There was dead silence for several moments after Alice's voice cut off, followed quickly by a sob as her face crumpled. Jasper was already moving, taking up the vacant seat to Bella's right, only for him to draw back at the sound of a deep, resonant growl from the former-human.
Bella's eyes were pitch black, not even a hint of a pupil distinguishable from the full-black sclera. She had never looked so dark, so dangerous, so downright sexy in all the months I'd known her. Black lines had slowly begun to zigzag outwards from her eyes, as if the very darkness inside of her were bleeding out from her gaze, coming to a stop only after they had covered her cheekbones, two lines reaching down to the corners of her mouth, her lips fading to the same onyx shine as her eyes. I had never craved another being like I wanted her in that moment.
"Looks like you were right, doc," I said as casually as possible while never losing sight of my mate as she turned her piercing gaze on me. "I would have to check other gifted vampires, but Alice's gift definitely originates from Witch magick. But it was not my magick that brought out Alice's latent memories."
Bella's head tilted curiously, and though I couldn't exactly see the movement, I could tell her eyes were flashing across every inch of my face. It was strange, but somehow Bella was expressing her latent demon aspect and I suspected it had to do with coming into direct contact with Alice's latent Witch magick. She was still in there somewhere, but the creature we were seeing right now was something else entirely.
"I think our hypothesis is correct also," Armando chimed in from his place across the room next to Esme. Carlisle had rejoined his mates at some point during our experiment, though a worried frown marred his usually soft features.
I nodded, my gaze never leaving my mate. "It would seem so. Alice's magick rejected mine because of the lingering Wight residue, but Bella here was able to not only strengthen Alice's connection to her human past, but their energies nearly fused as one. Their complimentary energies, added with the way Bella reacts to my magick, just goes to support the theory that our Bella is a demon, at least partially."
"Hmm," Carlisle murmured, cupping his chin. "It makes sense that if a Witch can pass along their genetics in some fashion to human descendants, then a demon would be able to as well. But why is Bella only just now showing signs of her ancestry?"
A deep, resonant voice filled the room, seduction and sensuality incarnate as Bella's lips moved. "Mate. I have tasted my mate's power and Lilith will give me to her or we get to kill a goddess."
Every single being in the room trembled as a wave of sexual dominance swept through us, the pixie vampire still sitting in Bella's lap mewling pathetically as she curled up beneath the demon's chin, practically writhing in her arms. Shit, I don't think any of us were immune to her burgeoning power, but if we didn't get her energy under control then this room was going to turn into an orgy and soon.
I reached for Bella's soul, only to find her meeting me halfway until our souls were tangled together in an intimacy so deep that it went far beyond the physical, beyond magick or energy, beyond all comprehension of the individual self until we both were one, our lives stretching out before each other. We had somehow initiated the Familiar Bond without even realizing it and I had never felt such wholeness in my entire existence.
I saw her years as her mother's keeper, managing household expenses as early as the age of twelve just to keep food on their plates. Hiding money so her flighty mother wouldn't go on yet another frivolous shopping spree. All the while maintaining her top grades and doing work on the side to save up to hopefully afford college someday.
Then her mother had met Phil and it was like Bella disappeared. She was invisible when he was around, and while Bella had originally enjoyed the quiet and solitude to commit to her studies, she grew to resent them both, her mother for so easily replacing her and wasting her childhood, and Phil for taking away Bella's purpose for existing. Taking care of others, that's all she thought of her worth back then.
When the chance came to come live with Charlie, she'd jumped at the opportunity to take her life into her own hands. She saw it as a chance to make a change for herself, to find herself. Instead she found her bachelor of a father who lived on TV dinners and burgers from the local diner. She was quickly roped into grocery shopping and cooking dinner for the two of them just so she could have a halfway decent meal. The truck was a nice gift, even if the monster on wheels couldn't go over 60 mph. It gave her freedom to come and go as she pleased, though of course that was only if she kept up her slave duties.
I finally got to see the parts of our interactions that had never stood out to me until I realized I was in love with her. Our instant friendship, the small ways we would always find ways to be touching, whether by a glancing brushing of fingers or hugs in greeting or departure. I saw myself through her eyes and felt the way her heart would beat faster when she caught sight of me. Unfortunately, I could not contend with vampire glamor when heterosexuality was the preferred default in such a small town.
I felt the sadness in Bella's heart as we began drifting apart, but Edward had become such an enigma by then that she couldn't help realizing things weren't as they seemed. I saw the day of the van, how her gaze had swept the crowd, hoping for one last glimpse of me before noticing Edward's position across the parking lot.
Him becoming her savior was balanced by him being an asshole about her invasive questions, though once again she was already under his glamor and didn't even realize it. Our trip to First Beach was like a dream as Bella and I spent time around the bonfire catching up. The water was far too cold for either of us to want to bother with it, which meant I got to spend time just talking with Bella. Then someone had to go and bring up that the Cullens weren't allowed at First Beach and Bella's friend Jacob stole her attention for the rest of the evening.
I could see Bella's thirst for knowledge about what Edward could be, though the stories of Cold Ones from Jacob had already clued her in without her realizing how accurate it all was. That night in Port Angeles when Bella got separated from us only to show up reeking of fear and Edward's sweet vampire scent almost had me lose control of my magick. Oh how close she came to being another statistic! The fact that he managed to convince her to stay and basically go on a date with him had me so deep in my jealousy I had gotten out of there as soon as possible.
Then I was seeing him revealing his mind-reading to her, ordering for her. Just being a chauvinistic douchebag overall while playing it off behind the guise of teasing but, then again, vampire glamor. Apparently, the already danger-magnetic brunette had thought it a good idea earlier to walk alone and nearly got assaulted, which once again I had to be thankful to the prick for saving her from such a fate. The fact that he left those men alive when he should have taken them out of the gene pool was a serious lack of judgment on his part. He just left them free to harm the next young woman they could corner.
I wanted to skip past that day in the woods where he carried Bella off into the mountains, but I was locked into this sharing of souls just as much as Bella was. And so I had to watch the love of my life fall into his arms and share her first kiss with him. I had to watch and feel as he awakened the stirrings of passion that should have been mine. He also happened to spark her demonic awakening without even knowing it, her body keyed up and hungering for energy already. Energy he readily denied, and as much as I hate that it hurt her in the long run, I could admit to being overjoyed that he'd been unable to go farther with her.
I saw as she was introduced to his family officially. She was overjoyed that his family was going to such lengths to make her feel accepted, then angry over Edward telling them she'd already eaten. It was plain rude and she had wanted to say as much, but Rosalie's frightening display of anger had her biting her lip. She was also trying her damnedest to not look at the blonde because it only seemed to make her ravenous sex drive all the more hungry.
Then Alice was there and everything stilled in Bella as the tiny vampire wrapped her in a hug, the sweet scent of cotton candy and a strange sort of musk that she couldn't quite name wafting over her. She had wanted to drown in Alice, bury her face in the vampire's neck and breathe her in and never let go. Alas, Alice had pulled away but not before both girls got in one last deep inhale.
"Oh, wow, you do smell good!"
From that moment on, Bella and Alice were the best of friends and I was relegated to the background. Knowing what I do now of Bella's unique physiology, her being drawn to Alice was unavoidable, as was the bond they forged as Alice stole Bella away from Edward at every opportunity. It became routine for Bella to be pulled off to the pixiepire's room to play Bella Barbie-ironic, considering all my varied nicknames for Rosalie. It was an excuse for both girls who were unwittingly teasing their growing bond with flashes of skin and teasing touches, all the while both remained utterly oblivious. Bella was telling the truth, she really didn't know she had other options if she hadn't immediately pounced Alice the first time she saw the petite vampire's perfect little body completely bare.
Ironically, it was her connection with Alice that had Bella searching me out in the crowd, though this was about the time I'd started doing my damned best to ignore her and what I thought was my unrequited love for her. Seeing it through her eyes, I had become a withdrawn recluse who began ignoring everyone and snapping when someone so much as looked at me wrong. This, unfortunately, coincided with the coming prom and I got to experience Bella's disappointment when she thought I wanted to go with Eric. Good Goddess, we were both tap-dancing around each other's hearts and didn't even realize it!
I had to fight back a snarl as the memory of James finally came to light. How had I never noticed the scars on her wrist! How close had I been to losing her to vampirism?! And why the hell had she gone so willingly to her death when all she had to do was get a message to Alice or Jasper and they would have handled it all. Her mother was a useless piece of shit anyway! Why would she sacrifice-
She was hungry. Starving without Edward's attention to feed from. Alice was constantly in her visions so the normally energetic pixie was no good for a source of energy. Jasper kept his own energy bottled up tight and Bella never could get close enough to him. She had to feed and even the thought of life-threatening danger wasn't enough to override her subconscious instincts to find 'food'. Her unwillingness to give in and beg for her life during the attack was pure stubbornness and hunger, it had nothing to do with Edward. She was willing to goad the vampire until he killed her all because she couldn't understand her hunger. Unlike myself, who'd had all my grandmother's resources to guide me, Bella had been running on instincts from the moment her demon aspect began to show itself.
Perhaps that was why she came to me when she'd returned to school after her 'accident'. She knew if anyone could help her, it would be me and my growing magick. Her body had taken my healing spell really well, and comparing the two feelings now I realized she was allowing the healing at the same time she was drawing on my energy to feed. How the hell were we so oblivious? Then again, neither of us knew yet what forces existed beyond vampires and shapeshifters at the time, my personal studies aside. I wouldn't come to understand the truth of my magick and heritage until prom.
The night of the prom changed everything for the both of us. It was only now while immersed in her memories that I realized how close she came that night to either having her throat torn out or being turned. For her, it was the eroticism of it all that she was unknowingly feeding on, though her mind was definitely made up that she wanted to live forever. Edward's adamant refusal to turn her aside, she knew she was going to be immortal someday, somehow. Perhaps Alice would help her, she had thought.
Then suddenly Edward was keeping her very close, and while she felt stifled, she also fed voraciously from his ever-present proximity. What truly began to bother her was that they no longer visited the Cullen home, Edward saying he preferred her company to the strange goings ons at his family home. Apparently there was a new supernatural being that he couldn't talk about and he felt it was having a negative influence over his family. Of course, this was just after Carlisle and Esme had found their mate in Armando, oh, and of course after I had taken his head off, but she was none the wiser at the time.
He had tried his damnedest to keep Bella in the dark but soon after their seclusion his energy became stagnant to her. His fixation on her had turned sour and by the time I next showed up at school and Bella got wind of me making out with Rosalie, her appetite was piqued. Her curiosity had her asking her seeress best friend, who purposely deferred to the mind-reader. Sufficiently distracted, Bella never noticed Alice slip away to my side until she'd listened to Edward's explanation of my exiting the closet. By the time she'd turned her attention back to me, Alice already had her tongue halfway down my throat and Bella's body instantly flooded with arousal and hunger at the sight of her two closest friends making out. I remembered that little minx's sexy little body writhing in my hold, the sounds she made...
It was Jasper's casual dismissal of the event that made Bella's keen intellect start to kick in, and when she felt the rise in Jasper's gift pushing everyone's attention away from our sexual blunder after I casually touched his hand, there was only one conclusion she could naturally come to. Angela Weber was not human, otherwise Jasper would have killed the girl for touching Alice let alone allowing her to touch him.
Bella's excitement mounted from the moment she called me out, hunger and a heady rush of arousal pouring over her as I casually sat aside the petite vampire in order to approach her. I still remember how my then-beating heart had threatened to thud right out of my chest. I had thought that this would be my chance, that I would reveal my secrets and she would choose me. Oh how much I had misunderstood her that day, because apparently had I stayed she would have been willing to fall into my arms without hesitation.
Her excitement, of course, only grew when she saw my small expression of power as I cut off the boy's finger with a twitch of mine. When she placed her hand in mine, how did I not notice her dark energy reaching out and touching my magick, even then? She'd had the same thought as I about our interlaced fingers but she couldn't understand back then why touching me made her heart race like never before, or what the warm feeling in her chest meant. She had just chalked it up to butterflies of finally being alone with me after having drifted apart the previous weeks.
She was in awe of my magick, her own energy attempting to reach out and touch it even stuck behind her shield as it still was at the time. The rose was a treasure to her as she beheld its beauty, though we were both lost in her instinctual panic that came from being around vampires when she pricked her finger. Feeling my healing magick again was enough to have her recognizing my magick from when I healed her leg. It was beautiful and so strong, and she luxuriated in the energy even as she fed subconsciously on all of the ambient magick I was using.
It was probably the semi-incoherent state her decadent feeding had put her into that led to her saying she loved Edward, although technically she'd never named him specifically now that we were both thinking back on the memory. As we were now, in the present we could easily agree she probably meant Alice, but she was still adjusting to women being an option. Of course, she noticed the changes in me immediately, from my demeanor to my energy, though she was yet unaware of the cause with the sluggish way her body was struggling to keep up with the changes in energy.
My declaration of love had stilled her completely, heart, body, and soul. Even as I gave my monotone spiel about what was expected of me during our upcoming birthday, Bella was still reeling as her heart thudded away with excitement. She knew now what all those butterflies meant, why my touch and presence comforted her like no other. But by the time she thought to react, I was already dropping my wards and threatening Edward before flying away into the distance.
Edward shuffled Bella out of the woods, her body moving on autopilot as she tried to figure out what she had said wrong to send me running. She managed to tell Edward to take her home rather than going back to school, but as soon as she was in her room she dismissed Edward, saying she wanted time to herself to process everything.
He'd left without complaint, which she was sure meant he would be nearby. That same trait she'd once found noble and loving now felt imposing and creepy. She was just glad she'd started locking her bedroom window to keep him from sneaking into her room to watch her sleep like he'd been doing since before they were even talking, apparently. I have to admit, I nearly broke the connection with the amount of rage I felt over this discovery, sending a pulse through my soul bonds that Edward Cullen was mine to end.
I wished I could break the connection there, because it was one thing to feel my own heart shatter into a million pieces, to experience the fall into a Wight's darkest thoughts, but it was quite another to feel my mate suddenly choking on her own breath because she couldn't remember how to draw breath while her heart stuttered in her chest. Her chest had felt hollow, as if the very organ struggling to beat life through her dying body was simply gone from her. Her life, her soul, was gone from her and even as she found herself falling to the floor in a numb heap, part of her knew it wasn't her own life being taken but someone else.
Angela!
It was just repetitions of my name, and this off and on again aching pain deep in her heart from then on. That first day was probably the worst, the moment she realized I must be dead and gone from her. She had gotten into her truck and just started driving without thought, bringing herself to the edges of the cliffs where she'd seen Sam and her Pack cliff-diving. She knew if she made the decision now that it would be far too late for Alice to intervene. She clutched the half-wilted rose bud in her hand, tears leaving cold tracks down her cheeks.
She was just about to throw the truck into gear and floor it when a warm glow from her palm drew her attention to the bud once more, the deadened petals falling away only to be replaced by new ones, yet the bud remained unchanged. I was still beyond her reach, but Bella could feel me there now, somehow. And so she had backed her truck away from the cliff and drove straight to the Cullen house and demanded to know where I was.
They fed her the line about the virus and coma but wouldn't let her see me. My pale white hair and still breath, along with the lack of a beating pulse might have been too much for her, or so had been their thoughts in keeping Bella away, but oh how wrong they had been. We both knew now that it was her touch that would have saved me from that damned limbo. Now my recovery from my partial Wight transformation was taking ten times longer, but alas, no one could have known.
And so Bella had felt each and every time my soul slipped, and each time she had wanted to die. But something kept her going, something fed her just enough that she didn't starve her demon's needs, even as she spurned Edward's company. His energy had become repulsive and eventually she got to a point where she told him not to come see her any more until she called him. She couldn't deal with him being around when her heart was tearing itself to pieces and reassembling itself in a foreign image of dark locks of hair with honey highlights and hazel eyes.
And then one day she woke suddenly from a strange dream filled with white mists and endless fog, only to find the rose had bloomed. She'd cradled the bloom in her hands as if it were the most fragile glass, her heart beating loud and strong in her chest, a distant call pulling her up and out of her bed with ever-quickening feet. She tossed on whatever clothing looked halfway presentable, stopping only at her dad's tool drawer to remove his razor blade-edged knife he used while fishing. She was going to get some answers, or she was going to get revenge, one way or the other she would see the woman she loved before her dying breath.
An hour later as she sat amongst myself and my four heart-mates, her heart had never felt so full of love in all her life. It was a curious sensation, feeling her own love for myself reverberating through the hearts of these other women just the same. She thought she would feel jealous of them holding such precious places in my heart, but as she hesitantly reached out on instinct and somehow felt her soul touch theirs, she knew only trust and love, for each other and for myself. Bella felt it was right that I be the lodestone for such pure love, with Bella herself at my side, of course.
She had never been surrounded by so many high-energy beings before save for the Cullens, and even amongst them she only truly felt connected to Alice and Esme. I believe that overindulgence on her part was what caused the cracks in her shield to form. Being at the center of so many powerful souls, her body was luxuriating in the energy she was instinctually feeding on after almost starving the previous three weeks. Neither of us understood what it was that had been keeping her fed in the interim until Alice interrupted the rest of our shared soul space.
"I got a vision of Bella slowly growing sicker and sicker by the day," she murmured, face still tucked into Bella's neck as she pressed little lingering kisses there. "I knew something was wrong, and I knew it had to do with Angela's coma, so I began taking pieces of Angela's clothing and tucking them into Bella's face at night. It would have been adorable how fast she cuddled the clothing to her face if it weren't for the tears that followed, or her crying out for Angela in her sleep."
She paused and pulled back, shooting Bella a chagrined smile. "I'm sorry, I know you wanted to be left alone but nearly every night I snuck into your room and cuddled as close to you as I dared. It was my hope that my scent would help you as much as yours does for me."
The black jagged lines were slowly beginning to retract in towards her eyes, her lips returning to their pink hue, her brows furrowing as she leaned in to inhale the pixie's scent from her neck, a pleased rumble coming from her chest that sounded suspiciously like a purr. "Heart-sister," she murmured, leaning in to casually press her lips to Alice's in a slow, drawn out kiss that had several of us breathing heavily. "You saved me by giving me your heart. By loving me enough to share your life-force with me without a single thought for yourself."
Alice's eyes looked glazed, and for once it wasn't due to a vision. "I-I'd do anything for you, Bella. Always have and always will."
Bella smiled as the last of her dark aura retreated behind her shield once again, her beautiful brown eyes again showing through. "And I will always do the same for you, my little pixie." She turned and smiled beautifully towards me and I swear I felt my heart start beating for one brief moment. "Our Clan will always stand together as one against all who would challenge our rights to exist."
"Speaking of 'right to exist'," I growled, sensing a breach in my wards from the last person I wanted to see at the moment. "I'm going to kill him, you all have to know this."
Esme sighed, looking sadly at me with a small frown. "Please try to find the good in him. He's stuck in a very old mindset, but I know he can grow if given the chance. If you still feel his life is a broken chain, then I only ask that you sever it quickly."
I nodded at my Ma'atem, even as I erected a physical barrier around the house itself to prevent the boy from even reaching the door. If we were going to do this then I wanted as little structural damage as possible. I stood first, Bella following with Alice close at her side. Slowly we began to trickle out into the yard just as Edward broke the tree line, stopping dead in his tracks at our united front.
His gaze zeroed in on Bella as she casually leaned against my side, Alice's hand finding its way into the brunette's in a show of solidarity. "Bella, what are you doing here?! I told you she was dangerous! Look around you, she's corrupted the whole family and made the wolves her pets!"
I felt my Pack's hackles rise at the implied insult, sending out a soothing pulse of magick even as the rest of the Pack subtly began running a perimeter around the Cullen property. I simply stared at the hundred year old child, allowing Esme to step forward in her own righteous fury.
"Edward, how dare you!" she nearly growled, and I found it oddly satisfying to see her embracing her vampire side for once. "Angela has done nothing but make this family stronger than ever! She removed the wolves' vampire shifting imperative so that we can now coexist peacefully, dare I say lovingly. She helped heal the wound of losing my son and gave me the sweetest, most adoring daughter a mother could ever ask for!"
Rosalie stepped forward, Leah at her side. "She gave me my true mate and helped heal my heart from the damage I suffered from my human death. She gave me hope for the future, a future filled with love, not just with my mate, but with Sam and Emily, and Angela and Bella if they'll have us. She's touched all of our lives and we came out the other side changed, but all for the better."
Armando and Carlisle stepped up on either side of Esme, their fingers interlacing as a show of solidarity. It was Carlisle who spoke next, his voice stern yet hopeful. "Don't think for one second I love your mother any less, son, because that would be impossible. But Armando is our mate and his presence has only enriched our lives in ways we never knew possible. And it's all thanks to Angela that we even met him, not to mention how much light she has brought into our lives by connecting us all on a soul-deep level. She has shown us a world beyond simply existing, she's given many of us new purposes."
Armando's voice was next to join the fray, and slowly Edward had begun to lose his aggressive stance as he took in his family united against him. "My species is nearly extinct. I always thought I would live out my life as a pale reminder of what my people once were. But since I met Angela, she has shown me that not all hope is lost for this world. She has given me hope that my kind may live on and that my future with my beautiful and loving mates will be a fulfilling one. Not one person present in this Clan is here under coercion, we are all a part of this of our own free will."
Alice's delicate voice filled the air, soft and full of so much love as she stared longingly up at Bella, who had yet to look away from her ex-boyfriend. "Angela and Bella have given me the most precious gift I could have ever asked for. They gave me my human memories back, and in the process proved that we are all connected in ways we never expected." She turned to Edward, her smile turning sad. "Even you could be a part of that, but I still see your betrayal taking place at this very moment. Why, Edward? Why couldn't you let us be happy?"
I reached for the pixie's mind and watched Edwards hand pressing some kind of device in his pocket upon his arrival, after finding Bella in my arms. It was some sort of GPS locator, judging by the swarm of newborns that would be flooding the area within the next hour.
Edward's head hung in shame as he pulled the device from his pocket and crushed it before tossing it aside. "I knew it was only a matter of time before I lost Bella for good. I thought that if I could keep her safe, save her from Victoria's army, that she might see me again. But I see I'm already too late." He looked up, eyes black and filled with unbridled fury. "Bella will be mine, or she will be dead. I only hope I get to take down this whore of a Witch in the process."
Finally, Bella spoke up as she took a step forward out of my embrace. "What do you think we ever had, Edward? You were fascinated by your inability to read someone's thoughts, and we all now know I was your singer. You were obsessed, and I fucking loved the attention. I could have drunk my fill of your pathetic need. But you tried to turn me away from my family, from my mate and our heart-mates. But in the end, what we had wasn't special." She began walking forward with a single-minded intent and I knew by the fearful widening of Edward's eyes that Bella's demon aspect was showing through.
She stopped only a few feet away from him, her dark aura almost palpable as she drank in his fear. "In the end, Edward, you were nothing more than a pretty snack." And in the next second Bella's hand was gripping Edward's jaw, a frozen look of agony on his face as he quickly crumbled to his knees. She was directly feeding from his soul, not just his emotions or even his aura. She was taking his very life-essence. At this rate, she might actually kill the boy, and as much as he may deserve it, I had promised Esme.
I quickly moved to Bella's side, grasping her wrist and pulling her hand away, garnering a rather ferocious growl from my mate until she realized who I was. Then her eyes went wide, the darkness receding safely behind her shield until brown, fearful eyes were staring up at me with a painful amount of confusion. I pulled her into my arms even as Emmett and Jasper moved forward to secure a severely weakened Edward.
"It's okay, my love," I whispered into our personal connection. "Everything will be okay, we'll get through all of this together."
Her thoughts were chaotic as she embraced my soul and buried her mind within the safety of my love. "I was going to do it. I was going to kill him. I wanted it so bad, to taste the frayed edges of his soul as I tore it apart."
I sent wave after wave of calming emotions, added to by our heart-mates who had come to surround us instinctually. Alice was wrapped around Bella from behind, her arms and legs managing to somehow find purchase on Bella's hips and shoulders, the scent of cotton candy filling the air around us.
"I'll tell you what I had to learn the hard way: this is your new you. You're still learning what all this means for your moral compass, and you're not even a fully awakened demon yet. Let yourself feel these new emotions and trust that your Clan will be here to hold you if you fall apart."
"I will always be here for you," Alice added, and I could feel Bella's soul light up as both mine and the vampire's souls wrapped her up tight. "In whatever way you need me, I'll always be for you."
I smiled, knowing the pixie meant it exactly as she'd said it. "And though we are many, know that your heart is treasured equally and valued for who you are, not what you can do for us."
Bella was weeping silently in my arms, Alice nuzzling the side of her neck as she mewled quietly to the shaken demon. Slowly, she began to calm, her tears tapering off into sniffles before she pulled away to stare up into my eyes while running her fingers idly through Alice's hair. "You are a miracle, you know that?"
I frowned slightly at the odd compliment until she looked around us pointedly. It was then I noticed my Clan in its entirety had entered the Cullens' yard from different directions. The Pack, some in human form, others in wolf, the Cullens and Armando. I felt every single one of them in my soul, their unwavering support and dedication to our family, our Clan, humbling in its simple intensity.
And I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that I would do everything within my power to protect each and every one of them. Even if I had to take on a newborn army, the International Coven of Witches, the Volturi, or even Lilith herself, no one would ever bring harm to mine again.