Italy. Volterra.
Thunder rolled across the ancient sky above the Volturi Citadel. Within its cold stone walls, shadows shifted, and whispers slithered like serpents across the marble floors.
At the highest chamber, cloaked figures gathered.
Aro stood at the center, his pale fingers twitching with anticipation as a guard approached, bowing low.
"Sire," the guard said, voice tight. "Word from the Americas. Forks, Washington. The Cullens… they've been compromised."
Aro's crimson eyes glittered.
"Explain," he murmured.
"There was to be a wedding—Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. But… she fled. With the wolf."
Aro's grin stretched like silk.
"Oh… delicious."
Caius snarled, his voice a hiss. "The treaty forbade this. Vampires and werewolves are not to mix."
"They didn't just mix," the guard said, swallowing hard. "She's carrying his child. And the Cullen estate has burned."
The room fell silent.
Then Aro whispered, "A hybrid…"
"No," said Marcus, his eyes finally flickering with life. "The hybrid."
A prophecy older than memory echoed in Marcus's mind.
"When venom and fang birth one flesh, balance shall shatter, and a new throne shall rise in blood."
Aro turned to him slowly. "You think it's him?"
Marcus simply nodded.
Aro clapped once. "Send Demetri. And Felix. I want the child found. And brought to me—alive."
---
La Push.
Bella woke with a scream.
Her skin glowed again—this time golden, veined with silver. Beside her, Jacob leapt up, eyes wild.
"It's happening again," she gasped.
The cabin was shaking. Dust rained from the rafters. The ground trembled. Jacob grabbed Bella and pulled her outside just as the entire wall behind them exploded outward.
The trees bent. Birds scattered in a panic. A shockwave of invisible energy rippled through the forest.
Bella fell to her knees, clutching her belly. "He's not just growing. He's… fighting."
"For what?" Jacob asked, heart pounding.
She met his gaze. "To be born."
Jacob's nostrils flared. "We need help."
"I can't go back to the Cullens," she whispered. "Edward will kill you. Or him. Or both."
"Then we'll find someone else," Jacob growled. "Someone who doesn't care about sides."
---
Later that night.
They rode deep into the forest, far past the La Push border, until they reached the home of the only person Jacob trusted outside the pack.
Leah Clearwater.
The lone female werewolf stepped out of the shadows before they could even knock.
Her eyes narrowed as she spotted Bella. "You've got some nerve bringing her here."
Jacob stepped forward. "She left Edward. She chose me."
Leah blinked. Then her gaze dropped to Bella's stomach. Her expression changed immediately.
"You're serious," she whispered. "She's pregnant."
The air around them thickened with tension.
"Not just pregnant," Jacob said. "The baby's already breaking nature."
Leah walked closer, hand gently touching Bella's stomach.
Then she stepped back in shock. "There are two pulses. One hot. One cold. Like fire and ice fused together."
Bella's breath quickened. "He's changing me from the inside. I'm not even sure I'm fully vampire anymore."
Jacob looked down. "If what I saw today was just the beginning… what happens when he's born?"
Leah's jaw tightened. "You need answers. And not from Forks. You need to go deeper. The Elders… the real ones. The ones that hid the old legends."
---
Meanwhile.
In the darkness between worlds—beneath the veil of shadows where no human heart could survive—something awakened.
A whisper.
A name.
Lucian.
And with it came a hunger.
Not for blood.
Not for flesh.
But for balance.
The world had tilted, and the child of fang and claw had stirred to correct it.
---
Back at the ruins of the Cullen estate…
Edward stood amid ash and silence. His once-glorious family home reduced to rubble.
Alice stood beside him, pale and trembling.
"I saw it," she whispered.
Edward turned slowly. "What did you see?"
Alice didn't look him in the eyes. "A boy. Not Renesmee. A child born of Bella and Jacob."
Edward's face twisted.
"He grows fast. Faster than Renesmee. And when he opens his eyes… even I can't see what happens next."
"Then we stop it before it happens," Edward said coldly.
"No," Carlisle interrupted, stepping into view. "You made Bella into a vampire. You broke the treaty first. And now you want to spill innocent blood again?"
Edward's fists clenched. "That thing inside her isn't innocent."
Emmett stepped forward, unusually quiet. "He's still her child. Our family's blood runs through her. Through him."
Edward turned away.
"We find him," he said. "Before the Volturi do."
---
The Volturi. The Cullens. The Wolves. All paths now led to one child.
Still unborn.
But already feared.
Lucian Black.
A legend in the making.
And the world wasn't ready.