Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all.
Rated M for a reason.
Chpt 27 Fountain of Knowledge
BPOV
Pete easily picks out Alice's two bodyguards before we've even seen her an' he and Matthew move to shadow them. Clearly neither side intended this meeting to be a secret from Rutilio.
I perch on the edge of Bethesda Fountain to wait with Char while Gus an' Harry blend into the crowd.
After about twenty minutes Alice dances through the throng bringing a third guard with her. She slows her steps when she spots Char sitting with me an' then with a little shrug starts forwards again, taking a seat beside me on the wall.
"Charlotte." She greets my sister stiffly.
"Alice." Char responds with a corresponding lack of warmth.
"I see you didn't take my advice to stay out of this Bella." Alice sighs examining my black eyes curiously and my manky jeans with distain.
"I might have done if I knew what this is." I huff, warily watching her bodyguard as he stops with his arms folded a few feet away from us. "Is he staying there?"
"He won't move far enough away from me to be out of earshot." Alice shrugs. "Think carefully about what you say and do in front of him."
Is she threatening me? Or warning me? Or just stating the obvious? You could go crazy trying to work all this shit out, how come they never show that in the spy movies? 'I'm sorry M, 007 went mad trying to understand Blofeld's plot and we had to sedate him when he tried to make out with Moneypenny's typewriter.'
Pretending to think as instructed, I concentrate fiercely, forming a soundproof shield a few feet around the bodyguard. I'm not sure it's working until he lets out a gasp of surprise at the sudden silence surrounding him.
Carefully I carve out a little hole before turning back to Alice. "Tell him not to move until I release him, otherwise he'll be sorry."
"Domiciano." She orders. "Please follow her instructions."
"SeƱora, yo . . . ." I cut him off mid complaint sealing and shrinking the shield so that he has little room to struggle. To the humans he will look like he's standing there with his arms folded, just like he would have done anyway. He turns his dark red eyes on me accusingly, oh well, that's one secret out in the open.
"That's a nifty little gift you have there Bella." Alice comments, narrowing her eyes.
I shrug. "You can decide later how much of this conversation you want to reveal to your mate but I can assure you that it makes no difference to me what you tell him." Based on Cheese Face's revelations The Major an' Gus have decided to yank Rutilio's chain.
And so. "I know where Edward is."
"He's alive?" She asks excitedly. "You've seen him?"
"Yes an' no." I reveal. "He's with The Volturi."
"The Volturi?" She gasps. "How?"
"You need to ask your husband that question. Obviously."
She chews her lip nervously for a moment. "But he can't have done that, he despises The Volturi, they are the main reason he has never returned to Europe. I thought . . . ." She swallows convulsively. "I thought he'd killed Edward, I can't believe he would have sold him into slavery with The Volturi. Something else must have happened."
"We have been in contact with Carlisle." I inform her.
She winces and then sighs. "I bet he was furious about Edward."
"Something like that."
"Did he ask about me?"
"No."
Surprisingly she laughs.
"Why is that funny?" I demand, still horrified at Carlisle's callousness.
"I always knew that Edward was the only thing Carlisle cared about. I just didn't want to believe it. I wanted to belong, I wanted to be loved."
"Humph." Carlisle projects the perfect parental image but apparently nothing could be further from the truth. The family's abandonment of me makes more an' more sense, if they can't even look after their own what chance did Edward's discarded human have? With no memories of her human life I can almost appreciate how Alice, uncherished by the Cullens, wouldn't risk losing her new connection with Rutilio by questioning his actions. Almost, but not quite. She loved the Cullens, she loved Edward, how could she let his fate just slide?
"So what is it that I am supposed to be avoiding?" I ask, hardened against her again to a degree.
"I can' tell you that."
"Why not?" I growl.
"Because I don't really know." She admits. "Rutilio is a very old fashioned man, he does not involve his wife and mate in his business dealings. He keeps me separate in order to protect me."
My snort conveys my disbelief.
"I promised you once to always tell you the truth." She says sadly.
"Alice." I sigh. "We're well past that now. It's nothin' personal I don't trust anyone anymore."
She laughs bitterly, eyes scanning the crowd, easily picking out the milling vampires. "Then you have picked some strange people to trust."
I let that go, I've no interest in her misconceptions about Pete an' Char.
"What about your visions?"
"Ha!" It's her turn to snort. "For everything I suspect is going on, that I might want to follow, there is always a block in place. Everywhere I turn for answers there is you, Bella. Your mental shield, I assume that's what it is, it blurs or blocks. Whatever is going on it is intrinsically tied to you, you touch or will touch every one of the players in this game. My sight is useless. I cannot even see myself anymore since I met you at Wanaque."
"I'm sorry." And I am, her gift was always so much a part of who she was.
She shrugs. "I have relied on my gift for far too long. I always considered it a blessing but now I wonder if it's a curse. Look at all the damage I've done. I was so convinced you were Edward's mate, based on a few fleeting images, I so wanted it to be true. Look at the pain I caused, to you, him, my poor Jazzy."
I supress a growl at that last comment, he was never hers. Mine!
My eyes catch Char's amused ones an' I back down out of my possessive snit.
Back to business. "Stefan's brother killed Jenks." I offer in the hope she will give me something in return.
"Vladimir." She says quietly, fear in her voice.
"You know him?"
"Yes. Rutilio had a meeting with him recently. He scared me, he is very angry about his brother's disappearance. My husband believes The Volturi have taken him, Vladimir did not take the news well."
"Why would Rutilio believe that?"
She eyes me suspiciously but answers anyway. "Because apparently Stefan, Vladimir and a clique of others have been plotting against The Volturi. Rutilio told Vladimir that one of the covens Stefan was working with had probably turned traitor."
"Did he say who?"
"Not in front of me."
"I don't believe you."
"Bella." She sighs unhappily. "I really don't know all the details. Someone from the US I think, from what I can gather the Washington attorney Hargreaves knows who they are."
"Did you hear Rutilio mention Hargreaves in front of Vladimir?" I gasp, poker face temporarily forgotten, does she really not know who Hargreaves is?
"No." She looks at me strangely. "He was talking to one of his men after Vladimir left. He told him to contact Hargreaves to see if he had any new on Caius and the coven he needed to find for Vladimir."
"So he's told Vladimir who he thinks the traitors are?" I muse, then I can't help but ask. "What do you do all day Alice? Creep around listening at keyholes?"
"Yes." She laughs lightly. "And I shop."
"Are you happy?"
"Of course." She answers. "Why wouldn't I be?"
I shake my head slightly. She's either the world's greatest genius or the saddest most deluded person I've ever met. At the moment I'm going for the latter, is she really so desperate for love that she'll ignore the fate of her brother an' the things going on around her at home in order to feel like she has somewhere to belong?
"Alice. Is Rutilio part of the conspiracy against The Volturi?"
"Are you trying to trap me Bella?" She snaps, suddenly angry and afraid. "Of course he isn't, he's a businessman. Vladimir came to him for help because they have known each other many years and because he knows that my husband has many contacts on this continent."
Peripherally I am aware that my shield is weakening, Domiciano's ears perking up as sounds begin to filter into his invisible prison. His increased alertness draws Gus an' Harry closer to our position. With a flick of my hand I motion for them to move away.
"I see you have chosen your side already." Alice remarks cryptically.
"We've joined another coven," I inform her "for protection."
"So that's how you know." She sighs. "I wouldn't call them a coven but it's your choice, I suppose."
"What do you mean?" I ask sharply.
"Oh Bella." She says with infinite sadness. "I can just about take your distrust, understand it even, but please don't insult my intelligence. I am going to leave now, unless you care to prevent me?"
I shake my head. Confused an' not really knowing what to do next I release Domiciano who trots after her rapidly retreating form, bombarding her with questions.
Pete and Matthew tail them through the crowds returning to us when they are sure they have left. Gus an' Harry have already joined us.
"Why is it?" I mutter massaging my temples pointlessly. "That every conversation I have with Alice gives me the ghost of a headache. Did you hear all that?"
"Yes." Gus nods thoughtfully. "I think that she is telling the truth. She really does not know what is going on but has been picking things up at random from overheard conversations and perhaps from snippets of her gift."
"I think so too but I still can't quite bring myself to trust it."
"It is natural to be highly suspicious under the circumstances Bella." Gus favours me with a megawatt movie star smile. "But sometimes things really are what they seem, I believe that she is simply a lonely and very insecure young woman, with limited natural resources, in a situation she cannot control and does not understand."
"So have we learnt anything useful?" I ask.
"We may have, if we were paying attention." Gus chuckles radiating amusement and pulling me to my feet to lead me towards the exit.
Still awash with good humour Gus places an arm around my shoulder and leans into me as if to whisper in my ear.
Which is why I leap into the air in surprise when he booms happily. "Tell me my daughter. What do you think is going on here?"
"Apart from the fact that someone is clearly watching us at this precise moment in time?" I ask him dryly.
He laughs and drops his voice. "You are very clever."
"Are we in danger?"
"No, I do not think so. Whoever is watching would not have been expecting to see so many vampires with you and it would be crazy to attempt to take you in such a public place." He smiles broadly. "Nevertheless now we have publicised our association we will make haste and return to our friends. Your mate will be most irate if anything happens to you on my watch."
With a snap of his fingers he indicates for the others to close up around us. "Bella, if you please? A lack of scent will make it easier for us to lose a tail in this concrete jungle."
He leads us out of the park and through a complicated manoeuvre of double backs before, as if by magic, arriving at our parking garage. I guess you learn a thing or two after two thousand years.
