Hello again, hope you all are reviewing while I'm typing lol. Thanks so much for everything :-) Here's the next chapter, read, review, and enjoy!

I do not own any of Stephanie Meyer's work, solely the plot and some new characters in this story.

****************************Oliver*********************************

I stared in awe at the body standing between myself and Caius, bewildered yet grateful for my life. Somewhere in the background I could hear Felix and Alec fighting against a struggling Edward and Renesmee. Caius began to laugh.

"How dramatic, dear brother," Caius was saying, "so now you're protecting the dogs as well?"

Even though I couldn't see his face, I could tell from the sudden stiffening of his shoulders, the slight tilt of his head, that Aro was upset with these words. His tone didn't give the slightest hint, however.

"Caius, my dear brother," he began, "you are upset and disarrayed, I'm asking you to please calm dow—"

"Calm down?" Caius suddenly spat out vehemently, "We have the Cullen family in the palms of our hands, possibly an extension to the extermination of those damned wolves as well and you—"

A loud rip suddenly echoed throughout the room, and Demetri flew backwards with incredible instincts, barely out of my reach as I phased. I'd had enough, and the mention of killing the pack, my brothers…it sent me over the edge.

I immediately went for him, watching Caius suffer in agony with what I had planned for him, but suddenly I fell.

"Mom! Do something, shield him!" I thought I heard Renesmee yell, but I couldn't be sure; the pain was too intense, too overwhelming, too much of everything…and then suddenly it stopped.

I recovered quickly and found my target: Caius was still cowering on the floor behind Aro. Aro's expression was that of mixed fear and amusement. It registered somewhere in the back of my mind that Aro had been the one to stop Caius from killing me earlier, but it just as quickly evaporated.

I had vampires to kill.

I raced forward, jumping in midair—

And felt the returning fire in my limbs, the helpless state of my body consuming every rational thought in my mind, my soul. I wanted to scream, to howl but I had no control over anything, only the complete acknowledgment of the terrifying pain…

***********************Nessie**************************

"Mom! I thought you were shielding him, why—"

My mom looked at me with wide eyes, a defeated look. I didn't understand it until—

I felt her…Jane, her eyes glowing maliciously as she orchestrated her small fingers to entwine a strand of my hair. I gasped with the realization…Jane was under mom's shield, which meant…

I searched daddy's face, but there was no comfort in his expression, but mere loathe and worry. I remembered a time two years ago, when mom had still been practicing with her shield's potential, how daddy had said something about a 'one-way glass'…Jane and Alec's powers, they could affect us if they were under mom's umbrella…

Aro was speaking again, and I felt another pang upon pang of guilt and sadness when Oliver slumped exhaustedly onto the floor, back in his human form.

"That is ENOUGH!" he bellowed, but his eyes were only on Caius. Caius was finally on his feet, a sneer evident in all its glory.

"Enough? The brat just tried to kill me! He's mine! I'm going to—"

"Do nothing," Aro interrupted him, a menacing light in his eyes. "You are right concerning the circumstances, but there is no need to unjustly kill the boy. Are you forgetting his importance to the girl? Even as tactless as you've proven to be at times I would imagine even you could see how important it is to keep the imprint alive, at least for now—"

I shot a quick glance in Oliver's direction, grateful to see him conscious and in a huddled position, grabbing what was left of his shorts to cover himself. He met my gaze for a second, confused and worried, no doubt uncomfortable with their misunderstanding of the imprint. His eyes flickered over towards daddy, questioning. I followed his look, puzzled when daddy sent him a familiar glance.

Don't say a word, it said…

Stepping lightly and still seemingly bored—despite the drama and action—Marcus was suddenly by Aro's side with a girl shadowing his every move, a silent alliance towards the third brother snarling on the opposite side. I wondered vaguely how he could seem so uninterested in everything that had just happened…it was strange.

"So that's what this is now, is it?" Caius was saying, his expression shadowed in hatred and betrayal. "You are being too soft, Aro! You—"

But he stopped, his mouth gaping whilst Marcus lightly made contact with Aro's powdery hand. Aro stared for a second before the connection was lost, a frown on his face. He turned suddenly back towards Oliver, glanced at me, and then landed on Jeanine.

"Jeanine, dear, do you have your shield up at the moment?" he asked. I didn't understand, what that had to with anyth—

Jeanine answered mechanically. "No, master."

Aro's eyebrows suddenly lifted, the frown never leaving his face as he focused his attention back onto Caius. "Interesting, interesting. Marcus tells me of something quite interesting, dear brother, concerning the imprint, not that it's of too much importance considering I can see how greatly he impacts the girl anyway, but—what are you doing?"

Caius was laughing again, maniacally. If I hadn't been so terrified already I might've been haunted by that picture for the rest of my eternal life. He smirked as he focused on the other brother instead. "Oh, did you see something interesting, Marcus? Hmm? Tell me, do you enjoy groveling to our dear Aro upon every chance? Or do you feel compelled to do so?"

Aro's eyes began to widen. "Caius," he spoke curtly, "this is no time or the place for such nonse—"

"Oh but it is!" exclaimed Caius.

I didn't know what to make of anything. Mom was still being held by Jeanine, a look of complete confusion on her delicate face; Oliver was just as lost. Daddy, of course, knew everything, and yet he remained frozen, commanding us all silently to follow suit.

"Brother," Aro was imploring, almost begging, "I understand your hatred for the mongrels but—"

"No, you have never understood anything, Aro!" Caius was saying, suddenly taking a step forward. Much to my surprise, Aro stepped back. Marcus didn't even bother to blink, I had the sensation that if he could sleep he would be yawning right now.

"You have grown soft, Aro, much too soft, and I have withstood it all, like an imbecile! And this one," he pointed a finger at Marcus—still utterly 'thrilled'—"we both know why he bothers to listen to you at all—"

"Caius, please—"

"But you know what, I've had enough, brother," Caius finished, his lively eyes burning madly. Aro made to speak again but Caius was no longer listening. In a flash he was out of Aro's reach and decapitating the girl that seemed to cling to Marcus' robe, a quick kill as he ripped right through her.

"CHELSEA! NO!" Aro screamed. I was in shock; clearly there was something much bigger going on here—

Marcus seemed to come out as if in a trance, his features puzzled. He looked towards Aro and then Caius. "Brother, what did you do that for?"

Aro was fuming, his eyes only on Caius, but Caius paid him no heed. "To break the spell, dear brother, isn't that right, Aro?"

Marcus looked confused. "What do you mea—"

But Caius was still talking, stalking towards the two with an evil gleam in his eyes. "Chelsea had an interesting gift, Marcus. She had the ability to break and strengthen bonds, how else would you have stayed with us for so long? With Aro?"

Marcus, looking more and more like a complete different vampire, shook his head. "But my allegiance was always with Aro, with the Volturi, surely—"

"Was it now?" Caius feigned curiosity. Aro was frozen, his white face paling to an impossible extent further. "I do recall, Marcus, you planning to leave us back when your wife was around, were you not?"

This seemed to arouse some sentiment in Marcus' face, a strange sight for someone so usually bland. He looked pained, as if recalling a horrible memory. "My…wife…Didyme…"

"Yes," continued Caius, "Aro's sister."

Marcus regarded him coldly. "That, brother, was a long time ago. Why must you pain me with the sad memory?"

At this Caius' grin grew wider, crazed and exultant. "Because, dear brother, did you not know that Aro killed her to keep you?"

WHAT?

I felt several things, realizations go through my head…Aro had killed his own sister to keep Marcus loyal to him…Chelsea…Chelsea! She had the ability to strengthen bonds, Aro must've assigned her to keep Marcus close to her all this time…I glanced at my knowing father. He gave me a subtle nod, his own mouth curved somewhat into a smile.

A smile? What did that mean? Could this turn of events be our way out?

I had less than a second to consider all this; Aro had finally come out of his stupor.

"JANE! ALEC!" he screamed, a furious yet terrified bellow. Jane and Alec reacted instinctively, taking Caius and Marcus accordingly. I felt a small relief as her cold fingers left my arm…only to be replaced with another pair though.

Caius looked at Jane with a smile as she approached him. "Ah, Jane, my one comfort in all this. You have—wait, what are you doing?"

She smiled sweetly at him. "Following orders, Caius."

Caius sent one final look of betrayal in her direction before he began writhing in agony on the floor. Marcus, having been frozen with the news, now stood frozen with Alec's influence. Aro, slightly calmed, turned an angry eye onto the rest of the room, falling onto mom.

"Isabella," he said shortly, "as you can see my court is in no fit state to accompany the rest of this trial. I am quite enraged with how all this has turned out and am not going to tolerate any more leniency than I already have. The same deal applies, choose now: your daughter or your husband."

I could feel my anger building, seething with our misfortunes, with the unfairness. How could everything be falling apart more than it already was? My family was miserable, I was destined to become a disgusting Volturi guard member, and Jake…

Oh Jake, if I could only see you one last time…

Aro was till talking, my mom visibly struggling with his demands. "Refuse and I will release Caius and unleash him onto your daughter's precious little imprint, and trust me, he will leave nothing."

I watched my agonized mother, words lost in her uncertainty, but when she opened her mouth to speak, the door opened and it was another voice that filled the room, a voice that sent chills up my spine and tears down my face, a voice that spoke with power and comfort, security and love…

The most beautiful voice in the world.

"There's only one problem there, bloodsucker. That kid isn't Nessie's imprint," he said, stepping fully into the room, shining with the rays of an invisible moon, eyes of deep brown resonating loud and clear, miraculous and glorious, "I am."

My heart stopped for a mind-numbing moment and there was nothing but him and me. I parted my lips to mouth a single word…Jake!

Ok, so what did you think of this cliffy? Hehe, I know, horrible but oh so juicy! Jake is here, Jake is here! AaaahhH! So obviously there's a bigger battle coming up next.

A quick note for anyone who doesn't already know: Didyme was Aro's sister and Marcus' wife back in the day. According to sources I've read (because I'm not sure SM mentions any of this in her books, if she does I don't remember where) Marcus and Didyme were actually planning to leave the Volturri, mainly because Didyme didn't want to be a part of it anymore (too cruel and all that bad stuff). Aro didn't want Marcus to leave, however, so he killed Didyme (his sister…that jerk!) and had Chelsea keep Marcus close to himself. Also according to sources, it is unclear if Caius ever knew the truth about all this, and so, for my plot's purpose, I'm assuming he found out somehow. If you remember, Caius has had several disagreements with Caius (one example when Aro let Edward, Alice, and Bella leave in New Moon) and so I think it very plausible that he's just fed up with all of Aro's 'niceness' so to speak. If you have any questions regarding anything don't hesitate to ask, remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question (ha! Don't you remember when teachers told you that all the time?), well, unless you have the same mindset of my director…one of her favorite lines when I ask questions—and I'm not stupid, just…lack a bit of common sense sometimes hehe—'Filter the stupidity!' But you won't have that problem with me, I'm super nice hehe. Anyway, I'm already working on the next chapter so until then please review! I also have a couple of oneshots you can read in the meantime and a new poll, thank you all, love you! Thanks.