Riiiiiiight, so yeah, sorry for the long time it took this, it was writers block. Gah. I hate it. This chapter is just going to be catching up with everyone else. Seth, Emmett and possibly Edward or Jacob (I might split this chapter into two or three). I'm thinking about maybe not writing in Jaspers pov so much, cuz he's in so much pain that it might be hard for him to get a good view of things. Don't worry, I'll get back to Alice soon enough! Please R&R! This chapter is dedicated to Emmetsetertainer for her HILARIOUS fanfics! And if you want a dedication, send a really good review or pm me or something. Btw, I've looked at all your profiles and I think jane-vivian-volturi's is the best, but most of the others are gr8 too!

Oh, and there's another reason this took me so long. I have found the ULTIMATE BELLA'S LULLABY!!!!!!!!!! it is better than Carter Burlwell's version by like, a million times. It makes "river flows in you" look crude and dull. For the true bella's lullaby, go to .com/watch?v=TMm-sdDTfUg&feature=channel_page and sorry for writing such a long a/n lol. I'll stop now.

10. Dead line

Emmett's pov

I watched the flicker of unease pass through Carlisle's face as we made our way to Volterra. Unlike him, I wasn't nervous in the slightest. I was angry about what happened to Alice and felt like a good fight. Of course, with just the four of us, we wouldn't win, but we might get to take a few of them out. Carlisle registered the look on my face and sighed.

"Easy, Emmett. We're all upset about Alice, but I don't want a fight if we can possibly avoid it."

"So what's the plan then? We just gonna walk in and ask them what the hell they've done to Alice?" Rose asked, fire in her beautiful eyes.

"No. We're just going to walk in and ask them politely if they know where Alice is."

I sighed loudly. It was no fun without any broken bones.

"Emmett, I'm just as angry as you are, but we're going to have to be pleasant." I pulled a face, but carried on walking at an annoying human pace towards the castle. We walked straight in, Carlisle leading, but me right behind. That woman, Gianna looked at us enquiringly.

"We need to see Aro," Carlisle said, his voice only slightly strained. Sometimes the way he was so calm really annoyed me.

"Is he expecting you?"

"I hope not," I muttered. Fights were much more fun with the element of surprise. Carlisle glared at me.

"He might be, but probably not in the way you mean. Tell him it's the Cullens and that its about Alice. He'll understand." Gianna nodded, looking quite confused, and spoke a few words into an intercom.

"He said to come in." Carlisle nodded and walked a lot more briskly to the huge oak door that lead into the Volturi's "living" room (or so he told me when we were planning what to do). I noticed, it had a large, boy shaped hole in it. It opened before his hand had even reached it, to reveal Aro standing there with a huge beam on his face.

Evil git.

"Carlisle!" he grinned, ushering us all into the room. "Its been too long! How are you?"

"I'm fine."

"So what brings you too my humble abode?"

I glanced around the extravagant tapestries and real original paintings and wondered in what world was this place described as "humble abode"

"Alice," Carlisle said, a grim sigh in his voice.

"What about her?" Aro said, frowning. I glanced pointedly around the room.

"Where's Jane today?" I asked, managing to sound curious and threatening today.

"Jane and Alec are on holiday."

"Uh-huh," I said, nodding. Carlisle glared.

"What's wrong with Alice?" Aro asked, looking angry now. Carlisle held out his hand and Aro took it without hesitation.

"Ah," Aro said, after a moment. "I assure you I've had nothing to do with this." He sounded very convincing.

"But Edward said Jane-"

"I said, I can assure you I've had nothing to do with this. Jane and Alec, of course, are free to do whatever they wish."

"Including kidnapping my little sister," I said, unable to control the snarl in my voice.

"Emmett," Carlisle warned.

"My apologies," I lied smoothly. "That was inexcusable of me."

"No, it was quite excusable, actually," Aro countered.

I held his gaze until he looked away, and looked around the room again, my eyes pausing on the huge bookcase by the door. On a single book actually – from here I could clearly read all their titles.

"I, er need a moment," I said, much to everyone's surprise. I wasn't exactly known for my sensitivity. "I'll meet you outside, 'kay?"

"Do you want me to come?" Esme asked, looking worried.

"No, I want to be alone." Without another glance, I walked briskly out the room, my wrist flicking out at the last moment to grab a book and hide it under my jacket. Once I was safely outside I took it out.

It was old and yellowing, with the title written in red, like the small illustration underneath. It was titled Le Rouge et le Noir.

Now, I know I'm not as bright as my brothers and sisters, and I don't like to spend every other night learning whatever language, but I knew enough French for that.

Le Rouge et le Noir.

The Red and the Black.

Red and black. That was the only thing Alice had been thinking about before she disappeared completely.

Five minutes later, I had got no further in figuring out what the hell was going on, when Carlisle, Esme and Rose came out.

"What I miss?" I asked.

"Not much. Either Aro's lying to us or Jane's lying to him. When we asked where Jane and Alec were holidaying, he said France. Then, he tried to phone them, but the hotel said that there was no one by that name staying there."

"Why did you leave?" Rose asked suddenly. "And spare me the "I need a moment" crap. You're the least "needing a moment" person I know."

"I nicked this," I said, holding the book up. Esme instantly began scolding me.

"Emmett! I know you don't like the Volturi, but stealing is inexcusable!"

"And why would you want this book?" Carlisle continued, also angry. "You're not a big reader, and I never thought nineteenth century literature was your thing."

"Carlisle. Look at the title," I said.

"Le Rouge et le Noir." He said, not getting it. "Considered to be the world's first realist novel. What's that got to do with anything?"

"The red and the black," Rose whispered, finally understanding.

"Exactly," I said, feeling quite pleased that I'd been the first to figure it out. Carlisle made a little gasp of realisation as I leafed through the book.

"I see your point. Do you think Alice was trying to get a message to us via the book?"

"Why not? She's done it before." Our flight wasn't for a couple more days, so we discussed the matter all the way back to the hotel. I absentmindedly leafed through the book, and summarised that it was about a poor carpenter's son who used his talents to get a better life. I couldn't see any relevance of what was happening with Alice.

When we got to the hotel, I logged onto my laptop. And Edward thought bringing y laptop was a silly idea. Of course, when he thought that, I was only thinking about using it to play fighting games on, but still. First of all I typed in "The red and the black". There was just loads of stuff about the book, nothing I could decode to reveal some magic message about Alice. Feeling frustrated, I looked through pirate copies of the film version, listening over and over again. Then feeling, frustrated, I typed in the authors name, Stendhal, punching the letters in hard, keeping my finger on the L afterwards, typing in Stendhalllll.

Did you mean Stendhall? The search engine said.

I shrugged and clicked on it, and then on the first link my mouse was near, which was the third or fourth one down.

Visit Stendhall, the ancient castle that was once believed to house Italian vampires!

Bingo! I thought, reading on.

Legends say that over 500 years ago, the legendary cold ones were driven out of this place by St Marcus of Italy on his travels in America. His family is still in possession of the castle that is located in Washington DC and open it to the public every year from May through September. Click here to purchase tickets.

I clicked on the link.

We regret to inform you that this year the castle will not be open in the month of August due to being used by the family of St Marcus, but reopens on September 1st. Special features include

I stopped reading and looked at the clock. 0:24. It was very, very early on August 29th. If Stendhall was going to reopen on September 1st, that meant Jane, Alec, and much more importantly Alice, would have to be out of there by then. That meant one of to things.

One was that on August 31st Jane was going to let Alice go and skip merrily back to the Volturi.

Ha. That'll be the day.

But that option – impossible as maybe – was a lot preferable to the second.

"Carlisle!" I yelled. He was there in a nanosecond; along with Esme (Rose was taking a shower).

"What is it Emmett?"

"The good news is I know where Alice is being kept." Esme's face lit up, but Carlisle was frowning.

"And the bad news?" he queried, looking grave. I swallowed hard. Saying it would make it so much more real.

"She's going to die within the next two days."

Sorry it's not long, but I thought that would be a good time to end it. Please R&R, more coming soon!