Step, step right over the line

And on to borrowed time

When it's life, not waiting to die

Waiting to divide

"Borrowed time"

-A Fine Frenzy

Chapter 57:

Alright, let's get it over with

I watched as Edward, Emmett, and Bella quickly did some backtracking towards us. Jacob stood his ground, growling angrily at Aro. Nessie reached out and grabbed his tail. I had to chuckle. Instead of Jake being the one doing the whole "whose got your nose" bit that most adults liked to torture children with, Nessie was doing a "whose got your tail" game. She held on tightly, not wanting to let go. She wanted Jake to retreat with her family. He was part of her family.

As they backed away, I watched the Volturi drifting closer to us. They stopped where Caius and Aro stood, arguing about their differing views. Caius was pitching a fit about Aro's patience. The guard watched, murmuring things amongst themselves. I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but I imagine it was something along the lines of, "Why the hell are we following these douchebags?"

I heard Caius mumble something about us. "The werewolves…" and then he babbled on about "children of the moon." What a moron. It was daylight out. Did he think we were bred out of bad horror movie wolves who had to have a full moon to transform? This guy was a real dumbass.

Edward defended us, yet again. He explained that we were nothing like the wolves they had seen before.

"They aren't even werewolves."

Okay, now he's lost it. I rolled my eyes. If we weren't werewolves, then what the hell were we? Labradors?

Aro surprised me when he fielded the question. "Though the creatures think of themselves as werewolves, they are not. The more accurate name for them would be shape-shifters."

Hmm, well, I never would have thought of that. But the creepy-ass vampire had a point.

"They know our secret," Caius whined. Oh, boo freaking hoo. Wah, wah. Get over it.

"Specious allegations get us nowhere." Aro cautioned Caius not to jump the gun and accuse us of this. Translation: find another reason to attack and kill them. And so he did. Caius snapped his head around and demanded to speak to Irina.

Here it goes. I was sure this would be the thing that started the war. He was going to use the Denali's closeness as a way to try and tear our side apart. They were going to use Irina as a pawn. I couldn't honestly say that she didn't deserve it. It was her fault.

Irina was still staring at her sisters on the front line. She did look regretful. Caius yelled at her and she turned to face him. The phrase "Oh, shit" was written all over her face.

"You appear to have been quite mistaken in your allegations," Caius snarled.

Obviously, Embry muttered.

I was too busy watching Kate and Tanya to say anything. I could hear the protective growls rumbling in their throats. Aro wasn't as quick to judge Irina as his hotheaded brother. Of course, he was probably just trying to play the "good guy" in their twisted plan. I could even see them planning this in their castle.

"Okay, you play the bad vampire and I'll play the good one"

"But I don't want to be the bad one. I wanna be the good one. You always get to be the good one. You never let me get my way! I'm telling mom!"

"Fine, you be the good one." I managed to make the entire pack chuckle at that.

Caius accused Irina of being pissed at the Cullens because they wouldn't let her kill us after the pack ripped apart Laurent. She needed to stop beating that dead horse and get on with her life.

"So the Cullens sided with the shape-shifters against our own kind," Caius said loudly for the entire guard to hear.

"I'd hardly call us the same," I heard Edward mumble.

You got that right, mind-reader. Your family annoys me, but they don't even come close to the kind of scum that these jackasses are, I grumbled.

"Would you like to make a formal complaint against the shape-shifters and the Cullens for supporting their actions?" A smile escaped Caius's lips.

Ah ha, so that was his plan. Have Irina complain so they could try to justify their attack. I glanced at Irina as she stared at her sisters. Though she annoyed the hell out of me, I couldn't deny that I saw love for her sisters in her eyes.

"No." Irina shook her head. I could have passed out from shock. She wasn't going to use this to her advantage? Color me surprised. She sighed, "I have no complaint against the wolves or the Cullens." She went on to explain that she misunderstood about Nessie and she jumped to conclusions that she wished she hadn't.

Caius looked pissed, but suddenly his face became serene as he flashed some kind of signal to the guard.

I knew what the signal meant. I think everyone else did, too, but we could do nothing but stand by and watch in shock.

Embry was the only one of us able to mutter out a response, Holy shit.

Three Volturi soldiers ripped Irina to pieces. I immediately turned to Kate and Tanya. The grief on their faces was unbearable. Vampire or not, I felt bad for them.

Caius grinned smugly. He looked like a three-year-old that had just gotten his way.

"Now she's taken full responsibility for her actions." He set her remains on fire.

Edward, Jacob whined uneasily as he looked at Kate and Tanya.

"On it." Edward was already moving to grab Tanya as she leaped towards the Voturi in anger. "Stop them!" He cried out for someone else to grab Kate. By this time, Carlisle had his arms around Tanya to help Edward restrain her.

Carlisle's voice was calm and serene and full of pity, "It's too late to help her. Don't give him what he wants."

Kate was livid. She shocked everyone who tried to get in her way. Any other time, I would have sat back and enjoyed the show. She knocked Rosalie off of her feet first. Seeing Blondie on the ground was a bit satisfying. Emmett was the next person to go down as Kate tore forward. He twitched on the ground like one of those rednecks on Cops that had been tasered for trying to run away with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

Well, this was it. We were screwed. I had to chuckle. I always thought that it would be my temper that would get us killed. Guess I was wrong.

Kate's screams of agony made me cower down. They reminded me so much of my own mother's cries after my father died. The look of grief on her face was the exact same mask my mom had the night she broke down in front of Seth and I. I shifted uncomfortably.

I noticed Garrett running towards Kate.

What's he doing? Seth questioned curiously. He's just going to get electrocuted.

Something crossed my mind. I knew what he was up to. I think that's his plan.

Garrett tackled Kate to the ground, receiving a nasty shock on the way down. But he didn't let her go when she shocked him. He clung to her tightly.

Garrett's distraction gave Zafrina time to take away Kate's vision. She did the same to Tanya. It pissed both of them off, but there was nothing they could do about it.

Garrett spoke softly to Kate, "If I let you up, will you knock me back down again, Katie?" How was he resisting her shocks? The only thing that could keep a vampire like Kate from getting her power through to him would have to be…

It was Bella. I looked at her. She had that same look of concentration on her face that a baby had when she was taking a crap. She was projecting her shield. My jaw dropped in shock. The whiny runt had come through.

Carlisle, forever the peacemaker, tried to convince Tanya and Kate that this was part of the Volturi's plan. They wanted us to attack so they could kill us. He was thinking about everyone out here. He didn't want anyone else to get killed. Carlisle was the first saint vampire I'd ever had a chance to meet.

"My sister…is dead," Tanya cried.

"I know," Carlisle sighed. "I'm sorry."

After a moment, Tanya finally stopped fighting back. She leaned into Carlisle and let out a sob. This was a lot sadder than I thought it would be. I didn't think I would care so damn much. The concern I was feeling made me irritable. I didn't want to feel sympathy for any more vampires.

Seth tried to calm me down. You're only human, Leah. Of course you're going to feel sorry for them.

But they're vampires, I rumbled unhappily.

Yes, but they have good intentions. Seth nodded.

I looked at the surrounding vampires and muttered a cuss word under my breath. Seth was right. Not every vampire here was evil. Certainly the Cullens and the Denali clan warranted my sympathy. I looked at Kate and Tanya and let out a sigh.

Kate was shivering, but not because of her electricity. She felt the grief of losing her sister. Garrett did his best to comfort her.

"I want to annihilate them, Carlisle," Tanya snarled.

"We mustn't do anything too rash, Tanya. You know that." He was speaking so fast that I could barely pick up on what he was saying.

She sighed, "I do."

I glanced at Garrett and Kate, who seemed to be in their own little world. Garrett was back on his feet with his arms still wound tightly around Kate.

"It's gonna take more than one jolt to get me to let go." Garrett squeezed Kate tightly. "Come on, give me all you got." He tried to take her mind off of the fact that her sister had just been killed right before their eyes.

Kate whimpered something. It sounded like "Thank you," but I wasn't sure.

My focus was drawn back to Aro as he mentioned we needed to get back to the matter at hand. The matter at hand was that he needed to kill us before his guard got wise to what he and his brothers had been doing all these years. As weird as it sounded: vampire genocide.

Aro asked to speak to some witnesses. Oh, so now they were going to listen? Jackasses.

He spoke with Amun first. Amun was cold and rigid in his responses. He told Aro in a straight-forward manner that Nessie was Edward's and Bella's kid. The Volturi already knew that. How about he tell them something useful?

Aro smiled at Amun and then glanced at Nessie. "Do you believe she should be allowed to live?"

That's it, I'm going to tear him apart, Jacob snapped.

Jacob's growl was echoed by half of the vampires on our side. This hissing business they did was really stupid. They sounded like a bunch of retarded snakes.

Amun quickly told Aro that Nessie wasn't dangerous and then he asked if he could leave. So, he and Kebi were going to be the first to pussy out on us? No surprise.

Siobhan was next on Aro's list. He glided over to her and tried to work his thousand-year-old charm. It looked like a 102-year-old man trying to seduce a woman who was clearly too young for him. He was like…Hugh Heffner...as a vampire. It was gross.

"Renesmee understands the limitations. She's no danger to humans. She blends in better than we do."

Wasn't that the truth? Nessie had never weirded me out as much as Bella and Edward. Besides, she looked, smelled, and acted human. So what if she was genius who could take down a deer that outweighed her by thousands of pounds at five-months-old?

Aro pushed Siobhan to find something wrong with Nessie's existence, but Siobhan refused. Edward growled angrily at Aro. I saw Garrett let Kate go. She was ready and willing to shock if necessary.

Siobhan looked confused as she answered Aro, "I'm afraid I don't follow you."

"Just because there is no broken law does not mean there is no danger."

Please. I rolled my eyes. We were fine and free of danger until you and your little "posse" showed up. No way that Nessie was dangerous to humans. Deer...maybe. But she would never hurt a human.

Aro then tried to convince everyone that Nessie was some kind of horrible monster that was going to take over the world or some crap. I wasn't really paying attention to him. He babbled on about some supernatural race of humans that might be able to destroy vampires in the future. Hell, if they existed, I might just have to look them up.

"No one knows what this child's future holds…" Aro continued his rant.

Loads of therapy. I was certain.

Aro went on to whine about how "the unknown is bad" and yada, yada, yada.

"Oh, we must fear what we don't understand."

"Eeek, oh my God. Change! Change is so scary!"

"We mustn't let anyone be better than we are!"

Even Carlisle rolled his eyes at Aro's ridiculous fears. "You're reaching, Aro."

Totally reaching, I agreed.

Aro raised his hand peacefully. I was getting tired of seeing that fake, "let's be friends" shit. But before I could voice my anger, Garrett spoke up.

I watched with a smile on my face as Garrett ranted at the Volturi's witnesses, accusing them of following a bunch of controlling tyrants. He spouted at them angrily as he pointed out what the Volturi was trying to do.

"Witness as they seek flimsy excuses to continue their true mission."

Garrett was a lot cooler than I had given him credit for. I liked the fact that he wasn't afraid of anything. Of course, that might not help us here today because I think the Volturi were going to rip us to shreds no matter what.

Garrett went on to point out the difference between Carlisle's "family" and Aro and Caius's "coven." He explained that the Cullens actually loved and respected one another, as a true family often did. Garrett's rant would have been really impressive…if anyone had been paying attention to it. Aro just watched in amusement as Garrett explained to the guard that the Volturi just wanted to destroy the Cullens because they didn't understand their way of life. He accused the Volturi of being power-hungry assholes…my words, not Garrett's. He ended by simply saying that he would fight for the right to be free.

I felt like I was watching a war movie. "You may take our heads, but you'll never take our freeeeeedom!"

Aro's expression changed when he realized that his witnesses were taking Garrett's words to heart. I laughed when I saw the "uh oh" flit in his eyes. He let out a nervous laugh as he called Garrett his "revolutionary friend."

Garrett took offense to that. "Who am I revolting against, I might ask?" He rolled his eyes. "Are you my king? Do you wish me to call you 'master?'"

I think he wants you to lick his toes, too. Jacob huffed out a laugh.

Ew. Gross. They're probably all shriveled and…old. Seth shuddered.

A grin formed on my face. Just like…

...Sam's dick. We know. You're still pissed at him. We get it. Quil rolled his eyes. Wow, was I really becoming that predictable?

Aro explained that he hadn't meant anything derogatory, he had just been referring to Garrett's patriotic nature.

Aro then faced his witnesses and asked any of them were dumb enough…I mean 'brave' enough to step forward to speak their mind.

A tiny black-haired woman was the first to speak up. She sounded taken aback.

"Are those our only choices? Agree with you or fight against you?"

Sure sounded like Hitler to me. The only good thing about Adolf Hitler was the fact that he was dead. Hopefully, Aro and Caius would be joining him soon.

Aro assured the little vampire, Makenna, that she was free to leave. Her mate explained that Garrett was right in everything he had said. Like Maggie, he too was a human lie-detector. Ha! Busted! They took off shortly after that.

Aro then tried to rev his troops up for a fight. Oh, this is what I had been waiting for. Time to get out twenty years worth of pent up anger. I couldn't wait to rip apart these leeches. I could barely contain my energy as I watched the three brothers grim chatting quietly about their next move.

My mind was quickly drawn to Jacob's attention. I saw through his eyes as Bella hugged Nessie tightly and told her she loved her.

"You remember what I told you?"

"I love you, mommy." She nodded with tears in her eyes.

Jacob was staring at Bella curiously. I think I figured out her plan a split second before he did. This had been what Bella was being so secretive about. She knew that in the event the battle took this turn, the only way for Nessie to get out of it safely was Jacob. She couldn't say anything to anyone because the mind-reader would know, and Aro would have seen it in his thoughts. This was probably the smartest thing I had ever seen Bella do. Hell, it was the only smart thing I'd seen her do.

Bells… Jacob whimpered.

"Wait until they're totally distracted and then run with her. Get as far away from this place as you possibly can. When you've gone as far as you can on foot, she has what you need to get you in the air," Bella said quietly.

Jacob was completely stunned. For some reason, I wasn't. That crazy bitch would do whatever it took to protect her child. She'd almost died for her. Having a werewolf running her daughter halfway around the world was nothing compared to that. Though, I had to wonder what someone might think if they stumbled upon that sight. "Oh, honey, look…there's a tiny little midget riding a giant bear."

"This is what you kept from me?" Edward was obviously not in on the plan. He didn't look angry. He looked broken-hearted. "Alice?" So, this had been a part of Alice's plan all along. She had been at Bella and Edward's cabin the day she and Jasper disappeared. And now I knew why.

I won't let anything happen to her. I swear. Jacob nodded at Edward and Bella.

"I know," Edward responded. "You're a good friend, Jacob Black."

I rolled my eyes and then snorted out hysterical laughter. Edward was such a cheeseball.

Nessie crawled on to Jake's back and cuddled against him tightly. She settled in between his massive shoulder blades.

Bella told Jacob she knew she could trust him to get Nessie to safety. Honestly, she couldn't have chosen anyone better for the task. Jacob would do anything for Nessie, and he would die before letting something happen to her.

I can't just leave you, Bella, Jacob whined. He glanced nervously at her and then nuzzled his massive head against her granite shoulder. I…I love you.

"I know." Holy crap, did she understand what he was thinking? I watched in shock as she quieted her voice and kissed the top of Jake's head. "I love you, too, Jake. You'll always be my best man."

That did it. Jacob started blubbering like a baby. I felt a lump forming in my throat.

Edward leaned against Jacob. "Goodbye, Jacob, my brother…my son…"

Okay, lump gone. Had Edward really just said something that cheesy? What was this? A bad soap opera gone wild? Had he really just called Jacob Black his son? Did he know how messed up that was? How unbelievably corny that sounded? Wow, just…wow.

I heard Carlisle sigh that there was no hope. He didn't sound afraid. He'd accepted it. I glanced across the field to the cloaks of vampires staring at us. I looked at everyone tentatively saying goodbye to their loved ones.

Leah… Seth sounded sad.

Don't say it, Seth, I warned him.

I love you, he said.

We're not going to do this. We're not going to say goodbye. This is not over. I glanced over at Embry, who had drifted by my side. He didn't say anything. He just stared at me. I sighed, I suppose you want to say goodbye with a kiss?

We could kiss, but it doesn't mean goodbye. Embry sounded confident that we would make it through this. You're right. This isn't over yet.

I didn't understand how he could be so optimistic. I was just doing my best to not accept the inevitable. I wasn't going to go down without a fight, though. And at best, maybe some of us would survive. I looked at Jacob and Nessie. They had the best chance of making a clean getaway.

Jake, I've got your back, man. I stepped forward a few feet. Get the little tyke out of here and never look back.

I don't know if I have the strength to leave you guys, Jacob admitted.

We'll be fine. I lied. It's a good thing Maggie couldn't read our thoughts. She would have completely called my bullshit there.

Leah…

You know me. I'm stubborn, I said sternly. I'll make sure no one follows you. I've got you covered.

Yeah. We can take care of it. Embry stepped up next to my side.

Do it for Nessie, Jake. Think of what she means to you. I glanced at Edward and Bella and cringed at my next thought. What she means to THEM. I wouldn't deny that Edward and Bella loved their mutant spawn with all of their non-beating little hearts.

I…

Jacob Black, I order you to get your ass out of here. I paused. You made me second in command for a reason. Why don't you listen to me once in a while?

Thank you, Leah, he said breathlessly.

"If we live through this, I'll follow you anywhere woman." Garrett smirked at Kate.

"Now he tells me." Kate chuckled. I had to admit, their little rivalry was kind of cute. Garrett had probably been adorable when he was human.

All the goodbyes in the air ceased at once and everyone tensed up.

Alright you vindictive pieces of shit, prepare to die, I leaned forward, ready to attack.

Everyone else did the same.