Read and Review (you'll get a snippet of chap 10)
Previously on Memories of Me:
"This is the worst thing we're going to have to go through, Jasper."
In a neutral voice, he replied to his best friend. "There's no doubt in my mind about that."
Isabella looked at him. "I just got him back." She whispered.
Her hurt pierced his heart causing him to pull her into a tight hug.
~M~
"It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart."
― Anne Frank, the Diary of a Young Girl
The thirst was all consuming. No matter how many animals fell to the ground completely drained, it just was not enough.
Deer after deer, bear after bear, the feeling did not lessen.
It was maddening, their control had disappeared and in its wake, it had left a beast that could not be tamed.
All of Carlisle's life had been orchestrated by being careful and limiting himself to the thirst that would often burn his throat but in the forest that day, he had another mind set.
Kill. Drain. And want more.
The buck that was currently lifeless between his teeth gave him no more satisfaction than all the other victims he had caught that day.
Dropping the dead figure, he lifted his head to catch another scent. The air was plagued with the putrid smell of flesh, leaving only a little room for a fresh aroma.
Carlisle sensed movement further into the forest and wandered in. He came to find Emmett currently stalking a bear.
The animal was large but its strength was naught compared to that of a vampire's.
Carlisle's gold eyes followed Emmett's movements, waiting for the perfect moment to attack, whether it be the bear or Emmett, he wasn't quite sure. He prepared his course of action; waiting for him to be distracted before going for the kill himself.
And so, when Emmett jumped forward, so did he.
The bear stood on its hind legs, seeing the threat move closer. Emmett's lips pulled back, ready for his hunt.
Without warning, Carlisle smashed his body against his son's, feeling smug that he had managed to push him out of the way.
Turning around, he moved to take the bear down, the thirst burning inside of him.
From the corner of his eye he saw that Emmett was up once again.
It was clear that out of the two of them, Emmett was stronger and on any other day he could have easily fought Carlisle but today was different.
No, the blood lust that clouded Emmett's eyes, clouded Carlisle's tenfold.
He was thirsty and he wasn't going to sit back and let another have his kill.
After centuries of having perfected patience and timing, he set himself free.
Emmett ran at him at full speed, drove with the need to claim his hunt. Carlisle turned around just in time to face him.
As their bodies were about to crash together once again, Carlisle made his hand grip Emmett's throat. Using his strength and his will to succeed in this fight, he pushed his son to the ground, holding him down with a powerful hand.
Emmett thrashed against him, hands desperately pulling at the force that was preparing to end him.
With an emotionless face, Carlisle began to add pressure.
The sound of marble skin cracking echoed through the trees as Emmett continued to struggle.
On the other side of the forest, Chelsea walked away victorious, leaving behind her the Cullen family and taking away the ideas that she put in to their heads.
Within the second, Carlisle snapped out of the haze he was in.
On the ground beneath him, Emmett stopped struggling, instead his widening eyes met Carlisle's.
Sensing the position that they had found themselves in; Carlisle on top of Emmett, trying to kill him, their eyes broke contact as they jumped up from the floor. A stranger looking on in, would have found the whole situation amusing. Carlisle and Emmett, however, did not.
The air was thick and Carlisle hurried to apologize despite the tension that was filling the space around them.
"Emmett, I-"
He was cut off by chuckling. Emmett was rubbing his neck slowly and shrugged his words away.
"I know." He let his shoulders drop. "Let's just find the others and find what out what the heck is going on."
Carlisle seemed to agree with him, letting Emmett lead the way back to the others.
As they got closer to edges of the woods, the aftermath had become obnoxiously clearer. Death animals lay on the ground carelessly, tree branches and other shrubbery was scattered on the ground, forming a pattern of destruction.
Stepping closer, Emmett could see Rosalie helping Esme up of the ground.
Pieces of clothing were ripped and torn on both women but no one commented on the ruins.
Esme was the first to speak up, lightly brushing away the bark and leaves that hunt to her clothes.
"We need to go back to the house."
Rosalie nodded, her lips still tight; unable to believe that she had just attacked Esme.
Moving closer to Emmett, she took his hand in hers. "The thirst was unimaginable."
Her voice was soft, disbelieving. Unlike the others, she wasn't able to ignore what had just happened for the time being.
Like Carlisle, she lived with the need to be in control of her thirst.
The soft nature of Rosalie's voice wasn't lost on anyone. Emmett, out of everyone, knew the toll it had taken on his mate.
Rosalie liked order; she liked being in control of her actions and what had just happened was the furthest thing from being in control.
Deciding the moment needed to pass quickly, Carlisle spoke up.
"If Chelsea's the reason for what just happened, we have to tell Isabella and Jasper." Carlisle looked at the hoard of animals on the ground. "Now."
No one needed any more encouragement, rather they all ran towards the Victorian mansion, the dead bodies forgotten.
~M~
The house was quiet when they came to a stop after their short run. Pausing in the family room, they came to witness the Denali clan standing around, waiting for them. Their faces resembled statues, unmoving even when Carlisle began to question them.
"Did you feel it too?" He referred to the intense thirst, wondering if they too had experienced it as well.
Taking in their frayed appearance, the atmosphere changed.
Carlisle's eyes met with Eleazar's, in the hope that he would have one idea to the chaos that had just occurred outside in the forest.
Unfortunately, the look he received was equally as confused as the rest of his family's. Heads shook slowly, confirming what he already knew; it only happened to them.
The need for more information clawed at Carlisle's sides until he asked another question.
"How long have you been waiting for us?" He tucked his shirt back into his belt as he spoke.
Carmen looked over to her old friend. "We came here little over 10 minutes ago, we thought you were still on a hunt." Her eyes swept across the room. "What in the world happened to you?"
Rosalie ignored her question, rather asking what they were all thinking. "Where's everyone else?"
Tanya shrugged helplessly before gesturing towards the green pasture behind the house and into the forest.
Irina nodded, agreeing with her sister. "They weren't here when we got in but if I had to guess, I'd say they would check out the field."
The logic that followed her suggestion, was painstakingly accurate. The four of the Cullens in the room immediately thought back to their sudden need to devour any animal in sight.
A whisper escaped Esme. "It was a distraction."
Emmett didn't need anyone else to say another word, opening the back door, he ran towards the baseball field, knowing fully that the rest of his family was following his lead.
The run to the field had never been longer to Emmett, but he pushed himself to go faster. He was hoping that the four of his siblings would be standing around, looking at where they would meet the Volturi that night, but Emmett knew within himself that what he would find would be worse than that little fairy tale. Never the less, he held his hope tight to his chest, running faster.
When the shrubbery that surrounded the field came into view, Emmett didn't stop to hesitate.
Bursting through the forest line, Isabella and Jasper came into focus.
In Jasper's tight embrace, Isabella rested her head against his chest, unmoving and so unlike the girl he had just been talking to that morning.
Her soft whispers drifted towards them but nobody moved.
The Volturi's scent was fresh in the air and the emotions radiating off Jasper caused them to freeze where they were.
Feeling his gift pick up on the new feelings of distress and worry, Jasper knew that his time alone with Isabella would soon be up.
Jasper pulled her closer, one hand in her dark hair, hugging her fiercely, knowing that soon she would let go of all the vulnerable emotions that were pulsing through her and soon enough be emotionless again.
The rare moments where he could feel her, Jasper never took for granted. Even when he was in the south, Isabella had her shield wrapped carefully around her. Her feelings were pushed aside, leaving the rest of the world to see the calculated monster she put on show.
Isabella didn't need her shield to alert her that the Cullen family had arrived because immediately Jasper held on a little tighter.
She was aware that he knew what would happen as soon as she stepped away from him, but she couldn't bring herself to care.
Pulling away from his ironclad grip slightly, she pressed her lips to his cheek.
Jasper opened his eyes and met hers, acknowledging what the simple kiss meant.
As he continued to search for her in her own dull, golden eyes, he saw the girl who had just kissed him slip way, knowing he would only see her again once Edward was safely by her side once more.
He knew this look. He had seen it after every encounter with Alistair, every time she tried to brush off his comments, every time he knocked her down in a fight, every time her bruises would show in her red eyes but this time was different.
No, she wasn't hiding from a man that controlled her life, she was hiding herself away from the hurt she was guaranteed to experience.
~M~
The silence was deafening when Isabella finally stepped away from Jasper. No one dared move but they all had the same questions running through their mind.
Jasper wasn't a mind reader, but years of being to read people had given him an advantage when it came to social situations; something he personally found quite amusing.
He didn't need to know their exact thoughts nor did he need to know what exactly they wanted but as Jasper led Isabella over to his family, he was well aware that answers would be demanded if not given straight-out.
By his side, Isabella remained quiet, allowing Jasper to take the lead on this one and initiate a conversation.
But he didn't.
He stood patiently, waiting for someone, anyone to give into their curiosity and ask him the questions.
The details that he wanted to avoid could be done so much more easily if he was given the opportunity to find loop holes in their questions. Deceiving his family wasn't something he was happy to do, but it was easier than facing their disappointed gazes and feeling it rushing through him.
For someone who was thought to be an impossibly tough fighter, he didn't want to hurt them.
Perhaps he was losing his touch.
There were only a few things Rosalie could tolerate in her life and unnecessary silences weren't one of them.
Jasper felt a spike in her anger but he still wasn't prepared for her words.
"They took them didn't they?" Instead of the harsh tone he had expected, her words were soft, sympathetic.
Rosalie's eyes met with Isabella's but all she received back was a sharp nod in return.
Esme's gasp was heartbreaking. She brought a hand to her hand and gripped Carlisle's hand tightly.
Ever the strategist, Carlisle started formulating a plan, hoping to settle the madness that was threatening to overtake everyone.
"Then we go to Volterra and sort this all out." He nodded his head firmly, agreeing with his own idea. "Aro considers me to be a friend, he'll do me this favour."
Isabella couldn't help the low chuckle that escaped her. "You think he'll let a mind reader and a psychic just walk out of there?" She shook her head, her eyes dropping to the grass beneath his shoes. "No, he wouldn't do that even if they weren't our mates."
"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Kate. She held her hands together tightly, trying not to show her new found wariness of the girl standing in front of her.
"Today was a God damn test and clearly he clearly got the results he was looking for." Isabella dug the heel of her boot further into the ground before looking up. "He wanted to see if we were still as good as we once were so he played to the conditions and changed the rules."
No one seemed to understand what exactly she meant by those words, but before anyone could ask, Emmett bet them to it.
"What the hell does that even mean? You said you could protect them." He stepped forward. "You said that your shield would prevent them from wanting to go. A fat lot of food your shield did."
Anyone could tell that the turn of events had upset him, their only foolproof weapon had just failed them but Jasper didn't let this excuse slide by.
"Calm down." His voice held a tone that couldn't be ignored. "Just listen to what she has to say, okay? Don't go around jumping at our throats before you even have any idea of what's going on." He didn't pause. "We're the ones who just lost our mates."
Nodding slowly, Emmett let them continue. They all wanted answers but like, Emmett, they were afraid of what they would hear.
Jasper looked over at Isabella but found that she wasn't looking at him. In fact, she was focusing on the ground rather intensely.
He knew of her hesitation without even having to use his gift.
All these years of running and trying to hide this part of their past had been for nothing; they had lost their mates and their distinct advantage.
"Chelsea bought a telepath with her." Isabella lifted her eyes and met Carlisle's. Keeping them locked with his and only his, she continued. "They knew I would be here and Aro wanted to test his newest addition out."
Without breaking eye contact, Carlisle responded. "How did they know you would be here?" His voice didn't betray the emotions that wanted to overflow out of him.
"My inside source outed me." She pulled at her jacket absentmindedly.
Emmett groaned. "What made you think you could even trust the guy?"
Her eyes didn't move. "Because I changed him and trained himself. When he joined the ranks, I believed he would be loyal to me."
Tanya scoffed.
Isabella continued, ignoring the blonde. "And he was. He was loyal up until the point when he told Aro that they were going to collect from your family."
"You can't prove that though." Tanya intercepted.
Jasper narrowed his eyes. "Well, that's what she believes."
In reality though, neither of them could be sure that he had been loyal all this time, neither of them wanted to believe it though.
Carlisle blinked. "The telepath can get around your shield."
She nodded.
The eyes she was looking into crinkled in confusion. "Then what is Jasper still doing here?"
Jasper cleared his throat uncomfortably. "That's the part that started years ago." His hand grazed the back of Isabella's for encouragement.
"Oh, God. You guys aren't having an affair, are you?" joked Emmett.
Isabella's eyes widened in detest and Rosalie moved to slap her husband's head.
"Geez, what? I was just trying to lighten the mood." He complained, rubbing his head.
"We aren't having an affair." Jasper said hurryingly.
Rosalie huffed at her husband before focusing on the matter at hand again.
Isabella let her eyes fall to the ground once again. "But we always had our suspicions about the Volturi."
"Like what?" Eleazar asked.
"When I first went to Volterra, he tried to recruit me." Her eyes lifted. "When they came to the south to try again, they tried to recruit Jasper as well."
Jasper's hard eyes didn't waver as they all took in her information.
"Of course, we both declined but after that day, everything was off." Isabella looked at Jasper, taking in his blond hair, remembering. "Two weeks after they left, Maria took her group away, stating that she wanted independence."
Jasper scoffed quickly and shook his head. "All lies, considering the whole reason that she wanted to join Alistair was because she couldn't do it on her own."
Isabella pulled at her jacket once more, allowing Jasper to call out all his frustrations. "We suspected that it was the Volturi's orders that caused the two groups to split but we also thought it was to punish us for rejecting their offers."
"For years, I believed that." Isabella spoke up. "But when I killed Alistair, he kept mentioning my freedom and how killing him wouldn't ensure that." She let go of her jacket. "I ignored it at the time, it only confirmed what I already knew; the Volturi wouldn't give up their quest to have me in their ranks."
Jasper nodded. "But when Chelsea addressed it today, it all came together." He crunched the grass under his boots. "They were keeping tabs on us to make sure we weren't in the same vicinity."
"They made sure we were always apart, just repeating what they did all those years ago in Dallas."
Repressing a shudder at the memory, Isabella nodded. "I'm guessing that because Jasper stayed with you, his whereabouts were always known." She frowned. "So, when Santiago told them where I'd be, they jumped at the chance to one-up us."
"Chelsea said that they came to collect the three of them, but she wasn't too surprised that I held Jasper back."
Rosalie pursed her lips. "How did you actually stop him? Why didn't you try with Edward or Alice?"
Jasper's eyes met his sister's. "We fought together for some time, and while it wasn't an extravagant amount of time, we still knew each other inside and out."
Before Emmett could make another crude remark to 'lighten up' the situation, Jasper continued.
"We found that when we're in a fight, our gifts somehow rub off against each other."
Jasper felt surprise raise in everyone but only focused on who was about to speak.
Carlisle raised an eyebrow; the possibility for new information had piqued his interest. "How does that work?"
Isabella shrugged. "We never figured that part out but we did use the quirk to our advantage. With our two gifts combined, we were immune to mental attacks and we had a sense of where a person was during a fight."
The information couldn't be applied to their most reason encounter with the Volturi though.
"But I thought your shield doesn't affect telekinesis?" Eleazar had a thoughtful look in his eyes.
"It doesn't." She shrugged slowly. "When I held onto Edward, he ran forward without any self-preservation but when I touched Jas, he fought. Perhaps it's because of the bond our gifts has or simply because he's had to fight a tough fight before, I'm not sure."
Rubbing his chin slowly, Carlisle addressed Isabella. "You said that Chelsea wasn't too shocked when this happened."
"She said Aro thought it would happen." She confirmed.
Looking between the two southern fighters, he continued. "It seems Aro has been doing his research, then."
Worry floated into the air and Jasper replied. "It seems he has."
"Did you ever find out why Aro wanted the two of you separated?" Eleazar put a hand in a pocket of his coat.
"No." Isabella's answer was short and sweet, leaving no room for argument. Although everyone accepted her answer, curiosity curled in all of them.
Without meeting her eyes; Jasper let her lie.
~M~
There's really little one can worry about when they're sitting pretty in first class.
Chelsea had a smug smile that had been plastered on her face since she left Washington and if she didn't look so terrifying, someone might mistake her for being happy.
Happiness wasn't what had caused that smile though, actually it was the pulse of victory that was rushing through her veins.
It wasn't even the fact that she had been successful in taking what she came for, it wasn't that Aro would be pleased, it wasn't that Bree hadn't let her down, it wasn't that everything had fallen into place so perfectly, no.
It was the look of bewilderment that she had seen on Isabella's face when she had taken the one thing she thought would not be taken. She had been so confident that she would be able to protect Edward that she didn't stop and evaluate other options.
Chelsea smirked quickly to herself as she replayed what had happened.
She thought over the look that Isabella had on her face when she saw Edward's loyalties change and a sense of satisfaction settled in her stomach.
Chelsea knew that look of heartbreak well; she had seen it on her face every time she saw herself in a mirror or in a photograph for years after her mate had been killed due to the wars.
Fighting back the urge to scowl, Chelsea pinched the armrests by her sides.
Bree turned her head to see the material ripping underneath Chelsea's fingers. She wasn't sure if it would be okay if she were to speak up, instead she turned and looked out of the window again.
Her new vision allowed her to see clearly even from where she was sitting.
The flight to Volterra was supposed to be 12 hours but due to unexpected weather, it had been pushed back.
Thanks to Alice, they had been prepared for the delay and had taken a longer route, stopping to hunt.
Bree couldn't bring herself to look into their eyes though. Guilt had been echoing through her head and had only been getting worse.
The Cullen duo now had a fresh set of sightly amber eyes to go with their new mind set.
It was incredible the power that Chelsea had and Bree didn't want to be on the other side of it. Thinking of the vampires they had been sent to collect, she was wary of how different they were already.
Behind her, Demitri had similar thoughts about the issue. He was sitting between the two, and all throughout the flight, he had been watching for signs that they were still remotely who they actually were.
In any other circumstance, he wouldn't doubt Chelsea's gift but Isabella had always been unreliable in following the status quo.
Cullen?
Edward's head tilted slightly in Dimitri's direction, his eyes still on the clouds that floated around the plane.
Aro's going to want to know everything that she told you.
Again, without turning to face him, Edward replied.
Dimitri understood his nod and moved on to another approach.
Do you understand what that means? That means betraying Bella and joining our guard.
This time, he did move. His eyes met the red rings that were watching him. "Isabella." Edward corrected. "And of course I understand."
Edward hardened his gaze; his loyalties now lay with the Volturi and he didn't appreciate that being doubted.
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brittney x
allegiance: noun
loyalty or commitment to a superior or to a group or cause.
