Fate into Shadows

Chapter 12

Bonding

"R-Rose?" I asked, unable to keep my eyes off the bike. It was that same deep purple color, and had some rust, and parts missing, and the wheels weren't on; they were in a clamp thing, and various pieces were scattered across the large white cloth covering a portion of the Cullens' garage, as Rosalie had just removed her hands from my eyes.

It's a 1999 Yamaha XT 600," Rosalie said in delighted glee. "I saved her life. She's designed for both road and off-road use. I figured we could fix her up together, and maybe repaint her a darker, ninja-like color, and then go out riding together for the first time, just you and me? It will be like a sisterly bonding experience?"

I couldn't believe my ears as I turned from the car and jumped into Rosalie's arms, hugging her tightly; after a moment, she hugged me back, and we stayed like that for a while, until we were both just a little uncomfortable, and then we laughed as we pulled back.

"This is amazing, Rose, I love it," I said quickly. "But don't be surprised if Alice suddenly takes up biking as a hobby."

Rose snorted and rolled her eyes. "She promised she wouldn't butt in until after our first ride together," she replied, which made me laugh as I could practically hear Alice's adorable pouting from where she was supposed to be playing video games with Emmett, Tabitha, Leah, and Danny; a few of the other tribal shifters were sticking around for a while to teach Leah and the wolves about supernatural etiquette, and how to keep control of themselves. Danny chose to stay with his uncle, as he took a liking to Leah, and they had become rather inseparable.

"Oh crap!" Bella sighed a moment later as we heard the police cruiser before we saw it; the garage door was opening as it was a nice day.

My father climbed out, looking rather uncertain, as a few rays of sun glinted through the open door and glinted off Rosalie's exposed skin on her face, arms, and hands. She was wearing short-sleeve overalls.

I smiled uncertainly. "Hey Dad," I began slowly. "Do you need anything? Because Esme, despite not being able to taste normal food, is amazing…and she loves to cook and dote on everyone, and I'm pretty sure I smell some freshly baked cookies…she says they're white chocolate and smarties mixed…apparently your two favorite types of cookies rolled into one."

He asked in confusion, "How would she know that?"

I shrugged. "Alice is a clairvoyant," I said to him in awe.

"Yes, I can hear them."

"Super senses, come with the training?" I answered with a further shrug. "And the answer is no, you can't learn to do what I can, but I suppose you could potentially learn a few magic tricks, if you asked Ms. Webber," I said shrugging once more at his increased surprise. "Alice just told me what you were going to ask. Unfortunately, your body is too old to learn to... do anything that I can."

"I'll transform and bite you if you want?" Tabitha startled him from the doorway with slanted yellow eyes and somewhat elongated fangs. "It will be painful the first few full moons, and you will become a monster, but I can help you control it. Over time, I can teach you how to stay human, or transform during the day if you want…you'll be stronger, faster, and eventually, you might even live forever. I have turned only one person before you, as she had found her soulmate, and he would have killed her, trying."

I thought about protesting, but even the thought made me shrug and turn back to Rosalie, while Tabitha annoyingly flirted with my father. "Well, Rose, let's just ignore them, and get started, shall we… did you bring…?"

She smirked as she pointed to her workbench where another set of overalls sat waiting; I quickly pulled them on over my clothes.

Charlie

I was in shock when Tabitha asked me if I wanted to go get a tattoo; I wasn't sure if she was being serious or not because I don't particularly enjoy pain, but then I frowned and turned to my daughter who was pulling on some overalls.

"Is she being serious?" I asked in confusion.

Bella looked up at me from where she was helping Rosalie by the look of things with a motorcycle. "Yes, she is," Bella replied while shrugging. "Don't ask me about it; she has some weird obsession with you that's kind of creeping me out. You're like my dad, and she looks at least ten years younger than you… and that's only if you got rid of the dad moustache, according to Alice. But right now… she looks fifteen to twenty years younger."

I looked to the blonde and gulped as she gave me a sultry grin, and then before I could fully grasp what had just happened, she roared and burst from her clothes, bones crunching and reforming as she grew to nine feet tall with monster claws and huge teeth in her jaws with silver fur, and she leapt at me, aiming her teeth for my left arm, when suddenly, Bella seemed to appear out of nowhere, and with a palm to the monsters chest, she stepped in, and took out its feet before rolling around with the back of her hand to the werewolf's right cheek, and then boom, the wolf-woman was outside the garage skidding along the ground in a whimper as she rightened herself on all fours, which looked kind of awkward, as it submitted to my daughter's somewhat annoyed look.

"Tabs, do as you wish if he consents," Bella said with a shrug. "I would be rather hypocritical if I made such choices in his stead, but I am never calling you 'mom.' I have two mothers, my birth mother, Renee, and Esme, and have no need for a third, especially since the position of surrogate mother is already filled by Renee."

"Fine," Tabitha said after her bones all creaked back into their human forms. Naked, human forms, and amazingly perfect, but I quickly looked away in embarrassment.

"Tabitha!" Alice exclaimed in annoyance from the door, throwing a large towel at her. "You ruined another cute outfit!" she groaned before seeming to dance down into my daughter's arms for a kiss while Tabitha wrapped the towel around her slender body and slipped away. "Charlie… you have questions, for us, as I presume Billy Black has given you a fair amount of information?"

I quickly nodded. "Yes… and that huge Bear Chief guy stayed to make sure they didn't sway me with their bias. Gregory—that's the Bear Chief's name—said I should speak with the… the… the vampires next, and I waited a few days to get used to the idea before doing so."

Alice had an amazing smile; it was no wonder she captured Bella's heart. "Carlisle will be upstairs in his study, waiting for you, and he will answer any questions you have about us, within reason, of course, because we all have our own stories and hang-ups, and they are for us to divulge, but honestly, Dad, I am really looking forward to telling you my tale."

"Okay… where do I go?"

Alice said sweetly, "The kitchen is through the door and down the hall. Mum made some cookies especially for your visit; she would be disappointed if you didn't try one. Then, she'll lead you to the study."

"Thank you," I said nervously, looking out the door.

"She's in her room," said Alice, "and she won't try that again." He sighed in relief and smiled before leaving.

Bella

"What do you see in my dad's future?" I quickly asked my girlfriend, after stealing a kiss.

Alice bit her lower lip. "I think Tabitha is going to have her way," she said, and we rolled our eyes together as we heard the Lykan howl in victory.

Rosalie quickly interjected. "Alice? What did we say about this?"

Alice pouted cutely. "It was something you and Bella have in common, and you didn't want me jumping on the bandwagon until after you've had your first ride together… but I saw this cute little bike I think would be fun," she said, pulling out a piece of magazine with a monstrous racing bike on it, and I had to stifle a laugh, as I imagined her riding it, and had to wonder whether she would even reach the gear switch or foot brake, as I was almost certain she would have trouble reaching the ground without the bike leaning over ridiculously.

"Alice," Rose said, ignoring my humor, and pointed to the door in disappointment. "No – just no… that's being silly. That is being Emmett," she said as she used her other hand to point at something large and bike-shaped sitting, covered in dust, in the corner of the garage. "He's ridden it three times – if you must get a bike, get a bike because it suits you, and not because it has a rocket shoved up its tailpipe, and an engine to move mountains – get an adorable little Vesper or something; a real one, not one of those nasty Chinese rip-offs, and we can fix it up together, and even soup it up a bit," she suggested while Alice pouted cutely.

"I love my bike!" Emmett interjected from the lounge as we could hear snickering.

Rose sighed. "Just leave, Alice, and think about what you've done."

I smiled and kissed Alice's soft lips before she sadly and sulkily left the garage; Rosalie rolled her eyes at me, but smiled.

"Don't encourage her," Rose said before turning back to the bike, "because she will take pride in thinking you find her funny."

"I'll make it up to you tonight, Alice," I whispered to her heated gaze as she giggled in excitement.

"Don't spoil her, Bells," Rosalie said in disappointment. "She's like Emmett, and needs a bit of discipline," she said, frowning as we heard Alice leave the house and apparently steal Carlisle's Mercedes.

Well, thank you," I said thoughtfully. "I have no idea what kind of kinky shit you told her to buy, but apparently, I'm disciplining her tonight."

Rosalie groaned as the entire house erupted in laughter, some of it embarrassed.

"I don't need clairvoyance to have seen that coming," Rosalie said, deadpan, while I laughed as my phone started ringing, and I frowned a little and rolled my eyes as I had left it with Alice that morning; she had been talking with Rose, whose phone hadn't been charged, so she likely changed all of my ringtones, as I had just been using a generic tone that came with my Fold 4, but now it was playing the song "Partners in Crime."

"Oh, Esmeralda…" I said, delighted as my best friend, sister-in-law, and supposed the song was fitting. "Wait, early, planes don't turn up early, do they?" I asked, and Rose shrugged. "Oh, you mean they had room on the earlier flight, okay, I'll send someone to pick you up from the airport," I paused. "EMMETT!" I called out after considering who would be a fun companion to collect her, and the boisterous "young" man streaked into the garage with a pout.

"Do I have to?" he complained.

However, a beautiful blonde-haired vampire joined us with a smile. "I have a few things to pick up in the city; I could do that after picking up your sister, Bella?" she suggested hopefully.

"That would be great, thank you," I said gratefully, hugging the woman tightly to me, as I kissed her cheek, before she kissed mine in return, and then took the offered keys to Emmett's jeep, leaving before he could streak off back to his game in glee.

Rose rolled her eyes. "You should have made Emmett go with her at least; she needs someone to watch out for her."

I laughed and hung up. "Hey, Es, an animal-eating vampire named Esme Cullen will be coming to pick you up in a black Jeep; so sit tight, she should be there within three hours, hopefully." I said, pausing for Esmeralda to respond. "Okay, so just wait at the Costa Coffee, and I'll text her where you'll be, and… just remember not to speak to strangers, as you don't want another repeat of Lucy, do you, and lucky it was just her? I know you're sorry… yes, I love you too, so see you later," I finished, sending Esme a quick text and telling her where Esmeralda would be, and giving her her phone number.

"Oh," Rose said, disappointment evident in her voice as she eyed my new phone hungrily. I wouldn't be surprised if she bought one herself; Alice had already copied me. "You have your own, Emmett," she said, laughing at her own joke as her husband made an exaggerated attempt to clear his throat loudly enough for everyone to hear. The whole room stilled.

"Vampires?" I asked in annoyance as I exited the house to see several red-eyed vampires, and a large one - well, he was bigger than Alice, but looked like he might have barely reached puberty before he was turned, and he held my Alice by the back of the neck, her clothes torn, and cracks along her skin as she whimpered. Hisses and snarls came from our side while the red-eyed vampires looked smug.

"You will release my girlfriend, or I'll rip out your lungs through your asshole, boy!" I spoke coldly.

"Shut up, human!" he replied, rather amused by me. Five knives sliced through the air at supersonic speeds, and shattered his hand and wrist. As soon as she was free, Alice flitted into my arms where I held her protectively while the vampire screamed as he stared at his stump.

"So, you see this whole state…?" I asked as the red-eyed vampires looked confused. "It is our territory, and things like you aren't welcome." As I said this, the shifters moved out of the woods in their animal forms; many of them having been teaching the wolves. Once they surrounded the unfriendly vampires, we continued on our way.

"Caius!" Tabitha said gently as she stepped out of the house, protectively standing next to my dad who was scared and confused. She continued, glaring at the man with long loose red hair, who was surrounded by his fellow red-eyed vampires. "The child murderer," she spat. "You tortured, and murdered two friends of mine. They settled down… they even adopted a human child. I believe from the evidence, you drank that girl while forcing her parents to watch. You sick little fuck. I've been waiting for such a long time to tear out your cold black heart. It's a shame your soulmate isn't here for me to torture her in front of you before you both burn, but I understand you've enslaved her and locked her up, 'content' on Corin's gift, like a fucking junkie. You sick, twisted piece of shit!"

"They're the Volturi," Carlisle spoke gently to Charlie. "Caius… I'm sorry, but whatever it is you want or expect, you aren't getting. I'm glad I'm not in charge here anymore; I was too soft. I would have let you flee… but my youngest… or should I say someday to be daughter-in-law leads us all." He said with a loving smile directed at me.

"A human?" Caius demanded, as if the mere thought of it was just too ridiculous.

"Hey, Tabs," I said softly. "I can feel your anger, and if you'd like... we could have some one-on-one combat between you and the guy who hurt our Alice." My voice was filled with anger and hate. "The rest of them either take up a new diet or I exterminate the Volturi."

"A normal human?" laughed the one who had lost his hand, as he flexed it once he put the pieces back together, but I saw fear, and, I was surprised to see, he knew – I could see it in that brief flash; he knew I could kill him with no problem.

Alice looked at me in worry, but a moment later she ended up in Rosalie's arms, while I moved. In three strikes, the boy's ribs had shattered, and congealed blood sprayed from his mouth. I grabbed him by the face before he could fall, cracking and shattering his face with my fingers alone. He looked up at me as I held him up by his face; fear and horror clouded his expression, but I could see acceptance and guilt and horror for himself.

While our dear Bella played with your… senses stealer, Alec… I'll play with you, Caius!" Tabitha growled and he took a few steps back in worry, as he saw the futile attempts at his guard to use their powers; someone must have been stopping them. "Vampires are rather in the dark these days, aren't you… you're so retarded you think you're thousands of years old… no… over a thousand, sure, but the Cities… or what remained of them needed a way to control your kind especially… to keep the numbers down… to police those who might expose the supernatural – funnily my kind have this system set up too, but I'm older than that."

"What nonsense!" the man exclaimed in disgust.

"Nonsense?" interrupted an amused voice, and everyone turned to see a young man sitting on the edge of a balcony with ruffled brown hair, and a smile on his perfect face as his golden eyes were alight with mirth. The blonde girl with red eyes dropped to her knees while the black-haired one, Bella, looked even more terrified than before. "If you would, Mikiyoko-sama, let my subordinate go, I would greatly appreciate it, and I shall offer my most humble apologies for the harm to befall your soulmate, and we shall certainly replace the car they destroyed as a small token of our humblest gratitude."

I looked down at the thing clutched in my hand before tossing it to the side where it landed painfully next to the other I could sense was actually his blood sister, as she knelt and bowed her head.

"Thank you," the man said with a smile. "I am Mordred Pendragon, of the City of Avalon," he said gently, and he did have a rather royal accent. "I sided with the humans a long time ago, but I was just a small-fry in the war. I wanted for my human family, and even to this day, my blood has survived... thankfully, but those days are long since gone when mages tried to coexist with humans. My mom kind of... well, she hated everyone and ruined a great experiment because my uncle Arthur was a bit of a prick, ridiculous considering he was the normal human."

So what does Avalon want?" I asked suspiciously.

He chuckled. "Many... most, I'd say, of my people, those within the city and her protection, have grown up on stories and ideals of Camelot and Avalon." He smiled as he dropped down. "They would scream in joy at the thought of us bringing such to the whole world. Could it not be possible to unite, science and magic... might and myth?"

"What nonsense is this?" Caius interjected, enraged.

"I can kill him, right?" Tabitha asked hopefully.

Mordred shrugged. "The others will do without him, but you are Cassandra's sister, if I am correct?"

Yes, Cassie and I grew up as immortals together. There was some kind of vampire and lycan fight or something shortly after the war. We chose peace with each other, and became sisters... a coven and pack of two rolled into one. Good times. We kind of had a little fling with each other, which I kinda miss sometimes, because she really knew what I liked, and we even had our own coven-pack, but we were not soulmates, unfortunately... but I have since, well, never mind," she said gently, but I could see the flicker of her eyes toward my dad. "Back then our vampires ate humans still," she quickly continued, "but we pointed them at evil bastards. Cassie was the first to go... 'vegetarian' as the Cullens call it, feeding on animals..."

"Yes," he agreed with a bow. "I, along with a Lykan named Caliburn, now run the coven-pack out of Avalon City, to govern over those who govern over the vampires and Lykan, the world over. Caius's vendetta and murder of innocent Lykan, and human children, just because he got into a fight with one Lykan, once and almost died, has been bothering us. As one of our Clan's Elders, I afford you the right to bring justice and take Caius's head, and as for the rest, only Alec and Jane here are within our clan… we have a few others within their ranks, but none here."

"You're traitors?" Caius demanded in spite of himself, knowing he couldn't turn on them, as they were too powerful; "but how… Aro…?"

Mordred chuckled. "That's my gift... I can echo other people's gifts... not as strong, and I forget that echoes over a few minutes of being too far from the gifted, and... well, best left unsaid, but it allows me to use another vampire's power. But because of what Aro's power was, we were afraid he would see through the lies... but something unexpected happened when I echoed his power... and I gained access to portions of his subconscious... so I made him ignore certain things in people's minds. Then with a man who can rifle through people's heads... you had no doubts."

"No," Caius whispered in horror.

"Oh, with young Alice here," Mordred said gently. "All these ways you can be torn apart for your crimes… so delightful, yet none of them are enough!"

Caius turned to Alec and Jane, even though Alec would still take quite a while to heal, which served him right. "You made oathbreakers...you cannot commit this betrayal!"

"No," Jane said with nonchalance. "We have not betrayed our clan. You grew weak. Other covens were growing more powerful, but like the Cullens and Denali; they had no desire to take over or we would have arranged it. If you didn't know, most vampires who refuse to eat animals, don't eat innocent humans once they have control of themselves, they normally go after bad people... you do not. Seeing... watching... only the fact that Miss. Tabitha... our ancestor has taken claim of you, spares you from me."

I was kind of disappointed because the fight was rather one-sided. Tabitha maimed Caius and tore him apart piece by piece. I kind of felt sorry for him as he screamed and begged. However, she fought him alone, and put the twat in his place, and then some, to use a British cuss. Carlisle and my dad didn't seem to have the stomach for the battle as the red-eyed vampires, minus Alec and Jane, were exterminated. The bear and tiger shifters left over taught the wolves how to work in teams, with me making sure none of my shifters got killed, as they were more useful getting stronger for the coming conflict, and their packs and litters, and whatever else were off making alliances, and cluing in other shifters from all over the planet to the situation, so those in Forks and La Push would likely be growing soon with other interesting animals in the mix.

Alice

Once the fighting was complete, and the Volturi were put down, I was back in Bella's arms, enjoying a delightful cuddle. I still felt the cracks on my face, but she kissed me anyway, which made me feel better. Before I could tense up at the thought of Jane helping Alec limp over, he spoke first.

"Please forgive my brother," Jane quickly said. "Caius had told us to kill her... we had to play the game or risk our own lives, but sometimes we do make excuses. Best to have a hostage after all, especially since we weren't sure what we were walking into; only that we had been told to defend golden-eyed vampires if we could. Please, let us take her hunting so she can feed and heal."

Rosalie interrupted coldly, "She's not going anywhere alone with you!" I was touched that she loved me so much to be so possessive and protective.

However, I was surprised when Bella frowned before a gentle smile tugged at her lips; she reached out and lovingly stroked Jane's cheek. "I've met you before... both of you," she said. "You were human... your semblances were out of control... and you were hurting people. I remember, I fed you, and bathed you both, and got you new clothes. You couldn't have been more than nine years old at the time, and you relished in my affection. I couldn't control your powers... you weren't mages, and if only your powers weren't so horrible? I tried to forget what I did. I met her... it must have been before the diet change. She told me she would change you, as long as you were older than kids, immortal children is a silly idea... but twelve... thirteen?"

"Just barely thirteen," Jane said gently.

"Lady Saya saved us when no one else wanted to even try," Alec said as he patted her head affectionately this time. "Then Lady Cassandra took us in, and Miss Tabitha wasn't pleased, but she was nice to us still."

"Damn, you're right! It has been a while since we last saw each other. I could have sworn I caught your scent around here though," Tabitha said with a grin. "Cassie and I were… seeing each other at the time, and we wanted you to call her mom and me mum. I remember you calling her that for well over two centuries before Cassie and I went on a quest outside the coven pack. I wanted to turn one of you, Jane in fact, and we played a game for it, so if we drew, I got Jane, she got Alec, and if I won, I got both, she won, she got both… I lost, unfortunately."

"Mother, it is good to see you again," Jane said with a submissive bow next to her brother who bowed a little more awkwardly since Bella had beaten the shit out of him, and I was really confused.

"Okay," Bella interjected gently, rolling her eyes as she looked like she had a complaint on the tip of her tongue. "Emmett, Jasper, and Edward will take the three of you hunting."

"Wait, you just blocked me from Emmett and my husband," Edward complained.

Bella smiled. "I also blocked the twins from using their powers on you."

"Oh," Edward replied sheepishly. "Good idea," he said gently as he smiled at the sight of Tabitha pulling the twins lovingly into her arms.

She whispered, "My babies," and kissed each of them on the forehead.

Esme

I smiled and enjoyed Esmeralda's company; she was rather sweet, and it was nice to talk. The girl was happy to do some errands in the city. I thought that all we needed now was for Esmeralda to find someone special, and our family would be whole. As I saw the sweet girl needing a proper mother, and if I ever met her real mother, I would give her a piece of my mind. However, that wasn't likely going to happen, as the three red-eyed vampires were blocking our path, and they all wore familiar, to me, robes. Maybe I should have gotten Emmett come with me, as I knew he would have pretended he didn't want to, but he would have, and he would have made the trip more fun, and been able to protect us.

We tried to flee, but it was no use. They subdued us rather quickly. I knew Esmeralda wasn't human. She didn't smell human. She didn't smell wrong, like the wolves, or weird, like the bears, or even, well, the shifters all had strange scents, but Esmeralda's was rather pleasant, and flowery. Esmeralda had dropped her phone as she tried calling Bella, and the vampires all paused as they heard a voice.

"Hey, Esme, are you okay?" came Bella's concerned voice.

"Bella! Help!" was all Esmeralda could manage before the foot of a male vampire shattered her phone and backhanded her.

I gasped as blood splattered from the sweet girl's mouth as she hit the ground. That was a few hours ago when the vampires had dragged us off into an abandoned building and chained up Esmeralda's limp form to a wall while two vampires held me as they beat and tortured me, asking questions I refused to answer, knowing Bella would be on her way with the family - I knew they would save us. I had to take everything they did to me to stall, if only for my newest daughter, Esmeralda. I had to mock them, and make sure they didn't for a moment realize I would talk if they hurt her anymore. I had never felt such pain and dread, and I cried not for myself but for the rage my death would bring to my beloved husband and family.

Esme gasped out in horror, her pitch-black eyes glaring hate.

"Caius himself has gone to pay them a visit; they're friends of his."

The man speaking paused and I couldn't help but laugh. "Caius, you just walked into your own death!"

The man punched me twice, causing me to cry and whimper.

"Don't touch her!" interrupted a chilling voice, and even I managed to turn, though I saw nothing. When I heard a scream of terror, and looked to see the man who hit me, covered in dark light, like fire and black scales, Esmeralda tore the vampire's penis off through his trousers and shoved it down his throat with her black-scaled, clawed hands, and then held his mouth closed and forced him to swallow with an ear-splitting crack as her free fist caved in his chest, all the while her black flames leaked out and surrounded us, but they didn't even feel warm, yet the vampire she held started going up in smoke as he screamed and begged, and pleaded on deaf ears.

The vampire's friends could only stare in horror and terror, as those powerful yellow eyes with the black star-like pupils turned to them as she bared her powerful and vicious looking teeth in a snarl, and roared, actually roaring with deafening fury, and I'm sure if I were human I would have likely peed and pooped myself, as my inner monster trembled in fear unlike anything I had ever felt before. Vampires believed they were the apex predator on Earth, but these ones changed their minds, but much too late. The rest of the vampires had suffered similarly painful deaths, and Esmeralda let none of them flee.

Esmeralda returned to me, and crouched with sad eyes as she looked over all of the cracks and congealed blood. Then, to my surprise, Esmeralda scooped me up gently within her arms and held me lovingly as the black flames splashed around us. I smiled sadly, and let myself rest my weary head on Esmeralda's shoulder and relished in the comfort.

"Esmeralda! Esme!" Bella called as we turned to see her standing on a shattered window ledge, and she jumped down, rushing over, she pulled us both into her arms, looking terribly relieved. Though still in pain, this was my heaven, as she showered us in kisses of relief before pulling back with tears she quickly wiped away.

Bella

"I think I broke that seal," Esmeralda whispered as she relished in my love, and I knew her too well.

Let's just get you both back to the Jeep, so Esme can feed and heal, and you can learn to control your new powers.

She asked timidly, "Am I the Blackstar Dragon?"

"I love you, Esmeralda, no matter who you were in a previous life. You're my sister now...my best friend, and you get to choose what you do with your powers." I smiled sadly and kissed her forehead before kissing Esme's forehead too. "It's all okay now, Mum," I said with a sad smile as I held Esme's hand and the woman looked like she wanted to cry, but I knew she couldn't.

I took them outside where I had found the Jeep; I had found that Esme had wisely dropped the keys in the alley they had been walking through to get to the parking lot. Esmeralda gently slid into the back seat with Esme held lovingly within her arms before I slid into the driver's seat, adjusted my chair, and then I rang Alice to let her know we were on our way.

"Yeah, they're fine," I quickly said as I was no doubt on speaker phone; I could hear some running and slowing down with some feline growls in the background.

Edward asked, "The cats are asking if the culprits are dead?"

"They're dead," I quickly agreed. "There were only three of them. Is one of the Coven-Pack Clan still with you?"

Alice agreed. "Both Alec and Jane," she said. "They asked to stay with you and Tabitha. They want a peaceful retirement from the Volturi, and they've been doing this for a very long time; they want to try something new."

"Okay," I said, and was about to ask a question when Alec spoke.

"We did not know that more were coming."

It looked like an interrogation, I said coldly.

"Feel like one too?" Esme whispered.

"Esme, honey, are you okay?" Carlisle asked with obvious concern in his voice; I could feel it in his concern.

"I'll be fine, my darling," she replied gently. "Our wonderful girls are looking after me," she said, smiling gently at me, and then Esmeralda, who, despite the scales, still managed to blush, as most of her was still human in appearance. Though, Esmeralda looked ecstatic to be welcomed into a family that wouldn't treat her like shit just because of who she was. That was why she did the things she did in the past; idiots.

"The Volturi have gone too far!" Carlisle exclaimed coldly. "Is there another way to police vampires?" he asked desperately.

"If your coven and the Denali coven combined, and took their place," Jane answered. "We would be willing to join your coven to help instill fear in rogue vampires. If you do not have the stomach for ordering vampires to die... let our mother, Tabitha, or one of your children do what must be done in such situations... the mind-reader would be ideal for leading that side; you don't have to choose death for them as your first tactic... as you can always talk first."

"I... would have to talk to our cousins first," Carlisle said gently. "But I couldn't ask Edward to do that."

"Those bastards took my mother!" Edward hissed. "They fucking tortured her!" he said, and I could hear the fury in his voice. "We have to destroy them all," he continued. "Only keep those who work for Mordred, and incorporate them into our coven and lifestyle. You can try to convince the vampires to follow the rules, and if they don't, it will be down to me to order their deaths."

I frowned. "Edward... I'm an assassin... let me take that one."

"No, Bella," he said gently. "I can read their minds, and see their truths, and I have my warrior by my side."

Jasper chuckled sheepishly as I heard Emmett laugh. I smiled gently.

"Go home," I ordered. "We'll be home soon... and Alice, I love you."

She replied before I hung up, "I love you too, Bella!"

to be continued...