The freezing rain had made the roads dark and slippery, so I gripped the steering wheel a little tighter in both my hands. I wasn't scared we were going to crash, my reflexes and abilities allowed me to not even have to pay attention to the road, but conditions like this still made me a little wary, especially when I had Nessie in the car with us earlier.

Bella and I had finally made it out of the house alone without our chaperone other halves. Uncle Charlie had requested to see Nessie, and of course he couldn't come to the house, so we were able to mangle our way out of there to take Ness to him, though only Bella and I knew we wouldn't be staying for long. Seth was accompanying us to Charlie's but we would leave him there as his mom was cooking lunch.

We needed to be quick, we had a day to find this J. Jenks and that was all. We only had just under two weeks left before the Volturi were set to arrive and we were still striving to get all the help we could find. We had two addresses, the one that Alice had given us, and then there was a Jason Jenks at another address we had researched online, we'd try that one if the first was unsuccessful.

As we drove through the city and towards the first inconspicuous address the streets were becoming rougher and rougher, I knew for a fact that if I was still human I would've locked the doors. I felt like we stuck out like a saw thumb, my car certainly was too extravagant for this area and I really didn't want to draw out any unwanted attention.

The streets were mostly filled with old, three storey townhouses, leaning and crumbling slightly in their old age. They were greying as well, the paint peeling off of the outer walls seemed to resemble a cream colour but I wasn't entirely sure. A few buildings had stores on their street level floors, but most looked out of business; some windows were boarded up with wooden panels and others covered in black paint. The only ones that seemed to be open were a very risky looking tattoo parlour, a liquor store and a questionably safe day care centre.

"What a..." I struggled for words. "...friendly neighbourhood."

"Let's just find the place and be as quick as we can." Bella said, settling uneasily back into her chair.

"Why would Alice send us here, though?" I tried not to be snobby, I really did, but I was failing. I couldn't even imagine Alice wandering through these streets, sorting out what would be her clue for us.

It was strangely quiet on the street, no cars moving, no lights on inside the houses though I could hear people in them. With the darkness looming from the rain I'd assumed people would have their lights on. There were a handful of people wandering outside in the icy rain and I internally shivered, remembering what the icy rain felt like on my human skin.

One man was sat on a shallow porch of another old greying building, though this one turned out to be an old law office, the exact same office that we were looking for as per Alice's instructions. I frowned as I looked at it's abandoned appearance, this couldn't be right.

The man looked up as we approached, his eyes lifting away from the wet broadsheet newspaper he was reading, and his much too cheerful whistling tune stopped.

I pulled up to the curb and we sat for a second, unsure on how to go about our next move. "No matter who this guy is, either way we have to get in there to look around." Bella muttered, eyeing the man and the building.

"Relax, we'll find out what he has to say and then I'll know if he's telling the truth or not." I watched him too as the smirk pulled over his lips. I grimaced as indecent thoughts entered his mind concerning Bella and I. "He's going to call to us." I informed her quickly.

"Hey, ladies," the whistler called on cue.

I rolled the passenger window down as if I couldn't hear him, being human was essential here.

The man was working and was sat there for a purpose I was sure of it, but he believed we looked too nice to be clients, whatever that meant, I'd have to get him to talk a little more. The man put down his newspaper and revealed his attire, clad in; under his dark, long ragged duster, was an exquisite three piece suit. His crinkly black hair was tangled and wild, but his dark skin was smooth and perfect, his teeth white and straight. Very handsome.

"Maybe you shouldn't park that car there, lady," he said. "It might not be here when you get back."

I laughed inside my head, I'd like to see someone even try and take it from me. "Thanks for the warning," I said.

I shut off the engine and got out with Bella following suit. Hopefully if I prodded and showed him that we meant business he's have some answers for us, or at least some answers inside his head.

Bella opened up the big umbrella she brought with us and held it over both our heads as she joined me. The stranger pierced his eyes at us through the rain, trying to take in our faces, and once he saw them, his eyes widened considerably. He gulped, and his heart began to accelerate as we approached. He thought us so beautiful that he was turning into a bashful, young schoolboy again.

"Can you help us?" Bella began politely. "We're looking for someone."

"I'm someone." He offered with a smile and I inwardly cringed, I wasn't keen on strangers being so flirtatiously forward. "What can I do for you beautiful ladies?"

"Are you J. Jenks?" I asked, showing his advances didn't affect me in the slightest.

"Oh," he said, and his expression changed from anticipation to understanding. He got to his feet and examined us with narrowed eyes. "Why're you looking for J?"

Immediately he assumed that we were cops, or the FBI or CIA and that worried me. How could he suddenly jump to that conclusion just from appearance? We dressed in normal, well normal for us as Cullens, smart causal clothes, though I guess from out surroundings we stuck out like sore thumbs.

"That's out business." Bella quipped. Besides, we didn't have a clue. "Are you J?"

"No." He said, visibly becoming clammy, just as I spoke at the same time. "He's not J, my only assumption would be that J would not get as nervous as this man is becoming at the mention of his own name."

I had to be bold, it was also the only way to let Bella know that I could tell from his mind he wasn't J. Jenks, in fact his name was Max.

He stared at us for a short while, his judgemental eyes raking over my smart gingham trousers, my cream roll-neck sweater and thick, black trench coat. He looked over Bella too, she was dressed similarly to me but darker colours, more Bella-like.

His gaze finally flickered between our faces. "You don't look like the usual customers."

"We're probably not the usual," I admitted. "But we do need to see him as soon as possible."

"I'm not sure what to do," he admitted.

"Why don't you tell us your name?" I asked him, wanting to see if he would lie.

He grinned. "Max." I smiled back, happy with his answer.

"Nice to meet you, Max. Now, why don't you tell us what you do for the usual?"

His grin became a frown. "Well, J's usual clients don't look a thing like you girls do. Your kind doesn't bother with the downtown office. You just go straight up to his fancy office in the skyscraper."

So the second address was the place we needed to go to... so why did Alice give us this one? Bella asked Max if the other address we had found was the one for the fancy office.

"Yeah, that's the place," he said, suspicious again. "How come you didn't go there?"

"This was the address we were given - by a very dependable source." Bella clarified, narrowing her eyes at him as well.

"If you were up to any good, you wouldn't be here." He was back to thinking we were cops.

I pursed my lips. Before this new part of my life I'd never been good at lying... or bluffing. But thanks to Edward and the rest of the family, and my heightened senses I could control my emotions... and therefore try my chance at bluffing. "Maybe we're not up to any good."

Max's face turned apologetic. "Look, ladies."

"Bella and this is Aria." Bella said, gesturing to myself.

"Right. Bella, Aria. See, I need this job. J pays me pretty good to mostly just hang out here all day. I want to help you, I do, but - and of course I'm speaking hypothetically, right? Or off the record, or whatever works for you - but if I pass somebody through that could get him in trouble, I'm out of work. Do you see my problem?"

So J dealt in some not entirely legal stuff and Max thought we were here to take him down and get some insight. We did need the information though, because Alice sent us here for a reason.

I thought for a minute, chewing on my lip. "You've never seen anyone like us here before? Well, sort of like us. Our sister is a lot shorter than us, pale like my sister here too, and she has dark spiky black hair."

"J knows your sister?" Max inquired, unsure.

"I think so." I was unsure too.

Max was stuck on what to do, thinking over if he should talk to J or not. Bella smiled at him persuasively and his breathing faltered. "Tell you what I'll do. I'll give J a call and describe you girls to him. Let him make the decision."

Was J supposed to know what we looked like? Well at least we knew the address of his official office if he turned us away.

"Our last name is Cullen," Bella told Max and my eyes widened. Of course I saw myself as a Cullen and I was part of the coven but I never called myself a Cullen. It just came as a little shock to me that Bella included me in that.

"Cullen, got it."

I watched as he dialled, easily picking out the number.

"Hey J, it's Max. I know I'm never supposed to call you at this number except in an emergency—"

"Is there an emergency?" I heard faintly from the other end, I loved this benefit of being a vampire... even if was a wolf I would've had this. That thought still knocked the breath out of me as well, but that was a whole lot of mess to think about another time.

"Well, not exactly. It's these girls who want to see you..."

"I fail to see the emergency in that. Why didn't you follow normal procedure?" J. Jenks asked, clearly pissed off that Max had interrupted whatever he was doing.

"I didn't follow normal procedure 'cause they don't look like any kind of normal—"

"Are they badges?!" So J had assumptions too.

"No—"

"You can't be sure about that. Do they look like one of Kubarev's?"

"No - let me talk, okay? They say you know their sister or something."

"Not likely. What do they look like?"

"One looks like..." His eyes ran from my face to my shoes appreciatively and I held back from grimacing, we needed to win him over. "Well, she looks like a freaking supermodel, that's what she looks like." I smiled politely and he winked at me, then went on. "Rocking body, tanned, black wavy hair past her waist. The other is the same though pale as a sheet, dark brown hair almost to her waist, needs a good night's sleep - any of this sounding familiar?"

"No, it doesn't I'm not happy that you let your weakness for pretty women interrupt—"

"Yeah, so I'm a sucker for the pretty ones, what's wrong with that? I'm sorry I bothered you, man. Just forget it."

"Name," Bella whispered, reminding him.

"Oh right. Wait," Max said. "They say their names are Aria and Bella Cullen. That help?"

For three seconds there was complete silence and then J. Jenks' voice screamed through the speaker. "Why the fuck didn't you tell me their name was Cullen?! Why didn't you fucking think that was important information?!"

Max's expression changed from joking to that of someone who feared for their job. "Because you didn't ask!" Max yelled back, panicked.

There was another pause while J collected himself and took a few deep breaths.

"Beautiful and pale?" J asked, a tiny bit calmer.

"I said that, didn't I?"

"And the other, she's tanned, yes?" So J had heard of us. The beautiful and pale remark only led for me to assume he knew about vampires, and in specific he knew that Bella and I were coming. Why else would he ask if I was tanned?

"Yes, yes! Why?" Max demanded but from the deep, angry sigh that J. Jenks realised he wasn't happy with Max's tone.

J once again began to fire insults at Max again but eventually calmed enough to give him some instructions. J was telling Max to send us to him. "But you only meet downtown clients on Thursdays - okay, okay! On it." He slid his phone shut.

"He wants to see us?" Bella asked brightly.

Max glowered. "You could have told me you were priority clients." I didn't like his tone.

"We didn't know we were." I said pointedly, warning him with my eyes.

"I thought you might be cops," he admitted. "I mean, you don't look like cops. But you act kind of weird, beautiful ladies."

Bella shrugged and I folded my arms across my chest.

"Drug cartel?" he guessed.

"Who, us?" Bella asked.

"Yeah. Or your boyfriends or whatever." Typical way of trying to find out if we are single.

"Nope, sorry. I'm not really a fan of drugs, and neither is my boyfriend or my sister and her husband. Just say no and all that."

Max cussed under his breath. "Married and in a relationship. Can't catch a break."

Bella smiled whereas I kept my face straight, unamused.

"Mafia?"

"Nope."

"Diamond smuggling?"

"Please! Is that the kind of people you usually deal with, Max? Maybe you need a new job." Bella boasted, turning to me with a slightly worried look. I understood where she was coming from, what could J possibly help us with if this was what he dealt with on a day to day basis?

"You've both got to be involved in something big. And bad," he mused.

"It's not really like that." I admitted, hoping he would just hurry up and give us the address, we needed to be back at a decent time for people not to ask questions.

"That's what they all say. But who else needs papers? Or can afford to pay J's prices for them, I should say. None of my business, anyway," he said, and then muttered the words husband and boyfriend again.

Before we left, Max gave us an entirely new address and basic directions, and then watched us drive away with suspicious yet regretful eyes.

The address led to a nice, small family neighbourhood just on the outskirts of the city. There was a strip mall tucked away against a wooded hill that began the forest that led up to the Olympic Mountains. I parked the car up right outside a lawyers office, with a very official yet friendly metal plaque above the door reading: JASON SCOTT, ATTORNEY AT LAW.

"Jason Scott?" Bella asked, the confusion peaking in her voice.

"Maybe J. Jenks is an alter ego?" I assumed, climbing out of the car and adjusting my coat on my shoulders. "There's a man talking inside to an assistant, it's the same voice as on the phone."

"So Jason Scott is who he truly is and the name he uses for legal doings, but J. Jenks is who he uses for his illegal business." Bella concluded as we made it up the steps towards the office doors.

"I guess so." I shrugged, though I was intrigued. "After you." I held the door open for Bella and let her go in first.

The office was mostly beige with light, jade green accents around the room. Completely normal and inviting, and there wasn't one hint of vampire scent in the room. Nothing but that of human strangers. A marine fish tank was set into the wall and in front of that a small, pretty blonde receptionist was sat behind a desk.

"Hello," she greeted us with a welcoming smile. "How can I help you?"

"We're here to see Mr. Scott." Bella answered.

"Do you have an appointment?" She asked, her eyes flickering to her computer screen ready to check.

"Not exactly." Bella breathed an awkward laugh.

She smirked a little. "It could be a while, then. Why don't you have a seat while I—"

"April!" A demanding man's voice screeched through the speaker on her desk. "I'm expecting two Ms. Cullens shortly.

I smirked myself and pointed to Bella and myself.

"Send them in immediately. Do you understand? I don't care what it's interrupting."

I could hear something else in his voice besides impatience. Stress. Nerves. He had met Jasper, he knew there was something peculiar going on with our family and that made him scared of Jasper and therefore us.

"They've just arrived," April said as soon as she could speak.

"What? Send them in! What are you waiting for?" Jason or J was back in business mode and the impatience was overtaking any other emotion.

"Right away, Mr. Scott!" She got to her feet, fluttering her hands as she led the way down a short hallway, offering us coffee or tea or anything else we might have wanted. Bella was a straight up no but I pondered on the thought, did I need a drink to make up seem more human. Would that relax J?

"Here you are," she said as she ushered us through a dark wooden door and into a room with much more lavish decor with deep reds and browns rather than the more welcoming colours in the reception.

"Close the door behind you," a deep, rough voice ordered.

I inspected the man that sat behind the big wooden desk, he had a small stature, his hair line receding, my guess was that he was around mid-fifties. He dressed well, just as well as Max looked, though he looked like he belonged in this scenery. The man's hands were shaking, his skin had bleached with the sickly green of someone who's stomach had just turned, sweat accumulating on his forehead.

J took a deep breath and recovered himself and rose unsteadily from his chair, the legs scrapping awkwardly across the carpeted floor. He reached his hand across the desk. "Ms. Cullen and Ms. Cullen. What an absolute delight."

Bella strode across the room first and took his hand in one quick shake. His body visibly cringed at the contact but he had been mentally prepared for it.

"Mr. Jenks. Or do you prefer Scott?" Bella asked him as she stepped back, allowing for me to reach for his still outstretched hand.

He winced again. "Whatever you wish, of course."

"How about you call me Bella, and I'll call you J?"

"Like old friends," he agreed, and then he turned to me and I took his hand, shaking it for a fraction of second longer than Bella. He took my hand cautiously but his eyes widened as if I had just electrocuted him as he felt the heat from my hand.

"I'm Aria." I introduced myself and he nodded quickly, his now free hand searching around in his trouser pockets for a handkerchief. Once he found it he swept it over his forehead, mopping up the sweat that resided there.

He gestured for us to take the two plush chairs in front of his desk as he sat back in his big leather chair. "I must ask, am I finally meeting Mr. Jasper's lovely wife?" He looked at the both of us.

His mind showed me that over the years Jasper had come to him a few times, asking for fake documents to change the family's backgrounds and information. Jasper scared him but he seemed less afraid of us.

"His sister-in-law, actually." Bella answered smoothly. "Aria is his adopted sister." It was the most intellectual answer.

J pressed his lips into a straight line, trying to decipher how we were all connected, yet he could see similarities in some of Bella and I's features.

"I trust Mr. Jasper is in good health?" he asked carefully, because it was a dangerous topic.

"I'm sure he is in excellent health. He's on an extended vacation at the moment." Bella answered him with a brief smile.

J had concluded we had come in Jasper's place because of him and this relaxed him slightly. "Just so. You should have come to the main office. My assistants there would have put you straight through to me  - no need to go through less hospitable channels."

We just nodded. Why had Alice given us the downtown address when J could have helped us elsewhere?

"Ah, well, you're here now. What can I do for you?" J asked politely.

"Papers," I said, trying to make my voice sound like I knew what I was talking about. And forgery of this kind seemed to be J's expertise.

"Certainly," J agreed at once. "Are we talking birth certificates, death certificates, drivers' licenses, passports, social security cards...?"

I glanced at Bella, unsure on how to answer, who would we need papers for? Bella smiled about to answer but then her face went blank and the smile faltered. I read her thoughts just from her face, Alice had sent us for a reason, it was because of Renesmee. Alice had given us one last gift, to get Renesmee out alive, but the only reason Renesmee would need a forger would be because she was running, and she would only be running because we had lost.

I looked at Bella again, sorrow and sympathy in my eyes as my heart sank. We were all going to die.

Renesmee wouldn't have her parents running with her, if they were they wouldn't have a need for these documents so soon. Edward could provide that later, I was sure he knew how to.

The reason Bella and I were given this task, the reason the shields were given this task, was to keep our inevitable end out of Edward's head. If Edward had knowledge of this, Aro would end up knowing too and this was the only way to keep Renesmee safe.

So we couldn't win, we wouldn't win. But Bella and I had to try our chance at killing Demetri at least first, so Renesmee would have the chance to run without ever being caught.

I bit down hard on the inside of my lip as I tried to keep the tears at bay. Jacob and I wouldn't get our happily ever after, no marriage, nothing. No travelling the world together, no watching our siblings have children, not watching Renesmee grow. Just nothing. In no more than a week.

"Two birth certificates, two passports, one driver's license," Bella said in a low, strained tone.

Who...? My mind was blank.

"The names?" J asked, notepad and pen at the ready.

"Seth... Wolfe. And... Vanessa Wolfe." My eyes pricked and I blinked quickly, so at least one wolf would survive, someone to carry on the gene after the Volturi had slaughtered all the remaining wolves and my family members.

His pen moved swiftly across the pad. "Middle names?"

"Just put something generic in."

"If you prefer. Ages?"

"Twenty-five for the man, five for the girl."

As Bella spoke I felt myself getting slightly angry. Seth looked old for his age, all the boys did, but he was only sixteen, I knew it sounded stupid but sending two children out into the world to fend for themselves just felt wrong.

"I'll need pictures if you prefer finished documents," J said, interrupting my thoughts. "Mr. Jasper usually liked to finish them himself."

Well, that explained why J didn't know what Alice looked like.

"Hold on," Bella said. She lifted her purse from the floor into her lap and began to dig through it until she found her wallet. She pulled out a photo of Seth holding Renesmee on the front porch steps, it was taken about a month ago and given to her by Alice... Oh. Alice done it on purpose for this very moment. "Here you go."

J examined the picture for a moment. "Your daughter is very like you."

Bella tensed. "She's more like her father."

"Who is not this man." He touched Seth's face. "He looks more like you."

"My brother." I spoke quickly my voice cracking, narrowing my eyes slightly so he wouldn't ask anymore questions concerning the relationship between the two.

"Forgive me," he mumbled, and the pen went back to work. "How soon will you need the documents?"

"Can we have them in a week?" Bella asked hopefully.

"That's a rush order. It will cost twice as - but forgive me. I forgot with whom I was speaking." He stammered.

Clearly, he knew Jasper.

"Just give me a number." Bella stated, glancing into her purse where she had way more than enough money than he was thinking of. He seemed hesitant to say it aloud, and wrote the price down on the bottom of the legal pad: $10,000.

Bella nodded calmly and counted the money out as I watched silently, my mind was still racing yet numb at the same time.

"There."

"Ah, Bella, you don't really have to give me the entire sum now. It's customary for you to save half to ensure delivery." J said graciously.

Bella smiled wanly at the nervous man. "But I trust you, J. Besides, I'll give you a bonus - the same again when I get the documents."

"That's not necessary, I assure you."

"Don't worry about it. So we'll meet you here next week at the same time?" Bella asked a little unsurely from the way J's eyebrows furrowed.

"Actually, I prefer to make such transactions in places unrelated to my various businesses." He said coolly.

"Of course. I'm sure we're not doing this the way you expect."

"I'm used to having no expectations when it comes to the Cullen family." He grimaced and then quickly composed his face again. "Shall we meet at eight o'clock a week from tonight at The Pacifico? It's on Union Lake, and the food is exquisite."

"Perfect." Bella grinned.

I rose slightly unsteadily and shook his hand again and then Bella followed suit. This time he didn't flinch but he would have preferred it if I shook his hand second so I could warm him back up again.

"Will you have trouble with that deadline?" I asked, looking at him expectantly.

"What?" He looked up, taken off guard by my question. "The deadline? Oh, no. No worries at all. I will certainly have your documents done on time."

"Then we'll see you in one week." I nodded before turning towards the door, only hearing Bella's footsteps to know she was following.

* * *

I was raging, and it wasn't until we were out of the city and on the half empty freeway that I erupted at Bella. "Have you lost your mind?"

"What?" She asked, completely surprised by my sudden outburst.

"Seth? Really?" I gulped back the lump in my throat and kept my eyes on the slick road.

"Alice knows we aren't going to pull through, she needs someone I can trust to look after her. Seth is our best option. He can protect her." Bella clarified, but from the way her voice wavered she didn't even want this to be an option.

"But he's just a boy!" I stressed. "He might not look like it but he is. Yes he knows about key survival and its not like they need to steal food, they could just hunt. But you expect Seth to watch over her like that, to teach her and raise her?"

Bella was silent for a short while. "Maybe Alice will find them."

There was a slim chance of that happening. Alice couldn't see either of them so locating them would be a struggle. "We can only hope." I breathed. We couldn't change our decision now, we could only long for two alternative outcomes. Alice and Jasper finding Renesmee and Seth after we had all been executed, or Alice's vision had been wrong and we could win this.

Our guests all seemed to think we could, or that we could all stop them and convince them. The Romanians especially.

They had told us their brief backstory when Renesmee asked them, it left little to the imagination what the Romanians were willing to do to the Volturi leaders if they got the chance.

"We sat still for a very long time, child," Vladimir had answered, with Stefan nodding along but not continuing Vladimir's sentences as he often did. "Contemplating our own divinity. It was a sign of our power that everything came to us. Prey, diplomats, those seeking our favour. We sat on our thrones and thought ourselves gods. We didn't notice for a long time that we were changing - almost petrifying. I suppose the Volturi did us one favour when they burned our castles. Stefan and I, at least, did not continue to petrify. Now the Volturi's eyes are filmed with dusty scum, but ours are bright. I imagine that will give us an advantage when we gouge theirs from their sockets."

We tried to keep Renesmee away from them after that. But shielding her from the horrors of our world was going to become near impossible next week.

We collected Renesmee from Uncle Charlie's house just as the sun set, settling the world around us into even deeper skies. It was hard to keep my face straight when we faced Seth, Sue and Uncle Charlie. Their worlds were going to be torn apart when we disappeared forever. As we placed Renesmee in the car, Seth agreed he would collect Jake from his training and meet us back at the house and then we went our separate ways.

Renesmee was asleep by the time we got to the long winding driveway, but the air wasn't silent. The light floating music from Edward's piano made the night peaceful, as if our death wasn't fast approaching. He hadn't touched the piano since Alice had left, but the random tune he was playing merged into Bella's lullaby as he heard us approach.

We parked in the garage and entered the house through the door down there, Bella carrying a sleeping Renesmee in her arms. The morale in the house had increased tenfold, the happy aura was overwhelming and I felt the need to cry again, we weren't going to win.

I pulled it together just before we reached the lounge. We couldn't have anyone being suspicious. Edward turned his head and smiled when we entered the room and Esme crossed the room to greet us. "Its been a long day for someone." She laughed quietly as she hugged me.

"A long day for all of us." I corrected. We had stopped back in the city and done some quick Christmas shopping to go along with our cover story. I bought my family special presents, something to remember Jake and I by without being too obvious.

"Welcome home," Edward said, as if this was just any normal day. As if there weren't twelve other vampires in the room involved in various pursuits, and a dozen more scattered around somewhere. "Did you have a good time with Charlie today?"

"Yes. Sorry we were gone so long. Aria and I stepped out to do a little Christmas shopping for Renesmee. I know it won't be much of an event, but..." Bella shrugged.

Abruptly Edward stopped playing, a frown on his face as spun around on the bench to look at us. "I hadn't thought much about it. If you want to make an event of it--"

"No," Bella interrupted him. "I just didn't want to let it pass without giving her something."

"Do I get to see?" Edward asked.

"If you want. It's only a little thing." Bella mused, glancing down at Renesmee unsurely.

"I'll take her." Carefully, Bella transferred the sleeping child into my arms so she could fish out Renesmee's present from her bag.

Bella pulled the small velvet jewellery bag from her clutch and emptied the contents into Edward's hand. "It caught my eye from the window of an antique store while we were driving by." The little golden locket was round, with a slender vine border carved around the outside edge of the circle. Edward popped open the catch and looked inside. There was space for a small picture and an inscription in French on the other side.

"Do you know what this says?" he asked in a blissful tone.

"The shopkeeper told me it said something along the lines of 'more than my own life.' Is that right?" Bella asked, a smile playing at her lips.

"Yes, he had it right."

"I hope she likes it," Bella muttered.

Their conversation dulled as I heard the in sync rhythm of Jake and Seth's paw prints against the hard ground of the forest. How could I keep this from Jake? I didn't know if any wolves would be able to get away but I knew that if I went down, Jake would follow soon after avenging me. Even if he won I didn't think he'd want to live without me. I'd want him to, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to do it.

From now until the time the Volturi arrive I'd have to focus on the positives. For as long as Renesmee lived the Cullen name would live on, and she still had family out there, she could find Alice, and even if we didn't get to kill Demetri, Alice would see him coming, they would be safe. Giving Seth and Renesmee a chance to run also meant we must do a good job at distracting them, Bella and I's shields would be a great help there, we would put up a fight.

It was not going to be the end of the world. Just the end of the Cullens. The end of the wolves. The end of Jacob, the end of me.

We'd be together somehow, with our ancestors perhaps in the afterlife, I was still part human, I was still Quileute... I would be with them and the pack, waiting for the rest of our families to join us. If we could be together in any place, then that was a happy ending.