EDWARD
I was pretty angry that we couldn't get a flight to Italy until over twelve hours after Bella was kidnapped. Who knew what could've possibly happened to her in those twelve hours? I surpressed a shudder every time I thought about it. Alice must have known that I couldn't handle thinking about it and refrained from looking into Bella's future the entire flight. I was grateful for that. I was sure if I had to see it then I wouldn't have been able to keep my anger held inisde.
Thankfully, we arrived in Volterra a little over twenty four hours after Bella's kidnapping. I didn't think I could've handle much more waiting. We were all standing in an alley around the drain that would take us to the Volturi's home.
"What are we waiting for?" I growled staring around at the family. "We have to get down there now."
"We know, Edward." Carlisle stated calming. "We need to talk about your temper first."
"What about it?" I questioned.
"You need to be in complete control while we're down there." he said out loud. "It won't do Bella any good if you lose your temper and get yourself killed."
"I know that." I answered. "I'll keep it under control for her."
"All the same, Emmett, Jasper, I want you on either side of him the entire time." Carlisle replied. "If he tries to make a move, hold him back." I growled in Carlisle's direction. "I'm sorry. None of us can be sure of the condition that she'll be in. If it's bad, you'll need the babysitters." I nodded but glared at him all the same.
"Let's go." I said and was the first to slide down the drain.
I landed, on my feet, in the underground tunnel. The rest of my family slid down one by one seconds later. Once we were all done, I lead them off toward the reception area. I had only been to this place three times in this existence. Carlisle had brought me with him everytime he came to visit. I hated it as much in those times as I did now. I never understood why Carlisle stayed friends with them.
One would think after knowing how sick and sadistic they are, he'd have dropped them. But, no, he insisted that it would be in our best interest to stay close to them. So far in this situation, Aro had proved him wrong. Hopefully, by the time everything was over I'd be the one proven wrong. I hoped Carlisle would be able to talk Bella out of this situation. Somehow, I knew it wasn't going to be that easy.
When we reached the door to the reception room, Jasper and Emmett took there places beside me. I took a few unecessary breaths to keep myself calm. Carlisle was suddenly in front of me and he pushed the door open. I was surprised to find that the room was full of roughly thirty or so vampires. Usually, this part of their home was empty unless they were preparing a tour group for their meal or something.
Carlisle continued to walk into the room. From the sound of his thoughts, he hadn't expected anything less than this. Apparently, this was the Aro's entire guard. They obviously had expected trouble from us and were prepared to keep it from happening. Of course, he obviously had no idea what I was prepared to sacrifice for Bella. I was willing to die for her and I'd take as many of those bastards with me as possible.
We walked to the center of the room until we were face to face with Aro and his brothers. There was a young man around Bella's age standing in front of him. He had short bleach blonde hair. His eyes were a bright red but he looked so sad. I had a funny feeling that he didn't want to be here. When I tried to check if I was right, I couldn't get a read on any of his thoughts. I guessed shields were way more common than I thought.
"Carlisle, hello." Aro said pulling me away from my thoughts about the man. "And you brought the family, how wonderful. As you can see we've been expected you. I just didn't think it would be so soon. I'm grateful for young Damon, here. If it weren't for him, I would've been completely surprised by your arrival."
I was quite confused. How could a shield have seen us coming? They simply blocked other people's gifts. Or maybe he was like Kyle and had managed to steal someone else powers. I could hear my family trying very hard to work it out as well.
"Let me explain." Aro stated. "Damon is the newest edition to my guard and he has a very unique power. You see, he has what one could call a guardian angel. It manifests itself in certain forms that only he can see. It not only protects him but also keeps him informed of thing that could be of use to him. It told him about your arrival this evening. We've been preparing for the last few hours. Thank you Damon, you can take your place."
"Yes master." he replied. I could hear the anger and disgust dripping from his voice.
As he walked back to his place, he gave the family a very sincere aplogetic look. My heart went out to him as he slid into the gap into the line. I watched as he stared at the floor. I wanted so badly to know what he was thinking as he stood there. I could definitely hear Roxy trying not to think about how cute he was though. I shot her a look and she looked back to the floor a little embarassed. Aro's voice brought me back to reality.
"He has, of course, informed me of why you are here." he stated. "So let's just get right to business then, shall we? Gianna," he called. A middle aged human woman stepped out from behind a desk on the other side of the room.
"Yes, master?" she replied with a bow.
"Would you kindly inform Jane that we need her, Felix, and Demetri to bring me my pet. Let her know that pet's family is here." he told her.
I surpressed a grow at how he kept refering to my angel like some kind of an animal. She was the most wonderful and beautiful creature that I've ever met and did not deserve to be talked about in that manner.
"Of course, master." Gianna answered with another bow. She hurried across the room and out the door that was several feet away from Aro.
"Jane isn't going to be happy about this." Aro thought. "She was looking forward to having a few hours of playtime."
I forced back another growl as waves of calm hit me. I smiled at Jasper. My family knew me too well. He could tell how close I was coming to losing it before I could even knew anything. As much as I didn't want to be calm, I was grateful for it. I had to keep myself in check, for Bella's sake. Like Carlisle said, it wouldn't have done any good for us to die and leave Bella alone. I just hoped we could figure out what he wanted.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get a read on him because he was very good at blocking me. In fact, he was currently reciting his alphabet in Greek, Russian, Italian, Arabic, and Latin. I allowed myself a mental growl but I didn't let it go any further than that. We waited in silence for the longest ten minutes of my life. When Gianna finally returned she bowed and said,
"Miss Jane will be here shortly. She just wanted to make sure that Master's pet was ready."
"Thank you Gianna." Aro replied. "Now would you please go back to your quarters? We need our privacy."
"Yes, master." Gianna said and once again exited through a different door.
We waited another few minutes before the door opened again. The family immediately looked towards it. Demetri, Felix, and Jane were standing in a row the blocked the entire doorway. Jane was holding some kind of chain in her hand. As they stepped through it, my mind was assaulted by some of the most horrific images imageable. Bella was lying on the floor being pummeled by the three of them. It took me a minute to realize that she was suffering in silence. I shook my head to try and push the images away.
As the three entered the room, it took me a minute to realize that there was someone crawling in behind them. That someone was connected to the chain that Jane was holding. Horror and anger seized my head and heart as I realized that someone was Bella. She was crawling on her hands and knees as slowly as possible. My heart gave a pang as she flinched with every other move.
Another image found it's way into my head. This one was of Bella screaming and crying as Jane beat her with a rawhide whip. I could hear the mental laughter as they passed mere inches from us. I also saw the still bleeding slashes on Bella's back. I wanted nothing more than to scoop her up into my arms and run away with her. However, I knew with the entire guard here, we wouldn't get that far. I didn't want to risk hurting Bella anymore than what she was.
When they finally made it to Aro, Jane handed the chain to him and she, Felix and Demetri took their places with the rest of the guard.
"We don't you stand up pet?" Aro said running his hands through her hair. I surpressed another growl. "Let your family get a good look at you."
I watched in horror as she stood up cringing with every move she made. The family stood there staring at her as she stared at us. She looked terrible. Her clothes barely covered any part of her body. And every exposed part was covered in deep purple and blue bruises. I wanted nothing more than to rip Aro's head from his body. How dare he hurt my sweet beautiful Bella like that? Thankfully, Emmett and Jasper were grasping my arms tightly and Roxy was standing behind me just in case I did something.
That's when a completely new set of images hit me. These were of Aro, Caius, and Marcus violating her in the worst possible ways. I could see they took great pleasure in listening to her beg for them to stop. How dare they? Then the clearest and most disgusting of all the images hit me. Caius was straddling Bella's chest with his dick in her mouth. She had tears rolling down her face as he forced her to suck him.
That was the final straw. I wouldn't let them do that to my angel ever again. I'd rip them apart myself if I had to. I let out a growl and attempted to launch myself at Aro. Emmett and Jasper pulled back on my arms hard and I felt Roxy's tiny arms wrap around my waist. She, like Alice, was so small it was hard to believe she was so strong. Yet, without her help, I knew I'd have been able to free myself of the other two. I stopped struggling as I caught site of the look she shot Jasper.
"You know Edward." Aro stated grabbing Bella by the hair. She flinched as he did so. "You really should learn to control your temper."
Aro used his hold on Bella's hair to make her face him then he forced his lips against hers. I heard her gasp of surprise. I let out another growl and struggled to free myself from my siblings. He couldn't get away with this. I had to teach him not to touch my Bella like that. Jasper, Emmett, and Rosy, however refused to let me make the mistake of going after him.
"I'm sorry, man." Jasper thought. "But you could get killed. Then what would happen to Bella?"
I thought about that for a minute and took a couple of unecessary breaths to put myself back in control.
"Aro, can we please get to the point?" Carlisle asked once Aro released Bella. I could hear the disgust and anger in his voice. "I'm not sure how much longer my sons can hold Edward back. And I can assure you that, as angry as he is right now, he's liable to take out more than half your guard. I don't want to see that happen and I'm sure you don't either."
"Very well." Aro replied. "Sit pet."
I didn't know what Bella was thinking. She should've just done what he said. It would've been less painful for her. Then again, Bella had always been stuboorn as a mule. Which is probably why she remained standing.
"Pet," he said and grabbed her hair again. "Just because we have guests, doesn't mean the rules have changed. Now, I said sit."
He kicked the back of her legs. Her knees gave into the force and she crumpled. I heard her small whimper as her knee connected painfully with the floor. I let out another growl but knew it was better if I didn't try move. Once she revoered, she looked me directly in the eye. Even if I couldn't read her mind, I could see that she was silently begging me to stay calm. Just looking into her eyes was doing me a world of good. I found that I was able to take a few breaths and calm myself a little. I continued to stare into her eyes. It was the best way for me to push out the horrid thoughts of the brothers.
"Now," Carlisle continued. "We know that you want something from us. Or else you wanted have gone through all of this trouble to get Bella and lure us here. So why don't you just tell us what it is that you want. I can assure you that we'd give up everything for Bella's freedom."
I had a feeling it wasn't going to be that easy. He wasn't just going to take something from us and hand Bella over. I knew it was much bigger than that. I didn't know exactly what it was but I knew it was something that was going to be hard for us to give. We would do it, though, because Bella was more important to us than anything Aro could possibly want.
I tried to read his mind for the answer. However, all I got was more images of Bella being violated. I turned my attention back to Bella's eyes. I had to continue to stay calm. It was the only way to get Bella out of this.
"I'm afraid it isn't that easy, Carlisle." Aro replied. "You see, you have a very unique family with four very unique powers. Powers that I would love to see on my guard. One's that I would do anything to get. I'd love to have all four of them. However, considering that I only have one person to trade, I will except one of the four in exchange."
I felt like a truck had just hit me. He wanted Alice, Jasper, Roxy, or myself to join his guard. Why hadn't I thought of that sooner? It now seemed like the most obvious thing in the world. If I had known that was his plan I would've just handed myself over to Jane and the others when they came for Bella. All of this could've been avoid had I been a little quicker. I felt better to hear that the rest of the family hadn't seen it coming either.
"You want me to barter one of my children for another." Carlisle questioned.
"Don't do it, Carlisle!" Bella yelled.
"Silence pet!" Aro yelled and kicked her in the stomach.
She fell forward grasping her stomach. I wanted nothing more than to hurt Aro as I watched her gasping for the air she needed to survive. I struggled against Emmett, Roxy, and Jasper as hard as I could. They wouldn't let me go no matter how hard I fought. There was only one thing I could do at that moment. I wouldn't have asked any of me siblings to do it. I wasn't going to make them spend eternity in this hell because of me.
"I do it!" I said. "I'll join you. Just stop hurting her!"
"No, Edward you can't!" she pleaded.
"I said shut up!" Aro yelled and backhanded her.
She flew across the room and hit the floor hard. I couldn't hold it in any longer. He was going to pay for hurting my angel. I didn't care who I had to hurt to get to him. I was going to rip him apart. With one mighty pull, I finally wrenched myself free. I heard my family mentally begging for me to stop but I couldn't let go of the anger this time. Halfway through my lunge at Aro, I fell to the stone floor. Pain was shooting through every inch of my body but I didn't make a sound. I knew Jane was behind it and I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of a reaction.
"No! Edward! Leave him alone!" Bella cried.
I imagined that she was trying to crawl to me. I heard a small gag, then the sound of a body hitting the floor, and finally, Bella's cry of pain. Jane removed the power shortly after the time I had gotten back up, Bella was on her back a good twenty feet from me and Alice was by my side.
"Let me do it, Edward." Alice thought. "We all know that I'm the one he wants most. Besides, Bella's going to need you when this is over."
As much as I wanted to be there for Bella when it was all said and done, I couldn't let Alice or any of them to join this group of monsters. It wouldn't even be fair to ask them too. Especially since this whole Bella mess was my fault in the first place.
"No, Alice." I said. "This is my fault and I'm going to do it."
"No Edward." she pleaded. "It's mine, I should've just let you deal with her the way you wanted to."
I knew she was referring to how hard she pushed for me to act on my feelings for Bella. She was thinking about how selfish she had been wanting to be Bella's friend without thinking of the consquences the Bella would have to endure. I disareed with her completely. I should've just left Bella alone and everything would've been fine.
"Don't go there, Alice." Edward stated.
"Aro," Carlise stated cutting off our argument. "Could we please have some time to discuss this as a family?"
No, we didn't need to discuss anything. I was going to do this. End of story. Nobody else but me was going to take the fall for this one. I'd do it to save Bella. That's all there was to it. If the others didn't like it then oh well.
"Of course," Aro replied. "I'll give you twenty four hours. If you have not made a decision by then, I will be keeping my pet for as long as I like."
I knew that wasn't going to happen because whether or not we made a decision, I'd be handing myself over to him.
"Fine." Carlisle stated with disgust. "We'll get a hotel then and discuss it tonight. I would like to request, though, that you not harm Bella until we have made a decision."
"Unfortunately, Carlisle, I can't promise you that." Aro answered. "She hasn't be very well behaved this evening and she really needs to be punished."
The thoughts of how he planned to punish her suddenly assaulted my mind. They were much like the earlier images of Bella being violated only ten times worse.
"You keep your hands off of her you son of a-" I started to yell but Alice clamped her hand over my mouth. Aro just chuckled.
Emmett and Jasper had resumed their hold on me and were trying to get me to leave.
"This is hard on all of us man." Emmett thought. "I wish we could just let loose on all of them. But there's no way. We'll just have to leave and figure out something later."
I pushed his thoughts out of my head. I knew they were logical but I wasn't prepared to admit it. I needed to save Bella from them now. The family had no idea what they had done to her and were planning on doing the same things again.
"Fine." Carlisle stated. "We'll be back at ten tomorrow night then."
"Jane will be waiting for you outside." Aro replied.
After one last look at Bella, Carlisle lead Esme back toward the tunnel that lead to the surface. Rose and Roxy had their arms around each other and from the looks of it the were crying vampire style.
"Bella, it's going to be okay!" I yelled as Emmett, Jasper, and Alice dragged me toward the tunnel. "I'll come back for you and make you safe! I love you! I won't let him hurt you anymore!"
I continued to struggle and yell for Bella until about halfway through the tunnel. Jasper powers were having minimal effect and I ignored any soothing thoughts Alice tried to send me. They stil had Bella and were going to hurt her so more. How could I possibly be calm about that?
I finally realized, though, that my family wasn't going to let me go back so I composed myself enough to get out of the tunnel. Once we made it back to the alleyway, I collapsed to the ground and let the dry sobs wrack my body.
A/N: I hope you understand things better after hearing it all from Edward. If not, message me and I'll try to explain better. Also, I'd like everyone to answer a question for me, Am I living up to the Cullens natural characters in a situation like this or are they acting to okay with what's happening? Don't worry your answers won't effect the story. I just want to make sure that I'm doing all of their cahracters justice. A couple quick things about Damon. 1.) No he was not some random vampire I pulled out of my ass. He will be important later, I promise. And 2.) The idea for his power isn't my orginal idea, I got it from sg-1's fic i escaped. I'm not sure of what she would call it but I tried to put my own twist on it. I hope I didn't cross too close to sg-1's territory. If I did sg-1 I greatly apologize. I didn't mean too. I just love the idea of this power. I guess that's it for the night. Please review or I'll send my flying monkeys to eat you in your sleep. LOL!