Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer is the creator of these intriguing characters. She and the filmmakers have made a fascinating and beautiful trilogy. I wish to borrow her background and add a plot twist of my own.

Chapter 16 – The newborns

Edward's POV

Once Riley had been put together and fed (thankfully my father has a good supply of donor blood) he told us about the strength of the enemy and what Victoria had planned for us. Once we all knew where we stood we built up a plan to terminate them once and for all.

Riley was thrilled at the thought of the oncoming fight and seeing his fierceness grow both Alice and I quietly monitored him the next four days to make sure he hadn't changed his chain of thought. But we felt his steadfast hate towards Victoria grow as he realized how she had set him up. We also registered his protective thoughts towards Bree which also seemed to be unwavering; and I realized that he actually saw Bree as a smaller sister. Both Alice and I were able to make a composition of her face to spread around our group so that we knew not to kill her.

Jasper had told and taught us how to defend ourselves against newborns because he had always feared a new confrontation with them. After all his horrific experiences in the past he was cautious not to let his guard down now that he had found his peace with our family and of course Alice. So all Jasper had to do now was pick up our training and help the Quileute tribe understand the mind and powers of the newborns just in case we did not succeed and they would have to defend themselves.

On the second day of our training with the wolves we heard an SUV drive up. We were all wary and the tribe hid themselves behind the trees. When the car came into view I heard Emmett's mind humming and signaled to everyone that it was ok as I shouted "Emmett is coming". We were all surprised but with all the minds singing around me I couldn't hear Rose.

Emmett got out of the car and looked at us with his typical self-assured smile saying "What's going on? Am I allowed to play too?" With this he broke the ice and everyone laughed including me but the Wolf pack stayed well out of view.

As soon as everyone had taken turns hugging him I looked at him asking "Where is Rose?" He looked at me saying "Apart from killing her you can't do much more to her than she hasn't done to herself. I have never seen her this way. She knows she can never make it up to you or Bells but when she heard of your coming fight she wanted to join. Not to ask your forgiveness, because she knows that can never happen but out of loyalty to the family and believe it or not, Bells. She knows that you are fighting for her loved ones and she wants to help."

"Where is she?" I repeated and then heard her timid voice behind me "I'm right here" and after a moment of uncomfortable silence she continued "Edward, will you please let me help?"

I felt trapped, I loved Rose I really did but my heart was broken beyond repair so I let out a halfhearted "OK"

The family understood my reactions towards Rose and tactfully nodded their greetings towards her, trying not to disturb the precarious equilibrium which surrounded our group. When all of a sudden I heard the surprise in Emmett's voice as he asked Riley "Who are you" and we all had to laugh.

After about a half hour the wolf pack cautiously stepped forward as we explained their involvement in our exercise.

The next 3 days we were drilled over and over again and when the fourth day had come we said our goodbyes to the tribe and hit the road, our destination the place that Riley had last seen the newborn. Once we had parked the car Riley jumped out and quickly began to follow the scent. We watched and shadowed him as he quietly followed the trail the newborns had left, our eyes on constant alert for any wayward members.

After a four hour run Riley stopped and held up his hand so that we all took his lead. He then whispered "We are getting close, the scent is becoming stronger. If I am right this is only half of the group, as you know they spit us up in two groups. I have found the other group and don't smell Bree anywhere so we can pull off a full-fledged attack. Before we attack I will stop so that we can gather but don't make a sound, we want to keep the element of surprise. With that said he took off and we followed close behind.

As he had said he stopped the moment he had the group in his sight and we gathered there. The group had stopped a car and was busy 'enjoying the company of its passengers'. The vampires were on a frenzy enjoying their meal and we looked at one another knowing that this would be the best time to attack now that they were occupied with their food.

We ran out of the bushes and attacked. The first four didn't even realize what hit them and the rest were in a daze. The ones that had eaten their fill were ready for the fight while others were still distracted by the smell of their victim's blood. There were about 20 of them just like Riley had predicted and after a vicious fight we were able to quickly turn the tide in our favor without the loss of any of our group.

We then lit a bonfire and threw the bodies in the fire watching the flames greedily consume them. It was now 1 am and we knew that it would be best to try and find the other group before Victoria knew what happened to this one. Knowing this Riley walked towards one of the unconscious car victims and began to feed and we couldn't object knowing that he needed the nourishment for our next fight and that this human was at deaths door. After Riley had fed he threw the last body onto the bonfire leaving no traces of the battle that had taken place except an empty car.

Riley came towards us and said that the other group was probably hiding out in the bay area since this was the routine. So we followed him while he worked his way through the forest. The animals were quiet as we ran through their territory but sometimes I would see something rustle in the distance. We had decided that the time was too short to feed so that with the exception of Riley, who was still recovering from his stay at the Quileutereservation, we made no attempt to do so.

It was a 3 hour sprint before we arrived at the bay front. This was never a safe place for normal humans but now it was downright treacherous and it seemed, by the scene stretched out before us that someone else had found this out. There were 6 humans and they were firing their guns at the vampires looking in horror as they realized that the bullets had no effect. We watched this play itself out hoping to catch the vampires in a feeding frenzy, their most vulnerable moment.

When the newborns began to feed we attacked. This time we were confronted by a couple of large newborns who seemed to be ready for the attack. As my father, Emmett and I went for them the women went for the feeders. Luck was again at our side as the feeders were too sidetracked by the smell of blood to be able to concentrate on their fighting. Japer and Emmett were busy fighting with one of the larger vampires and I noticed Rose getting cornered so I attacked one of the two allowing her room to attack the other. As I saw Alice dancing over one of her attackers I noticed a vicious looking vampire closing in on her but his path was quickly crossed by Jasper who in his ferociousness was able to hit off the man's head with one blow. I then saw the girl Bree her mind in a panic as she watched the fight around her. The battle was slowly winding down and I saw Riley run towards her in an attempt to calm her down. Just before he got to her I saw someone come out of the shadows. It was a small malicious looking female and before anyone could stop her she held Riley in a bear hug as she tried to break his spine. I ran towards the pair followed by my father and as she held onto him we pulled her off and Esme jumped up taking her head off with one snap. Riley's spine was broken but it would heal and in the meanwhile Bree snuck off and started to feed on the humans and by the look of her it was the first decent meal she'd had in weeks.

We then gathered the bodies and cleaned up the area as we had done before; all of us happy at the outcome of our battles. I looked at my father and said "Now that we have gotten rid of the newborns the time has come for us to rid ourselves of their maker" We knew Victoria would find out about her defeat soon enough and we had to make sure she didn't disappear. With that in mind we took good care of Riley and Bree.