Here I am at the edge of the road

One hand on the end of the rope

One crack and it breaks alone

Wondering who's gonna take me home

On my knees when you call my bluff

Begging please from the edge of the ruff

And I know I've had enough, and I know it, and I know it

"Wait"

-Mat Kearney

Chapter 56:

I'm not afraid of a few hundred vampires

I could smell their horrible stench just moments after Edward warned us. It was a hundred times stronger than any vampire I had ever smelled before. A few seconds later, they came barreling across the plain in perfect synchronization. They were all wearing similar darkened cloaks.

I had to scoff, Wow, the dress code is really enforced at their little private school. What blind Frenchman came up with those uniforms?

I could hear everyone around me silently counting the slowing guard. They were in no hurry to get across the clearing. They saw what was waiting for them on the other side. Even without the wolves in the clearing, the guard was still surprised to see so many vampires waiting for them.

There were quite a few members of the guard. All together, there were thirty-two of them. There were two weird black-cloaked women hiding in the back that were obviously not going to be involved in the fight. I guessed that these were the "wives" that the vampires kept talking about.

"The redcoats are coming, the redcoats are coming," Garrett mumbled. I chucked out a laugh. Who knew vampires had a sense of humor?

I stiffened up when I realized that there were more vampires behind the guard. I immediately recognized one bright blonde-haired leech.

Hey, is that who I think it is? Seth questioned.

Irina. I can't believe she has the nerve to show her damn face here, I growled. This was all her fault. If she had kept her fucking mouth shut about Nessie and given Bella two seconds to explain the situation, none of this would be happening. I decided that if this did come to a fight, the blonde bitch was mine.

I did my best to keep my smug thoughts to myself when Irina saw her family standing with the Cullens. If I was human, I would be taunting the hell out of her right now. A horrified expression filled her face when she realized that her sisters were on the front line.

"Alistair was right," Edward murmured to Carlisle. I had to take a moment to remember which one of the leeches Alistair was.

He's the one who took off a few days ago, Jacob explained.

I vaguely recalled something Jacob had told me about a vampire that had decided not to stand with the Cullens. Some friend Alistair was. He decided that he "cared too much" about Carlisle to watch him being destroyed. That was bullshit. If I had a friend in danger I would never abandon them, no matter how hopeless the outcome might be. Friendship meant sticking with the people you cared about even through the darkest of times.

Edward explained that Alistair believed that the Volturi had come to destroy us no matter what. Well, duh. I could have told him that.

"They have many layers of strategy already in place. If Irina's accusation had somehow proven to be false, they were committed to finding another reason to take offense. They can see Renesmee now, so they are perfectly sanguine about their course. We could still attempt to defend against their other contrived charges, but first they have to stop to hear the truth about Renesmee, which they have no intention of doing," Edward muttered in one breath.

It would have been so much easier if Edward had just said, "They want to kill us. Prepare to fight" instead of using all of those gigantic words he probably stole from his word-a-day calendar.

Alright, you heard Leah. We're going to be fighting anyway, so come on out here, Jacob ordered us to come out of hiding.

As soon as we stepped into the clearing, our pack first, followed by various members of Sam's pack, the Volturi stopped in their tracks about a hundred yards out.

Yeah, that's right, bitches. Be afraid. Be very afraid, Quil rumbled quietly.

I laughed. I hoped that there was a mind-reader on the Volturi who could hear Quil's snide remark.

We surrounded the vampires' flanks.

Bring it on. I glanced at the waiting guard.

Bella let out a growl. It was actually kind of frightening coming from her wussified lips. Though she didn't say anything, I could hear that she was warning them, "I am so pissed off right now." Zafrina and Senna growled with Bella.

I glanced at the Volturi. I could see two ugly-ass ancient vampires touching hands in the center of the group.

I quipped, Aw, the two little chicken-shit vampires are holding hands. Isn't that adorable?

I knew from Edward's stories that that must be Aro and Caius. There was a third vampire touching Aro's palm. Marcus. He looked bored and uninterested. A lot like I did most of the time I was in school. The three of them did stand out from the rest of the guard. The trio was an interesting sight. Instead of "The Good, the bad, and the ugly," it was "The ugly, the uglier, and the horribly ugliest."

I glanced at the rest of the guard, trying to pick out members from the Cullens' descriptions of them. My eyes came to rest upon the two smallest vampires in the group. It had to be Jane and Alec. I knew they weren't really related, but the Addam's Family resemblance was remarkable. As far as twins go, these were possibly the creepiest duo I had ever seen. But they weren't terrifying. Alec was a tiny little thing. He looked like a demonic little leprechaun. I wanted to strut over to him and ask him where my pot of gold was. He was so short that I could probably break him in half with my pinky finger. Jane wasn't much bigger. She looked like a little albino midget. Why the hell was everyone so scared of her? The only thing that freaked me out was how small her hands were. I shivered. Her fat fingers were tiny. Weird little midget digits.

I wouldn't underestimate her. Edward says she's small, crooked, and quick, Jacob warned me.

Hmm, sounds like my ex-boyfriend. I couldn't help but burn Sam.

Nice one. Embry chuckled.

The entire crowd became completely silent. I tensed up. Were they preparing to strike?

Carlisle glanced at Edward nervously. "Edward?" He wanted to know what they were thinking.

Edward explained that the Volturi had never been outnumbered before. I had to wonder if the Volturi knew how to count…because from where I was standing, they had about three hundred more people than we did.

"They don't count their witnesses," Edward said quietly. "Aro just enjoys an audience."

Gee, maybe he should have majored in theater instead of vampirism.

"Should I speak?" Carlisle questioned.

If he didn't speak now, he wasn't going to get a chance to.

Edward basically said the same thing I was thinking and Carlisle stepped forward.

A strange thing happened when I saw the gentle vampire edge closer to the evil albino leeches across the clearing. I was concerned about him. I didn't want him to get hurt. I let out a low growl of uneasiness.

Carlisle did a hell of a job not letting his fear show through as he greeted the Volturi.

"Aro, my old friend." Had I heard right? Friend? Did Carlisle actually consider him a friend? "It's been centuries."

Yeah, and the centuries had not been very kind to Aro. He looked like hell. We watched in anticipation as the leader of the fascist dictators considered what Carlisle meant when he spoke. Aro carefully moved forward. A female vampire who, for some reason, was attached to his back with her fingers, moved forward with him. I remembered Edward explaining that the Volturi had a shield of their own. That must be Renata. Bitch didn't look so tough.

The guard let out a growl of disapproval as Aro waved his hand in a friendly manner. If I had fingers, I would have shown him how I said hello...with my middle finger.

Aro grumbled something at Carlisle, asking why he'd assembled a group of renegade vampires to kill him. I snorted. They started it by coming here with intentions to kill us. I sounded like a three-year-old, "He hit me first!" But it was true.

Carlisle extended his hand, offering it to Aro.

"Touch my hand and you'll find that was never my intent."

It made me nervous that Carlisle was offering to trust Aro. I sure as hell didn't trust him.

Ha, ha. You care about the vampires, Seth teased me.

Shut the hell up and pay attention, I ordered.

"I have not committed the crime you are here to punish me for." Carlisle continued to hold his hand up.

"Then step aside and let us punish those responsible." Aro explained that he wanted to preserve Carlisle's life.

Carlisle tried to get Aro to touch his hand, but as soon as Aro moved forward, Caius intereved. He accused Carlisle of committing crimes against their kind. Ironic. It was funny to me that such a feral breed of monsters actually had laws. Aro went on a tirade about the immortal children and blah, blah, blah. Carlisle explained that Renesmee was not what they thought she was.

"If she is not one of the forbidden, then why have you massed a battalion to protect her?"

Some of us are here just to tear you a new asshole. Embry shrugged.

You know, we're screwed if they do have a mind-reader among them. I had to wonder if with the collection of so many "talented" vampires, if they had someone who could hear our thoughts like Edward. If they did, all these little comments were going to get us slaughtered. I shrugged. We were going to die anyway. We might as well go out making fun of them.

Carlisle explained that we were all just here to witness. Well, I was certainly here to do more than just witness. I wanted to rip some vampire scum apart. Carlisle went on to explain about Nessie. Caius looked pissed. There was no other way to describe the look on his face except, "What the fuck?"

Caius ordered Irina over to where they were standing. She looked sheepish, like a kid being caught doing something they weren't supposed to be doing.

My mouth flew open in shock when Caius bitched-slapped Irina across the face. While Kate and Tanya hissed, I couldn't help but laugh. The big-mouthed whore deserved the hand-print across her fat, little face.

Caius started growling at Irina while pointing furiously at Nessie.

He better stop pointing that damn finger before I break it off, Jacob growled.

Easy, Jake. Embry tried to calm his fury.

Yeah, man, stay focused. Don't let those assholes intimidate you, Quil agreed.

"Is this the child you saw?" Caius snapped at Irina.

Irina looked around stupidly. Her tiny little vampire brain obviously couldn't comprehend that Nessie had grown so much. She desperately looked for another kid…because the clearing was obviously a children's day care center.

"I'm not sure." She sounded even more confused than she looked. "She's not the same, but I think it's the same child. She's changed. She's much bigger than the one I saw, but…"

Caius didn't let her finish as he snarled angrily at her. Apparently Irina's misconception had ruined his plans. Poor, poor disappointed vampire. There was going to be no easy fight for him today.

Aro, seemingly more rational than his brother, placed a hand on Caius to calm him.

"Be composed, brother." He explained that even though there was a misunderstanding, things could be worked out. He asked Irina to show him what she meant. She extended her hand and he read her thoughts. Five seconds later, Aro told Caius that Irina was telling the truth.

I saw Carlisle relax. We had caused them to pause. This is exactly what we needed to happen. Now, it was going to be about how well we could defend ourselves against accusations that the Volturi would surely come up with.

I wasn't surprised when Aro wanted to hear the story directly from Edward. That was actually a very smart move on the Volturi's part. Edward would not be able to censor his thoughts from Aro. Aro would know everything. I cringed at that. He would know all of the wolves thoughts as well. I suddenly smiled as I made sure that I thought very loudly how much I despised these freaking Nazi vampires so that Edward would overhear me.

Make sure he gets the message, Edwaaaad. I knew that now was probably not the best time to bicker with the leech, but I didn't care.

Edward moved forward to meet Aro.

"Be careful." Esme's voice was barely audible. She obviously did not like the idea of sending Edward over to be slaughtered alone. She squeaked out a motherly cry. I wondered if my mom was going to react the same way when she found Seth and I missing this morning. She would know that this time was different. Even when we were running as wolves, we usually checked in with her.

I kept my eyes on the little short freaks. I wanted to smack the smug grin right off of Jane's face. She really annoyed me for some reason. She was probably just pissed because she never grew. Hell, Nessie was probably taller than she was. Short people have issues.

I heard Bella laughing quietly to herself. I glanced at her through Jacob's eyes.

Bells, what's your issue? he questioned.

She's finally lost it. Seth was sure.

Can't lose what you never had to begin with, I chuckled. I had to wonder what Bella found so humorous. She was standing across from a bunch of vampires that wanted to kill her and her daughter, and her husband was in mortal danger as he walked towards them. She must be cracking up.

I glanced back to Edward, who looked pretty damn cocky as he stood in front of Aro. He picked a hell of a time to grow some balls.

As Aro extended his hand to touch Edward's, I noticed the Volturi tense up. I guess they were afraid of us. Good, they had a right to be. I laughed my ass off when Jane showed her teeth. She didn't look threatening at all. She looked like a tiny Chihuahua trying to act like a 130 lb Rottweiler,

"Grr, I'm going to kill you."

"Not if I kick you like a football first." I envisioned how wonderful it would be to punt the short little vampire across the field and scream out "touchdown!"

I watched as Edward willingly shared his memories with Aro. The old vampire looked like he was about to orgasm out of his skin as he took on all this new information. It was a little creepy to watch. A few minutes later, Aro's eyes opened back up and he let out a sigh. Edward did as well.

I couldn't help myself. Was it good for you, too? I chuckled. Both vampires had probably come dangerous close to freaking jizzing in their pants.

"You have given me much to ponder, young friend." Aro obviously was not expecting the amount of information that Edward had shared. Aro glanced at Nessie and I saw Edward tense up. "May I meet her?" Of course the freak vampire would want to meet the half freak vampire.

Caius threw a hissy fit, demanding to know what was going on. There was something in his tone that reminded me of a child who didn't get his way. Aro quickly shut the big baby up and asked Edward again if he could meet Nessie.

Don't do it, Edward, Jacob begged. He didn't want Nessie to get close to them. He was afraid for her life.

Edward seemed reluctant as he responded, "Alright."

Jake was about to freak out, but I reminded him about Edward's gift.

He knows what they're thinking, Jake. He wouldn't put her in a dangerous situation. You know that.

Aro suggested that they meet in the middle. As he stepped forward with Edward, the guard was going to follow, but Aro waved them off.

"Perhaps you should bring a few members of your guard with us," Edward suggested.

What a moron. I couldn't help but wonder why Edward would want to bring more of these idiots close to his daughter.

Aro called his buddies Felix and Demetri. I think I'd heard Bella say once that Demetri was a tracker. So, he was like…the Bloodhound of the demonic world. I laughed. I could see Demetri running around their little castle on all fours, barking wildly,

"Woof, woof!"

"What's the matter, boy? Caius is being a douchebag?"

*Demetri whines and nods his head.*

I watched as the Bloodhound, his taller creepier brother, and the Albino leader walked to the center of the snow covered field.

Edward encouraged Bella to bring someone with her. She looked around, trying to decide who to bring. Her eyes did stop on me for a spilt second, but I think we both agreed that might not be a good idea. I didn't have the best temper in the world. Of course Jacob was her first pick. He would have been pissed if she hadn't chosen him. I could see the guard's resistance as she announced that Jacob was one of her choices.

Yeah, suck it, you Nazi bitches. Quil smirked when Bella chose Jake.

I wasn't surprised by her choice of Emmett either. Emmett was stoked. While both Bella, carrying Nessie, and Jacob walked gracefully towards the center, Emmett bounded out to meet the Volturi with energy. He was like a big wind up toy that you could never get to shut off.

They're really eyeing you, Jake. Embry noticed as he glanced at the guard. We could see that they didn't approve of us being here. Well, they could just go to hell and die.

"Interesting company you keep." Demetri glanced at Jacob and then Edward.

Better than the morons that you hang out with. They look like they're about to drop dead, Jacob growled.

That would actually please me quite a bit. I would love to see Aro and his stupid family dropping like flies.

I watched as the enemies greeted Bella. To my surprise, they gushed over how great she looked. Okay, were they here to fight her or pick her up with cheesy one-liners?

I heard them yapping about some gift that Aro had sent Bella. How thoughtful of him. "Hmm, I'm going to kill you, but here's a string of diamonds for the time being." This group of vampires was so strange.

I heard Jane hiss. I laughed again. If I really wanted to piss her off, I could lope over to pat her head. "Who's a good vampire? You are! Yes, you are! Would you like a blood-drenched cookie?"

Jacob tensed up when Aro asked to meet Nessie.

Edward, if he does anything suspicious, I'm going for his throat, Jacob warned him.

"Hello, Renesmee." Aro smiled.

I saw Nessie cradle against her mother uncomfortably for a moment, but then she took a breath and responded, "Hello, Aro." She really was a brave little thing.

Aro looked interested, while Caius looked terrified.

"What is it?" Caius hissed.

It's a talking duck, I said sarcastically. What the hell does it look like? It's a baby, you moron!

Aro explained Nessie's ancestry. Caius still didn't seem certain about her. Aro muttered something caustically about how they could hear her heartbeat. "Is she faking that as well, brother?" Yes, because it was so easy to fake a pulse.

I watched as Nessie bravely touched Aro's face to explain the situation further. The little halfling had guts. I wondered where she got them from. Certainly not from her wimpy parents.

After a moment, she pulled away and looked at Aro pleadingly.

"Please?" she asked.

What had she asked him for?

"Of course I have no desire to harm your loved ones, precious Renesmee," Aro assured her. I took a second to laugh at how weird a nickname "Precious Nessie" could be. Sounded like a horrible Nursery Rhyme.

Aro was a skilled liar. I think Nessie bought it. Like the entire army had come thousands of miles just to chat. Sure. I heard Maggie growl. I forgot we had the lie detector. Aro didn't seem concerned about Maggie's hiss as he glanced at Jacob. I tensed up, ready to fly across the field and help my Alpha if he needed it.

"I wonder…" Aro smiled delightfully.

Edward cut him off immediately, "It doesn't work that way." Aro continued to look at Jacob, and his eyes wandered to us. I begged him to make the first move. I'd rip his arms off before he had a chance to respond. "They don't belong to us, Aro."

Damn straight! That's why Aro was looking at us? Because he wanted to adopt a puppy?

Go to the pound if you want a dog, you psycho.

"They're here because they want to be," Edward continued to explain our presence.

And because we want to tear a chunk out of his pale ass, Jacob rumbled.

Aro didn't miss Jacob's hostility. "They seem quite attached to you, though. To all of you. Loyal."

I wouldn't have gone that far. I sure as hell wouldn't sleep at the foot of their bed every night.

Edward let out a low growl to defend us. "They're committed to protecting human life, Aro. That makes them able to coexist with us." He paused. "But hardly with you."

Yeah! You tell him, man! Seth barked out an approval.

Aro continued to look at us, intrigued. If he kept glaring at me like some moronic person hypnotized by a shiny object, I was going to gouge his freakishly ugly eyes out.

"It could never work." Edward showed his teeth to Aro. I felt like I was in an alternative universe. I'd never thought I'd see the day where Edward Cullen would defend a bunch of werewolves.

Why does he keep eyeballing us? Jacob glanced at Edward.

"He's intrigued with the idea of…guard dogs," Edward muttered.

Did we look like German Shepherds to him? I grumbled quietly.

I'm about to "guard" my claw across his chest, Quil snapped.

We weren't the only ones pissed off. Everyone in Sam's pack snarled angrily. I'm sure Paul had some interesting words coming out of his mouth. Sam shut them up pretty quickly.

That was the last thing Aro said about us. I guess he got the message when we shook the ground with our disagreement. He took a moment to glance at all the faces glaring back at him and then went to confer with his brood.

I almost swallowed my tongue when the guard moved forward. What would their next move be?