Kate was feeling good that night. She and Bella had gotten all dressed up and driven to the Cullen's house to celebrate Bella's birthday. Edward had taken Bella and Kate upstairs to wait for the party. Edward and Bella were having a private moment while Kate was walking through Carlisle's study looking at all of the paintings and books that were around the room. There was one painting in particular that Kate couldn't take her eyes off of. When she looked at it, the very warmth in her blood seemed to disappear.
"Edward," she called out softly.
Edward and Bella came up right behind her and stared that the painting she was looking at.
"Who are they?" she asked him.
"The Volturi."
Kate felt as if a weight had been pushed in her chest and she stumbled pack away from the painting as if it would come to life and attack her.
"Kate, what's wrong," Bella asked her.
It took Kate a second to compose herself before she could answer.
"Carlisle told me about the Volturi when I first turned. Fifteen hundred years ago, when they first rose to power, the Volturi led the hunt for the sirens. They wanted to eliminate all of them. It's because of them, that there are very few of us left. They will never stop hunting us. If they find me, they'll kill me on sight."
Edward placed a hand on her shoulder, "That won't happen."
Kate shrugged him off and sat in a chair at the far end of the study.
"Who're the Volturi," Bella asked Edward.
"The Volturi are a very old, very powerful, family. They're the closest thing to royalty that my world has."
Bella pointed at the painting, "Is that Carlisle?"
"Yea. He lived with them for a few decades," Edward answered, "He described them as very refined. No respect for human life of course but a respect for the arts and sciences at least. And the law, above all the law. Vampires do not have many laws and only one that is regularly enforced: that we keep the existence of our kind a secret. We don't make spectacles of ourselves and we don't kill conspicuously. Unless of course, you want to die."
Kate suddenly stood up, "I need some air."
She left the room and went downstairs. The whole time that Edward was talking, Kate was feeling more and more scared. These vampires would hunt her into oblivion if they found out about her. It was because of them that no one could know of her secret.
When she went downstairs she was immediately assaulted by Alice.
"You're not supposed to be down here yet," Alice told her.
Kate shrugged, "I wanted to help. What can I do?"
Alice looked at her skeptically before nodding.
"You can help Emmett and Rose hang flower banners," she told her.
Kate went over to where Emmett and Rosalie were hanging some banners.
"So where did you guys travel to this time?" she asked them.
Rosalie gave her a small smile while Emmett gave his trademark grin.
"Ibiza," he told her.
"Nice," she laughed.
Kate lifted her hands and raised the flower banners up to the ceiling with her powers. The floated gently and hung themselves across the preexisting hooks that were already there. It was nice being able to use her powers in the open. It made her feel like she wasn't a freak. The whole time she worked, Emmett kept rambling on about his and Rosalie's adventures in Ibiza. She smiled at them and was turned around by the shoulders by Rosalie just in time to see Edward and Bella come down the stairs. She gave her sister a smile as Alice dragged her down the stairs.
"I'm sorry about all of this," Carlisle apologized to Bella, "We tried to reign Alice in."
"If that were even possible. Happy birthday, Bella," Esme told her as they hugged.
A flash blinded Kate for a moment when she turned to look at Alice who had Bella's camera in her hand. The rest of the party turned to look at her too.
"I found it in your bag, do you mind?" she asked.
Bella gave her a small smile and shook her head.
"Well then let's get some sisterly bonding, come one," Alice told them as she pulled the two girls together. Kate threw her arm around Bella's shoulder and smiled for the camera while Bella looked awkwardly down.
Kate and Bella quickly let go not wanting to make the situation any more awkward than it already was.
"Happy birthday, sis," Kate told Bella before going to stand next to Rosalie who was brooding by the stairs.
Kate tapped her shoulder against Rosalie's, "Smile, Rose. You'll get frown lines if you don't."
Rosalie glared at her while Kate and Emmett roared with laughter. Alice bounced over to them with a small package in her hand.
"Rosalie, you first," she told Rosalie.
Rosalie looked like she would have rather swallowed a whole bottle of bleach than to give Bella a gift. She took a deep breath before shoving the package Bella's way.
"It's a necklace," she said stiffly, "Alice picked it out."
Kate leaned over to whisper to Rosalie, "That's the spirit."
Rosalie ignored her as Alice forced Edward and Bella to take a picture together. They looked so painfully awkward that Kate wanted to laugh.
"This one's from Emmett," Alice told Bella as she shoved another wrapped present into Bella's hands. Bella gave the present a slight shake hearing nothing rattling inside. She threw Emmett a questioning look.
Emmett gave her a wide grin, "Already installed it in your truck. Finally a decent sound system for that piece of crap..."
"Hey, don't hate the truck," Bella defended.
Everyone gave a small round of laughs. Kate laughed the hardest because despite what Bella was saying, and despite Jacob's handiwork, the truck was an awful piece of machinery. Alice wasted no time in grabbing another gift and handing it to Bella. Kate laughed some more and was glad that Alice hadn't planned Kate's birthday party.
"Open Esme and Carlisle's next," Alice giggled.
"It's just a little something to brighten your day," Carlisle explained.
Esme joked, "Because you've been looking kind of pale lately."
Kate turned to watch Bella open her gift but froze when Bella gasped in pain. Bella held up her finger and showed the room the paper cut that she just got. Everyone went still. Kate saw Edward look toward Jasper who started to move toward Bella at vampire speed with an animalistic look on his face. Edward shoved Bella back into a table to get him away from Jasper before throwing Jasper across the room and into the piano. Kate used her speed and ran right in front of Bella throwing up a shield of blue energy separating the Swan sisters from the rest of the vampires.
Fear ran through Kate's blood as she watched Emmett grab a hold of Jasper and struggle to control him. A part of Kate knew that this would happen and that this was what she had feared from the beginning. She almost sighed at the thought.
"Jaz, Jaz, shh... it's just a little...blood," Alice tried to calm him.
Alice froze and all of the vampires turned to look at Bella who was lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood and glass. Kate looked at her sister before turning to the vampires and strengthening her shield. If she had to, she would kill all of the vampires before they touched Bella. Kate glared back at the Cullen's through the blue haze of the shield daring them to make a move on them.
"Get Jasper out of here," Carlisle calmly told Emmett.
Carlisle sped toward Kate and Bella but bounced back as soon as he hit Kate's shield. When he hit the ground Kate growled at him.
"Kate, please... I can help her," Carlisle pleaded with Kate.
She watched him warily before lowing her shield to let him pass through to Bella. He grabbed Bella's arm to inspect it. When Kate looked at him again, he nodded to her letting her know that Bella would be alright. She looked back at the vampires to find that all but Edward had gone. Edward was watching Carlisle and Bella with an expression of mingled disgust and hatred.
"I'll have to stitch this up in my office," Carlisle whispered.
He then turned to Edward, "Check on Jasper. I'm sure he's very upset with himself and I doubt he'll listen to anyone but you right now."
Edward didn't move. He just stared at Bella's blood dripping down her arm.
"Leave. Now," Kate thought to him through thoughts of anger.
He glanced at her before slowly turning and leaving the room. Carlisle led Bella back up to his study while Kate stood downstairs staring at her sister's blood on the floor. She glared at it, feeling as if none of this would have happened if Edward had stayed away.