration of the human. I knew Carlisle especially wouldn't approve. Maybe my conscience was warped. I wasn't nearly as compassionate as the rest of my family with the exception of Jasper.

"You projected your talent away from yourself?" Carlisle looked impressed.

"Yes."

"Amazing!"

"Cool!" Emmet clapped me on the back.

"Wait. Did the old man see anything?" Jasper was concerned.

"I don't think so."

"But are you certain?"

"No."

"If we're not careful the Volturie is going to be all over this."

"I was careful. This isn't my first day at this." I was getting annoyed. "I'm going hunting." Edward followed, easily catching up to me.

"I missed you. I'm sorry. I was over the top when you came home." He took my hand and slowed me to a stop.

"I was afraid you were tired of me and wanted to leave." I looked at him incredulously.

"There is so much about you I don't know. Sometimes I fear that you miss being alone." He was anxious.

"I don't want to leave Edward. I love you. If I leave you are coming with me."

Edward smiled and kissed me. Both of us had eyes black with thirst. We hunted and then rejoined the family at the house.

The seven am. news was on.

"A vacant building burned to the ground last night. Police believe it was arsen. Fire crews were able to save the surrounding building from the blaze."

"Well, well, well we have our own little arsonist among us." Emmett roared with laughter. "Promise you'll take me next time you go out destroying things sis?" Edward growled at him and he chuckled.

Edward looked sinister and stared toward the door.

"Bella, your presence is required outside."

I looked at him curiously and then followed him out the door. I saw three of the wolves emerge from the forest. Edward put his arm around my waist and waited for Jacob to come out of the trees.

"Hey Jake." I smiled.

"Hey Bella." He almost smiled and nodded acknowledgement of Edward.

"The council decided that you are part of the treaty with the Cullens, Bella."

"Thanks Jake."

"Sure, sure. Well I guess that's it. No biting humans or crossing Quilleute land. Got it."

"Got it." I smiled at him but his face was serious.

Edwards face contorted in agony and he bowed his head in what looked like shame. What on earth was happening? Some unsaid conversation was taking place and I didn't like it.

"Edward? What's wrong?" Jacob was smiling evilly. "Jake what are you doing?"

"Showing him how badly he screwed up. He doesn't deserve you."

"Stop it Jake!"

"Fine."

Edward sat down on the porch steps as if he was too weak to stand which was absurd. He put his head in his hands and wouldn't look at me. I looked up and Jacob had faded back into the trees. What had he thought that would make Edward act this way?

"Bella, I'm so sorry. He's right. I don't deserve you."

"Edward what is going on?"

"He showed me what happened after I left. I had no idea you were so very emotionless. I'm so sorry. How have you forgiven me after what you went through especially with Victoria?"

"What did he show you?"

"He showed me your last human moments as he saw them. You were so… so broken. I left you alone and you were tortured. She nearly killed you. I owe Jacob and the wolves my life. What I wouldn't do to go back and change what happened. I never truly appreciated it until now."

I was angry. Jacob had just made all of my silence to protect Edward completely pointless. I could only imagine what Edward had just seen. He had seen Sam find me in the woods the day Edward left me. He had seen my months of depression. No doubt he heard Charlie talking to Billy about how I screamed every night through my nightmares and how I never ate. He had seen Victoria hovering over my broken and bloody body about to kill me. He had been shown me screaming as I burned and the pack debating whether or not to kill me. He had heard my heart stop and seen me leap up to protect myself. Then of course he had seen the tearful goodbye between Jacob and I through Jacob's eyes.

"I'm sorry you had to see that Edward."

Edward continued to look tortured and I knew there was nothing I could do about it. He sat on the porch refusing to look at me. I wanted to hit Jacob. There was no reason for Edward to feel more guilt than he already did. Why was Jacob so mean spirited? Why did he hate Edward so much?

Jacob had been there for me in the months after Edward had left Forks. He had been the one ray of sunshine in my painful life. He had witnessed my depression. He had loved me and it looked as if he still did even though I was a vampire. He was in mourning of the girl that I was ninety years ago, the human girl whose life had become intertwined with myths and legends leading to her death. To Jacob turning into a vampire was worse than death. All the possibilities that Jacob had dreamed of between he and I were dead now. I was a vampire now and Edward had brought it down upon me whether he was aware of it at the time or not.

Edwards head snapped up, he grabbed my hand tightly, and we went inside the house. Alice's eyes were unfocused. Everyone surrounded waiting anxiously. Alice's eyes focused and Edward swore loudly.

"What is going on Alice?" Jasper was the first to ask.

"The Volturie are coming to deal with the situation in Seattle."

"Shit." I was thinking about all the ramifications of this news.

The Vultorie this close to Forks was a bad thing. If Aro found out about either Alice's or my talents he would find a reason to destroy our family. I couldn't see a way out. Alice and I locked eyes. How could we leave our family? Or worse, how could we let them die protecting us?

"When Alice." The rest of them were completely oblivious to the silent conversation between Alice and I.

"A few weeks tops."

"We have to disappear." I told them. "If Aro touches any of us he will know about Alice and my talents. He won't leave us in peace. Like Elezear said, he's a collector."

"We can take them."

"Emmett, don't be ridiculous. We can't fight the entire guard by ourselves." Rosalie was afraid and still managed to be condescending.

"There is no disappearing from the Volturie." Edward explained. "They have the best tracker I've ever heard of, Demetri."

"Alright everyone don't panic. We will stay together." Esme was uncharacteristically fierce.

"Alice, Come with me." I motioned toward the back door and she followed.

Everyone stared after us with curious eyes but I didn't look back. I couldn't look back. I hated to even bring Alice into this, but I had to. We walked to my plane and each untied one wing. We climbed in and I took off. Neither of us said anything although Alice did look a little confused. When we were a ways away from the house I spoke.

"I won't let them die for me, and I won't be a Volturie slave. That leaves me only one option. I'm going to fight."

"Agreed, but we cannot win just the two of us."

"I know."

"What are you thinking Bella?"

"We are going to recruit some newborns to our cause."

"Are you mental? Newborns have no chance against the Volturie guard and neither of us has the control to create a newborn."

"No we don't, but we don't have to. Someone has already done the work for us."

"We have to kill their creator." Alice had caught on to my train of thought.

"We can handle that. I just hope whoever it is has made enough newborns for us to have a chance at winning."

"We are betting our lives on newborns. This is just fantastic." Alice was unhappy, but didn't offer any other plan.

We landed in a lake a ways away from Seattle. We hid it in the trees where no one, including our family, would find it. We stole a car from one of the mansions surrounding the lake. It was a black BMW with tinted windows. I drove through the dark streets of Seattle too fast for a human. We stopped at a target and bought cheap clothes. Our designer attire would stand out in the coming weeks that we would spend in alleys and basements.

I found the building where I had seen the newborns and parked in an alley one street over. We got out and put on the hooded sweat shirts, jeans, and flats we had bought. We pulled up our hoods and walked at a brisk human pace toward the building. We stopped in front of the doors listening.

Someone was screaming and there was a hum of talk. Alice and I looked at each other and entered the building. We walked, silently, down a long hallway with flickering florescent lights. The screaming only grew louder. Alice's eyes slid in and out of focus as she tried to see our future. I made things more complicated. She couldn't see me very well because of my strange mind.

I opened the door and slipped quietly inside followed by Alice. To my surprise no one noticed. The room was packed with newborns all dressed in the rags of the homeless. I recognized two voices coming from another room. Victoria was arguing with Laurent.

Why the hell was Victoria creating newborns? Then it hit me. She was creating them to help her get past the wolves to get to Forks. Thank God we had decided to commandeer her army, they would have destroyed the entire town of Forks and exposed us all.

"We have enough newborns to get past the wolves Victoria." Laurent sounded exasperated.

"I saw her in that plane. She is in Forks and I am going to kill her."

So Victoria had seen me in my plane on my first day back in Forks. Did she have any idea what she was bringing down upon herself and my family in the process of exacting her revenge? Oh how I hated her, not only for my personal torture but for putting those I loved in danger. She had created an army larger than I had ever dealt with even in the Southern wars to kill the wolves, Jacob. Her amateur creation of said army had brought the Volturie down upon us all.

I closed my eyes and focused on all the points of energy in the room.

"Stop." I opened my eyes and everyone was still and silent. Alice and I walked through the mass of statues to the side door to the main warehouse. A girl was screaming on the floor obviously the newest recruit. Victoria and Laurent stood, indifferent to the girl's pain, by a map of Washington State on the wall. Forks was circled in red.

Alice and I stepped in the room and Victoria and Laurent stared at us. Victoria's lips curled back over her teeth as she recognized me. Laurent looked indifferent but surprised.

"Hello Victoria." I crouched and growled.

"Hello Bella." Laurent was polite. "Immortality suits you."

"Thanks ever so." I didn't relax my posture.

"Shut up Laurent! You are going to die little Bella." She sneered.

"Give it your best shot Victoria. We'll see if you die as easily as your precious James. He was pathetic really."

Victoria screamed and jumped at me. I jumped up and twisted so that I landed perched on her back. Alice and Laurent watched us without emotion. She threw me off and whirled to face me. We circled each other. She lunged again and I stepped to the side as she cracked the cement floor. Rage was making her sloppy. She crouched almost as soon as she hit the floor.

"You were such an easy target Bella. How much could Edward have cared if he left you alone and unprotected?" I kept calm, not letting her compromise my clarity of mind.

I jumped and grabbed her by the neck slamming her to the ground. She twisted out of my grasp and jumped on my back. I back flipped shaking her off. A got a good kick to her back which sent her flying forward into a very exposed position. I took advantage and lunged at her, grabbing her head in my hands and tearing at her neck with my teeth. She screamed but she was finished. I tore her apart and built a fire out of an old crate. I finally had my revenge. Victoria was dead.

"Well Bella, that was impressive." Laurent clapped his hands together lazily in applause.

"Skip it Laurent. Tell me everything you know and maybe I'll let you leave." Alice had moved to block his exit.

"Victoria found me and called in a few favors. She wanted me to help her create an army to get past vampire eating wolves. She was still fixated on your death Bella. She was very attached to James. She created all the vampires and I tried to wrangle them. I am ashamed to say that I failed miserably at that."

"Your idiocy has brought the Volturie down upon us all you imbecile." Alice was angry.

"The Volturie? Well I best be going then."

"Oh I think not Laurent. They are going to want who is responsible for the exposure in Seattle and I think I shall give you to them if it comes to that."

"Please I beg you young Bella."

"Beg all you want Laurent, you made your bed now lie in it." I smiled at him.

The girl had stopped screaming and was watching us still writhing. She had reached the point where she realized that screaming did nothing to ease the pain. I felt sorry for her. She was most likely going to die because of what Victoria had made her. Her heart sped up and I knew the change was almost over for her. Her heart stopped and she, like I had done, jumped up to protect herself.

"Go explain what you have done to her Laurent."

"What is your name?" He asked quietly.

"Gena." She was taken aback by her new voice.

"You have been made into a vampire Gena."

"The pain."

"Yes the pain was necessary to make you strong."

"Will I ever see my family again?"

"No. You must keep yourself a secret from humans now."

Gena screamed and threw herself at Laurent. She grabbed him and crushed him in her new arms. He cried out in pain. Gena used her new instincts and tore him apart. She turned on Alice and I and I tossed her the lighter.

"You have to burn the pieces if you want it to be permanent." I told her.

She tore apart another crate and burned Laurent on the cement floor next to Victoria.

"Well that was interesting." Alice walked up next to me. "Now what?"

"We train them."

"How do you plan on doing that?"

"The way I used to in Mexico."