All things Twilight belong to the Fanstastically Fantastic Stephenie Meyer.
Chapter 26 - Recrudesce
The arrival of Tanya and her family went much the same as that of Garrett's, all with a couple of exceptions. The first was no wolves, the second was that I hadn't known that Eleazar had, at one time, been a guard in the Volturi, so his greeting with Demetri had surprised me. They greeted one another like old friends. My surprise must have shown as I watched the scene play out. It was Carmen who answered my questioning gaze.
"Eleazar was a Volturi guard, he left just after he met me. Marcus had excused him from his service." she said, her accent was light as she spoke.
"Aro was unhappy at the loss," Demetri said wistfully.
Eleazar laughed and they continued their conversation of reminiscing.
It was only when Eleazar asked the reason for Demetri's presence did we get down to the task at hand, the Denali coven was certainly more receptive to Demetri, which made the task all the easier, that was until we reached the part of Soren's treachery. Both Irina and Tanya were wide eyed as we described exactly what had transpired in Volterra. The deception, the way that Aro had used Tanya and her family as distractions, manipulating us all to get what he wanted. What he would always want.
I immediately apologized to the two of them, they were receptive to my apologies and were more understanding than I could have ever hoped. Tanya was practically graceful in her acceptance, she seemed to understand the misconception, and after the discovery, was more than willing to help in our endeavor. The fact that Aro had used her and her coven to get an advantage on us upset her immensely. We were family and she didn't like being used as a tool against her own family.
Garrett sat with us, answering as many questions as he could, and listened as we added slightly more detail for our extended family. He seemed drawn to Kate, who sat, giving us her full attention. Every time her and Garrett spoke, Alice would smile mischievously. That was never a good sign.
The next week or so was spent going through the same routine, vampires would show up and we would once again go through the story, some seemed dubious of Demetri's involvement, others seemed to almost expect it. Even so, all of them let us finish before agreeing. We were getting quite a house full. It seemed all of the vampires that were being sent to us agreed it was encouraging to listen to the justify joining us to themselves and anyone else in earshot. Demetri was making them nervous, it was almost as though they expected him to turn on us.
I trusted him, I just hoped that I was right.
There were covens from around the globe filling the white house on the river. The first to arrive were Charlotte and Peter. They seemed nervous about their involvement. Edward and Jasper had sent others home to us, including the amazons that they had been convinced would not leave the rain forest willingly, the coven consisted of Zafrina, Kachiri and Senna. Each of the three female vampires were large in stature and their alabaster skin had the hint of their original olive tanned skin.
There had also been more nomads that they had run across. The most maladroit arrival had been Maria and her small, but powerful coven, Alice, Peter and Charlotte had stayed away from her as much as they could. Alice had been nervous about her arrival, it was easy to understand. It seemed maria had agreed because Jasper had asked her. Alice had overheard her speaking to her companions about him in Spanish. A language Alice had conquered decades ago.
Rosalie and Emmett had been in Asia and the Middle East, there was a small coven from Russia Alexi, Adam and Elena that mostly stayed to themselves they were probably the strangest of the vampires sent to us, the low dulcet tones would travel through the house as the spoke in their native tongue. Alice, having spent a lot of her free time studying other languages, translated for me and anyone else who seemed to be interested.
Rosalie and Emmett also sent a small coven from Egypt, that consisted of Amun, Kebi, Benjamin and Tia. Benjamin had perhaps the most interesting talent. Then there was an Asian coven that had lived in the mountains of Japan for most of their existence. The women dressed like geisha's and the male was in casual but outdated clothes. One of the females had the ability to move things with her mind, according to Alice's translations, she had been able to move things in a smaller scale as a human. They had been hiding in the mountains because of her talent, they were sure that, if Aro discovered the unusual talent her would obliterate Katsumi and Daiki to gain Akemi. Akemi insisted they stay out of the public eye to keep her family safe. Katsumi and Daiki were a couple, but they had joined Akemi before she had even discovered her gift.
There were also two Australian males, Brad and Todd, that looked not much older than me, in human and vampire terms. They were sandy blond and looked as though they had spent entirely too much time surfing. They were friendly enough, it reminded me of the summers I used to spend in California with Charlie.
Carlisle and Esme had also sent a generous amount of vampires to the house, There was the Irish coven. A large, beautiful woman Siobhan and her mate, Liam and with them was the newest member of their cover Maggie, who had an affinity for detecting lies, this came in useful when she was questioning Demetri. A couple french nomads Francois and Vanessa, a Spaniard, Calixto and there was a couple from Africa, they were Swahili his name was Imamu and hers, Marjani.
Alice was amazed at some of the decisions that were coming to her, she had been surprised at some of the things she was seeing, but with so many vampires in the house it was difficult for her to hold on to just one. As soon as a vision came it was replaced by another mid way through, she tried her hardest to block them as they assaulted her third eye. There were just too many vampires close to her know, their decisions were all strong. She was also constantly in private conversations with Aro. I wasn't sure what they were doing, but I could see the concentration and frustration of Alice's face as she tried to get past the vampires that surrounded her. It looked as though Demetri was helping her, so I stayed away, hoping it was the right thing to do.
Alice couldn't have been happier when Seth came to visit and blocked her sight for a couple of hours. The wolf gave her complete silence in her own mind, she would sit silently, her head on my shoulder, and Seth on her other side, complete relief on her small features. Alice and I spent a lot of time in the meadow in the front of the house, trying as much as we could to escape the growing crowd inside. It wasn't as though we were adverse to any of them, we just preferred the fresh air to the constantly growing claustrophobia inside.
It was twilight one evening, and Seth had come to sit with us at the request of Alice, she was getting more and more visions as our house guests made decisions. We were sat talking about small things, Seth was sat on one side of her and I was on the other, we avoided the heavier subjects because we didn't want to be reminded of the danger we were walking into. It was because of Seth's presence we didn't see them coming. We were discussing the pros and cons of being a wolf and a vampire, Seth was trying to convince us he had the better end of the stick, Alice wasn't convinced.
It wasn't until I heard the light footfalls that I realized there was someone approaching, I looked up, and there he was, stood in all his handsome glory, his bronze hair blowing gently in the wind, I couldn't stop myself as I vaulted to me feet and ran, as fast as I could, into his arms. I launched myself at him, my legs wrapping tightly around his waist as we made contact. He stumbled but never lost his balance, his deep chuckle filled me with joy, it was a sound I had missed since he had been gone. I planted butterfly kisses over every inch of his face.
"I missed you so much." I squealed happily.
"I missed you too, love." He nuzzled his face in my neck as he reacquainted himself with my scent, it was pure heaven having him this close.
It had been the longest separation for us since returning from Volterra the first time around. Edward placed me gently on my feet as the squeals of exultation filled the meadow around us. We looked over in time to see Jasper laughing warmly at his wife. It was evident we had all suffered during our partners absence and it was all seemingly for nothing, Aro had never called to check on us, and there was never any word from Demetri's allies. We had simply been receiving our visitors.
"Alice didn't see us coming?" Edward asked as he watched her and Jasper's reunion.
"My fault." Seth voiced, grinning as he approached us.
"Are you kidding, you've been so helpful." Alice cooed from Jasper's arms. "You help calm down the plethora of decisions swirling around in my mind."
Jasper laughed again and cupped Alice's face in his hand lovingly. He looked completely content now that he had her in his arms.
"Well, I guess I should take off. Leah's getting nervous having all of these vampire's around."
"Thank you, Seth."
"No problem, Alice. Just call me if you need a break. Bye guys."
"Bye, Seth." I called, never taking my eyes off of Edward. I could hear his lithe footsteps as he made his way into the forest, but I couldn't tear my attention away from the man stood in front of me.
"I know the feeling, Bella." Edward said kissing my forehead gently, I was glad he could hear my thoughts at this moment, because he knew just how happy I was to see him. "Perhaps you should introduce Jasper and I to the rest of our guests."
I nodded at his request and wrapped my arms around his waist, he looped one arm around my waist and started walking, guiding me forward.
"Rose and Emmett should be back soon." Alice sang happily, leading Jasper towards the house. "And Carlisle and Esme should be back just after them, they have Alistair with them."
Edward groaned quietly beside me, I wasn't sure if it was loud enough for Alice or Jasper to hear, if they did, they made no indication. I looked to Edward, my eyebrows raised, asking a silent question, understanding what I wanted, he shook his head, and I accepted that it would be a conversation for later.
I stood at Edward's side still clinging to him as he was introduced to the swarm of guests we had gathered. We stood side by side, arms entangled around one another as we spoke to the vampires that now resided with us in the house. Edward was cordial as he spoke with each of them, but I knew that he felt as I did. We wanted to be alone, to spend time with one another before things became to serious. The deadline was quickly approaching and I still had a request of my husband, I needed to be able to defend myself.
As soon as Aro realized that I was the one protecting the mutinous guards, he would send his strongest minions towards me. He knew my talent now, he knew that I could protect anyone from his strongest offense, I would be the first target and I needed to be able to protect myself. I knew my family would protect me, but I also knew that they themselves would become targets. All of us had planned this, we had helped one of their own to destroy them, if they gathered the upper hand, they would not let us live, no matter how much they wanted our talents. I had to learn to protect myself, I was no longer Lois Lane and I wanted the opportunity, if it came down to it, to defend myself.
Edward's eyes widened as he listened to my thoughts. "No."
"But . . ."
"No, Bella." Edward looked at Garrett apologetically. "Would you excuse us?"
"Sure."
Edward took my hand and went in search of a quiet corner, unfortunately, with as many vampires as we had inhabiting the house, there were none. He continued to the back door and pulled me outside. He stopped by the tree line and turned to face me, concern filling his golden eyes.
"Bella, why do you want to fight?"
"I don't want to fight, Edward. It just seems that I will be the focus of attack. Aro will know I am protecting you all. Taking me out will ensure his victory, you have to see that."
"Of course I see that, Bella. It's all I think about, but I will be there to protect you. I don't want you in the midst of all this. I want you somewhere safe."
"What if they go after you too? Don't you dare say that Alice, or Emmett, or Jasper will be there, you know that they'll be targets just as much as you and I will be."
"Bella . . ."
"Edward, please. Even if I don't need it, don't you think it will be prudent for me to at least learn the basics so I can defend myself?"
Edward's silence told me that I had made my point and that as much as he disliked the idea, he had to agree with it.
"If you really want to do this, I implore you to ask Emmett, or Jasper, even Alice, to help you out. I refuse to see you that vulnerable."
"If that's what it takes."
Edward pulled me into his chest and kissed my forehead lightly. I understood what he was saying, and it honestly made me love him more, if that's at all possible, all of the time we had spent together when I was human seemed to have taken it's toll on him. He would forever see me as that fragile girl that could be broken. The girl that had been hunted on more than one occasion. That wasn't who I was anymore.
"You're still the same person, Bella. Sweet, loving, trusting, young. You're just stronger now."
I laughed lightly at the remark, I loved protective Edward, it was all I had ever known.
"You make me sound neurotic." he said with a slight groan.
I laughed even harder.
"Bella." I could hear the smile in his voice as he reprimanded me.
"I'm sorry." I looked into his eyes as I tried to bite back my grin.
His hands cupped my cheeks and he held my gaze. "I just love you too much to risk losing you that way."
The admission sobered me from my brief fit, his eyes were captivating me as he implored me to understand. I couldn't resist him, I never could and I never would. I rolled onto my toes and leaned in towards him closing my eyes. His lips touched mine sending a surge throughout my being, I had missed this, the closeness, the intimacy, the love. He deepened our kiss and his tongue brushed along my bottom lip, looking for permission to enter, I obliged.
"Bella? Edward?" Alice's voice interrupted our moment pulling us back into reality. Her voice was full of excitement. Edward growled quietly under his breath as he pulled away from me.
"Yes, Alice?"
"Rosalie and Emmett will be here soon."
"Okay, we'll be there in just one second."
Alice laughed and disappeared through the door. As helpful as her gift was, sometimes it could be a downright annoyance. Her laugh had let me know that she was all too aware of what would have transpired had she not interrupted. The hunger Edward and I had for one another could never, in my eyes, be satiated, and I never wanted it to be.
"We should go, she'll only come back if we ignore her." Edward laughed, tugging on my hand. I nodded, knowing he was right, and followed him into the house. We would have to continue where we left off a little later.
As Alice had predicted, Rosalie and Emmett had turned up within minutes of her calling us, and then, not four hours later, Carlisle and Esme followed, with them, was a tall and rather nervous looking vampire.
Alistair was jumpy to say the least, I could tell he was here as a favor, rather than volunteering. His eyes darted around the room constantly and Demetri was always a regular stop for him. Carlisle had given him the room in the attic because of his paranoia. He didn't leave the space very often, and when he did, it was under duress.
With the family back, I was finally able to feel a little more normal. To my surprise, Rosalie had been the first to offer her services in teaching me defense tactics. I wasn't sure if this was out of kindness, or whether it was the opportunity to fight me. We had, on some level, become friends, but there was still the underlying resentment from her that I had chosen this life, no matter how it had happened.
Our first practice was in the yard behind the house, Rosalie had been springing attack upon attack at me until I was able to practically read her movements. Edward had stopped watching after the first fight, his overwhelming need to protect me had caused him to jump in front of Rosalie before she could make contact. So now he stayed away.
"Don't you think you're becoming a little predictable, Rose?" Emmett asked, after I had once again dodged an oncoming attack from Rosalie.
Rosalie said nothing, but she glared in his direction with a glacial expression.
"You've been training her for twelve hours, babe. Just a thought."
"I'd like to see you do better." Rosalie snapped, her hands planted firmly on her waist. "The girl's a quick study."
Emmett's booming laughter washed over us as it made it's way towards the trees. He jumped up from his seat and headed towards us, obviously excited about the proposition. His large frame looked all the more intimidating now that I was about to wrestle with him.
"Emmett."
"I just want to test your theory."
Rosalie rolled her eyes, nodded at me, and headed towards the seat that Emmett had been occupying.
"You ready?" Emmett asked, his large body gracefully falling into a crouch.
"Eh,"
Emmett laughed and backed away a little. "I won't hurt you," he winked, "a lot."
"Concentrate, Bella. He's trying to distract you." Rosalie called, her arms folded across her chest and a bemused smile gracing her lips.
"Rose." Emmett grumbled looking towards her.
I took my chance and leapt at him, I threw my shoulder into his gut as I propelled myself forwards. The shock on Emmett's face was worth anything he would dish out when he got back to his feet. Rosalie's musical laugh had obviously proven her right.
Emmett huffed as he got back to his feet, a playful, deep growl was being pushed through his broad smile. His eyes locked on to me as he once again fell into a crouch.
"That proves nothing, Rosalie. You were distracting me."
"That was the first thing I taught her."
Emmett shrugged his shoulders and made a move towards me, his left foot sprang forwards as his right moved to the left. He was baiting me, expecting me to react so he could catch me off guard. I didn't move. Emmett's eyebrows arched high on his forehead, but a larger grin spread across his face until his bright teeth were showing.
"I like a challenge."
I smiled back at him and let my body slide into a crouch, my muscles tightened in anticipation as I watched him move slowly. His feet were moving in several directions as he arranged himself, his muscles flickered in his arms as he shifted his weight to the right . . . then he sprang.
His feet were still giving no indication of his direction and I moved forwards, zig zagging just as he was. His exulted laugh hit me just before he did. His full mass made contact with me as his hands grasped the top of my arms. He pushed me down into the ground. Any air that had been in my lungs pushed out as we landed, but it didn't make any difference, I couldn't be winded. I could feel the earth beneath me molding into the shape of my body as his legs pinned mine down, his mouth came to just half an inch from the skin on my neck as our movements slowed.
Emmett laughed as he clambered off of me. "Again?"
I nodded and jumped up from the ground, backing away from him. His eyes followed my every move as I circled him slowly, I could feel the excitement growing inside of me as I planned my attack. Rosalie had barely touched on this topic, we had mostly worked on defensive tactics.
I let each of my senses lock on the large vampire, and my body moved with pure instincts. My body propelled forward but my eyes never left Emmett, he watched me intently as I came towards him. His body was poised for his movements but my legs sped up without a command. I leapt just as he moved, but I had anticipated this, I crashed into his side with a large resounding crash, Emmett never lost his balance, but before he could react my mouth was inches from his neck.
"Again," his deep voice was no longer filled with the joviality it had been, everything was now centered around his concentration and frustration at his loss.
"Enough for today." Edward's voice startled me from my focus, that was when the brick wall hit me.
A/N: I'm Ba-Ack, so sorry I was away so long, it was only I think 2 weeks but it belt like months ago I uploaded last. I missed writing and I missed you guys, but I hadn't seen my older sister, brother-in-law or nephews in almost fours years and I wanted to spend as much time as I could with them. :) They left yesterday and I miss them already.
Ok-Kay, sorry bout that. Hope you have all had a good couple of weeks, hopefully, fingers crossed, things should get back on track now. I hope this chapter was alright, I feel a little bit rusty.
Thanks for all the Alerts and Faves, I think this story has beaten all the other stories in both, and thank you TO THE REVIEWERS, YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME, THANK YOU FOR THE HAVE FUNS, AND KIND WORDS YOU GUYS ARE STELLAR, AND YOU HAVE GIVEN MY THE MOST REVIEWS I'VE HAD ON ANY STORY, AND I ADORE YOU FOR IT, YOU ROCK!!
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