Ch. 24 - The Reason

The night is darkening round me,
The wild winds coldly blow;
But a tyrant spell has bound me,
And I cannot, cannot go.
- The Night is Darkening Round Me, Emily Jane Brontë

Jacob and I were about a day behind Carlisle and Edward. By the time they arrived in Volterra, it would be two days before the Hearing, but by the time Jacob and I arrived it would be the day before the Hearing. The timing was actually quite perfect because the less time Jacob spent in Volterra, the better; the last thing I needed was another vampire who happened to see or smell him…. and truth be told I couldn't wait to be rid of him. It wasn't that I didn't like Jacob himself, if I ignored to the best of my ability his scent and what he was, he wasn't that bad. He genuinely seemed to love Bella, as evidence I'd like to present the fact that he was working with his natural enemy to save her. And the two of us had come to a mutual understanding that hating one another wouldn't really do anybody any good in the end.

We only needed that one day to set up Bella's rescue and escape. I would be retrieving Bella from her holding place, and Jacob would be assisting her from Volterra to Spain where Rosalie and Emmett would take them back to Forks. I would also be going to Spain with them, but I had the sinking feeling that I wouldn't make it out of Volterra.

"Okay," I said, turning to Jacob, "If you need anything or can't remember where to meet Rose and Emmett or need to meet them somewhere closer, call them."

Hesitantly, he took my phone, "But this is your phone…" It seemed to dawn on him then what was most likely going to happen, "You're not coming with us!"

I laughed without humor, "Jacob, to be honest with you, I highly doubt I'm going to make it out of this city. Once Bella gets to you, and I will make sure that she does it's all up to you to get the two of you to Spain."

I watched as the weight of the world suddenly seemed to place itself upon his shoulders. The miles between Volterra and Zaragoza Jacob would be entirely on his own to protect Bella; it was something he hadn't counted on.

As hard as it was for me to do, I rested my hand against his burning face. "You can do this, Jacob. When they pick up your scent, they won't follow it right away because it will disguise Bella's. They won't be expecting you, they'll be expecting to have to follow another Cullen."

He pulled my hand from his face and looked me in the eyes, "Why are you doing this? Willing to risk yourself to save Bella?"

"… The same reason you're here to save her." I replied. "And for that matter, the reason anybody does anything."

A smile spread across his face as he dropped my hand. "You know, you're not so bad for a blood-sucking leech."

I laughed for real this time. "Thanks, I think. You're not so bad yourself, Jake."

-:-

I had successfully rescued Bella from the room she was being held in, which, looking back was not all the difficult to begin with. She was being held in the part of the castle that was above ground and there were no guards which I found a little odd, but then again Aro probably ordered that no member of the Guard be anywhere near her incase they couldn't control themselves.

I learned not to breathe as Bella and I maneuvered through the alleyways of the city. As the night got darker, I could hear her stumbling along unable to see in the dark like I could. The floral scent of her blood was overwhelming even though she stayed several paces behind me and not for the first time I admired Edward's control to not bleed her dry.

As I turned a corner, I heard Bella ask me, "Why are you helping me?"

I almost laughed out loud at her audacity and selfishness. That she honestly thought I was doing this for her. Then again, the time that she spend with Edward and the Cullens, everything was done for her. I rolled my eyes and scoffed as I replied, "Do not presume to think for one moment that I am doing any of this for you."

Obviously confused, Bella tried to ask me again but I silenced her. I looked both ways down the street we had come upon, "We don't have much further, go ahead." Much too slowly for my liking she same up beside me and then ran across the street with me right behind her. "Let's keep moving."

A couple minutes later, I heard Bella take a breath. "Then why are you doing this? Clearly you don't like me. So what is Edward to you, that you would risk so much to save me?"

I clenched my fists and spun around to face her almost causing her to run directly into me. I took a moment to look her over and couldn't understand what Edward found so remarkable about her. My chest tightened with the knowledge that although she broke his heart and caused him to leave his home and his family for two years, he still loved her. And I realized I was about to get far too much enjoyment out of telling her what I was about to tell her.

"… Edward is my sire," I told her. "He changed me."

With far too much satisfaction I watched the shock spread across her face followed by the hurt. Then the shock and the hurt turned into something far darker… hatred. Bella hated me, and I found myself relishing in that fact.

"That's right, Bella. I'm the reason Edward refused to change you, because he had already taken my life. Edward being my sire is the only reason I am helping, not out of want, but because I am compelled by the bond I share with him. What affects him, affects me, and your death would certainly affect him," I told her. "Now, let's go before we waste more time."

It took Bella a moment to regain herself before she continued to follow me. There were a few more blessed minutes of silence before she opened her mouth again and whispered, "You love him, don't you?"

The underlying tone of hurt in her voice almost made me whip around again, but I refrained. Besides, I couldn't tell her that, yes, I did love Edward. It was also my own selfishness that was compelling me to help her, because as a human Bella would some day die… but if the Volturi decided that they wanted her to be turned, I would likely spend eternity keeping Edward from Bella.

And then suddenly, all at once I knew I wouldn't even make it to Jacob with Bella. I cursed to myself as I turned around and picked up Bella, swinging her over my shoulder even though I told her earlier that I wouldn't. Within a couple seconds I covered the next half mile and set her back on her feet. I let her have a moment to push her stomach back into place and for some of the color to return to her cheeks before I made her focus all her attention on me.

"What's going on?" she demanded.

"You need to listen to me," I insisted. "Keep going down this alley and take the first right you come to, then take the next left and don't stop until you reach your friend Jacob and he'll take you to Rose and Emmett in Spain and from there, they'll take you back to Forks. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, but -"

"There's no time!" I hissed. "Just go! Don't look back and don't stop running no matter what you hear!"

I pushed her several feet down the alley and watched her run. She had just turned the corner to the next alley when he rushed by me. I grabbed him by the ankle and slammed him into the ground, putting my foot into his throat.

"Where do you think you're going, Demetri?" I snarled.

He clicked his tongue, "Wren, Aro will be so disappointed to know that you're behind this."

"It's something he'll learn to live with," I said.

Demetri placed his hands under my foot and shoved me off of him with a good deal of his strength. When I landed back on my feet, the back of his hand immediately landed across my face. I grabbed his hand and spun, the back of my foot catching him in the side of the head and causing it to whip clear around. I wasn't really concerned with causing any true damage, my only concern was keeping Demetri distracted long enough until I knew Jacob and Bella were far enough away from the edge of the city.

Although I can no longer feel physical pain, there is a semblance, a ghost of pain when you're injured. It's disturbing to hear the cracking when you're hit because you know it's your skin that's cracking, you can feel the fault lines spread and fracture before they close and heal. It's a bit jarring, in truth.

When Demetri regained himself, he and I stood facing one another for a moment before we both snarled and lunged. There was biting and punching, kicking and clawing as we tried to tear limbs from one another.

"You honestly think you've helped, Wren? The punishment they hand down will just be more harsh after what you've done," Demetri told me.

"I can see how you'd think that," I replied.

And then suddenly, everything blanked out; my vision, my hearing, my sense of smell. I was entirely disoriented, feeling like I was constantly spinning. I didn't know which way was up or down, left or right. Colors swan in front of my eyes and all I heard was white noise in my ears. It was paralyzing. I had no sense of the passing of time, nor any idea of my location. In this state I would have been entirely compliant and since I had no idea what was going on, would not have put up any fight against anything that happened to me.

-:-

Everything rushed back to me all at once and it was a bit overwhelming to be hit with sight, smell, and sound all at once. But when I finally got my bearings, I looked around realizing that I was standing in the antechamber of the underground castle and I also happened to see the reason for my disorientation: Afton. His gift shut down the senses, or at least made them go haywire. He must have come upon Demetri and I fighting.

Dread and terror and horror and every other unpleasant feeling in the world suddenly buried itself in my stomach. Edward and Carlisle looked completely shocked, though I couldn't bring myself to look at either of them… I was too busy watching as Marcus quirked an eyebrow while he glanced between Edward and myself because I knew that not only was he seeing the romantic relationship between Edward and me, Marcus was also seeing the sire-ward relationship. Then, to my horror, he crossed to Aro and touched his hand.

"Wren, what are you doing here!" I heard Edward ask. "And where's Bella!"

I ignored him, even in my thoughts because soon enough, Aro would outstretch his hand to me and I could not turn him down. At that moment, I was too concentrated on moving things I didn't want Aro to see behind a mental block that took me several years to develop and Bella's location happened to fall into the category of things I didn't want Aro to see, along with everything that supported Marcus seeing a relationship between Edward and I.

"Wren helped Bella escape," Demetri announced. "She then proceeded to prevent me from going and retrieving her."

Although it had been many years since the last time I saw Aro, the disapproving look that he gave me still affected me. Silently, he lifted his hand and beckoned me toward him and of their own volition it seemed, my feet carried me toward him...

Okay, much quicker update this time! Yay!
Next chapter is in Edward's POV and, I should let you know
that next chapter also happens to be THE LAST CHAPTER BEFORE THE EPILOGUE!
And, I only think there's going to be one epilogue, as opposed to two like I had
two prologues.

Uhm... Oh, yeah! My next project will be a Harry Potter fan-fic
titled The Fallback and it is going to be a Draco/OC story. I've had
the idea for it in my head ever since the sixth book came out. So I figured
it was time to start writing it. :)
So, if you're a HP fan please go check that out!

I would like to thank the four people who reviewed last chapter!
Thanks guys, at least I know some people are still interested in this.

Please review?

-(gxr)-