Hey guys! We are almost at the end of this journey. I hope you guys have been enjoying it so far. I would love to see some reviews. And thanks to you guys who sent me a PM about the story. You all made my day!

Forty Three Mila

The sun felt good on my skin. It was warming and a much welcomed distraction. Embry was sitting on the blanket in the backyard. He laughed as he played with EJ. They looked so happy, we were so happy. This was what we needed after all the fighting and the running, this was what we needed. It was a much needed break. Jake and Nessie came around the corner, laughing carrying some plastic containers. Quill and Claire came around next. We were having the first dinner at our house. Claire laughed and held her hands out to Embry. He slowly passed EJ over then turned to look at me.

He started walking towards me and his smile got bigger. When he walked up to me, I took my normal spot. His arms went around my waist, warm as always, and his lips touched the back of my neck. I reached my left arm up and played with his hair. My right hand was on top of his hands at my waist. I turned around and looked at Embry, the sun shining in his eyes. The sounds of laughing and everything faded out. Embry looked down into my eyes and kissed my nose. Suddenly clouds came and covered the sun, the wind started to howl, and the rain started falling. Embry looked up and let the rain fall onto his face. The cold air started to swirl around me and I felt it in my bones. I turned to look for EJ but saw nothing but rain and heard wind howling. My eyes snapped open.

The room was dark and cold. I looked around but couldn't see anything. As I started to stand up, I noticed my wrists were tied with chains. The shackles around my ankles looked like they were from a movie set. I kept pulling but it was no use.

"Hello! Anybody…somebody help me please!" I screamed out. I didn't know if anybody could hear me but I knew this was bad. I tried to remember as much as I could. Embry and I were together and we were going to get free. The door was kicked in and then I didn't remember anything. I tried to pull my arms out but it was no use. I screamed out in frustration when I heard a latch. I stepped back and held my breath. I had no idea who it was coming in the room. My heart sunk when I saw it was Sabrina. She smiled as she stepped into the room.

"Oh you're awake, finally. I was worried you would die before we had could have any fun," she said to me. She walked over and unlocked the shackles. Her cold hand yanked on my arm and she dragged me out the room. We were in a basement; it looked like the same basement we had left before. "What is going on?" I asked her. Sabrina yanked me across the basement and led me up the steps. We went through the house. Sabrina was ignoring my questions. As we got closer to the garage, I started to pull away. I knew if I went in there I was never going to come out. My feet were dragging on the floor and I kept pulling back.

"Sabrina…please don't…let me go!" I started crying. I was about to beg her again when I heard the distinctive growling of a wolf. It was so close. Sabrina opened the door and I'm sure I would have fallen to the ground if Sabrina wasn't holding my arm. I tried to run over to them but Sabrina pulled me back. Her hand covered my mouth and she had her arm wrapped around my chest. Embry's wolf and two other wolves were in the garage. Four vampires that I didn't recognize stood across the garage. One girl was standing slightly in front of them. She stepped closer to Embry and he growled at her. He tried snapping at her but the chains on his legs stopped his movement. Her first balled up and she punched Embry.

He fell to the ground. Another leech stepped up and I watched in horror as her foot left the ground. She kicked Embry in his ribs and forced him into the wall. I closed my eyes and tried to remember when Embry had phased but I couldn't. The last time I had seen him, he was human. When I opened my eyes I saw two of the vampires on him, pounding and kicking. I screamed into Sabrina's hand again and felt the tears start to fall. The other two wolves sat still, in the corner, not moving and not doing anything to help him! I didn't understand why. The first vampire that hit Embry turned and looked at me.

"Well hello there," she said walking over to me. She held her hand out to me. I didn't move. The vampires stopped punching him. Embry started to whimper. The blonde vampire who just said hello turned around and walked back in front of Embry. She turned and looked at the only male vampire in the room. "Let them see," she said to him. The hazy mist flew back into his hands. The blonde turned to one of the other females and gave a quick nod. She turned and looked at the other short girl in the garage. This girl moved her lips and said something to the other two wolves. I watched in horror as she walked over and put her hands on the back of their neck. She slowly led them over to the wall and they sat. She slipped chains around them and then stepped back. The blonde gave another nod and the short girl left. Suddenly the other two wolves started to growl and snap at the leeches.

"I have a present for you all," she said. Sabrina took her hand off my mouth and pushed me into the garage. They started to growl and snap and I could hear their paws scrapping against the ground. The snapping and snarling didn't intimidate the vampires. The blonde picked me up by my arm. "She isn't harmed and as long as you cooperate, honestly, she will not be. Are you going to turn back?" she asked them. They didn't say anything just snapped and growled for her. I closed my eyes and shook my head. This was just like déjà vu. Sabrina said the same thing to Embry when he first got caught.

"They won't change like that. Not while they are still angry and threatened by all of you. It needs to be just us in here. I can get them to change. I've done it before," I said to them. The blonde turned and looked at the other two vampires in the room. The man stepped up and looked at the blonde. He put his hand on her shoulder and leaned into her ear. I couldn't hear what he was saying but I knew he was saying something. There was a brunette vampire who wasn't dressed in thick cloaks like the other three were. She stood in front of me wearing a red wrap around dress with tall knee high black boots.

"You try anything and I will kill you."

"You don't have to worry about that. This one will do whatever she can to protect them. And they will never leave her," Sabrina said. The blonde nodded and they all walked out the garage. I stood up from the ground and slowly walked in front of them.

"Guys we can't figure out a way out if you all stay wolf." They all whined before I could see their body shaking. It wasn't long before I was staring at Embry, Sam, and Collin. I fell in front of Embry.

"We gotta stop meeting like this," he said with a small chuckle. I laughed at him too then hugged Sam and Collin. "What are we going to do?" I asked them. They all looked at each other as if they were sharing an inside secret. "What is it?"

"These aren't just any leeches Mila. It's Jane, Alec, Chelsea, and Hedi. They are all members of the Volturi guard. They all have special powers," Collin said. My mouth dropped in horror.

"What is the Volturi?" I asked them.

"They control all the leeches in the world. They set rules, take care of leeches who get out of control, whatever they want actually," Sam said "Jane, Alec, and Chelsea are the strongest."

"What can they do?"

"Jane can inflict whatever kind of pain she wants just by looking at you. Alec is the strongest one and he can deprive all your senses if he wants. And he's really dangerous because he can do it to more than one person. Chelsea can affect emotional relationships. She can destroy your loyalty to anybody."

"There has to be something we can do," I said to them.

"There is," Jane interrupted us "You can answer all of my questions honestly and maybe I won't kill you all."

Seeing their power up close was the most frightening thing I had ever seen. I watched in horror as Jane and Alec took turns using their abilities. Hedi would ask them questions. "Are you children of the night?" Embry's screams of pain rang out. "NO we're spirit warriors!" Collin yelled. Jane blinked and Embry stopped yelling. Embry started coughing. Collin looked at me then back at them. "Let her go and we will tell you anything you want to know." Hedi laughed at him.

"Then she would miss out on all the fun," As soon as she said that a whip came crashing down on Sam's back. He growled in pain. The whip came down again this time over Embry and finally over Collin. They all hissed and groaned in pain. Hedi stepped in front of them and asked another question.

"What makes you change?"

"Leeches," Sam mumbled out. "When there are leeches near our land we change."

"Why aren't you wolves all the time then?"

"It's called phasing. We can control it," Embry mumbled. I watched in horror and shook my head as I listened. This had to stop. If they kept this up, then they would learn everything they needed to know. They would learn everything and they would destroy everyone I loved. I had to do something. I looked around the garage for something, anything that could help me. My heart fell as I realized they cleaned everything out.

"How do we kill you?" Hedi asked. The guys all looked at each other before turning and looking at the vampires. The whip came down again. Hedi repeated the question. None of the guys said anything. Sabrina suddenly appeared with what looked like a dagger. She paused before slamming the dagger into Embry's shoulder. I screamed as I watched him scream out in pain. Sabrina pulled the blade out and walked behind Sam. She slammed the dagger down in his shoulder. I screamed out and tried to get up from where they had me sitting. Sabrina left Sam and walked over to Collin. She raised her arm and produced another dagger. Just as she was about to slam it down Collin yelled out.

"WE DON'T! We heal fast."

"Interesting," Jane said. She turned and walked over to Alec. When she leaned in and whispered in his ear, he turned and smiled at her. He held his hands out and I watched the hazy mist slid out. It went around the guys and they all started looking around.

"What the hell?" Sam yelled out.

"I can't see!" Collin said.

"Mila…Mila!" Embry said over and over. Jane turned and looked at me. AS she stepped over to me, she looked as if she was floating. She blinked and found my eyes. The heat started from the bottom of my heat. It rose slowly up my legs and to my waist. I could feel the sweat forming on my skin but didn't dare open my mouth. Jane blinked again and walked closer to me. She whispered into my ear.

"You can try to hold the screams in all you want. They can't see you but they can still smell you. They can hear your breathing they can even touch you. If I took you closer of course." Suddenly she yanked me up and dragged me over in front of the guys. Embry's hands started moving side to side trying to touch me. Jane turned her gaze back on me. Suddenly I felt as if I was being pulled apart. My insides were prickling and I tried to hold the scream in. Embry's hand found mine and he grabbed it up. As soon as he did, I let out a blood curdling scream. He quickly dropped it. The pain stopped and I started breathing hard in and out. "Mila," Embry hesitantly called out.

"I'm ok Embry. I'm ok guys," I said to them. But I knew I wasn't fooling them. My voice wasn't upbeat at all.

"Now I will ask you again," Hedi said stepping up "How do you?"

"That's enough," Jane cut in. She took a deep breath "For now. Alec." Alec dropped his hands and the mist disappeared. They seem to float back into the house, their capes slightly flowing in the wind. Hedi and Sabrina followed behind them. The door had just shut when the Collin came over to me. HE slowly put his hands on my face. I turned and looked at him.

"You're ok Mila. Everything is going to be fine."

"We need to get the dagger out of Sam's back," I said to him. HE looked at his brother and then back at me. I know that I should have been worried about myself but I couldn't. If the dagger stayed in Sam wouldn't heal right. Sam turned his back and took a deep breath. Embry counted to three before yanking the dagger out of his back. Sam hissed and kept taking deep breaths.

"Good thing we heal quickly," Sam said laughing. He took more deep breaths before laying down on his side. Collin was sitting against the wall with his head back and eyes closed. Embry turned back to me. He laid down next to me. I scooted closer to him. "I love you Embry."

"I love you Mila," he said to me. Embry kissed my nose and I turned my face upwards. When he lips touched mine, my body started to shake. It felt so good to have his lips on mine. I reached up slowly and rubbed his cheek. We stopped kissing and his forehead went to mine. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I listened to the pace of their breathing. A loud bang came from the other side of the door. We all turned and looked. We heard what sounded like a fight before the door was opened. Alice walked in with a smile on her face.

"Hello there," she said as she quickly walked over towards us. I heard the chains snap and felt Embry's hands grab me. He pulled me up to my feet and turned and freed Collin while Alice freed Sam. "We need to move now. Aro and Marcus are coming. We got Hedi. We couldn't find the others." She turned and the guys started running after her. Embry grabbed my hand and pulled me. I fell to the ground. Embry turned around and picked me up. I could feel him running through the house. As soon as we stepped outside, I could smell the sweet smell in the air. We were still running when I suddenly heard a loud bang.

"Shit," Embry said. We fell to the ground. Embry's arm went around me and pulled me close to him. I didn't know what had hit us. My ears were ringing and my head was hurting. I opened my mouth to say something when I felt fire in my throat. I opened my mouth and tried to scream but couldn't. Embry flipped us over so he could block me. I gasped for air as I watched him groan in pain. I opened my mouth to scream out when suddenly Embry stopped flinching. I looked past his head and saw Alice with her hands rapped around Jane's throat. Jane's hands went to her neck trying to get them off.

Embry jumped up and prepared for battle. His arms were shaking and he quickly phased. He let out a growl. He turned around and took two steps towards me when he was suddenly dragged away from me. Sabrina had her hands on his tail and was pulling him towards her. Jane somehow got away and turned around. Alice fell to the ground in pain. Embry had gotten free and started snapping at Sabrina. From the corner of my eye, I saw the hazy mist coming in. Alec was close by and I didn't know where he was. I looked at the mist; it seemed to be moving fast.

I reached in my pocket and pulled out a piece of the chain that had broken. I took a deep breath. "I love you Embry," I whispered before closing my eyes. I took the jagged edge and dragged it down my forearm. The blood slowly started to ooze out. I dragged it down the other arm. The mist stopped and I saw Jane and Sabrina look at me. It was just the distraction that Embry needed. His teeth latched onto Sabrina and pulled her to the ground. Alice grabbed Jane and took off. I blinked and before I knew it Vanessa stood in front of me. Her eyes were black and she pulled me close.

I didn't know where she came from. I knew pulling away would be useless. I could hear yelling and hissing. I wanted to say something back but I couldn't. The burning sensation was going up my arm. I groaned out and suddenly I was on the ground. I felt hands on my neck and some on my arms.

"Hold on Mila….Hold on….hold on Mila," Embry yelled at me. I wanted to tell him I would but I couldn't say anything. The burning was starting to come all over my body now. I opened my mouth to say to tell him when suddenly everything went black.