I made a swift decision that we needed to follow them. It seemed that just as I was about to unravel the entire mystery, Alice leapt into action, leaving me frustrated. I told myself it wasn't deliberate, she wasn't aware of me, or my frustration, she was just wholly focused on saving her latest Volturi victim. I quite liked her anyway, she seemed like she would be a good friend, and good fun to be with on a less serious occasion, but I still had unanswered questions and I knew I would never be at peace with myself until I had the whole story.
Diego was with me, right by my side as we fought through the dense undergrowth to catch them up. I knew then that this would always be the case. Diego and I would always be together. Any doubts that I had harboured in those few months of searching for him had been washed away by the emotions we had felt in our reunion. I could see it in his eyes. He felt the same. I came to a sudden stop suddenly remembering my other companion. "Fred!" I called loudly as I spun around, forgetting how good a vampires hearing was.
"OK, coming. No need to shout," called a voice from way behind us. "You could have warned me before taking off like that."
And then he was right with us. "I'll stay with you until we sort out whatever business they have here and then I'll go my separate way," he offered in a way that sounded like an apology.
I suddenly felt extremely guilty. Poor Fred, he had been such good company all through our epic journey south. We had become quite close, as friends. Since reuniting with Diego, I had hardly given him a second thought, had almost completely ignored him. Had he done that on purpose, had he masked himself to allow me some privacy?
"Aw there's no need for that Fred. Stay with us, for as long as you like," I assured him, smiling.
Diego conferred by nodding and adding, "Yeah, sure thing Fred, although you might want to turn that down a bit so we don't forget you are there," and he laughed.
Fred grinned. "Ok. Sorry, I was trying to be diplomatic, and then suddenly I was there on my own, instead of just wishing I was."
We hastened our pace again to try and catch the others. They were way ahead of us, but the trail was easy to follow. It had become more of a road, a dirt track, probably as a result of some of the deforestation that we had witnessed as we travelled through the Amazon. There was certainly evidence of man-made clearings and debris left behind by careless humans . I figured we were heading towards Rio now, although I had to admit, I hadn't been very good at Geography in school. I was looking forward to a human snack soon. With all the excitement of finding Diego and fitting some of the jigsaw together I had completely forgotten about my thirst, which now raged like a furnace in my throat.
Or was it the smell of humans that had triggered it? I was certainly aware of it now. The unmistakeable sweet scent of human blood, fresh venom was flowing freely in my mouth, completely over-riding any other thought processes, and right then, I knew I had to kill.
I veered off the dirt-track, swiftly followed by Fred and Diego. "Try and resist it Bree," Fred was calling out to me. I only vaguely heard him. As I climbed down the rocky terrain to where a fresh clearing had been made in the forest I could see we were not alone. The others were already there. Discarded remains of half a dozen humans lay heaped in a pile. I barely noticed the other vampires, I just concentrated on the two terrified humans who were backing away towards one of the huge trucks that had been driven there to remove the logs.
"Help yourselves," one of the Amazonian trio said. "We've had our fill."
I nodded quickly and then Diego and I made ready for our feast, crouching and hissing. A deep growl came from Diego as he lunged at one of them as he tried to climb into his truck. I chased after the other as he darted around the back of the truck.
"Aren't you going to...?" The same Amazonian asked Fred.
"Er, no. I'm ok, thanks."
"Don't worry, there are more along the way," she said.
"No, really I'm ok," Fred assured her. He didn't look ok though. He looked uncomfortable, as did Jasper I noticed as I finished my meal. Alice had turned her back to us and was heading back to the track.
"Quick, we can dispose of the bodies in the swamp behind the truck," one of the Amazons said.
"Food for the Cayman," the one called Zafrina agreed and the bodies were all removed as swiftly as the kill had been made.
"Um, thanks," I muttered ,"for sharing, I mean."
"No problem Bree," Zafrina said kindly. "There is plenty more where that came from. It is our way of controlling the deforestation," she explained with a wry grin on her face. "Of course, they keep sending more, but it at least slows the process. It will be a week or so before this lot are missed."
I had to smile to myself at the noble gesture to the protection of the planet that was being upheld here. Whilst the vampires would no doubt be seen as monsters by the human world, killing humans to sustain their existence, there were a few green crusaders who would probably condone the killings if it slowed down the decimation of the planet's natural resources.
I caught up with Alice who was waiting for the rest of us to join her on the dirt track. Diego had gone with the Amazons to make sure the bodies were buried in the swamp. Jasper remained motionless in the clearing. I couldn't figure out what he was thinking, his face was blank now. Fred was coming up behind me. I didn't need to look around, I could tell from his footsteps it was him.
"Sorry about that Alice," I offered. "I know it isn't your diet. I hope I didn't offend you?"
She looked distracted "Er no, it isn't. Don't worry, I'm ok with it though."
There was a pause and then she looked anxiously at Jasper who was just about visible through the sparsely scattered remaining trees. "I worry about Jasper," she confided, almost in a whisper. "He struggles a little with our diet sometimes."
"Oh," I said. Now I understood the look on his face. It was the longing for something forbidden, concentration and will-power.
"Does it not ever go away?" Fred asked her suddenly.
She looked surprised not only by his question, but by the intensity with which he had asked it.
"Not entirely." She looked a little sad and then continued,, "When I am with the rest of my family, it is easier. It is a way of life that we have grown used to and the thought of upsetting Carlisle and Esme after all they have done for us, well it doesn't bear thinking about. Poor Jasper struggles more than the rest of us though."
"Will you help me?" Fred asked her . "I am struggling too. I really wanted to dive right in there and had there been a spare human, I probably wouldn't have been able to stop myself."
"Yes, of course," Alice replied, smiling "But it takes years...years of practice and you have to be dedicated to it. You have to really want to succeed."
Fred assured he did.
While we were waiting for the others to return I decided it was a good time to ask one more question. "How do you do it Alice? How do you live with a human?"
She smiled sweetly and put one arm through mine and the other around Fred and led us away down the track. "Don't worry about them, they will catch us up in no time."
I could already hear them coming after us and I hoped they would give her enough space and time to continue her story.
"You see Bree, it is simply a question of love." She looked at me with such passion in her amber eyes, such intensity. "I love Bella, we all do. She is our sister, well, like a sister. When Edward first brought her into our lives it was clear that he would literally die for her. He almost did actually, but that's another long story. I would never do anything to hurt my brother and so we just accepted Bella as part of the family. It was fraught with danger, of course. There were times when I had to restrain Jasper." She paused as if she was trying to remember some of those times and her expression darkened.
"And then, of course there was the episode with James." She shuddered visibly.
I looked at her quizzically.
"James was Victoria's mate. A chance meeting with them started it all off really, the whole drama with the Volturi. James was a tracker. He wanted Bella badly, so bad he tracked us half way across America, to Phoenix, Arizona. Edward killed him, of course. But Bella ended up in hospital with a broken body and Victoria wanted her revenge. That was where you came in."
"Victoria's revenge?" I asked sheepishly.
"Yes," she replied and then glanced around at Jasper who had now caught up with us. "I was just explaining to these two young ones how we lived with Bella when she was human."
Jasper appeared to snort. He raised his eyebrows and commented, "It's a lot easier now."
"So Bella's not human now?" I asked.
"No, Edward changed her right after she gave birth to Renesmee," Alice confirmed.
"So, Bella gave birth to a vampire child?"
"No, not exactly, Renesmee is half-human, half-vampire actually. The experience nearly killed her. Renesmee was too strong for her. She literally broke her body, from the inside out. She would certainly have died as a mortal, so Edward changed her into one of us, which was what Bella had wanted anyway. The venom healed her body." Alice reflected again on something dark and terrifying. Her pretty features became almost contorted with the pain of the memory of it. "Of course, the Volturi thought we had created an immortal child. They were tipped off by someone we had considered a friend, but we don't dwell on that, it wasn't entirely her fault."
"No, she wasn't aware of the facts," Jasper added. "That is why I was so annoyed about the nomad Samuel spreading stories, without the facts. It's dangerous."
"Ok, I understand that now," I told them
"So," Alice continued, "The Volturi sent their entire army, including the elders, to investigate."
Jasper snorted again. "Investigate, well, that's one way of putting it I suppose."
"Hmm yes," Alice continued, "It was more of a massacre they had in mind really. But jasper and I had been here drumming up support, witnesses to our claim that Renesmee was not an immortal child. Do you understand what I mean by immortal child Bree?"
I nodded, "Samuel told us."
"Yeah, that figures," Jasper grumbled.
"So, anyway, while Jasper and I were here we wanted to investigate the rumours that there were more of these hybrids in existence, only in South America. The Volturi had no knowledge of them and so it was a huge relief when we uncovered Nahuel and managed to persuade him to come with us. We got there just in the nick of time. Aro was about to pass sentence on the whole family, and those that stood with us too probably."
"Can they do that?" I asked with a gasp of horror, "I mean, just wipe out a whole family?"
"Oh yes," Alice replied, "They can do anything. Aro, Caius and Marcus have been assembling an army of warriors for centuries. They have amassed a formidable army, each one of them possessing special skills. And if you tried to run away, they have one called Demetri who is the best tracker in the vampire world, you wouldn't get very far."
"Oh, that was going to be my next question. I was wondering why you couldn't hide out somewhere," I admitted.
"They would find you," Jasper said. "No problem."
The Amazonians were leading the way again now. They hadn't been interested in hearing Alice's story so I presumed they knew it already. Diego had been. He had come up behind and linked arms with me when Alice had let go to hold Jasper's hand.
Alice turned to Jasper, "Are you ok now my brave warrior?"
"Yes, I'm ok now. It took me by surprise. How I felt back there. It was difficult." He sighed.
"So are you two a couple then?" Diego asked.
"Yes," Jasper replied with a hint of a smile on his face, and then he turned to Alice and for the first time I saw real warmth and compassion flood through his normally harsh features. He loved her, there was no doubt about that.
"Our family is made up of four couples," Alice volunteered. "There is Carlisle, our founder and leader, and his wife Esme."
"Yes, I met them," I told her. "That day..." I trailed off.
"And there is Jasper and myself," Alice continued, "Edward and Bella, our newest addition, who also now have Renesmee, and also Emmett and Rosilee. That is our family." She said this with such pride it was not difficult to see bond that existed between them all. "You should come and visit us," She added cheerfully.
"I had wanted to, a while back, to thank you for sparing me that day, but I was afraid you would be angry," I said, apologetically.
"Don't be silly. We spared you, that was the main thing. We were just a bit concerned about the wolves. When we didn't hear from you we were afraid the wolves had got to you, but we felt sure that they would have told us. The pack have no secrets from each other and Edward, well Edward communicates with the pack."
I looked at her with yet another questioning look and so she explained, "He can read their thoughts too," and then she frowned and added somewhat dejectedly, "It doesn't work so well for me though," and as I shot her another questioning look she said, "I can't see them. They are outside of my range, so to speak."