Suddenly, the couple stopped running and the man let me down, we had reached Seattle and there were humans everywhere. I was struck with horror; I had yet to gain self-control around humans, had yet to even see one since my transformation.
"Come on," urged the man as we hurried down the streets. I didn't breathe, hoping it would help me to not kill the innocent people bustling around. I could still smell them a little, and the stench was terrible. I inhaled. The town smelled worse than it ever had to me, it reeked of rust instead of pollution. I was repulsed by people instead of being drawn to them and their blood. Had I not been so worried about the Volturi, I would have celebrated right there in the street.
My breath caught and I stopped momentarily. Demetri, the tracker, was probably with the guard. I focused on him and I willed myself and the two with me undetectable. He would not be able to find us. I took a deep breath to calm myself. Breathing may be unnecessary, but it sure is nice.
The woman and the man looked at one another and he turned to me, "What is the matter? Is there trouble?"
I shook my head, "I needed to make sure that the guard would be unable to find us. They have a tracker with them. Now, we can hide in the city and they won't be able to tell if we've left or stayed. My ability is to block other vampires' abilities." Then I became nervous. Should I have told these strangers what I was capable of? It seemed fair, they had saved me.
He motioned for us to follow as he led the way into a shady hotel, one of those hotels where people usually spend just a couple of hours and rarely stay the night. He pulled out a wallet. Unlike the Cullens, he had very little money with him and I suspected that was all the money they had in the world. "We need to talk, they won't find us here."
Meanwhile, in Volterra…. (Edward's perspective)
I fidgeted, unsure of what was about to happen. The room seemed dark and small. I could feel claustrophobia coming on. It wasn't a problem I've had in the past, but it was mostly likely caused by my apprehension. I wondered how Jasper had felt while Alice was in Volterra with Bella and me. Not knowing if Alice would live or die must have been terrible for him, so I turned to apologize.
Edward, you look like you're going to fall apart, are you alright?
I would have blushed, had I been able to. I hadn't realized that I had been tuning out the thoughts of my family; I had been so wrapped up in my own anxieties. Everyone was worried for Bella and me. Well, if I was being honest I'd say that everyone except Emmett was worried about us. He would be, if he could grasp the gravity of the situation. I listened to his thoughts.
Man these guys are really getting on my nerves. I hope there's a fight, we can take them. Pretentious assholes…
He looked at me and smiled sheepishly. I must have been staring at him while I read his thoughts. That was unusual for me, I am really off today. Perhaps when we get home I shall take a long, soothing bath with Bella. There's nothing that feels better than being very clean.
I listened to Carlisle's thoughts, the thoughts that mattered second most to me in the world, I wonder why they have us out here. They must be playing mind games with us. This room is very medieval, but not in the way teenage girls enjoy. It reminds me of that one time…
I looked over to Jasper, if Carlisle thought that the Volturi were playing mind games with us, what did he think? This is a really effective game they're playing. Trying to crush the will of an opponent, very nice. I love psychological warfare… except when it's that gender thing, although I suppose that's not technically considered warfare. It's so embarrassing what Alice can get me to do.
I looked askance at Alice as situations started to play out in his head. Some of them I had been there for, others I had definitely not. (Although I was glad for the momentary distraction and chance to calm my frayed nerves.) Alice's eyes darted around as she thought of what could happen to us. I could hear in her mind that she was afraid to see what was about to happen, afraid to set us off on the wrong track or cause a problem that we otherwise would not have. At the same time, she wanted to see so that we could adequately prepare. She argued what course she should take with herself.
I leaned forward. Their mental voices were still buzzing in the back of my head, but I pushed them away so that I could consider the situation for myself. Psychological warfare? What war? I wondered. I remembered that no one in Volterra would mourn should the Cullen clan be diminished.
"Jasper," I whispered, "What are they trying to do?"
The others looked interested, something he also noted, so he opened his mouth to speak aloud at the moment one of the Volturi's members entered. It was just their new human secretary. I wondered what had happened to the last one. I shuddered. Probably nothing I want to think about.
I listened for Jasper's thoughts, which wasn't hard because he was mentally yelling at me to listen. Surprisingly, this vaguely annoyed me because it reminded me of all Jacob Black's thoughts. This is not the time to worry about Jacob Black! I mentally reprimanded myself.
Edward, he thought with his eyes trained to look ahead and acting like nothing unusual was happening, I'm concerned about you. I think this is a trap for you and maybe for Alice. I don't know what they want, but make sure you make them give us time to discuss it as a family. Don't rush into anything.
At the same time that I wanted to thank him for the warning, I wanted to tell him that I already knew that. Obviously one doesn't act rashly with the Volturi. Him telling me was unnecessary. Unless, I thought, working hard to make my mind consider the painful thought, Unless something is about to happen to Bella, unless they are using her as their bargaining chip. They would know that that would affect both Alice and me. That was another possibility to simply diminishing our numbers, they could be trying to use Bella to get Bella, Alice, and me to join. If they took Alice they would have to accept Jasper, something they would probably be delighted about. I looked over at Jasper in panic. The set of his jaw communicated to me that he was feeling the same, just one wrong move from acting out his dread himself. That was what he was trying to have me figure out on my own. I thought I was going to pass out, I thought I was going to be sick to my stomach, I thought I was going to die again – a more painful and lasting death than my death in 1918. Jasper sent calming waves at me.
"Alice," I whispered, "I want you to try and see what they're going to do in there. If they're going to use Bella as bait for us, I also want you to look into her future."
Alice whispered back, we were speaking too softly for a human to hear, "I've been looking into Bella's future continuously, didn't you know?" She looked confused. I did not know. I was so worried that I had carelessly but impulsively tuned out all of their thoughts, only able to handle my own. "It keeps changing," she said, "At first I saw her being apprehended by Volturi guard to be used against us," I must have had a terrible look on my face because she paused and then continued on faster, "then I saw her with this couple and they all got caught by the guard, but Bella got killed this time. They'd fought back against the guard and killed two members. The man surrendered with his wife after Bella died, the Volturi wanted them to join too, replace the guard members they had just lost. Now I'm seeing them evading the Volturi guard and attempting to find a way to us. I don't know what's going to happen, Edward. I'm sorry."
