10. HOWL
Low growls sounded in the mostly silent chamber. Our unexpected guest's face was frightened, much different than I remembered.
Marcus's face, so bored, so uninterested the last time I saw him was alarmingly alert. His eyes were cloudy red, yet they were tinted with black rings around the edges.
"Marcus," Carlisle spoke, his voice somehow soft amid the tense atmosphere.
"Carlisle, my friend," replied Marcus, his eyes apologetic. "There is so much for me to explain, and so much more for me to answer for." He bowed his head, looking saddened.
"How much time do we have?" Carlisle asked, both to he and to Alice at the same time.
Alice's eyes clouded over. Perhaps Aro or Caius or both weren't figuring the wolves in this time. Alice looked slightly troubled. But then her eyes brightened in speculation.
"They aren't factoring the wolves in their newest plan! I can see!" she declared, the music returning to her voice. "Aro wants to hold it out as long as possible, but Caius wants to just attack us now. Aro won't allow it. He had one of his newborns, Kereana, use her gift to unable the rest of the newborns to move or think. Caius can't disobey Aro now. Not yet, anyway. We may have a while!"
Her smile was wide. I could almost hear the cogs in her head conjuring up plans.
Marcus nodded, his guilty frown still prominent on his face.
"I have left my brothers behind," he explained. "I have stayed silent for far too long. Aro knew that I would someday leave. Caius is glad I'm gone, but Aro might want me back in the family. But I have come to join you, my friend, Carlisle, to help you in every way humanly possible."
Jacob laughed slightly at my side. Marcus's use of the word "humanly" was more than ironic. I held him tightly to me.
Marcus's glance shifted to Jacob and I for half of a moment before he looked back at Carlisle. For that second, I thought he was perturbed by Jacob's laughing. But a slight smile from Edward told me different. He was a tad alarmed by mine and Jacob's closeness. I had forgotten about Marcus's ability to detect relationships.
But he didn't seem to give it another thought. I doubted we were the first ever gay couple he had met in his 3,000-and-something-or-other years.
"First, you must explain this grave news you have mentioned," Zafrina said, her eyes still wild with disbelief.
Marcus bowed his head and frowned again.
"One of the young ones, one of the Seattle coven," he began. My stomach flipped over on his side. What could have happened? "One of them, the youngest, Josh, has been abducted by my brothers."
Low gasps and growls filled the room, some of them coming from the young wolves in the corner. I gasped as well. This was one of the two that Alice had told me little about.
"They plan to kill him as an example."
"No," Jasper muttered, putting his face in his hands.
"Aro is going to murder him?!" Bella was enraged. "He's just a child!"
"In all fairness, love," Edward said at her side. "He is older than you by a year, if you add up his physical age and the-"
"So what?!" Rosalie shouted. She was as against innocent death nearly as much as Bella. "He's still a child! It is in no way right to let this happen!"
"What is there that we can do, Rosalie?" Jasper yelled.
"You already know what!" she shouted back.
"We have to save him!" Bella screamed. "Somehow, right now!"
"I agree entirely!" Emmett said boisterously at the same time Esmé said, "Yes."
"So do I!" said Sam.
"Not saving him would be just as bad as sending one of the younger wolves to die!" Jacob yelled from my side. I flinched, and in one second, both of his arms were around me.
"There doesn't appear to be any other choice!" Sam yelled.
"What if it's a set-up?" Jasper countered, turning towards Marcus. Alice was at his side instantly. "How do we know you're not setting this up for our destruction?" But he already knew that answer.
"He's not," Edward said, putting a hand on Jasper's tense shoulder. "He's here to do what he said, nothing else. Marcus is here to help."
"But what if Aro is making this a trap anyway?" Alice said.
"You would've seen it, I presume," Marcus replied. I assumed he knew nearly as much as Aro did.
This seemed to satisfy both Alice and Jasper, who backed away in thought.
It had quieted down now, a little bit.
"We have to do something, now, this very hour if we can," Bella was saying, taking control. "I won't let the boy die this way, or any other way."
Bella's motherly instincts were taking over. And she was absolutely determined.
"Marcus," Edward said. His tone was different. "I must warn you, out of precaution, that your thoughts are being closely monitored."
Marcus nodded, his facial expression still the same as it was before.
I shuddered at Jacob's side. The notion of what would happen if Edward were to detect one accidental mutinous thought in Marcus's head was as horrifying as anything.
"Marcus, we have to know where Aro and Caius are," Bella said, her voice battle-ready.
"If they're still in the area, that will make it easier," Jasper speculated.
"No," Marcus said, his voice again solemn. "They were planning to stay, but now that I have left them, it is possible that they are leaving for Volterra."
I felt unease ripple through our small army. Even thinking about attacking Volterra was impossibly painful. The Volturi's city, the safest city in the world, was the last place we would ever try.
"But there is one other place they may be heading," said Carlisle, grinning.
"Ah," Edward breathed, also smiling. "I didn't think of that."
My beloved's brow furrowed as we watched the display of plans and revelations. Carlisle turned towards our group and explained.
"There is a small island off the coast of Florida that the Volturi hold as a secondary fortress, in case Volterra where to be taken," Carlisle said. Bella scoffed at the idea of the Volturi's impenetrable city being taken down. "Aro named it Isla Didyme, after his sister."
He didn't mention the fact that Didyme was also Marcus's mate, and that Aro had murdered her. Marcus blinked at this and his lips twitched a little.
"It is more of a stronghold than Volterra, but it doesn't have the exact same security measures that Volterra holds for them," Carlisle continued. "I would know, because I helped design it."
I nodded in slight admiration. How many jobs could Carlisle do?
"It is nearly impossible to find, because one of the Volturi Guard that is posted there has the ability to manipulate vision, similar to Zafrina. The illusion he creates is what renders the island undetectable except by the Volturi, and myself."
Alice jumped a little.
"If that's their plan, then we will need to be fast! Florida is much quicker to access for them than Italy, because of the distance from here."
"Alice is right," Tanya said, flipping her hair out of her eyes.
I thought for a few moments as the plans and everything like that continued. Only tiny parts of their ongoing debates stuck in my mind. Did they all have to be so morbid?
Death... burn... destruction... blood...
I nestled against Jacob's shoulder, and frowned.
Everyone in this room knew what was coming.. A war really was coming, and fast.
War. The word hit me like a torpedo. My stomach heaved, and I could feel the room grow colder. If Jacob hadn't been holding me, I would've most likely fallen apart. War...
I remembered so vividly last December, a memory and a feeling that were subdued by Jacob's new presence in my life. The horrible low ache in the pit of my stomach was just as bad as it had been now.
War. War means fighting. War means battlefields. War means...
War means death.
I could feel sweat beginning to form on my forehead as all the air heaved from my lungs with a sharp sound. Jake's eyes were on me then. We were both standing, but I knew that my feet wouldn't be working right. I leaned against him and tried to breath again.
"Can we go outside?" I whispered. I knew it wouldn't be of any use, since every person in this room had super-natural hearing.
And then he was pulling me towards the back doors, out to the patio by the pool. The change in the atmosphere was helpful, but not as much as it should have been.
The feeling of imminent doom didn't help much either.
"Seth, man, are you okay?" He set me in a chair, and got down on his knees, holding me by the shoulders.
I tried again to breathe right.
"This is a war, Jacob," I said, my voice shaky. The pain in my voice was dominant over everything.
He nodded slowly, his face still worried.
"A war..." I swallowed dryly. "War means... death."
Deeper understanding filled his dark eyes. Jacob looked away for a few moments.
"We have no idea what's gonna happen, Jake," I said, my hand acting on its own to reach up and touch his face. "All this has happened so fast. Another Volturi threat, you deprinting on Nessie, and then we're suddenly together... getting attacked in the forest, all of this is just happening so fast."
His dark eyes met mine again.
"There's no telling what will happen now, Jacob," I said, my voice shaky again.
He reached up and held my hand to his face, and closed his eyes.
I couldn't bear to say what I meant to say.
If something happens to you... No. Out of the question.
"Seth," he said, his voice slow, sure, and warm. "I know you're worried about me. Don't be. You just got me, and there won't be anything, not even some stupid vampire army that could rip us all to shreds- there won't be anything that can ever tear us apart."
I let that sink in. Then I smiled. I had never really said anything about something happening to him specifically, but he could see right through me.
His eyes opened, and he smiled too, his eyes full of life. I couldn't believe that the God that created such an amazing person could have even dreamed up the threat upon our lives, the Volturi.
"And I don't plan on letting anything happen to you either," he continued. His face changed. His smile shrunk a little and his eyes hardened. "Ever."
My smile shrunk with his, and my brow furrowed for the millionth time today.
"What time is it?" he asked suddenly.
"Um," I said, blinking. I glanced at my watch, which I had worn for the trip to Port Angeles that seemed so long ago, though it had only been hours. "3:00 in the morning."
He nodded and glanced back towards the house. We could see everyone, vampire, werewolf, and hybrid alike through the colossal glass window. Everyone was still turned towards Carlisle, Marcus, and the others, but there seemed to be a lot of talking going on.
I started to stand. "Maybe we should-"
"It's fine, they'll fill us in later," my russet-skinned angel said, pushing me back down gently with his soft hands.
A tap on the window made me jump.
I turned to see Embry standing at one of the clear glass doors, an awkward look on his face. He motioned for one of us to come to him.
"I'll go," I said, jumping up before he could object.
Embry opened the door slightly.
"Yeah?" I said, feeling a little awkward because Embry was.
"Um," he stuttered. "The pack wants to talk to you and Jacob."
I flushed deep red before replying.
"Uh, where, when?"
"By the pool. It's kinda urgent, so right now."
Embry bit his lip before motioning the rest of the pack forward. I hadn't noticed, but the entire pack had been watching our little conversation. I backed up to Jake, who had overheard. Jacob grimaced as the rest of the pack came outside.
Every one of them wore some kind of awkward or embarrassed face, except Leah, who looked extremely smug. The pack didn't sit, probably because Jacob and I were not. They all stood, scattered in a messy half-moon.
No one said anything for a long time, but when someone did speak, it was me.
"So did you guys come out here just to stare at your own feet, or did this have a reason?" I realized I was irritated. Maybe because I knew the pack was going to be difficult.
Jacob put his arm around me, to stop me from punching someone, probably.
Paul muttered something incoherent before turning to us, red in the face.
"So what now?" he fumed. "Are you two fairies suddenly a... a thing?!"
"Calm down, Paul, jeez," Warren, one of the preppier new wolves, said.
"Are you freaking joking?" Paul snapped, pointing his hand at us. "It's gross!"
"Shut up, homophobe!" Jared said, hitting him on the arm with the back of his hand. "They didn't do anything personal against you."
"Don't be stupid, Paul," Gary said, scowling.
I was surprised that some of them were actually defending us. Of course, Paul was making me kinda mad.
"You guys really want to have those two fruitcakes in your heads from now on?" he seethed, still red in the face.
"That is kinda weird," Iliana whispered. She looked just as awkward here as everyone else.
There was some more silence.
"I think if you two are happy, than we should be," Quil said.
"Me too," Embry said.
Warren, Gary, Michael, Jared, Brady, Ricky, and Steven nodded awkwardly.
Chris, Iliana, and Collin didn't say anything, or nod, but a few of them shifted uncomfortably. Leah just stared at Jacob and I, trying not to laugh.
Paul rolled his eyes and shook his head, pursing his lips. I found Paul's willful ignorance shitty and reasonless.
"So really, what did you come out here for?" Jake barked, mostly to Paul.
"A confirmation," Sam said, smiling a still awkward smile. "Now that we've got it, I guess we can leave you... uh, alone again."
Then the wolf pack began to file back into the house. Paul shot us one last grossed out glance before he went inside. When they were all inside, Jacob sat down and let out a husky laugh.
"What?" I smiled. His laugh was intoxicating; I found it impossible not to smile.
"That was fun," he said, smiling down at me. Well, actually, he didn't really have to look down that much anymore.
"Ya know, pretty soon," I said, smiling smugly, "you're going to have to look up at me."
He made a funny face.
"What the heck does that mean?" he said, jokingly.
"Look at me!" I laughed. "Just yesterday, you said I was getting taller!"
"Well, yeah," he said, sitting down. "But I never said you were going to be taller than me!"
I wasn't so sure about that. I remembered the last time I had been measured, I was 5'7". Now I was about 6 feet tall, maybe 6'1".
Like it made a difference. Jacob was still a freaking seven foot tall beast! Not to mention that he was muscled up the way no normal eighteen year old would be. I guess I was muscled up too, but not like he was. What the crap did Billy feed him? Growth hormones?
Jacob tousled my hair playfully as I sat down on the ground, crossing my legs, and rested my head against his knee.
"We're going to be going to that island now, aren't we?" I asked. The thrill of adventure hadn't really hit me yet. "That'll be fun. Hula dancing and all that good stuff."
My Jacob laughed raucously before he leaned down and kissed the top of my head.
"I love you, Seth," he said.
I looked up at him and smiled brilliantly before I countered:
"You have no idea!"