Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise, I just use their creations to have my wicked way with them. No copyright infringement is intended.


This story wouldn't be what it is without my wonderful beta, The Real Teacher, holding my hand and correcting my many errors. Thank you so much!


This is perhaps one of the most important chapters in the story and one a lot of you have been waiting for, for quite some time now. It's also why I'm very nervous about posting it.


- 28 -

"Dad!" I roared, my voice echoing off the marble floors as I barged into the foyer. "Where the fuck are you? Get down here right the fuck now!"

I could hear the sounds of footsteps rushing after me and an engine being cut as Jasper parked the car, but they barely registered over the roar of fear, anger and adrenaline that had been pulsing through my veins ever since I'd answered that fated call.

"Edward?" It was mom's voice, laced with shock and concern that answered, her slight figure appearing in the doorway only a moment later. "Honey, what's going on?"

"I'll tell you what the fuck is going on," I snarled, my nostrils flaring with rage as I spotted dad's shadow move behind my mother. "The Volturi took Bella. They took her – snatched her away from her house just minutes after we dropped her off and all because he…"

My eyes tightened as I looked past mom where dad was still lurking in the shadows. "…..because he was only looking to save his own ass. And now they have her and God knows what they're going to do to her," my voice trailed off into a sob as my fear momentarily overpowered all other emotions battling inside me.

"Oh, my God." Mom's arms immediately surrounded me, as she pulled me into a motherly embrace. "My darling boy….I-I….I have no words…." Her arms rubbed soothing circles into my back, just as they'd done countless times before when I was a boy in need of consoling after a nasty fall or a fight at school. This time, though, nothing she could say or do could comfort me.

There was only one thing that could.

One person.

And God knew where they'd taken her.

Knowing I had no time to waste on my own selfish need for reassurance, I extricated myself from my mother's hold, pushing her away with what gentility I could muster as I launched myself at my dad's shadow. "You're going to tell me where I can find those fucking Volturi!" I raged, my hands tightening around his neck and pushing him into the wall. "Or I swear to God, I'm going to fucking kill you myself!"

"Calm down, Edward," dad answered, his voice and face as cool as if I'd merely asked him if I could borrow his fucking car or something. "I will tell you everything I know – though I fear it's nowhere near as much as you're hoping for – but you have to remain calm, son. You have to let me talk…and listen."

My mind was spinning with everything that was happening around me, my need for answers as well as vengeance fighting for supremacy as I slightly relaxed my hold on my father's neck, dad's breathing already becoming slightly shallow and labored due to lack of oxygen.

In the end it was Jasper's hand on my shoulder, his calmness seeping into me through his touch that talked me down from the ledge. "You will regret it, Edward," he spoke, his hand softly pulling at my shoulder, drawing me back inch by inch. "He's your father. …Your mother needs him… You need him….Bella needs him."

I watched the shame and guilt in my father's eyes as Jasper mentioned her name, my mother's sobs sounding from somewhere behind me as his frame slumped with the weight of it as he lowered his eyes. "I am so sorry, Edward," he muttered. "I know words can't do anything to change this situation, but please know that I never meant for anything like this to happen."

My hand slipped down from his neck, Jasper's arms clamping around me in a way that was both restraining and reassuring as dad went on. "In my silence I – we – hoped to protect you and Bella from them….I see now how naïve that was."

"Just tell me where she is," I pleaded, as Jasper – knowing that the critical moment had passed – stepped back again. "Please, dad. I have to know."

He squeezed his eyes shut, holding on to the dainty mahogany side table next to him for support. "I wish I could."

His eyes were begging me to understand him, the one thing I found myself wholly incapable of at that moment.

I needed Bella back.

I needed to know she was safe.

I needed her in my arms.

I needed her.

And I would do anything to make that happened.

Anything.

"Carlisle? Edward?" Alice's soft voice drifted through the heavy silence. "Maybe the three of you should continue this conversation somewhere private?"

She sounded uncomfortable and I guessed I couldn't really blame her. "I mean….Jasper and I could leave if you want or….."

"Stay," I breathed, knowing I needed my friends right now more than anything. "Please….."

"Okay," she nodded, her eyes shining back at me with a watery kind of warmth.

"We'll go into the study," dad nodded, looking at me for approval before leading the way, my mother following behind him apprehensively as his hunched frame disappeared behind the heavy oak door.

"Is there anything we could do in the meantime?" Alice asked, her hands wrapping around mine and squeezing gently.

I rubbed my forehead, squeezing my eyes shut against the onslaught of a killer headache as well as my impatience to be out there and actually do something. "You could maybe…I don't know…call her family? I think they should be told about Bella's…."

Alice nodded in understanding as my lips froze up, unable to speak the words. "Sure! I can do that," she answered, somehow forcing a smile onto her face. "Do you have their numbers?"

"I don't think so," I sighed. "But I know Rose probably has them. And maybe could try to get in touch with her roommates as well? They will probably be back by now…."

"Will do," she nodded, before rising to tiptoe and throwing her arms around me in some sort of marmoset hold. "Everything will be fine, Edward. I just know it."

I wished more than anything in the world that I could be as sure about that as she was.

I sighed, breathing in her delicate feminine scent for a minute before I stepped back and made my way to my father's study; the last place on earth I wanted to be right now, but the only place I could ever find the answers I needed.

"….it is as if I don't even know you anymore," mom's anguished voice sounded from within the room as I lingered on the threshold. "Why won't you tell us what the hell is going on?"

I knew there and then that my mother had had enough of it. All through the last couple of weeks she had defended my father, stood up for him against me and stood by him as his wife, but now she'd reached her limit. "I always knew that there was something you were hiding from me," mom went on when all she got from dad was silence. "I even gathered that it had something to do with Renee and college and some kind of seedy history the two of you had together. I knew it, but I kept my mouth shut, trusting you to do the right thing; trusting you to be the man I always hoped you were; the man I married…."

I closed my eyes as mom stood over him with a haunted look in her eyes, forcing him to look at her by holding his face in her hands. "Please, Carlisle, for the sake of my heart….tell me I wasn't mistaken."

"I'm sorry, Esme," dad muttered, his words causing my mother to sink at his feet like a rag doll, her body completely deflating as her mind gave up the fight. "I never wanted to put you and Edward through this….but the Volturi…..they have their ways to force your hands."

Dad rested his hand on top of her head, gently brushing her hair away from her face as he looked up at me. "I know it is always easy to hide behind circumstances and claim others forced you to do something, but in this case it is the truth. The Volturi…."

He shook his head. "…..they are an organization more dangerous than you can imagine and their reach runs deep. If you cross them….sooner or later they are going to make you pay for it and you'd be lucky if it is only with your own life."

"What can we do against them?" I barked out in frustration. I didn't have time to listen to my dad mope about the fucked up mess he'd made out of his life. "There's got to be something we can do."

He shook his head. "Do you really think it would be as easy as that? The Volturi aren't some kind of glorified group of boy scouts with a clubhouse and a secret handshake, son. They are murderers, drugs dealers and masters of deception; a secret society that has somehow managed to stay under wraps for over a century. You don't do that by taking any kind of risk."

"But they have to meet somewhere, don't they?" I yelled back. "Those pictures I saw of Renee Swan fucking half the town while you were kicking it back with your hand on your dick…they were taken somewhere!"

I tried not to see my mom cringe at my words, a small horrified gasp leaving her lips as she looked up at my dad.

"They were taken before I met you, when Renee joined the order and both she and I were still oblivious to the true nature of the Volturi," dad explained, his voice soft and remorseful as he spoke to her. "I never lied when I told you I've always held true to my wedding vows. At least….as far as it comes to the 'forsaking all others' part."

He then turned back to me. "Every meeting of the Volturi is held at a different location. They have people in real estate looking out for suitable spaces and selling them on as soon as those places are cleaned out again after they're done with them."

He sighed then, looking every bit as worn out and wary as I felt. "As much as I want to help you find her…..as much as I'd do anything to keep Bella from harm – for your sake as well as for Renee's – I wouldn't know where to begin. There could be a hundred places around the state where they've taken her."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, taking deep, loud inhales of breath as I tried to calm the panic and powerlessness his words had stirred up inside of me. "Please, dad….there has to be something; a face….a name….something…"

"There are quite a few people working at the hospital whose faces I know from meetings or…or other things…" Dad started, his words making my heart beat faster with hope for a few moments before it was dashed again as he went on. "….but even if – and that's a huge if – we found one of them brave enough to risk their life by betraying them, it still would be of no use to us."

"Why?' I growled, digging my hands into my messy mop of hair and tearing at the roots, trying to ward off the frustration and restlessness that had taken a permanent hold on me.

"Come on, Edward?" dad challenged me. "Do you really think that after all the time and effort they spend in selecting their secret locations, the Volturi would just send out a newsletter to announce the next three locations for upcoming events? Sure, they'll tell you when the meetings are going to take place, so that no one will be able to justify being absent, but that's it. Up to two hours, maybe three at the most, before the meeting will start, there's only a handful of people who know where it is being held and you can bet your life that all those people can be blindly trusted upon to keep their secret. When the time is right they'll send a text message containing the location to only those members they want to be present for the night and from that point on you're expected to drop everything and jump in your car to get there on time."

"Fine," I snarled. "So we pick one and tail his ass until he reveals where the next meeting is going to be held."

Dad sighed, rolling his eyes. "This isn't the A-Team, Edward. You can't just barge in there and drag her out. Those places are protected, and I'm not just talking fences or security systems…..I'm talking Punitori."

"Puni- what?" I growled.

"The Punitory," dad explained, rubbing his face with his hands. "They are lowest of the lowest….The kind of scum who gets off on the criminal side of the Volturi.

He looked back up at me, his eyes heavy and guilt ridden. "They are the Volturi's very own death squad, answering directly to the reigning Dominus and doing everything – every dirty job he can think of – without question. They'll kill you if they can and Bella if they must. If I know Aro, he's going to have at least two of them hovering around her at all times. You'll never get past them in time to save her son."

"So there's nothing we can do to….." My voice trailed off in a sob and the rest of me was in very grave danger of following after it into the realm of misery and despair but I quickly pushed my emotions to the back of my mind. Giving in would do her no good.

"There's nothing we can do but wait," dad ameliorated my statement, his eyes drifting to the sleek silver mobile phone on his desk.

What? "Wait?"

"Do you think this is all just about her?" Dad laughed bitterly. "Try as she might, Bella could never write an article powerful enough to warrant this kind of action from the Volturi. Sure, they may have been inconvenienced by the secrets she revealed, but it's all minor stuff…nothing to warrant a rash and risky reaction like this."

"No….." He shook his head as mom and I both gaped at him in utter confusion. "This is all because of what Renee did…..what I did. And if they are coming after Renee like this….they are bound to come after me as well."

His eyes once again glided to the small, silver phone in front of me. "I have a feeling it's only a matter of time before Aro will contact us. His plan won't be perfect if he only gets to take revenge on one of the two people who betrayed him and until then, I think Bella is going to be as safe as she'll ever be. No one in their right mind would risk ruining Aro's 'master plan'."

His words gave me about as much comfort as a cotton blankie in the middle of the Siberian winter

"What on earth did you do them to warrant such a reaction?" mom asked before I could say anything, her eyes flittering wearily from dad to me as if she expected the Volturi to come charging through the door and snatch me away at any moment.

"I helped Renee get out," he spoke, a small smile forming in his lips as he went on. "About a quarter of a century ago, Renee Swan joined the Volturi. She was as unlikely a candidate as ever lived, but the promise she showed as a nurse combined with her good looks and easy going character caused some of the members to recommend her to the then reigning Dominus."

He looked at his hand, his fingers twirling his wedding ring around his finger as he continued. "Renee was no different from any other new member of the order. She joined them, drawn in by the promise of sex, drugs and rock and roll and – even more importantly – the promise of getting ahead in life with their help, only to realize later on just how big of a mistake she'd made."

He looked back up at me. "You see, Edward, the Volturi are very good at making you believe they are something they're not. They want to uphold this image of a secret student society, formed to advance the worthy to a high rank and station in Seattle society when really, underneath that mask, they are a criminal organization not unlike the mafia."

"But what does this have to do with Bella?" I growled because, fascinating as his story may be, it wasn't getting me any closer to her.

"Patience, son, I'll get to that in a minute!" he ordered, sparing a small smile for my mom. "The meetings of the Volturi are modeled after those held by the Maenads or 'frenzied ones'; the mythological followers of the Grecian God Dionysus. After the reigning Dominus pours out a libation to their deity, followed by a toast shared by members present, every meeting erupts into an orgy that can take two hours or more, depending on the meeting's intent."

"It took me some time to find out how they did it, but after a while I gathered that they spiked the wine that's used in the toast with either GHB or ecstasy or maybe even Rohypnol in some cases…whatever will guarantee them enough debauchery to build up some excellent blackmail material."

I nodded, suddenly the pictures and the crazy look in Renee's eyes making sense to me.

"But even in spite of the licentious nature of Volturi, it is not unheard of for a senior member of the Volturi – princeps as they are called – to take a mistress of sorts; a female member set apart to serve only their needs." Dad's eyes were trained on the desk as he went on. "Renee Higginbotham was such a woman. When she was initiated, she immediately attracted the attention of one of the principe and he forced her to become his, even though she wanted nothing more than to never have anything else to do him or any other member for that matter."

"But she got pregnant," I gasped, doing the math in my head. "Was the baby…..?"

"No." Dad shook his head. "I can say for a fact that Charlie Swan is Bella's father. I even have the paternity test to proof it. I remember the look on Renee's face when I gave her the results…she was so happy, knowing that this meant she got to stay in Forks with Charlie, a man she hardly knew but who could offer her the one thing she wanted: a way out."

He shook his head, his lips pulling into another bitter grimace. "She didn't know then that the Volturi were only biding their time, so you can imagine how shocked she was when the two of us ran into one another in Forks. She joined the Volturi only a few months before I did, but being the famula of one of the principe meant that she was present at virtually every meeting. She'd seen me; she'd seen my face before I was initiated and permanently hidden behind a mask after that. She thought I was out to get her back or kill her…it took me months to convince her I'd been just as glad to get the hell out of Seattle as she'd been."

Mom frowned. "Why did they allow you to move away? I remember that when you finished your residency you had a job offer from Seattle Presbyterian as well as Forks General. I always wondered why you chose a small community hospital over a bigger one that would have done so much more for your career….."

"They'd yet to find a purpose for me," dad answered bitterly, "and until they found one, I wasn't allowed to get too friendly with doctors in rival hospitals in general and Seattle Pres in particular. Besides…I later learned that the Volturi thought that letting me out from under their eyes for a while to hone my skills, surround myself with people I loved and built up a life that I could be proud of would only make me that more vulnerable to them and their threats when they did pop back onto the grid later on….."

"The job in Seattle….." mom gasped. "When we moved back I thought…"

Dad nodded. "It was one of their creations. They'd finally found a use for me within their ranks and I was ordered to return and do as they said. It was the last thing I wanted to do but I knew that they would have destroyed me – and through me the both of you – if I didn't."

"And Renee?" I asked.

"She received a summons shortly after I had but she….She couldn't go back," dad answered. "By that time we'd heard about what happened to Bree Tanner, a girl who'd ended up murdered because she spilled a minor detail about the Volturi to some of her roommates. It wasn't even something that would have led to their discovery or even opened them up to it….It was just small stuff. Renee was terrified that that was going to be her destiny – or Bella's – if she ever returned to Seattle. She'd never been good at keeping secrets so she had a point."

He paused, rubbing his forehead as his eyes focused on his memories. "When the first picture was sent to her, she tried to play it off as a fluke – something that could be ignored in the hope it would go away – but when others started to arrive, the same summons engraved into the back every time, she started to get more nervous."

"At that point neither of us had any idea what the hell was going on….what they'd make us do….All we knew was that it was something disgusting and illegal."

"Renee wanted to come clean. I think she hoped Charlie would be able to do something to keep Bella and her safe, but I knew better…I may not have known what awaited me in Seattle, but I knew that if we didn't go or of we told too much we were going to end up dead….like Bree."

I sighed, closing my eyes as the all too familiar memories of the conversation Bella and I had overheard started to play in front of my mind again. "That day…"

"You overheard, didn't you?" Dad's lips pulled into a sad smile. "I should have known you and Bella would arrive home any minute but Renee had received more photographs and she was beside herself with panic and worry. I had to calm her down before she did something rash…"

"Did you know I heard you?" I asked.

"I figured as much," he shrugged. "When you reacted the way you did and started pushing Bella away …..you weren't exactly hiding your feelings behind a poker face, son."

"But why didn't you say something?" mom cried in anguish. "You allowed those Volturi to tear our family apart! Why didn't you do something?"

"It broke my heart to keep the two of you at arm's length," dad sighed, looking ages older than he was, "but you have to remember that by then I'd already received a summons of my own and so I knew that it would only be a matter of months before we'd move back to Seattle. I figured that the more distance I put between the two of you and myself, the better it would be in the long run. You'd hate me, but at least I'd know that you were both safe…."

"Renee got away," I countered.

"Because I helped her," dad answered calmly. "I paid for her flight out of Portland International and helped cover the tracks she left behind. It was easier for her since she only had a child to take into consideration and Bella….well, she was never the one to ask difficult questions when she knew her mom wasn't up to answering them."

I snorted. Yeah, I could definitely see how dad would have had a much harder task getting me and mom to shut up.

"But you didn't do anything," mom's calm voice accused him from across the room. "You had us walk into a trap from minute one and you didn't even have the decency to tell us about it."

"I couldn't." Dad's head shook furiously from left to right. "The risk of either one of you doing something that would draw the attention of the Volturi….I had to keep you safe. Don't you see?"

"From what?" Mom's voice sounded strangely – horribly – detached as she spoke. "What was it they made you do?"

"Please, Esme," dad begged. "Don't….."

"Dammit, Carlisle!" mom sneered back. "I'm your wife! I have a right to know!"

Dad closed his eyes, his chest heaving with a deep breath as he steeled himself before he went on. "I had it relatively easy, compared to those who chose general medicine or pharmacology. I caught a rumor a few years back that they had to harvest organs from people who definitely weren't dead – mostly illegal immigrants or homeless people….the ones who wouldn't be missed if they vanished – or cheat the hospital out of thousands of dollars each year by over ordering certain drugs the Volturi sold on to the mafia and other criminal organizations whereas all I had to do was make sure our 'clients' received preferential treatment when they were referred to me or – very rarely – perform a procedure that wasn't yet approved by the authorities."

Mom's shoulders remained tense, though I could see she'd expected to hear things much worse from dad – hell, even I'd expected as much. "I can't believe you did this, Carlisle."

"What would you have had me do, then?' dad cried back. "Have them sick the Punitori on the two of you? Because they threatened me with it every damned step of the way!"

"And Jane?" I wanted to know, though maybe more than that I wanted to steer the conversation back into safer waters because the look on my mother's face was making me fear that she was about to slip.

"Jane would have been a brilliant neurosurgeon," dad sighed. "They got to her early on, when she was in her first year of medical school but she showed so much potential….I don't know when I realized it exactly but at one point I got the feeling that they were grooming her to take over for me."

He shook his head. "They must have found out somewhere along the line about how I helped Renee escape…but I don't know. By then I wasn't 'invited' to any of their meetings more than a few times a year. I think they must have seen me as somewhat of a killjoy because I never engaged…"

A deep sigh echoed through the room as he went on. "Anyway, Jane didn't want any of it. Unlike her brother, she hated the Volturi and when they ordered her to turn down a job offer she'd received from UCLA she wanted out.

He shrugged. "I knew by then that I was a dead man already, so I figured I might as well help her. I'd never thought they'd go as far as this, though…."

I sighed, another heavy silence falling over the room as my dad finished his account of his dealings with the Volturi. I would have thought that finally knowing what happened to make him end up like this would have felt like a huge relief – a great weight lifted from my shoulders – but instead I just felt….empty; a void, ripped open inside my chest the minute I'd found Bella's door open and the apartment devoid of any signs of life.

"Well." Dad and I looked up shocked at the chipper sound of my mother's voice. "I don't know about the two of you, but I need to make sure our guests are properly tended to."

I frowned, watching her rise from her seat as if she hadn't heard the words that had just been spoken; like this was just a day like no other. "If the two of you need anything, I'll be in the kitchen."

"Wha-," I started, still completely flabbergasted. "Mom?"

"Just leave her be, Edward," dad spoke, grabbing me by the sleeve of my shirt before I could follow after her. "She needs some time to process all of this and you know how much she hates to lose her composure in front of you. Give her time."

"Fine," I nodded, swallowing audibly as the great black hole of fear, panic and powerlessness started to creep back up on me. "So what are we going to do now?"

Dad patted my hand and, though I wanted to recoil from his touch or lash out at him for putting my girlfriend in the line of fire, I couldn't. "We wait for them to come to us."

- x -

When I made my way back to the sitting room, the whole place was buzzing with activity, all faces crammed into the room looking up the minute they spotted me in the doorway. They all had different ways of dealing with the news they'd just heard. Alice looked like she was seconds away from a Plinean eruption, her body strung so high she was almost buzzing with the need to do something while Jasper remained perfectly calm, his eyebrows set in a small frown as he wrote something down. Emmett, on the other hand, just looked like 240lbs of pissed off American male stuffed into a chair that seemed too small for his hulking frame.

Alice crossed the distance between the far end of the room, where she'd set up shop, to the doorway in less than a nanosecond, her whole body vibrating with impatience as she spoke. "Anything?" I could see from the way she looked at me that Alice already knew what I was going to stay.

I shook my head. "He doesn't know where she is and it looks like we can't find out either." I sighed, running my hand through my hair. "Jasper? Dad wants to talk to you now."

Jasper nodded. I guess he'd already suspected as much. After all, it was pretty logical that dad was going to share the same information he'd just shared with us with his defense team now that there wasn't a point to keeping his mouth shut any longer. "Come get me if anything happens."

"Your dad?" I hadn't even noticed Angela's small frame, disappearing almost entirely in the huge armchair she was sitting in, before she spoke. "Did he think it was the Volturi who took her?"

I nodded, rubbing my eyes as I felt a pair of arms – Alice's? – wrap around my torso. "Who else do you know of that would do such a thing?"

She nodded, her lips trembling as she tried to pull them into a smile. "I just wish me and Ben wouldn't have gone out…"

Ben pulled her into a tight hug as her voice agave out to sobs, my chest constricting in jealousy as I watched him comfort his fiancé. They had each other to lean on when things got tough while I was standing there all alone and Bella was out there… with them doing God knows what to her.

"Knowing those fuckers, they would have gotten to her some other way," I shrugged, repeating the exact same words Jasper had spoken to me when I broke down in Bella's empty apartment.

Not that it could take away the guilt.

I'd left her there on her own.

Vulnerable.

And they'd made use of it.

I should have never let her go home on her own. I should have tied her to the fucking backseat of Alice's car and forced her to come with us – with me – or stood guard in front of her door twenty-four-seven, knowing that if someone wanted to get to her, they'd have to go through me first.

"Edward!" Alice's sharp voice snapped me out of my wallow-party for one. "The same goes for you too. There was no way you could have known they'd just barge in there and kidnap her."

"But I promised Charlie never to let her out of my sight…." I growled back, thinking about the solemn vow I'd made to her dad only hours ago, only to be interrupted almost immediately. "I promised him to keep her safe."

"And how did you see that working out, Edward?" Angela let out a watery snort as she ducked out of Ben's embrace. "This is Bella we're talking about! The only way you'd be able to control her is to lock her up or handcuff her to your person."

"But you don't understand!" I cried, digging my fingers into my scalp and pulling at the roots of my hair as I looked at her. "I saw the van they took her in! Hell I even gave way to it as it pulled out of the fucking car park. I should have fucking done something! I should have fucking stopped them!"

"You didn't know, Edward," Alice spoke softly, rubbing my back in a soothing, motherly way. "You couldn't have known it was Bella in that car."

I shrugged out of her hold, not feeling as if I deserved the comfort she offered me at that moment. "I should have known."

"Oh, for heaven's sake! Stop with the self-pity act!" Angela growled, looking like she would have physically kicked my ass if I'd been within range. "They took her and that's a fact, whether you could have done something to stop them or not. The only thing we should be thinking about right now is how the fuck we're going to get her back!"

"That's the spirit!" Emmett growled, making all of the untouched drinks and refreshments jump as he slammed his fist onto the coffee table.

But before Angela's plan could garner any more support, the loud ringing of a phone brought matters to a screeching halt.

"That would be Charlie," Alice announced, immediately dashing my hope as she picked up the living room extension. "He promised to call us as soon as he had an ETA for us."

I frowned, looking at Angela for an explanation, though it was her fiancé who answered for her. "Alice called Charlie while you and Jasper were at the police station. He jumped into his car the minute he found out what was going on so he should be on his way here by now. I think Billy's with him as well."

"Ah," I nodded. "And her mom?"

Angela nudged her head in the direction of the dining room where, through the glass a barely discernible Rose could be spotted moving around in the half-light. "She's still on the phone. Renee took the news rather badly, poor woman."

I snorted. "Poor woman indeed. If she and my dad would have come clean about their fucking past, none of this shit would have happened."

"I doubt Renee wanted anything like this to happen to her daughter," Angela glowered.

"But it did, as you so astutely remarked just now," I spat back. "And maybe if Renee would have told Bella what the fuck was going on instead of keeping her mouth shut, Bella would have known more about the danger she was in."

"Yeah, and if wishes were horses we'd all be knee deep in shit!" Angela snarled. "Plus, I seem to remember your old man hasn't exactly been forthcoming with information either!"

"Calm down," Ben intervened before this thing could grow even more out of hand than it already had. "Fighting isn't going to bring Bella back."

Alice stepped back into the room right then, her arrival perfectly in time with Rosalie's who must have finally put an end to her conversation with Renee.

"And?" Alice asked as she caught Rose's gaze from across the room.

"She's completely out of it," Rose replied sadly. "She's mad with fear and blames herself for what happened…..If it hadn't been for that Phil guy being with her, I would have flown over there myself to see to it that she didn't do anything crazy."

"Is she flying in?" Jasper asked.

Rosalie nodded, taking a sip from a glass of water. "She'll be on the red-eye flight into Sea-Tac so she'll probably get here very early tomorrow morning. They'll give us a call when they land so that we can come pick them up from the airport. What about Charlie?"

"He'll be here in a few,' Alice shrugged. "They were just pulling up to the Hood Canal Bridge."

"So what are we going to do now?" Emmett asked, obviously as tired of sitting on his ass and doing nothing as I was.

I sighed. "We wait. There's nothing else we can do. Plus, dad seemed to think the Volturi would be getting in touch with him for some reason. According to him, Bella's kidnapping is only stage one of this big master plan the Volturi cooked up to get even with him and Renee."

- x -

I spent the next hour or so answering all of the questions everyone had about the Volturi and what dad and Renee had done to earn their wrath. I was happy when, after an hour or so, Jasper rejoined us in the living room to help me out because it was difficult, answering the torrent of questions without giving away stuff that was meant only for the ears of mom, me and dad's legal team.

"So did you guys go to the police?" Rosalie wanted to know as soon as I'd finished. "Because, I mean….I have to agree with your dad that these guys don't seem to be the kind of organization you can just crash in on and hope for the best. I think we're going to be needing one hell of a 'strong arm' if we want to get Bella out of there – wherever she is."

"I know," I nodded. "If it had just been a bunch of horny assholes going at it, I would have been in my car scouring the countryside for possible locations, but that stuff dad told me about those Punitori guys sounds pretty full on….I don't want Bella to end up hurt because we did something rash….or stupid…"

The others nodded, though I could see it was a very reluctant acquiescence on Emmett's part. Like me, he wanted to do something – get out there and work towards getting Bella back to us – instead of sitting on his ass drinking the beers my mother had put in front of him with a face so stoical it was almost creepy.

"So did you?" Rose repeated, adding when I frowned in confusion, "Did you go to the police or what?"

My face pulled into a scowl, my fingers digging into the smooth upholstery of the sofa as I let Jasper do the talking, my emotions too strong for me to make sense in anything I would be saying right now.

"Basically they refuse to do anything until Bella's been gone for twenty-four hours," Jasper spoke, his hand patting mine as he walked past me to hug his wife. "But if you'd ask me that's just a load of bull. They're hiding behind the book."

"They're not doing anything?" Rose cried.

"There weren't any sign of forced entry or a struggle having taken place inside…..Nothing that, according to them, indicates that Bella didn't just up and leave."

"That's just plain wrong," Angela, growled, her hands tightening into little fists by her sides.

I could only agree with her.

Everything about this was wrong.

Very wrong.

I'd known it as soon as I picked up the phone to find that the line had just been disconnected, my voice yelling at Jasper to turn back even before my mind had caught up. I knew something was wrong when we turned into the Nordheim Court car park and maybe even before that. All day I'd been on edge, the thought of letting Bella out of my sight making me feel uneasy for more than one reason. I wanted her around so that I could touch her, feel her….protect her and most of all so that I could know that this wasn't some kind of dream; that she'd really taken me back and shown me the grace I still wasn't complete sure I deserved.

All throughout my life I'd known Bella to be one of the bravest and gutsiest people on the planet. Knowing she was freaked out by everything that was going on in her life right now, combined with what I knew about the Volturi, made all of my protective instincts flare up as the alarm bells in my mind started ringing with screeching sirens and red, blinking lights.

If only I'd known how soon those fears would turn into reality I would never have been stupid enough to let her out of my sight.

Not even for a single second.

I shuddered as the memory of finding Bella's door ajar drifted back into the forefront of my mind, the eerie sight of warm, bright light, flowing into the hallway from inside the apartment only heightening my sense of dread as I'd walked forward, clinging to a fruitless, frantic hope that this was all some comic joke.

But it wasn't.

Nothing seemed to be out of place and yet everything about the scene in front of me, as I walked through Bella's apartment was wrong. The music playing to an empty apartment, the half unpacked overnight bag sitting in the middle of Bella's bedroom floor….She should have been there, scolding me for barging in like that…

But she wasn't.

She'd been taken – I'd known that for a fact even if the police didn't seem to believe me – snatched away by people who could be doing God knew what to her at that very moment.

People who'd already proven that they didn't shy away from intimidation or murder when someone stood in their way.

"Fuckers!" Emmett growled. "I bet those damn Volturi assholes have those useless sons of bitches by the balls!"

"Bella suspected as much," I sighed, running my hand through my hair.

"Suspected what?" a gruff voice demanded from the doorway.

Charlie.

I hadn't even heard them come in. Mom must have seen them pull up from the kitchen and opened the door because I somehow doubted that he and Billy would have entered the house as quietly as they did if it had been my dad answering the door.

"Charlie and Billy arrived while I was with Doctor Cullen in the office," Jasper was quick to explain. "We briefed them on the situation with the Volturi and I left the gentlemen to catch up."

I swallowed hard as Bella's dad let his eyes glide over the people in the room, his gaze tightening as he tried to place each and every one of the people in it before they rested on me.

"Edward." His face became hard and, unwittingly, my eyes shot down to the spot on his hip where his gun rested. I half expected him to shoot me.

Hell, part of me even wanted him to.

It was all for nothing, though, because after a few moments he sighed, all anger leaving his face as he rubbed his hand across his moustache. "I hope you don't mind, but I brought Billy along. He knows a lot about the SPD and the way they operate which, considering what you kids were just talking about might come in handy at some point."

I nodded as I heard the telltale sounds of a wheelchair being pulled up the steps to the door. He had a point there. "Good thinking."

"I…erm…." Charlie looked a bit unsure, fidgeting with his mustache as he lingered in the doorway. "Jacob Black happened to be at his dad's when I came to pick him up and …well…..he decided to tag along as well."

Rose and I both groaned, though most of the others just snickered or tried desperately to keep their faces in check as Jake's figure became visible behind Charlie Swan, his face looking like a thundercloud as he glared at me.

"Cullen," he barked, taking a step towards me before Charlie yanked him back.

"Jacob," I nodded back, trying to remind myself of that fact that the guy was right now a guest at my house instead of just the fucker who'd had his paws all over my girl. I wasn't doing a very good job at it, but hey, at least I was trying. That had to count for something….

"Now, Jake, what did we agree upon in the car?" Charlie hissed, his voice oozing police chief authority.

"But Charlie…." he hissed.

"You calm down, son," Billy interrupted him as he steered his wheelchair into the room, barely avoiding his son's toes as he moved past him, "or you're going to sit this one out in the car, just like Charlie and I warned you would happen."

I could tell from the way both men were looking at Jake that his tagging along hadn't been the idea of either of them. It had probably been Jake, trying be all knight in shining armor in the hope it would make Bella get him back, who'd insisted on joining them. Fucker!

"So, does anyone want to fill me in on what happened?" Charlie asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had arisen since Jacob Black had entered the room. "I got the big picture when Alice called me and Jasper and Carlisle cued me in on the rest but I still have quite a few questions.

He paused, his brows scrunching into a frown as he looked at me. "Can you tell me what it was, exactly, that you found when you went to Bella's this evening? What happened to make you go there in the first place?"

I nodded, noticing how he's slipped into 'police chief'-mode. "We'd just dropped her off and were on our way to Alice and Jasper's where my car was parked, when my phone rang. Bella was calling – it was her name on the display – but when I answered the call had been disconnected."

I sighed, rubbing my eyes as Charlie motioned for me to go on. "It struck me as strange that she'd hang up on me like that, so I asked Jasper to turn the car around to check if she was okay. When I got out of the elevator I immediately noticed the door was open….."

"Did it show signs of forced entry?" Billy chimed in.

"Not that I could see," I answered.

"Was there anything else out of the ordinary?" Charlie took back the initiative, exuding a natural sense of authority. "Anything that could convince those rat bastards they call 'police' in this messed up town that this is, indeed, a case of foul play?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. As far as I could see everything was in order. It was as if she's just left….."

"And you know for a fact that this wasn't the case?" Jacob challenged me, the amount of hope in his voice making me hate the fucker even more.

"She'd never do that," Charlie stated before I could say anything, sporting a matching scowl to mine. "Bella may be stubborn and a bit impulsive at times but you know damn well that she's not stupid!"

"Fine," Jacob grumbled, shrinking into a corner as I saw from the corner of my eyes that Emmett was trying his best to calm down his girlfriend.

"What!" Rose hissed under her breath, low enough to know that her message wasn't intended for just everyone but loud enough for everyone to hear none the less. "It's not like the guy has a right to be here! Bella dumped his useless ass a long time ago and I doubt she'd want his face to be the first thing she sees when we get her out of the Volturi's claws."

"Rosie!" Emmett groaned, as I inwardly debated whether to kiss her now or save it until I knew Bella was safe.

My mom, meanwhile, looked on rather uncomfortable, trying to keep the atmosphere light by offering to replenish empty glasses and offer a very awkward looking Jacob and Billy some more refreshments while Charlie busied himself with studying the label on his Heineken bottle, mumbling something under his breath about 'damned fancy foreign beer'. I guess he was more of a straight up Budweiser man.

"Oh, come on!" Rosalie growled, punching Emmett in the arm. "It's not like I'm the only one who thinks it!" The way Angela avoided looking at her and Alice seemed to be very busy studying the intricate lines woven into the thick Persian rug that covered the wooden floors confirmed Rose's statement even more so than my grin may have done.

Before things could get out of hand, Charlie cleared his throat, demanding all of the attention again as his eyes landed on me. "Can you take me through what happened next?"

I nodded, closing my eyes as I restarted the jumbled mess my brain had made of the memories, my voice sounding oddly calm and detached as I relayed everything that happened from my frantic search for Bella to breaking down when I realized she'd been taken and our epic failure when Jasper and I had tried to convince the police of the fact that Bella hadn't left the apartment out of her own volition.

"Incompetent fools," Charlie growled as I finished up my account of everything he'd missed. "And they have the damned nerve to call us a bunch of amateur clodhoppers!"

'So basically we're screwed," Rose summed it all up. "We don't know where Bella is or what those lunatics are doing to her and the police won't help us until tomorrow night."

I sucked in a sharp breath, holding it for seconds as I tried to suppress the urge to scream, panic overpowering my complete system when I realized just how accurate Rose's summary if tonight's events was.

"Rosie," Emmett growled under his breath. He might as well have saved himself the effort of trying to whisper. With a voice as loud and strong as Emmett's, we would all have been able to hear him even if he'd just mimed the words.

"What?" she spat back. "It's the truth!"

"Yeah, well, you might wanna be a bit more diplomatic around Bella's dad and boyfriend, honey," he went on, his voice even lower but still as audible as if he'd been whispering in my ear instead of his girlfriends'. "I don't think they like hearing just how much danger Bella's in while they sit around powerless to stop it."

"It's the truth, isn't it?" Rose countered. "And anyway….You know I don't mince my words – ever – and I'm not about to start now."

"Ahem," Billy scrapped his voice, drawing Charlie and mine attention away from Emmett and Rosalie's motivational speech. "I took the liberty of calling one of my old buddies from the detective squad from the road. He knows quite a bit about organizations similar to the Volturi so he knows the risk Bella's in at the moment. I hope he will be able to get the authorities moving before the twenty-four hour waiting period is over."

"And what fucking good is that going to do us with every damn cop in Seattle being as crooked as a fucking question mark?" I growled.

"Edward!" my mom scolded, though it was a half-hearted attempt at least. I could see she was as frustrated as I was.

"It's okay," Billy chuckled good-naturedly. "I won't deny that, with the information I've received from both Edward and Bella, it is getting increasingly clear to me that some of my former colleagues have forgotten where their duty and loyalties lie…."

He pursed his lips, shaking his head with disgust before he recomposed himself and continued. "….. but as far as Mark Banner is concerned I can safely vouch for his integrity. You see, he's been a member of one of those specialist federal mob-crunching teams for about ten years even though it has cost him his wife, his child and three fingers on his left hand. He hates all forms of organized crime with a vengeance."

"Sounds like just the kind of guy we need on our team," Emmett nodded as – as if he'd been timing his arrival - the doorbell sounded, announcing the arrival of yet another guest in the house.

Emmett was right.

As Agent Banner listened to Charlie and my dad – who'd finally deemed it safe to leave his study – as they explained Bella's situation, I immediately noticed a complete change from the reluctant and disinterested policemen I'd had to deal with at the SPD police station.

This man was interested.

Very interested.

I still had my apprehensions about the guy, seeing as he was a cop and most of the cops in this town seemed to be on the Volturi payroll, but for the moment I didn't have any other choice but to trust him.

And wait.

We sure did a lot of that.

We waited while Banner, Billy and Charlie were locked up for hours in my dad's study with my father and Jasper, going over every minute detail of the Volturi and their gatherings in the hope of finding the key to unravel Aro's master plan.

We waited as Banner's team slowly started to trickle into our house, placing phone taps and taking precautions for counter-insurgence the minute their leader would give them the 'all clear'.

We waited as Sunday slowly gave way to Monday and the sky grew darker as we watched the seconds on the clock tick away.

We waited while Rose and Emmett went off to pick up Renee, who was still a blubbering mess when she called Rose after Phil and she had landed at Sea-Tac airport.

We waited, sipping our drinks and mechanically nibbling on the food my mother – still operating under some kind of robotic self-control – put in front of us.

And as we waited, my fear for Bella's safety grew with every minute that passed until it started to slowly drive me insane.

And so I sat there, watching the seconds, minutes and hours tick by on the clock as around me one after another my friends nodded off into sleep, wondering what my dear, sweet angel was going through at that very minute.

"Edward."

I shocked back into conscience at the mention of my name to find Bella's mother standing right in front of me. Renee's voice sounded more timid than I remembered as she addressed me, her face lined with worry, grief and restraint.

She knew.

Dad must have told her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her arms opening in an offer I wished I was ready to accept at that moment.

I sighed, wrapping my arms around her body as I nodded in understanding. "So am I."

Our moment was interrupted by the shrill but hushed ringing of a mobile phone somewhere in the house, causing us both to jump up and run into dad's study, arriving just in time to see him pick up.

"Dominus?" Dad's voice sounded a bit unsteady, his eyes flittering from Jasper to Agent Banner for confirmation as he answered the phone.

"Carlisle!" a male voice carrying the slightest hint of a foreign accent spoke gleefully. "How nice to speak to you again, my old friend!"

"What do you want?" my dad's clipped voice answered. "You already have Renee's daughter. What more can you demand of us?"

"I would have thought you knew better than to assume such a tone against me," Aro scolded. "Considering the nature of what is probably going on in that office of yours as we speak, you would do better to beg for mercy because right now, you are a dead man walking in the eyes of The Volturi."

Mom whimpered, her hand once again clutching my dad's as she looked at the phone in horror.

"Is it me that you want?" Renee's voice demanded. "Let go of my daughter and I'll give you everything."

"Is that dear little Renee Higginbotham?" Aro squealed in obviously delight. "I do believe it is! How nice to hear from you again after all these years! You were always such a very obliging young woman!"

His apparent glee made me feel sick to my stomach but still hanging on his every word as he went on "However, I do not believe I will take you up on your kind offer. At least, not this time. After all, why would I content myself with the old version when I have the younger model right here with me?"

A loud growl rumbled up inside my chest and burst through the surface at the same time as Renee started screaming through the phone for Aro to let go of her daughter, our anger met with a loud cackle of laughter from the other end of the line.

"This little reunion of sorts is turning out to be even better than I could have anticipated!" Aro snickered. "But catching up with old friends wasn't the sole reason I called you, my dear Carlisle. From the noises coming from the background I assume young Edward is there in your office as well?"

"I'm here," I announced before my dad could say anything. "Why are you asking?"

"How impatient young people are these days!" Aro squealed, the affected joviality in his voice making me want to smash the phone against the wall just to shut him up. "But if you really want to know: I have something of yours. Something, I'm sure, you're very eager to have returned to you."

Charlie was just in time to keep me back as I launched myself in the general direction of the desk. "You let her go, you fucking pig! If you ever harm a hair on her head I'm going to fucking kill you!" I snarled, fighting against Charlie's stronghold.

"So tempestuous! So passionate! And so fiercely protective of your loved ones!" Aro gushed. "However, killing me won't be necessary, my dear boy. There is only one thing I want in return for your fair lady's freedom."

"Anything," I answered in a heartbeat. "What do you want?" I tried not to see the looks of horror on my mom and dad's faces as I spoke. I knew I was doing the very thing my dad had fought so hard to protect me from but now that I knew that The Volturi had Bella I couldn't even be bothered to feel sorry about it.

Nothing was as important to me as her safety was.

Aro merely chuckled, the sound of his laughter sounding even creepier than his words from before had. "I think you know what it is that I want."

Of course I did.

Even if my dad hadn't just explained how the Volturi operated, I would have known what – or rather who – they wanted in return for Bella's safety.

Me.


Edward to the rescue?

Before next week's chapter will go up, I will be posting a lot of pictures on the twilighted thread for Absolution since the chapter was heavily inspired by them. The thread can be found through copying the link below and removing the spaces.

www . twilighted . net / forum / ?f=44&t=13706&p=1167881#p1167881

Follow me on twitter for updates on my writing and everything else. I'm missbaby25 over there.

Loved it? Hated it? Please let me know.