ᴏᴍɢ ɪ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ɪᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 20! ɪ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏᴏᴋꜱ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴏʀɪɢɪɴᴀʟʟʏ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴍᴇ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇ ᴛʜɪꜱ. ᴡᴇ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ ᴋɪɴɢꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ɪɴꜰɪɴɪᴛᴇ ʙʟɪꜱꜱ (ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ: ɪɴꜰɪɴɪᴛᴇ ʙʟɪꜱꜱ, ᴇᴜᴘʜᴏʀɪᴀ, ᴄʟᴏᴜᴅ ɴɪɴᴇ). ɪ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴀʟꜱᴏ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛᴏ ꜱʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴘʀᴀʏɪɴɢ ʙʏ ᴡᴇᴀʟʟʜᴏʟᴅᴛʜᴇᴄᴀꜱᴇᴛɢᴛ.

ᴀʟꜱᴏ, ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴇᴠᴇʀ ꜰɪɴᴅ ᴀ ᴍɪꜱᴛᴀᴋᴇ ɪɴ ᴍʏ ʙᴏᴏᴋ, ᴘʟᴇᴀꜱᴇ ᴛᴇʟʟ ᴍᴇ! ᴀᴄᴛᴜᴀʟʟʏ, ᴛᴇʟʟ ᴍᴇ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴍʏ ᴍɪꜱᴛᴀᴋᴇꜱ ᴏɴ ᴍʏ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ʙᴏᴏᴋꜱ ᴀꜱ ᴡᴇʟʟ! ᴄᴏɴꜱᴛʀᴜᴄᴛɪᴠᴇ ᴄʀɪᴛɪᴄɪꜱᴍ ɪꜱ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏꜱ ᴡᴇʟᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴏɴ ᴍʏ ᴀᴄᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ!

ᴊᴀᴄᴏʙ ɪꜱ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ʜᴇʀᴇ ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜꜱᴇ ɪ ɴᴇᴇᴅ ʜɪᴍ ʜᴇʀᴇ ꜰᴏʀ ᴏɴᴇ ꜱᴄᴇɴᴇ. ɪᴛ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ꜱᴇɴꜱᴇ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ, ɪ ᴘʀᴏᴍɪꜱᴇ.

ᴀɴᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ʜᴜɢᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ, ᴍʏ ʟᴏᴠᴇʟɪᴇꜱ! 3ᴋ ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ!

Things had gotten bad in Seattle. While I knew that Edward and Bella would not want to see me, things were getting out of hand. If the Cullens were not getting things done, we would have to come.

Doing just that, we had arrived in Forks, Washington.

Caius had refused to leave my side, thinking that the elite guard was not enough manpower to protect his newborn mate. I didn't mind, the guards and I had gotten close, with them calling me mother and all. In a way, I was like Esme. The leaders of a coven could be seen as a parental figure. It was like that in the Olympic Coven and it was like that in the Volturi.

It was nice to become a surrogate mother since I could not have any children of my own.

"Mother, you must not wander. Caius will be angry if he finds out that I let you slip out of my sight again. You know how he gets with you," Jane reprimands my behavior. I simply smile at her before making my way back to the apartment that I had stayed in for a year before really starting my life.

"Caius will do nothing to any of you. My wandering has nothing to do with you and everything to do with me being a complete airhead," Jane scowls at my self-deprecation.

It would only be an hour before we arrived to meet the Cullens and I had become antsy. I knew that nobody would say anything too bad about my red eyes, nothing that was actually true anyways. They could go on about how I was now some sort of monster due to my choice in diet. Those words would come out of the two people that I had to cut from my heart.

Even after everything, those two still held a place in my heart, no matter how small.

"You should not speak about yourself in that way, mother. The only person who is an airhead in our coven is Afton," I laugh at the small jab to Chelsea's mate. The man truly was the biggest airhead that the vampire world had ever seen. How he survived his newborn stage was unknown.

"He is an airhead, isn't he?" I laugh a little bit harder at the thought of the untamable vampire. While he could be the thickest person in the room sometimes, he was a loyal and fierce friend to anyone who gave him the time to prove himself.

"Dear mother, you have not seen Afton at his dullest moments yet. Even his mate gets infuriated with him at times," Alec walks into the room. Vampire hearing does have its benefits. You all know when you have the go ahead to take a jab at your friend. Yeah, I know that you all think of Afton as your friend, even when you tease him like you do.

"One time, he accidentally ripped his own arm off. If that does not scream I am an idiot who has no place anywhere than I do not know what does, mother," I laugh at Jane's story. How does someone even rip off their own arm? Like, do you just not realize that you're ripping it off until it's too late or something? I'll have to ask later.

"Or that one time where he flung Felix out of the window," Alec notes.

"He always smashes his ipods. Thankfully we all have a pretty hefty salary."

"You know, we should get revenge for Felix if he doesn't," Alec plots.

"Is that a plan I smell, brother?"

"It is, sister."

______________________________________________

By the time that Jane and Alec got done with their prank plans, I had some time to spend with Alec, alone. I had never actually been alone in a room with the young looking vampire. He was always with someone by the time I found him, surrounding himself with his sister or Akila and Harb, who I could not for the life of me find alone either.

The two of us were both awkward teenagers who now were going to have to deal with the awkward silence that came with being so socially inable. Alec just pursed his lips and stared out of the window, watching the birds as they chirped away on the outside. June was truly a beautiful month to be in Forks. It was one of the few months that wasn't perpetually depressing with rainstorms.

"Are we going to be bored for the next hour or are we going to talk?" I deadpan. Alec turns back to me and lets out a childish giggle.

"I don't know, are we going to be bored?" He snarks back. This was the Alec that I knew, the boy that I had grown to love as a son. Even if he wasn't my own, he would always have me here as the mother that he never really got to have.

"Let's play a game," Alec pipes up and giggles some more. "How about 20 questions? I don't know that much about you still."

"Ask away, mother," the vampire urges, sitting down comfortably on the bed.

"What is your favorite thing to do when none of us are either fighting Romanians or dealing with newborn armies? There has to be more to the Volturi than this."

"When we aren't playing soldier, I like playing with Jane. We've played almost every game known to humankind, but it never gets old. It gets really competitive between the two of us. Jane takes everything as a challenge to her worth. It's really sad. I wish that my sister could see that some things are meant to just be for fun and not for fight," Alec lowers his head.

"I think that Jane is a tough cookie to crack. She just doesn't get along with many people. You two usually stick to each other like glue. The two of you have gotten better since the Yemeni Coven joined. You, Jane, Akila, and Harb stick to each other now," Alec's face lights up at the mention of his new friends.

"Ok, my turn. Do you know why the Masters hate Edward and Isabella so much?" The question was one that I was not expecting. I was surprised that some of the guards could pick up on the hatred that laced my mate's voice as they spoke of the vampire and his blood singer.

"Honestly, I think that there are multiple reasons why they hate the two of them. Marcus is very angry about how Edward and Isabella spoke to me. They know that not everyone will like the Volturi and their leaders. All three of them can deal with the hatred that they know people feel towards them. Marcus was the one to find me when I started crying about the whole thing and I know that he felt how bad I felt through the bond. Aro hates her for how she views those with different viewpoints than her own. He and Carlisle are still good friends and he knows that people can share different views on the animal diet. It makes him angry to see someone treat me with disrespect because I would not pick up a difficult diet. Caius is hot headed and he's very protective. He made me take him here for heaven's sake. If sending the elite guard wasn't enough. My mates all hate them for the same things, they just hate them more for certain parts of all of the reasons to hate the two of them," I explain.

"Who are they to judge? They aren't even true mates for pete's sake!" Alec exclaims.

"I smell nothing but facts," I smirk, "So, why do you stick to Jane so much anyways?" I could feel the tension fill inside of my old bedroom. Shit, was that a bad question?

"It took me a long time to trust anyone but my sister. It took a long time to realize that the Volturi guards were not the people in the village. So many of the guards were just like Jane and I. They had powers that the Volturi could use. The worst part of being so hurt was that the burns they gave didn't go away when I turned, they just became deep rooted trust issues," Alec confesses.

Before I could answer, Caius comes bursting through the room with an annoyed look on his face. Okay, that look may just be his natural face. His natural resting bitch face. Aw, but he's cute as hell either way. My little angry baby.

"We need to leave now, cara mia," Alec tenses at the angry tone in my mate's voice. I just smile and walk closer to him, linking my arm with his. This seems to ease some of the tension in the blonde king, as he smiles at me. "Let's go see what the Cullens have gotten themselves into, il mio amore."

At that, it was time to leave the people who had loved me, and the people who left me behind.

______________________________________________

The area that we had arrived in was filled with the wreck that had been the aftermath of the battle between the Olympic Coven and the Seattle newborn army. No casualties on the Cullen side. Alice did see you coming. She did not tell the group that you were coming, just that the elite guard and some other Volturi were coming. Oh Alice, Akila and Harb are a part of the elite guard as well. Their gifts far outweigh yours.

As soon as the Cullens saw me, they sighed. Everyone but Alice, Bella, and Edward seemed very happy to see me, Rose even coming up to meet me. I think she would have hugged me if Caius were not glaring daggers into her. Calm down, my angry baby, my sweetie Rose would never even think of harming me. Who else would she shop with? Alice just pisses her off when they go shopping! I am clearly the only choice.

"Anna, I am so happy that you came!" I push Caius off of me to hug my best friend. My mate lets out a whine at the small rejection of his protection. I just give him a do not make that fucking whiny king face.

Our embrace did not last long, as a shrill voice could be heard from behind Rose.

"What is she doing here? She isn't supposed to be anywhere near me! I thought I told you all to keep her human-killing self away from my human self!" Bella's voice rang out, causing Caius to let out a feral growl as she spoke of me and my human-killing self.

"You keep your mouth shut when it comes to our mother, human," Jane sneers, coming closer to me, her protectiveness showing.

"Mother?" A man who smelled like a wet dog asked. "Bella, who is this girl? Wait a second. . ."

At that moment, I recognized the voice of the boy. Jacob Black, you smell awful. I see that you're still pining after a taken girl. Kind of creepy that you're here. Wait, you don't smell human at all. Jacob Black is a shifter from the Quileutes. They have a treaty that says that vampires can not feed on their lands. Jacob can turn into a wolf. These people have a form of true mates called imprints. He is not a Child of the Moon, so he is legal. He remembers you and is confused as to why you are with the Volturi. He feels betrayed that he was not told the real reason why you left Forks.

"Annalise? Is that you? What the hell are you doing with those monsters? Have you been kidnapped?" Jacob questions, confusion lurking beneath his eyes.

I push past Rose to look at my former friend. Jacob was a good person and had been crushing on Bella for years. He deserved someone, something better.

"Hey, Jacob. I promise that I'm here on my own accord. Did Isabella not tell you about what happened in Volterra?" At that, Jacob looks to his crush and just scoffs. I knew that the answer was no, it was written all over his face.

"No, nobody freaking told me! What happened to you, Leesie? You. . . You smell like him," Jacob looks to my mate, who I had been nesting with previously.

"Look, none of us are here to harm you all. I'm a vampire, Jacob. I know that you probably hate me for it just like Isabella does, but I'm happy. I found my true mates. They are similar to your imprints," Jacob looks hurt. I know that he was conflicted. He hates vampires, but he can't bring himself to hate you. He knows that if imprints are like mates, being away from one would be awful and that nobody should break them up. He still dreams of the day that he meets his and is happy that you have found someone that makes you happy. He is upset that you eat humans, though, and does not know what to do.

"Jake, she's a freaking monster that drinks human blood! You can't trust her!" Jacob looks to me and then looks to Isabella. The girl that he trusted or the girl that he loves.

"I'm not expecting you to like the fact that I'm a vampire, Jake. I just don't want you to try and kill me and my family for it. The Volturi are a lot different than what Isabella makes them out to be. We are a family, just like the Cullens. We will honor the treaty," Jacob looks even more confused than before.

"How do you know about the treaty, Anna, the Cullens never told you about shifters and the treaty? They were going to, but they never did," Jacob realizes my knowledge on the subject. I laugh awkwardly and smile.

"You know how some vampires have gifts?" He nods. "Well, I have one. I can get information just by looking at something or someone. The knowledge gets told to me by a voice in my head. I found out about it during a trial. The guy's name was Lukas. Scared the absolute shit out of me. Sorry about my profanity, Carlisle, I don't think that part of me is ever going away," Carlisle chuckles and walks towards Rose, Caius, and I.

With the elite guard standing by, Carlisle is able to walk up to me. I give him a big hug, something that creates outrage from Edward and Bella, who gasp. "It's good to have you here, Queen Annalise."

"Queen," Jacob repeats. "You're the queen of the Volturi that they keep on talking about."

"All good things from almost everyone," I cackle at the small jab to his own son, "I would never disrespect my queen."

"You'd better not, Carlisle," my mate pulls me back a bit, running his large hands through my brunette hair. "We were coming to make sure that the newborn army was being dealt with. We have known for a while, but it had been made clear by Isabella that we were not wanted. My mate decided that she would respect Isabella's decision to keep this a secret from the Volturi, even if we already did know. The Volturi coven are not tyrants and only come when needed. Your son, Carlisle, should do his best to remember that the Volturi do not offer second chances."

"I do not think-" Caius cut the polite man off.

"I do not care, Carlisle. The only reason your boy is even alive is because my beautiful mate has held me at bay. Know that if he or his stupid singer ever make the foolish decision to insult my mate, their queen, again, they will find themselves at the bottom of a volcano. Do I make myself clear?" Caius looks out to the rest of the Olympic coven and to Jacob, who gulped and nodded.

"Crystal, Caius. Now that this is done, I would like to make a bargain," the guard and myself were both caught off guard. Bree Tanner, a newborn in the army regrets her actions and will grow with the Cullen Coven as an animal eater. Why thank you, demonic voice. Anytime, darling.

I shake at the voice's response. Caius peppers kisses on my face and growls at anyone who tries to get closer to me, which meant pushing Carlisle down on the ground. The Olympic Coven gasped as I stood there like a lemon.

"Cara mia, what is the matter?" Caius kissed my cheek, trying to get me to respond.

"The voice is sentient and Carlisle is bargaining for the freedom of one of the Seattle newborns from the army," I blurted out. The fellow vampires around me took in a deep breath and nodded. Jane looks pissed at this and shakes her head.

"The Volturi do not offer second chances, Cullens," she states the unwritten law of no second chances. Carlisle gets off of the ground and brushes off the forest floor that had collected on his pants.

"I am so sorry about Caius pushing you, Carlisle," I turn to Caius, "I don't care what mate instincts you have right now, you do not push Carlisle on the ground, Caius."

"M' sorry, cara mia," my mate apologizes, nuzzling himself into me. I allow him to show his affection in front of everyone as I turn back to Jane.

"The old Volturi did not show second chances. As queen, it is time for some change in the vampire world. Bree Tanner can stay with the Cullens if she pleases. If the Olympic Coven can keep her in line and raise her as their own, she will be allowed to live for the rest of eternity. She must be regretful if she is willing to give up eating humans the way that she has," I turn to face Akila and Harb.

"I think that it is time to introduce our newest edition to the elite guard," the two of them smile and face the Cullens, who seem shocked at this announcement.

"My name is Harb and I used to be a part of the Yemeni Coven. We had allowed the former queens into our home and they had broken the laws. When we came to the Volturi, we learned that our coven leader had killed our former coven leader because he didn't like the fact that she actually respected the laws. Our queen and mother allowed us mercy as we did not know about what had been going on between our coven leader and the enemies of the Volturi. I have the ability to make people experience their worst fears and Akila is my twin sister," Harb introduces himself.

It was now time for the forever beautiful Akila to introduce herself, "My name is Akila and I am a shieldbreaker. No matter how strong the shield, physical or mental, I can break through it," at this knowledge Edward growled, knowing that his mate was a shield of some kind, "Being a part of the Volturi has been such an honor. We really are such a great family and I look forward to spending eternity with them and my mate."

"The Volturi use people! They literally have a person in there that manipulates the bonds so that you feel loyal to them, like you just have to join them!" Edward accuses. The entire elite guard growled at the accusation. Their loyalties were never forced.

"Look, we serve the Volturi because we want to. Chels never actually used her powers on any of us. Aro just says that to look powerful. We are all here of our own free will. We can leave, but the vampire world is dangerous. We'll be safer and happier here. We're family," Felix tries to explain to the vampire. Edward sneers under his breath.

"Do you really think so low of Annalise, Ed?" Rose's voice cracks, "She would never betray us like you accuse her of doing! Just because you haven't found your actual mate doesn't mean that you can bash on everyone else who has! Anna is a good person and you trying to smear her just makes you look like an asshole!"

Carlisle hisses at the use of language, but nods his head in agreement. "Edward, the Volturi are not supposed to be feared. They are the ones that keep this world from being taken over by people who just wish to use humans like cattle. I know that you are hurt that she drinks from humans and that she is a part of another coven now, but it gives you no right to speak to and about her the way that you have these past few months. Our queen is good for the vampire world."

"She's a monster, Carlisle!" Edward exclaims. "She even said that she wouldn't care about drinking off of humans."

"Survival of the fittest, Cullen," Alec deadpans.

"She does not have control over us!" Edward denies.

"Actually," I take a step towards him, "I do. I just don't use that power because I thought that maybe you could be happy for me. But no, the only time that people can be with their loves at all cost is when it's you, Edward. You're so damn selfish! Why can't I be happy?"

"This isn't you, Annalise," Isabella denies, "This can't be you."

"I thought that you wanted to have a fresh start. I thought that you wanted a peaceful life. You get one taste of power and you act like you have any control over us! How could you do this to us? We were your friends, your family, now you act like a stranger," Alice's face turns to hurt, "How could you accept the bond with someone like them?"

"My life has always been up to me. You want to know why I accepted the bond? Here's why: I wanted a fresh start. If I can have a fresh start up here sitting on a throne than why not have that throne? Why just have humanity when you can have so much more, become so much more? Why can't you just understand that I have the chance to change the vampire world for the better? I can't do that as some human in Forks."

Caius comes over to see the pixie and then looks to Isabella. "I thought that we told you that you have to turn?"

"The date is set," the girl sneers with fake confidence.

Caius walks back to me and gives a hateful look at the human girl, "Well," he draws out, "I hope that your wedding to this loser doesn't end up killing you in the end."

At that, the Cullen boy attacked my mate.