Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Blood And Steel

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 19:

Connolly sat with Bella and Winter by his side, gazing at the assembled team. Included were the wolves and vampires and Chris Jennings who had arrived an hour ago.

“So what’s the play boss?” Ty asked. All eyes were on Connolly.

That was the question.

“Please tell me you don’t want to pull an Alamo?” Winter whined.

“You know about the Alamo?” Jason asked surprised.

“I looked up a few things when you talked about San Jacinto. I have no desire to hole up and wait for these fuckers to come at us. Just remember the Alamo was a lost battle.”

“Okay the only reason the Texans lost the Alamo was because I wasn’t there. Second the Texians had a 3 to 1 kill ratio. Considering they were using muzzle loaders that is an amazing number. But don’t worry, staying back and defending is not in my nature.”

“Thank God.” Mina whispered. “Everything about this place is vampire heaven.”

“Yes it is.” Garrett agreed. Jasper also had to agree. Although they would be at full strength the vampires would be outnumbered.

“Look they may have two transport copters and a lot of weapons but that doesn’t mean shit. They can’t fly two choppers from Italy to here. They need a transport plane, avery large one. Vivian is looking for the one they plan to use.” Jason reminded the team.

“They could use a ship.” Peter pointed out.

“If they are buying that many automatic weapons this soon they won’t want to wait. They will want to strike quickly.” Connolly said..

“So what? We attack them when they land?” Webb asked.

“Fuck no. We attack them before they take off. They think we are here waiting for them and have no idea that they know about us. They are going to attack at night and use the trees to their advantage. They may know about Bella and Winter. They might know about the wolves and vampires. But they do not know that we can be anywhere in the world in a matter of a few hours. That is our advantage.”

“We have talked about the dangers of raiding that castle.” Jasper reminded him.

“Exactly. So we wait until they leave for the airport Major. Then you are going to take the vamps, the wolves who go with us, Jake, Leah, Embry and Quil, and raid that castle with Bella and Winter. You shouldn’t meet much resistance. While you are taking the castle, my men…”

Mina cleared her throat.

“My team will take the airport and destroy the Guard.”

“Bullshit. There will be at least 50 vampires.” Garrett pointed out.

“Yep. But they won’t have weapons in hand. We bring the Aurora’s in and blow them to hell once they are inside the plane before it takes off. We take out the ones who survive the explosion as they leave the wreckage.”

“I’m going with you.” Winter told him.

“No you aren’t. We need you in that castle. You and Bella. Tell them Chris. Those two need to find out as much as possible about the swords they carry and there may be clues in that castle.”

Until this point Chris had said nothing.

“I agree with Winter. Jane will most likely be at the airport. Every gifted vampire they have will be there. You will need Bella covering you.”

Jason did not like this idea but agreed Bella would have to be part of the assault.

“Fine, Bella can come and cover us. Winter needs to be at…”

“Jane will be at the airport. If it was your sister who was killed where would you want to be Jason?” Chris asked.

Connolly had nothing.

“I will accompany the wolves and vampires. Your team can return after your battle is complete. The twi… Bella and Winter can search the castle with me at that time. We all can. Until then I will start the search.”

“Fine Chris. Bella and Winter stay with us. Jasper will you have enough firepower to take the castle?”

“Yes. Between the four of us and the four wolves, with the castle mostly empty it will be easy.”

“What if there are more than we expect at the castle?” Bella asked, a bit annoyed that Jason wanted to keep her from the airport.

“Then we retreat and wait for you guys. I can spread enough confusion and fear to prevent any resistance from coming at us.”

“Connolly?”

“Yes Vivian?”

“Got a C-5 landing at a small airport ten miles away from Volterra. Looks like it has been painted but you can’t miss that design and size. Same airport the Hueys are at. It must be where they plan to take off from. You want a flight plan?”

“I doubt it would be a legitimate one. Besides I never plan to let that plane leave the ground. Dante and Brody you are going to have to fly us one more time just to get us on the ground. Ice and Maverick you are taking the fighters. I want that runway constantly strafed from north and south. We attack from East and West. I want no escape routes. Blow the plane the second the Volturri are in it.”

“You know we can actually make sure we can blow it ourselves as a fail safe.” Ty pointed out. Connolly smiled.

“You boys up for a little baking party?”

“Hell yes mate. We wire the plane and hit the detonator as the fighters make their bombing runs. There may not be much left for us to kill.” Clive agreed enthusiastically.

“Okay, sounds good. Everybody on board?”

Hearing no disagreements Connolly addressed the next concern.

“Oak Island? Can we trust this Emmett character Jasper?”

“Yes.” Jasper said it with such certainty Connolly did not pursue the line of questioning.

“Okay, one more guy to get on board.”

Vivian made the connection. Rather than coming through the com devices the President of the United States answered on a speaker phone in the middle of the table the team was gathered around.

“What do you got Connolly?”

“Good to hear from you as well sir.”

“Sorry but I know you don’t call to bullshit. What is wrong?”

Connolly outlined the vampires knowledge and his plan to not only take out the Volturi but to take possession of the castle.

“Jason I cannot authorize a military attack on Italian soil. You understand this correct?”

“Completely Mr. President. Have a nice day.”

“You too Commander.”

The call ended.

“So lets get ready to move people. I want to be ten kilometers outside Volterra to the west of the airport before sundown. I am sure they will take off at night. That means we need to sneak in and wire the plane at twilight. Small window of opportunity. If it doesn’t work or can’t be done then the fighters will do the work alone.”

“I’m confused. Didn’t the President just say we couldn’t do this?” Peter asked.

“Nope. President said he couldn’t authorize it. That means I can’t say yeah but I expect you to do this. If he didn’t want us to do it he would have said, don’t do this.”

“Thank you Ty. Like I said, let’s move people.”

Five hours later, outside Volterra City, Algherri airport

Connolly looked over his team. They were hunched down in a meadow with waist high grass. The sun was scheduled to set in forty five minutes. On the ground was a crudely drawn sketch of the objective.

Bella did not recognize the man he had turned into since they landed. She had slept with him and made love to him every night and sometimes more for the past months. She had fallen in love with him deeply and enjoyed being in his presence. His irreverent attitude and sense of humor brightened her days and nights and drove away the nightmares that once haunted her.

Since they landed he was different. Gone was the wild, seemingly reckless leader of the team that she had known. This time he was serious. He planned to lead his team against the most dangerous vampire coven in history and took nothing for granted. She thought back to the final orders he had given his team before they landed.

“Ladies and gentleman today we are on our own. No vampires, no wolves, just us and our weapons, the way God intended, about to destroy an ancient evil. Each one of us has been put on this earth and given a terrible gift to use against creatures like those we are about to destroy. No matter what the numbers we face, know one thing above all. We are the best. The vampires may have been fighting for the past couple thousand years but I promise you they have never fought anyone like us. We are the most dangerous bastards God ever created and we are meant to be here.

Standing orders of the day. We do not back down. There will be no holding the line. We attack. If our legs are shot we crawl towards the enemy. We don’t stop until every last one of those fuckers is dead. Not one of you has permission to die. To do so would be disobeying direct orders. My orders. The time for games is over. We have lost people to vampires before. I won’t let it happen again. Everyone knows your job.

West strike force will be myself, Clive, Mina, and Dante. East strike force is Webb, Hawk, Winter and Brody. King, Gavin and Bella take the air control tower and secure any employees. I want King and Gavin providing sniper support from the top. Bella you need to keep us covered. Stay between the two and fire as you can but do not for one second leave us vulnerable to gifted vampires. I know you won’t be directly in the action but this is what the team needs. The bastards are coming from the small parking lot through the private jet entrance and will most likely walk straight up to the transport. Vivian says boxes of weapons, RPGs and the two Hueys are being loaded right now. Once they are in the craft we till time our detonation with the bombing runs. They will feel safe here on their own land. I don’t believe they will have weapons in hand but we will assume they do. They could very well recover weapons from the wreckage. They will be torn up and many will be burned to ash but many could also survive, wounded. Be prepared to exchange fire. We will use the ground for cover, not a whole lot other we move in we can find wreckage if we need cover. Everybody understand?”

A chorus of yes sirs rose from the group, even Mina, the least military of the group.

On landing a mile away from the airport, the wolves, vampires and Chris quickly departed to prepare for their assault on the castle. The humans took their places.

The teams were in position as twilight came upon them. Lying in the tall grass surrounding the runway the men were all but invisible.

King and Gavin had taken the control tower quickly and quietly, the four men inside too surprised to say anything. They offered no resistance, tied by their hands and feet to each other and placed in a corner. Bella lay on top of the tower, rifle in hand if needed, flanked by King and Gavin on either side. She focused on reaching out to her team and feeling her mind connect with theirs. In the grass somewhere waited her love and her best friend who wanted her own revenge.

Dante Youngblood and Jason Connolly crawled through the grass imitating lions stalking prey in the jungles of Africa. Only a small wake from above alerted anyone to their presence. As soon as they were out of the grass the black clad men moved silently in the weakening daylight and reached the landing gear of the large air ship.

Wrapping detonator cords quickly along with shrapnel containers that would rip through a vampire in full power’s skin, it was obvious this wasn’t the first time the two had done this. Within minutes bombs sat underneath the plane ready to be detonated by the push of a button. Running back to the grass the men crawled to their former positions and waited.

The plan was simple as the best usually were. The men and women who lay in wait knew that the best laid plans only went smoothly until the first blow was made. After that all bets were off.

Two craft hovered in the air out of sight. Sleek fighters the likes of which the world had never seen would do their first battle in Italy of all places.

The team was tense, already tired of waiting. They had fought vampires before and won but all knew the monsters they were about to engage were the ultimate target. Without the Volturi vampires would be weaker. This was the enemy that had to be taken out. The castle had to be taken. Not one of these vampires could be allowed to leave this battleground alive.

“Movement from the castle. Four, no six limos, are heading towards your location. Say ten minutes out.”

The lack of Vivian’s trademark sarcasm let everyone know how serious a situation this was. No one was more aware than the man leading this assault. He pushed out thoughts of the men he had lost, not only in Mexico but in the Middle East before. War left casualties and nothing was ever easy. Jason Connolly knew this.

Ten minutes later Gavin spoke into the com.

“They have arrived. Ah shit. We got a problem.” he whispered.

“Problem?”

“Looks like they brought snacks.” King explained quietly.

Humans. The bastards had humans with them.

“They look willing?” Connolly asked.

“If by willing you mean scared to death with their hands tied behind their backs then yeah.” Ty answered.

Damn it.

It could never be simple could it?

“How many people we talking about?”

“Ten.” King replied.

Fuck.

“Maverick, Ice, do not, I repeat do not, commence the bombing run. Stay back until I say so. When you come I want the sky lit up with UVs. Copy?”

“Copy sir.”

“Jack?”

“Yeah Jay?”

“Any ideas?”

“I’m just glad I’m not going to have to make this decision.”

Thanks for the help, Connolly thought.

The sun had set.

“Where are they positioned Ty?”

“Right now, they are surrounded by these fuckers, right in the middle.”

“Bella when they come out get a bead on one. King and Gavin take the closet two. Once they fire, we break cover and attack. No friendly fire guys. Hit what you aim for. If we catch them by surprise we can give the hostages a chance to escape. Be aware they may have weapons on them. Majority are in the plane but prepare for the worst. Staggered formation, guns constantly firing, constantly moving, just like the desert boys.”

The Volturi walked out onto the tarmac. At least fifty vampires dressed in all different apparel and all cloaked in blood red robes. They looked like ghosts floating across the ground as opposed to the humans shuffling in the middle.

“On my count. On engage Maverick and Ice you turn it to daylight out there. One… two… engage.”

The Seals stood up as Bella, Ty and Ian opened fire from the towers. Three vampires near the humans, three middle aged women and seven men ranging from their twenties to late forties, fell, their heads exploding into balls of fire. Three more shots rang out and two more fell. Bella fired a third time and hit her target this time, a beautiful female with long black hair. Fire rained from both sides of the runway as the Seals advanced in a line.

Caius did not panic. He had not expected the humans to attack here but like everything in battle he had prepared for this contingency.

“Open fire!”

The vampires, each pulled a handgun from under their robes and began returning fire at the Seals in the open.

Until the sky lit up and all felt themselves growing weaker. Their eyesight not as sharp, their strength ebbing, Caius looked up and saw two spacecraft, hovering high above the scene of the battle, bathing the area in artificial daylight.

The human hostages panicked and ran. Two were shot in the back by errant shots from the Volturi guard.

“Move to the aircraft!” Caius ordered. He knew he needed the weapons inside. Small arms would not do in their weakened state against automatic weapons.

The Volturi moved, those not already lying on the ground in flames. Humans ran in panic into the fields causing the team to stop firing.

A bullet struck Webb in the lower abdomen just under his body armor. He fell to the ground, and the vampire who had shot charged him, a rather large individual.

He was met by a tackle from Dan Hawk. The two stood and faced one another.

Felix aimed his weapon only to have it kicked out of his hand by the big man. Charging him, he was surprised to see Hawk duck, until he felt his legs swept from beneath him. Felix tried to rise only to feel Hawk’s large arms around his head. He heard a snap and felt nothing more, not even the round Hawk put in his head.

“You must not be a fan of Bruce Lee.” Hawk said more to himself and then rushed to where Jack lay.

Picking him up over his shoulders he ran to the grassy area on the side of the runway and planted Jack on the ground.

“Give me a rifle and I can shoot from here.”

“How bad are you hit?”

“Give me a fucking rifle!”

Hawk handed Webb his rifle and turned back into the fray as Webb forced himself into a sitting position.

Connolly continued firing and advancing, Brody arriving at his side. A man had gotten off the ground and ran towards him.

Connolly saw the vampire aim and knew he would strike the hostage in his back. Stepping in front he took the round in his left shoulder, returning fire with his right arm.

Winter rushed into the battle, sword already drawn. Bella noticed her as she, Ty and King constantly picked off targets on the ground.

Bella reached out and felt Winter. Jane stared.

Jane panicked when she saw she could not stop the twin of the one she had slain before.

“Fuckin RPG! Time to go.” Gavin yelled. He and King ran to the rooftop entrance and dove into the doorway as Bella jumped from the front of the tower, landing deftly on the ground a second before the explosion. Clive and Mina joined her and they continued firing, into the mass, planning to take the plane where the RPG had come from.

Bella glanced at the battles going on around her. It was madness. Men standing with no cover firing weapons. She could hear not only the gun blasts but almost hear the bullets whizzing through the air.

She saw Winter and Jane engaged in battle. She had confidence in Winter. Jane was barely avoiding her sword and it was only a matter of time before Winter had…

Bella saw the other witch twin, Alec, aim his gun at Winter.

Bella ran.

Stepping into the line of fire, she was too late. Alec let loose a barrage of gunfire.

Time seemed to slow down. Bella actually felt the bullets. Without thought her sword was in her hand and she was slicing the air, blocking four bullets cutting one of them in half.

The fifth one hit her in left thigh ripping through the muscle and bone underneath. She hit the ground, but had enough sense to pull her sidearm, as yet unused and fire once, striking Alec in the head and ending his existence. Jane saw and screamed a split second before Winter’s sword entered the top of her head and continued down, cutting her body in half.

Carnage reigned.

Until Connolly gave the order.

“Back away from the plane now! Fall back!”

Fall back? The team knew they never fell back. Even outnumbered they were the superior force.

“Broken arrow boys! Dante pull the trigger!”

Bella was only feet from the plane. Winter attempted to grab her and take her to safety until both found themselves in Dan Hawk’s arms being carried away.

“Time to go ladies.”

Less than five seconds later both ladies felt the heat behind them, but Hawk never stopped moving. He was behind the tower and fell on top of both of them.

The explosives detonated under the plane and the two Auroras opened fire dropping hellfire missiles into the Galaxy.

The firearms and ammo inside plus the fuel tanks which had to be full, caused an explosion of epic proportions.

Mina, Clive and Brody came around one end of the tower while Ty and King came around the other, firing into the fireball, turning it into a vampire shredding cloud of destruction. Connolly out in the open when the order was given was struck in the head by a sheet of metal in the plane. His skull cracked and he hit the ground. One lone vampire tried to reach for him, and was simultaneously shot by Webb and Gavin.

The roar of the explosion gone, the runway was still hot enough to melt steel. Gavin and Clive ran into the heat and retrieved two humans who had hit the ground and whose clothes were now burning. Brody grabbed another and began dragging the three away while beating at their garments to snuff out the flames.

“Head count!” Gavin yelled.

The team checked in one by one. Gavin checked in for Bella whose leg was bent at an unnatural angle. The bullet must have broken her femur on its way through and was most likely still lodged inside.

All checked in except Connolly and Webb.

“Vivian find my boys!”

“I can’t… see through the smoke and fire from satellites.”

“Webb is in the opposite field. He took a shot in the abdomen and is losing blood. I don’t know where Connolly is.” Hawk told Ty who had suddenly become commander of the team.

Ty didn’t hesitate, running towards the burnt plane.

Hawk and King ran beside him and broke off in the direction of Webb.

Ty waved smoke around, trying to get his bearings. The purple smoke of burning vampire bodies, the burning jet fuel all over the runway and scatted debris, made finding anything difficult.

He stumbled over two bodies that had been shot in the opening exchange. Checking pulses he found them both dead and continued to call for Connolly.

“I know where he is. My sister does. To your left Ty, twenty yards. He is down. I can see him.” Winter yelled over the com.

When Ty found Connolly he thought his long time friend and brother may be dead. Blood poured from his shoulder and the top of his skull. It looked like he had a shot in the ankle and a few pieces of sharp metal had buried themselves in his other leg.

“You better not die on me you stupid son of a bitch. Calling in an airstrike when you are that close. Auroras! Get back to the transports and and bring them here now. We got med evac. Anybody got eyes on Webb?”

“He is losing a lot of blood. I think I have it controlled but he needs a surgeon.” Hawk said through the com.

“Youngblood, Brody, you ambulatory?”

“Yes sir.”

“Hump it to LZ. When our flyboys grab the transports you guys grab the fighters and escort us. First responders will be here soon for the civilians. No way am I sticking around while my people die and explain to a bunch of foreign cops that we started a gang war with some vamps on their land. We need to go, now. Move it people!”

Ty lifted Connolly who did not respond, and throwing him over his shoulders he ran.

The transports landed five minutes later. In that time Bella had saw Connolly and screamed. She tried to move towards him only to find that her leg was very broken and the artery had been severed. The loss of blood caused her to pass out before Winter popped her leg back into place and used her sword to splint it.

Up in the air, the casualties were more obvious. Mina had sustained a wound that had pierced and nearly taken off her ear. Brody had taken several shots to the vest and one was from a distance so close it broke two of his ribs. Ty and King’s legs had sustained second degree burns from jumping into the doorway avoiding the RPG but not avoiding the heat of the exploding grenade. Dante was unscathed, as was Clive. Hawk had taken a shot from behind while carrying Webb out of the line of fire. The bullet had traveled through his massive deltoid muscle from behind. Ty pointed out to him that he was bleeding.

“I will bleed later. I don’t have time for it now.”

Connolly, Webb and Bella seemed to be in the worst shape. Winter unstrapped her splint while Dante and Mina used a rubber bungee cord to tourniquet her leg and try to slow the bleeding.

Connolly had an open head wound on top of his skull, a bullet wound to the shoulder and left leg. A bullet wound near his ankle and his entire body seemed to be covered in first degree burns due to his proximity to the explosion. His pulse was rapid and weak and he had not sustained consciousness.

Bella’s leg was resplinted after the tourniquet had been applied. Once the bone was shifted she sat up with a scream. Looking around she saw her family in shambles. Webb and Connolly were on the ground while Ty started IV’s for both of them. Hawk was over her, starting an IV.

In the other transport Cilve called the President of the United States.

‘Yes Connolly? I understand there was an exploding aircraft at an airport in Italy. You wouldn’t know anything about that would you?”

The President sounded amused. Clive was not.

“This is Barkley. Ty Gavin is now in charge. The Volturi are dead but we have wounded, three in need of immediate surgery. I need a location now Mr. President.”

“What are your coordinates?”

“I don’t have a fucking clue mate. We just left the airport and we are going…”

“Tell him we are about ten minutes from London.” Ice’s voice called out.

“Ten minutes from London.”

“US Navy hospital ship is at sea near there. Stand by for coordinates. I will have an Admiral call you back in two minutes.” Dave responded no longer in good humor.

“Let him know he is going to need a boatload of secrecy agreements. We are about to land some UFOs on a helicopter pad.” Clive told him and ended the call.

As the two transports landed on the US Navy Hospital ship Ty Gavin received a call.

“How you doin Jethro? Please tell me you took that fucking castle.”

“Yeah we took it. Wasn’t hard. There was only a king named Marcus here who didn’t put up a fight and Aro and Caius’s wives. They are all taken care of. Seemed kind of easy actually. I guess you guys got Aro?”

Ty thought about the faces he had seen through his scope. In the heat of battle it never occurred to him.

“Actually Jasper I don’t think Aro was there. What have you guys found?”

“Nothing so far. Chris was hoping Bella and Winter could make it. Where are you guys?”

Ty flinched when he heard Bella’s teeth grit as she was moved from the transport by nurses, her eyes never leaving Connolly’s prone form.

“I think Bella and Winter might be busy for a while. Keep lookin and I’ll get back to ya.”