Chapter Eleven
Bella
How could Jane have more powerful allies than the others? Who was left for her to enlist? Were Harriet, Ellie, and Dee working for Jane? If they were then she was formidable and already had us at a disadvantage.
"Is there any way Felix could find out who took our friends?"
"He's trying but he has to be extremely careful Bella, or he could lose his own life."
"Who is Felix standing with?" Jazz asked
"He's walking a dangerous line at the moment, Aro thinks Felix is solidly behind him and has sent him to Jane's camp as a spy. If Jane finds out he will be killed, if Aro finds out he is in contact with outsiders, especially you, then he dies."
"How does he get his messages out?"
"We have a secure method, that's all you need to know. It could be dangerous for me to tell you too much, after all you may turn out to be an enemy in years to come and Annie taught me to keep as much to myself as possible. So I can only tell you what is relevant. I'm expecting news from him in a few hours. We may even find out where some of your friends are. Major, you still think Peter was snatched by Maria?"
"Yes, I think Jane, or someone, offered her him as payment for her services. Her newborns would give someone the numbers and if there are enough of them we could be in trouble, our own numbers are so small. Someone knows how to undermine a strong enemy."
"And Rose and Emmett? You think they were taken purely to keep your numbers down too? I think there may be more to it than that. I think whoever took your friends will be offering them back soon in return for your help."
"Help? To do what?" They'd lost me.
Jasper smiled and nodded his head,
"We aren't the enemy, we're merely a valuable resource."
"I don't understand"
"Its very simple Bella. No one wants a fight us, we have you, and your gift, which would make it almost impossible to beat us. So, the various factions are trying to gain us as allies. We are the prize Bella, not the adversary."
"So whoever can force us to work with them will get ultimate control of the Volturi?"
"Exactly. So it may be different factions responsible for the disappearances. It could be that Jane holds Emmett and Rose, while Caius has Charlie, and Aro has Peter, or some other permutation."
"But if that's the case we can't save everyone, whoever we choose to stand with will mean death for any of our friends not held by that side."
I was horrified by this thought.
"I'm afraid so, unless we can find out where the others are and launch a rescue bid. It would shorten the odds of losing so many, of course I could be wrong"
"But you don't think you are?"
"No. Its how I would play it and the Volturi are master tacticians."
Jasper
I watched as Bella took it all in, realizing if Felix didn't come up with some information on where our friends were then we would have to choose who to back and hope we could save the biggest number of hostages. I'd told her war was hell, now she was finding out for herself."
"How can we choose who to save Jazz? How do you make that kind of decision?"
"You don't have any other options Bella. It will come down to a choice in the end and all we can do is try to cut the numbers. I believe Peter is in Mexico, either dead or under sentence of death. He'll be the most difficult to save and I think we have to accept we have probably lost him."
"What if we help the faction that took him? We'd get him back then"
"No. Maria wont let go of him whatever she's commanded. She's waited too long Bella."
"So you're washing your hands of him? But he's a close friend"
"I know, but he'd do the same if the reverse were true."
I could see she wasn't happy about this but it was the simple truth. If Maria had Peter, and I truly believed if she was involved then she would have him, there was no chance of saving him even by helping the faction she was working for. I saw Johnny glance at her before speaking,
"Bella, leadership means making important and sometimes harsh decisions. That's just a fact of life."
She shook her head,
"I can't just forget one of our friends like that."
"Then its a good job you aren't the one making the decisions. Now we wait for Felix to report in."
Bella
We waited but I couldn't sit down, in fact I couldn't keep still. It was just cruel to wash our hands of a good friend the way Johnny and Jazz wanted me to. There had to be a way of saving him too, there just had to be. I saw Johnny take his cell phone out and realized Felix had finally reported in. It was difficult to wait while he read the message first but I saw a slight smile cross his features and knew we had some good news coming.
"OK, Felix has reported in and he has some good news for us. It seems Aro and Caius have come to an understanding. Neither of them wants to lose to Jane and her band of rebels and they are both afraid that independently they just might, which means we only have two enemies to fight. He also found out where some of your friends are, or at least who is holding them. I'm very sorry Bella but The Major was right. Maria is holding Peter, but she hasn't gone back to Mexico, she is greedy and she's hoping to pick up some stragglers."
"Is she holding Peter around here?"
"Felix doesn't think he's been transported to Mexico because Jane wants to use his death as a threat."
"So Maria is working with Jane. Do we know who else she has working with her? It must be some powerful gifts or Aro and Caius would just crush her."
"Yes true. Apart from those we already know she has lured Demetri away from Aro and she's offered Vladimir and Stefan positions of power if they join her."
"Good move, but that still doesn't give her the edge over Caius and Aro."
"No, but Bella would, and its Jane who holds Charlie."
"So Jane had Charlie's hand cut off?"
"Yes Bella I'm afraid she did and she's more than prepared to go further if necessary to get you aboard."
"I can protect Charlie from here now. So she'll lose her bargaining chip."
"Only if you are willing to lose Peter."
"I may be able to protect both of them."
"Then you quite possibly lose Rose and Emmett. Someone will have to be sacrificed, you can't protect everyone, don't forget you'll need to protect yourself and your mate too."