A/N: Thank you all for reading and for your thoughtful reviews, as well as your perseverance.

In our story, consequences continue to pile up, but after all the death and mayhem of the last chapter, I'm giving you guys a bit of a breather. In this chapter, our characters come to terms with what's happened and try to figure out how to proceed. Oh, and new complications arrive. Yay! Stay tuned!

Chapter 17

1 Taking care of the vampire corpses, the dead humans and wolves, the house – that was all easy. Fire had an amazing cleansing effect and, if controlled, was the best means of disposing of unwanted evidence, especially vampire and human remains. In this case, though, there were some problems resulting from the deaths in question. The dead campers and forest fires cropping up everywhere during the past week were weird and suspicious enough, but this? Five police officers dead, the chief missing, and not only that: they'd been on their way to search the house of a family that had caught the Feds' eye. All of them were now wiped out, the family was gone, and the house was in flames.

What was the first rule of being a vampire, well, a supernatural creature of whatever kind? Don't get caught. Yes, the house was burned, the corpses were gone, and the vampires overseeing this were veterans in disposing of evidence. Still, this was the age of information – the age of the internet. It wasn't possible to simply murder, burn, move away for a while, and trust in the fact that neither authorities, nor civilians had the capacity to prove anything, let alone do something about it.

In the twenty-first century, everything was different. Humans outnumbered vampires and whatever else might be lurking about by the millions. They had weapons of mass destruction. Hell, they had napalm. All they really needed was the element of surprise and a nice bonfire. Vampires alone were not nearly as invincible as they had spent millennia believing. That was one of the reasons many of the Volturi coven, including Demetri, advocated not only for a less homicidal approach to their daily conduct, but also for forging alliances with old enemies – if not that, then at least for making peace with them. It may not seem palatable to everyone, but it had become necessary. There was no way around this: either the vampires adapted to changing times, or they would eventually face extinction. Some would definitely argue that they deserved this due to their very nature, or that if they'd end up getting themselves extinct, it would be the logical extreme of evolution.

As he and Jasper took care of the house and the non-wolf corpses, Demetri tried to find solutions for the epic can of worms that had been opened with this fight today. The FBI would get wind of what had happened, of course, and would investigate. The media would pop up. People would grow aware of the fact that something strange was happening. Rumours would spread. Sites with sightings would pop up. Maybe someone would be able to upload a video of an actual vampire on social media, or livestream evidence that would then be impossible to get rid of. Humans would be more alert and motivated to prove the existence of the supernatural, especially if initially faced with ridicule.

Only one instant of carelessness, only one lucky break for a human, and the damage would be done. Exposure must be avoided at all costs, and yet, the more time marched on, the less likely absolute secrecy and obscurity became. What had been happening in and around Forks during the past few days hadn't helped, that was true, but the arrogance and the conspicuous prancing about of criminally stupid vampires such as the Cullens were the real problem, the actual reason why vampires and the supernatural would one day face general exposure.

In this particular instance there was, also, the collateral damage that was human loss and grieving relatives. This concrete case, for example, included the relatives of the deceased police officers. There was Charlie Swan's ex-wife to ask questions. There were friends and colleagues. There were the twenty-plus humans the Cullen vampires had drained amongst themselves. There was the way those humans had been killed and the way their bodies had been disposed of. There was the fact that there had been fires all over, buried remains, and that a prominent family was now at the centre of attention. People would remember that the Cullens had behaved strangely the minute they'd set foot into town. People would remember that the Cullens were not only rich and haughty and uncongenial, but generally odd and unpleasant. People would remember that the Cullens were physically weird, as well, that they stuck out like sore thumbs, that the kids were constantly skipping school, that they all kept to themselves, that they flaunted their wealth in everybody's faces. People would remember that Bella had displayed symptoms of severe depression after Edward had left her, that Charlie Swan had resented him for this. People would remember the wedding and Bella's mysterious disappearance. They would remember everything and they would not be the least bit inclined to take the Cullens' side in any of this, especially now that five of their police officers were dead and the Cullens looked very much responsible.

Now, Chez Cullen was in flames, most of them were dead, five police officers were gone, and Chief Swan was missing. If this didn't make the news, what would? It wasn't as if the locals were goldfish. Not even a year ago, Victoria and the new-borns had happened. Before that, she'd murdered humans left and right in the company of her nomad little friends. The locals had been afraid and clueless, which made them angry – understandably so. None of the murders had ever been solved. This was all suspicious as hell.

In fact, it was a bit of a miracle that none of this had made it onto social media yet.

This afternoon at the latest, Caius and his entourage would arrive here and decide everyone's fate. Demetri hoped that his clean-up job was good enough for government work, but even an entire Volturi cleaning crew would not be able to get rid of the colossal mess that had been allowed to spill all over the place. They needed to not only clean up and then get as far away from there as quickly as possible, but also to find the dhampir and its surviving guardians. They needed to contain this situation before the dhampir managed to contaminate even more innocents. This was absolutely vital.

Sam Uley had wanted to talk to Renée Dwyer about Charlie, arguing that she was already neck-deep in the supernatural and would find out about vampires and werewolves anyway, given the circumstances. Demetri, mindful of his promise to Leah, didn't mention that he'd be forced to kill anyone who found out the truth, but he did argue that Renée had no idea about the wolves. Even if she came to unsavoury conclusions, she'd never even start to guess about the wolves. When the question came up about how to explain Charlie's absence to her, or at least how to keep her away from the eye of the storm, the least favourite person around came up with a viable solution. Nobody liked it, nobody wanted it, but nobody had a better idea.

Once they were done taking care of business at the smouldering remains of Castle New Money, as Leah had dubbed Chez Cullen, the wolves collected their dead and left for La Push, as Bella, Irina, Demetri, and Jasper headed back into Forks in the rental car. There was, of course, the chance that neighbours might notice the not-too-pristine condition the stranger staying at Chief Swan's and the Cullen boy were, but it shouldn't make too much of a difference at this point. Keeping a low profile often went hand in hand with hiding in plain sight. Brazenly showing up at the chief's home was less suspicious than a simple disappearance. If they did not do something to scramble Renée's memories and make her less alarmed for at least a little while, even more unwanted attention would amass, and then, the spotlight might even find them.

Demetri, of course, was driving. "You're sure it'll work?"

"It'll work. It won't last, of course, but by the time the effect wears off, we'll be long gone. Besides, she'll have a really hard time separating reality from what she'll think of as dreams, so we're basically off the hook, there." Jasper, who was riding shotgun, ran his pale fingers through his sooty blond hair. "I need a shower and a change of clothes. Do you think Chief Swan would mind if I borrowed one of his patented Paul Bunyan outfits?"

It was hard to decide whether this nonchalance was admirable or despicable, so Demetri decided he believed it was a little bit of both. The condescension toward Charlie, however, was purely despicable. "No, I don't think so," he said, turning a corner and slowly driving down the street toward the Swan residence. "I'll need you to come with us when we hunt the child, and I want you to be-"

"Does 'us' include Miss Clearwater?"

"Yes, and you'll be civil with her," Demetri said, and cast a little look at the women, over his shoulder. "Anything else is out of the question." Maybe he used a sharper tone of voice than was needed, but Jasper's attitude did call for some kind of response.

"Naturally," Jasper said, good-natured, obviously ignoring the admonition on purpose. "Oh, before I forget: Bella, darling, please don't kill your mother. We have enough problems as it is. That would really be helpful to no-one."

"I didn't kill my dad," Bella replied monotonously, from the backseat. "I won't kill her."

"I can warp her perceptions and screw around with her emotions and memories, but at some point, she'll remember that she's supposed to be investigating your death and that Charlie went out to arrest my former coven members."

"If you can get her to fly back home and then have trouble remembering what was real and what wasn't, it'll be a huge help," Demetri said, parking the car directly in front of Charlie Swan's house. "She has no proof, has seen nothing, and will have big gaps in her memory. That should be enough to keep her safe."

"Should be?" Bella said.

"Should be. You two stay here until we have taken care of her. Then, come inside as quickly as you can, and as inconspicuously," Demetri said, already stepping out of the vehicle. He was in no mood for debates about potential future measures regarding human loose ends. Neither did he want to think about Irina's fate. She had been infected by the dhampir and was a liability. There was no way that he – or his superiors – would allow her to join the little hunting party. She might destroy everything, no matter how much she might want to help. Her intentions mattered nothing once the puppet-master that was the dhampir stepped back into the picture.

"All right, then," Jasper said, as he followed Demetri up the gravel path to the front door, "it's show-time."

"It is," Demetri returned lowly, as he knocked on the front door. "I just wish you weren't so giddy about it."

2 The shower that Leah took was epic. Usually, she worried about wasting water or energy, but right now, locked into her mom's bathroom and letting the scalding water patter down on her head, she truly and honestly had zero fucks to give. She was sitting on the tiles, knees pulled up to her body, arms around her legs, eyes closed. This was the best thing ever. It helped with the nausea. It helped with the pain. The closing neck-wound was still burning, sure, but it was healing quicker than it would on a human body.

The best thing about this was the fact that like this, in here, she could almost pretend that the last few hours hadn't happened. The last few hours? Hell, the last few months. Nothing bad had happened at all. Leah hadn't been forced via supernatural pack dynamic to defend a bunch of homicidal vampires. She hadn't sat by as those vampires had been responsible for several deaths, human and werewolf. She hadn't been useless as two of her friends had gotten murdered. She hadn't teamed up with yet another vampire in order to stop the ones her brother and one of her best friends were backing. She hadn't allowed said vampire to bite her, to contaminate her, to make it possible for her to fight her own brother. Her brother hadn't tried to kill her.

Her brother hadn't tried to kill her.

Her brother hadn't-

Her brother had tried to kill her.

Dear God, Seth had tried to kill her. He'd tried to kill her, and the worst thing about that? He'd almost succeeded.

The only reason she was still breathing was Evil Brit, the preppy vamp.

Oh, to hell with those stupid, snarky epithets. The guy had a fucking name, and he deserved to be thought of by that name: Demetri. Demetri had saved her life. He'd spared Seth's. A vampire had saved her from getting her head bitten off by her own damn baby brother. He was her friend, wasn't he? Yeah, he was. The thousand-year-old vampire was her friend while her little brother hated her guts and wanted her dead. How the hell had that happened? Well, it was actually easy enough to explain: vampires had returned to Forks and had activated an obscure Quileute werewolf gene. They had brought death and destruction upon everyone, had caused a demonic death-baby to be born, had eaten Jacob's mind and Seth's mind, had made Seth want to kill Leah, had made a vampire save her life care more about her than her brother who wanted to kill her kill her call her names tell her she was unloved want to kill her want her dead want to rip off her head want her dead gone finished over dead dead dead

Stop.

For fuck's sake. This bullshit was going nowhere. Jeez.

No. No, no, no. Oh, no. She was not going to screw herself over by obsessing over something that she couldn't change, something that wasn't even Seth's fault. No, she was not going to mentally harp on the fact that her de facto best friend right now was a fucking undead leech. More important things were going on than her own private little family drama, than her heartache (the dead boys Jared Embry and those little kids she knew them all of them dead kids children dead dead dead gone forever dead oh God), and she wasn't going to think about any of that, either.

Right now, she was just going to sit here in the shower, enjoy the hot water, and pretend that the world wasn't broken. That was what she was going to do, and she would do it until she couldn't pretend that she was able to switch off her thoughts anymore. Then, she'd snap out of it and trudge on like she always did. Sure, her heart was in sore need of being taped back together, and the rest of her body wasn't doing too hot, either. She'd do it, of course. Of course. She always did what she had to. She'd get up and shake off the pain and help the vamps kill the demon-spawn.

Then, she'd kill Jasper fucking Whitlock. It was the least of courtesies she could return him. If that thought wasn't enough to keep her going, then nothing was.

3 It wasn't easy for a large group of vampires to keep living in one place over a prolonged period of time. It was even harder to handle large amounts of money that way. However, with the right kind of subterfuge, it could certainly be done. The most important rules of successfully existing as an immortal could be simplified thusly: first, one must keep out of sight; second, one must try hard to avoid a paper trail. It was impossible to not leave any documentation, but with skill and patience, a vampire coven could keep out of the spotlight well enough. There was always some risk of exposure, of course, but if a vampire ruling body were to exist – and it had to – it needed some kind of leverage over its subjects. That leverage involved using human currency, human technology, and human rules of conduct.

For example, a vampire was physically capable of travelling by him- or herself without relying on human machines, powered only by her or his own strength. This vampire could traverse mountains, deserts or large bodies of water easily enough. This, however, took time and effort, especially if the vampire did not want to draw any unwanted attention to her- or himself. Therefore, it was much less time-consuming and risky to simply take an aeroplane to a far-off destination. Yes, this left a paper trail and it constituted a risk, but it was still less conspicuous than not trying to blend in discreetly. In the case of the Volturi, none of them travelled far unless forced to do so, and when it was more than one vampire, they usually opted to take a private jet and not a scheduled flight. The less contact one had with humans, the less likely exposure became. It was a simple matter of logic, and simple logic was always the best.

Caius himself was the only one of the three Volturi leaders who actually looked forward to travelling far and wide across the globe and basically jumped at every opportunity to do so. These days, vampires all around were less inclined to try to set themselves up as rulers over human slaves, so there was less need for intervention than in the olden days, but that didn't mean that vampires all around had quit being stupid. Every now and then, some of them would get ideas of grandeur, mess up, and risk the revelation of their kind to the world. The usual approach would be to send one emissary to them – usually Demetri, who was best at tracking and at diplomacy – and make it known to them that they were treading on thin ice. If that didn't work, if a warning was not enough, the culprits would be brought to justice. It was a simple law; it was a law that worked. Still, so many of them seemed completely incapable of following this one rule: do not get caught. That was it, really. Everything else was an offshoot of that one simple little rule.

Now, the high and mighty, ever-growing Cullen coven had become a big enough threat to vampire secrecy to require complete annihilation. Caius couldn't say that he felt any sympathy for them. If he were to be honest, he would need to admit that the last time he'd ever felt any sympathy for anyone at all had been…when, again? Never. Not even as a human had he been particularly sentimental, and he'd only kept relevant human memories regarding his education and sense of propriety. That was something the Romans had truly exceeded in. Until this day, they were unparalleled in refined tastes and logical thinking and efficiency. Keeping that knowledge alive was important. It helped keep his mind focussed. It helped him remember what mattered and what didn't. Order was important. Discipline was important. He'd do whatever was necessary to keep that order. Everything else was secondary.

This little expedition required the involvement of more than simply one Volturi enforcer, but not too many. Private jet or no, the more vampires travelled together at once, the less inconspicuous they were. That, too, was logic. According to Demetri, the local brand of werewolves would attack the Cullens before Caius and his people had a chance to arrive, which would most definitely decimate both sides. Also, as the last update had uncovered, the Cullens' precog was blind due to the dhampir's presence, which was helpful. However, there were still certain risks involved, and prancing onto the scene bursting with self-confidence was never a smart move.

Certain precautions had to be taken, such as one's choice of companions. Caius had wanted to bring both Quirina and the other Roman bodyguard the trusted with his life, Lucius Cornelius Felix – nowadays only referred to by his cognomen. However, Aro had pointed out that when a dhampir was involved, it was best to bring out the big guns. Therefore, Felix stayed at home, whilst the twins were asked to join Caius, Quirina, and Chelsea. Taking care of business should not require much time. There were the Cullens, of course, who needed to be killed, and the dhampir, who needed to be collected.

Then, there were the wolves. These were not the same werewolves that Caius knew. They could transform on a whim and retained their human intelligence whilst in animal form, which made them both more and less dangerous than their moon-bound cousins. They also only existed as wolves to counterbalance vampires, which made them a vampire's natural enemy by definition – literally: they were creatures of nature where vampires were not. It was as if nature had had an allergic reaction to vampires, as it were. It was a rather laughable notion if put in so many words, surely, but it might actually be the case. Who knew? It didn't really matter. They needed to be wiped out, of course. They were by their very nature a threat to vampires, and a powerful one at that. Like a pathogen, they needed to be contained. There was no arguing that point. They would have to die. It was as obvious as the fact that it was always darkest before the break of dawn.

As soon as the jet had landed and they had cleared customs, they set out from Port Angeles to Forks by means of Demetri's preferred method of travel: rental car.

"It's been a while since I've driven one of these contraptions," Chelsea said, as she took a seat behind the steering wheel. When Caius stood by the Audi's passenger side door, a frown on his face, she leaned over and batted her long, dark eyelashes at him, smirking. "What are you afraid of? Losing the deposit if I crash the thing? Hop in, dear."

It hadn't been easy getting used to her casualness, but over the centuries, even he had managed. After adjusting the cuffs of his white shirt, he took a seat and carefully shut the door. "Funny, Charmion."

"I know you love me," she said, and started the engine before casting a look over her shoulder, at the people on the backseat. "Everyone good to go?"

"Yes," Quirina said curtly, all business. Now that was a person after Caius's own taste: blunt and direct and always to the point. Like him, she believed in the clear-cut beauty of Roman virtues. It was only one of the reasons he liked having her around, especially when he was apart from his wife. That was always the worst aspect of travelling, but what had to be done just had to be done. There was no way around any of it.

"We are," Jane said, sounding weirdly chipper. Well, she enjoyed travelling even more than Caius did and much more than poor, affection-starved Demetri ever had. "Brother?"

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," Alec replied, always the more verbose of the two, even if less emotional.

"Good," Chelsea chirped, setting the vehicle into motion. She briefly motioned at Caius. "Buckle up, boss. It's the law."

4 It was around noon when Demetri got a call from Chelsea, informing him that she and the others had arrived and that they were on their way to Forks. He quickly filled her in on the current events and then advised her to come to Charlie Swan's house, which was much less suspicious than cruising the woods right after the massacre. Like this, they could pretend to be Demetri's relatives, here to find out more about Irina's disappearance. Naturally, this alibi wouldn't hold up to close scrutiny, but it was enough for now; it had to be.

He was standing by the kitchen window, looking out at nothing in particular, running possible scenarios of upcoming events in his mind. Being over a thousand years old and having seen much in his life, he was certainly not an idiot. He knew that Caius, who was leading the Volturi party, would want the wolves eradicated. He also knew that Caius would want to see Irina, who'd been infected by the dhampir, dead. No-one who'd ever been touched by one of those things had managed to return to normal. That didn't mean it wasn't possible, though. Irina hated that kid and wanted to help find and kill it. She also had a very painful backstory involving an immortal child, and she'd always clung onto strong memories of being in love whilst human.

All of that might interfere with the unholy bond that tied her to the little monster. Didn't it at least mean that she might not be too far gone? Didn't it mean that there was still hope for her recovery? The least Demetri could do was advocate for temporarily sparing her, for taking her in and putting off the execution until the dhampir was gone. Maybe Irina would then be free of the compulsion. Maybe she wouldn't go insane. Maybe she wouldn't share the fate of all those that had come before her. Maybe there was no need to eliminate her at all. It was a long shot, yes, but there was a chance.

The sudden approach of Bella Swan had him snap out of his ruminations.

"Won't you be forced to kill my mother?" she said tonelessly, as she positioned herself to his left.

"Not if she doesn't find out that we're vampires, and I don't see that happening," he replied calmly. "She'll be suspicious of us, yes, and she'll have gaps in her memory, but there is nothing to connect these oddities to vampire lore at all. Even if, her recollections will be jumbled, and she'll not have any kind of proof." He glanced sideways at her, taking in her deadpan and emotionless demeanour. "She's quite safe."

"But not my dad."

Was there a point in lying to her? "No."

"If he's gonna die anyway, then what's the sense in taking him hostage? Jacob and Rosalie must know that your people will destroy any human who finds out about our existence." She had a point.

"They don't know that for sure," he said, turning to face her properly. She did the same. "I'm sorry, by the way."

"I am, too," she said, staring squarely back at him without even trying to pass as human. There was no need for that, and even if, she probably had no idea how to pull it off. "I lost control earlier, but even then, I didn't want to see him hurt. I pushed him aside and killed two of the others. Does that mean I still love him?"

"Probably," he said, even though he knew that this didn't necessarily have to be true. Sometimes, a vampire's compassion toward their human family was nothing but habit. He didn't know Bella well enough to come to any useful conclusion, though, and it would be wrong to plant the notion in her mind that she might be permanently unable to feel anything even remotely related to love. It was time to change the subject. "I need you to function if we are to catch your daughter and eliminate the threat that she poses. Are you up for that? I believe you're quite capable of guessing what will happen to you if you come along on this journey and fail." There was a time and a place to mince words; this was neither.

For a few seconds, she just returned his look impassively. Then, she nodded once, and said, "Renesmee is a threat to everyone. She can't survive. I understand that. I won't fail you."

"I wouldn't just be me you'd be failing," he said, watching her for reactions and getting nothing out of her expression or body language. "Since we're on the subject, there is another thing you must keep in mind: there will be no killing humans – not by you, not by Jasper, not by anyone. You can either comply, or I will end you without thinking twice about it. If you believe that you and Jasper can outmanoeuvre me, you should remember that I'm not the only tracker around."

"There's no need for threats," she said tonelessly, and turned to look out the window again. "We'll comply. We have no reason not to."

"Good," he said, still watching her. "Then we shouldn't have any problems."

5 The party from Italy arrived shortly afterwards. Bella had to admit that they elicited more curiosity from her than anything else that was going on. She'd met some of them before, as a human, including Demetri. Back then, she'd been soaking wet from her tumble into that Volterra fountain, afraid for her life, and extremely light-headed from being reunited with Edward. Basically, she'd been riding an adrenaline high the entire time, and still, she'd been so dazzled by the beauty of all those haughty immortals. She'd been so eager to join their ranks and be praised for her own beauty and extraordinary gifts.

That colossal joke aside, she was actually curious what the ancient one, Caius, would look like to her, now. As a human, all she'd seen was the superficial allure of those people. As a vampire, she saw beyond. If she wasn't careful, she was forced to see everything. It was almost funny, wasn't it, the fact that the thing she'd wanted the most was the one thing she couldn't even enjoy once she got it? Sure, there was a way of seeing the ever-lasting, unearthly beauty she'd craved as a human, but that always came at the cost of human lives. There was no real bright side to any of this – ever.

As if this were the most natural thing to do, whoever was driving the black Audi parked it right behind Demetri's rental. They exited the car slowly and carefully, actually looking sort of like human beings: the driver, a stunningly beautiful woman who was relatively short, curvy, and had long and dark locks; the three people from the backseat, of whom she knew Jane and Alec, but not the petite yet muscular, short-haired girl; the man riding shotgun, relatively tall and thin and blond and straight as an arrow – Caius. That was his name. Bella remembered him. He'd advocated for her death, back in Volterra.

The sky was overcast, so no direct sunshine hit what little of their skin was exposed, but Bella was pretty sure they were wearing foundation, anyway, just in case. Those people were, if Demetri was anything to go by, crazily prepared for any eventuality. Demetri was the one who opened the door and let them inside, leading them to the living room. They were joined by Irina and Jasper and then just stood there for a moment, sizing each other up.

Finally, Demetri said, "Did you have a good flight?"

"It was uneventful," the short-haired girl replied.

"Where's the human woman?" Jane said, looking about. She was out of those impractical robes Bella remembered seeing her in and in a very mundane shirt-and-jacket plus jeans combo, while her brother wore a sweatshirt and jeans. Everyone was in regular people clothes, actually, with Caius at the most formal, looking like a banker in his shirtsleeves and leisure suit.

"Upstairs, unconscious," Demetri said, sounding a little tense. He was in fresh clothes, too. They'd all showered and changed to get rid of the grime and blood and soot that had been covering them.

The curvy woman's eyes flitted over to Bella before returning to Demetri. "Introductions, dear?"

These were quickly taken care of. The curvy woman was Chelsea, the short-haired one Corin. Bella had a feeling that those weren't their actual birth-names. Not that it mattered. Not that she cared.

"You're the shield," Caius said, looking her up and down as if sizing up a pig for slaughter. He was exceptionally handsome with his sharp, aquiline, ascetic features and long, elegant limbs. Like Demetri, he wore a scarf. Other than was the case with Demetri, though, he was clearly trying to hide a huge, jagged scar. This was still somewhat visible as it covered his throat up to his jaw and the back of his neck. It didn't look like Jasper's scars, either, but more like something other than a vampire had tried to bite his head off.

"I'm immune to mental powers, but not physical ones," Bella said, returning his look unflinchingly. "That's all I know."

"And you," Caius said, locking eyes with a very relaxed-looking Jasper, "I've heard all about you."

Was that good or bad? Bella had no clue.

"Would you like a demonstration?" Jasper said, smiling sweetly. Bella had yet to see him nervous or shaken or apprehensive about anything. Like this, filled with so much living human blood, he was almost invincible. When Caius nodded once after exchanging a little look with Demetri, Jasper stepped forward deliberately slowly, reached out, touched Caius's arm, and said, "Sweet dreams."

As if someone had unplugged him, Caius went down like a sack of potatoes. His companions – well, all but Chelsea – flinched heavily, but stayed where they were when Demetri raised his hands in a placatory gesture.

A strange silence ensued, whilst everyone stared at the unconscious Caius in unmitigated awe.

"How long until he wakes?" Corin said quietly. She hunched down next to him and tenderly brushed some of his fair hair out of his pale forehead.

"If I just leave him like this, an hour, two at most," Jasper said, hunkered down, briefly touched Caius's ankle, and got to his feet again.

Caius's eyes flew open. He drew in a sharp breath and shot up, nearly colliding with Corin. He stared at Jasper, wide-eyed, completely stunned. Then, he shook his head, composed himself, and said, "I slept."

Jasper's little smile grew, actually reaching his eyes this time. "Yes," he said.

Bella could see how people found him obnoxious and insufferable, but she herself did not feel that way about him at all. To her, he was incredibly fascinating – everything about him, really, but his unperturbed nonchalance and how much at ease he was with himself most of all. Also, she could get behind his attitude. Would she be any different, were she that powerful? Remembering how it had felt like to be unconscious for the first time in months, she had to answer that question with a resounding 'no'. Jasper knew exactly how good he was and had zero intention of pretending otherwise. That was honesty, right there. Bella could appreciate that. She could appreciate it very much.

Caius's thin eyebrows shot up. "I hadn't slept in over two thousand years."

"What did it feel like?" Corin said, touching his arm, staring at him with something akin to worry. It was hard to tell.

"Like being human," Caius said lowly, as if he were having trouble believing what he'd just experienced. He closed his eyes for a couple of seconds and then focussed on Jasper again. "Demetri says you already helped our efforts and wish to continue doing so. Is that correct?"

"It is," Jasper said. In a flash, he was by Bella's side and placed a heavy hand on her slim shoulder. "The same goes for the lovely Miss Swan, by the way. If you want to enlist my assistance, I strongly suggest you enlist hers, as well."

The address was both technically wrong and a little bit sexist, but Bella didn't care a lick about any of that, anymore. She couldn't remember ever having cared about this kind of thing, anyway, if she were to be perfectly candid with herself.

"We could always use a good shield," Chelsea said, shrugging when all eyes were on her. "Yes, I know she doesn't know how to control her skill, yet, but all shields are able to project beyond themselves. Bella here won't be the one exception to the rule. Besides, we kind of need her to get rid of the dhampir. She could be of use with others of the kind, too, if she proves useful in this case."

Bella hadn't even pondered the possibility that the Volturi might still be planning to kill her. That made Jasper's little sales pitch oddly moving. He didn't need to do this, did he? Well, knowing him the way she did, he most likely had an ulterior motive, but it didn't really matter. He was someone this ancient Roman guy wanted on his team, and Bella was part of the deal. It wasn't as flattering as being courted solely for her own specialness (and knowing that 'shields' were a relatively common thing was even less flattering), but it was much better than being deemed redundant.

"Very well," Caius said, looking from Jasper to Bella and back again. "You will accompany Demetri and help him capture the dhampir and kill its acolytes. Once you've succeeded and he's deemed you trustworthy, you both may return to Volterra with him."

"Thank you," Jasper said, briefly bowing his head. "We won't disappoint. Bella, darling?"

"Of course not," she said, marvelling at how convinced that sounded. Was she relieved? Excited? Nervous? No. At the moment, all she could say with any certainty was that she felt sated and rested and physically at peace. It was better than nothing, in any case.

"Now, we must breach an equally important subject," Caius said, slowly turning to look squarely at Demetri. "Your new friends, the werewolves, and how I will personally kill every last one of them."