Title: Family Value
Rating: PG-13 - language
Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to Twilight. Its all Stephenie Meyers!
Summary: With the Cullen's value as vampires increasing, the Volturi pay an expected visit.
Tonight, Alice had planned a movie night in the upstairs theatre. Edward and I had accepted, though I was not entirely fond of the idea of watching movies with just the two of them. Alice had a tendency to employ her psychic abilities to determine the end of the movie before it was finished, and naturally, Edward used his own talents to steal the knowledge from her. I always ended up being the only one remaining who was surprised at the ending.
Edward and I entered the room to find Alice sitting on the couch staring vacantly at the blank screen. We both knew immediately that she was having a vision of the future.
"Awe! Come on Alice…" I protested, "You can't find out how the movie ends before we even start it!" I gave her a light, playful shove. Her head snapped forward and her suddenly panicked eyes met Edwards.
"Shit." He groaned, "Are you sure?"
Certainty flashed in her eyes.
"Damnit." He cursed again.
"WHAT!?" I shouted.
"Volturi." Alice spoke without breaking eye contact with Edward.
"No, here? Now? When?"
"Yes, here. 10 minutes."
"Bella, we need to talk to Carlisle, now."
I nodded. We had never gotten the opportunity to discuss my freakish tracking ability with Carlisle yet. Now was the time. If the Cullen's hadn't already appealed enough to the Volturi with Alice and Jaspers talents in tow, once I was added to the equation, and even Jasper, the situation would only get worse.
I followed Edward quickly up the stairs to Carlisle's office. He burst through the door without knocking.
"Carlisle, the Volturi are coming."
"Ah," Carlisle looked up from his newspaper indifferently, "Good, they are probably here to check on Bella's change."
"Bella is a tracker." Edward blurted out.
Carlisle's eyes got big and as he looked at me, "Bella?" He questioned.
"Yeah, I know, I'm a freak." I muttered
He ignored me and turned back to Edward. "Are you sure?"
"Carlisle, they're really coming," I misinterpreted his question, "They're 12 miles away - running at 97 miles per hour. There are 12 of them. Jane and Caius are the only ones I recognize. They will be here in about 5 minutes."
"That's not what I meant, Bella, but that answers my question anyways. A sense of smell that sharp can only belong to a tracker."
I looked down at my feet as Edward jumped in again
"When Alice and Bella came to Italy to save me, the Volturi made quite clear how valuable our power was to them. They made themselves almost impossible to refuse when it was just Alice and myself present with power. Now with Jasper and Bella added to it…." He trailed off.
"I see.." Carlisle frowned. "If we just don't mention-"
"No. They expressed a strong interest in seeing how Bella turned out. It was impressive enough to them that she had the talent of immunity as a human, they took an immediate interest in her outcome after the change." Edward explained.
Alice suddenly burst in the door. "They're here." Edward, Alice, and I all whispered in unison.
"Alice. Keep Jasper away, the less they know of him - the better." I warned
"Good idea." She bolted off to find Jasper.
"Let me do the talking." Carlisle admonished grimly as we began walking down the stairs to meet our guests. As we descended the Eastern staircase, Esme and Alice mirrored our movement on the West.
"They're talking outside." Edward informed us. "They're deciding who to send in."
"They're going to decide on Caius and Jane, since they've been introduced to us before." Alice added.
A knock sounded at the door.
"Jane and Caius." I confirmed. "The other ten are waiting 100 feet away from the house in case of trouble."
"Jane, Caius! What a wonderful surprise!" Carlisle greeted them warmly.
"Thank you, Carlisle. Though, its hardly a surprise, I'm sure." Jane smiled without emotion as she threw a glance in Alice's direction.
"Will you be staying?" Esme asked in a hostess-like manner.
"No, I'm afraid that we wont be able to stay for long." Jane replied indifferently, "We are here on Aro's business, and we are all rather hungry. I won't lie, I expected a snack would be awaiting us here." Her cold eyes fell accusingly on me, "But I see that I was mistaken."
A low growl rumbled within Edward's throat. I gave his arm a forceful squeeze, not wanting him to make the situation any worse than what it was already.
"Bella," Jane continued, "I'll admit that I am rather surprised to see you…..aliv - ah, well… still here. I thought for sure that Edward lacked the resistance to change you without killing you."
Edward tensed again.
"Edward did very well, actually." I responded as calmly as I could.
"I see." Her voice was cold. "When we found out that you had moved, we assumed that you were either running from Bella's death, or hiding from us. You understand why we had to investigate, I'm sure, but it seems that Bella is still here, and a vampire no less, so your move could not be due to any of those reasons. Why, then-" She questioned.
Carlisle stepped up immediately. "Bella could not remain where people would recognize her after the change. It was time for a new location anyways."
"I see." Jane's piercing and disbelieving red eyes flicked between Carlisle and myself. They contained none of the friendliness that she had forced into her voice. "I'm interested, though, to hear about this change. How have you been coping with your new lifestyle?" She directed her new stream of questioning at me.
"Fine." I responded curtly.
"Fine?" She raised her eyebrows in a evil smirk.
"We encountered no problems." Carlisle confirmed.
"And now?" She pressed, "has she developed any unusual talents?"
"Her sense of smell is abnormally strong, and she is still immune to a lot of talents." Carlisle covered.
"Funny, my sources have described her as one of - if not the most - talented tracker in existence. I find it hard to believe that a man of your education would not recognize that immediately." She smirked. I saw Caius chuckle softly to himself behind her.
"Tracker is a word that could describe her talents, I suppose." He shrugged back.
"Indeed." She raised an eyebrow. "Mind reading, future prediction, tracking, emotion manipulating, how talented this family is. Very valuable." She contemplated aloud to herself.
I head Alice take in a sharp breath. We hadn't known that the Volturi were aware of Jasper's talent. Jane certainly knew much more than we thought.
"Psychic." Jane addressed Alice impartially, "Do you happen to see any portion of your future where you and your talented family may live in Italy and be privileged enough to be one of our own?"
"All due respect," Alice smiled, "I don't see that happening."
"Pity. You would be such a nice addition."
"We are content with our current lifestyle, thank you. Besides, it seems that you don't need us anyways." Edward snapped. "You seem to have very talented and well educated sources."
Jane giggled a high pitched and melodic laugh. "You were surprised that we knew about Jasper and Bella's talent I take it. Yes, we do have our sources. You would probably be interested to know that we were already fully aware that the treaty with those mangy dogs was the main reason you fled Forks." She smirked.
I felt my eyes widen. What a bitch, I thought pointedly.
"Well," Caius finally broke his silence, "Its time for us to eat. Lets put some distance between ourselves and Denali before we feed though."
"I appreciate the notion." Carlisle said. "Thank you for respecting our lifestyle."
"Yes, of course. We wouldn't want to keep you any longer." Jane agreed with a hint of sarcasm in her icy voice. "Caius!" She snapped her fingers at him, directing him to make his exit. In a moment they were gone. She had spun on her heel and exited before Esme could breathe a word of goodbye.
"That's not the last we hear of this." Alice stated.
No one argued with her. Partly because its never wise to argue with a psychic, and partly because at that moment my phone rang. I was so used to Alice being my own personal caller ID that her silence filled me with dread and concern.
Jacob.
I quickly pulled out my phone and looked at the number on the front.
No, not Jacob, Billy.
"Billy, what's wrong?"
"Bella, before I say anything let me just make perfectly clear how entirely against the treaty this is. If Charlie wasn't my best friend I would not have done this."
"Billy… what the hell is wrong?" I repeated.
"Charlie…."
"What's wrong with Charlie!? I almost shouted.
The entire family tensed and stared at me in shock as I waited for a response.
"He's…… he's had an attack Bella."
"What do you mean?"
"A heart attack."
"Oh my God." I exhaled. I felt suddenly dizzy. "How… why?"
"He had to tell him, Bella, he's your father…. He had a right to know."
"NO!" I shouted. "I'm coming there."
"I expected that. I'll keep the pack away."
"GOOD!"
"Bella, I'm sorry. You can't blame Jacob for this…. Charlie had every right to know."
"Like hell I can't blame Jacob! Just keep him away from me when I get there!" I snapped the phone shut and collapsed into Edward's arms.
"Bella! What's wrong?"
"Charlie…. Jake told him… about… vampires, and now…he…." I stammered breathlessly
"Bella…. Sweetie what happened?" Alice pressed.
"Heart attack."
In that moment, all time halted. My head spun dangerously as I could faintly hear the echo of a heartbeat slowing… and then ceasing to exist at all.
