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Chapter 13

Bella's heart was breaking for her cousin and her best friend, seeing them reliving all that pain and suffering was almost too much for her. She had already known about the war, of course, and she noticed that they left some parts out while recounting the story once again. She couldn't blame them, what they had been through was truly horrible. She had shivers just thinking about it. And she could tell that it was hard enough as it was.

Bella was sitting next to Hermione with an arm around her shoulders while Harry was on her cousin's other side, gripping her hand tightly in both of his. They had all been crying throughout the story, even Bella couldn't hold back her tears, and they were taking a moment to calm themselves down. It hadn't taken as long as the first time but the reactions weren't much different, raging from disbelief and sympathy to outrage.

She was startled though at what she saw in Rosalie's eyes. Respect. Bella was sure she had never seen her showing anything more than indifference and it was shocking to say the least.

Edward, surprisingly, was the first one to speak.

"I would like to apologize to both of you."

Well, that was unexpected. And Hermione and Harry agreed, if the expressions on their faces were anything to go by.

"Finding someone that was able to block me out, apart from Bella, was hard for me to accept and I judged you unfairly because of that." He said seriously.

Hermione blinked, as if to make sure she wasn't imagining it, and after a moment cleared her throat to speak, looking at the bronze haired vampire.

"I... Thank you." She then gave him a once over and added "Uh, I may have to change my opinion about you, Cullen."

He chuckled at her, breaking the tension, and Carlisle took the opportunity to intervene.

"I cannot imagine how difficult this must have been for you and we thank you for sharing your story with us. I think I speak for everyone in the family when I say that you were incredibly brave and I am truly sorry to hear about all the hardships you had to go through. We understand if you would rather not get involved in this."

All the vampires nodded in agreement at his words but, as Bella expected, Hermione shook her head vehemently.

"No. Bella is my family and it's my job to protect her." She glanced at Harry, who was nodding along with her and sighed before continuing "What we have been through was... difficult, yes, and it will probably take a long time to heal, but I won't let it stop me from doing what I need to. And right now is taking care of Victoria." She finished, a look of determination settling on her face. "Harry?" she asked, turning to the bespectacled boy.

"You know I never pass up the opportunity to save the day." He responded with a slight smile.

"Thank you, really." said Edward before addressing his brother "All right Jasper, you are the expert here. How do you suggest we do this?"

The empath was already launching himself in a detailed explanation of everything they needed to know about newborns. Having been the right hand of Maria when she created her own army had taught him quite a bit about the subject. And the more he talked the more Bella realized how hopeless the situation looked. As did everyone else, judging by their worried frowns. They were seven vampires, a witch, a wizard and a human against Victoria and an army of newborns. They were clearly outnumbered and the fact that the newly made vampires were stronger and unpredictable didn't help matters. They all seemed at a loss for words when Jasper was done speaking.

She then noticed Harry shifting nervously in his seat and then clearing his throat.

"I was thinking... Shouldn't we involve the wolf pack?" A number of snarls could be heard around the room at the mention of the wolves and he added quickly "I mean, isn't it what they do? Destroy vampires?"

Bella thought it was a pretty good idea and Hermione thought that too as her eyes lit up and she exclaimed "That's brilliant, Harry!" which caused Harry to blush.

Bella, however, was also mildly annoyed at the scepticism coming from the others, Edward in particular. Not that she was surprised but, considering the situation, was it really so hard to put aside your differences for a minute? She was about to speak her mind on the matter but Jasper beat her.

"I agree." He said and all the vampires turned to look at him in shock. He ignored them and continued. "Look, I like them as much as you do but if you think about it you'll realize that the idea has some merit. Aside from Victoria, they are all newborns, which means that they don't have the same knowledge as we do, about shape-shifters in particular. They would never see that coming. Not to mention, we need the numbers."

They still looked a bit sceptical but eventually agreed with his reasoning.

"Bella, would it be a problem for you to inform them?" Carlisle asked.

"They already know." interjected Hermione. "Or, well, I imagine they do. Paul was there when I told Harry about the newborn and he knows there's more than one."

"We'll tell them about the rest." added Harry.

"Okay, I think it's everything then-"

"Oh, wait!" interrupted Hermione again. Everyone turned to her surprised and she blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry." She said ducking her head. Carlisle just chuckled and waved a hand dismissively. Hermione cleared her throat before speaking again.

"There is something I forgot to mention and that I found quite curious. After the encounter with the newborn I run into another vampire." She said ignoring Harry's glare. Bella held in her chuckle. Apparently she had forgotten to mention it to him too. "A member of the Volturi coven. His name is Demetri. One of the guards I would say, judging by his cloak. At first I thought he could be in Seattle to take care of the newborns issue himself but I'm not so sure now since there is an army of them and it's coming here soon."

Bella's heart stopped at those words. That wasn't good. If the Volturi were in Seattle not long ago, Aro probably knew about Victoria and her army by now. Which meant he knew Bella was still human and his Guard would soon come to Forks to see for themselves. She turned to Edward, her eyes wide, but he shook his head catching her line of thinking.

"No Bella, we still have time for that. You don't have to worry." He said.

"But-"

"Alice would have seen it." He continued, not letting her finish. Bella was about to retort when Hermione intervened.

"Is there something I should know?" she said looking pointedly at Bella, her right eyebrow arched and her arms crossed in front of her.

Shit. She may have forgotten that little detail.

She knew that look. It was the one that said 'I'll find out regardless what you're hiding so you better tell me now'.

She sighed and glared at Edward, who was opening his mouth to reply for her. It was time her cousin knew the truth, and it should come from her.

"There's... uh, a possibility they are coming here soon for me."

Hermione stared at her incredulously for a minute before she snorted.

"Merlin Bella, is there a vampire on this earth that is not currently looking for you? What did you do to catch their attention?"

Bella took a deep breath.

"You're not going to like this."