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Edward's group was the first to return. They came with our Denali cousins from Alaska. Minus Irina of course, since she was the one who got us into this whole mess. Why couldn't she just talk to us instead of going straight to the Volturi?!

My brother Emmet, and my sister Rosalie, along with Bree, were the next to return.

They brought another coven with them, the Irish Coven.

The three vampires who made up the Irish Coven were kind, but they were quite reserved.

And although they were human blood drinkers, I actually found that I got along quite well with one of their members.

Her name was Maggie, and she has the ability to sense a lie when one is said.

She's basically a vampire lie detector. So that was the main reason her and Maggie's other two members; Siobhan and Liam, agreed to accompany Emmet, Rosalie and Bree.

Although Maggie wasn't the leader of the Irish Coven, her judgement was trusted, so they came to witness for us once they realised that we were telling the truth.

The Egyptian Coven was the next group to arrive.

That's how I met Benjamin. He has the ability to control the elements.

I gotta say, his gift is really cool, but also a little overpowered.

He and his mate Tia, were eager to meet Renesmee.

Amun and his mate, not so much. They were far more wary of us.

Amun was the leader of the Egyptian Coven and he had had a run in with the Volturi before.

Apparently, the Volturi's main tracker Demitri, was a member of Amun's coven before he became a member of the Volturi's guard.

Amun didn't share much else about it, but all I can say for certain, is that Amun, has trust issues.

Next came the Amazon Coven. They had heard the rumours and had come to see Renesmee for themselves. This coven only had two members show up. Apparently, their third member Kachiri, didn't want to risk a run in with the Volturi, so she refused to accompany the other two: Zafrina and Senna.

Another witness arrived shortly after the two women from the Amazon.

His name was Garret, and he turned out to be Kate's mate.

So I guess he is gonna become our cousin at some point in the future.

Anyway, he's pretty cool, doesn't have a gift, but he has a nice personality and has been around for a long time.

Soon after Garret, a mated pair of vampires showed up at our door. They had crossed through La Push to get to us, and thankfully, Sam's pack kept their word and left them alone. These two nomads turned out to be Peter and Charlotte. They're Jasper's friends. They came to help because of him.

Not long after, we were joined by two other nomads.

Their names were Randall and Mary. Apparently they had both, at some point, became friends with dad in the past. So when they heard that he needed help, they came without question.

Although the two seemed slightly unnerved by my presence, they didn't leave, nor did they actively voice their distaste for shifters.

They just seemed to be overall wary of us.

And I can't exactly blame them for that.

As I had predicted, other Quileutes started shifting as more and more witnesses crossed through their land and resided close by.

I've had to help a few of them, but all of the new shifters I've met or heard about from Sam and Jacob, have all been younger than Seth.

Previously, Seth was the one to hold the title of the youngest shifter.

That's no longer the case. I think our current youngest is a little over 11 years old.

It's too young to be wrapped up in all of this.

Jacob started helping out as soon as he returned, I've been doing my part, and Sam has been working well with both of us. His pack hasn't been causing anymore issues for me, so I guess my display of strength was enough to dissuade them from trying anything.

After Mary and Randall appeared, it wasn't long before mum and dad returned home.

They brought our last witness along with them.

A man named Alistair. Just by looking at him, I could tell he was a coward.

Whether he's gonna stick around or not, I don't know.

But if he does, he'll have my protection, just like all the other witnesses.

I will protect my family. And anyone who my family cares for, will have my protection as well.

I won't let anyone die because of the Volturi.

I've found my family, and my home. And I will fight to defend them.

In the backyard, Zafrina used her gift to display an illusion of a rainforest to Edward. Bella held onto his hand as he experienced Zafrina's gift. Bella was unable to see it for herself, due to her own ability.

"If you weren't holding my hand right now, I could swear that this was real." Edward exclaimed in utter awe.

"I don't see anything." Bella replied, feeling slightly disappointed, but mainly confused.

Eleazar walked up to the group, having heard the brief exchange. "Edward, you didn't tell me that your wife is a shield."

Zafrina stopped her gift, and Edward looked towards Bella in surprise. Bella gave him a questioning look and asked, "What's a shield?"

"The ones I've met are so different." Edward said, still in too much shock and awe to effectively answer Bella's question.

So Eleazar answered Bella's question. "It's a defensive talent."

Snapping out of his silence, Edward continued Eleazar's explanation. "It's why I couldn't read your mind, even before. It's why Aro couldn't."

"You have a very powerful gift." Eleazar announced.

Kate then suddenly grabbed ahold of Bella's hand with her gift activated. Bella gave no reaction to the electricity and just looked at the blonde with confusion in her eyes.

"Oh, yeah, she's a shield alright. Should've put her on her arse." Kate exclaimed as she she turned her gift off and pulled her hand away from Bella.

Pearl and Bree walked over to the group alongside Carlisle, Tanya, Carmen and Garret.

"Or your voltage has been exaggerated." Garret started teasing his new found mate.

Kate smirked at him and held her hand up towards him. "Maybe it only works on the weak." She challenged the nomad.

Garret smirked, then approached and reached out to touch her outstretched hand.

"Garret, I wouldn't." Carlisle cautioned him.

"Dad, if he wants to test her then let him." Pearl spoke up with an amused smile on her face. Then she quietly whispered to Bree. "This should be good." Bree nodded in agreement and the pair watched the event that was about to unfold with anticipation in their eyes.

Everyone stared as Garret's finger made contact with Kate's palm, and her resulting electricity travelled down his arm and sent the nomad to his knees whilst he groaned in pain. Catching his breath, Garret looked up at Kate in awe. "You... are an amazing woman." He exclaimed.

Kate stared back at him, clear adoration in her eyes, and sent him a warm smile.

Bree turned her head away from the scene and whispered into Pearl's ear. "She'd totally be blushing right now if she could."

Pearl whispered back to her, "Absolutely."

Jacob was explaining the dangers of how anger can affect the shift to three newly shifted boys. All three of them were young, but they listened to Jacob's explanation intently.

Suddenly, Jacob got the feeling that something wasn't right and he went dead quiet to listen to their surroundings. Hearing the fast footsteps of a few unknown vampires, Jacob said darkly, "Whoever's coming wasn't invited."

Shifting quickly, Jacob's wolf started chasing the strange vampires. The three newbies clumsily followed after the more experienced brown wolf, once they too took on the shift into their wolf forms.

Sensing the intruders from the Cullen's back yard, Pearl shifted into her silver wolf in front of the many witnesses and took off with blinding speed towards Jacob and the new recruits. She wasn't about to take any chances with unknown vampires.

The two vampires jumped from tree to tree to avoid Jacob's jaws whilst laughing at the wolf. Just as it looked like he would catch one of them, the three inexperienced wolves accidentally collided into Jacob, and tackled him to the ground.

The vampires settled on a rock a little way away from the wolves, as the shifters rose to their feet. "Down boy." The blonde man said as if he was talking to a disobedient dog. The brown haired man chuckled at his friend and gave the wolves a taunting smirk.

Jacob growled at the insult, but before he could do anything, Pearl's silver wolf came out of nowhere and pinned the two vampires to the ground.

Each of her front paws pushed down onto the two vampire's chests.

Snarling close to their heads, the hybrid stood firm as they tried to fight their way out from underneath her.

Her claws were retracted, so she wasn't causing them any harm, but she refused to allow them back up.

Growing irritated with their pointless struggles, Pearl debated whether she could just rip them apart now and then find out from her dad later whether they were an actual threat or not. She wouldn't burn them, so she could technically just put them back together again if they were here to help.

Carlisle and the others then emerged from the trees, having followed the hybrid after she left so abruptly.

Spotting the two vampires trapped underneath his daughter, Carlisle approached Pearl's wolf and gently tapped her side, signalling her to let them go.

Reluctantly, Pearl let the strangers up after sending her dad a very quick questioning look. Carlisle only gave her a gentle smile of reassurance and patted the fur on her right shoulder.

As soon as they were free from the silver wolf, the two vampires quickly backed away from Pearl and put a good 5 metres between them and her.

Carlisle addressed the vampires, "Vladimir, Stefan... you're a long way from home."

"We heard the Volturi were moving against you. But that you would not stand alone." The blonde vampire spoke up, moving his gaze away from the silver wolf to talk to the Olympic Coven's leader.

"Vladimir. We didn't do what we were accused of." Carlisle responded.

"We do not care what you did, Carlisle." The one known as Vladimir replied.

"We've been waiting a millennium for the Italian scum to be challenged." The other vampire announced. Meaning that he must go by Stefan.

"It's not our plan to fight the Volturi." Carlisle denied their claim of a challenge.

Vladimir responded to him. "Shame. Aro's witnesses will be so disappointed."

"They enjoy a good fight." Stefan added. He and the blonde then started chuckling.

Eleazar stepped forwards and questioned them in an uncertain tone, "Aro's witnesses?"

"Aww. Still hoping they'll listen." Vladimir answered with fake pity.

Pearl lowered her stance into a pouncing position and growled lowly towards the vampires. Her movement signalled the other shifters to follow suit. Very quickly, Vladimir and Stefan were being sized up and growled at by five, obviously angry shifters.

The pair inadvertently flinched away from Pearl's powerful aura and fought with their own desire to back away from her presence.

Bree moved to Pearl's left side and placed her hand on her shoulder blade. The contact of her imprint made Pearl stop growling at the vampires, but she remained tense and kept her gaze focused on the strangers' presence.

'I don't like these guys.' Pearl internally decided, as she kept her glare fixed on their forms.