CHAPTER TEN:
AS DAWN BREAKS

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IMPENDING DOOM SETTLED IN the air like a storm cloud closing in at sea. Alice's golden eyes were grim as she crossed the clearing alone, her shoulders pushed back and her head held high in the hopes of appearing confident and unaffected. It seemed to work, perhaps too well, because Demetri and Felix surged forward to capture her arms in their hold. She struggled for a second, but huffed to herself when they tightened their grip and hissed. Her gaze met Aro's over their taunt shoulders. He smiled in pure delight.

"My dear, dear Alice," he sighed like a giddy child chasing a sugar high. "We're so glad to see you here after all."

"I have evidence the child won't be a risk to our kind," she exclaimed, face puckered with earnest lines. She held out a hand to him, and Aro's eyes glistened from the prospect of looking into the future, of controlling a gift he'd always wanted but never quite came close to having. "Let me show you."

"Brother," Caius immediately scoffed in disbelief, but it was too late. Aro had been hooked and drawn right in.

Grinning, he held out his hands, gesturing impatiently for Demetri and Felix to let Alice go. Ofelia watched on, feeling utter terror as the tiny woman closed the space between herself and the greedy man before her. With just one sudden movement, Aro could've ended Alice's life then and there. Ofelia half-expected his excitement to be an elaborate trick, a bloody declaration of war, but for the moment, he eagerly snatched up her hand and closed his eyes.

A second went by. Both Alice and Aro had frozen at his touch, Aro's smile slowly falling as Alice seemed to deflate in on herself.

"It doesn't matter what I show you." The words hung in the air, heavy as the knife that made the first kill. "Even when you see, you still won't change your decision."

Ofelia and Jasper knew what was coming before Alice even turned to look at them, at her family. War had been declared and finalised as Jacob tore out of the clearing with a trembling Renesmee clinging to his back, Alice using the distraction to kick Aro hard in the face. Death was coming, and Ofelia Torres would be damned if she let it take her down now. She hadn't survived this long, gone head-to-toe with each of her demons and won, just to be taken down by a radicalised set of kings. Suddenly, Ofelia Torres and Jasper Hale were no longer two teens in love. Instead, they were warriors ready to fight side-by-side, and come out victorious with the blood of their enemies on their hands.

But first, there was Alice to contend with. Her decision to harm Aro had Demetri and Felix descending on her again, teeth bared ready for the killing blow. The witnesses stirred to life as she struggled, cracks forming along the marble of her skin. The wolves snarled in warning, hackles raised. But Aro just smiled at the sound, eyes locked in a challenging stare with Carlisle when he said, "Take her away."

The fear of a father reared its damning head. Pure, uncensored anger bloomed to life in Carlisle's glare. He screamed out in warning, "Let her go!" then sprinted across the clearing to save the girl he viewed as his daughter. It was this mistake that cost him, but Ofelia couldn't blame him. If she was in Carlisle's shoes and Jasper, Peter or Charlotte were Alice, she'd already be dead, too. But it happened so fast. In a mere blink, Carlisle was a headless, burning body at Aro's feet, and Esme's wails for a lost love were the backing track for the first signs of battle.

One down. How many more of them to go?

The witnesses surged forward, determined to avenge his heartless death, Ofelia leading the charge, both woman and beast. Good and bad clashed in a mess of limbs and bared teeth. Soon, Ofelia couldn't tell friend from foe, she just felt the senseless need to tear the earth from its axis, crack open the centre, and dig her hands into the molten fiery inferno of its bones. She attacked with precision, a pile of bodies forming a protective ring around her. Some were young and clearly inexperienced. Her shouts of compulsion could work on those, and with the horror of knowing they'd lost in their eyes, they'd tear their own skulls apart like miniature versions of Ofelia Torres' shattered earth rising to fruition.

Nobody on their side had fallen just yet. For a second, ugly hope bloomed in her chest. But she should've known. It was foolish to feel anything when your life was on the line. In some kind of sick and twisted way, she'd cursed them all. She quickly squashed the feeling like a bug beneath her shoe, shouted for another walking corpse to shatter its own skull against the melting snow, but it was too late for a blank slate. Another good life would be taken, the body to rest with his father. Jasper had been fighting Demetri when it happened. Ofelia caught sight of him just in time to see him crumbling to his knees under Jane's torture, then Demetri and Felix closed in to decapitate him.

Time slowed, then sped up all at once. Ofelia didn't scream, but the sound beat its erratic fists against her throat, wanting to be set free. Fire followed along right after, and Ofelia's eyes darkened as she crossed a line that had never been breached by someone like her before. She was going to kill Jane, Demetri and Felix, turn Jane's power against her until she was begging Ofelia for a quick death. But she wouldn't stop, not even then. She'd drag Jane along by her hair, cast her into the Underworld with Demetri and Felix, and for the rest of eternity, she'd watch as they destroyed each other, over and over again. It was the smallest price to pay for taking him from her, and it would be her's.

When Ofelia managed to get to her, she'd just killed a small wolf. Ofelia immediately recognised it as Seth, and the first signs of grief festered in her chest as she caught sight of his warm brown eyes now cold. Leah had seen him die, too, and was howling miserably. The sound echoed moments later in mourning for the pack's lost brother, but Ofelia was already turning away from them, her hand making itself a home wrapped around Jane's neck.

"Hello, Jane," she cooed in the startled blonde girl's ear.

"Get off me," Jane sneered, digging her sharp nails into Ofelia's arm as she attempted to throw her back.

But Ofelia was numb to the feeling, simply laughing as she squeezed so tight that the infamous Jane Volturi froze. Her red eyes were darting around the clearing searching for assistance, but the other Cullens had gotten to Demetri and Felix when they spotted Jasper's body. Jane was hers and hers alone to see to. She could already feel her power rushing out of its boundaries. Just a few weeks ago, she'd told the witnesses that she could only compel weak people. But Ofelia Torres without Jasper Hale didn't care for strong and weak. She only wanted blood.

So she broke the mould and whispered in Jane's ear like a viper, "You took him from me using that wretched gift of yours. I want you to know how that feels."

Words like honey washed over Jane, the tempting fruit in the Garden of Eden. But Jane wasn't like Renesmee or even Minnie Brown. She knew compulsion when she felt it, and she kicked at Ofelia fruitlessly, wild and for once, terror-filled. But Ofelia Torres had dealt with worse than Jane during her time with Maria. She simply wrapped her whole arm around the girl's neck, nearly lifting her off her feet.

"Use your gift, Jane," she taunted, laughing when Jane winced, like little electric bolts of lightning were flickering across her skin. "Since you wanted it so badly before, use it."

She knew the gift wouldn't kill her, and as Alice arrived wanting to seek her own revenge, she realised it too. So Ofelia grabbed one arm, Alice holding the other, and together, they threw Jane's writhing body into the open jaws of Sam Uley. But it didn't make Ofelia feel any better. Everything was flickering past in a blur, bodies falling before they even reached where she stood, like they could hear her thoughts and that was enough for death to take them. Beneath her feet, the ground started to shake as Benjamin tore the world in two, fire licking at the rocky ground just inches away from her. For a second, she contemplated what it would be like to burn, to become one with the core of the world. But she knew Jasper would never forgive her for losing a battle because of him. He'd probably spend the rest of their time in the afterlife stubbornly ignoring her. So Ofelia pushed on, reigning as what she knew best.

Terror.

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ARO'S SHARP GASP ECHOED around the clearing, catching Ofelia off guard. Whatever he had seen in Alice's mind had managed to visibly terrify him. He looked at each of the witnesses, then his own guards in disbelief, his eyes lingering on Ofelia with... fear? What had she done in Alice's vision that brought even a king to his knees?

"Now you know," the psychic scowled darkly. "That's your future. Unless you decide on another course."

Aro seemed to be really considering it, but Caius was determined to see bloodshed. "We cannot alter our course! The child still poses a grave threat."

"But what if you were sure she could remain concealed from the human world?" Edward asked before Aro could respond. "Could we live in peace?"

Caius scoffed at him. "Of course, but that cannot be known."

"Actually, it can," Edward corrected, much to the confusion of those around him.

Fallen branches snapped beneath feet as two new vampires made their presence known on the edge of the clearing. Ofelia didn't recognise either of them, putting them down as two regular vampires. But the closer they got to the opposing groups, the easier it became to hear the man's erratically beating heart. Ofelia let out a gasp, her hand closing around Jasper's in surprise. Renesmee wasn't the only half-vampire. There were others, and for years they had existed right under the noses of the Volturi, hiding in plain sight.

"I've been searching for witnesses of my own," Alice informed Aro as the new arrivals came to stand beside her. "Among the Ticuna tribes of Brazil."

"We have enough witnesses--"

"Let him speak, brother," Aro snapped at Caius.

A moment of tense silence followed. Caius stood back with a huff, allowing the half-vampire at Alice's side to address them. "I am half human," he said. "Half vampire, like the child. A vampire seduced my mother, who died giving birth to me. My aunt, Huilen, raised me as her own. I made her immortal."

The news had Bella calling out desperately, wanting to know the fate of her own daughter. "How old are you?" she asked, Edward also listening closely as his eyes drifted to a curious Renesmee Cullen.

"A hundred and fifty years."

Ofelia could practically feel the weight of the world falling off their shoulders. Their daughter would live a long life. They would not lose her before they even got to have her.

"At what age did you reach maturity?" Aro questioned, wary but eager all the same.

"I became fully grown seven years after my birth. I have not changed since then."

"And your diet?"

"Blood," he replied. "Or human food. I can survive on either."

Ofelia watched closely as Aro, Marcus and Caius exchanged a long glance. Marcus seemed content with leaving them be. Caius, on the other hand, still scowled in distrust. Aro was somewhere in the middle. She knew they needed him to listen to Marcus if they wanted to walk away unscathed.

"These children are much like us."

Caius sighed. "Regardless, the Cullens have been consorting with werewolves, our natural enemies."

But he was silenced with a shake of Aro's head. The man turned to address his witnesses again, ignoring the other king's outraged stare. "Dear ones," he said. "There is no danger here. We will not fight today."

One by one, the witnesses began to leave. Caius lead the charge with his nose in the air, but Ofelia could tell Aro's dismissal of his claims had wounded his pride. She wanted to scream, to laugh, to take Jasper's face in her hands and kiss him until the fire in her chest died out. By some miracle, they had survived. None of them were harmed. Renesmee could go free. The Cullens had managed to achieve the impossible, and Ofelia Torres had been there to witness it. She felt... free again. Like anything was possible.

But now the question remained. What would happen to her now?