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WHAT'S WRONG WITH BILLIE

THE CULLENS AND THE AMOUNT OF WITNESSES AMONG THEM WERE... SMALLER THAN SHE EXPECTED.

It was nothing in comparison to the amount of people Aro stringed along, the mass of vampires adorning black cloaks that seemed to bleed out onto the starkly white landscape. In other circumstances it would've been laughable, but Billie couldn't laugh.

She couldn't laugh because she knew what Aro had in store for those who stood on the opposite side of the terrain.

It was only when the mass stopped moving, the kings and the Guard taking their positions at the forefront, that giant beasts emerged from the surrounding trees. Billie couldn't help but marvel in these creatures— these wolves who stood over six feet tall and oozed nothing but conscious ferocity. No, if her hunch was correct, these weren't ordinary wolves.

Once the hood of their cloaks were removed, Billie heard the strangest thing. A particularly sorrowful howl that resonated through the air seemed to jolt her body forward, eyes zeroing in on the creature that was already looking right at her from across the landscape. Its eyes were painstakingly familiar, and the sound of her foot crunching the snow beneath her was as loud as an alarm bell to the Volturi around her.

A hand wound its way onto her shoulder, guiding her forward, and she instantly felt her eyes be pulled upward. Out of her peripheral, she saw the rest of the Guard stood just off to the side, but Billie? She was suddenly stood right beside Aro— as if their power was matched, equal, in this very moment.

Her thoughts were broken by the sound of a voice coming from across the field. "Aro," it was a blond man, the obvious leader of the Volturi's opposition, who was stepping forward to address the man next to her, "let us discuss things as we used to, in a civilized manner."

"Fair words, Carlisle," Aro responded, a sort of calmness to his voice that Billie certainly hadn't expected. "But a little out of place given the battalion you've assembled against us, no?"

"I can promise you, that was never our intent," was the blond man's quick remark. "And no laws have been broken."

"We see the child," Caius seethed from Aro's other side. "Do not treat us as fools!"

"She is not an immortal!" the man, Carlisle, shouted back, voice sturdy as he plead his family's case. "These witnesses can attest to that. Or you can look; see the flush of human blood in her cheeks."

That certainly got Billie's attention, the blonde instantly looking at the accused Immortal Child in their midst. She looked like any normal child, holding onto a girl with brown hair and amber eyes. The brunette was a face she'd seen before, though her exact name was failing her the longer she stared.

"Artifice!" was Caius' heated comeback, promptly cutting Billie off from being sucked into her mind at a time like this.

The blond king was stopped from saying anything further by a raise of Aro's hand. "I will collect every facet of the truth, but from someone more central to the story," he stated, and his gaze narrowed directly on the telepath among the witnesses. "Edward, as the child clings to your newborn mate, I assume you are involved."

His hand was outstretched, and the message was clear. Everyone on the field from both sides watched as this Edward marched across the snow covered field, right towards the exact vampires who were about to dish out his family's punishment.

The moment Aro grasped Edward's hand in his, Billie's own energy thrummed to life. Her fingertips started moving on their own accord, all while she watched the man at her side dig through the boy's every thought.

It was over in a matter of seconds, and despite the bright grin on his face, Billie knew Aro had something else up his sleeve. She just didn't think that something else would've been her until his hand went back to her shoulder blade.

"We'd like to meet her."

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Billie certainly didn't know why she was being roped into meeting this child, nor why Mr Edward over there was looking at her with such scrutiny. It was unnerving, to be honest, and she wanted to touch his forehead so damn badly to figure out why he was staring.

It was funny, because the minute she thought that, his focus averted away and to what was presumably his child.

The following moments consisted of Aro summoning the child and the woman she was attached to across the field, and to Billie's surprise, a sandy brown wolf joined them as they crossed the snowy landscape.

Aro seemed to watch them all in distinct fascination as they stopped right before the pair. "Ah, young Bella... immortality becomes you," he mused, analyzing the brunette before him. His gaze shifted to the young child clinging to her, letting out a gleeful sort of laugh that echoed in Billie's ear. "I hear her strange heart... how amusing."

Billie listened in for a moment, heard the beating of it coming from within the child. She was no genius on all things vampire yet, but she knew damn well immortals didn't have beating hearts. She looked from the child to the woman next to her, the brunette she'd seen countless times in her mind.

The brunette, Bella, was staring at her with what could only be described as forlorn.

"How are you, Billie?"

Hearing her name come from the girl's mouth was like a slap across the face, what with the way Billie's head literally reared back. Sure, she'd expected them to know her, given the glimpses of faces she normally saw, but for some reason, she hadn't expected the direct contact.

"I'm fine," she stammered out, and even with her chin tilted high, it seemed like everyone recognized her tone as one of discomfort.

Edward was looking at her again, before his eyes flickered to the bearded king. "What did you do to her?" was his question, and the double-edged meaning of it seeped into her bones.

First of all; rude. Second of all; why the hell did he automatically assume something was wrong with her?

She didn't even get the chance to prod at him for answers, because Aro's fingers were squeezing her shoulder lightly— almost like he was not only trying to ground Billie, but also himself.

"Due to your astonishing negligence, Billie came to us in rather poor condition," Aro supplied on behalf of the blonde girl. "A transformation so awful, that she was unable to retain most of her memory. Though, it seems like Bella's was more than pleasant, was it not?"

It wasn't a question at all; it was a challenge. He was challenging them to state otherwise, and it did them well in closing their mouths. Plus, Billie didn't think their answers would've changed his mind.

But then, the strangest thing; the child approached Aro head-on with a sort of confidence that Billie rarely saw people direct towards man. "Hello, Aro."

When the child leaned forward to show Aro her gift, to show him the memories she retained from her own rapid growth, he turned to his coven to share just exactly what he had seen. "It's true."

It was also strange that the child turned to Billie, the little girl's hand outstretched towards the blonde vampire's fingertips that had yet to cease in their minuscule movements. Once they'd made contact, Billie was pulled into a haze of the child's memories, from birth up until her meeting the blonde for the first time. She watched the brunette sacrifice her human life for this child— this rapidly growing child.

Billie and this child were very alike, and this gave her a sense of faux optimism in thinking that due to this similarity, Aro would spare the coven. But, because she knew him, she knew this battle was far from over.

Really, it had just begun.

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[ wyn's note ]

yikes! LOL

aro sticking up for his boo xx as he should! hope to have the next chap out by tonight (or tomorrow morning) so stay tuned! next chap is gonna be xtra angsty.......

all my love, thanks for 115k!! EEEEK <3