Chapter 25: Good Wine and Some Crackers
Salvatore Vineyard and Estate Italy
[Damon's POV]
All the rooms in the Villa have been updated, cleaned and aired out. I haven't seen this much activity in a long time. Angela wants the whole house to be clean for our expected guests. I have learned to stay out of the way for the most part. I would have willingly served under my Angel in the War if she were a General. Her organizational skills are phenomenal.
She took one look at the house and told me that we are now hiring. We are popular in the local village, we hired quite a few folks to help with the cleanup and renovations needed on the estate and we pay on time. We always had maid service and workers for the vineyards in the past. Angela has hired additional staff for the House. We now have two maids, a handyman, and a chef full time.
[Angela's POV]
I dearly love my husband. He can get things done in record time if he sees a need. The Salvatore Estate and Vineyard needed some work. No one has resided in the Villa for years. We are expecting Isa and her family to join us this week. I really want the place to be in top shape before they arrive on Monday.
I wonder if it's too early to be nesting. On the last day of our honeymoon Damon insisted that I take a pregnancy test. It was positive and the doctor confirmed it. He is so happy and somewhat insufferable at the same time. So I alternate between wanting to kiss him and smack him simultaneously.
[Stefan's POV]
I volunteer every day for any project Angela has planned. I really want to stay in her good graces. She has taken a rundown Villa and made it into a home. When I arrived, the plumbing barely had any water pressure. Only some of the rooms had working electricity. The wall paper was peeling in several of the rooms. When the workers leave for the day, I also finish anything left undone.
New wiring was run through the rooms and new fixtures added. The plumbing is adequate so she just had the plumber add new fixtures. By the end of the week all the rooms were re-papered or painted. Every room was cleaned. New rugs and furnishings replaced the older worn out ones. She even remodeled the ancient kitchen into something modern with upscale appliances. My favorite room in the house is one of the bedrooms in the master suite she turned into a nursery. I am so looking forward to baby Salvatore.
I am in awe at how well Angela deals with my brother. She asks him for something and gently rubs her still flat abdomen and he almost bends over backwards to fulfill her request. She is so good for him.
Rebekah and family are due in early tomorrow morning. I hope they enjoy their stay with us.
[Angela's POV]
Her phone plays Isa's tune. She answers on the first ring, "Isa, I'm so glad you called. We are almost finished with the last of the repairs and painting. Hopefully the fumes will be gone by the time everyone arrives. I have some news for you: we are expecting our first child." She holds the phone away from her ear just to let Isa exclaim, "Fantastic!" "Can I help with anything?"
"It's too early. I'm carrying a peanut at the moment. Damon is beside himself he is so happy."
"I bet. Let me know if you need anything."
"I just want to spend time with you and the girls. Stefan and Damon are good, but I need some girl time before I go nuts."
Isa laughs, "I know the feeling. Freya, Rebekah, Sage, Caroline and I are packing now for the trip. We will see you soon."
The Volturi
[Alice's POV]
I swear that I am getting migraines and I am a vampire. Esme called me a few weeks ago: warning me that she thought she saw Bella at a mall in Virginia. She swore me to secrecy; she promised Carlisle that she wouldn't say anything. We are all afraid Edward will go off the deep end if someone says something about Bella. He isn't exactly here mentally; starving himself after he heard about Bella's jump from the cliff from Rosalie. Starvation may have a long term effect on him.
Every time I try for a reading about decisions concerning Bella; I get fuzzy images like out of focus film clips with no sound. Noting concrete: even the people around her block me somehow. So far nothing I have tried works for me to get a reading on her. If Esme hadn't called me I would still believe she died jumping off a cliff.
Marcus just sent Edward and Demetri on a mission to find a different kind of vampire. I can't confirm their existence: because my visions can't pick up on their decisions, even if they do exist.
[Edward's POV]
Marcus sent Demetri with me on an information gathering mission. There is supposedly a different breed of Vampire and the leaders are known as Originals. They are rumored to be able to procreate with humans. They are said to be staying in a town outside of Turin. We need to find out if the rumors are valid. Aro insisted we take the wonder twins with us.
We scouted out Turin and are visiting each of the surrounding towns, villages and hamlets in the Piedmont region. We are driving outside of Asti and Demetri overhears someone in the local pub talking about the great paying job he has in the Salvatore vineyard. I catch a glimpse of someone that looks like Angela Webber in his mind. He tells the bartender that all of the women at the main house are very attractive. I motion to Demetri. I want to check out this vineyard. What would Angela from Forks Washington be doing in Italy in a vineyard of all places?
Listening to the conversation some more and picking up images of the vineyard and where it is. I start running in the direction of the vineyard. Demetri and the twins follow. The tip from town leads them to an estate entrance with 'Salvatore' in Black cast iron above the gate of a stone work fence. When I pound on the front door of the Villa: Angela, a dark haired man with ice blue eyes and a sandy haired man with green eyes protectively stand in front of her.
[Angela's POV]
We just finished dinner and were headed to the game room when someone pounds on the front door. Damon opens the door. She sees Edward and backs behind Damon further, sending the brothers a text from her phone. Stefan glances back and pulls his phone out seeing the message bumps Damon to look at the text.
Edward is the idiot that left Isa in the woods
Damon looks at the group in front of him. "Leave now or face the consequences. You have no right to be on our land."
[Edward's POV]
He ignores the black haired man and the other sandy haired man standing next to her. "Angela what are you doing here in Italy?" He can hear the heartbeat of an unborn child. He winces as Angela rants mentally: "That good for nothing sonofabitch dares to stand on my doorstep after what he did to Bella."
"I live here now with my husband." She mentally shows him the Bella he left behind in great detail and how devastated she was in great detail. "You left Bella in the woods abandoning her. You failed to take out James' coven. Laurent and then Victoria tried to kill Isabella many times. Where were you? Bella was not your mate. Get over her and move on."
In her mind, she thinks back to time just after he leaves Bella in the woods and she is listed as missing and the intensive search for her by everyone available from town. She is remembers how devastated Charlie was over his clinically depressed daughter. Then she pictures Bella when she was so depressed not moving an inch just gazing out the window. How mangled Charlie was in the hospital after encountering a cold one in the woods. Then she remembers the day they were told Bella fell off a cliff. "Edward you caused nothing but pain. Leave here and don't come back. There is nothing here for you."
Both of the men beside Angela both shift restlessly. He cannot read their minds, but their body language indicates they are ready for a fight. Jane starts screaming and keeps screaming. He looks around to see what is attacking her, nothing and then notices Alec is frozen unmoving. Demetri looks confused. He feels a flash of anger towards the twins. They tried using their powers. This is not good. He grabs Demetri and runs.
[Damon's POV]
Their unwelcome visitors are not leaving quickly enough. His and Stefan's senses are fully activated ready to fight. Then the freaky blond haired girl starts screaming and the dark haired boy freezes like a statue. Edward the creep grabs his companion and flees into the night.
Well this seems a little too easy, as he physically moves the twins out away from the house and takes out his lighter and torches them. "Well that was anticlimactic."
[Angela's POV]
Damon stretches, showing some midriff that distracts her temporarily. "Sweetness that is some kind of power you have."
"What power?" she gives him a puzzled look.
Stefan responds, "Looks like you have a kind of deflector power for harmful energy directed towards you. Well either you or the little one you are carrying."
"I hope for Isa's sake Edward doesn't return, but I have a feeling that we will be seeing him again in the near future." She would love to see Elijah's reaction to the pompous ass.
[Damon's POV]
My angel looks at me, "I hope the family can get a hold of him to roast him over a bon fire." I really don't want to piss her off, but she is so sexy when she is pissed.
"You will probably get you wish. I don't think the boy is operating on all thrusters." Stefan points out.
[Edward's POV]
Angela is hiding something about Bella. If he waits a few days he can sneak back and see if he can get a reading on what she is concealing.
He takes Demetri back that night to Volterra. To the entrance of the castle, then he vanishes into the crowd of people in order to return to the vineyard.
[Aro's POV]
I ask Demetri what happened last night. "Edward saw someone he knew back in Forks from someone's thoughts in a tavern. Edward said that the girl was staying at a Villa in a nearby town. We went to check it out. The girl knew Edward. She yelled at him for a bit then told him to return to you."
"Then Jane and Alec used their powers on them and their powers bounced back to them. Edward grabbed me and we ran. I briefly looked back and saw flames with purple smoke. I don't think the twins are coming back."
Aro can't determine who he is the angriest at: Edward for running off. Jane and Alec for getting themselves killed going up against a powerful shield or the girl's talent which neutralized the twins and scrambled Demetri's brain. He would really like to get a hold on that girl for his collection.
Caius is sitting on his throne grumbling to himself. He was counting on the twins help to put Aro in his place.