Bella

I cried through the night after my Demetri had to go. He was heading to Germany, a place I'd never been, to deal with an unknown number of newborn vampires. I had to trust him not to get hurt. I almost did, but he'd put himself in danger to save one of the team. Since they'd do the same for him, I had to believe that he'd come back to me unharmed. I would feel so much better about missions when I could accompany him. That thought spurred me to action. I would train hard while he was gone. I would be closer to being able to accompany him, to keep him safe, on missions the harder I worked.

First I knocked on Emmett and Rose's door. Emmett opened up after a second and said, "Damn, Bells, work starts early around here."

"Demetri had to go on a mission," I said. "Do you think you two could stay and keep me company till he gets back, or at least for a while... I don't know how long he'll be gone."

"Sure Bells. We can stay for a while."

"Great. Thank you, Emmett. I have combat training now, then court, but I'll come to find you this afternoon." I said while giving him a tight hug. I tried to say thank you and please don't leave in that hug.

"You've gotten strong on me. We're going to have to play some more. I still think I can take you," Emmett challenged.

"You're on Emmett. See you this afternoon."

Next, I went to Chelsea's room. I knew Renata would help if she could but she was required to spend most of her time as Aro's shadow, just in case. I knocked on Chelsea's door.

Chelsea opened the door and she was dressed ready to work out. "Let's get going, Bella. I'm going to teach you the way girls get by with beating up boys while they're away."

Demetri

I made it to the garage before Felix. I was early but if I'd spent another moment with Bella I wouldn't be able to leave. Felix, Santiago, Jane, and Alec all ran into the garage. It was time to go.

Felix interrupted my thoughts to ask, "You going to be okay, Dem?"

"I'll be fine," I replied. "It's just hard to leave her so early."

"You have the plane ride to push it down and get your game face on. We need you here with us," Felix said cautiously.

"It's all going to be fine. I'm with you." I reassured.

Jane and Santiago were both looking at me in concern. I did my best to shut my emotions down.

This wasn't my first mission since I knew Bella was my mate but it was the first one I'd been on that I was a mated vampire. I knew I couldn't spend my time longing and mooning over Bella. I had to be the strong, merciless bastard that I'd been before I met her if I was going to make it back to her.

I let thoughts and worries about Bella fade to the back of my mind, ignoring the pull in my chest. The plane lifted off and I began to plan my strategies for tracking down these factions of newborns.

This was going to be a relatively intense mission, even if there were only three factions. There could be more. I had no idea how big those factions were. We'd have to track and scout carefully if we wanted to get them all. I got out my laptop and started researching missing persons and murder cases. Normally I would have done this in advance of leaving on the mission, but current circumstances didn't allow it.

We were landing when I finished my research. The northern group of newborns was drawing the most attention. We would deal with them first.

I informed the team of their last known location, Essen, Germany. We took off at a run. When we got to Essen, we started tracking from their last murder scene. Their trail was almost cold. I followed the scent of unknown vampire to a run-down warehouse. It was abandoned, they were no longer here. I went in alone to get the scents of all the vampires that had been here. My team circled the building, just in case we were wrong about the building being empty.

We weren't wrong and followed the most heavy trail of vampire scents leading away from the building. My team moved in sync with me. This wasn't our first nest of newborns.

We moved cautiously and came upon the group of newborns. They were so busy arguing and fighting with each other that Alec had time to take their senses from them. From there it was a simple matter to dismember and burn them.

We took care of the other trails going from the warehouse in the same manner. It was just a matter of picking off one or two at a time that had run from the main group. It was possible that some of the stragglers could have been rehabilitated but our orders were to make a clean sweep. No survivors.

After I thought we were done with the northern group I used an aspect of my gift that not many know about. I could search an area for the minds of vampires. Vampire's brains are different from human brains to my gift. There was one straggler that we'd missed. The team followed me when I took off. We ran fast. The vampire must be gifted, or older because he wasn't instinct-driven. He ran from us. It took a while to catch up. Jane took him down with pain when we got in sight of him.

I wanted to talk to this vampire. Could he be the creator?

His first, panted words were, "I am not part of the newborn group."

"Then why are you here?" I asked. "If you lie to me I will make your death something to remember.

"I ran across the newborns in my travels. I am a wanderer, um, a nomad. I was leaving so I could come to report the activities to the Volturi. I didn't want to be anywhere near them when you came so I was getting away before making the call."

I looked around at my team and they all nodded. They believed the nomad.

"Be on your way, but if I find that you've lied to me I will track you down, understood?" I said.

"Yes, Tracker. I only want to get far from here," he said.

I nodded and he ran. Now back to the plane and on to the next group.

We landed at the airport in Aachen, Germany. This was where the creator was most likely located. Once again we found a warehouse, but this one was full of vampires. They weren't as wild as the previous group. They were probably a bit older.

I signaled to Felix that I wanted three left alive to question. From outside the building, Alec sent out his mist. Soon all the vampires in the building were silent, their senses taken from them. We disposed of all but three, all men. I had to think about torturing females when it was unnecessary. My team knew this and chose our prisoners carefully knowing they were soon to be dead.

Alec removed his mist from the leftmost vampire.

"What is your name?" I asked.

His mouth stayed shut as he took in the carnage that surrounded him. I motioned to Jane to use her gift. The man screamed.

"Louis, my name is Louis." He said.

"We are the Volturi, Louis. Do you know who we are?" I asked.

He shook his head no, but looked at me fearfully.

"I need to know who created you Louis," I asked calmly. He didn't answer so I signaled Jane again. I let her carry on longer this time before I stopped her. When she did stop Louis was on the floor.

"I don't know. I don't know. It was dark that night and I didn't see. There was just the burning. That was six months ago."

"Thank you, Louis," I said.

I signaled to Alec to put him back under and Felix tore him to pieces.

I questioned the other two, Anton and Friedrich, but they didn't know any more than Louis. We set the warehouse on fire to hide the evidence of so many vampire deaths.

It was time to leave Aachen, Germany but not till after we fed. We split up so that our feed would be inconspicuous. I fed just outside of Aachen University. Rapists are reprehensible and don't deserve to live. I let his victim run away. She was innocent. I disfigured the body to the point my bite wouldn't be noticed and left him where he lay. The campus police would handle it, calling in the authorities.

It had been a week now. I wondered how my Bella was doing. I hoped she was well. Game face, I reminded myself and let thoughts of Bella fade, focusing on our next location.

We met back at the plane. After landing in Duren, Germany, we tracked and located the majority of the newborns in an abandoned house in the southwest of the city. These were likely the oldest of the group because they had been causing the least trouble recently. The creator was unlikely to be here. We would just take them all out. Clean sweep.

Alec sent his mist into the room. It didn't take them all down. Odd, some of this group must be gifted. Possibly only one. I went into the building first. This time, it was going to be a fight, hopefully a small one but a fight. Felix and Santiago got busy dismembering the vampires still under Alec's influence but five vampires weren't senseless on the floor.

Jane took down one of them while Alec kept up his mist. I took down another. We got to where there was only one left but then I saw that little female lighting a lighter. She manipulated the fireball and threw it at me. It was large. I tried to dodge it but didn't get far enough for it to miss me completely. My last thought was "I'm sorry, Bella."

The ball of fire hit a shield surrounding me. It seemed that I had gained the ability to use Bella's shield. We would have to explore this development. I got my head back in the game and decapitated the fire wielder before she could flick her lighter again. Felix was there to do the rest of the job for me. His eyes were wide. Clearly, he'd seen me shielding myself from the fire. I only nodded. I set the fire wielder alight first. I was unsure whether she would burn. She did. The fire spread quickly to the others and we lit a few more alight to make sure that they would all be gone before emergency personnel arrived.

"Aro is going to be thrilled that you can use Bella's shield, Boss," Felix said.

"I wouldn't want to depend on it but it did save the day in there. Hopefully, Bella will be able to come on my next mission with me. This has been...difficult," I said finally rubbing my chest. The pain had been getting worse every day.

I called the phone I'd gotten Bella when the plan with Edward dictated her being able to place a call. She answered on the first ring.

"Demetri?" my Bella asked. It was such a relief to hear her voice.

"Yes, I'm here. I'm heading home to you in two hours, my love. The newborns are gone and there is a chance we got the creator with them, though I doubt it. I may have to come back here and hunt again later. But for now, I'm on my way with you safe and sound. I love you Bella," I said.

"I love you too Demetri. I can't wait to hear about your mission and I have so much to show you when you get home, Demetri. I missed you so much. I've been working hard while you've been gone. I can't wait for you to see. Come home to me," Bella said.

I looked around at my team, each waiting for orders. "You all heard the lady, back to the plane. It's time to go home."