Cause and Effect
"It's a false trail, just like the one we tried with James" Jasper said exchanging a look with Carlisle. "He's moved her by now," he added knowingly. "Alec mentioned that Demetri was on his way. How many others will they send for?" he asked quietly. Since Carlisle had spent the most time in the Volturi's company, he'd have a better idea than anyone what they would do.
"Aro would send Jane and Felix with him," Carlisle said after a moment's thought. "Alec is already here, he'd want to use this opportunity as an excuse to kill Stefan at the very least. We need to hurry. If we don't find her first, the Volturi might use this as an excuse to attack us again as well. Accusing us of collaborating with Stefan or some other flimsy excuse, might be all they need," he said exchanging a worried look with Esme.
"We'll find her," Esme assured him with a kind smile. "Let us go and retrace our steps," she suggested giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "We should consider notifying the pack," she said thinking out loud. "Since this is likely to affect us all," she added with a frown. Carlisle nodded with a thoughtful look on his face.
"Many hands make light work," he agreed nodding at Jasper and Emmett.
"Rise and shine, Princess;" a snide voice hissed by her ear, startling Anna awake. Randall was leaning over her with a smug expression on his face. "I'm sorry, I scared you," he said, his voice oozing with insincerity.
"What's going on?" Anna said swallowing nervously as Randall made no attempt to hide his thirst from her. She wondered where Stefan was; surely he would be angry if his progeny killed their hostage.
"I'm supposed to wake you every hour," Randall said scornfully. "Apparently, I might have damaged the Volturi's pet human," he said with a laugh. "Stefan's told me not to feed from you," he said eyeing her with contempt. "I'm not going to coddle you though," he said pulling her from the cot by her arm and dragging her out of the room. "Go see to your needs," he said flinging her into the bathroom so hard that she smacked her head roughly against the bathtub. "You have three minutes," he said slamming the door behind him. Anna felt the back of her head, as she once again felt waves of dizziness wash over her. If he wasn't more careful, he'd end up killing her.
Once she had finished going to the bathroom, she washed her hands and looked at her battered reflection in the mirror above the sink. She checked her pupils, trying to determine if she had a concussion or not. She closed her eyes and gave a deep sigh, she honestly couldn't tell. Maybe she was just tired, she reasoned grabbing onto the sink; attempting to steady herself. "What is wrong?" Stefan said suddenly appearing behind her with bright crimson eyes, he'd just been feeding; she was sure of it.
"I hit my head again,' she said weakly. Stefan frowned and gently examined the back of her head, looking for injuries. "Can I make a request?" she asked fighting nausea. Stefan arched an eyebrow in amusement but nodded as he continued his examination. "The next time Randall escorts me to the bathroom, can he let me walk instead of flinging me haphazardly in here?" she said before her knees gave way, if Stefan hadn't been there to catch her; she would have fallen to the floor.
"No need," he said grimly. "Randall will not be here. I have given him another task," Stefan explained pressing his cool hands to her forehead with a frown. "Are you going to be sick?" he asked as Anna began to crawl towards the toilet. Before she could answer him, she retched into the toilet; unable to hold back any longer. "Apparently that is a yes," Stefan asked in disgust, holding back her hair. He rubbed her back as she slid away from the toilet feeling both sick and embarrassed. Well, he kidnapped her; Anna reasoned. It was his fault she was sick to begin with. "Can you stand?" he asked flushing the toilet and moving to help her up. After a couple of moments, Anna nodded weakly and took his hand grateful for the help.
"Can I please brush my teeth?" she asked quietly as he slid his arm around her to steady her. Stefan said nothing but handed her toothbrush to her quickly, she probably smelled bad to him. "Thank you," she said quietly taking a deep breath before scrubbing her mouth clean or as clean as she could.
" My pleasure," Stefan said sounding relieved. Without another word, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her back to her room. "I'll bring some more food for you," he offered as he laid her gently onto her cot. He rested his hand on her forehead and frowned deeply before giving a sigh of exasperation. "I'll be back in a few minutes," he said seeming resigned.
"Thank you," Anna said closing her eyes, the need for sleep overpowering all other needs. She couldn't be sure but she thought she felt an icy touch stroke her cheek once before she was lost to the world.
"I could use some help here," Alec said carrying an unconscious woman into the house. Marcus bolted up from his seat as Edward appeared instantly at Alec's side. "Stefan's made another vampire," Alec informed them with a scowl. "Where can I put her?" he asked.
"On the couch for now, the others are on their way back," Edward said with a faraway look on his face. His families' thoughts becoming louder and more clear to him the closer they got. Alec gently laid the woman on the couch, his thoughts in such turmoil that Edward gave him a look of exasperation. He needed to be able to focus, loud thoughts wouldn't help anyone. As if he understood this, Alec gave an irritated sigh but gradually composed himself."They couldn't find Anna, Stefan had left a false trail," Edward explained looking at Marcus sympathetically.
"Demetri will be here soon," Marcus said in a strangled voice. "He will be able to find her, or find the Romanian if nothing else," he said almost as if he were talking to himself. "What happened to Nikki?" he demanded looking at Alec, instantly all business.
"Stefan's newborn attacked her," Alec said darkly before grinning at Marcus like a proud parent. "She got a few blows of her own in," he said chuckling as he brushed the hair out of her face. "She stuck the cigarette lighter from her car in his eye. The newborn was surprised to find that venom is flammable," he added fondly. "He bit her," Alec whispered all amusement draining from his voice being replaced with something much darker and far more dangerous. "When we find them, the newborn is mine;" he declared.
"Agreed," Marcus said nodding briskly. "You've cut off her senses," he noted with approval. Alec nodded grimly and squeezed her hand as she lay, completely still on the couch. Bella and Edward exchanged disbelieving looks but chose to remain silent. They had never thought in a million years that Alec would be capable of caring about anything or anyone other than the Volturi or his sister; in some ways they were glad to be proven wrong.
"What's going on here?" Carlisle said walking into the living room with the other family members in tow. "How long ago was she bitten?" Carlisle asked frowning after he examined Nikki's unconscious form.
"A little over two hours ago," Alec whispered stroking the side of her face and ignoring everyone else in the room. "She has multiple bite wounds," he remarked coldly. "We should move her to a bed," he suggested gently scooping her up into his arms and following after Carlisle.
"We've found that injecting venom directly into the heart seems to speed the change along," Edward remarked grabbing Bella's hand and giving it a squeeze. "I had to perform CPR on Bella for a while before the change was able to begin. Even if she's been badly hurt, we should be able to save her," Edward said softly reading Marcus' mind, even though his thoughts seemed pretty obvious to everyone in the room. Marcus nodded briskly, not really seeming reassured but he appreciated the gesture.
"Guys," Alice said, her golden eyes widening. "That girl's about to start screaming, Alec's not going to be able to cut off her senses for the duration of the change," she said wincing.
"I need to talk to Carlisle," Bella said quietly. She needed to tell him about how her change was not as painless as she had let everyone think. Bella knew that it would cause Edward pain to realize that she had indeed suffered but Carlisle needed to know what to expect. She gave Edward a quick kiss and gave Marcus a comforting pat on the arm as she passed.
"Jane, Felix and Demetri are almost to the house," Edward said grimly. "They'll be here in a few moments. They've brought Vladimir with them," he said in surprise.
"As a bargaining chip," Alice said looking thoughtful. "It will work. Stefan will release Anna in exchange for Vladimir without a second's hesitation," she predicted frowning. "I can't see any more than that," she said leaning wearily against Jasper.
"I will see that they behave themselves," Marcus said with obvious relief. "They know the consequences if they disobey me," he promised. Everyone was quiet as the sounds of Nikki's screams filled the house. They all remembered far too well what it felt like to burn.
