It came just as Alice saw. When we returned home from school the next day eight strange vampires sat in the living room, politely conversing with Esme as she held my sleeping daughter to her chest. I made my way over to her and took my sleeping Aurora from her before cautiously studying them.

Edward came to stand next to me and greeted Aurora with a kiss to the head before appraising the four pairs on the sofas.

"Isabella Marie?" A small brown-haired woman inquired. Her eyes were round, the bright red irises stood out. Making me feel uneasy. "I am Galiana. I am your mothers mother. Renee was my daughter."

I tried to smile at her and nodded in greeting.

"Oh, she is beautiful!" A black haired woman stood and stepped closer. Her curling hair was bouncing with every step. "Just as her name would suggest, no?" She turned to beckon over the male she had sat next to. "Come, Tommo, you forget your manners. We should greet our granddaughter, no?"

A tall grown man with long lashes and eyes that were a little to close sighed but stood. "It is a pleasure to meet you, young Isabella. I am Tommo, your fathers father." He motioned to the curly haired woman. "This is my wife Leonetta."

"And this is your grandfather on the mother's side." Galiana said excitedly and smiled at her partner. "My husband Helias."

"I am pleased to meet you. You can call me Bella, please." I said timidly, pressing my daughter a little closer to my chest.

"And this is your Edward?" Galiana asked.

I nodded.

"I am pleased to meet you as well." He said politely. "Bella has obviously inherited her beauty from her grandmothers."

"Oh, he is a charmer." Galiana giggled with my other grandmother.

Leonetta hid her smile behind a gloved hand. "Just like his grandfathers, no?"

"You are quite right." One of the other women said proudly. "My grandson has my Gilo and Rinerio blood after all." She stood gracefully and floated towards us, embracing Edward in a hug before patting his cheek. "And just as handsome as my Gilo." She smiled brightly at him. "My name is Adelasia. I was Elizabeth's mother."

"Cornelia and Rinerio were your fathers parents."

Edward nodded at them all in greeting. "Welcome to our house. May I ask what brought you here?"

"Not that we don't appreciate your visit," I added, chewing on my lips. "It is just so very unexpected. We never thought we would meet you one day."

Rinerio nodded, his eyes stern and his body ridgid. "I am sorry to say that this is no friendly visit, although we are all excited to get to know you both. We are here to warn you."

"Of what?" Jasper asked with a tight voice, I looked over to see his narrowed eyes.

"The Volturi." He sighed. "We have come straight from Volterra. The three brothers are preparing to come for you."

Edward tightened his hold on me and Aurora, pressing a kiss to my hair.

"Why?" Dr. Cullen asked. His forehead wrinkled.

"Someone has reported a crime." Edward answered for his grandfather. "We are accused of creating an immortal child."

If I still had blood in my veins it would have run cold. I turned to search Edward's face for comfort. But I found nothing but my own fear reflected in his eyes.

"Who reported this lie?" Rosalie hissed.

"Tanya." He answered with a growl.

I raised my brow. "Why would she do that?" I asked patiently.

He shrugged.

"But it just isn't true." I protested. "None of us created an immortal child. Why would she think that? Why would she accuse your family of such a crime? And even if it were true, I thought the Denalis were like family. Would family betray one of their own like that?"

"Tanya would." Dr. Cullen nodded gravely. "All the sisters would. Do you remember the story we told you about their mother?"

I nodded. "Sasha and the boy, Vasilii."

"The only reason they survived that fateful day was because Sasha had kept them in the dark about his existence." He reminded me. "If they were to learn about another immortal child and would not report its existence the Volturi would not be so kind. Aro would know if they had neglected to inform them if they had any knowledge. It would be a careful consideration but I am certain in the end all of them would have decided to play it safe and inform the Volturi. There is a reason they have survived over a thousand years. And it is not because they have been kind and mindful of others. The only true loyalty they have is to each other."

I nodded. "But why would she even think any of us would create an immortal child?"

"Whatever it was, Aro must have been sufficiently convinced." Rosalie added.

Galiana shook her head. "Not necessarily. He learned of your survival because of the report and he seemed quite excited about it. Cornelia heard him speculating about your gifts."

She nodded in agreement. "He wondered about Isabella's gift and he covets her, Edward and Alice. If he can get him, Aro also wants Jasper."

"So Tanya doesn't know about Bellas shield." Jasper said more to himself.

"Oh, he does know that she will be a shield alright." Galiana said. "He is just wondering how strong of a shield she is."

"But they know about all of us now." Edward pinched the bridge of his nose. "They know of all our gifts, our family structure and everything we ever told Tanya."

"How could she do that?" Esme asked, still stunned.

A new wave of fear washed over me. "And they will know about Aurora. If they don't already."

"She must be the child Tanya mistook for an immortal child." Edward nodded and pulled us closer, his hand gripping my body tightly.

"But she is not!" I protested desperately. "I gave birth to her. I carried her for ninety years. Blood flows through her veins. Her heart beats. Blush stains her cheeks. She sleeps. She grows. Every single day she grows. And she has your beautiful green eyes. How could Tanya ever mistake her for an immortal child? How could anyone see her and think she was anything but our child?"

"And when could that have been?" Emmett asked. "How could she have seen Auri at all without Eddie noticing?"

"She must have seen her from quite a distance. Very far away." Edward tried to explain. "I never heard her thoughts since we last visited with them."

"She must have seen her from afar to come to the wrong conclusion." Jasper nodded thoughtfully. "But then I don't understand how she didn't just take my niece for a human child."

"And when was the opportunity?" Emmett repeated. "Auri hasn't been out much. She is already a homebody, just like her parents."

"We did take her on walks." I reminded him.

"New Year's Eve?" Alice wondered.

"Both possibilities." Jasper nodded.

"We have been careless." Edward sighed and buried his head in my hair. "We should have protected her. This was avoidable. We should have been more careful. How could I have let that happen? How didn't I hear her?"

I turned and placed my hand on his cheek and pulled up his head. His eyes were closed. "Look at me, Edward." I ordered him. It took a moment for him to comply. When he did I saw the regret and the shame in his golden eyes. "Edward, you did nothing wrong. We have no idea when this even happened, but there is nothing we could have done differently."

"We could have stayed-" he wanted to protest.

I placed my hand over his mouth to stop him from continuing and shook my head. "No, we couldn't have. There is no way I would have cage my daughter. She needs to get out. She needs to feel the wind on her face. The cold. Rain. Snow. She needs to see the trees. And the stars in the sky. Would you withhold all those experiences from her? Will you let her be a beautiful bird in a cage? Or will you show her the world and the beauty it has to offer? Make her happy? What use is safety if she never experiences life? Would you deny her all those experiences for the sticky honey sweetness of comfort without true happiness?"

He pierced his lips, lowered his eyes but shook his head. "No." He sighed.

"We have feared that the Volturi would learn of us and of Aurora for a while. Now there is nothing we can do to prevent it. What is done, is done. They know. Even though they seem to be confused about her true nature, they know of her. There is nothing we can do to revert and prevent them from learning about her. But now it is for us to decide how we react to this." I looked at Edwards siblings one after the other before letting my gaze wander over Edward and mine grandparents."All of us know that there is no truth in Tanyas accusation. We will have to show that truth to them and pray they will listen."

"Alice?" Rosalie asked. "Do you see the outcome of this?"

Alice shook her head. "There are decisions to be made. It's only flashes of smudged colors. I don't see anything of use." Her voice turned sad. "I am utterly useless. I didn't even see this threat coming."

"Because you didn't monitor the Volturis moves." Edward reminded her kindly. "And you had no reason to. Don't burden yourself with weights that are not yours to bear."

"None of us should." Jasper threw Edward a meaningful look. "We should focus on our defense."

"Well, there is not much we can do on that front, is there?" I sighed heavily. "We will show them Aurora and Aro can check someone's memories for anything we could hide. And then either they accept our innocence or they are here for more than the actual reason, in which case we will have to see what demands they have. No?"

"We could fight." Jasper said.

"I will shave these dusty italian castle hounds!" Emmett boasted and crossed his muscular arms. "Noone touches my family."

"No." Esme choked out. "They will kill us. They will kill us all."

"I am not so sure about that." Jasper said calmly. "We have Alice's visions and Edwards mindreading to warn us. And Bella's shield is near impenetrable. I don't think even Jane or Alec could harm us when we are under her protection."

"But to what end?" Dr. Cullen questioned.

"Exactly," Emmett interjected. "What good does hiding behind Bellas shield do? We should face them head on."

"That is not what I-" Dr. Cullen was interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah." Emmett grinned broadly and rolled his eyes. "We should find a peaceful solution. I know. But if they try anything they will have to answer me. Especially if they threaten Auri."

"And me." Rosalie added.

"We will all protect should we need to." Dr. Cullen agreed reluctantly. "But peace should be our desired goal. I don't want any of you to initiate conflict."

"We should still plan for the possibility that they are hostile." Jasper said.

Emmett shrugged. "What is there to plan? We will fight them. We will kill them. We will defeat them."

"I wonder-" Jasper stopped himself.

"That might be a good idea." Edward commented quietly. "It wouldn't hurt to ask."

He looked over at my husband. "You truly think so?"

"They are more than motivated to kill vampires, especially red eyed ones."

"What if they turn on us?"

Edward shrugged. "There is a bigger foe to fight."

"Who are you talking about?" I asked him.

"The wolves." Both Jasper and Edward answered me.

"You think they would be open to work with us?" Dr. Cullen questioned.

Edward shrugged again. "I can not promise you that they will. But I think they would. They hate red eyed vampires even more than they hate us."

Dr. Cullen nodded. "I will contact the Elders."

"What about Carmen and Eleazar?" I asked. "They said they would protect Aurora."

"We will ask them to come as well." Edward decided. "Are there any other friends you could ask Carlisle?"

"I don't think there will even be a fight." He said. "Aro has clearly been misled. The Volturi will understand that Aurora is no immortal child. There is no reason to pull together an army, Edward."

"What about Garrett?" He asked. "We could ask him. He already knows Bella."

"Edward!" Dr. Cullen protested. "The more people you bring in to defend your daughter, the more likely it is that the conflict will escalate. We will stand alone. As far as I'm concerned, we can ask the wolves. But calling nomads and other friends together to fight is completely counterproductive. We don't want to intimidate the Volturi. We want to clear up a misunderstanding."

"Carlisle is right," Esme said quietly. "You must understand that."

"Let's be honest," Jasper stepped over to pat Edwards' shoulder. "We don't even need help. Bella's shield trumps all the Volturi's powers."

Edward sighed but nodded reluctantly.

"I will not let any harm come to you, Aurora or your family." I promised him.

He pressed his lips to my forehead. "I will not let any harm come to you, Aurora and our family." He promised in return. "I love you, Bella."

"I love you, Edward."

"And I love you, Aurora." He pressed another kiss to her growing hair. "I will always be there to protect you."

I smiled brightly at him.

"And we will stand with you as well." Galiana promised.

The others nodded. I was so very grateful to them. Even though they did not know us they had already warned us of the looming threat. And now they would risk their lives for us.

"You are family after all."