-Chapter 25: Convergence-

"Speaking of unfortunate timing," I drawled, mentally smirking when Bella's eyes widened as she realized her kind-of-meta-human father was about to walk into vampire central.

The girl shot me – as well as the cluster of red-eyed vampires – an anxious glance, which kind of pissed me off. I wasn't going to hurt the man. We had waltzed in the sky together during the fight at La Push and I had definitely saved his life at least once.

Thinking back on that now, I was actually surprised at how well he did with being tossed about while I helped the pooches. I understood he knew about the wolves and the Cullens'…otherness, but even Angela had outright refused to fly with me after being held hostage by Nazi vampires.

The police chief had some serious sky legs on him.

Bella ducked outside, dragging Edward with her, and Carlisle moved to the window overlooking the front yard and driveway. The large crowd of vampires that was left seemed to migrate toward the back of the house, the Cullens wanting to give Charlie some space and the red-eyed breed not feeling comfortable around a human when they weren't feeding.

I felt a tugging of my hand in the direction that Jacob and Renesmee had headed toward, after the others, and looked down at the hybrid girl.

She was much like Renesmee, with her pale skin and look of innocence about her, but Hannah had straight blonde hair nearly the same shade as Rosalie's and her face was less angular. Aryan, I mentally chuckled as her bright blue eyes looked back up at me.

I sent a jolt of Kate's shocking power through her body and she screamed out a short cry, dropping my hand and stumbling back with watery eyes.

"Emily!" Ryan hissed, stepping in between Hanna and me and scooping the girl up. "You can't do that to a child!" Several growls rolled through the air and down the hallway that separated the three of us from the larger group.

I winced from his tone and my shoulders sagged as fear and betrayal flowed over the hybrid girl. Off in the front yard Charlie had finally pulled up and stepped out of his cruiser.

"Bella?" Charlie asked, sounding both worried and angry. I wrinkled my nose, stuck between listening to Bella explain the ways of the world to her father or being in a cramped room with other vampires – as well as Jake and Renesmee.

My head tilted to the side and I cracked a smile, realizing I didn't really need to put up with this nonsense for a while. I turned and looked down at the hybrid – at Hannah – and offered her my hand again. Her thoughts were hesitant to grab it. In fact, she was completely terrified of touching me – of even being near me.

She took too long to decide for my tastes, so I flicked out my hand and grabbed her own, yanking her up and onto my back as she let out a squeal. Once she grabbed hold of my shoulders on her own, I released my hold on her and spun around to grip Ryan's forearm.

"What –" Ryan began to ask as I cloaked the three of us and flew out of the front door, avoiding the awkward hug that Charlie was laying on his daughter.

"I want to introduce you to my new friends," I explained to Ryan as the invisibility cloak dissolved and we dropped back down below the canopy of the forest, opting to continue on foot. "And introduce Hannah to the wonders of chocolate and Mountain Dew."

"That's right," Ryan smirked at me, dodging past a cluster of trees. "You can't really enjoy your vices now that you're a vampire."

I growled at him in response, making Hannah tense on my back. "I'm working on that after we kill the Volturi."

"Wait," Ryan pushed down on my shoulder, stopping us before we reached the tree line outside of the hotel Henry was staying in. "You're still wanting to kill the Volturi? All of them?"

"Well…" I trailed off, scrunching my nose. "I have something else in mind for Caius, but yeah; death to the Italian scum." Vladimir and Stefan would be so proud of me. I set Hannah down and held her hand as we stepped out of cover and crossed the street, heading for the stairs that led to the second floor of the simple complex of rooms.

"Are you sure that's wise?" he questioned. "I know we're new to this whole 'undead' thing," he made the quotation marks in the air. "But if it wasn't for them, humans would be cattle – or worse: extinct."

"First of all, they're not really the Volturi anymore – that little bitch of a parasite hijacked the coven," I knocked on the door three times and stood back, listening to the strong heartbeat move toward us from the other side. "And secondly," I looked to my brother. "Someone else could easily take their place – not the Romanians, of course," I held up my hand as I read his thoughts. "But it doesn't need to be the same group of corrupt bastards running things."

"Dios mio!" Henry's eyes widened as he swung open the door.

…vampire. Emily wouldn't bring someone here and allow them to harm me, would she? No – foolish thought.

"Henry!" I grinned, tugging Ryan into the room. "You're looking much better."

"I – yes, I am," he chuckled, standing with a posture that belied his age. "Fantastico!" He studied Ryan and Hannah again and frowned. "Did you…need something, Emily?"

"Nope," I sighed, reaching over my shoulders and pulling the hybrid from my back. I sat her down beside me and she looked around the room with curious eyes, studying everything. "Just a bit of drama at the Cullen residence that I wanted to avoid, so I decided to bring my brother to check up on you."

"Ryan Ambrose," Ryan extended his hand to Henry, who took it cautiously in his own. "I'm the brother."

"Ah, yes of course," Henry nodded and released Ryan's hand, stepping back and peering down at the hybrid.

"I'm Hannah," she chimed replicating Ryan's actions and shooting her tiny hand out. Henry bent down and took the handshake with grace.

"Ouch," Henry winced as he took back his hand, flexing his fingers. "You are very strong." Hannah's eyebrows scrunched together.

"She's half vampire," I supplied. "She's probably stronger than you are now, even though she's a little shit."

Emily… Ryan mentally rolled his eyes at me but did not vocalize his displeasure at my foul language.

"Oh?" Henry peered at Hannah with curiosity. "That's…I want to say strange, but given the past week…" He trailed off, running a hand over his forehead.

"Isn't it exciting?" I grinned widely.

"Emily," Ryan called. "I'm not sure what exactly we're doing here, but shouldn't we – you – be back with the others, discussing our options?"

"I'm going to kill them, end of story," I rolled my eyes and opened up the mini fridge I was standing by. There wasn't anything inside other than the leftovers of the HLV2 virus, which I snagged out and sloshed the bright blue contents around hypnotically. "Our only options are the method and the order they go in." I closed the fridge door and slid the coffee pot out of the holder, wincing at the scent of dish soap mixed with stale coffee.

"What about Nadia?"

The coffee pot shattered in my hand, sending shards of glass and plastic sprawling across the carpet. I swallowed, ignoring the dull burn of thirst, and turned back to my brother.

"Fine," I bit out. "Let's go back. They're probably done explaining to Charlie anyway, and," I grinned at them. "We can take Henry and Angela with us!"

"Are you doing alright?" I whispered to Angela as she drove us in her car toward the Cullen mansion. Ryan and Henry were in the backseat, both leaning against their own sides of the car and studiously ignoring each other. I could feel Henry's fear and dread from going to meet a house full of vampires, but it wasn't like he was going to be the only human there. Charlie would probably still be there, and I had hope that Billy would show as well.

I'm not really sure, Angela thought to me. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, diffusing the nervousness and apprehension but doing nothing to ease her grief. Ben's parents didn't take it very well.

I nodded, having watched the meeting between her and the parents of the boy Angela loved through a vision. The story she had told them – and her parents – was as close to the truth as she could safely tell. She and Ben had been kidnapped by human traffickers and held for several days before Ben had distracted the guards long enough for Angela to escape.

She had thankfully left my name out of the rescue story. I was certain Angela's parents would have made a big deal out of it if they knew it was really me who had saved her. Ben had been an only child, and his parents' lives were absolutely destroyed by his death.

"Would it make you feel better if we dropped you off at Jessica's house?" I joked, having pulled her name and face from Angela's head. The contempt flashed across the meta-human's face before she could disguise it, and I snickered at her.

"No. No," Angela shook her head imperiously and bit her lip. "I want to see Bella, I do; it's just…"

"The vampire thing?" Ryan mumbled.

"Mmm," she hummed back, rolling her shoulders against her seat.

Ryan's thirst washed over me and I glanced back at him, swallowing the shallow amount venom that had welled up in my mouth. I pumped him with confidence and cracked his window with my telekinesis. He sent me a mental 'thank you' and I nodded minutely back at him as I turned back around. Both of us would need to hunt rather soon; especially if Angela and Henry were going to be hanging around.

"She seemed pretty excited that you were alive," I supplied.

"I think she was more shocked she was involved at all," Ryan cut in. "Not that she wasn't glad you were alive, too! I mean…"

"Yeah, I get it," Angela nodded to Ryan in the rear view mirror. "And if she tries to eat me, I can just turn invisible and run away." She laughed a bit to herself.

"How many vampires are there where we are going?" Henry asked.

"Quite a few," Ryan answered. "There'll be some red eyes there too, but you've met some of them already, right?"

"Demetri and the Amazonian women, yes," Henry nodded. "They…don't seem so bad."

"Who were the other two that were there?" I asked Ryan, having never asked their names before I flew off.

"Bree and Fred," Ryan replied. "They were in Victoria's army with me."

I let out a hiss at the mention of Victoria and Angela jumped, swerving a bit before getting the car back under control. A memory flitted through my brother's mind – a familiar one.

The vampire was breathing frantically as she burst through the doorway. Another vampire – a male – flitted over and tucked her under his arm, leading her to the far wall of the basement and away from the large group of vampires that shared the space.

"Bree, what's going on?" the male asked.

"It was a…a girl," Bree stuttered, holding both of her hands over her chest, where her heart used to beat. "A human. I was hunting and the next thing I know she…she stabbed me!"

"A human stabbed you?" the male asked, sounding disbelieving.

"Oh," I laughed. "I see that I've already met one of them."

"You don't remember?" Henry asked, leaning forward in his seat. "I was told you had an…unlimited memory."

"Most things," I shrugged. "The minor details before I became a vampire are a little sketchy."

"Stabbing a vampire with a knife is a minor detail to you?" Angela asked, looking at me quickly before resuming a vigilant driving pose.

"Yeah."

"She was really freaked out that you were able to do that to her, Emily," Ryan sighed. "So please don't go scaring her off. Fred's her coven-mate and he'd just go off with her – or try to fight you."

"I like where this is headed."

"Emily!" Ryan groaned.

"What?" I answered in the same drawn-out tone, looking back at him. He glared back at me.

Don't be such a child about this. You'll be able to beat up on the Volturi soon enough.

"Fine," I turned back around.

You know, Angela thought toward me and I tilted my head to glance at her. That girl is kind of ruining your whole 'bad ass' image. I still can't get over how she clings to you like that. It's…kind of cute.

I growled at Angela as I looked down at the hybrid that was snuggled up against my side in my seat, wedged between me and the center console of the car. Hannah was asleep and had been for several minutes now.

"Hmm," I hummed noncommittally as we pulled into the beginning of the Cullen driveway. I saw that Jacob's Volkswagen was parked next to Charlie's cruiser as Angela rolled to a stop off to the side of the drive, half-parked in the small field Esme called a front lawn.

The five of us climbed out of the car once Angela shut off the engine, Hannah looking around with her eyelids halfway open. Like the parasite she was, she immediately attached herself to me, her small overheated hand clasped imperiously in mine. Ryan handed me the backpack we had been lugging around since Mexico and I secured it on my back, glaring down at Hannah as we walked up to the front door.

Please? Hannah thought to me, coupled with thoughts and feelings of comfort and safety. My eyebrows rose.

You're using me as a bodyguard? I thought back to her using Renesmee's ability.

Her blue eyes continued to stare up at me and she sent another surge of her helplessness cocktail at me. I rolled my eyes and huffed incoherently at her as I upped my pace, getting satisfaction from the stumbling steps of the demon as she was dragged along behind me.

From the sounds and thought clusters of the vast number of vampires and other supernatural creatures around, I surmised that a great deal of them had congregated in the back yard, where there was even more space and several trees that I knew served as great perches to hang out in.

Charlie's broken thoughts intermingled with Billy Black's from the living area on the second floor. Billy, along with Jacob, Renesmee, Bella, Seth, and even Sue were discussing the legitimacy of the Quileute legends as well as vampires in general. It was very interesting to listen in to as we crossed the threshold and entered into the foyer.

Like Bella, Charlie had a determined curiosity about him. He had difficulty accepting that vampires and shape shifters existed, no doubt, but now that he knew that they were real he wanted to know everything. He felt…protective of Bella, even though she was a nigh-indestructible vampire and a part of a large and gifted coven.

"Ah, Emily and Ryan; you're back!" Carlisle greeted us warmly from the doorway to the kitchen, an excited look on his face even though I could sense the deep worry and ambivalence churning underneath. He turned to Angela and Henry next. "Angela, it is so good to see that you are alive and well. Emily told us some of your story and I am deeply sorry for your loss."

"Th-thank you," Angela stuttered, her mind having difficulty reconciling her new knowledge of what Carlisle was with her memories of him as, what she perceived as, a kind human doctor.

"And I do not believe we've met," Carlisle turned to Henry, removing the spotlight off of the meta-human.

"My name is Henry," he shifted his weight nervously, still a bit uncomfortable around vampires he didn't know. "I am a…friend, I suppose, of Emily."

And I am assuming he knows what we are as well? Carlisle asked mentally. I nodded and looked oddly down at Hannah, who was putting out mild unease toward Carlisle's presence. He noticed her timid stare and smiled as kindly at the hybrid.

"And who are you, little one?" Carlisle spoke softly, already knowing from Zafrina who she was and how she had gotten here.

"Hannah," she said from halfway behind me, hands on my belt and much too close to my knife for my liking.

"It is good to meet you," Carlisle nodded to them and gestured toward the kitchen. "We are having a bonfire in about an hour to discuss everything that has happened. Henry, Angela, you are welcome to use our guest rooms to freshen up if you would like; I believe Esme has sandwiches prepared outside as well if you're hungry."

"Si, thank you very much," Henry chuckled out a laugh, his shoulders sagging. "I am not accustomed to the small showers in hotels."

"I think I can say with confidence that our facilities are more accommodating than a hotel," Carlisle jested and turned to move toward the stairs. "I will show you two the rooms if you will follow me."

I am thirsty, Hannah whined silently to me. My own throat blazed as her and Ryan's need combined with my own. I gritted my teeth in frustration.

I was not this child's mother. I had absolutely no reason to care for her at all and the demon was constantly attached to me. And now she was demanding food – blood – and expected me to get it for her. I found myself subconsciously baring my teeth at the girl.

There's donated blood upstairs, Edward's mental voice sliced through the sea of thoughts. She's welcome to it; it won't be good for much longer anyway.

"See you outside," I told my brother as I tugged Hannah toward the stairs. "I need to put the virus in cold storage." Ryan nodded in acceptance and darted into the kitchen and out the backdoor.

The medical wing that had once been Bella's temporary home when she was pregnant was once again open. The life-saving machines were pushed back against the wall and the operating table was folded up, leaving an excessive empty space in the makeshift hospital. I went over to the refrigerator and tugged open the smaller door, revealing a few test-tubes and several ice packs.

I unzipped the backpack and carefully deposited the nigh-empty jar of electric blue liquid inside, smiling as the glass began to fog from the very low temperature of the freezer. I shut the door and opened the larger one below it, which was full of bagged blood, as well as saline solution and a collection of soft-cases that I knew held temperature-sensitive medicines.

I grabbed a bag and pulled out my knife, slicing a small slit near the top and handing the blood to Hannah before I was tempted to drink it myself. As it was, my mouth was nearly overflowing with venom. A small trickle gathered at the corner of my mouth as I stared, hypnotized at the sea of delicious red blood.

"Hmm," I hummed to myself as I reached in and snagged a bag for myself. I repeated the procedure of cutting the bag with my knife and brought it to my mouth, gripping the plastic with my lips – careful not to tear the fragile material with my teeth – and pulled the contents down my throat.

My vision dimmed slightly from the sheer pleasure of the taste. It was as close to a blackout that a vampire could achieve, and I knew that the only reason I wasn't going into a frenzy and tearing the supply apart was because the blood was so cold and old. I was used to warm, fresh blood from the source.

This stuff was definitely better than animal blood, but it was aged and mixed with preserving agents that diluted the taste. Hannah's nose wrinkled as she finished her own bag, reaching the same opinion I had about her meal. Still, though, she looked at me and silently asked for another.

I had one more as well and dumped the trash in the trashcan labeled BIOHAZARD that was off in the corner of the room. "You good?" I asked. Hannah nodded and licked her lips, clearing away what little blood there was leftover. "I'm going to go chill out in my room; I guess you can come with me if you absolutely have to."

"Yes, please," Hannah uttered.

"She speaks!" I said dramatically as I pushed my way out of the hospital room and down the hall to my bedroom. "I don't really have a GameBoy or anything for you so if you would be so kind as to just…sit on the bed or something?"

"You don't like me," her clear voice spoke softly, as if defeated. I pulled out my laptop and booted it up. I turned to find her sitting on the bed like I had asked.

"You're not wrong," I shrugged and quickly entered in my two keys to unlock the computer, navigating to the browser and pulling up everything I could find on Brock Labs.

Why?

I shrugged again but didn't turn around.

I didn't mean to do… her mental sentence ran off and she projected her memory of the attack on the tribe, riding on the back of one of the more mature newborn vampires. I'm sorry.

"It's not that," I rolled my eyes at her misplaced guilt and pulled up my email, typing a reply to my secretary's email titled only 'WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?'. I marked the other inquiries as read and ignored the summons by the very unintimidating board of scientists who ran and oversaw the legitimate projects. "It's just a little annoying how you cling to me. Rosalie would probably smother you to death if you let her – she has something of a child fetish if you ask me."

A low hiss from the back yard made me chuckle.

"Babe…" Emmett's soft voice followed.

"Shall we go down?" I gestured toward the door. Hannah nodded and trailed after me out of my bedroom and downstairs, following me outside like she was my own personal Pikachu. I pursed my lips in withheld laughter as I imagined the child dressed in one of those Pokémon costumes for kids.

The 'bonfire' turned out to be only a little larger than a campfire as Hannah and I reached the backyard. The strangely-large group of vampires, shape shifters, hybrids, and humans wrapped snuggly around the blazing heat. The wolves were mostly clustered together around Billy and Charlie and the other non-supernaturals. The vampires were less discriminating about who they mingled with, though the red-eyed variety tended to stick with their coven or group or whatever.

Angela was smiling as she reunited with Bella and Alice, while Henry looked like he almost fit in among Old Quil and the handful of Quileute elders that actually showed up. That really wasn't surprising, though – several of their tribe members had been killed in the attack at La Push. Ryan looked up from his fire gazing as I approached and nodded to me from his spot as the buffer between Jacob and the red-eyed vampires that had been a part of Victoria's army.

Your eyes are lighter, Ryan thought, mesmerized by the silver color that was much more pronounced now. I shrugged, taking a seat on the same log he was sitting on. Bree, the mousy red-eyed vampire, gave me a wary glance as I joined the group, but seemed confident enough with so many others around. Safety in numbers and all that. I directed a wispy amount of fear in her direction and half-smirked as she ducked further into Fred's form.

"Thank you for coming, everyone," Carlisle announced after a few more seconds of quiet conversation around the fire, taking a stand with his arm around Esme. "It's unfortunate that we must convene under these…taxing circumstances, but I believe that we should all deal with the situation together."

"Situation!" Paul sneered, arms crossed. At least he was wearing a shirt; the wolves smelled bad enough without mixing it in with body odor. "Those leeches attacked us because of you! Jared and Brady are fucking dead!"

"Not every army of vampires is out to get us, dog!" Rosalie hissed back, just as harshly. "They attacked you, not us, and I doubt they could confuse your stench for anything but mongrel."

"Caius ordered the attack," I cut in before Paul could insult Rosalie again, glancing at Carlisle. "And it was done to keep the Quileute tribe from aiding you when the Volturi inevitably move to wipe you out."

"You're sure of this?" Carlisle asked.

"I interrogated the dick myself," I nodded. "He wasn't lying."

"You interrogated Caius?" Emmett asked, dumbfounded.

"No," I shook my head. "It was evil vampire number seven from the army that attacked the tribe."

"It makes sense that the tribe would be singled out," Jasper added. "The wolves gave us a significant advantage the last time."

"Now hold on a minute," Charlie spoke up, his face flushing a smidge as all eyes turned to him. He composed himself quickly and looked to Carlisle. "Why are these Volturi guys after you in the first place? Bella said that they were the enforcers of the vampires." I supposed it was only to be expected that the chief had been given a quick rundown of vampire politics.

"The Volturi believed that Renesmee was an immortal child – which is a human infant bitten and changed into a vampire," Carlisle explained. I could hear the low growls coming from the Denali clan. Carlisle gave the group a sympathetic look and continued. "They were mistaken and misinformed, and we were able to resolve the situation mostly peacefully."

"What do they think you've done this time?" Charlie asked, narrowing his eyes.

"We haven't become suspect of breaking a rule, so far as I know," Carlisle sighed.

"They've just gone bad, Chief," Emmett shrugged. "Sure, it's this new vampire driving the bus and not the three kings, but power corrupts, you know?" Charlie nodded his head minutely, understanding.

"So we fight!" Garrett said with confidence, his eyes glowing a strange orange hue from switching from human to animal blood. "We can't just let them walk all over us like this without cause."

"I agree," Edward said slowly, looking to Bella, who nodded. "Whatever sense of justice the Volturi held is long gone with the addition of Nadia. I cannot see them ever stop trying to destroy us."

The low hum of different conversations grew around the fire as Carlisle relaxed back into his seat and turned the decision over in his head. He would decide to fight, of that I had no doubt. The others – the ones who were wary to start a fight with the Volturi – were coming to the same realization.

If the Volturi were left to continue unchallenged, how long would it be until they came after all those gathered here?

End notes: It's been a long time since we rock and rolled.

For those of you who are eagerly awaiting the update for Blacklight, don't hold your breath. It's not that I'm lazy. Well...it's not that I'm mostly lazy. It's just that I started writing the next chapter and started thinking "Man, what the fuck is Alice doing through all of this?"

So I put the fourth of a chapter or so down and started one from Alice's point of view. I don't usually like switching, but it's often necessary to do it once or twice in a story. Good news is that you'll only have to wait a week in between the next update and the one following it.

Oh, and as for this story: blah blah, good job reviewing it you lazy bastards and thanks for reading.