Chapter 28 - I'll be home for Christmas
Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.
Thanks to BanSidhe [ruadh sidhe] and Feebes86 for betaing and pre-reading.
Meanwhile in Volterra.
The early morning sun streamed in the long narrow window slits of the round castle turret room. The three enormous wooden thrones were occupied, but the rest of the room was devoid of the usual immortal attendants and acolytes. Two of the seated men had long flowing black hair and the third had a head of snow white hair that fell to his shoulders. It almost matched the lightness of his face. They were all very old vampires and the hard marble of their skin had taken on a paper thin quality.
The Volturi council was in session.
Marcus retained his almost permanent expression of utter boredom. Caius, the lighter haired one, looked sour and annoyed.
Aro, who usually found amusement in everything, was not amused by the hunt for Bella Swan. "I was going to send the lovely Bella this necklace." He waved an enormous thick-chained gold necklace with a diamond the size of an egg as the central ornament.
"We know… you told us," Marcus intoned dryly.
"No wedding, no present," Aro piped.
"No vampire," Marcus pointed out. "No chance to insist on their tribute."
Aro made a fluttering gesture with his hand. "And no contact since that rude letter from our old friend Carlisle to say the wedding was canceled."
"They have probably moved on from Forks. We do tend to insist on frequent changes of locale," Marcus said.
"Except for us," Caius pointed out. His eyes were held half closed and he looked like a lizard basking in the sunlight.
"Of course," Aro said. The Volturi had resided in Volterra since medieval times. "Still no word from Demetri?"
Nobody answered him which was answer enough.
Aro was a little concerned, Demetri had to be convinced to join the Volturi, but that was a long time ago. He was a member of the Egyptian coven run by Amun. They were bonded and had worked extensively on improving his tracking ability. Amun should have known better than to have a tracker more skilled than Aro's. Aro declared war on the Egyptian coven and he used the Guard member Chelsea (whose skills were in breaking and re-forming emotional bonds) to break Amun and Demetri's link. When he had defeated them, he left only Amun and Kebe alive. You always have to have survivors to spread the story of your overwhelming defeat.
Chelsea was Aro's most powerful and useful asset and had been with him many years. Most vampires had no idea what she did or how Aro used it to his advantage. She was the power that kept the guard unified and the coven functional.
Distance from Chelsea meant Aro could not know if Demetri's loyalty wavered and he could not use one of his other favorites, Corin to make him feel contentment at staying with them. Like most drugs, Corin's power had a side effect; when people were not exposed to it for a long period of time they went through withdrawal and felt physically uncomfortable. Demetri had been away and alone for too long.
He should send someone else to Forks to investigate. Someone he could afford to lose. "Send Santiago to Forks," he announced.
"Why?" Caius growled.
"Demetri's last contact was to say that the errant Isabella may have returned to Forks."
"Could he have joined the Olympic coven?"
"Oh, my old friend Carlisle. How I miss him. But I doubt that his unorthodox path would appeal to Demetri."
"Santiago is not a tracker."
"He doesn't need to be to ask a few questions." But he was very strong. Not quite in Felix's range but he was also extremely fast. Edward Cullen was also known for his speed as well as his mind reading ability. Aro grinned as he recalled Edward Cullen and his amazing gifts.
Aro loved to collect vampires with skills as others collected precious jewels and he was so looking forward to collecting one or two of Carlisle's Olympic coven. They were getting too large and too powerful. They had influenced others to follow their odd diet; vegetarian vampires, who had heard of such a thing? Ah now, the Denali coven in Alaska might know of Carlisle's whereabouts. They were friends and even embraced his love of humans to the point of adopting his diet.
Aro's grin faded to a sulky expression. "No… send him to Denali."
"Denali?" Marcus asked.
"Perhaps our other old friend, Eleazar has some news?"
Eleazar had been a Volturi guard. He was given a cloak for his ability to sense the special talents of others. His job was to detect if any threatening coven had any members with extra gifts and then pass that knowledge on to Aro so he could target them or steal them. He would also be sent around the world to look for any human or vampire with useful talents to add to the coven, but his nature was too gentle and he wasn't entirely happy with their methods. An argument that he was serving the greater good by working with those who would uphold the law only held until he met Carmen. They became mates. Because Carmen had no interest in joining the Volturi and vice versa, and was troubled by the violence of Eleazar's everyday life, he asked for Aro's permission to leave the coven. Aro didn't like the idea but nonetheless gave Eleazar his blessing, believing that he would return to the guard if Aro ever needed him.
It might be the right time to remind Eleazar that he still thought of him.
"Yes," Aro said decisively. "To Denali."
"And how… exactly… will that help us find out what happened to Demetri?" Marcus asked in his usual pointed fashion. "He may have information on Carlisle, but that will be all."
"Fine. Denali first, then to Forks."
"Alone?" Caius asked in a flat whisper.
Aro made a dismissive hand gesture. "Send one of the other guard as well."
"Afton?" Caius asked.
"No!" Aro could not risk damage to Afton. He was Chelsea's mate, and if anything happened to him, she would leave. He only had his position in the guard because of his mate. "No. One of the others. Get the secretary… what is her name? Gianna? To book flights for them."
"We ate Gianna," said Caius.
"Oh, yes… whatever the new girl's name is." Aro fiddled with his brocade sleeves.
Marcus watched him even though he was pretending to be bored, as he always did. He had guessed at Aro's desire to possess Edward Cullen's little human.
Aro had even asked her to join the guard. She had refused and had shielded her thoughts from him and Jane.
It was this gift that Aro wanted. Mostly so that she was where he could see her and use her. She was the strongest shield he had ever seen as a human. Once she was turned, her gift would be enhanced. It was entirely possible that she could expand that shield to protect another. Another… say, like Aro.
He had a body guard, but she needed to actually physically touch him to do it. Her extra talent was in repelling other vampires. They would be possessed by a sudden urge to walk the other way. The two worked well as a body guard, but the physical touch was both limiting and personally embarrassing. Aro made her stand behind him with her palm against his back so it wasn't obvious, but as a result, he could not make dramatic movements or sudden gestures without risking loss of contact.
And he loved to make dramatic gestures.
Add to that, his gift of mind reading worked on contact and he was terminally bored with seeing every thought that had ever crossed Renata's mind.
Plus, an Isabella shield could potentially cover herself and him. Maybe even other core members. If she was averse to such an idea then Chelsea could bind her and Corin could make sure that she stayed.
Lucky Caius and Marcus could not read his mind because he was tired of them both and he had plans to eliminate them.
It was time for a change.
Jane and Alec would leap at the chance to become a core member rather than a senior guard and they were both far more useful than his current companions. The twins were flexible, strong and ruthless. And they would be loyal to him if they got such an opportunity.
Caius was a liability. His capacity for cruelty and hate had initially been an attraction to Aro, but his rabid persecution of werewolves had nearly exposed them all. He had no psychic gifts; and Aro did so love gifts. He had also been up to something when he had sent Jane and Alec and some other members of the guard off on a little trip to Seattle. News of the dozens of deaths and disappearances had reached them quickly. The consensus was that someone was making newborn vampires.
A touch of Felix's hand had shown the truth. They had met with the rebellious Victoria and had let her newborn army attack the Olympic coven on Cauis' orders. Aro would never have risked damage to his potential jewels; the gifted Alice especially, plus Edward and Isabella. But, luckily they had come through the battle unscathed.
Aro would not forget.
Marcus' gift, on the other hand, judged the strength of relationships. The flaw, naturally, being that he could not see his own. The bonds between Marcus and Aro had weakened in recent centuries.
Aro tapped a delicate forefinger against his lip. He had killed Marcus' wife to keep him from leaving the Volturi. She had a gift as well; she had spread happiness to all she came in contact with and Marcus had utterly adored her. But Aro needed him, his gift was very useful in a battle situation, and they had many of those at that time, so she had to die. A happy Marcus was not willing to fight. But it had literally been centuries since the Volturi had been in a battle and Marcus was less useful.
The fact that the adored wife he had killed was Aro's own sister was irrelevant.
The Cullens reacted to the news Jasper repeated, the way they usually did: Alice was annoyed that the wolves blocked her visions, Emmett was excited, Rose apathetic, Esme sympathetic and eager to help somehow, and Carlisle was distracted by the news that Billy had phased and as a result, healed his diabetes.
"The chance to do such a thing for the whole of humanity," Carlisle gushed.
"They are werewolves, not lab rats," Esme chided.
"He said the parents phased. We had thought it was a youth thing. I need to take some blood samples."
"Yes. You could get the opportunity to do that yourself if we return to Forks," Jasper suggested.
Alice gave him a look.
"We never did sell that house," said Esme. "Or that lovely stone cottage we built for the two of them." She looked dejected for a minute.
Jasper knew Rose was conflicted. She was proud of Bella for staying human but hurt for her abandoned brother.
"A fight!" Emmett crowed. "I am sooo gonna be in that!"
Jasper silently hoped so, too.
"This isn't our fight," Rose argued.
"I am very much afraid that it is." Carlisle said. "And not just because we broke our word to Aro, but also because we have a treaty with the Quileute."
Rose frowned. "I don't remember a clause about kicking Volturi ass."
"The intent is there," Carlisle said.
"We have to help them, the poor things," Esme said.
Rose rolled her eyes. Once Esme made her mind up, Carlisle would agree with her the way he always did.
"What about Edward?" Alice asked. After the wedding fiasco, Edward had left the family; demanding solitude. It had only been five years, the blink of an eye for a vampire and they hadn't made contact with him in all that time, respectful of his wishes.
Carlisle said, "We can get a message to him. I know that you know where he is. He asked you for your silence, but he would want to be involved in this situation."
Jasper snorted. "It's Bella. He'll help."
Carlisle looked sad. "I have no doubt of it."
"Oh, come on, Rose," Emmett begged.
"I did want her to stay human," she conceded. "I suppose I ought to make sure she stays that way."
"Woo hoo. Atta girl."
He and Jasper fist bumped.
"We were going to take out Demetri, remember? You reckon he'll be coming?" Emmett asked.
"The wolves say they took him out already."
"Seriously? Wow."
"They must have been practicing."
Carlisle didn't seem to hear anyone. "Yes, definitely some blood samples… and I want to see if Jacob has any arthritis symptoms after all those broken bones… hmm." He wandered off distractedly.
Jasper studied his mate; she seemed unaccountably sad. "Darlin'?" he asked.
"This will be a fight, won't it?"
"Probably. Can you see it?"
She shook her head. "Just darkness."
