In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Happy Halloween, everybody! As I am going to be on a short vacation, I am posting two chapters, early, including a scary one (chapter 33). Please show some love, and send me a review.

Chapter 32 – Leah's back – she swiped one of the Cessna's

(Bella's POV)

Crazy had to leave again to see her boss on the east coast. Carlisle had started to look as if he was going to need a drink if she didn't leave, but she left.

One rainy morning soon after she left, a quiet knock came at the door. Carlisle answered it, and there stood Leah. After a few days of Crazy, Leah probably looked pretty sane to him.

"Leah's here," Carlisle told me with a smile.

Leah bounced into the room, her smile and shining eyes telling me something was up. The fact that her hair and clothes were lightly covered with rain drops revealed that she had run from somewhere close by. She was wearing a light tan leather jacket over a plaid top, with jeans and soft tan boots, and had earbuds in both ears, connected to an i-phone in her breast pocket.

She handed me one of the ear buds, saying, "Listen to this." It was some kind of techno rock music, very high energy and fun. I didn't recognize the group. "Some of the guys on the human side of the family have been messing around, thinking of forming a band. This is one of their songs," she said.

"Sounds great," I replied.

Leah looked at me and said, "It was boring up there without you. I just had to come back. So…I took one of the Cessna's."

"Wow," I replied. "You know how to fly?"

"Well, I can fly, but I'm not so good at landing. The Boys are right behind me; they followed me in the other Cessna and were circling the airport while I landed."

"Cause you had to be alive for them to kill you!" I laughed. "I'm very familiar with the concept."

"Right," Leah said. "I've sat behind the wheel of the Cessna many times, but they always insist on doing the take-off and landing. Well, now I know how to do those things too."

Jasper and Emmett both had pilot's licenses. It was one of many things they had done to break up the tedium of their lives while they were trying to pass as human, prior to the Event. They both pulled chairs over to sit with us in front of the fire. They began to ask Leah about the plane, the trip, wind patterns, etc. She talked plane-talk with them for a while and then turned back to me.

"I heard Emily came by," Leah asked.

I nodded.

"How did she look?" Leah asked, confirming my suspicions that the two groups had been gossiping. "She's supposed to be almost due."

"She was glowing. I had never seen a woman looking happy while pregnant before," I replied.

"Yeah, well from what I've seen, while pregnant women can get all hormonal and complaining, they are generally pretty happy. Especially those carrying their first child. You know, Emily's from the Makah tribe. The tribe had managed to hide in the wild for ten years before the vampire trackers caught them. Sam and Billy got their call for help almost too late. Sam was torn about leaving Forks, but Billy decided Sam could take a few of the shifters out to help."

"Sam and the shifters he took with him ran hard for two days to get to the tribe's hiding place. Unfortunately by the time they got there, the vampire trackers had already found them. The vampires had killed most of the men, and anyone over the age of 40. They were in the process of moving the surviving human women and children back to their camp when Sam arrived. He and his fighters surprised and killed the hunters. It was a hard fight, and Sam lost two of his own men. Emily was one of the children they rescued from the vampires. Sam imprinted on her the second he saw her. He waited until she was 16 to tell her."

I hadn't heard this story. I had always thought that the Quileutes had stuck closely to the La Push area outside of Forks since the Event of July, 2020. They weren't a large enough group to be able to spare anyone for a long-distance mission. I knew they were hoping to eventually be able to liberate the town of Forks, but they knew if they attempted it on their own, a large group vampires would come and hunt them down. It was a risk the shifters couldn't take while they were sheltering the human members of their tribe.

Soon we heard the other coven members arrive. Rodrigo again, with his usual complement of boys. Rodrigo walked up to the front door this time and knocked. Carlisle answered the door and welcomed them. Carlisle brought Rodrigo into the foyer, and Leah got up to meet him. She bowed her head in submission before him, while Jasper and Emmett quietly positioned themselves between me and the boys still waiting on the front porch.

Leah talked to her brother in a quiet low voice, and after a while she got him calmed down. He didn't immediately force her to follow him out of the house.

She turned to smile at me, and soon the Boys who had been waiting on the front porch came in. Rodrigo and the Boys were all dressed similarly, wearing jeans with dark leather bomber jackets over their sweatshirts or sweaters. Jasper appeared to be eying the bomber jackets admiringly. He did like his bomber jackets. I had noticed he had a least four of his own.

"Dr. Cullen," said Rodrigo.

Carlisle went through the motions of introducing the Cullens to Rodrigo and the boys, and then everyone stood around awkwardly. I looked at the entertainment area of the living room in a meaningful way to Emmett, and he got the hint.

Emmett stood up and stretched. "Anyone up for the game?" he asked casually.

Two of the boys glanced at Rodrigo, who nodded his approval. They trooped over to the sofa in front of the TV, and Emmett turned on the game. They were quickly engrossed in the game on TV, trading sports trivia, engaged in the good natured one man upmanship that happens when a group of men first watch sports together.

Carlisle, Jasper, Leah and I sat with Rodrigo in one of the chair and sofa groupings closest to the fireplace. I sat between Leah and Carlisle on the sofa, while Jasper sat on the other end of the sofa, in the position closest to Rodrigo. Rodrigo shifted uncomfortably in the white, wing-backed chair.

Carlisle broke silence. "I understand your family is in the lumber business," he said.

Rodrigo nodded, and then seemed to realize he would need to speak. "Yes, lumber and we make some furniture as well. It's been our family business for decades," he said. He looked around the room, taking in the group watching the game with Emmett, and smiled. He turned to Carlisle and said, "You really have a lovely home, sir."

Leah and I were instantly trying unsuccessfully to cover our laughter at the phrase "lovely home". We were losing this battle, so we finally just laughed out loud.

Rodrigo smiled. "I understand that phrase takes on a different meaning when my little sister is present," he added.

"We've heard the story," Carlisle commented. "Maybe once or twice, in fact," he said, smiling at me. I couldn't help it; I started giggling again. Leah rolled her eyes and poked me in the ribs.

"Can I see your room?" she asked. I looked at Carlisle, and he nodded. We started up the stairs, and when the boys saw that we were leaving the room with Leah, they leapt up from the sofa and followed us. When we got to Carlisle's office, and he opened up the door, the B oys' eyes went black. While the Home coven boys had a lot of exposure to my cousins' scent, I guess my scent, rolling out from the windowless room into Carlisle's' office, must have surprised them

Rodrigo quickly moved to the end of the hall and opened a window. It seemed to be a drill with them; they seemed to know just what they had to do. They gathered around the open window, took deep breaths, and then turned back. Their eyes were bright red again, and they were all holding their breath. Carlisle and Jasper exchanged a quick look over their disciplined response but seemed to relax a bit, as the visitors were clearly used to being able to handle their response to the smell of human blood.

The boys came back from the end of the hall but lingered in the doorway of Carlisle's office. Only Leah followed me into my room. She nimbly jumped over my head, landing on my bed. That startled me, and she laughed, after gauging my reaction. Her responses to new situations always seemed fresh and original to me.

When Leah landed on my bed, she lay back on it, arms behind her head as she looked up at the canopy overhead. "This is fun. I've always wanted a canopy bed, ever since I first saw one," she said. She got up, poked around at the knickknacks on my dresser, and the chair Carlisle and Jasper sit in while I slept. Then we went back into Carlisle's study, where the visitors began to examine the paintings and books, asking Carlisle questions.

We eventually went back downstairs, and the boys rejoined Emmett in watching the game, while Jasper, Carlisle, Leah and I resumed our positions on the sofa. After chatting for another hour or two, Rodrigo got a call on his cell phone. He listened quietly for a moment before replying in the affirmative. He stood up, announced that the two planes had been fueled and checked, and were ready for the flight back home. Leah started to protest, and he cut her off with a glare.

"Perhaps next time, we can plan a visit, so as not to inconvenience the Cullens," he told her.

Esme had to jump in at that. "Oh, you're really no trouble. We look forward to seeing you again soon."

Rodrigo nodded to Esme but still gave Leah a stern look. "Let's go, little sister," he ordered. She followed him to the door meekly, but still managed to sneak a wink at me before she slipped quietly out the door between her brothers.

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Note – not all of Bella's visitors will be friendly. I updated Renee's story, chapter 3, at the beginning of October. If you haven't read it recently, you might want to check it out, if you would like to guess who's going to show up. Dum-duh-dum-dum.