(EPOV)

We made it to the house fairly quickly. I went straight to the couch and sat down with Isabella in my arms. I had her body in my lap with her head resting on the arm of the couch. Jasper came over and put her legs in his lap causing her to whimper and me to let out an involuntary growl.

"I'm sorry Darlin'. I didn't mean to cause you anymore pain then you're already in." He said as he looked at me. I'm sorry Edward. I didn't mean to hurt her more. I think most of the damage was done to her legs and windpipe. What do you think? He thought to me. He was probably right.

I simply nodded. I didn't want to think about it right now. I just wanted Carlisle to hurry up with the damn blood. We'd all gotten more bites and injuries in the second fight then we did in the first. We were all thirsty, but she was our main priority. We'd deal with our own thirst once hers was sated. Finally Carlisle came in with 7 bags of heated blood. He handed them to us so that we could feed Isabella.

"Let me help you sweetheart. Just relax." I said as I ripped open the first bag and put it to her mouth. It was gone in seconds. I noticed she kept her eyes closed. I had a feeling it had to do with her eyes and my feeling was confirmed when Peter spoke up.

"Now Angel there's no reason for you to do that. We know you'll have red eyes. I think they'll look sexy. We ain't gonna judge you for em. " Peter said as he gently caressed her cheek. She raised one of her hands to my chest and wrote Tell him I know.

"She says she knows Peter." I told him as he nodded. Do you think she'll be able to talk soon? He asked in my head, but I honestly didn't have an answer. These types of injuries weren't very common even when you got your head ripped off. That type of injury fused back together quickly once the head was reattached and the vampire had blood in their system. Suddenly we heard a phone going off. My little mate opened her eyes panicked. She reached into her pocket to pull out her phone and I noticed it flashed Demetri's name.

"Do you want me to answer it Darlin'?" Jasper asked. She nodded frantically.

"Hello?"

"Who is this? Where's my sister?"

"This is one of your sisters mate's Jasper Whitlock. Is this Demetri?

"Yes, this is her brother Demetri. Where is my sister?

"We were attacked in La Push by Lucy and her newborns. Isabella was severely injured. We've got her drinking blood now as all of her limbs were ripped off, but her windpipe has been damaged. We don't know how long that's going to take to heal."

"Shit! I can't believe that bitch got a hold of her again. Is she dead at least?"

"I'm not sure. Our first priority was Isabella as I'm sure you can understand. Isabella had her limbs ripped off and burned before she was attacked so that's something at least."

"Yes, I can understand that. We need Isabella in Volterra. Is there any way she can come?"

He looked at Isabella who was nodding her head.

"Yes, she'll be there, but so will we. There will be at least 3 of us, maybe more."

"That's fine. The Volturi jet is in Boston. Can you make it there? I would advise not to take any commercial flights. Somehow they're all being monitored. We've lost several lower guard members already."

"Thank you for the advice. We will travel on foot to Boston and be in Volterra as soon as possible."

"Thank you. Please take care of my sister. Goodbye."

"Well, your brother doesn't have the best phone etiquette." Jasper said while chuckling. By this time Isabella had drank 4 bags of blood. She lifted her hand to my chest again to write. You three have the last please.

"She wants us to have the last 3 bags." I said as I looked at my brothers. We all nodded and downed the bags quickly. We knew Carlisle would be disappointed in us, but honestly this would make us stronger and we wouldn't be a target at this point, at least with the Romanians. If the Romanian's were targeting golden eyes then we needed to not fit the bill for the assholes.

"What are you three doing?" Carlisle asked as he came into the room. His eyes were wide and he looked alarmed by our red eyes. I knew this was going to be a hard sell.

"We are saving our own asses. What are the odds that this shit isn't going to get deeper and more dangerous? I don't know about the other males here, but I'm not going to take the risk of not being able to protect my mate against human drinkers again. You know we are weaker than they are. I don't see the problem of culling a few criminals on our travels." I said as I looked at my brothers and our mate. Maybe if we had been on human blood we could have protected her better. I'm sure Jasper could feel my guilt. It's alright Edward. None of us thought this would happen. You've got the right idea. I'm behind you 100%. Jasper said in my mind. I'm behind you Edward. We need to protect her. Peter said looking at our tiny mate.

"I agree with Edward. In the Southern Wars we were strong, but while the animal blood helps us retain our humanity and allows us to blend in it does not allow us to protect our mates very effectively against vampires that do drink human blood." Jasper said as he looked down at our mate. Her eyes were glistening with tears that would never fall. From his mind I could tell that she was feeling guilty. From her mind, that was once again open to me, I could tell that she thought she was causing problems within our family. I knew that she was wrong. So did Peter and Jasper. This was a long time coming. We loved our family, but something had to give with our diet since we found our mate and our world was going to war. We were soldiers and we would need our strength.

"Now sweetheart there's no reason to cry. Everything is alright. You have done nothing wrong. We are simply taking the actions that need to be taken to ensure we all survive. Once you're strong enough we'll have four very strong fighters that all have survived the Southern Vampire Wars." I said as I caressed our mate's cheek. She had to know this was true. I know. She wrote on my chest. I could hear her in my mind, but I think she liked writing it on my chest.

"Carlisle we love our family, but you have to understand what it's like feeling too weak to protect our mate. Especially for us after everything we've survived. If we had been on human blood Isabella would not have gotten hurt or at least not this bad. We're too weak like this. Animal blood is a great substance when you're not fighting, but like it or not all of us are going to be fighting soon. From what we could get from Demetri the supernatural world is going to be at war soon which means we'll be going up against vampires, shape shifters, demons, angels and Children of the Moon. This is going to be one hell of a fight and who knows when it will end or how it will end. We can get blood from blood banks and while we're on the road we can drain criminals. With Edward's mind reading we'll know who the scum of the Earth is. We used to hunt that way before we found the family." Jasper explained. I knew Carlisle wasn't going to like this and from his thoughts he was blaming Isabella and Demetri.

"This isn't their fault Carlisle. This is the Romanian's fault and possibly Maria's. We knew she'd come for us one day. Why do you think we trained you all to fight?" I said as I looked around the room at the rest of the family that came in.

"My coven will follow any advice the veteran's give us. Isabella has never steered us wrong before and I won't take her advice for granted now. I know Edward, Jasper and Peter would never lead us down the wrong path either. The path may not be the easiest one, but I know it will be the one that keeps as many of us alive as possible. We will follow their lead." Tanya said and her coven nodded their heads agreeing with her. She had a great respect for Isabella and so did the rest of her family.

"I don't know about you Carlisle, but I would like to stay alive and I would like my mate to stay alive as well. We'll be following any advice Jasper, Peter, Edward and Isabella give us." Emmett said as he brought Rosalie closer to his side. She didn't look thrilled, but I could tell from her mind that she would do anything to keep Emmett with her. She didn't want to see him get hurt the way Isabella had been hurt. She held sympathy for us because she couldn't imagine going through what we were going through right now.

Alice simply nodded. I had a feeling her mate would be a human drinker anyway and wouldn't allow her to be on an animal diet. She must have seen my decision to tell her this because she suddenly went into a vision. I know Edward, but I can't see who my mate is. She said in her mind as she came out of the vision. I simply nodded. Isabella knew who her mate was. She also knew who Charlotte's was as well. She had promised to play matchmaker when she got the chance. I had a feeling that Charlotte was mated to Felix. It just seemed logical. I'd have to ask her about it once we had some time alone. We need to go. Isabella wrote on my chest. I could see the urgency in her eyes. She wanted to be gone and soon. We also had the remaining shifters coming with us so that might slow us down somewhat.

"I know sweetheart," I said looking around the room. "But we need to get everything packed that we need to take. We need passports, IDs, money and blood. Isabella is going to need more before we reach the jet and I'm not sure she'll be able to hunt on her own." I said as I looked down on my mate. She was cuddled up on my lap and Jasper was running his hands through her hair as Peter simply held her hand.

"I've got everything packed Edward. We're all set." Carlisle said as he pulled Esme into his side. He still hadn't decided whether he was going to drink human blood or not. I know he was worried that if he tasted it he wouldn't be able to go back on animal blood once this was all over. He was questioning his control and honestly so was I. It was easier to resist something that you had never tasted before. Esme simply wanted her family to be safe and would do whatever it took to ensure that.

"Maybe it's time we stopped pretending to be human Carlisle. Maybe that's what this war is going to teach us. Don't get me wrong, I've loved living the way we do, except repeating high school all the time, but it is hard. We haven't been able to be ourselves for a very long time. Honestly, if we were on human blood we probably would have been able to resist it easier." Peter said as he got up and helped me to my feet since I had Isabella tucked into my arms. I maneuvered her onto my back and we all went out the door.

"This is going to be a long journey and we need to stick together. Buddy up and stay with that person. Obviously mates are going to stay together, but the unmated people need to have someone as well. Watch each other's backs even if the person isn't paired up with you." Jasper ordered and with that we took off into the surrounding forest with the shifters behind us watching our backs.