1 - the volturi
When we got to the clearing, Jacob and all the wolves were gone, of course. The air was filled with a black and purple smoke, that had an icky, sweet scent to it, that was coming from the big fire in the middle of the field. I looked around myself anxiously, still clinging to edward as he moved closer to the fire, and was instantly relieved a little bit.
Stood around it, was all my soon-to-be vampire family, still all intact, and looking perfectly healthy. They all turned and stared at us as we approached, and Esme's motherly smile settled my stomach some.
"Bella, dear, your alright" she called as she came over to us. Edward set me on my feet, taking one hand as we met her. "well done, Edward" she added, giving us both a soft, little hug.
When we reached them all, i couldnt help but stare into the flames and ashes of the reason for my worry for the past month or so. But when i looked back to Edward, his eyes were locked on Carlisle, his brow furrowed slightly.
"What is it?" I asked, looking at Carlisle to try and figure out the problem. He wasnt looking at Edward, nor at the fire or the rest of us. His eyes were focused to the side of him, in the distance abit. I looked aswel, feeding my un-controlable curiosity, and gasped as i saw.
There, not 10 metres from where we stood now, curled up on the floor in some source of pain, was a girl. I knew she wasnt just any girl: of course, she was a vampire. One of the newborns, that had just fourght here, by the looks of it. From what i could see of her, she had long, brown, curly hair that waved far down her back, skin a ghostly white, casualy dressed, and her eyes were a light, blood-red that told us all she wasnt very old in the vampire world.
That, and that Jasper was standing over her, alert and ready in case she made any sudden moves. Alice was close by his side, watching the girl aswel, watching her fall in pain.
This confused me aswel. Jasper wasnt touching her, the fire wasnt touching her, she had no reason to be in pain. We wasnt going to hurt her, that was clear by the fact that she was still alive, so why would she be like this?
Edward saw me stareing, and moved his arms to tuck me safely into his chest.
"She surrendered. Thats one i'v never seen before. Only Carlisle would think of offering. Jasper doesnt approve." he told me, looking back to the girl on the ground. I rested my hands on his chest, trying to look round Jasper so i could see her properly.
"Why is she... hurting?" I asked, feeling uncomfortable now as it carried on. But as soon as I'd spoke, the young girls eyes flashed upto mine, and her teeth barred straight away. Jasper moved closer to her, warning her, and Edward shifted us so he was blocking her view of me.
"She's very young. she hasnt been... raised, in the same life style as us, isnt on the same diet" Edward explained to me, makeing me understand straight away. This girl was hurting... because of me.
"Shouldnt we move away from her?" I asked, trying to make it better now.
"We carnt. the Volturi will be here in a few minuetes" he told me, and my stomach started turning again instantly. He looked back into my eyes then, and saw the worry and anxiety rareing in them. "dont worry, it'll be fine" he assured me, then looked back at the girl.
"Can we move back or something? she looks like she's hurting bad" I whispered to him, but her eyes shot to me again, her nails digging in the dirt below her.
"Her pain isnt just because of you" he assured me, made me confused more, but got the girls glareing eyes off of me. They shot to him, wider now, and instantly saddened more. He just looked back at her, his eyes blank as he heared what she was thinking.
"Its ok, young one" Carlisle soothed her as he walked over to Alice. he touched Jasper's arm to ease him, but it didnt help much. Jasper clearly didnt trust her and was still very wary, but I put it down to his earlier experiences with newborns.
"How can you stand it?" she asked him, her pain and agony back to haunt her again. "I want her" she said threw her teeth, balling her hands up into fists as they continued to scrape in the ground.
"You must stand it" Carlisle answered her. "you must exercise control. It is possible, and it is the only thing that will save you now."
A flood of giult washed over me, and I put my head down. I didnt like being the one that was hurting her.
"Do you think the Volturi will spare her?" Rosalie asked emmet, and I saw him shoot her a disbelieving look. I frowned then, looking back at the girl, and then back at Edward, who was watching me aswel.
"What?" I asked him, and he knew what I was reffering to straight away.
"She is one of the newborns that have been illegaly savaging seattle. Some of the voluri is comeing to punish them, and still might" He explained, his voice grave as he thourght of it.
"But she surrendered. she didnt fight, right? she didnt know what she was doing" I said, my voice more urgent and rused now.
"The Volturi might not see it that way, Bella. We are hopeing they do, but Alice see's them being led by Jane" he sighed, shaking his head slowly.
I shuddered at her name, and then the picture of the young, child-like, sidistic vampire flashed in my head, and I knew this poor girl didnt have a chance. My mind racked itself for an answer, and just a minuete later, came up with a good one.
"Does she want to live? Does she want to stay with us?" I asked them all, and Carlisle looked at me thourghtfully, with a hint of confusion twisted in there.
"Do you?" he turned and asked the girl, gaining her attention straight away. She stared at him for a minuete, then nodded quickly, looking back at me again for a breif second.
"Yes" she said in a rushed, scared tone.
"Then carnt she be?" I asked, getting everyones eyes on me again.
"Bella, what do you mean?" Edward asked, frowning down at me slightly.
"Think about it, Edward. The Volturi seem to have no problem with Carlisle making newborns, as he's made all of you. So why not bring her to us, and say thats she's our's? Say she was sick and dieing, so Carlisle saved her. They wont have a choice but to spare her, right?" I asked, looking around at all of them before i rested my eyes on the girl.
She was frowning at me now, confused by my words probably. I smiled friendily, which made her eyes widen slightly more.
"That might actualy work" Emmet said, sounding abit too surprised that I came up with it then anything else. He smiled wryly at me, which just made me roll my eyes.
"Yes, it is a good plan. But what do you mean: bring her to us?" Carlisle asked, only looking at me now.
"Well they'll know were not together if she's all the way out there, wont they? Bring her in a little bit, make her look like one of us, so they'll actualy believe she is" I shrugged, and looked back up to Edward.
"Bella, it might be abit... dangerous, for her to be any closer to you" Jasper said then, talking for the first time.
"But she knows she'll probably die if she isnt" I contradicted, and they all looked around at each other, then at Carlisle.
He sighed and turned to the girl, nodding his head slightly as he thourght.
"Would you be able to do that, child?" he asked her, and we all watched intently. Her eyes settled on me again, confused and wary, and still hurting.
"Could i try, please? i... i dont want to die" she said, her eyebrows furrowing as she closed her eyes tightly.
"Of course" Carlisle said, and held out his hand to her.
"But remember: try anything, and we'll end you. we would rarther have our Bella then you" Jasper added qiuckly, and shocked me loads.
He wasnt trying to be mean to her, just cautioning her, as he knows what newborn vampires are like more then any of us. But when he said 'our Bella', I couldnt help feeling a little bit flattered. Me and Jasper had never realy been close, what with him being the youngest and the accident on my last birthday party, but this felt like a final acceptence from him, and it pleased me.
"1 minuete" Alice called to everybody, and hurried to stand near Esme, who was the closest to them in our little line that had formed.
Jasper moved to walk infront of the girl, as Carlisle led her by her side, untill they reached Alice, and the girl was no more then 3 metres from me now.
Edward pulled me to the end, putting Emmet and Rosalie inbetween us aswel, and then tried his best to relax a little bit.
"Whats her name?" I asked him, and Carlisle looked down at me, like he was shocked or something.
"Bree, Bree tanner" Edward told me, whispering slightly now, as all the faces turned to the north edge of the clearing. I squinted threw the smoke to try and see them, but failed with my dull, human eyes.
But a few seconds later, even i could make out the 4, dark shapes that were coming towards us. 4 dark cloaks, 1 a light gray, 2 a dark gray, and 1 almost black. The one at the front. The smallest one of them all. Jane.
My throat clentched tighter as they got nearer, and I pulled myself closer into Edwards side. He had one arm wrapped around me now, and the other at his side, balled up into a fisit-claw that showed some of his irritation and anger.
I couldnt help but look down the line at the girl, Bree.
She was stareing at the cloaks aswel, a strange twist in her anxious eyes. She had seen these cloaks before.
When I looked back infront of me, the Volturi were not that far away now, and they stopped about 10 feet away from us. I noticed them all, as they have stared in most of my nightmares that I'd had about the volturi in the last couple of mounths or so.
The one nearest to Jane's side, just abit taller then her, and with a face as twisted and gifted as her's, was her brother Alec. The one in the light gray cloak, a tall, lean man with light brown hair, was Demetri, the Volturi's lethal tracker. And then the massive, dark haired, giant at the back, who was wearing the other dark gray cloak like Alec was, was Felix.
All these I had remembered fiercely, almost as much as there masters: Caius, Markus and Aro, the flakey skinned ancients who were the leaders of the Volturi.
They all looked just as scarey and menessing as when I'd met them before, if not worser now. They all put there deep hoods down in unison, and there darkened red eyes stared at all of us again and again. None of them spoke, so it was total silence for a short minuete.
"Welcome, Jane" Edward said then, his fist more tensed up at his side now. Jane continued to look around the clearing, at all of us, at the flames and smoke that filtered from the fire in the middle.
Then they rested on Bree, and narrowed slightly. I saw Bree put her head down, but lifted it back up when she looked at Carlisle.
"It appeares that you'v done our work for us today... for the most part" she said, her voice betraying her annoyance. Her eyes settled on bree again, and then swept down the line untill they met mine.
"We have done your work for today, comepletely" Edward said then, correcting her. Her eyes flashed to him, then from him to bree, and back again.
"You'v missed one" she said, as if correcting his correction.
"No, we havent" he replied, stareing back at her fiercely. "Bree is one of us" he added, looking down the loose line at the young one there.
"We heared the newborns were in seattle" Jane said, clearly not buying it.
"They were, but bree is not one of those newborns" Edward told her, looking back to her now with a faint smile on his face. I frowned at him slightly, but shook it off and hid it for later.
"I changed her" Carlisle spoke up then, attracting Jane's eyes straight away. "she was dieing of servier burns in my hospital 4 months ago. She isnt that young. It was just after Edward came and visited you" he added, makeing the story up nicely as he went along.
"Are you sure about that?" she asked, questioning him now. He frowned slightly, playing it well, and then smoothed out his expression and held his head high.
"Most certainly" he vowed, and then looked at Bree for a second. "she is adapting to this life slowly, but very surely. I can assure you that she had nothing to do with the inccidence in seattle, exept there ending"
"She helped end them?" Jane asked, abit shocked now.
"Yes"
"And, just for professtional curiosity, how many were there? They left qiute a wake of destruction in seattle" she said, like we didnt already know.
"18" Jasper answered then, and I noticed his hand was on Bree's back, always cautioning her, but not in a way that Jane would notice it.
"All brand-new" Carlisle added, as he saw Jane's shocked and disbelieving face. "they were un-skilled."
"All?" Jane snapped. "then who was thier creator?"
"Her name was Victoria" Edward answered her, makeing me shudder lightly as i thourght of her.
"Was?" Jane asked. "who dealt with her?"
"I did" Edward told her, and i saw Bree's eyes shoot to his face, a small smile treading at the tips of her lips then. This ovbiously pleased her: that Victoria was dead.
"And this Victoria, she was in addition to the 18 here?" Jane asked slowly.
"Yes," Edward confirmed. "she had only one other with her. He was not as young as the rest, but no older then a year"
"I carnt deny that im impressed" Jane muttered then, a small smile on her face. "I'v never seen a coven escape this magnitude of offensive intact. Do you know what was behind it? It seems like extreme behavior, considering the way you live here"
"Victoria held a grudge against Bella" Edward told her, meeting my eyes shortly when I looked upto him.
"This one seems to bring out bizarrely strong reactions in our kind" Jane laughed happily, smileing evily at me. I didnt feel any pain, which just proved that whatever disfunction in my brain that protected me, was still working nicely. And I was actualy happy about that now.
"Would you please not do that?" Edward asked her in a controled but furious voice. Jane laughed.
"Just checking. No harm done, apparently" she smirked, and then sighed lightly "well, it appears that theres not much left for us to do. Odd: were not used to being rendered unnecesary. Its too bad we missed the fight, it sounds like it would have been entertaining to watch"
"Yes" Edward said then, his tone harsher now. "and you were so close. Its a shame you didnt arrive just a half hour earlier. Perhaps then you could have fulfilled your purpose here"
"Yes, qiute a pitty how things turned out, isnt it?" Jane replied with a blank expression. Edward just nodded at her, his expression a strange twist of many, and i wondered what he was hearing in her head.
She turned to go, but then qiuckly turned back, and made my throat nearly close up all the way.
"Aro hoped that we would get far enough west to see you, Carlisle" she said. "he sends his regards"
"I would appreciate it if you would convey mine to him" Carlisle replied, and let us all breath again.
"Oh, i'v just remembered" Jane said then, and shot her eyes straight to me again, narrowing them slightly into her evil glare "Caius will be so interrested to hear that your still human, Bella. perhaps he'll decide to visit" she said then, a smug little smirk twisting her face up.
"The date is set" Alice said then, and I was grateful I didnt have to speak. I didnt think I could at this moment. Janes smile dissapered like somebody had wiped it off her face.
"It was nice to meet you Carlisle. I thourght Aro was exaggerating" she said, and then half turned away from us. "well, untill we meet again..." she added qiuckly, and then turned her back on us, and then so did the other's.
We watched them untill none of us could see them anymore, and then we all waited untill Edward couldnt hear them anymore, which only took a minuete or two.
When they were completely gone, and we could all breath again, Jasper was the first to move. He picked the young girl up, flashing them both over to the other side of the clearing from us, and sitting her down there. He towered over her again, stareing at her intently, while she looked up at him, scared stiff.
I wanted to go over there, to tell him to ease up on her abit. After all, she had done very well for the past 5/10 minuetes whilst the Volutri were here. That fact had probably saved us all. But when I went to take a step closer to them, Edward pulled me back qiuckly, holding me tightly to his chest so I couldnt move.
"Whats wrong? I thourght she did good" I said, confused now as i saw Carlisle walking over to her and Jasper aswel, and Alice following qiuckly behind him.
"She did, but that doesnt mean its all ok now Bella. She needs time to get your scent out of her system" Edward told me, tightening his arms around me carefully. I frowned up at him, even more confused now.
"What?"
"She had your scent in her system before she came to the clearing. They all did. Riley had your shirt, he told them all to find you, and thats were they'd find us. The trail you left for them worked perfectly, but they were hunting you to get here" he told me then, with a deep sigh. "Its hard to break out of that hunt once your in it"
I just nodded thourghtfully, and then stared at the girl curiously, and watched her stare back at me.
"You were right though," Edward told me then, making me look back at him "the Volturi would have killed her if she had not been with us. Jane was debateing to kill her anyway, but luckily, she believed us. Just" he said, smileing proudly down at me. I smiled back up at him, and then pulled my arms around his neck, letting his slide down to the small in my back.
He leant down and kissed me, just for a few seconds, but it was perfect.
XOXO Angel B