More Uninvited Guests
The following morning, Jacob Black and Leah and Seth Clearwater had breakfast at our house. Jacob didn't have to say it at all; I knew at once that he was checking up on Renesmée, and Leah and Seth were just there to make sure he won't make trouble. Like many of us, they were also afraid of Žarko, who certainly looked harmless as he enjoyed the pancakes I had prepared for him, Renesmée, and Jacob and his comrades.
"Full moon is next month," Žarko told Jacob, when he grew irritated with his staring.
Jacob turned to Leah, who gave him a reproachful look. After that, Jacob eyeballed me, as if demanding whose big idea was it to accommodate a monster into my house.
"Carlisle," said Edward softly, grasping my arm. "I've been keeping watch on Bree's thoughts. At the moment, she's clueless as to what to do. She still seems determined to punish us, but she's not going to use the werewolf anymore. She'd even let us let him go, but I don't quite approve of setting him loose on humans, either."
"I agree," I told him.
"We could just bring him back where he came from," said Rosalie casually, not far from us.
"Where did you come from?" Jacob asked Žarko.
"Serbia," replied Žarko, "but I stray so much I lost."
"Where is Serbia?" asked Seth innocently.
"He came all the way from Eastern Europe?" asked Leah, at the same time answering Seth.
"That explains the funny accent," commented Jacob.
Edward suddenly gasped, his amber eyes widening as though he had heard shocking news. "How did they know? They're—They're coming!"
"Who is coming?" asked Jacob and Leah.
"Daddy, I don't like that look," whimpered Renesmée, who hugged her father around the waist.
"The Volturi are coming for Bree and the werewolf," said Edward.
"Carlisle! Carlisle!" shrieked Alice.
"We know, Alice. …" I said wearily.
I heard soft sobs not far from us. At the bottom of the stairs near the kitchen, Bree was crying with guilt and fear. "Look what you've done!" barked Edward. This time, I didn't reprove him.
Moments later, someone knocked on our door. There stood Demetri, one of the most prized members of the Volturi Guard, and also the Volturi's official tracker. "Your brat was almost good at catching Children of the Moon; the moon unfortunately had to wane before she was able to bring the creature to your little coven," he said smoothly. "I saw your boys taking the creature down."
I was stung when he called Bree a brat, even if it was true. "What do you intend to do?" I asked.
"How about you meet us at the clearing where you made war with Victoria's newborns?" Demetri grinned malevolently at me. I tried to hide my anxiety. Having lived with this powerful clan of vampires for a few decades before meeting Edward, I knew by now that along with their love for the arts and sciences, the Volturi also had a knack for cruel theatrics like this. I didn't need to be told that they were intending to slay Bree once and for all, right where she was supposed to have died.
Demetri's ruby-red eyes glanced at my family behind me, as well as Jacob, who carried Renesmée in his arms protectively. "You are welcome to bring all of them and your shape-shifter friends." Demetri gave a courtly bow and then left.
The Volturi tracker's invitation was like a death sentence in itself for Bree, who kept sobbing hysterically. Nobody bothered to comfort her except Nessie, who gave Bree a hug. "You're still my sister—my best friend."
As everyone else prepared to meet the Volturi, I embraced Bree. "Nothing has changed about how I feel for you," I said. "You're going to get out of this alive."
Nearby, Žarko was eyeing the open door angrily. "Those demons killed my family," he said softly in German. "But only I was the monster. I was too lucky to have escaped."
"Žarko, forgive me!" said Bree suddenly. "I have sacrificed you. How cruel of me!"
When Žarko looked bewildered, apparently not catching the words she had said, Bree got up and held his hands, so fast that Žarko wasn't able to pull away soon enough. When he still didn't understand, Bree put her hand over her heart. "I'm sorry … so sorry," she reiterated.
Žarko seemed to understand; his face softened, and he nodded.
I guessed that Bree and Žarko had had a little conversation during the night. The hostility between vampire and werewolf seemed absent between them. Perhaps it was being formerly human that they'd agreed on.
Jacob, Leah and Seth stayed in the house with Renesmée while my family and our "guest" went to the clearing that had been our battlefield. Nearly all of us wanted to escape, but there was no way out of it except somehow evade the Volturi; it had been pure luck that had spared Bree's and Renesmée's lives each time he had encountered the Volturi.
Black-cloaked figures dotted the green clearing that Demetri had indicated.
"Ah, my friends," greeted Aro, once we were at the rendezvous. "Why, I must say I am impressed with you Carlisle. Your compassionate nature and abstinence from human blood is strange enough for any of us! Now, you keep a Creature of the Moon in your household!"
"The moon had waned by the time my sons had captured him," I said stiffly as Aro took my hand as if to greet me. But as anyone in my family would know, he was really telepathic like Edward, except that while Edward could read many current thoughts at the same time up to a certain distance, Aro required tactile contact, from which he could see every thought one had ever had.
My heart sank when Aro's eyes shifted toward Bree. "Haven't you ever explained the laws of our kind to your daughter?" demanded Aro.
"Had her attempt become successful, she herself would have been killed by the werewolf anyway; it could have been a suicide mission aimed to avenge her own parents' demise," I explained.
"Foolish girl," said Caius, the young and blond one of Aro's companions.
"She had been foolish even on our first encounter," remarked Jane, who was flanked by her twin brother Alec, and Demetri. "You never learn to keep your head down, do you? You should have kept watch; an axe might as well have swung across it."
Bree cringed at the memory of Jane torturing her with illusions of pain.
"Aro," I said, "she is as much of a daughter to me as the others. It has only been a year since we'd taken her in. She has much to learn. … And anyway, I am the leader of this coven."
Aro tried to smile at me kindly, but he seemed only too eager to execute my daughter. "It was bad enough that she participated in the army of newborns. We would have executed her for that offense alone if it weren't for our respect for you. Sadly, another offense is one too many. Sending a werewolf to kill those of her own kind is even worse than the one previous."
I looked at my family behind me. Only Esme was weeping. Bree was coming forward. "Papi, he is right," said Bree softly.
I couldn't dare say no in front of the Volturi, whose power was a hundredfold more than mine. I wanted to offer my life in exchange for hers, but the Volturi was also very specific: without due cause, there was nothing they would do to harm me.
I was shaking, struggling to stop myself from interrupting Aro and rouse his ire. My brave Bree faced Aro, who gently touched her cheeks and smiled at her. "Why avenge your family if you can be with them again, right?" he said to her. Now, he grasped her head, ready to twist it.
"Wait!" I said. "I wasn't finished. I am the leader of this coven, the head of this family. This was an internal matter, and you have nothing to do this! Enough lives were lost."
"The werewolf can kill you and your family," argued Caius.
"You are only afraid of them because one almost killed you; otherwise, you wouldn't have cared how many humans they've killed."
"Then, what do you intend to do with him?" asked Aro.
"Send him to a place where humans couldn't be found within every ten thousand miles," I said.
"What do you think, Marcus?—Aro?" asked Caius, without looking away from me.
"Clearly, your ways are not our ways," said Marcus quietly.
"Your gestures of compassion would forever be a mystery for us, Carlisle," added Caius. "But you have our respect. You make the decisions for your coven."
"You take over from here," said Aro.
"Let's go home," said Marcus.
Jane, Alec and Demetri looked deeply dissatisfied, but orders were orders. They had no business here anymore.
"If you're going to exile Žarko, let me come with him," said Bree, her head hung low.
"Bree …" I began to argue, but she stopped me:
"I don't belong here anymore. I'll be forever grateful for you saving me life twice. But I've caused enough grief. I love you, Papi. Goodbye."