Chapter 29: Paint it Black

ARO POV

We traveled easily on their trail, and by dawn we were stopped dead in our tracks on the side of a road, looking around.

The scent abruptly ended here, which was technically impossible. How did a vampire just disappear? Not to mention a trio of vampires? I angrily kicked at the rocks at the side of the road, creating dents in the asphalt that matched the tip of my boots perfectly.

And even more bizarre, the female scent turned human and then disappeared. Vampires cannot turn into humans. It is impossible. And yet…

One of my oldest informants, Raquel, who was even older than me, knew just about every fact about vampire lore. Probably because he took part in all of our history. But he told me that there is rumored powers associated with the necklace, that make the wearer's capabilities blossom beyond what the originally would have.

But that would make one of the vampires a shape-shifter, a capability I would have surely known about. Not many people become vampires; in fact, we have a running registry in Volterra, of every vampire that exists, dead or alive. Or, resurrected. Maria had been eager to share information for time. Time to build up her armies.

But if a vampire did exist…one that could shape-shift…and if their powers had been enlarged by the necklace…

They would be more powerful than any vampire in existence, in my opinion. To be able to shape-shift into anything, or to look like anyone…

"Master." Jane's voice broke me out of my dreams. She was tucking her phone away into her cloak. I nodded at her.

"We have a location. Three vampires and I quote, 'appeared out of nowhere' to hunt. Then they disappeared again." She raised her eyebrows, looking thrilled, even though this was bad news.

One of the vampires would have to have the ability of invisibility, and it would have to be powerful enough to cover three people. And it still didn't explain the human scent we found.

Jane grinned. "Don't worry Master, there is more. Information that is most shocking indeed…"

LILY POV

After hunting, I felt much better, and Vladimir and the asshole looked refreshed too. We were still looking everywhere for a safe place to hide. It was getting more and more dangerous to appear as vampires, there were tons of them, swarming the countryside.

It looked like they were searching for something, but Jasper told me that the look for humans to recruit. I tried to push away the creeping paranoia that they were after us, and focused on looking for a place to settle.

They couldn't possibly know that we even existed. Half in a day-dream, I was stopped by Vladimir. We had grown inexplicably close on this trip for some reason. Maybe it was because he wasn't an asshole like Stefan. Or maybe it was because he actually cared about my safety.

I gasped as I finally paid attention. We were in a small valley, that looked normal, but barely three mile dead ahead was a huge clearing. It was natural, but very unsafe, considering it was surrounded mostly by cliffs. Only two entrances were evident, the one we were on, and one dead in front of us.

On closer examination, there was a small outlet leading into more desert, but other than that, nothing. No escape.

"We should turn around, now. This is too dangerous." Vladimir said beside me, scouting the area closely. It looked as if someone made a hole right in the middle of a mountain chain, or took away a section. It wasn't normal.

"Wait. It's normal for vampires to be around here. If Lily was to be disguised, following us, we would fit in. If we run, it would be obvious if…" Stefan trailed off.

"If we were being followed." I finished coldly for him. He nodded solemnly. Vladimir rubbed his chin, thinking it over. After a minute, he sighed.

"Stefan is right. Change back into a bird, and ride on my shoulder. If there is danger, you can just take off." I sighed angrily and changed into a raven once more, and settled down on his shoulder, anxiety making me on edge.

"We are supposed to be pretending to be human, that's what nomads and armies do down here to get recruits. Let's take it at a walk." Vladimir said calmly. I couldn't believe that he and Stefan were willing to be captured for me if this was a trap. Which I hope it's not…

JASPER POV

""Damn it, wouldn't you know that the Volturi would be following them so closely? Someone is feeding them information, and we need to take them out." Emmett said animatedly, as we sat on a peak, watching the small speck that was Aro's group moving quickly across the land, exactly on their trail.

Everyone was in varying stages of relaxation, but I was tense. I knew this area well, and it had a reputation of slaughter-houses for armies. One would have huge fights with another around here, because breaks in the mountains made good spots for shepherding in people to be killed in large numbers.

My eyes flicked warily across the landscape. From here, we could see a broad spectrum of land, at least 50 miles east and west from where we were. Lily and her guard had gone west and were slowly curving east.

My eyes moved to the east and a dark mass made me blink. What was that? I waited until the sun rose a little bit more, then squinted, and my legs went weak.

A vampire army was moving squarely east, head on with Lily and behind her, the Volturi. Beginning to realize what had happened, I looked dead to the middle, where Lily would be at around noon.

It was one of the most famous clearings in all of Mexico. Called Boulder Head Clearing, it had two entrances, perfect for smashing a smaller army in-between. Or in this case, Lily and the necklace.

Edward read my mind and swore loudly. "The Volturi is working with an army; they are going to trap them." He pointed to where I was still looking, the small (from here) dusty red circle in the middle of the mountain range.

"We need to get closer, let's move!" Carlisle said firmly, and we all rose fluidly, and began to sprint closer to Boulder Head Clearing.

TANYA POV

I got off of the phone and turned to Maria, who was looking quite cool despite the fact that she was dealing with the Volturi. If only she knew the end result…

"We need to increase our pace. We are trapping the vampires in Boulder Head Clearing. We make up the eastern front, but he needs some vampires to skirt the edges and back them up. Surrounding them in the clearing. It's fool proof." I smirked.

Poor Eddie. He'll soon wish that he had never denied me, even if I was happy with Stefan. He hurt my family, so know I was going to hurt his.