Jewel in the Crown
Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use.
Author's Note: Substantive revisions have been made and posted for the first five chapters. Thanks to some of my readers for the suggestions.
Chapter 10: Return from Volterra
Once again, we are all together at Tanya's, well, almost all of us. But we know that Alice will arrive any minute. And then there is my son, Edward. Of all of my family, Edward holds the most special place in my heart. As much as I love my mate, Esme, there is a part of me that is reserved for my son, my first child, and my first companion.
In those early years when we were alone together, he made my barely tolerable existence worth living again. At that time, after my day working at the hospital, I could come home to someone who knew the real me. I never had to hide from him. I shared everything with him about my life. And he never once expressed any remorse that I had saved his life.
The only person to whom he had felt any true love during his human life was his mother. His father had been a cold and distant man, while Elizabeth was warm and loving. When I told him of how she had begged me on her deathbed to help him go on, he accepted the fate that I, in accordance with her final request, had given him. As with any newborn, he struggled with his thirst in his early days.
He didn't know how to use his new strength. He thirsted for blood and was not satisfied with animal blood. It was only after he caught the scent of human blood, after witnessing an accident in the street that he fully understood what he had been craving. It was then that I began to educate him more fully the lifestyle I had chosen.
Perhaps it is the pride of a father, but I felt that I have always seen the light of his goodness shining through him. Even in death, he seemed heaven bound. I sometimes wonder if I did not take that afterlife away from him, but hopefully I will never know. His mother knew his goodness as well, and she wanted him to go on, even in this present half-life. I have sometimes wondered how much of a gift immortality was to him.
One night last summer, during one of our solitary hunting expeditions, he confided in me his deepest desire. It was rare last summer that I got any time alone with him at all. He could scarcely stand to be away from Bella for more than a few hours at a time. So sometimes we would hunt together in the evenings hours between when he left her for the sake of her father's sensibilities and the time when he would reenter her bedroom.
"If I could have just one wish," he said. "I would wish for mortality so that Bella and I could be together and I could give her all the things that she deserves in life. We could go to college together, marry, and have a family. But instead, the most that I can offer her is to live by her side for the rest of her life. But she doesn't want that."
"Of course she doesn't," I answered. "She knows that she will grow old and you will stay young. And just as you want to be like her, she wants to be like you. You are both very young. And you were frozen in time before you had a chance to really live. But you forget that you have a perspective that she doesn't. The things that you wish to give her are not things that she presently values."
"So what should I do?" he asked me. "I feel that if I take her life away that I am being very selfish. Doesn't she deserve better than this 'life' as we dare to call it?"
"Like most humans," I said to him. "She does not know what is best for herself. But it is also a human trait to think that you know better than she does what is best for her. Please think, Edward. This got you in trouble once before, this belief that you know better than others what is best."
He knew what I was referring to immediately. He turned away from me and looked into the night sky.
"That was different, Carlisle," he finally said. "In those cases, I was taking lives out of some kind of God complex. I believe that if I fed the monster within me with the blood of other monsters than it would somehow make me less evil than if I killed the innocent.
"But it was your teachings and your love that led me back to the right way of thinking. I could not escape the conscience that you had instilled in me from my birth as a vampire. And it is now that conscience that refuses to deprive Bella of her soul and therefore to deprive her of her chance at heaven."
"Son," I replied. "You have saved her life several times already. Her mind is decided and it would seem that even if you think otherwise, the conclusion would always be the same. You will change her or kill her. There is no third way."
"There has to be," he cried as he ran off, so that he could spend the night guarding over her.
And so I spent that last summer watching them fall more deeply in love with one another. It was a beautiful thing to witness, the joining of these two souls. Contrary to my son's opinion, I know that he has one. Each day I saw in his eyes the phenomenon that I had experienced with Esme. Edward had found his mate. We all knew it and we all accepted it except for Rosalie.
My great deficit as a father has been to fail to recognize the limits of his seventeen-year old mind. Intellectually, he is brilliant. His abilities in music, maths, and languages are without parallel. But this romantic notion that he has of his love being a tragic love may now end tragically for them both. Suddenly, a voice arouses me from my melancholy reverie.
"Alice!" cries Jasper in relief. "You made it back."
"Of course, I did," she says. "I promised you that I would, didn't I? I'm only sorry that I couldn't get Bella and Edward out as well. I can't imagine what he was thinking when he decided to stay with them."
"And by the time he decided, it was too late to stop Bella from reaching him?" I ask.
Suddenly, Alice falls silent. The five of us look around at each other.
"I saw that in my future if I had tried to stop Bella," she replies guiltily. "The guards would have seen me and seized me as well. Aro wants me in the guard. He probably saw me in Edward's mind. And if he had me, Edward and Bella would have both been killed as an example to me. But not before he used them to torture me. This way they have a chance."
"So they are still alive?" I ask.
"No one has decided to kill them," she says. "I have a vague decision on Edward's part that if they kill her, he will die also. But it's only vague because it can't happen unless the Volturi decide a certain way."
"But why would the Volturi kill them?" asks Rosalie. "They haven't done anything wrong."
"Bella has done absolutely nothing wrong," I answer. "But remember that the Volturi's role in our world is to insure that the humans don't discover our secret. And Bella is human."
"And Edward would be punished for telling her?" she asks.
"If that were all that it was, no," I reply. "Chances are that Edward would live or at least be offered the opportunity to live, as a favor to me. Aro always did like me, even though he disagreed with me. Edward would die because he would try to protect Bella from them, as he did from James. Now we have proof that if Bella had died last year in Phoenix, he would have made sure that he did also."
"Alice, you are back," says Tanya, as she enters the room. "What can you tell us about Edward?"
"Nothing new," she says. "Edward and Bella both still in Volterra waiting for the Volturi to decided their fate. Can I talk to Eleazer?"
"Of course," she says, pouting a little at Bella's name. "I will go and get him."
"Why do you want to see Eleazer?" I ask after she leaves the room.
"He was in the guard, remember?" she says. "He may have an idea of why Aro has made no decision yet."
"I suppose that makes sense," I say. "Have you been able to see if Charlie is looking for her? Did you stop and get a newspaper on your way out of the airport? Are you aware if Charlie is looking for her yet?"
"I couldn't stop to check. And my focus has been entirely on the Volturi. I didn't want to miss anything that they might decide," she replies. "I wanted to get the Mercedes out of the airport lot as quickly as possible in case he decided to try and look for it. Have you thought to check on the Internet? That could be the larger problem."
"I'll look," says Emmett quickly, and leaves followed by Rosalie.
"She feels really bad," comments Esme.
"She should," says Alice bitterly. "But it's also my fault. I should have called the minute that I knew that Bella was still alive."
"Well, the time for the 'only ifs' has passed," I say as Eleazer comes in with Carmen and the three sisters. "I can also say that I picked the wrong time to go hunting and be out of touch. But that will get us nowhere."
Eleazer is a kind and gentle vampire, unusual for a member of the Volturi guard. But he also has very definite opinions about right and wrong. Since the Volturi exist to uphold the law, he felt comfortable in their ranks. However, even before he met Carmen, he was becoming uncomfortable with the traditional vampire diet. Meeting Carmen changed his life.
The one bond outside of the Volturi guard that they respect is the one between mates. However even if Carmen had anything to contribute to the guard, she was very uncomfortable among them. Aro let them go in peace. Eleazer has a powerful gift, but it was not crucial to his hold on power over our world.
Eleazer is able to recognize the gifts and potential for gifts in vampires and humans respectively. That naturally made him quite an asset to a man always seeking to strengthen his hand. Alice is right. He certainly will have insight into the dynamic that may be going on in Italy right now.
"I am glad to see that you have returned to us," he greets her. "What can I do for you Alice? I am rather surprised that Aro did not try to convince you to join the guard."
"He didn't get the chance. Right now," she says. "The Volturi have both Edward and Bella. I ran away as soon as I saw my own future changing, as Bella ran across the square to keep Edward from destroying himself. If Aro had me, he would have killed them as an example of what happens to people who don't accept his invitation."
He frowns.
"That surprises me," replies Eleazer. "Generally speaking, the Volturi don't have to convince vampires to join them. When I was there, I never saw them use that kind of manipulation to keep someone they wanted."
"Well," she says, a little miffed. "That's what they had planned for me. But they still don't know what they will do with Edward and Bella."
"Interesting," he says. "Normally, Aro makes his decisions quickly. How can you tell that they have made no decision?"
"Right now I can't see a future for Edward or Bella," she explains. "Whatever happens to them next will be up to someone else. I guess what I can't understand is why they would keep Bella alive."
"Why don't you back up and review the facts with me," he suggests. "Perhaps if we examine them again, we will see something that we didn't notice before."
"Edward went to the Volturi because he wanted them to kill him after Rosalie told him that Bella had committed suicide," she replies. "And you know that I went to Forks to discover the full story. When I found out about Edward's plan to commit suicide, Bella and I traveled to Italy to convince him that she was alive.
"We were able to get there in time because Aro said that his gifts were too valuable to waste and refused to harm him. Instead he offered him a place in the guard. And that was when Edward decided to provoke them, to force his hand. He was completely set on dying if Bella had died."
"Yes," says Eleazer thoughtfully. "This is what Carlisle told me. Now, what happened when you arrived at the square?"
"We entered the square separately because I needed to ditch the car," she explains. "I wanted to send Bella out alone anyway so that he wouldn't think that I was there. He wouldn't be able to see Bella coming.
"But things went wrong when she was halfway across the square. He decided to stay with them. I started to try and chase after Bella because I saw the guards, but then I saw all our futures change. I would be asked to join the guard and they would be killed when I said no."
"That is the kind of action that Caius likes to take, but usually Aro stops him," he says. "Perhaps you thought that your fate and theirs were being completely decided by Caius. Is that possible, especially if Aro and Marcus didn't know what they would do? Would one person deciding be enough to trigger the vision?"
Alice stops immediately.
"But I saw my future and theirs so clearly," she says slowly. "I assumed that it was because all three had decided. It all happened so quickly."
"Alice, you are the first person to admit that your gift is imperfect," he replies kindly. "Now I can't say that if I was in your position that I would not have done the same thing. Edward is your brother and Bella is your very good friend. But I am still not convinced that they are in mortal danger. It may be that Aro intends to try and persuade him again to join the guard. Likely, he is examining other methods of persuasion."
"I still don't understand why he would keep Bella alive," she says puzzled. "She's a human and she knows our secrets."
"Leverage with Edward no doubt," he says. "Aro has read his mind and knows how important she is to him. Remember that every thought, every experience that Edward has ever had, is now in Aro's possession. If he attempted to kill himself once over her death, he is likely to try again.
"Only now he has a much better idea of how to go about it. Caius does not like to give second chances. On the other hand, Aro does not like to waste second chances, especially if he has his eye on a prize, another jewel to add to his collection. And having Bella there actually increases his odds of success. But tell me, is there anything special about Bella?"
"Special?" I say. "Not in the vampire sense."
"Well, of course not," replies Eleazer. "But sometimes a person can show the potential for a vampire gift in their human life. Think of Alec and Jane!"
"Yes, of course," I say thoughtfully. "He heard of them while they were still human but was afraid to change them too young. He needed to be able to control them. Then waiting almost killed them. He was lucky that he got to them in time."
"Edward couldn't read Bella's mind," says Alice.
"He couldn't?" asks Eleazer. "You mean that she could potentially be a shield?"
"A shield?" asks Jasper. "Why do you think that?"
"When Eleazer was in the guard, Aro used him to see if there were any talented vampires in a coven that they were disciplining," I explain. "If they were innocent, which he himself could tell by reading their minds, he could pardon them. They were so grateful that they would gladly join the guard. As Eleazer said, a position in the guard is very prestigious."
"Or if someone came to them looking for a place in the guard," he adds. "If Bella is able to shield against Edward's mind reading, I doubt that Aro can read her mind either. In fact any vampire whose gifts rely on mind tricks will be challenged. Aro has a whole cohort full of vampires that he can use to test her, in addition to himself. Carlisle, just think of her potential if Jane, Alec, and Demetri can't pierce her mind!
"His present shield is Renata, but her powers are limited, different, but limited. And remember that Aro has several powerful offensive talents, but not so many defensive. And the defensive guards rely primarily on brute strength. A shield is a purely defensive gift and therefore rather easy to recognize and quantify. Bella has great potential. As a vampire, she could possibly give him a very large advantage in any conflict."
"So before killing her," I say. "He would change her to see how the power manifests."
"That would be my best guess," he says. "In his older years, Aro has grown bored at various times. He likes to make things interesting on occasion by playing games with those who fall into his sphere. Going to the Volturi may have seemed a very romantic and dramatic gesture when he made it, but your son has put himself and his young girlfriend in a very precarious position."
"What do you mean by playing games?" I ask.
"Aro likes to toy with some of those he wants in the guard if he senses that they are unwilling," answers Eleazer. "Knowing Edward as I do, I am sure that he is. He is completely dedicated to you and the lifestyle that you have taught him. I am sure that you have told your son of all the temptations that Aro placed in your way to try and get you to alter your diet. Caius has a very cruel streak, but he does recognize a strong asset when he sees it.
"Ideally, at least from a Volturi perspective, they would join the guard willingly. The Volturi have found it useful to keep their guards happy if their mates are with them, as with Chelsea and Afton. He is not an especially strong asset to the cohort, but Aro really needs Chelsea. In the case of Edward and Bella, it would be much more of a win-win situation, at least for him.
"They all enjoy a little intrigue, so this may just be a way of 'helping' Edward to arrive at his own decision. I am guessing that if she risked her own life to save him that Bella has a very powerful love for him. She will do whatever is best for Edward."
"And that might explain the indecision," says Alice. "I have a very hazy view of Edward wanting to kill himself if she dies. It's hazy because his decision relies on theirs. And it sounds like they may not decide to kill her."
"But Edward doesn't want Bella to be a vampire," says Esme worried. "Either way, she may die."
"I am sorry, Esme. but I don't see anyway for Bella to leave the tower alive as a human. Aro wouldn't ask for Edward's permission," replies Eleazer. "He would just do it."
"Why doesn't he just decide?" asks Tanya impatiently. "Why doesn't he just get it over with?"
"That is exactly why he doesn't decide," answers Eleazer. "The longer he makes them wait, the more time Edward has to think about the options. It is one of Caius's favorite forms of torture; persuasion he would call it. Normally, I have not known Aro to be sadistic. He must want Edward very much."
"Bella's picture is on the Internet as a missing person," says Emmett suddenly bursting in.
"It's gone viral on Facebook," adds Rosalie. "Bella's friends at Forks High School have started a page and it's getting hits and likes from all over the country. The kids who see it must be forwarding it to their friends."
"It won't do them much good," comments Eleazer. "I can guarantee you that there are no Internet connections in Volterra, or at least not in the tower."
"But it does potentially make it easier for Charlie to follow her movements," I say worried. "If anyone who saw her while she was traveling recognized her, he might be able to trace her all the way to Volterra."
"And the trail would end there. In fact he wouldn't even get into the city," replies Eleazer definitively. "The Volterra police would never believe that there could possibly have been a kidnapping or any other crime. You know how they feel about their reputation. Volterra is the safest city in the world. The trail will end in Florence which was her entry point into the country."
"Do they mention Alice?" I ask. "Or Edward?"
"Both, but they can only give physical descriptions," says Rosalie. "I'm sure that they couldn't find any pictures. It's a good thing that we were so careful about that."
"Yes, but I still don't like it," I say. "Not to mention the fact that they could probably come up with some good sketches. It will severely limit our ability to use the Cullen identity in the future, which will hamper some of my credentials."
"Well, why don't we leave the future to take care of itself?" says Esme. "Now that Alice is back, we need to return to New York."
"Why is that?" asks Tanya.
"We don't want to lead the problem here," I reply. "But Cornell is the last place that Edward knows that we were. If possible, I want him to be able to find us if he needs to."
"You will keep us informed, yes, Carlisle?" asks Tanya.
"Of course," I say. "It's good to know that we have family that we can count on."
"And if you have any more questions," adds Eleazer. "Don't hesitate to call. But please do me one favor."
"Yes?"
"Don't attempt to make any crazy rescue missions," he says pointedly, looking at Emmett and Jasper. "Other than Alice, none of you has anything that Aro might want. You would be killed instantly. Aro would not want the story to get out that anyone who refused him was destroyed."
"Yes, Eleazer," says Esme. "One lost son is more than enough for one family."
I look at poor Esme and realize that this loss is just as great for her as it is for me. Edward was her first son and he also holds a special place in her heart. She was so pleased when Bella came into his life and brought him the joy that he never had before. Her feelings were such that she might have changed Bella herself, just so that we wouldn't lose him.
I have been living with him for so long that I had forgotten that the poor boy had been frozen at the young age of seventeen. It was always our great fear that he would never find a mate and that he would always be alone because he was not capable of those kind of deep emotions while he was still human. He had never even fallen in love.
But I can see now, that despite his frozen state, those feelings were only lying dormant, waiting for the right young woman to touch them. Bella is his first and only love. As a vampire, his entire being was settled on her the minute that he realized that he could not stay away from her. From that moment when his obsession with her infused his every thought, he was lost.
Her absolutely reciprocal feelings solidified his emotions even more. She recognized the solution immediately. If only I had given her the gift of immortality when she begged me that last night. I should have known my stubborn son better than to let him make the choice.
In the end, as in any tragedy since the days of Sophocles, he who arrogantly attempts to subvert fate, ends up walking directly into it. It seems that soon he will be confronted with the very choice that he so desperately sought to avoid. He will either kill her or change her. Aro will force his hand.
"Alice," I ask as sudden thought occurs to me. "What happened to Bella after we left in September? Did she pick up and go one with her life?"
"I had a long talk with Charlie about it," she says. "He said that when Edward first left, he thought that they would have to hospitalize her. She was a physical and mental wreck, but she refused to leave Forks. When I saw her, she still looked pretty bad, too thin and very sad. I suspect that she was just as miserable as he was. I'm sorry that I listened to him and didn't watch her more closely."
"So when we left," says Esme softly. "It did nothing to help her. In fact it may have made things worse."
"You have no idea," she says. "Four months after we left, she decided to start hanging out with the werewolves at La Push. I even met one, Jacob Black."
"Carlisle," says Rosalie. "Didn't you make your treaty with an Ephraim Black seventy years ago?"
"Yes," I reply. "He was the chief. This must be a great-grandson. I thought that the last of the wolves died out with Ephraim's generation."
"Apparently they started changing again when we returned," she says. "And even though we left, Victoria has been trying to get at Bella. Bella told me that she wanted to avenge James's death by killing her, a mate for a mate. We left Bella alone and she ended up having to be defended by these young werewolves, most of them only began phasing a couple of months ago."
"Man, Carlisle," says Emmett. "Those kids must be real dangerous."
"And pretty useless," she adds. "They were completely unable to stop her from killing people. At least they were able to get Laurent before he could kill Bella."
"Lower your voice, Alice," I whisper. "They don't know up here what happened to him. He and Irina fell in love, but Carmen thinks that he couldn't follow the diet, so he left."
"Well," she says extremely quietly as we all gather around. "He came to Forks to scout for Victoria. He found Bella alone, but luckily the wolves were there to kill him. But she keeps eluding them."
"Alice, why didn't you see any of this?" I ask.
"I can't see the wolves," she admits. "Because they've been chasing Victoria, I haven't been able to see her trying to get to Bella. And because it was Jacob who pulled her out of the water, I didn't know that she was saved and still alive. If humans or vampires get too close to werewolves they disappear from my vision too."
"No offense, Carlisle," says Jasper. "But for such a smart guy, Edward does manage to make some pretty stupid decisions. Especially where Bella is concerned. And it sounds like she would have been much better off if he had just changed her like she wanted. Or if he couldn't do it, ask you to do it."
"They are both very young," I reply. "And their choices reflect that. They have very deep feelings for one another, but they are both too impulsive."
"Do you think that this 'impulsiveness' will get them in trouble with the Volturi?" asks Esme.
"It already has," I say bleakly. "The question is, how much more trouble it will get them in?"
But no one answers me. I am beginning to think that perhaps I need to go to Volterra myself, not with the idea of getting Edward out, but to advise him how to stay alive. His own idealism stands to get him in big trouble with them sooner or later. While I am not exactly thrilled with the idea of Edward joining them, I am terrified of the alternative. I will do what I can to keep my son alive.
I see that Alice is looking at me speculatively and shake my head. Esme has enough to worry about. I don't want to add to her anxiety. She already loves Bella like a daughter. Losing them both would be a terrible hardship, but there is no way that she would manage to survive without me.
Author's note: Some of the details that I have included come from the manuscript of Midnight Sun posted online by Stephanie Meyer. Other details about the Volturi come from The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide.