9
A NEW DAWNChapter 23
Slaughter
Upon our return to Volterra, we were greeted with great excitement. Jane enthusiastically detailed the entire battle, including my decision to leave several witnesses to spread the word of our lopsided victory. While the details were being shared, many minds shifted back to the prospect of my taking over leadership of the Volturi. Aro, keenly aware of this, reminded me of what he had said earlier. Once again, I politely declined his offer, and instead announced that I was returning to New York the next day.
My announcement was met with disappointment amongst the entire Volturi family. It was tough to reject all of the pleas to stay, but I assured them that I would visit again soon.
The next morning I was on a jet crossing the Atlantic, bound for home. I couldn't wait to be back to the peace and quiet of my office, or rather, back to the normality it would bring. I had also missed Sabrina; her laughter was quite grounding to me.
Returning to my office and seeing my new desk brought back the memories of what had transpired before I had left. It was because of that sudden phone call, I extended my stay in Italy; I needed time to calm the rattling box.
That morning my phone rang, it was Edward.
"Hey Edward, what's up?" I asked.
"I'm sure you already know why I'm calling," Edward said.
"Um, no, I haven't a clue."
"Odd, I thought you would have seen this."
"Sorry, I haven't been looking for anything, other than the stock markets." I laughed, he didn't. "What's wrong Edward, what's going on?"
"I've been putting this call off for a while, I had rather hoped you'd have already seen everything and I wouldn't have to say it."
I abruptly stood up from my chair; it always annoyed me when people played guessing games. "What is this about?"
"It's about Seth." Edward paused then, obviously giving me time to compose myself.
"What?" Was all I could manage.
"He asked Liz to marry him; they are planning a spring wedding next year. Seth asked me to—well, he wants to send you an invitation but only if you'd actually show up. He wanted me to ask you first, he really wants you here."
The box not only began rattling, but also grew in size and weight. My head began spinning with torturous thoughts. Not thoughts of the wedding itself, but afterwards, the honeymoon. Although I was convinced that Seth had already surrendered his virginity to her, but on the off chance that he hadn't, it would happen that night for sure. My stomach began to lurch, as if trying to throw up something that wasn't there. I never wanted to imagine Seth with anyone but me, and now I was confronted with that reality once again.
"Edward, I have to go," I said as my body continued to convulse.
"I'm sorry; I knew how this would hurt you, that is why I put it off. But—what should I tell him?"
"Tell him that I can't..., I just can't."
"He really misses you, and wants to see you very badly."
"Edward, don't do this to me, I can't handle the thoughts of him… and her—I just can't bear it."
"I understand, I really do. I'll figure something out to tell him."
"Thanks. Anyway, I gotta go. Goodbye Edward."
Before he could reply, the phone crumpled to pieces in my suddenly clenched fist. I slammed my other hand down on the desk, and with a familiar loud crack, the desk buckled and fell to the floor.
Within seconds, Sabrina was peeking in. "That's the fifth desk this year," she chuckled. "Maybe we should order in bulk this time."
I shrugged. "Maybe."
"What's wrong?" she said, finally aware of my mood.
"Dreaded phone call from home. Seth is getting married, he wants to send me an invitation; Edward called to see if that was ok."
I had explained to her some of the details a couple of months after we became close. She inquired as to why I spent so much time alone, and why I seemed so sad whenever it was cloudy… and rainy.
"I'm so sorry Brady. I can't even imagine what you must be feeling," she said sympathetically.
I sighed. "It's ok, I'll get over it, just like I've always done. I just really didn't need this right now, not after I had been able to lock those feelings away."
That is why, when my assignment was complete in Italy, I decided to stay for a while. I wasn't in any hurry to return and face those thoughts again. Yet, even after being away for a couple of months, the memory came crashing back as soon as I walked in the door. Life can be so cruel and unfair sometimes.
For the next couple of months, I made great progress in shrinking the rattling box again, and had once again shoved it off into a tiny corner of my mind. Work was still my only respite, and thankfully, I was continuously busy. I was traveling even more lately, and had assignments booked for the next eight months.
Finally, everything seemed to be moving in the right direction, or so I thought; then I received that fateful call.
"Hey Edward," I said, answering the incoming call.
"Brady, we need you to come home right away, something has happened," Edward said. The tone of his voice was rushed and full of panic.
Immediately I was on my feet, I swung to face the window in preparation of the news to come… staring out at the overcast drizzly morning, Edward's words changed my life forever.
"The wolves were attacked late last night, several of them didn't survive. We need you here."
I couldn't speak I was completely numb. "Seth?" I gasped.
"We don't know, he's missing, nobody has been able to find him, not even Jacob. We think he has gone after them by himself."
Suddenly my brain snapped into action, the rattling box exploded upon command, and I was able to peer into Seth's future; I found only shadow… and darkness.
"Edward, tell me what happened," I demanded.
"Just get here quickly, I'll explain everything then."
"Edward, please tell me now, I can't see them anymore…" I had to stop, I couldn't continue.
"It wasn't just the wolves that were attacked; it was also those that they were with at the time. Jared and Kim were both killed, as were Collin, Brady, and several of the other young wolves, along with members of their family. Sam, Emily, Paul, Rachel, Embry, and Quil were lucky, they happened to be together at the time and were able to fend off the attackers. Seth and Liz weren't so lucky, and neither was Leah."
I swallowed hard. "What happened to them?"
"Seth and Liz were out for a walk along the ocean when they were attacked. Seth was unable to protect her, but before they could…finish him," Edward paused. Then taking in a deep breath, "Leah showed up at the last minute, but she was killed trying to protect him. After that, the attackers ran off, and we believe Seth is pursuing them."
"WHO?" I yelled. "Who did this?" Everything in sight became tinged in red as my fury exploded.
"Vampires!"
"Volturi?" I hissed.
"No, apparently a southern coven, we believe they were seeking revenge for Victoria."
"What about Jacob, is he..."
"He is fine, he was here at the time, they chose not to attack us, probably aware of our strength. Instead, they waited until the wolves dropped their guard, and went after them individually."
"They will all pay for this; I will hunt them down and destroy every one of them!"
"Brady, just get here, we need you to help us track Seth. He can't handle this alone, but Jacob believes Seth knows this. He's not going for revenge; he's going because he doesn't want to survive."
I knew this; I saw this, his future… darkness.
"I'm on my way; I'll be there in a couple of hours."
I hung up the phone, turned around, and shattered my desk into tiny pieces. I couldn't cry, I could only lash out physically to release my emotions.
Sabrina quickly rushed in, she didn't joke about the desk.
"What happened?" She asked.
"Cancel all of my appointments, I have a family emergency to attend to, I'm leaving now," I said robotically.
"What is it?" She pleaded.
I sighed. Then leaning against the wall for support, I explained, "Some friends back home were attacked last night, some of them didn't survive. Seth is missing; his fiancée was killed in the attack, along with his sister. My family needs my help to find him, and then I'll take care of those responsible." My fury was returning, just saying it aloud brought back the red tinge.
"Who did this? Aren't the police..."
"Sabrina, the police can't help, they have no clue what they're dealing with. They'll believe that it is some type of white supremacist activity, simply because it was an attack against Native Americans."
Sabrina was staring at me, afraid of asking her questions, and afraid of the answers.
"You know that I'm not like ordinary people Sabrina, so this really shouldn't surprise you. My family and I are not unique in this world; there are others out there like us, although unlike us, they don't care about the safety of humans. My friends are not like us, although like us, they are something different. It was those like us that attacked them, therefore, it is only those like us that can bring them to justice," I said coldly. I hope she understood my cryptic story, I didn't feel like explaining.
"Will you be in danger?" She asked hesitantly.
I smiled. "Don't fear for my safety Sabrina, fear for theirs. They have unleashed a monster more powerful than they can even begin to imagine, and they're about to experience something that would make hell seem like heaven."
She stepped backwards, suddenly aware of the change in my demeanor.
"You have nothing to fear from me Sabrina, no human has to fear me. But those who harm the ones I love, will never live long enough to know true fear."
I then walked over to retrieve my cell phone from the pile of rubble that used to be my desk. "I will call you when everything has been settled, take care of things here," I said calmly.
"Be careful," she whispered.
"No worries, I'll talk to you soon."
Then to further demonstrate my previous explanation, I vanished from the office, moving quickly down the stairs and out the lobby doors without being seen. I certainly wasn't going to waste time driving to Washington; it would take way too long. Running, I could be there in a few hours, and would never have to stop for gas. The problem was that, moving at blinding speed on the highways, it would be easy for most vampires to miss their exits. Thankfully, I had prepared for this.
During one of those nights, as Seth lay sleeping, looking like a peaceful angel… I spent the time studying road maps of the United States and Canada. "Be prepared for anything" was how I thought, so this was just one of those preparations.
Being familiar with the highway system was one thing, but at blinding speed, everything was a blur. Thankfully, being able to read thoughts, I could see upcoming exits through the minds of others. I never needed to see the sign for myself, as long as I could see it through the mind of someone in front of me.
Thankfully, the blinding speed and the constant mental scanning kept my brain too busy to think about anything else. For the entire eight hours, I was solely focused on getting home as quickly as possible.
I found myself greeted with hostility upon my arrival; it was definitely not what I had been expecting.
"This is all your fault!" Jacob yelled as soon as I walked through the door.
"Jacob, that's enough," Carlisle said.
"Jacob has a point," Bella added, "Why didn't he warn us, surely had had seen..."
"I said that's enough," Carlisle snapped, cutting Bella off.
"It's not enough, Carlisle, we deserve answers," Jacob shouted.
"It's not his job to look out for us," Edward added sharply. "He has his own life to live."
"Well thanks to him not being willing to take a few moments of his time, people are dead. But I guess that's no a big deal since he has his own life now, right. Even if that means the death of his supposedly beloved Seth," Jacob scoffed.
Insanity overcome me for a brief moment, and in the moment, Jacob was on the ground writhing in agony.
"Stop Brady, Stop!" Edward shouted as him, Carlisle, and Jasper grabbed me and hauled me from the room.
In an instant my sanity returned, immediately I heard the tearing of clothes and the incensed growl coming from the other room. Jasper quickly disappeared to try to calm the situation, while Bella and Esme tried to reason with the furious wolf.
"I'm sorry," I said. "He doesn't understand, he has no idea how I feel."
"I'd say he knows now," Edward laughed quietly. "I've always wanted to see that."
"Edward, now isn't the time," Carlisle said.
"I know, I'm just trying to lighten the mood a bit. Everyone is at wits end, we need to calm down and deal with this rationally," Edward said.
"I need to talk to everyone, let's go back in there," I said.
"Are you sure about that, I don't think he's changed back yet," Carlisle said.
"I'm not the one who should be worried," I said, adding a grin.
"Just be careful, Jacob is really torn up, he's probably taking this the hardest out of everyone here," Edward said.
When we returned to the room, the gigantic wolf was still glaring in my direction, arched in a position to pounce at any moment. He bared his teeth and snarled as I approached.
"I understand how you feel Jacob. However, you have no idea what I have been going through ever since I left. Accept it or not, I love Seth more than anything in this world, I would gladly give my own life to save his. Yet, knowing that he loved someone else in the way that I loved him, realizing that him and I would never be, it was more pain than I could endure. That is why I left in the first place, because everything here is a reminder of him for me. Once I got to New York, I had to try to move past that pain, I had to try to find a way to live again. The only way I could do that, was to lock every reminder of him away. How do you think it would have felt to me Jacob, seeing daily images of his future with someone else? I would never be able to move on, if I had to suffer with that every day. Besides that, I had no idea that anyone would ever attack, there was no logical reason to believe that. I thought that everyone here was safe, if I had a reason to believe otherwise, believe me when I say that I would have suffered the daily pain, if I could have prevented this from happening."
I was now standing face to face with the giant wolf, I wanted him to look into my eyes and judge them for himself.
Suddenly the air shuttered as Jacob phased back into his human form. He quickly sat in the nearest chair and quickly covered himself with the remnants of his clothing.
"I'm sorry I said what I said, I guess I had no idea how badly things with Seth had affected you. I can understand why you wouldn't want to look into his future. I just wanted to blame someone besides myself, and you were the easiest target since you had the ability to see this. Yet, Edward is right, it wasn't your job, it was mine," Jacob said.
"No Jacob, this wasn't your job. You had no way of knowing this was going to happen, nobody would have even guessed that Victoria still had allies out there," I argued.
"I'm the Alpha, I'm Seth's leader, it was my responsibility."
"Jacob, continuing to blame yourself is only going to hurt those who love you," I said, nodding toward Renesmee, who was curled up in a ball near Jacob's feet. "Besides, blame won't help anything now; we still need to find Seth. What do we know so far, any ideas of where he was headed?"
"It's strange," Jacob said in an exhale. "I've caught him phasing a few times, but only for very brief moments. His thoughts are consumed with the desire for revenge, but there are other thoughts that he is able to block me from seeing. That in itself is strange, but even stranger, is the fact that he is no longer affected by my Alpha commands. It's as if he has found a way to detach himself from my authority, and is acting under another influence."
"When he is in wolf form, have you been able to see or recognize the area that he's in?" I asked.
"No, everything I've seen has been blurred, obscured with his thoughts. I just don't understand what is happening to him," Jacob said.
"If I was to venture a guess, I would say that the sheer pain that he's in, having watched his beloved Liz and his sister being killed, along with his own feeling of guilt for not being able to save them, has caused a disconnection from reality. He is no longer the Seth we knew, he is acting purely from hatred and the desire to avenge the deaths of those he loved," I said.
"We have to find him, we have to stop him," Jacob growled.
"Do we? Doesn't he deserve the right to avenge them?" I asked sharply.
"So you want him to die trying? Is that what you want; is that the easy answer for you to overcome your own pain?" Jacob snarled.
"Careful Jacob," Edward said.
"It's ok," I said. "I'm just thinking about how I would feel in the same situation, I know that I would want to be the one to settle this, I would want to rip their hearts out personally. I also know how I would feel if someone took that opportunity away from me, I would never be able to feel a sense of closure, no matter how long I lived. I just can't help but wonder if there is another way to resolve this situation, while also allowing him the vengeance that he seeks."