A/N
Another short chapter. There's a surprise though, hope that makes up for it.
Next chapter will be longer.
Thanks to BRIPEARL AND LETSJUSTDANCE~ my Beta's and life preservers!
Enjoy!
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Previously;
My hands pulled him further inside my mouth as he quickened his pace even more and he let me know with his growl how much it pleasured him.
The head of his cock sliding down the back of my throat, then pulling back halfway, only to plunge back quickly again, was enough to drive me wild.
Over and over.
At his next pass I moaned deep and throaty.
"Shit, shit, fuck, fuck, fuck," his pace sped.
Bringing my hand up to cup his balls, I gave a slight squeeze.
"Isa.. Isa… IsaBellla!" he snarled, panted snapped, "Arrrnnnngggggghhhh."
~PLAYER LINE-UP~
~Izzy POV~
I didn't think I'd ever see Rosalie Hale looking less than perfect. By the time everyone was cleaned up and back to the jet she looked haggard and rough around the edges if I do say so myself.
Peter, Char, Nevell, Edward, Jasper and I sat waiting for Mac to finish setting up. When Edward had joined us, Jasper pulled me into his lap careful not to jar my ribs. Giving him a questioning look his eyes flicked to Edward and back. I didn't know what that was about but I didn't press.
Edward looked like he got some of his tension released for him. He wasn't all angsty looking anymore. From the little I heard from the girls around here, he could have his choice. He was fresh meat. I snickered at the thought. The once believed virgin-stick-wedged-in-the-ass Edward was a player in the company with women who would eat him alive and spit him the fuck out.
I knew the women in our clan. They were vicious when it came to something they wanted. They didn't get out much and when they did it was usually to fight and save lives. There were R&R times everyone partook in just to keep the tension and some levels of sanity in check and relieve the pressure, so to speak. But it had been months since anyone had had that luxury.
Edward was prime pickin'. Since nothing was much a secret around here, everyone knew his ability and everyone learned quickly how to covertly disguise their thoughts around him. Human blood helped him look deeper, but the vampire mind was cavernous and vast. Edward didn't stand a chance. Those women would blindside him before he could even think about cumming.
I laughed again as I watched Edward, his mask slowly falling back into place, as he sat looking across the cabin out the window in front of him. I hoped they'd chewed him up good.
"Eleazar is joining us, I sent Sarah to fetch him and Carmen." Mac's voice filled the increasingly empty silence bringing our attention to him.
"You didn't say fetch when you sent her did you?" Peter chuckled, "I think she could kick yar arse."
"I'm not as dumb as you are when it comes to woman, Petey." Mac smirked.
"Got that right," Char muttered as the rest of us chuckled and Peter scowled playfully.
"I thought some of the unidentified pictures we have, Eleazar would help us to put names to faces if Rose identifies any of them. He can go through all of them for that matter." Mac said.
"Good idea." All of us echoed one another.
"I showed Rosalie pictures. She identified some. We already knew she recognized Caius. But I'll let her tell you the rest." Mac motioned for Eleazar and Carmen to take seats as they walked in. Mac had set them up in one of the Rec rooms. Chairs and couches were re-arranged and put in a semi-circle around the monitor. A large coffee table sat in the center with piles of glossy photos and Rose was looking through them carefully. I was impressed she seemed to be taking this so seriously.
Jasper and I had talked briefly about Rose's confession and we both agreed we believed her. We understood the reasons she'd done what she had. The events that progressed after we had taken her and Emmett were easily identified and were congruent with what transpired from there.
We were still wary of her; no amount of wishing would change the fact she hadn't told us sooner. She was telling us now and that's what we needed to focus on.
Eleazar settled in a chair closest to Rosalie who sat on the center loveseat. Carmen moved to take the chair next to Emmett patting him on the shoulder and offering him a warm smile to which he tried to return. He almost pulled it off. You could see the war that raged in his eyes and I felt a little bit bad for him.
Eleazar's eyes flitted around the table looking at the piles Rose had aligned but he didn't say anything. Mac quickly briefed the newcomers on the events Rose had given us and what was taking place. Although he looked slightly miffed at the turn of events, to Eleazar's credit he didn't ask for further clarification. I admired the patience the man projected. Curiosity dominated his features but he held his tongue.
"Whenever you're ready Rose," Mac encouraged her. Her eyes snapped to him and then to us on the screen.
"I just want to say," she hastily bolted her eyes to Eleazar, then Carmen, before they found her lap, "Eleazar, Carmen, I'm very sorry for attacking you. I-"
"No need. I should have been prepared for such a reaction, and your reaction was not without merit, dear Rosalie. Don't let it happen again, but I am to blame as much as you. We shall move past it and be better for it." Eleazar's gentle reprimand and brush off of events seemed to soothe Rose and her shoulders lost some of their previous tension as she took a deep breath focusing on the piles in front of her.
"Alright," Rosalie nodded composing herself as she snatched a picture holding it up, "This woman is who Alice bowed to. Mac said it's Heidi."
Sure as shit. Damn. Having it confirmed sent butterflies through me, anticipation made the hairs on my arms stand straight up.
The next picture she held up, "This was the Russian with Caius." It was a picture of Stefan.
"This was the scarred mute guy," lifting the next one up. "Mac says it's Christopher."
Eleazar hissed and his features failed to hide his anger and incredulous76ness. But I followed his glare and he wasn't looking at the picture of Christopher anymore, his eyes were on the next one down. From this angle I couldn't see who it was.
Rose picked it up, "This was the man with the Christopher guy," there were several gasps at the picture she held.
Eleazar stood quickly snatching the photo from Rose's fingers, "Are you sure?" he shook it at her.
"Yes." The Rosalie that we knew and loved to hate seemed to spark to life at the hostility from Eleazar. Good, I didn't like emo Rose. I didn't like bitch Rose either but it was better than the emo, easier to snark back to.
Eleazar stared at the picture, "It's just that, well, he is a friend of mine. If what you are saying is true, and I have no reason to doubt you, but… this is most disturbing." His head shook back and forth in negation.
Holding our questions back we waited to see if he was going to elaborate.
"He came to the Volturi years ago when I was there. I befriended him and when I left he left with me. We were companions for a long time. He was originally from Ireland and wished to go home to his homeland. I let him after a couple of centuries of helping him establish himself. He is the newest next to Zafrina to have a position of Power. Zafrina inherited hers while Liam got his by hard work and building his own empire."
Edward looked puzzled, as did Rosalie and Emmett. So I answered the unspoken question.
"He is one of the Power 8 residing over Ireland, Scotland Quebec, Greenland, Iceland and Newfoundland."
"Quebec?" Edward raised his brows.
"He needed more land and vampires to be a Power." Eleazar answered him. "I gave him the territory from mine so he could assume the role. I can't believe he's a part of this." The last sentence was whispered and the pain in his voice evident.
"He and Carlisle were friends," Edward was sitting forward with his brow furrowed putting pieces together.
"I introduced him to Carlisle when Carlisle came to me. They were good friends from what I understood. Now I wonder… could this be who he was supplying? Was Liam helping to fund Carlisle in return for Carlisle to supply him?" Eleazar's voice shook with ire.
"There's a thought." Peter muttered.
"You are sure Rosalie." Eleazar asked again.
Instead of being snarky this time she merely nodded and said, "Yes."
"What about the others Rosalie?" Jasper asked and Rose focused back on the coffee table.
The next picture was of Vladimir, "He was there before in the tent. He and Alice argued at length. I don't know what about. I only saw him the one time."
"Vlad wasn't with everyone in the box at the games?" I was surprised.
"No. He was only there in the very beginning. It looked like he asked Alice something about the future if I had to guess. She did her little eye thing and they argued. He was angry at whatever she seemed to tell him. And then he left. That was it." She said.
"Ok. Next." Jasper said.
"This was the guy with Caius. The only time I ever saw him was in the box. He gave me the creeps." She held up the picture.
Another collective round of gasps.
"Huilen." Peter hissed.
"Is there a picture of the person who accompanied Vladimir?" I asked her.
She shuffled through the picking up an image of a roguish well-tailored looking man. His face was square with a head of dark hair and a jaw to slice cheese on.
"That's Isaak. He's a second in the Russian hierarchy." I identified him. It's hard to forget that face. I don't care who you are, the guy was hard to miss. "Was there anyone else who sat in the box with you?"
"No, that's all of them."
"So the run down if I got it straight was; Stefan with Isaak, Christopher appearing with Liam, Caius with Huilen, Alice with you and Heidi by herself. Is that all of them?" I asked. Something didn't sound right.
"Yes."
"There were nine of you in the box?" I asked again.
She rolled her eyes, "Yes."
Why did that not sound right? I didn't think she was lying. Something just felt off.
"What is it?" Jasper squeezed my waist where his hand rested.
"I don't know, nothing, it…." I trailed off, I didn't know. I looked over to Peter and raised a brow. If something were missing he would be the one who would pick up on it. But he just frowned and shook his head like he didn't know what I was talking about. I shrugged. Maybe I was being paranoid or reading something into it that wasn't there.
I turned back to Rose, "Did you find photos of others in the boxes next to you, Rose? Or anyone else that was there?"
She nodded and picked up another stack and started flipping through them to show us.
The first was a woman we didn't know but Eleazar put a name to. Rose said she'd been next to their box and had chatted with Alice and Heidi.
There were more like that. There were a few we didn't have names for and Eleazar helped us out. There was only a couple that neither of us knew.
They varied from where they came from. Not a single Power was untouched by the debauchery. Eleazar was pissed when a picture was shown of a coven leader in his territory. After I saw what he did to Carlisle and Esme, I can't imagine what he would do to someone he felt less for.
When Rose picked up another smaller stack she said, "These few are ones who I found so far who petitioned Alice and her committee at the intermission, or whatever the hell you want to call it."
She held up a picture none of us recognized, "I didn't know what she said. She had another vampire with her, but he didn't speak. She could have been asking for sponsorship or permission for them to join, I just don't know."
She showed us the rest including one of the English speaking ones that Eleazar was able to put names to.
When Rose was done showing us the ones she'd gone through already we sat back and let ourselves absorb it. Rose took another stack she hadn't gone through yet and began leafing through them. We had a lot of pictures. A majority of them were satellite pictures and kinda fuzzy, but it always amazed me how far technology had come that you could take a picture of someone through a window in a house sitting in a bathtub from space.
Something was still niggling at me and I wasn't able to shake it to save my life. I closed my eyes and pictured what Rosalie had described to us about the place she was taken to. I followed the events putting myself in Rosalie's shoes.
I heard Eleazar ask Rose if she would tell him more about the games and heard the papers she was scanning through stop shuffling as she began her tale all over again. He wasn't privy yet to the story Rose had told us.
As I listened to her re-cap it for him I walked through it with her. Picturing Rose there alone amongst people who wouldn't bat a lash if she didn't make it out of there alive. No one talking to her. Unable to understand the language. She'd been quite observant for someone scared out of her mind. Rose wasn't stupid.
I kept going back to the Royalty box as Rose had called it. Picturing them sitting there looking all dignified and petrified, watching the blood, venom and gore take place in front of them. Betting and cheering on the fights.
I snorted at the thought of all nine of them looking regal, proud, sophisticated and egotistical in their high-falutin robes.
I listened to Rose tell Eleazar about the mid-game festivities, the humans who had come out to fight each other. I heard Eleazar comment about Esme's gift and how they might not have sent them to labs after all. Not all anyway. With Esme having been able to detect potential gifts, they could have sent them easily to Liam to prove themselves in the Games or be sold off. That made sense. Carlisle's connection with Liam could have proven a way in for Carlisle on several different levels, not including Alice herself.
It still made me wonder why they hadn't sent me. There were too many variables to wrap my head around that one and I shoved it away for later.
Rose relayed to Eleazar how after that display, there was a parade of supernatural beings that petitioned time from the less than savory company in her box. She told him how Alice would look into the future and then they would vote.
I sat up and my eyes snapped open.
Nine of them.
All nine.
Nine.
"Let me run this down real quick, Rose," I interrupted rudely which drew all eyes to me, "So you're saying Vlad had Isaak with him, Caius had Huilen, Christopher with Liam, and Heidi was alone and Alice had you right?"
"Yes, we went over this already." She sounded bored.
"Humor me. All nine of you sat in the box." Old history, but still I was working this out.
"Yes," the exasperation dripped from her.
I tapped my fingers on Jasper's thigh thinking.
"Who voted?"
"What do you mean?" She looked puzzled.
"You said when they were petitioned they would put it to a vote. Who seemed to conspire and voice a vote? All of them or only some of them? Think carefully."
She thought about it a minute, "They all did." She gave a tight nod.
"All eight of them."
"Yes." She snapped.
"You're positive." Just to fuck with her.
"YES." Her snap turned to a snarl. I snickered. I was such a bitch for provoking her, but I liked the fire now in her eyes.
"That's what's off." I said proudly and slapped my leg. Fuck I hated when something nagged me like that.
"What do you mean?" Jasper asked.
"You don't vote in even numbers." I gloated.
There was silence as everyone worked out the numbers.
"There were nine in the box, that's what threw me. But Rose didn't vote, did you Rose?" I double checked and to piss her off.
"No. I didn't know what the fuck was going on." She huffed.
"Maybe one of them wasn't voting." Char said furrowing her brow.
I shook my head, "I think they all were. I don't think Liam was there as Christopher's friend."
"Are you calling me a liar?" Rose snapped.
"No. I think you saw right. They could be friends," I backtracked, "Or they showed together for whatever reason. That's not it. It's Alice having you there actually that's throwing off the curve."
"Without Rose there it would have still made the number of voters 8." Char said quietly.
"I think what Izzy's trying to say is that Rose was there instead of someone else." Nevell caught on.
"Yes!"
"But I didn't vote." Rose insisted.
"I know. I think there was someone missing in the box. Alice could have done her fortune telling and voted for someone else. Did you see a picture of Maria?" I asked.
"No I don't think she got to that stack yet," Mac snatched the photos from Rose shuffling through them and then handed one to Rose. "Do you recognize her?"
Rose looked at it for only a second before she was nodding her head, "Yeah, she was there. She was one of the petitioners."
"She didn't speak English." I guessed.
"No. Knowing now who she is, she probably spoke Spanish. She had a guy with her when they approached."
"A red head?" I asked taking a shot in the dark.
"No, he had black hair." Shaking her head.
"Ok. So maybe she was there to petition, but that doesn't make sense why they would make her stand in front of them if she was Royalty. I think it was someone else who was supposed to be in that box." Voicing my inner figurations.
"Who?" Char asked.
"Good question." I shrugged.
"I don't get it. Why couldn't they vote in 8? They only have 8 Powers right?" Edward asked.
"There are only 8 Powers," Eleazar answered him, "But there is a Liaison who votes with us so there is never a tie."
"Liaison? Who?" Edward implored.
"His name is Alistair. A bit of a nomad, he has spent time with all the Powers at one point or other over the centuries. It is my belief he is the oldest vampire of us all." Eleazar told him.
"He doesn't have territory, or whatever? No kids?" Edward pushed.
"No, he has not sired anyone that I know of. Well, none that are still living anyway. His 'territory' is everywhere, he has no boundaries per say. He is contacted and brought to meetings when needed. That has not happened in centuries however. It is a very rare occurrence when all Powers are in the same room with each other. You can understand the enormity of that, I'm sure." Eleazar snickered.
"Huh."
"So do you know who the missing person was?" Peter's looked expectantly at me.
"Uh, no." I shook my head and Peter scowled at me, I shrugged at him. I had some ideas, but I wasn't ready to say anything yet. I wasn't sure.
"What's the Peter-Meter know?" Jasper snickered, "You gettin' anythin'?"
"You guys don't want to know." Peter's eyes lost some of their luster instantly.
"How long have you known something?" Nevell asked.
"Right before Rose started goin' through photos. I didn't want to interrupt." Peter half shrugged.
"Well…" Nevell said when Peter fell silent.
"We're goin' to end up at those Games. And it's goin' to happen sooner rather than later."
"How soon?" I pressed.
Peter shrugged, "Soon."
"You know more?" Char asked.
"Not yet, and that's creepin' me out. I feel there's more, but it's not forthcoming yet. We're missin' somethin'. I don't know, I think we haven't decided somethin' that we need to decide before the fuzzies clear. I just know we're goin' to be there. I don't know how we'll pull that off."
Rosalie went back to looking at the last stack of pictures Mac brought not recognizing anyone. She finally threw the last picture down.
"Unless you have more, I don't see anyone else." She sat back on the loveseat and Emmett wrapped his arm around her pulling her into his side.
"Thank you Rose, it means a lot that you went through them." She looked a little shocked I'd thanked her. "It was a huge help."
"You're welcome." She said quietly.
"You're pretty quiet Emmett, you ok?" Jasper asked him.
"Just trying to figure out who I want to be mad at. The people who I want to confront for fuckin' with my wife are gone. Just… just trying to adjust to all this." His words were a far cry from the venom lacing his voice.
Poor Em.
"You can always go down to the fourth level and ask someone to spar with you. I know it's not as fun as outside, but there's a maze down there and several different kinds of sparring rooms. One's even got paintball. Any of the vampires around there would love to have you." Peter offered him.
Emmett slowly nodded and a little gleam came back into his eyes, "I might just do that." Rose leaned back and kissed his cheek and he pulled her even closer.
"So now what?" Edward asked.
"Well, Eddie boy, we need to find those giants, and figure out where they're going. Then we have to figure out what they're doing. In the meantime, we need to get an act together to go see our new friends in a few hours. We have to lock and load and get a game plan for that fiasco 'bout to take place. We have to see if Maria shows up, but I got a feelin' she aint even in the country anymore." Peter rattled.
"Why do you say that?" Edward asked him.
"She would have to know where we are. There's no way around that. Why hasn't she attacked us? We went around scaring rabbits outta their holes and she's sitting doin' nothin'? I don't see it. We have a perimeter all around this city, and aint nobody seen anythin' yet." Peter was shaking his head.
"She could be waiting to see who all shows up tonight." Char suggested.
"True, but the spidey senses say she's skipped tha country. Whoever picked her ass up took her away from here for somethin' else. She took her gifted with her, too. That don't make my bones feel good." Peter's southern drawl was thick tonight. He was getting nervous.
"Call me crazy but between Peter-Meter, the Giants and Maria leaving," I shook my head, "It's becoming more likely this is all leading to the Games bein' soon."
Eleazar cleared the venom in his throat, "I would like to leave immediately as I have to attend to some business."
Jasper spoke before the rest of us could, "Eleazar, are you going to deal with your own first or are you going to Liam?"
"I am flying to Ireland. Liam and I have some catching up to do." He snarled.
"And when you do this catchin' up, what are your plans then? Are you going to burn him up?" I asked.
"If he has done these acts I will have to bring him before the Powers. I will not be able to do this on my own without retaliation from the other Powers and his territory. To do such would be suicide on my part." Eleazar said.
"Well, hold up. Let's talk about this. Going in there, guns blazing, is only going to bring even more shit down on everyone." Jasper said.
"What do you suggest? I let this go?" Eleazar asked incredulously.
"No. I believe you can help us." Jasper told him.
"How?"
"You can get us into the games." Jasper said.
~JPOV~
I stared at the monitor and wished I were in the same room as Eleazar so we could have this little showdown in person. He was our way in and I'd be damned if he wasn't going to help us. Isabella and the rest had worked damn hard to get this far, and he wasn't going to take their first chance to get to the Games away from them.
Isabella, Peter, Char and Nevell's emotions were a high mix of anticipation. I don't think Eleazar really realized what he was facing. The five of them wouldn't let him just go gallivanting off on his own whether he knew it or not. They would be right there on his ass the whole way. There was no doubt in my mind. I didn't think Eleazar needed threats though; I thought maybe he could be persuaded to see their point of view. If not, then we could go from there.
Eleazar was our way in. I didn't care how he got us there, if he had to scare the shit of Liam to do it, or if he acted like he wanted to be a part of it – he was going to buck up.
Everyone in the room only had eyes for Eleazar as he contemplated my demand. Because that's what it was, a demand.
He scowled from his side as he thought about it.
I could feel the excitement in Isabella as she waited and when it became too much she calmly put more on the table for Eleazar to think about.
"There are ghouls there who would go with you, of course. They have no scent and Liam and his coven wouldn't know they were even there, but they could assist you in whatever manner you needed." Isabella's voice sounded so much calmer than she really was. She was almost vibrating.
"I get the feeling you will be sending them, no matter my say." Eleazar stated it as fact rather than accusing and none of us corrected him. He was being smart about this at least. "I see. This is official business, not a social-"
"Not to be rude Eleazar," I cut him off because I knew where he was headed and he needed to reroute, "but I see this happening one of two ways: either you interrogate him and get him to tell us what we need, or you tell him you know about the Games and want in on it. Either way, I don't think it matters, but this is the closest that anyone will come to getting a chance to go in peacefully."
The unsaid hung in the air between us as Eleazar turned my words around in his head.
"You want me to get you into the Games." He stated like he tasted it out on his tongue to see its viability.
"Yes." I said lowly.
"I see. And let's say I get us in, because I will tell you now, I will not let you go alone, what do you do then? What is your plan? Do you want to be in the Games? Or do you want to end lives and the Games altogether? You can not just attack those that sit in the 'Royalty Box'. You will bring the vampire world down on your heads. We should call in all the Powers and take care of it quickly."
I looked to Isabella. I didn't know about her, but I felt bringing in the rest of the Powers was the worst idea of all.
To answer the question Peter spoke, "We want in. First." He looked at all of us with a sweep of his eyes, "We don't have a plan yet, but I know this; everyone showin' up isn't going to be wise. If all the Powers show up at this thing at once it'll be Vampire Armageddon. They'll know you're coming. Too many people being involved at once could blow this thing sky high, and I don't want to die. The less casualties the better."
Eleazar nodded his agreement begrudgingly, "Yes, this has been hidden for years, for all of us to show up it would be unwise."
No shit. "I think it would be unwise of you to go, Eleazar." I didn't think him making an appearance would be much better than all of them showing up. It would be chaos.
"I am going." There was no room for argument in Eleazar's voice. My mate wasn't having it, whether Eleazar liked it or not. Fuck I loved this woman.
"You will not show yourself, Eleazar," Isabella said stiffly, "You can't. You walking in there would be just as bad as having all the Powers show up and dance in the arena. The best chance we have is for you to get us in as guests of Liam's. He can tell the Royals, or whoever the fuck they call themselves, that he has potential investors or players to get us in. IF… if… you can get us that, we go from there. We have no idea what we'll be walking into. No lay of the land, no idea how many or who. Going in guns blazing isn't going to do us a bit of good. You going in could blow everything out of the water before we even get a chance to find any of that out. Our best bet is to have you get us in as visitors or fighters."
"I will not be left out of this. If I go to Liam, I will be going." Eleazar was almost petulant.
I sighed. I could see where he was coming from. He had an investment in all of this. His friendship with Liam was most likely over if it was true, which we had no reason to believe it wasn't. He wanted to have some semblance of control over the situation. As a leader he would have to be involved.
I kept my voice as nonabrasive as I could because I could understand how he felt, "What would you do if you went, Eleazar?"
Eleazar's face hardened as his eyes unfocused contemplating his options. He didn't have many. It wasn't like he could really go in as a potential investor in this. The Royal box attendees would find his presence threatening at the very least.
His was one of resignation as his shoulders slumped in defeat, "You are right. My attendance would raise too many questions; I would be of less use and a hindrance in any operation you may come up with. But I am going," he raised his hand at the potential protest, "I will not go into the arena or close to the stadium, but I will be a part of this. I feel it is my duty, I would be in neglect if I did not attempt to put a stop to this myself."
"That can be arranged," I told him and conceded. The emotions of the rest of the room were one of acceptance and knew I spoke for everyone. I could understand his point as leader and his position of power stipulated he have hands on in this. He wasn't going to be able to just sit back and let everyone else run the show without his input. "Right now, going to Liam and finding what you can would be a great benefit to us."
"Yes. I will go, and I would be very accepting of any assistance you may give. I do not have time to wait for the others to arrive from Alaska, I feel I must go now." Eleazar turned to Carmen and she gave a small smile and a quick nod of her head.
Mac had been on listening and was now making arrangements for them to be accompanied by a group of ghouls. We had his jet down here and wouldn't make it up there in time for them to leave, so Eleazar they would have to use a commercial flight out. The ghouls would take a military size chopper and meet them at the airport in Ireland.
"I will be in touch as soon as we know anything. Please keep us abreast of any new developments that come your way."
"Absolutely. I can't thank you enough for helping with this, Eleazar." Isabella told him quietly, "Mac will hook you up with our COM system before you leave so you will get first hand what's going on, or we can communicate with cell phones, although that's not as effective, we will not leave you out."
Eleazar nodded, "Thank you." He took Carmen's hand and led her out of the room.
"What about us?" Rose asked.
"Are you sure you don't want to be involved in this, Rosie," Emmett's voice was strained and if I knew my brother, I knew he was chomping at the bit to be involved. He wouldn't want to be left out and his aggression at the situation needed some release. What better way than to fight.
"Can we talk about this later, Em?" Rose asked him quietly and Emmett snorted and gave a sharp nod.
"Do we know anything else, Mac?" Isabella broke into the tension that was mounting on the other side and Mac looked relieved for the interruption to the private moment.
"Yeah. I got a call from Jacob. The shapeshifters didn't make it. The last one died a couple hours ago. Shame really. He said that none of the bodies ever changed in form, even in death. Usually they revert back to being human if a shifter dies in animal form. It's a shame really. We still don't even know where they came from. We had a couple of leads but they fell through.
There's only 5 ghouls in South America that have not woken up now. They're all in good shape for the shape they're in. Nothing unusual. They did report not more than an hour ago, they had a helicopter fly over. Jeb tried to get a handle on their radio frequency, but was unsuccessful. I can only imagine it was someone checking to see why they lost communication with their lab. They didn't land obviously."
"Any report of the Giants?" I asked him. They were more of a concern than the rest.
"Not yet, they just crossed the boarder into Kazakhstan. We did however seem to have lost one of the helicopters. We are looking for it but have stayed with the main three who've stuck together."
"Where did you lose them?"
"Over the Caspian Sea, they went north as far as we can tell. But we're hoping it fell out of the sky and they all drowned."
I snorted, "Keep us posted."
"Will do. There's a team of eight, am I correct, around the top of the dry lake bed?" That's what I admired about Isabella's team she'd surrounded herself with. There was such passion and focus to everything they did. One second we were talking about missing a helicopter and instead of dwelling on it, they jumped right into what was a priority and what they could control. My admiration was tenfold.
"Yes," Peter jumped in and we began to talk about tonight and what we could expect to receive in way of greeting. There was an array of emotions as well as ideas on how we were going to handle the meeting.
I held Isabella a little closer to me. She was hurt and hiding it the best she could but I could feel her pain. Tonight was not opportune for her if a fight broke out. I wanted to get her away from here and talk to her about the upcoming event. Feed her. I needed some privacy. I craved it.
As if she knew where my mind had gone, which she probably did, Isabella told everyone we'd meet back here at six to finalize a game plan. Rose and Emmett had left Mac's company a bit ago saying they had things of their own to discuss and they were going for a walk through the tunnels. Mac agreed and flipped off the monitor once again.
Isabella ignored everyone including Nevell, Peter and Char's protests as she grabbed my hand and dragged me from the jet. We had the next eight hours to do as we pleased and I wasn't going to waste a minute of it.
(+=+=+=+=+=+)
A/N
Jasper is getting mouthy in my head, he wants his time so next chapter will be more from him.
If not all from him.
The meeting in the desert should prove interesting.
GO READ: RUNNING by MERINA GREEN ~ I am so in love with this fic. And the sequel
CHAOTIC DYNAMICS~ her writing just wraps you up and takes you away to another world.
Her Bella is sanely-crazy quirky, she's just so much fun. GO READ IT! Most of it's done in Jasper's POV and he's just hot and fucking sexy.
Think I can make 500 reviews this time? I'm hoping so.
Next update next week.
Tell me what you think.