"If you knew where the newborns were why didn't you have the Cullens come with us to help?"Kate asked Tanya. As the entire Denali Coven suspected Tanya's feeling of needing to go to Seattle was a set up. Tanya and Rosalie led them directly to the building where Laurent had been keeping his army. Kate had expected something like this to happen. She just couldn't understand not including their cousins when dealing with such a dangerous threat. A threat that Kate was beyond excited to fight. Tanya made them train regularly and they never got the chance to actually go all out with each other. Fighting a newborn was going to be a challenge and Kate couldn't wait to see how she would stack up to one in a fight.
"Would you honestly want to be fight alongside the Cullens? Let alone against a bunch of newborns?"Rosalie knew she wouldn't.
"Good point."Kate figured that she would spend all her time trying to save the Cullens than actually fighting the newborns.
"With that said what is the plan?"Carmen asked. She like the Kate was excited for the chance to be involved in a real fight.
"There are four exits in the building. I want each mated pair to go to different exits with Kate and Anne teaming up. On my signal we will enter the building and attack the newborns. The building is made up of a large open space that is filled with old machinery used for making textiles and a bathroom. There is also a second floor that contains a single office. We don't have to worry about the office. No one will be in it. We are going to burn down the building after we are done so you don't have to worry about destroying anything inside of it."Tanya wasn't being completely honest. The office wasn't actually empty. Laurent was in it. Tanya just couldn't let her family kill the man because if they did then it would ruin everything that Isabella had been working on to lead to the kings' downfall.
"I want to ask you how you know all that but you won't tell me anyway so I will just ignore the fact that you have obviously been planning this long before Carlisle called you."Irina really was sick of Tanya keeping everything from them. If their coven leader had explained everything before they left Alaska they could have prepared better for the fight.
Tanya brushed off Irina's comment. Everything would be revealed soon and her family would finally understand why she kept things from them."Everyone get moving. We need to move fast so none of them get away."
"We got this."Victoria wasn't worried about the fight. Her gift wasn't alerting her to extreme danger. That gave her the confidence to know that the newborns weren't that much a threat. Not that she thought it would be easy to defeat them. She just had faith that the family would all come out of this alive.
"Is it wrong to say I'm kind of excited about this?"Anne asked.
"I think we are all excited about this."Eleazar knew he was. When he was with the Volturi he never got to be involved in conflicts. Going against the newborns he was finally getting his chance to test his limits. Something he always wanted to do.
"Everyone stay safe and don't hold back."Tanya wasn't to concerned with her family's safety as Isabella had told her that the newborns were very unskilled and none of them were gifted. That would give the Denali a big advantage in the fight."And wait for my signal."
"Come on Anne we don't want to not be ready when it's time to storm the building."Kate didn't want to miss her chance to kill the newborns.
Rosalie walked hand and hand with Tanya towards the door they were going to enter through. Lowering her voice so that only Tanya could hear her she spoke."Ok so you go after the newborns I go after Laurent. When I get to him I'll engage him in a fight where he will punch me hard enough that I am flung through a wall giving him the opening to escape."
"I hate that you have to get hurt."Tanya was fighting her instincts telling her to protect her mate but knew it was important to let it happen.
"It has to look like we actually made an effort to kill him or when he goes to Italy Aro will know we let him go on purpose."Rosalie herself wasn't excited by her role but she was the one with the least amount of training. It would be more believable if she lost against Laurent than Tanya who had been training for centuries.
"I know but I still don't like it."Tanya said.
Rosalie gave her a kiss."This is the first step to being reunited with Isabella."
"And that is the only thing that has kept me going all these years."Tanya kissed Rosalie again. Pulling back she sighed."Let's get this over with."
"That's the spirit."Rosalie took a deep breath and tried to calm her nerves. She was confident that everything would turn out fine she was just nervous that she wouldn't be convincing in her role against Laurent. If she wasn't it would ruin everything. Feeling Tanya squeeze her hand she gave her mate a smile. She reminded herself that her mates had faith in her and that gave her the boost she needed to get it done.
"Here we go."Tanya took a step back from the closed door. Lifting her foot up she used all her strength to kick it in yelling as she did."Now!"
As soon as Tanya gave the signal the three other doors were kicked in as well. There was a moment of silence as the newborns seemed too shocked to react. Once that shock wore off loud shouting and sounds of fighting overwhelmed the room. Rosalie took out the first newborn who tried to attack her before moving on the to the next. She needed to get around the group to get to the office before Laurent jumped into the fight. Just as she was being targeted by three more Tanya stepped in and took over for her."Thanks."
"Get going."Tanya told her before she intercepted a newborn who lunged at Rosalie. She punched him in the face causing him to fly into a large machine that buckled from the impact. Tanya paid him no mind as she turned her attention to the next woman who came at her with an uncoordinated attack. The newborn had no skill and was just swinging her arms in random directions. Tanya rolled her eyes before easily taking the woman's head. That seemed to enrage a blond haired man who had initially been fighting Kate. His inattention gave Kate the perfect opening to take his head as well.
"This is almost too easy."Kate had hoped for a least something challenging.
"That's why we trained."Tanya said.
"ROSALIE!"Irina screamed as she watched her sister smash through a wall of the second floor office and slam into one of the machines.
Even though Tanya knew it was going to happen nothing could have prepared her for the fear and unbridled rage that overcame her at the sight of seeing her mate injured. Her instincts were telling her to make sure Rosalie was alright then eliminate the person who hurt her. Running to Rosalie Tanya ran her hands over Rosalie as she looked for injuries."Where do you hurt?"
"I'm fine but Laurent got away."Rosalie had played her part perfectly. Giving Laurent enough of a challenge that he didn't suspect Rosalie let him escape.
"Laurent? You didn't say he was here."Victoria said as she walked up to the pair. The newborns were all dead and luckily Rosalie was the only one who was injured.
"I didn't know he was here."Tanya lied.
"You didn't know he was here?"Anne didn't believe that for a second. In all the centuries Anne had known the coven leader Tanya had prevented them from getting hurt numerous times.
Tanya shook her head."He wasn't supposed to be. That's why we attacked when we did."
"Why wouldn't we have wanted to kill Laurent as well?"Carmen would have thought that would be the best thing to do.
"He would have killed one of us if we targeted him. Rosalie was just lucky that she caught him when he was fleeing."Tanya told her.
"Rosalie was very lucky."Too lucky in Kate's opinion. Then again Tanya could have held back the truth so that none of them were killed. Maybe Rosalie getting hurt was the better outcome.
"Sweetheart I'm alright."Rosalie reassured her. She had a little bit of cracking on her stomach from where she was hit but with the venom she spread on it it was almost healed already.
"Let's get these bodies gathered into a pile and burn them. Then Rosalie needs to feed."Tanya wanted to get this done quickly so that Rosalie could heal.
"Even though I know it would be horrible if Laurent had created a huge army I'm still kind of upset we only got to fight a dozen newborns. I mean I only got to kill three of them."Kate wished that Tanya had only let Kate and two others deal with the newborns. Then they would have had a good fight.
"If he had created a large army then we would have been forced to fight along side of the Cullens and the wolves."Victoria definitely didn't want to deal with that situation.
"Plus the Volturi would have shown up."Anne didn't want to be on the kings' radar. Victoria and Kate's gifts were strong enough that Aro would be very interested in having them in the guard and Anne didn't want to lose either of her sisters.
"No one wants that."Irina was of the same thought as Anne. She didn't want Aro to force her mate and Kate into the guard.
"That being said start putting the bodies in the second floor office."Tanya told them.
"Why are we putting them in the office?"Carmen asked.
"It's the only place in the building that they will all burn to ash before the fire department shows up."Rosalie pushed Tanya's hands away from her and stood."Sweetheart I'm fine."
"You are just as bad as Tanya when it comes to withholding information."Kate grumbled.
"It won't be long before you will understand why I do."Tanya was looking forward to the day that she could explain everything to her family.
"What do you mean?"Eleazar had never heard Tanya say that she would actually explain why she knew things.
"Just that you all won't be in the dark forever and once you know the truth you will know why I have to keep things from you."Tanya changed the subject before she could be questioned further."Rose you rest while the rest of us clean up."
"Tanya I am fine I promise."Rosalie understood her mate's concern but she was perfectly able to help the rest of them.
"I don't care if you are. I want you to just sit down somewhere and not doing anything physical. At least until we can get you some game to feed from."Tanya wasn't going to take any chances of Rosalie getting hurt more than she was. Even though Isabella told her that Rosalie getting hit was the only injury that would happen. Tanya trusted the blind seer she just hated that Rosalie was hurt. No matter if it was for a good cause or not.
"Just do what she says Rosalie. If you don't she will just fret and then nothing will get done."Irina said.
"Do we anything to burn the bodies with?"Kate asked.
"There is a gasoline tank attached to the building next door that we can steal from and I have a couple lighters on me."Tanya told her.
"That will make this easier."Anne may have been frustrated with Tanya not telling them things but she was thankful that the coven leader always made sure they were not only safe but that they had a solid plan to follow on each new adventure. Well except for when she kidnapped Rosalie. Something the whole Denali Coven found hilarious because the Cullens were left to deal with the fall out. Including being questioned by the police.
Tanya leaned in to give Rosalie a kiss."You relax and call out if you need anything."
"Seriously Tanya I'm fine."Rosalie huffed when Tanya gave her a once over before nodding and walking away. Rosalie appreciated her mate's concern it was just annoying to be treated like a child. Not that Rosalie could really blame her. If Tanya was the one who had to be attacked by Laurent she would have been just as worried. Rosalie knew that she was constantly worried about Isabella and that Tanya was to. More so than she worried about Tanya. She figured that was because Isabella was in such a dangerous situation. The blind vampire was in a castle with a large number of deadly vampires that could at anytime could target her and she had very little way of defending herself. Even with the visions there was still a chance of Isabella being caught off guard. The only thing that made Rosalie feel better was that Isabella had Athenodora with her wherever she went. That and Jane and the other allies in the castle that she had been collecting over the centuries. Allies that were going to be responsible for overthrowing the kings. Something that was going to happen very soon. Then Rosalie and Tanya were going to be reunited with Isabella. Rosalie smiled at the thought of finally being able to complete the mate bond with her lost love. It was going to be hard getting to that point in the future but Rosalie had already been waiting decades what was a few more years compared to that.