Chapter Nine
Demetri was getting very frustrated with his new assignment. His master (Aro) had ordered him to hunt down Mystique and bring her back to Voltera to face his wrath for kidnapping his only child, but it wasn't going well. He couldn't track Mystique at all, probably because of her advanced mutant powers so he had decided to track down this Irene person instead. Irene had been the person who had told Mystique of Annalisa's existence in the first place, so she was an accessory plus she might be a link to finding Mystique.
Unfortunately, Irene seemed to always be one step ahead of them. Demetri could track her just fine but so far she had kept moving and managed to stay ahead of them somehow. For some reason however, she had stopped now. The small group of vampires was in a dense rainforest in the middle of nowhere and Demetri could sense that Irene was somewhere nearby. Before long they came across a large metal sphere that definitely did not look like it belonged there. The vegetation around the sphere was arranged it such a way that the sphere was only visible when you got close to it.
"What is this thing?" Heidi asked
"I do not know, but I do Irene is inside it." Demetri answered
"There is no door" Jane pointed out
"Well, guess we'll just have to make one." Andrew said and then he punched the sphere hard enough to make only a small dent in the metal.
Andrew continued to throw punches slowly wearing away at the metal
"Hey" a voice came from somewhere of the side of them
All of them, except Andrew who continued with his punching, turned in the direction of the voice. A tall very scruffy looking man with long hair seemingly all over his body was coming toward them.
"This is none of your affair" Jane said "I suggest you turn around and walk away, if you know what's good for you."
The man laughed "and I suppose you think you're gonna make me, you little pipsqueak."
In less than a second the man was only the ground, crying out in agony as Jane's burning gift struck him with full force.
By this point Andrew had finally made a hole in the sphere and was now peeling the metal off to the left side creating a makeshift doorway. Demetri was helping him by peeling from the other side of the hole.
Heidi eventually tired of the strange man's screaming and hit him on the head and knocked him out.
Shortly after that, Demetri and Andrew had finished making the doorway
"This way" Demetri said as he entered the makeshift door, the others followed
Before long they found their way blocked by three other men. One appeared to have steel skin instead of flesh, another was holding a large baton, and the last was dressed in red and wearing some sort of tank on his bank.
"Sorry mates." The man in red said in an Australian accent "I'm afraid this is as far as you go." He then raised his hands and a wall of flames sprang up between the vampires and the other men. The Volturi guard, however, was not going to let this stop them.
Demetri jumped over the flames. Demetri slammed his fist onto the blonde Australian's head and knocked him unconscious and then for good measure yanked the all cords connected to the tank on the man's back and the flames went out. The guy with the baton moved toward Demetri but before he could do anything Alec's gift turned off the senses of the other two individuals.
Normally, the guards would have simply killed the humans but Aro had told them not to kill if they did not have to. The guard didn't know why but they didn't care either. They moved on.
As they moved down the hall a woman's voice came into earshot.
"Magneto, Listen to me you don't understand what you're up against. You can't win against the Volturi! It's me they want, let me go and they'll follow me and leave you alone."
"They have invaded my stronghold and attacked my men." A male voice, presumably belonging to this Magneto said "They will NOT get away with it."
The Volturi guards came up to a metal door
"Our target is just behind this door." Demetri said and he reached for the handle
Right when his hand touched it however all the metal surrounding them suddenly moved toward them, as if to crush them where they stood. The Volturi quickly formed a circle. The ones that were physically strongest where on the outside holding the metal back while the rest started imitating what Andrew had done earlier and punching at the metal wearing it down. Eventually a hole was opened allowing them to see into the room.
There was a man with his arms raised toward them as if he were directing the metal and behind him was there target Irene, glancing around frantically trying and failing to find a way out. Jane tried to incapacitate him with her pain causing ability but to her frustration it was not working. This was the second time she had encountered someone that her ability could not affect and she really did not like, stubbornly she kept trying, she was not going to let herself get thwarted again.
Jane was not the only one who was finding her gift thwarted, Heidi, Alec and the others who had mental gifts were also finding their abilities ineffective. Realizing that they would have to resort to physical force they focused their efforts on creating a hole big enough for Andrew (the fastest of them) to run through.
Eventually they succeeded and quickly, before Magneto could respond and close the hole, Andrew ran through and ripped Magneto's helmet from his head and readied for a knockout punch but before he could strike Magneto suddenly fell to the ground crying out in agony as Jane's gift suddenly struck him. Immediately there was a series of loud clangs as the metal suddenly stopped pushing at the vampires and fell to the ground.
"What the-"Andrew trailed off
"Maybe it was this helmet" Heidi said as she picked it up and examined it "Maybe it somehow protects the wearer from mental attacks."
"Really, Heidi, you do not seriously think a mere helmet could do such a thing." Jane said loftily
"Look at the evidence, our gifts were not affecting then Andrew rips off the helmet and suddenly your gift affects him, do you have a better explanation?" Heidi asked
Jane simply gave an irritated "hmpf" in response. Intellectually, she knew that Heidi made a good point but her pride would not allow her to admit it. She was really not happy; it was bad enough to have her ability blocked by that insufferable Bella, it was even worse to have it blocked by a mere hunk of metallic junk.
"In any case, we should probably take it back to Aro. If it really does do what Heidi thinks and we can reverse engineer its' technology, it would surely be very useful." Alec said hoping to end the argument before it began
"You're right Alec and we will take it to Voltera with us." Demetri replied and since he was in charge of this mission that ended the debate.
"Now, will you come willingly or will my friend have to convince you?" he asked Irene
Irene sighed "There is no need for that Demetri; I know that I have no choice but to accompany you back to Voltera and face Aro." She answered, much to Jane's disappointment
"Very well, tie her up and let us leave." Demetri ordered
Andrew pulled a pair of ropes out of his pocket and moved next to her. Irene obligingly held out her hands and allowed him to bind them together. He then bent down and tied her ankles together as well. He then stood up and slung Irene over his shoulder.
"You better shut your eyes; I will not have you throwing up on me." He told her
"Actually, Andrew I am blind so that won't be necessary." Irene responded
"How do you know my name?" Andrew asked
"I knew you would capture me, when Magneto insisted on bringing me here to 'protect me', I tried to tell him but he wouldn't listen." Irene answered
"If you knew that we would succeed in capturing you, why did you bother trying to run in the first place?" Demetri demanded
"The future is not set in stone; there is always a chance, however slim, that it can be changed. I would have been an utter fool not to have taken that chance." Irene explained
"This idle chit-chat is boring me" Jane announced "May we head for Voltera now, please?"
Despite the word 'please' at the end, it sounded a lot more like an order than a request
"Very well, Jane, our business here is done." Demetri replied. He then led the way out the door and back to one of the Volturi's many private jets. The guards had an uneventful flight back to Voltera.
Since they knew that walking through the city with a tied up woman would undoubtedly draw unwanted attention, they waited until nightfall before they took their prize across the street to the Volturi compound. There used to be an underground tunnel connecting the two buildings but it had collapsed recently and the reconstruction efforts were not yet complete. However, Heidi went ahead alone to report their success to Aro.
After darkness fell and the humans of Voltera went to bed. The vampires exited the jet and took their quarry back to the Volturi stronghold. Now they were spotted by the airport's security cameras but since the men who operated them worked for the Volturi and Chelsea's loyalty powers prevented them from ever going against the Volturi's wishes, it was of no concern to the vampire guards.
The vampires headed to the audience hall where their leaders normally saw visitors. When they arrived they found all three Volturi leaders waiting from them, seated on rather elaborate chairs on a slightly raised dais. As usual Aro was in the middle and Caius and Marcus were seated on either side of him.
Andrew rather unceremoniously walked forward and dumped Irene at the foot of the dais where she landed with a groan of pain but she did not bother trying to rise instead she just laid there.
"So, you're the future seer, Irene, the one who told Mystique of my daughter's imminent birth?" his tone was calm despite the death grip he had on his chair's armrests.
"Yes, I am" Irene answered
"Where is Mystique?" Aro demanded
Irene shook her head "I don't know" technically true, although she could find out if she wanted to
"Really, you expect me to believe you" Aro asked sarcastically
Irene tried to reply but Aro wouldn't let her. "The question was rhetorical." He snapped "I will find the truth myself."
He stood from his chair, walked over to Irene and pulled her up by her wrists, absorbing her thoughts in the process. Furious that she thought to keep information from him, he threw her back to the floor.
"Jane" he said and pointed at Irene.
Jane needed no further instruction. She unleashed her gift and Irene screamed in agony. To Irene it felt like an eternity but it was really only a little more than a minute before raised his hand and said
"That is enough, Jane."
Jane somewhat reluctantly stopped hurting Irene
"Let that serve as warning" Aro told Irene "Never lie to me, not even by leaving something out, you will not like the consequences, do you understand me?"
Unable to reply, verbally because she was too busy catching her breath, Irene simply nodded.
"Now, normally, I would kill you for your role in arranging the kidnapping of my daughter. However, your ability to see the future is too valuable to lose, so I will give you one chance to live. Are you interested?" Aro said
"Name your terms" Irene stated
"You can be turned into a vampire and become a member of the Volturi guard, through loyal service, you may perhaps make up for your crimes against us or you remain human and become Jane's new play toy…what will it be?" Aro replied certain that he knew what her answer would be, particularly with Chelsea already making Irene feel loyal to him.
For Irene, it was an easy decision between living as a vampire and being tortured until she died, she would chose vampire life so she wasted no time in answering
"I will join your guard and attempt to make up for my past actions." She announced
"Wise answer" Aro replied with a small smirk, just as he'd predicted. Normally he would turn new recruits himself but under the circumstances he did not trust himself to be able to stop, if he began to take her blood, even knowing that the pain fo the vampire transformation was far greater than anything he (or even Jane) could do to her. Instead he said "Demetri since you led this hunt, how about you do the honors?"
"Yes, Master" Demetri stepped forward while Irene closed her eyes, clearing trying to brace herself.
She gasped as Demetri bit her neck. When the flow of blood began to slow Demetri reluctantly stopped drinking Irene's blood so the venom could begin its work.
"Put her somewhere remote, somewhere Annalisa will not accidently stumble upon her." Aro ordered. He didn't want her to see her former caretaker in such a state. He believed that it would lead to a very ugly scene between the two of them and Aro didn't want that. Annalisa may be angry and mistrustful of Irene and rightly so, but the woman had raised her for most of her life and Annalisa had loved her once. Aro did not want to risk having any bit of that love or compassion resurfacing.
Suddenly an idea occurred to him
"Sophia, go tell Felix to keep Annalisa busy for the next few days." He said
"How is he to do that, Master?" Sophia asked hesitantly, the Volturi guards were not supposed to ask questions, they were supposed to simply do what they were told
Aro smiled a mischievous smile "Tell him, that Annalisa is very fond of the martial arts; he should be able to think of something."
Sophia's expression brightened in understanding "Yes, Master" she said and headed up to Annalisa's chambers.
When she arrived she knocked on the door, softly so as not to wake Annalisa. Before long Felix opened the door and whispered
"Sophia, what is it?"
"Aro wants you to keep Annalisa occupied for the next few days." Sophia whispered back
Felix opened his mouth but before he could say anything Sophia interrupted
"He also said to tell you that she is very fond of the martial arts."
Felix grinned he liked a girl that could handle herself in a fight and he gave Sophia a thumbs up and closed the door quietly.
Sophia walked away, confident that Felix would be more than able to find something to keep Annalisa distracted while Irene was turned into a vampire.
