Thank you so much IamTheAlleyCat for beta'ing and Ncsupnatfan for pre-reading.

It's Midnight Sun Day! I decided to take a break from reading — I'm on 6. Blood Type — to post early updates. This is the final full chapter of this story. So I just have the epilogue to post on Saturday.

Happy reading xxx

Chapter Forty-Four

Edward

We were ordered to stay behind the Volturi line as we approached. I did at first, knowing I would be stopped if I went ahead, but when they fell into line, I started forward, and I was dragged back and pinned by immovable arms. At the same moment, I was flooded with Jasper's gift of calm to the point that I couldn't move.

"Jasper," I groaned. "Stop!"

"No," he said. "The guard can handle this. If you go near the newborns, you will be killed."

"But Bella…"

"Can handle herself. And she needs you alive."

I slumped in Emmett's grip and moaned. I wanted to be with her, to protect, but at the same time, I couldn't make myself move. Jasper's influence was too strong.

Carlisle stood in front of me and lifted my chin to look at him. I could tell from the concentration in his eyes that he was trying to talk to me, but I couldn't hear his thoughts. I couldn't hear any thoughts. I was too close to the shield for my gift to work.

"I can't… The shield…"

"Bella is safe, Edward," he said. "The last thing she would want is you putting yourself in danger."

"And if she protects the Romanians instead of us?" I asked.

"She won't."

My fear surged, and I felt Jasper combat it with an intense wave of his gift. I hated that they were doing this to me, that they were risking Bella like this. I wanted to fight, but Jasper was too strong. Then an accented voice shouted a command, and I felt my own strength born of need surge through me, and I roared.

"Kill her! Kill Bella!"

I struggled in Emmett's grip as Jasper's influence was overpowered by my need for Bella, and I twisted and sank my teeth into his neck.

He shouted in pain, and his arms released me.

"Bella!" I roared.

The frozen line of the newborns broke as I ran forward, and they launched themselves toward the Volturi, who crouched and attacked with crashes and rumbles of vampire bodies colliding. The air was filled with shouts and screams.

"Bella!" I shouted as I ran around the warring bodies, searching for her. "Bella!"

I saw her then. She was running with the immortal child clinging to her back. The child was tiny, young, dangerous. A threat to us all.

Bella reached me and grabbed my arm and pulled me away to the right. I ran with her into the trees, ignoring the sounds of fighting behind me and hoping against hope that my family were not a part of it. I didn't see anyone following, they were absorbed by the battle, and I was relieved.

Bella pulled the child around to her chest and touched her cheek. "Drop your shield, Violet," she said softly. "Then I can take care of you properly. Do it for me."

The child looked from Bella with adoration on her face to me with hatred. Her red eyes narrowed, and I saw the threat in her as clearly as if she'd spoken in my mind.

She was going to destroy us all.

Hatred and horror filled me, and I glared at her.

"No, Edward!" Bella said. "It's not what you think. She's going to be ours."

The words came from me without thought. I had no ability to restrain them. "That's a monster, Bella. She has to die."

The child flinched, and Bella pulled her close, perhaps to soothe, but the child shot me a look of venom and then pressed her mouth to Bella's throat.

"Stop!" I shouted. "Let her go!"

The child's eyes fixed on me, and she raised her mouth slightly from Bella's throat to say, "Bella is mine, not yours."

I held up my hands. "Yes, okay, she's yours. But you have to let her go. You're going to hurt her."

Bella stroked the child's hair, no sign of fear in her. "I'm both of yours," she said. "Edward is going to be your father like I'm your mother. We're all going to be together forever."

I didn't conceal my horror at the idea fast enough, and the child caught it. She sank her teeth deep into Bella's throat, and Bella's cried out and then screamed as the child was thrown from her by her physical shield, her teeth still gripping a chunk of her flesh.

I caught Bella and pressed my hand to her throat automatically, as if I was staunching blood. Her skin was slick with venom and there was a sickening hollow beneath my fingers, but Bella made no sounds of pain now. She seemed stunned.

Behind us, the battle raged with shouts and screams, the sound of tearing metal as vampires were torn apart.

"Bella, you have to shield us," I said. "The fight… Alec can't use his gift."

"I can't," she whispered. "Violet is stronger than me."

"Emmett!" I shouted.

He ran to our side, his eyes wide and fearful as he looked at Bella. I saw him reaching for something to say, but his usual timing and ability to lighten a moment failed.

"Get the child," I yelled. "She needs to be stopped. She's stronger than Bella."

"No!" Bella gasped. "You can't. She needs to be protected. She's ours."

Emmett gave her a look of misery and then ran into the trees where the child was watching us with a strange look on her face. It was half fear, half hatred.

Jasper went after him, and Violet began to run from them.

I turned Bella so she was facing away, relieved that she wasn't fighting me. If she tried to defend the child, to use her shield, I would be helpless.

"Trust me, love," I whispered. "I'm going to take care of everything."

There was a child's scream of terror that became pain, and Bella jolted as if given an electric shock. The sound cut with a screech of tearing metal, a vampire's head being torn from its body, and then I heard a rush of thoughts filling my mind as the shield dropped.

I shouted, "Now, Alec!" as the sound died.

I found his mind and saw him at his place beside Jane in front of Aro, Marcus, and Caius, and then I saw the haze of his gift inching from him towards the newborns as the guard fell back behind him.

I hugged Bella to me. "It's okay, love," I said. "It's almost over."

The snarls and growls gradually faded and stopped as Alec's influence reached them, and then the sound of vampires being destroyed filled the air.

Bella buried her face into my neck and began to sob. I wanted to help, to get her away from the horror that was happening around her.

I looked back into Alec's mind and saw that all the newborns were now under his influence. We didn't need to be there anymore; Bella didn't need to be there.

"Come with me, love," I said, taking her hand and leading her deeper into the trees. She came with me, but there was a distant look in her eyes that became horror when we passed the small head with long, blonde hair and a pink ribbon that lay on the ground a dozen feet from us.

The remains of the child Bella had loved.

Carlisle

Esme squeezed my hand and said, "Go to them. They need you."

I smiled and kissed her cheek. "Thank you."

I wanted to be with my wife, but I thought Bella and Edward needed me more at that moment, and I knew she was safe. Edward and Bella were the ones suffering the most. Bella had lost the child she'd been entranced with, loved, and Edward was seeing her pain.

Rosalie went to Esme and put her arms around her. Alice stood on her other side. Jasper and Emmett were part of the group dismembering the frozen newborns.

I hurried in the direction that Bella and Edward had taken, finding their scent path going away from the confusion of others that were there, and walked deeper into the forest.

I heard Bella's cries and Edward's soothing voice as I approached, and I saw Bella was wrapped in his arms as they sat on the branch-strewn ground.

My heart ached for them both, for Bella's pain and Edward's helplessness.

"Bella," I sighed.

She looked up at me, and her eyes looked tortured. I walked closer and opened my arms. Edward released her, and she got to her feet then walked toward me. Before she reached me, though, there was a rush of movement around us. Edward was bowled over and pinned to the ground by a vampire with the still red eyes of a newborn, a woman, and a pair of arms gripped me from behind and teeth pressed to my throat.

"Carlisle," an accented voice said, fury deep in it. "So good of you to come."

"Vladimir, let him go!" Bella shouted. "Let them both go." She looked back at the vampire that held Edward and growled, "Elenora, stop!"

Edward was pinned by the knees on his chest and his wide eyes fixed on Bella as Stefan walked into my view.

"Don't stop," Stefan said. "Kill."

I could see Bella was torn as she teetered on the edge of movement, trying to see which was the greater risk and who to defend, and I gave her the command that I knew would end with my death but save the person I loved.

"Save him," I said. "Save Edward."

"No, Carlisle!" Edward shouted.

I fixed my eyes on him and smiled slightly. I love you son.

"No!"

Bella threw out her hands, one reaching for Edward and the other for me, and the arms around me tightened. Bella squeezed her eyes closed, and I called to her as the arms around me began to slip away. I was released, and I ran forward to defend Edward, but he was already free, too. Elenora was on her feet, her arms and legs splayed and terror in her eyes. Stefan and Vladimir were held the same. It was as if there were ropes tied to their wrists and ankles, pulling them apart.

"Do it, Bella," Edward said.

"She won't," Stefan said with a laugh. "Bella cannot kill. She is too weak to dare."

"No," I said, my voice loud and confident. "Bella is a protector! She's strong. She'll protect others from you."

Bella nodded, and then her head flew back, and there was a sickening tearing sound and screams of pain as their arms, legs, and heads were torn from their bodies.

Edward looked at me in stunned disbelief, and then a smile curled his lips. "She split it," he whispered.

Bella's hands dropped to her sides, and she blew out a slow breath. Edward and I moved towards her at the same time, and our arms embraced each other with her held between us.

"You did it, love," Edward said, his pride clear in his voice. "You saved us."

Bella nodded slightly and then buried her face into his neck.

I stroked her hair and said, "You were amazing. You were a protector all along."

Bella huffed a laugh and raised her face. "Yeah, but I was protecting the wrong person at first, wasn't I?"

"That wasn't your fault," I said. "You couldn't have known what an immortal child is capable of. We didn't warn you about them. The power they have is immense."

She sighed. "I guess… I don't think I want to do this again, though."

There was movement behind u,s and we broke apart. Aro was standing with Felix and Demetri, who were looking at the pieces of our enemies on the ground.

"Was anyone hurt?" Aro asked.

"No," Edward said. "Bella saved us when they attacked."

Aro smiled slightly and fixed his eyes on Stefan's head. "How did she do it?"

"We can talk about it later," Edward said pointedly, stroking Bella's hair.

"Of course," Aro replied. "Felix, Demetri, add them to the fire." Felix and Demetri gathered the pieces into their arms and carried them away, and then Aro called after him. "Actually, no, leave Elenora. I have a better idea of how she should meet eternity, and it's not with fire. She can linger in separate graves."

"Yes, Master," they intoned.

Aro clapped his hands together. "Well, Bella, it didn't quite go as planned, but I think this was a good first test for you. You will have time to practice before we call on you again."

"I don't think I want to do it again," Bella said.

I caught Edward's eye and saw the gleam in it. He looked surprised but relieved, even though his words oppose it, "You don't need to decide yet, love. There's plenty of time for you to think."

"Yes," Aro said. "There is. All the time in the world."

All the time for Bella to decide, to find her new life as a vampire with us, for us all to relax and enjoy the peace.

We had forever for Bella to decide if what she really wanted was to be a protector.

So… That's how it ends. There is a short epilogue to follow, but that's just a goodbye.

Until next time…

Simaril xxx