Chapter 11: Volturi

Hailey's POV

I was worried beyond all possible belief. Worried that this Volturi was going to come and slaughter us all. From what Carlisle said I knew that we'd be outnumbered and with him and Rosalie being human the odds were even more stacked against us.

With my ability to turn humans into vampires and vampires into humans I knew they would want to get rid of me as fast as possible. What of Ben and his gift though? He could steal other people's gifts and use them for himself or transfer them to another and leave the original bearer of the gift completely stripped of their power. What would the Volturi want to do with him then?

"Hailey I wish you wouldn't worry so much. It's not going to help matters any," Ben snuck up behind me causing me to jump.

"Jesus Christ you're going to kill me of a heart attack before the Volturi even get a chance!"

"Sorry didn't mean to scare you,"

"How the heck did you even know what I was thinking anyway?"

He smiled innocently which immediately told me that he was up to something.

"You-"

"I 'borrowed' the mind reader's gift to see what you were thinking about. I've always been curious about what goes through your head and I couldn't pass up the chance when it presented itself,"

"You-why I ought to-"

"Sorry opportunity knocked and I had to answer,"

"So you stole Edward's gift to invade my privacy!" For some odd reason I wasn't as angry as I should've been.

"I wouldn't say 'stole' as I am going to give it back to him right now,"

I punched his arm.

"Hey what was that for?!"

"Purposely invading my privacy that's what!"

His grin was just a little too smug for my taste which just made me punch his arm again.

"But seriously Hailey I think you should stop worrying so much. I think it'll all turn out alright in the end,"

"Sorry but after everything I've heard that's not exactly reassuring,"

He sighed. "Yeah you're right we're totally screwed,"

"So what do we do now?"

"I don't know. Fight back even if we die trying I guess," he said. "Not much we can do other than that,"

Rescuing Nessie and taking her in that day that I found her had brought me a lot of problems but if I had to do it all over again I would not change a thing. Helping that little girl was the best thing that I ever did. In return she had brought me a lot of happiness as well. Maybe I would never be able to have children of my own but maybe I could adopt if I ever wanted to. That's if I survived the next few days anyway.

That night everyone had gone hunting. Or so I had thought. I was sitting outside on the front porch enjoying the nighttime stars when I was suddenly approached by Bella.

"Bella?" I said in shock. "What are you doing here? I thought you were going hunting with the others?"

"I was but I decided to stay behind. I've been wanting to talk to you privately but that hasn't been possible with my husband around,"

"Sure about what?" I asked her curiously.

"Turning human again," she said somewhat nervously.

"You want to be human again?"

"Yes but only temporarily,"

"But why?" she was probably the first vampire I'd met that actually wanted the reverse transformation.

"I want to have another baby that's why. I want to give Nessie a little brother or sister. I want Edward and I to have another baby together,"

"Oh," I simply said. "Why don't you talk to him about this first?"

"Because I know that he will never agree to it. I almost died when I was pregnant with Nessie. The only way I was saved was to be turned into a vampire right after the delivery. There's no way that he will ever agree to me becoming human again simply to have another baby,"

"But Bella I think he'll notice when his wife is suddenly human again. That's not exactly something you can keep a secret from him,"

"I know that," she said. "I was thinking that maybe you could turn me first and then tell him what I did and why I did it. Maybe that way he will be more willing to-"

"I'm sorry Bella," I said. "I really don't think that's the right way to go about doing things. I really think you should talk about it with your husband first before doing something so drastic. He's your husband after all. Don't you think he'll be more mad than anything that you did this behind his back?"

"Maybe," she said thoughtfully.

"Look let's not make any decisions tonight. Let's focus on surviving the next few days. Hopefully we survive anyway,"

"We have to," she said. "I don't know how but somehow we will. We've all got something worth fighting for. I know I do,"

Truth is I didn't know what I was fighting for. I was alone in the world.

"You've got Ben don't you?"

"Hmm what?"

"I don't need to read your mind to know that you were worried about not having anything or anyone worth fighting for. Edward says that you two have feelings for each other only neither one of you has admitted it to each other. The truth though, is that you deeply care about him and don't want anything to happen him. Just like he doesn't want anything to happen to you,"

I honestly didn't have any words to say. None. I was completely stunned. Shocked. I was just about every single word that could describe a state of unresponsiveness.

We went in after that. Not long after the others arrived back from hunting. When I saw Bella and Edward embracing each other I couldn't help but think of what she wanted to do. How she wanted to become human again behind his back just to have another baby.

Edward looked at me right then and there and I realized he was reading my mind. I wondered briefly if I had done the right thing by trying to convince her to talk to him first. When I saw him nod slightly at me I knew that I had done the right thing. Bella didn't seem to notice a thing about our quiet exchange.

Those of us that could sleep all went to bed around the same time. I woke up the next morning when I heard a noise in the distance. I looked outside the window and saw several vampires in black cloaks approaching and my blood ran cold.

Please Review