Chapter 21

I didn't sit there long – I felt like a clock was ticking in my head. It had been 42 minutes since I last saw Aro. I knew I would keep counting until I saw him again.

I pulled myself together enough to ask her to convene her coven, again.

"I need to know what your magic can do to help find him. I cannot afford to leave him in their clutches for a single second longer than necessary. If you can do nothing, tell me honestly – and we will make our own way."

She got to her feet, and called out, "Guys! Come to my room right now!"

I grabbed her hand and pulled her back to her room, and heard all the doors close to it open as we walked. Everyone followed us – and I gave my mother a pleading look.

I just could not explain again.

"King Aro has been taken, sometime in the last 45 minutes or so. Karen, I need you to scry for his location; Margaret, I need you to search the future; Kathy, go get my trunk and get my spell books out, please; Susan, find the kitchen and boil some water for an elixir; everyone else – brainstorm."

The room was suddenly a hive of activity. I called out for Caius, Jane and Alec to join us.

They appeared moments later – inquisitive expressions on their faces.

I turned to Caius first "You're knowledge of the countryside is the best – will you watch Karen scry and see if you can determine where she is seeing him?"

He nodded, and headed over to the woman with the hokey looking crystal on a string dangled over a map of Europe.

I looked at Alec, and asked, "Will you show Susan where the kitchen is? She'll wander around this place all damn day trying to find it on her own."

He nodded and followed a rotund woman out of the room.

Caius walked past me muttering, "I'll be right back with a better map."

I nodded, and he left quickly.

My mother opened the doors to the bedroom, and walked to the windows, pulling the shades and pushing on the latch to open it. She struggled, and I sped over to assist.

With a sharp twist of my wrist, the latch broke off completely – oopsie - and I shoved the window open.

"Why do we need the windows open, anyway?" I asked.

"We draw energy from the Earth to work our spells, Bella. The closer we are to nature, the easier it is."

I was a little confused at this, especially at how an open window really constituted closer to nature – but decided not to waste time questioning her.

Nodding I walked back into the other room – with her following close behind.

Kathy returned with a stack of old, beautifully bound books in her arms.

My mother chose the smallest thickest volume – it looked like a bible and held it out to me.

"Our family book of shadows." She explained. "I'm not sure how many types of magic you have used, but there are several that I'm sure you have yet to try. Look anything you have questions about up in this. There's an index in the back."

I nodded, but didn't open the book. I would have time later… hopefully.

"Have you used any translocation magic, yet?" She asked me.

"I can teleport, if that's what you're saying. However, not to a person, only places. I tried teleporting to Aro once but nothing happened."

"Were you mated at the time?" she questioned.

"No. It was beforehand. Why would that make a difference?"

"Well, your consciousness is now linked to him. You said you had empathy. I don't suppose you can still feel him?"

"No. There is nothing coming from him. It's a void where he used to be."

She looked pained as she asked, "But you are certain he's not dead, right?"

"Yes," I hissed at her. "If my mate was dead, I would know."

She nodded but said nothing else.

Her coven finally broke in – some brainstorming session they were having…

"What about just searching the future for the place we'll find him?"

I closed my eyes and willed myself to see where Aro would be found.

Images of a dark cavern came to me, a short battle with two dark haired males – then I saw Aro; torn to pieces, body parts packed in black cases.

I roared, and the vision cut off.

No wonder I couldn't feel him, he wasn't whole anymore!

Lightning flashed across the sky – and this time I was sure it was me.

The red haze tried to take me over again, but I fought it hard. Blinking over and over until I could see normally.

"All I see is a cavern; there are no indications of where it is located." I growled out.

My mother looked at me with sympathy – her knowing gaze told me she was certain I had seen something horrifying, but chose not to question me. I was grateful, I squeezed my eyes shut and banished the images of Aro's mangled body from my head. Fucking bastards would pay for that.

"What about the journey to find him? Focus on the path you will take to get there." She instructed.

I closed my eyes once more, and willed myself to see it.

I wondered briefly why I only saw pictures of the future – and Alice used to see whole scenes, words and everything. What I was getting sucked in comparison.

I saw Caius, Jane, Alec and I crossing a barren terrain. We are ambushed by 15 vampires. The resultant battle is brutal. Alec tries to use his power, but he is slow – his concentration appears broken when he is attacked…

I fast-forwarded – I saw us victorious, with only a few superficial injuries. We are questioning one of the vampires, and leaving the area after burning his body.

The landscape changes gradually. Now we are in a forest, at night. I can't make out any details. No vegetation or flowers – nothing to specify which forest this is.

We meet up with a single vampire – quickly vanquishing him. Moving on, we continue through more forest, more forest, more forest, finally we stop at a castle. Not as grand as ours, but older. Falling into ruin. We are greeted. We are attacked again.

More vampires swarm us. I use a power I am unfamiliar with – what am I doing?

Fast forward. We are again, victorious. However, Alec has lost an arm. Ouch. We are searching through the old castle – in a study, we find a journal.

Whatever we read there causes us to immediately leave, and continue through more fucking forest. UGH!

This is going nowhere. I cut off the vision, telling my mother – "All I see are trees and forest. Nothing indicates where it's located."

"Do you have an item with his essence on it? Venom or a strand of his hair?"

I was embarrassed but I went to my room for the bed sheets we had sex on. It would have a small sperm sample on it, at least.

I brought them back to my mother warning, "Don't say anything. It's all I have. We don't shed skin or hair."

She smiled, but tried to hide it. I rolled my eyes, and tried to rationalize that there was no place for embarrassment in a crisis.

Caius returned with several scrolls tucked under his arm. He nodded to me before making his way back to scry lady.

The coven formed a circle and placed my soiled sheet in the center. Gross. They started a weird chant – which I had no interest in. And began to ask for assistance from a whole slew of people. The Gods, Goddesses, Mother Earth – the freaking moon.

I was becoming disheartened. Were these chicks for real?

I preferred my brand of magic – which gave me all their abilities without having to demean myself by begging for help from every Tom, Dick and Harry known to the universe.

My mother was right there with them, too – so I couldn't exactly ask her what the end game of their little session was.

I turned away and focused on Caius and Scry Lady. They had moved on from a map of the entire European Continent, and focused now on a map of Italy and the surrounding countries.

Her little crystal was doing a tight circle over an area North East of here. Nevertheless – even if that was their location now - what's to say their destination wasn't another country? As much as I wanted to just get to Aro already – the threat wouldn't be removed simply by my doing so. I needed to follow these assholes back to the mother ship, and take Chelsea and her Master out in the process.

I began to wonder why I was fucking with these witches at all.

I pulled the book out of my back pocket and went over to the window to lean on the ledge and read.

I flipped to the index and started looking for anything that might prove helpful.

'Tracking – see also Scrying'

Yeah, no thanks.

Element Control – pg 312

I flipped the book to that page and was blown away by the picture. A witch was standing in the foreground, a fireball blazing in the palm of one hand, a blue orb – probably water in the other. Cracks and crevices ran all through the ground at her feet and the wind was blowing her hair back from her face. Badass.

I flipped back to the index.

Energy Consumption – see also Channeling Earth's Energies pg 195

I opened it to the indicated page. A picture showed a witch with her hand on the ground, you couldn't see precisely what she was doing, but in the picture – her eyes were bright green.

Hmmm… At least I had a back up plan if I was somehow tapped out in battle – though it would probably leave me exposed for however long I stayed connected to the Earth. Connected to the Earth – how fucking weird is that?

My mother interrupted me, "Ah. Bella, it seems we are unable to summon a vampire. Nor are we able to astrally project to him."

Two possibilities down, how many more before I just ditch them? Useless bitches.

"Okay. Look. This seems to be getting us nowhere. Aro is not at his final destination yet, so scrying is useless. Summoning is a no go –"my voiced choked up at little at the next part – "he's in pieces wherever he is," Caius growled loudly at this – and I fought a grimace. Oops.

"Yeah. I saw a vision of him" – choke - "packed in pieces into black cases. That's probably why I can't get a read on his emotions…" I trailed off – fighting to withhold the image from my mind's eye. I forced myself to feel grim determination and nothing else. I would get him back I saw it.

"Anyway – the astral projection thing is out, because he's in no condition to communicate his whereabouts to us. And, I'm not seeing anything but offensive weapons in here." I shook the book for emphasis.

"So… unless you guys can some how make yourselves invulnerable to vampire attacks, and increase your speed to match ours. I am afraid, we'll be separating for the foreseeable future. I can't wait around for some miracle to be produced. I need to be out there searching for my mate. It's a biological imperative. I have to go, now."

"I'm sorry, Bella. I wish we'd been a bigger help to you. We will keep scrying and communicating any changes. Call us if you need anything else. And we'll watch the castle for you until you return with Aro."

I nodded, signaling Caius and Jane with my hand – and spoke quietly with them in the hallway.

"I need a few supplies, before we take off – including a change of clothes and some sneakers. I think Corin was about my size, so if you'll direct me to her room, I'll see what I can find. I'm sure you two want to change, as well. Meet me by the elevator to the lobby in 20 minutes, and we'll go, all right?"

They both nodded, and Jane pointed toward the next hallway over.

"Corin's room is the 6th door after you turn this corner, and go down the steps. I'll find Alec. Do you want me to see if Renata is up to traveling?" She asked.

"No. Her talent is useless anyway. Tell her we're leaving, and ask her to watch over the witches. They'll need more protection than a chanting circle and some crystals can provide if they come under attack."

She seemed to agree, and smiled a little - before taking off in the opposite direction.

I headed to Corin's room, finding it easily – and winced a little at her smell. Ugh – that was going to be all over the clothes. It was a mixture of rain and some sort of herb. It honestly smelled like a bunch of wet basil. Unpleasant to say the least.

She'd graciously left the majority of her clothes behind, and I was able to find a bra, jeans, a white tank top and a leather jacket. Her shoes wouldn't fit me, though.

Gathering the clothes I found, I decided just to open every door until I came across another bedroom.

The very next door turned out to be Heidi's – and her shoe collection was enormous. I found some black combat boots – that didn't seem to fit her personality at all – but they fit my feet, and wouldn't fall apart if I used my super speed in the forest – so I shrugged it off and took them with me.

Racing back to my bedroom, I took the quickest shower ever - at this point Aro's scent was just torturing me– before putting on my pilfered outfit, stuffing the book of shadows in the pocket – and running across the hall to my mom's room.

"Mom? Do you have any sunglasses?"

She produced a pair from her trunk – and I put them on top of my head.

She grimaced at me. "You're not going to wear any make up? At least put on a little eyeliner, Bella. You look a bit rough."

I shrugged and let her "doll me up" a little – allowing the eyeliner, blush and mascara before cutting her off when she wanted to add lipstick.

I tousled my hair, and decided it was good enough. She stopped me when I headed for the door, yelling – "Wait, wait. I brought you something of your Grandmother's. Just give me a second."

She dug through her trunk some more before producing a set of blood red stud earrings and a matching ring.

"They're amulets – for protection. She would have wanted you to have them."

Figuring they matched my Volturi necklace well enough, I put them on and moved toward the door for the second time.

"Oh, hold on. Do you have any money? Or an ID?"

I must have looked startled at the question, because she laughed at my expense before pulling out a wad of hundreds, peeling off five – and handing me the rest. Wow – selling potions and palm readings must be more lucrative than I imagined.

I kissed her cheek lightly – saying, "Thanks, Mom." I gave her soft smile, before looking at her seriously.

"Now – remember, if you need my help - I can teleport back here in seconds. Call Caius's phone – and we will all return. All right?"

"Okay, Bella – I will."

I gave her a severe look.

"I promise!" She burst out, while giving me the three-fingered Girl Scout salute.

I laughed and walked out the door – saying, "You better. See you soon, Mom."

A/N: Thanks for reading! Reviews are appreciated! A