Rating/Warning(s)/Note(s): T, Shadows
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Prompt: Lawn, pawn

"Steady, Bella," Alice said beside me as growls ripped from my throat. "Don't give them the satisfaction of attacking."

Our allies circled around me, murmuring words of comfort and patience. All I wanted to do was rip and tear. The warmth faded, and with it the lights of those I loved snuffed out. There was only one goal, annihilate those who did this. My hands clenched into fists, my teeth ground together, and my body sank into a crouch. The first one through the trees would die.

"Bella, no!" Alice yelled, reaching for me.

Edward was faster. His arms locked around me, lifting me off my feet. I thrashed in his arms. If I bit him, maybe he'd let go. "Bella, I love you," he shouted in my ear. "Please don't give them what they want. Don't destroy me this way."

The first line of vampires appeared through the trees and Edward immediately fell to the ground, writhing in pain. It was enough to break me from my rage, all I could do was focus on protecting him. The warmth of my love spread out again, wrapping around him, stopping his agony.

A cold fire, stabbing like a knife, hit the bubble of my love for him. It moved off him, and Alice dropped to the ground. I sent out my love to her, found her spark and again felt that cold, stabbing fire. What was this thing attacking them? Stretching it, I encircled all my allies until all their sparks were under its blanket. The stabbing continued but no one else fell.

"Bella, are you doing this?" Edward asked, his voice filled with awe.

"Doing what?"

"Jane is attacking us, but no one is reacting." His eyes were wide as he scanned our group.

"Is that what I'm feeling?" The stabbing continued, more insistent, jumping from spark to spark. A low growl came from across the field, drawing my attention. Jane stood there, in a crouch, scowling. It was childish, but I winked at her. Watching her frustration was fun. "I think it is me. I've got a blanket wrapped around us, at least that's what it feels like to me."

"You really are amazing," he whispered, bending over to kiss my cheek. It was strange not to blush.

The back line of the vampires came out of the trees carrying their victims across the lawn to the front of the line. Some of them were sobbing, others trembling. My father seemed calm.

They positioned themselves so that the breeze was at their back. When the human scent first hit me I locked down every muscle. It was cloying, intoxicating, and drove me mad with thirst. I opened my mouth to breathe, bending over at the waist as if I were out of breath. When I was human this reduced the smell of something. It didn't work, instead my throat lit on fire.

"Bella, stop breathing," Rosalie said from behind me. "It'll help." I took a deep breath to hold it, but that concentrated the scent on my tongue. "Let out your breath and don't take another in. It'll feel strange but you don't need to breathe." I did as she instructed, it helped.

Aro spread his arms wide. "Friends, we've come to both welcome the birth of your newest member. Bella, you make a lovely vampire. Please accept these gifts." He waved one hand in the direction of the humans. "Come, it is only natural to partake."

"Just because something is natural doesn't make it right," I answered him. "Still, I thank you for your gifts and gladly accept them. If you release them I will take them home." My air was gone. Steeling myself I took another breath. This conversation wasn't over.

Aro chuckled and walked over to where the humans were held, stopping at Demetri to look at my father. "Oh, no, my dear. These must be consumed now. We can't have more humans know of our existence and live."

I reached for the edge of my blanket and began to stretch it along the ground. It fought me at first, but then seemed to feel my need to wrap it around my father. With that understanding it became an entity unto itself, snaking like a flash under the feet of those in the way and wrapping around Demetri and Charlie. When both lights appeared it contracted back to the ground, then moved up the outside of Demetri, between the molecules that separated his skin from my father's until he was fully encompassed. Charlie's eyes snapped open, his first sight that of Aro.

"You!" Charlie roared. Realizing he was being held he struggled, but Demetri held him firm. "Put me down immediately."

Aro reached out to stroke his cheek. "Oh, you will be let go, dear man, as soon as your daughter cooperates."

"I will not be a pawn in your game," Charlie replied, his face indignant even as it went white. "I'm not going to live much longer as it is, so do what you will." He looked around and found me. "Don't you let them intimidate you, Bells."

"Oh, I don't plan to intimidate her," Aro said, moving to the next vampire in the line. He was holding an elderly woman, her white hair a stark contrast with the dark grey cloak of the vampire. "I plan to entice her. Alex, please release this one."

"Yes, master," the vampire holding the woman replied. Instantly her eyes popped open and she began babbling.

"Please, don't hurt me," she said repeatedly, tears forming in her eyes and trailing down her cheeks.

"It'll just be a little prick," Aro said soothingly. He took her arm and drug a nail down the inside of it. Blood pooled on the surface, warm, lush, pulsing with the beat of her frantic heart. She winced but didn't cry out, unaware of where the real danger lay.

Vampires behind the rigid guard began to shuffle their feet. The breeze was coming toward us but the smell was strong. Aro moved to the next person, a man in his middle years. "Alex?" he said, and this man also opened his eyes.

"I have a family, please…" Aro didn't hesitate. With a flick of his wrist the man's head snapped back, the snap of his spine clearly audible. The woman beside him screamed as Aro sliced open his neck.

"Come, Bella, surely you're hungry," he taunted. I remained rigid. The vampires that were shuffling now looked at each other, shock on their faces. A low murmur of voices, anxious and outraged, reached me.

Aro walked to the next victim, a young woman in her twenties. I could hear another heartbeat rapidly beating beside her own. Without being asked Alex must have released her. She screamed.

"Aro, don't, she's pregnant," Carlisle cried out. Other shouts of outrage came from the other side.

"Will it create an immortal child if he changes her?"

"It's wrong to kill a pregnant woman!"

"You're going too far!" The last one drew Aro's attention.

"Too far? How many have you killed? What does it matter how old they are or if you kill two at once?" he asked. More glances were exchanged, more feet shuffled, watched by downcast eyes. A few glared back at Aro, flickering to the screaming woman and the young boy in the arms of the next vampire.

Toward the back a few vampires nodded to each other and began to move forward. Edward gasped, his eyes went wide as a smile spread over his face. "What's happening?" I asked.

He didn't answer me. "Aro," he called, "You might not want to do what you're thinking of doing. The tide is changing."

More vampires joined those moving forward. It finally dawned on me what was happening. These vampires no longer looked at us as the enemy, but at the Volturi guard. I reached out with my blanket of warmth, finding it easier to wrap around each person. It stretched and grew, encompassing more sparks of light underneath it. Each person who nodded and joined in to confront the guard was added.

The cold stabbing returned, focused on one vampire or another in quick succession. It was joined by other forces. One tried to rip and tear, another was a heavier blanket that tried to suppress, and another pulled, but none broke through my warmth.

The stabbing moved faster than me, causing some vampires to go down. This only made more join in, which actually made it easier for me to cover them, being able to blanket them all instead of each one individually.

Eventually the guard was surrounded by those I'd once thought to be my enemies. "Enough," the vampire who'd said Aro was going too far said. "We will not tolerate this outrage. Let the humans go, especially the one Bella wants to protect."

Aro drew up to his full height, a sneer on his face even as his eyes darted around. "Or you'll do what? We rule here, not you."

"Or you'll be replaced," the vampire answered.

Can you tell things are slow for me at work right now? You're getting an update in the middle of the day.