Eros and Psyche by Camilla10

Chapter note

And now: Angstward for you.

Chapter 7 The good liar

Yale 201..

Edward

Our kind doesn't sleep, but when we are relaxed we can get into a sort of semi-stupor, which is very soothing. Bella is experiencing that, lying sated in my arms. I wish I could do the same. However, I keep completely still as well, because I don't want to give myself away. I want to remember this night, if it is our last one. Oh please God, let it not be so…I could never have enough of her. Her passion matched mine. We devoured each other, and then we slowly cherished our bodies. I remember her on top, coming and screaming my name, I remember me taking her from behind like an animal, an animal she loves because it is still me…Then we slowed down, our lips busy…It has been a long night, a night that passed in a blink.

And now I have an eternity to repent of my lies, or maybe not. Maybe I don't have an eternity anymore.

I lied to her. The first time in so many years and I am leaving her, the very thing I promised I would never do again. I don't deserve to be forgiven, if we survive. I will be leaving her broken again. This time maybe I have a good a reason, but I will be destroying myself by doing so. But what else can I do? If I tell her the truth, she will never let me go alone. If she is not with me, she can survive. I know she is not interested in that, like I would not be, if the roles were reversed, but Alice thinks that she can also save us all. And we have been warned by a vision. No, it was not even a vision; it was something else, something I would have a difficulty believing if I had not seen it, if my family had not seen it. What we saw gave us some hope, but the warning was clear: Bella should not be told. And so my road to hell began.

I started lying after a call from Carlisle. We were already in Yale, setting up the house we would use while following the course on classical literature. It was shortly after Nessie's marriage, celebrated in La Push. Carlisle asked me to come to a family meeting, but I was not to bring Bella. Of course I objected, but what he said next nearly ripped out my un-beating heart. He said that if she came with me, we all would probably cease to exist. If she did not, we had a chance. Alice had had terrible visions, and we needed to discuss what to do. After the call I was shattered, but I decided to obey. How could I not?

I invented the need to put a signature on some real estate deed. Bella knows how many buildings our family owns here and there, so she believed me and was happy not to come, as she wanted to continue working on our house. Esme had given her a lot of suggestions she wanted to follow.

Once we were reunited, Carlisle recalled what had happened to him in Rome more than three centuries ago and then gave the floor to Alice. I shared with her the horrific visions she was describing to the others, and what I saw froze my already cold body to the core.

While not always present when she had her first visions, now the Volturi were in the picture. Or, better, Demetri, accompanied by Felix and Alec, was. He was tracking us and found us every time, regardless to whether or not were alone or all together. There was no physical confrontation, nobody attacked us, because with them there was also a human, a non descript man of about forty, who in every vision came forward with uncertain steps and a pained face, raised his arm and then … everything just went black. In the visions where Bella was present, she used her shield to no avail, because we all vanished into darkness just the same. Every time I watched those particular visions, it nearly caused me physical pain, almost impossible to bear.

Alice could not see where we had gone, she saw only darkness. Then she started having a new vision. We were all together in Volterra, in front of Aro. Bella was not with us.

"It looks like we are giving ourselves up," observed Jasper.

"Over my pile of ashes," Emmet growled.

"It may well be the case, but wait, I have to tell you more," Alice said grimly. In her mind, I saw us descending on a large underground tomb, accompanied by Aro and other Volturi warriors, plus the human of previous visions. We all reclined on the stone beds of the burial chambers, and the human raised his hand. Again, darkness engulfed us.

Then, I saw Bella in Alice's mind. She was walking in a city that looked like Rome, as Carlisle confirmed. It was night and she was going inside a garden, in the rain. She jumped over the iron fence then walked around till she found, immured on the remains of an old brick wall, something that looked like an ancient stone gate. It was encircled by marble squares inscribed with symbols. Bella was looking at the symbols, and then she raised her hand to the upper right side of the gate. She seemed to be reciting something. Then she touched the symbol of womanhood. The vision ended abruptly.

"Alice and I have discussed this so many times," Carlisle said "It looks like Bella is looking for us in Italy. She might be our only hope, if she is not taken. But, if she is with you, Edward, Demetri will find her." He was speaking, and in his mind I saw the same agonized words, "My dear son, I don't know how to tell you this, but you have to leave her, you know that when she is alone she is impossible to track. In fact it is better that nobody of the Volturi comes here in the US, it is better that we go to them and give ourselves up, as Alice has seen. And you know that, if Bella learns where you are going, she will not let you leave without her."

I was totally unconvinced. It did not make any sense. The moment Aro touched me he would know where Bella was, and if – as Carlisle seemed to believe – he was going to help some ancient goddess have her revenge over my father and our family, then Bella would be found, unless she left Yale and disappeared. But who was going to tell her to disappear, remain undetected and look for us, if we were gone? And how could she fight the power of an ancient, powerful and evil deity? I felt as if my entire life was falling apart at the very thought, like the last few years with her had just been some sick teasing game to have to end like this.

I could imagine her desperation, the feel of betrayal, if I left her with no explanations. No, better to go down together, I knew she would choose that.

Alice screamed, looking at the distant wall. This was not a vision that I, and I alone, could see in her mind. Everybody was seeing it. We stood, frozen, looking at the beautiful woman who stood in front of us. A faint but delicious scent permeated the room. Female vampires are gorgeous, but none of them could hold anything to this incredible beauty. And I noticed something even stranger. I saw her, but what Jasper was seeing was slightly different, and such was the case for Carlisle, and for the rest of my family. In each mind I saw some alteration, as if for each one of us she was giving an image of herself that was perfect in the eyes of the beholder. For each one of us, the color of her tresses changed slightly, and so did that of her eyes and the proportions of her perfect body clad in a shimmering tunic. And I knew who she was. If the door to a different universe had been opened and ancient gods were suddenly interacting with us, as Carlisle believed, then she was- she could only be - Venus, goddess of love.

Her body was slightly blurred; I realized she was not really here, as the paintings hung on the wall were faintly visible through her. She laughed and the room was full of light. "Welcome to my presence, undead ones," she said, or she sang, I could not say, nor could I say the language she was using, but her words resonated clearly in my mind and in that of my family's members. Images came unbidden to us. We saw ourselves with our mates in the throes of passion, "Yes, you all worship often at my altars, and that pleases me, and you do not willingly cause pain or death." Then she looked at me, and her power was evident. "The one you love who is not here will be the instrument of my atonement. Once I persecuted another woman, a mortal one, whom my son loved. I was jealous, and so I denied the very essence of my being, that calls me to protect lovers. Through your woman, I will re-establish the balance, and Jupiter will be pleased." She laughed again and continued, "You are about to disappear from her life, and she will have to find you again, as Psyche had to find my son, when he left her. You have to accept this, follow your destiny and believe that the strength of her love will enable her to save you and yours. To do this she must close the gate between your world and mine. She will start her quest alone, it must be so, because she has to be tested. But, I will help her, she will have a guide."

I was still awestruck by the deity before me, but I was also in agony at her words which confirmed my worst fear; I had to leave Bella.

Venus did not speak again, her body became fainter and fainter and finally we could not see her anymore.

We stood silent for a while, absorbing what we had seen. "Son," Carlisle was addressing me, "I know," I interrupted him, "but I doubt if I can stand it!"

"It is not only because Bella can save us," my father added, "but also because Hecate must not prevail.. that door must be closed again!" I crumbled under his wise and selfless words. There was some more discussing, but at the end also my brothers and sisters acquiesced, with various degrees of impotent rage.

And so it was decided. I returned to my wife, deceiving her step by step, and waiting for Alice to tell us that the time had come and we had to travel to Italy. She was monitoring the Volturi, trying to see when they were going to decide to help Hecate take her revenge on Carlisle and our family and come for us.

Yesterday, Alice called me. Today, I am going to leave Bella abruptly and with no explanations, hoping that this course is the one that will be our salvation. But, I find it difficult to believe it, and I think that I don't deserve to be saved. Bella's heart is still now, but it can be broken and I am about to do it. I am resigned to what I am about to do, but I will never forgive myself.

Endnote

Did you like Venus? In this story she is going to be good, as she basically is, despite her persecution of Psyche. A very Mediterranean Mother indeed, jealous of another's beauty and of her son. But now she is going to help. Please review.