Chapter 10
My mind still focused on the carnage we created, I wasn't aware of Edward leading me toward his car, of the assorted congratulations, wolf and vampire alike. The only one who remained bitterly quiet was Jasper. I knew he looked up to them, and me slaughtering them in an instant didn't help.
"I'm sorry Jasper..." I muttered. He shrugged.
"Whatever, Bella." He slowly walked away from the car. I bit my lip, impossible tears forming in my eyes. My true love wrapped my hand in his before starting up the car. Suddenly, there was a swarm of humans around us. I rolled down the windows, flipping on sunglasses.
"No comment." I flashed what I hoped was a winning smile, and Edward drove away. Finding the t.v again, I watched ourselves drive away. The screen flipped back to that same blonde news reporter.
"Today has been an incredible day. We have confirmed the following: Vampires do exist. Werewolves do exist. These two are bitter enemies. The king vampire was killed today. It is assumed the killer will take the throne." At that, I froze up completely. Edward spun the car to the side of the road, before sitting back and staring at me.
"I never thought of that." His features were grave. "Someone does have to take the throne." I looked at him in horror.
"You aren't suggesting I take the throne?" He nodded his head.
"What other options are there? If you paid attention, Marcus wasn't in the group. He escaped as the memory started playing. He's on the loose. So he'll be coming after you, my love." His hand caressed my cheek, and I closed my eyes. "In addition, Charlie, Renee...it's over, Bella. Vampires officially exist. No longer are we the stuff of legends. We aren't mythical anymore. If they were still alive...it would be different. We could go back to them, live as a true family. But we can't, and I'm so sorry. But I think it's our duty to take the throne. Maybe Carlisle is right. Maybe there is a higher purpose..." His voice was so persuasive, so compelling, so velvety soft, I almost agreed. But I questioned his motives.
"Edward, you want something, don't you?" I looked at him suspiciously, and he put on an expressionless mask.
"Of course not, love." Maybe it was shock setting in, but something was wrong here.
"Why?"
"Because you have nothing left. Everyone is dead." Sniffing the air, I realized Edwards scent was here, but not on him. I kept my expression smooth as I saw flaws. His eyes weren't that flat. His hair looked like it had been combed into perfection. Not Edward's disheveled style. And...in his smile there were no fangs!
"Carmen, get away from me." I whispered, and her eyes widened.
"Oh, you must be mistaking, love." I shook my head.
"Edward's going through his mid life crisis. He has fangs for the week." I got out of the car, and ran down the road. It didn't matter who saw. It was over. I arrived at the scene, and shoved past the reporters, to the real Edward, talking calmly to Carlisle. I hugged him from behind.
"Bella, where did you go?" He asked, picking me up and kissing my shoulder.
"Carmen pretended to be you, and was trying to convince me to take Aro's place. Come to think of it, she has your volvo about fifty miles out west." Anger flared in his eyes.
"I love you." He smiled, his fangs gleaming in the sunlight. "How did you find her out?" I snickered, touching his fangs gently. He laughed. "But she does present a good point. Shall you take the throne?" This was the Edward I knew. Leaving the decision purely up to me, carefully concealing the pain in his eyes. I bit my lip again.
"Keep your mouth shut, or they'll think we all have fangs." Carlisle cleared his throat.
"Bella, if you do take the throne, you can force all vampires to drink only animal blood. We could save the human race." I blinked, looking down. I either chose freedom for me, or life for everyone else. I knew the answer seemed so obvious, but I wasn't ready to give it all up. Why was it always me?
"Danger magnet." Edward whispered in my ear, guessing my thoughts. I laughed out loud.
"Kay, well we need to get these guys to leave." I suggested, pointing to the cameras. "Let's call a press conference." Carlisle nodded, and shouted.
"Everyone! There will be a press conference clearing everything up now. Please come here." Edward swung me up onto his shoulders, and soon there were microphones in my face, and lights in my eyes.
"Well, if you want to start, turn off those lights." It was immediately dark. "Okay. Any questions?" A million hands went up, just like in school. I pointed to the strawberry blonde girl from channel five.
"Are you vampires, and are you identical to the myths?" I smiled."We are certainly vampires. No, the myths are totally untrue. We sparkle in the sunlight, we have super speed and super strength. We don't sleep. We don't have to breathe. Our skin is rock hard, and cold. When you are bitten by a vampire, it takes three days for the venom to slip through your system." Again, the hands went up, and I picked another one, a guy with a black suit on.
"Do you in fact drink blood." I sighed. I had expected this.
"You must listen to my entire statement before judgment. Yes. We do drink blood. Most vampires do drink human blood. But we are different. We drink from animals. Humans are totally safe around those with gold eyes." Emmett popped up beside us.
"And green!" I rolled my eyes.
"And green." The hands went up again. Pointing randomly again, I prepared myself.
"Are there a lot of vampires?" I shook my head. I was tired, but I answered one more question.
"Will you take the throne?" I blinked. It was a vampire who asked the question. Bright...green eyes. I almost laughed, but that seemed undignified. Emmett was smiling brightly. But the other side of my mind was concentrating. Focused on the question. Edward squeezed my hand, giving it a quick kiss. My mind was swimming. I knew this choice would not only determine the rest of my life, but the destiny of every single human on this planet. Yeah, no pressure. In about a seventy-ninth of a second, I had ran through the pros and cons in my mind. The vampire realm needed a leader now more than ever. Humans upon humans would be saved. But there was a darker, bloodier side to the job. To make them obey me, I would need to build a reputation for myself. To do that I would have to kill. So it was my life, my soul, my morals, against the needs of the human population. In that split second, I made a decision that would change the face of reality for years to come. To the humans, I hesitated only a second. To me, I had waited hours.
"Aro Volturi was the leader and ruler of the vampire realm for thousands of years. His name alone struck fear into the hearts of every vampire on this earth. I would never be able to live up to that, to fill those shoes. But for the sake of humanity, I will try." No doubt to the humans, it was a meaningless fact, another factor in their lives. But to every vampire watching, it changed what they had known forever, literally. It was a huge twist of fate, sending everything sprawling. But I knew it was the right choice. Edward pulled me down, cradling me in his arms.
"Hello, my queen." He smiled crookedly. But...there was pain etched into his features.
"What's wrong?" I asked. He took a deep breath.
"Now you're a queen, and everyone else is just...lowly vampires. It's too much to ask for your love anymore." His eyes were adverted. I searched his features for any signs of humor.
"You're kidding, right? If I'm a queen, you're a king." His eyes were wide.
"Oh Bella, I love you so much..." He sat me in the passenger seat.
"As I love you." I smirked when he got in.
"Sometimes it feels like I'm taking too much from the world, and not giving enough away." I raised my eyebrows.
"Edward, two things. Number one, just existing on this earth is payment enough. Number two, you are the most selfless, generous, charitable person I will ever know." Holding his hand securely, we drove off in Carlisle's Mercedes. I knew the rest of the family and Jacob were in the back, but I ignored them for the moment. I just watched road after road pass us by. Soon we were at our house. But it looked abandoned. We passed it too.
"So, Queen Isabella, what is your first royal decree?" Carlisle joked, smiling.
"Well, Duke Carlisle, it is that our whole family will be together forever, royalty or not."
"Hey, if he's a duke, what am I?" Alice asked.
"You and Rose are the princesses!" I smiled. The light mood allowed me to shove aside the mysteries that still surrounded us.
"Score!" They giggled in unison.
"And Jazz and Emmett are princes, Esme's a duchess, and Edward is my king." He kissed my hand as I spoke.
"Barf. What am I, royal leech?" Jacob asked.
"Oh, you shall be my royal court jester." Everyone was laughing at that. "Which brings me to my second royal decree. Werewolves and vampires will forever live in harmony. No more of this stupid enemies nonsense." Jake chuckled.
"Harmony with a leech? Don't think so." We all smiled. We arrived at an airport. Our press conference was playing on every television there, and humans watched us as we walked through.
An hour later, we were sitting in a plane to Italy. Alice was sitting with Rosalie, looking glum. Jasper was sitting with Emmett.
"Okay. Third royal decree. Jazzy and Alice shall talk out their problem." I declared. Rosalie and Emmett gladly shifted seats. It was night. The rest of the passengers were all asleep.
"About the whole ex Volturi thing Jazz, I'm sorry. I should have told you, I know that now. I didn't because...I know how dearly you admire them, and...I was afraid I wouldn't live up to expectations." Jasper started laughing.
"You were afraid you were disappointing me? Oh Alice, never." He hugged her tight, kissing the top of her head. I smiled, resting my head against my own man's chest. It was hard to digest that I had gone from Bella Swan to Mrs. Bella Cullen to Queen Bella. Moving to Forks turned my whole life upside down. The plane landed. I felt a sense of finality about this whole thing. It was like we had come full circle. We had come here before to save a life, now it was to live our lives. Tomorrow, when the city awakened, news would spread, both vampire and human. I would arise as queen, and send out the order to prohibit human blood as a food source. I wearily walked hand in hand with Edward to the castle, and past it. Farther and farther we walked, going nowhere and not even getting there. We didn't speak. At least Edward was with me. At least the sun would rise, and I'd still be here, standing on the edge of a cliff we had reached, gazing out over the sleeping city. My city. At least for this here and now, everything was okay. Everything was safe. Everything was somewhat right. Edward sat, leaning against a tree. I sat carefully on his lap, and he held me close.
"I love you so much Edward. You don't even see." I sighed.
"I love you more." He stated simply, kissing the top of my head. I felt a gentle realization. I was wrong the whole time. Over and over I had compared us up against books, the works of fiction. Fantasies. This wasn't Romeo and Juliet sitting here. This was Edward and Bella. A combination in itself. A real life couple, with real life dreams to come true, adventures to be had, and lives to live. And when it came time, two real life souls to let loose to the heavens. We weren't some book characters. Our lives weren't written in stone. We had minds of our own to make up. Edward wasn't Romeo. I wasn't Juliet. Romeo and Juliet. Always together. Edward and Bella. Forever was no longer a metaphor. With the utter truth of my thoughts ringing in my ears, I leaned against my not-so-Romeo, and watched the sun rise, sending streaks of fragmented light across the sky, like an empty pane of shattered glass.