I pulled into the driveway sloppily, and we ran towards the voices. Everyone was in the woods behind the house a few miles back, just like the first time they had come, back in Forks eight years ago. My heart was racing (metaphorically, of course) and I somehow felt dizzy. Nervous. What where they here for? The question that had been quietly nagging in the back of my mind was now screaming. I grabbed the back of Edwards' shirt right before we got into the clearing, making him come to a halt.
"I need to get to my daughter!" he whispered, gritting the words through his teeth.
"We need to listen for a minute. Figure out what's going on first. Does anybody know we're here?" I asked.
He glared at me for a moment, and then an expression of nervous understanding came into his eyes. "No, nobody knows. We're still about half a mile away from them."
We both listened closely, looking in the direction of the speaking.
"…sorry Carlisle! They surprised me, I hadn't been looking because for days now, they weren't planning on coming for another few days," Alice was saying to Carlisle.
"It's all right, Alice. They are our friends." Carlisle lied to her. His voice got louder, and we could tell that he had now turned to face the Volturi. "Welcome!" he called.
I looked at Edward and smirked, knowing that they were everything but.
"Carlisle Cullen, it is good to see you again! Esme, might I say, you look lovelier every time I see you." Aro's voice drawled.
"Thank you very much, Aro," Esme said in her sweet, high voice.
"What brings you?" Carlisle asked. Right down to business.
"Oh, we just thought we would stop by and see how your family is doing. You really did not need to assemble the troops." I could hear the smile in his voice. "Renesmee, is that really you? You used to be so tiny. How the time goes by, is that right?"
Renesmee said nothing.
"Ah, a bit shy, are we?" Aro continued.
"I do not speak to murderers who have tried to ruin my family." Came her only response.
"We have not tried to ruin your family." Marcus growled. "We have only done our jobs of making the vampire world a better place. If anything, we have helped your family," he spat.
"Now, now, Marcus," Aro said in his soothing voice. "She is young. She will understand in time."
Edward gritted his teeth, tensing up.
"What?" I asked.
"He's holding a hand out to her, coaxing her forward," Edward said, just as Aro's voice came floating through the trees to us.
"Come here, Renesmee, let me get a better look at you."
Edward ran faster than I'd ever seen him go, and I followed closely. Edward jumped in front of Renesmee and Bella with a defensive growl. Bella had her arm around Renesmee, pulling her away from Aro, a look matching Edwards on her face. There was a thirty foot gap between both groups. Carlisle stood closest to the Volturi, and I went to stand behind him, in case I was needed to protect him and everyone else. Ready to blow up a force field or give them all massive migraines.
"It's the newborn," Caius said under his breath, as if seeing me had been greatly anticipated.
"Jacob Cullen. So nice to see you." Aro smiled at me.
"Wasn't so nice the first time, though, was it?" I asked.
Aro did not say anything, only smiled. I folded my arms across my chest, casually. "Perhaps… perhaps my brothers and I gave you the wrong impression of ourselves. We are not the bad guys, as all of you look at us. We are here simply to maintain peace."
"Yet you kill innocent humans every time you get a little thirsty. Mass murder. Very peaceful." I said.
"We get thirsty, just as you do. Nothing is as seductive as the scent of human blood. A treat we get for taking care of our world. How you do not drink the human blood, is beyond me. It amazes me."
"Perhaps you should try it sometime before judging. You say you're peaceful; you try to maintain peace and prevent murder. You travel all over the world to cover up mass murders by other vampires, yet you do it yourselves. Filthy hypocrites. You are no better than them. You're not civilized. You're just monsters, very, very old monsters. We do not drink human blood, because it is murder. A murder of someone with a mind, soul, family, friends, loved ones. People who will be missed. How you can manage to drink their innocent blood is beyond me. I am the one who is amazed." Disgust was dripping off of my every word, and the more I looked at those monsters, the more I hated them. Aro's brothers both tensed up, looking at me angrily.
"Now, now," Aro said, putting his hands on each of their shoulders. "Our friend here is young, and he has only had a mere taste of the lives we indulge in."
"What are you here for?" Rosalie asked. "Renesmee hasn't done anything wrong. Can't you just let her, let our family, live in peace?" Anger shot through the air in her every word, and Jasper sent a wave of peace through her. Her face got slightly calmer.
"We aren't here for your niece, or sister, or whatever it is she is posed as," Jane smirked, standing off to the side of the Volturi. "We couldn't care less of what that child is doing."
"Then what, exactly, are you here for?" Edward asked.
Jane smirked. "Your brother here."
Everyone else followed her gaze to me.
"No." Esme said, sounding ready to attack. The most menace I had ever heard in her voice. The Volturi all looked frightened for a moment, and all on our side looked shocked.
"It is true," Aro said. "Only it was not intended for our purpose to be put out so bluntly." He glared at Jane.
"Esme, let me handle this," I said, trying to comfort her. I turned to the Volturi and spat, "No."
"But what you could do for us!" Marcus whispered. "Such a beautiful, powerful ability. Wouldn't you even consider?"
"I think his decision is final." Carlisle said flatly. "If you could please get off of my property, now…"
"We will not leave without your son," Caius said.
"Now, now, Caius," Aro told his brother. "We will leave now." He said to Carlisle. "But you will find…" his eyes met mine. "That we can be very persuasive when we need to be." He turned, placing hands on his brother's shoulders, turning them along with him. They retreated into the trees, followed by the few others they had brought with them. Jane lingered, giving us one last evil glance, before turning and following her leaders. Suddenly, she turned and shot a wave of pain toward us all. Bella and I were quick to react. She quickly shielded everyone, while I shot my own torture to Jane. The wave of translucent white hit Jane hard, and she flew to the ground, screaming in pain.
Her brother turned first, Alecs' mist shot towards me, and Bella shot a wave over me. I used his moment of hesitation due to shock and annoyance, to shot his power back at him. Blind I thought, and his power obeyed me. "I can't see!" he screamed.
The other Volturi were back quickly. Chelsea hit Bella with her powers, and Bella removed her shield from me, giving me an evil look. Her power was to break ties between people, kill any relationship. A bit like mind control. I shot pain at her, and Alec tried to take advantage of that by having a go at me again. Alice tackled him and beheaded him.
"STOP!" Aro shouted. "Withdraw!" All of his deviants stopped attempting their powers. "Chelsea, return Bella her ties with Jacob at once."
Bella suddenly gasped. "Jacob…" she sounded horrified.
"It's fine, Bella. It's not your fault." I said. She still looked horrified, and Edward went to her and whispered something in her ear. I turned my attention back to the Volturi, and whatever awaited us.
"I am very sorry that they attacked, against my orders," Aro apologized. "Alice, if you could please put Alec's head back on…"
"Sorry," Alice said, brushing herself off and picking Alec's head up, placing it back on his tense body.
"That's quite all right. Come all," Aro said, this time making sure his guard all departed before him. He stopped with his back to us, and stood still as the rest of his group went on. Finally, he turned and looked at me. "Remember, Jacob Cullen. We are very, very persuasive." And with that, he turned and walked swiftly off.