4
THE SEARCH
Emma came to take me home from Moreno's but was very surprised to find no sign of me or Mr. Moreno., she also noticed the bed hadn't been disturbed and there was an empty box of trash bags on the floor in the living room; she immediately called Enrique who rushed over and after a quick search confirmed what Emma had told him.
"Emma I can't believe that my good friend would take her very far, I'm sure they'll be back soon, we'll wait here for their return," he said.
Enrique was very nervous however and as time went on and we had not returned he called Thomàs.
"Enrique I'm sure they can't be gone far and they'll be back soon," Thomàs tried to reassure him but still was concerned.
Thomàs was over at the hospital attending a delivery and his friend and partner, Siegfried happened to be there too.
"Enrique just called to say Moreno and Isabella weren't home when Emma went to get her, Moreno only pays her for two hours so she should have been ready to leave, I'm a little concerned because it isn't usual for both of them to behave this way," Thomàs said.
"Maybe the old guy has decided he doesn't want to share her any more, I can understand that, she's a perfect woman," Siegfried was joking to take some of the tension both he and Thomàs felt.
"Would you finish this delivery for me, I really can't concentrate until I know for sure she's safe," Thomàs finally said.
"Of course old man, go tend to your wife, I'll even take call tonight so you can make mad passionate love when you find her."
"Thank you Siegfried, I'll take you up on that and you can have her tomorrow night while I take your call."
Both men shook hands as Thomàs left the hospital but it was not to be as they planned and Thomàs ended up taking a leave of absence from his job.
At first it seemed obvious that Moreno had stolen me away, they found his car at the airport and tickets had been purchased to take two people to some out of the way place and in fact the tickets were used by a man and woman whose descriptions matched; it took several weeks before this proved to be a dead end.
After they realized the first was a dead end, they started combing the woods near where we lived and found remnants of the fire which had burned Moreno, there were tracks of Moreno's car which drove away lighter than it had arrived and they found both mine and Angel's footprints were we had carried the trash bags from the car.
Enrique mourned his friend but was angry at himself for not following his instincts.
"Why didn't I listen to my feelings, I should never have trusted that man and I don't understand why Moreno did; he had enough friends why did he accept Angel as a friend?"
"You can't blame yourself, Enrique, all of us were fooled; the question is where did he come from and why did he run off with Isabella? He had permission to enjoy her and she allowed it eventually so I don't believe it was because he wanted her to himself," Thomàs mused.
Edward had come home because he intended to join in the search.
"There was a plan involved here, think about it, Enrique said he was leaving but he didn't leave he drove his car to the airport with the intention of changing cars after he dumped Moreno's car at the airport. Someone drove him back here and left him, he snuck into the house while Moreno was chatting with Enrique, telling him that Angel had left and Angel hid in the house somewhere; when Enrique left, he attacked Moreno and detained Isabella while he placed the body parts in trash bags to prevent Moreno from reforming, then he had Bella assist him to carry the body parts into Moreno's car and drove out to the woods where he and Bella stacked the parts and he set fire to them before driving off with her."
"Why wouldn't she try to escape or overpower him?" Thomàs wondered.
"He's stronger than her but he probably chained her to him," Edward said.
"That's true; I forgot about the chain, I don't see how he could have killed Moreno with her chained to him though."
"Her fingerprints are all over the inside of the bedroom door, somehow he locked her inside, killed Moreno and put him in the bags, she probably had no idea what was happening so she didn't even think to escape through the window," Edward said, "She probably had no idea what was in the bags."
"So he drove her to the airport but had no intention of flying anywhere, he just wanted to set up a false trail which of course we fell for and he had someone use the tickets that had very similar descriptions to Moreno and Isabella," Enrique surmised.
Thomàs was suspicious, "I firmly believe that young Aro has something to do with this but Papa insists that Aro is on a voyage at the moment and his superiors indicate this to be true, I agree with Edward that this was a plan to abduct Isabella and who else would gain from it but Aro, I think Angel was just a pawn in the scheme."
"Well where do we go from here?" Enrique asked.
"Angel must have driven from the airport and if Aro is involved, it would be to Italy, we need to follow the trail," Edward told them.
They did follow the trail and came to another dead end because of the other false trail Angel had used, it seemed that every lead they came up with was to no avail, and they tried calling my cell phone but realized it was turned off.
"I swear if we find her, I'll install a locator chip in her to prevent this from happening again, Enrique said.
He held his head in his hands and closed his eyes.
"We will find her Enrique, be sure of that, my friend," Thomàs said determinedly, "She would never have left voluntarily; she has too much attachment here."
Time went on and still I was lost to them, Edward was persuaded to continue with his residency and he did so reluctantly but as Carlisle pointed out there were enough people looking for me; he would be informed if there was news.
"Edward you know Bella loves you and would prefer not to be separated from you but if the separation thus far was in vain, she would be upset; she wants you to continue your dream," Carlisle told him.
Thomas was aware when it was time for my delivery and as the time passed he worried.
"I hope she and the baby had an easy time with the delivery and didn't have to go through much pain," he told Enrique.
"She knows how to deliver babies Thomàs, you taught her well," Enrique said.
"The key is to relax and if they don't allow her to relax… and how can she if she misses us?"
"Thomàs, Isabella is a child but she's strong and can handle the birth," Enrique told him.
In his mind he wasn't sure, even though he had tried to reassure Thomàs, he was just as worried.
Everyone finally was forced to continue as before as much as possible but jumped into action with any possible lead no matter how small; Aro senior didn't stop looking and he had many of his vampires looking, especially the two new ones who were eager to prove how efficient they were.
Aro suspected that his son had something to do with my abduction but young Aro emphatically denied he had abducted me; in checking with the navy he was told that Aro was doing a great job and had taken no leaves which were unapproved.
"Papa I'd help you search for her if I was allowed to take time off but I'm scheduled to leave port soon and have a whole ship to be responsible for; it's my baby she carries and I'm just as worried as all of you."
Aro couldn't argue with that but was still suspicious; I had by this time delivered my baby and Aro left the farmhouse for several months.
Aro senior soon had other things to worry about, he knew the renegade board members were trying to cause an uprising which he was constantly trying to quell; mysterious things happened in the castle which concerned him, he spoke to Marcus.
"It's as if someone has perpetrated the castles defenses," he said.
"I'll keep my eyes open along with everyone else Aro but it's definitely not your son this time," Marcus remarked.
"I'm sure it's not him personally but I have a feeling he's involved somehow, he was very angry at me and I wouldn't put it past him to want revenge," Aro said.
You're right, he could be connected with it somehow but we can't prove it at the moment," Marcus agreed.
"I somehow have the feeling all of this fits together, Isabella's disappearance, the renegades and the mystery in the castle; I think young Aro is behind it all somehow and not only that but more murders and abductions have started to occur in the port Aro stopped at, I received an itinerary and I intend to watch very closely, I think this is connected too."
"I realize that young Aro drinks human blood now but there are too many murders for him alone to have committed them," Marcus indicated.
"Exactly, enough to feed an army or produce one," Aro said, "I'll talk to Jasper and see what he thinks, he's familiar with newborns."
Aro's suspicions with the ship proved well founded and he was sure young Aro was making an army but where was the place they were holed up, he was convinced it was in Italy somewhere, but where?
The why was easier to solve, young Aro wanted revenge on his father and would go to all lengths to achieve this, the castle was put on alert and every vampire was withdrawn from finding me to defend the castle including the two new ones.
"I think that Isabella is in their stronghold and for some reason she's needed by them, I'm sure if we find the stronghold, we'll find Isabella; I hope it's sooner than later," Aro said.
"I think one purpose is to conceive more children with her, I wouldn't be surprised if she's already pregnant with a second child," Marcus said.
"I think you may be right but he would have to impregnate her before this voyage, I'm sure she had the other child by now but he needs her for another reason Marcus, it could be her nectar."
"Why would that be important?" Marcus wondered.
If many human blood drinkers are congregated in one place, there would be many human deaths in one area, however, you Marcus of all people should realize the importance of Isabella's nectar to you," Aro said.
"They'd have her provide nectar for a whole army?"
"It's not impossible, the more nectar that is drawn out of her breasts, the more would be produced," Aro said.
"Her breasts would be very large to hold so much nectar," Marcus frowned.
"Aro wouldn't care, he dominates her and she's so afraid of him, she'll agree to anything he demands, I'm sure he has her using a breast pump constantly to store extra nectar but he probably has his whole army suckling her to produce more, the baby will only produce enough for itself but with plenty of partakers, she'll produce enough," Aro senior said.
"If they suckle her they probably use her too," Marcus said glumly.
"I'm sure you're right, her body can handle it but I'm not sure about her mind, she still had some difficulty going to other men, this could push her over the edge."
"My poor dear, will we ever see her again?" Marcus was distraught.
"I'd like to think so but we need to concentrate on protecting the castle from this army, we will need to enlist help from every source possible so we must put out feelers and we should watch carefully the professor and his brood."
Aro relayed his suspicions to Thomàs and told him he needed help to defend the castle, Thomàs recruited several friends and this included the Cullen's, Enrique and his two partners along with those friends of the Cullen's and Enrique's friends in Alaska. Aro spoke to Jasper and learned his strategies with newborns while Edward called Jacob and told him what had happened to Bella.
"We certainly will come to help, it will probably mean changing into werewolves again but we can fight in order to protect Bella," Jacob said.
"I'll order tickets for you to come to Spain and then we'll travel together to Italy," Edward said.
"Edward I know you don't like to miss a fight but someone should stay out of the fray in order to rescue Bella when the time comes, Alice has been seeing some visions which show Bella is chained, she could never escape by herself so you need to be available to do that; you know from experience, she won't want you to fight and you know there are enough of us without you," Carlisle told him.
"I know your right but you'll call me if you need me, I'll come immediately," Edward said.
"Yes of course but we won't need you, go back to doctoring, we'll keep you updated.
I'll go back to doctoring for now but as soon as I finish my internship which is in a few weeks, I'll take another leave of absence and stay with the women and children in Spain, we'll keep Enrique's jet and Bella's ship available as a means of getting everyone to safety," Edward said.
"When do you suppose they'll act," Enrique wondered.
"If Isabella is pregnant again, my guess is that Aro will wait until this child is born and then impregnate her again; if he survives the fighting, he'll continue to impregnate her until he has an army, this was the date of her last delivery," he pointed to the calendar, "Assuming she's pregnant again, this will be the date approximately she'll deliver and he'll impregnate her again immediately, she'll conceive immediately, he'll have no doubt," Thomàs figured.
"So they'll act immediately she's pregnant again," Enrique surmised.
"Yes, that would be my guess," Thomàs concluded.
Alice's visions of me were not so horrific at this time, I was with Angel and he was kind to me while Aro was gone but six months later was a different story when Aro returned and the renegade board members arrived at the farmhouse; she was horrified at what she saw and cried out for me.
"I can't believe she's being treated this way," she told Carlisle, "She's no better than an animal in their eyes, how could Aro have produced such a cruel son?"
"Young Aro and Carlotta are as different as night and day, we may never know what drives him to be the way he is and Carlotta is so sweet and loving," Carlisle told her, "Don't tell Edward what she's going through or he'll insist on coming for the fight."
"So long as he stays in Dartmouth he won't be able to read my mind, my visions have become nightmares, I'm not sure how long I can continue to watch, she said.
"Try for Bella's sake; I'm sure she would do the same for you."
Alice nodded.
There was a report came back to Aro by the vampire watching the board members, a tail had been placed on them but they eluded the followers, a general direction of where they went was determined but it was impossible to maintain a tail on winding single lane roads without detection; the area was scoured but still the farmhouse eluded them.
Aro was angry, "Why can't we find the farmhouse, it's like finding a needle in a haystack, if we could find it, we could attack them there instead of waiting here."
"We could use a helicopter," the other vampire said.
"If we did that it could only be one sweep, we don't want them to suspect we're looking so close," Aro said, "What we need is a virtual map of the area, maybe we could pinpoint the farmhouse closer.
"I'll get on it immediately."
The farmhouse remained elusive and there was no recourse but to wait for the attack.
The attack came eventually but it started from within the castle, the two new vampires started a ruckus which was meant to detract from the main attack but Aro senior was well prepared, the fight lasted for several days and nights, young Aro kept withdrawing the troops but would come back wave after wave, vampires on both sides ceased to exist but the soldiers young Aro brought were the ones with the least experience and the fight was eventually won by the castle vampires and the werewolves.
The werewolves had been a complete surprise because young Aro had no idea of their existence, Angel realized they were losing the war and worried about me, when he spoke to young Aro about her he was angry.
"May she rot, if I don't make it back I hope she does; this will be the worst thing I can do to my father, the nurse will take care of my children."
Angel resolved to help me; he managed to get a message to Thomàs without young Aro noticing.
The message read: I intend to leave the fight temporarily to rescue Isabella, have someone meet me at ____ road at____ place and I'll leave her there. He gave an approximate time and then he left to get me.
Thomàs called Edward and instructed him to go and get me, Edward was in Spain at the time taking care of the children while everyone else went to the fight, he left instructions with Renee and Emma and immediately started driving after purchasing the necessary things he needed for the babies and me; he'd received a phone message from me and knew I had two babies.
By the time Angel returned from rescuing me, the war was over and young Aro had lost his cause, he was furious at Angel for leaving to rescue me and a fight ensued between the two of them, both men fought to the death and in the end both ceased to exist; when I learned of their death I had no remorse for my husband but Angel represented the only kindness I received during that horrendous year I spent at the farmhouse and I knew I'd never forget him.
There were other casualties which caused me much remorse but these were even more heart rending to me and the hate I had in my heart for young Aro was permanent and nothing anyone could say would ever allow me to forgive what he'd done to me and what he'd taken away from me.
The renegade board members who had survived the war were given a trial but their guilt was obvious and they were not allowed to continue to exist, those in the castle who had survived pulled together and cleaned up the mess, there were many fires set to burn remains of those who died and both sides had taken heavy losses.
Carlisle had survived and tended to those injured but none of Aro's army were allowed to survive, they had mistreated me severely as Alice could testify; it didn't take long for them to admit the mistreatment and they paid for it, much to my satisfaction when I learned about it later.
The war had somehow been shielded from the humans who lived in Volterra but the fires were obvious, no explanation was ever given as to why the fires had occurred but rumors spread fast and even legends were written about the fires in Volterra.
The farmhouse was finally sighted and the woman who was chained there by Angel was soon disposed of after admitting her part in my mistreatment, after disposing of the woman, the farmhouse was burned to the ground to no longer allow any other atrocities to occur on those grounds. The Italian Navy were informed of the death of young Aro and they gave him a hero's departing; they thought it strange that none of his family were in attendance.
This was not the end of my story however; I still had to recover and morn those taken from me, all of my family that was left had to continue and of course we did.
There was going to be many changes from now on at the vampire capitol and they were going to be good as we would soon find out.