Disclaimer: The characters used for this fanfic from Twilight are the sole property of Stephanie Meyer, as are any characters of TrueBlood/The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Alan Ball and Charlaine Harris respectfully. This fanfiction is rated M for violence, language, and sexual innuendo. This fanfiction also contains slash fiction (homosexual relationships) and will include explicit scenes of gay sex. If this is not your thing, please do me the courtesy of not reading this and flaming me, or if you are clearly underaged (you know who you are!). I'm open to all reviews on my fanfics, including constructive criticism, but I will not tolerate any flaming. Any chapters I deem extremely explicit, I will mark in bold above the chapter to warn you in case you either do not enjoy reading sex scenes or scenes of an incredibly violent nature. Now, enjoy the story!
Jasican's Point of View
"If the first attack was meant to destroy, this next one will be the one to bolster, and add both fear and numbers into the mix."
I stood before my coven once more, about to deliver them the Voltaire's next plan of attack against us. After catching the earliest flight back to the United States, about a day or so later after arriving in Chile, we finally arrived back at Seattle, and after about three and a half days total away from the palace, I was quite anxious to return. While technically coming back empty-handed in terms of more help, the knowledge of Demetri's mind and Nahuel's promise would be more than enough.
I had already briefed the Cullens, Jacob and the other vampires in my group about what I had discovered, but refrained from telling Zoe and until I can gather the rest of my coven and inform them all at once. By the severity of the situation fast approaching, only less than two months away, I knew I was going to need the help of all that were present with me back when we rescued Jacob, just to start. I was wary, however, of how much of my resources I should devote to deflecting the Volturi's next attack, as I could presume that even if we are successful in our efforts, we still lack the time we desire to fully engage in our recruitment efforts.
Aennik, Sarah, and Edemeé were still present when I arrived, the latter, of course, still unwilling to even be here, much less talk to us. I had hoped the time spent around her uncle and cousin, along with Zoe, would be enough to slowly begin to make a dent in her prejudicial views. It didn't, but at the very least, she had kept her mouth shut for the most part. And while most of the coven entirety was here, I addressed mostly my leadership and the Cullens, as they would be the ones commanding the coven in my place once the plan is revealed.
"While I am still unaware of what this 'final option' consists of, we know enough of their next plan to formulate a defense," I continued. "The Volturi's next attack will be here, on United States soil, as you can imagine, but it will not be a repeat of what happened in Suffolk.
"As you may or may not be aware of, the United States holds more prisoners per capita that any other country in the world, having some of the most violent offenders. While there are plenty of prisons that hold a massive number of prisoners, there is one prison, considered the king of all prisons in the US, the ADX Florence, located in it's city's namesake in Colorado. This one holds the most dangerous, most unredemptive people, who sought to bring the most damage against people, both physically and emotionally, and these are the people the Volturi seek to unleash upon the unsuspecting population."
A moment's silence passed before Lydia spoke up, "How is this supposed to be worst than Suffolk?"
"I haven't even gotten to the best part," I replied dryly. "The Volturi are not only intending to unleash the prison population as a whole back into the world, but they are planning to turn them all. Using a vampire within their Guard, Chelsea, I believe her name is, to keep them all under Volturi control as they spread across the country, unchecked, I may add, with the humans powerless to stop them. With so many unexplained murders throughout, it will ensure that, not only will our own efforts of recruitment for this coven be significantly impacted, but it will also send another nail into the coffin of our final efforts at revelation."
"Wouldn't having to keep control of so many vampires spread the Volturi thin?" Emmett asked.
"Not necessarily," Carlisle replied. "The Volturi's resources are vast, and could easily have influence spread in places we haven't considered."
"And with the loyalist group we found in Chile," I continued, "it'll make it extremely difficult for us to know whether the next coven we attempt to approach would be friend or foe. As much as I hate to admit it, the Volturi seem to have plans within plans, even if they aren't directly involved, and feel they wouldn't have too much to lose at this point. They are still perceived as the strongest, with gifts rivaling ours greatly enhancing their machine. It wouldn't take too much effort on their part to subvert and destroy enough of the leadership of the human world to declare their own rule."
"I'd argue that would be a bit overreaching on their part, should that be true," Zoe spoke up. "Aro has spent millennia keeping vampires out of human sight, I find it highly illogical that they would give that up in order to combat a rival coven."
"I suspect Aro already believes he controls the world," I countered. "He would simply be changing tactics to ensure he keeps the throne, perceiving us to be enough of a threat to turn the world against us. He may see us enough of a threat to, ironically, reveal their own existence to the human world, twisting our purpose, through subterfuge, before sending everything to bear upon us. This latest plan, it appears, that the Volturi are growing less concerned about keeping secrecy, if they want newborns, former prisoners, mind you, to roam freely across the country, killing at will, and causing chaos. I fear they will pull all stops to keep power."
"So what's our next move then?" Brett asked.
"While secrecy may no longer be the Volturi's goal in the end," I began, "we must maintain it, at least for now. The prison is well-guarded, naturally, but only against other humans. Should a vampire or two wish to infiltrate, the humans there will be ill-equipped to deal with their rampage, and it would be all they need to silence all the guards, and leave the playing field wide open for them. The prison, from this point on, shall be under our constant surveillance-."
I suddenly experienced an almost dizzying sensation going through my head, and split-second flashes ran through my head, over my eyes. Most zoomed by without me getting a clear shot at what I was looking at, and the sensation had dissipated within seconds of the incident.
It was clearly enough to notice when I realized I had my eyes closed, my right hand bracing against the chair to hold my balance, and the looks of concern on the majority of my coven's faces.
"Everything alright?" Jacob approached me from the left.
"Yeah, I think I've been taking too much," I replied low. "My mind is probably trying to flush out some of the leftover memories."
"Has it happened before?" Zoe asked.
"No," I confirmed, "but it's nothing. It's not painful or anything. I'm fine."
"Can you be sure it's only one or two who may attempt to attack?" Sarah chimed in, before Zoe got another word in.
"If I must cite precedent, which I admit is very little to go by, the Volturi are attempting to keep their operations as simple as possible, in order to keep suspicion off them until the time is right. Diverting a few in order to maintain their whole would ensure that should things go out of their favor, the Volturi can deny involvement, citing disgruntled nomads, for instance. While Aro wishes to keep fear of their 'law' within the vampire world, I can imagine too much of their open involvement would push others further into our cause."
"If that's the case," Sarah began, "then perhaps they can employ loyalists, or nomads from here to help with this new attack. I agree it'll involve a small amount, but I don't think they're going to try the same thing twice. They would have to suspect that your lot will have caught on and are making attempts to combat them. The Volturi would obviously be right, but even if your efforts abroad be kept completely from the Volturi, they are doing well not to underestimate you."
"It seems like the Volturi are doing a wonderful job of keeping us overthinking," Bill said. "It wouldn't be too far of a stretch if half of what we were talking about and planning resulted in chasing ghosts. The truth of the matter is we are still too far into the unknown to make suppositions like this. If we try to anticipate every single one of their movements, we may end up literally killing ourselves in the process. We simply do not have enough yet to make these assumptions."
I couldn't help but smile, "Usually it's Lydia to make the first cynical remark. I can't imagine your CIA background to play a part in this," I said with a sarcastic tinge.
"Hmm, perhaps," he replied. "I know from experience that the US likes to chase it's own ghosts, or sometimes even create them in order to pursue a goal. But we've been short-sighted before, and it's cost us dearly in the past. As you know, we tend to act more aggressively should the warfront reach from within our own soil, our own people, and then everyone is left asking what could have been done to prevent it."
I closed my eyes briefly, "Neither train of thought brings more comfort than the other. However, we have the knowledge, and for the moment, it needs to be our focus. As much as I hate the step-by-step approach, it's all we're allowed for a time, until we gain more knowledge, enough to where we can thoroughly combat the Volturi, we can't afford to stray and chase theories that hold no substance.
"I believe Sarah is right though, and even if the Volturi keeps its numbers low for this next attack, we need to make sure we have more than enough to face them. As I said before, a couple of vampires on watch around the prison should be enough to detect any vampire who enters range. As the time draws near, I'll divert more vampires to the prison, and eventually, I'll join to oversee the effort. With any luck, we can end this fast without any bloodshed."
"And since you believe I'm right," Sarah broke in, "I feel obligated to offer my own assistance in helping you with defending the prison, and I'm sure Annika wouldn't be opposed to offer a few more to help. Aennik?"
"I'm fairly certain she would," Aennik began, but was cut off by Edemeé before he could finish his thought. "Are you kidding me?! Now you wish to risk our lives to help them?"
"There are human lives at risk, and Jasican has given me no reason not to believe him," Sarah retorted. "It is our duty to help."
"My duty is to the tribe, Sarah," Edemeé shot back angrily, "not to the vampires you've decided to align yourself with, and place over the safety of our own. And last I checked, you weren't the Chieftain."
"Neither are you, young one," Sarah added harshly.
"While Edemeé's intentions are misplaced," I started, "I may have to agree with her sentiment. It is unclear, at least to me, if there is any shifter population in the region, and having shifters with us may prove to harm the Chimakuns in the long run should the Volturi manage to report back their involvement. Aside from the obvious fact that it would put your overall sense of maintaining your own secrecy from the human population in jeopardy, should your involvement become necessary if things get dirty."
"And here I thought you wanted our help," Sarah said with a raised eyebrow.
"I do, certainly," I replied. "However, I must consider the safety of everyone, and I am not your representative, nor your leader. I wouldn't be able to consciously ask you to dive into this endeavor."
"You won't have to," Sarah stood up now. "Listen, I appreciate your concern, but I wouldn't be offering help to you if I didn't believe anything you were saying. You've shown me enough to show that the Volturi mean to cause great harm against more humans, and to yourselves. It may be far outside our boundaries, but we're still shifters, and we still hold our most sacred duties to the protection of humans. And perhaps showing our involvement to the Volturi would make them think twice before trying to face you again."
I shook my head, but smiled regardless, "While I still think it's a bad idea, it would be a disservice to refuse your help."
"There's an even greater danger than you think, Jasican," Carlisle spoke up. "Chelsea is not only there to keep control of newborns. She has the power to manipulate the relationships and loyalties of all around her, highly coveted with Aro. She may have backup similar to Demetri's."
"Not to mention the obvious," Jacob said, "shifters are faster-."
"Once again," Brett interrupted, "only linear, not maneuverability-."
"And given the last shifter I had to chase down was far faster than usual," Jacob continued without missing a beat, "shifter backup would benefit far more than the risk promotes."
"Then it's settled," Sarah simply replied, before rejoining her father and disgruntled cousin.
"Very well," I continued. "So, as I said before, I'll be assigning at least two vampires to the prison from here on out. We'll scout the area beforehand, to ensure there's enough wildlife to sustain your blood supply. In the meantime, in case the Volturi decide to surprise us again, we need to figure out how they're getting into the country."
"I suspect they may have private means, granted they have the wealth for it," Edward said. "It's what we would usually do, if we wanted to travel abroad in daylight."
"Ha, I wouldn't put it past them to have their own personal airports and jets," I added cynically. "'Welcome to Volturi Airlines. Please check in your human cargo.'"
"In any case," Zoe held back a slight smile, "we need to figure out who's being sent and how soon."
"Right," I stiffened up. "As we need to keep quiet, I'll keep you two," I pointed at Bill and Lydia, "on the majority of the guard duty, since you can stay evasive the best. I'll switch you both out with another vampire I'll send with you, and keep the rest of you," I finished gesturing at Brett, Micah, and Ty, "as the alternate commands should I switch both Bill and Lydia out. Until we get more shifters to help us out, I'll start sending one shifter to assist in the prison guard about three weeks in. We have a good seven weeks until the attack, so we'll take this opportunity also to fortify ourselves, and train a bit.
"As we continue guard, Zoe and I will continue to search out any domestic covens, unless we get a solid lead on an international hit, while at the same time, keeping our alliance," I gestured at the Chimakuns, "solid, and communications open. Hopefully, between you and Annika, we should be able to maintain a solid defense force. I'd not like to take any chances, and play it safe, should any of our actions catch their attention, and provoke an early, or different, attack. We just have to remember to stay vigilant, as the deeper we go, the further the Volturi go to maintain the fear instilled in nearly every vampire. Approaching the wrong people could end up disastrous to us all."
