32

CPOV:

After Jake and Bella left, I sat in my study for several hours, thinking about how to help her. If Eleazar were alive, I would contact him, but as that option wasn't available, I hadn't a clue where to start.

After several lines of thought and the subsequent research dead-ended, I had a thought: Mates are normally very close, sharing everything. Esme and I don't share the same career, but she is just as interested in my job and what I try to accomplish in the field of medicine as I am in her decorating and architectural work. We make sure to spend time in the evening to share with each other about our day. I wondered if Eleazar shared his work with Carmen. She didn't have a talent that I knew of, but that didn't mean she couldn't understand or be interested in what her mate did. I sighed. The very fact that she was without talent is what saved her when Eleazar was murdered. She held no interest for Aro, and Jane felt it would be a better lesson for her and anyone else considering leaving the Volturi without permission: You DON'T get to join your mate in death; rather you get to live out eternity alone.

I sat for a long time considering whether or not to call her. Even though it had been decades, she still mourned for her lost mate. I disliked causing her pain or distress, but as far as I knew, she was the only one I could turn to for help. I looked at the time as I picked up the phone, but only out of habit. The late (or early-pre dawn) hour meant little to vampires. At least I could hope to find her alone. She answered almost immediately.

"Carlisle! How good to hear from you. I trust you and your family is adjusting to Ithaca? We never see you any more, now that you are across the country again."

"Actually, we have returned to Forks. I'm sorry I didn't let you know earlier."

"Oh. Does that mean your son returned to the human he was so fascinated with?"

I sighed. "The story is complicated, but she is the reason I am calling. I have reason to believe she may have a talent, and I can't talk to the only other person I could turn to for help."

"Eleazar," she said simply.

"Yes. I am so sorry to bring him up, for I know it still causes you pain, but this is very important."

"It is alright, Carlisle. What do you need to know?

"Oh, thank you, Carmen. First, I must ask that you please keep all of this to yourself. We have reason to believe Bella may be in great danger, and that the Volturi may be involved as well. I cannot risk her life."

"I think that you, of all people, would know that I would be the last person to report anything to the Volturi, Carlisle. I can assure you of secrecy."

"Right. I knew that, but I had to be clear. I hope you understand." I cleared my throat. "Did Eleazar share with you what he did for the Volturi?"

"I knew that his job was to locate humans and vampires with special talents and bring them to Aro for evaluation. Any deemed 'collectible' were either turned or convinced to join - which you know is no real choice...when the other option was death," Carmen said grimly.

"Did he ever explain what the scope of the talents were, and what the owner of them could do with them? What I am trying to ask is, do you know what different talents are, if I were to describe them?"

"I understand, Carlisle. Yes. We discussed it often, for as I had no talent, I was very curious about them. I found his work very interesting, and he was happy to be able to share it with me. I know it overjoyed him that I had no talent, for it meant that Aro had no interest in me and therefore we could always be together, but some small part of me wishes I did, so that I could have joined him in death." She sighed. "So you think your human friend has a talent? Are you considering turning her even though Edward does not want to take her life?"

"Yes, I do have reason to believe she has a talent, but turning her is no longer an option. She did want it at one time, when she was with my son, but all of that has changed now. We returned when we got word she was in danger, and you know Esme and I thought of her as a daughter. Edward has returned to us as well, but she is now the mate of ... someone else. We are all sworn to protect her.

"I can tell there is more to this story. Do tell," Carmen urged.

I went on to explain about Victoria and how she wanted to kill Bella. I told her about the army that we suspected was in Seattle, and finished with the retelling of Bella's dream. "You see, Carmen. There were too many things in that dream for us not to take it seriously. Please tell me: what is a shield and how does it work?"

"Hmm. I do remember Edward telling me her mind was completely closed to him." She thought for a moment. "A shield is a defensive talent. It manifests itself in different ways of course. Take Renata: She is Aro's personal guard. Her shield redirects the attacker; he comes at them and then suddenly finds himself moving in a different direction. Any time he tries, he is redirected again and again. Her shield, however, is not able to deflect Jane or Alec's talents."

I was interested. "Really?"

"Yes. Eleazar told me once that Aro wanted it tested, but of course had someone else stand in his place. He had Jane and Alec simply direct their talent toward Renata and Aro's stand-in. Both of the attacks were successful.

"I had no idea. I thought that surely Renata would be of the ultimate defense as she is always at Aro's side."

"Well she is, for all intents and purposes," said Carmen. "Aro has made it his business to find anyone who could be a threat and either recruit them to his ends or eliminate them. Since Jane and Alec have what could be considered the ultimate in offensive talent, you could say he's got it all in hand."

"You have a point." I agreed.

"So. To Bella's talent: She seems to be able to block mental contact of any kind. Your other son, Jasper has a talent that can affect mood, doesn't he? Does it work on her?"

"Yes, but we have figured out that his talent controls the adrenal system and not the actual mind."

"So my thoughts are correct. Her talent is a mental defense. If it is this strong, it would be even stronger if she were turned."

"I can imagine. Is it possible to teach her to use her talent as a human? Eleazar seemed to deem it highly important, and in the dream, she was protecting her mate, so he had to have known that changing wasn't possible."

"Yes, sometimes it can," said Carmen. We found a couple of humans who had increased the scope of their talents on their own, but it was very difficult and took years to do. Once they had been turned, they said it was much easier. Even if turning her were possible, as a newborn she would be almost too unmanageable to even focus on learning about her talent, or so Eleazar said." She chuckled softly. "He had said that it was a good thing that time doesn't mean very much to a vampire, for it would take at least year but sometimes more to get the newborns under control enough to get them to focus on learning to use their talents."

"So it will be difficult, and we have perhaps weeks instead of years, but we need to try. Do you know how to help us with this?" I asked. "I have no idea where to begin."

"I would like permission to speak to my girls about this. I will, of course, swear them to secrecy. Kate possesses a talent, and she will be able to tell me how she managed to extend its capabilities. She may even be willing to come and help you."

I thought about this for a moment. Her daughters were Kate, Tanya, and Irina. Laurent had gone up to the Denali coven after leaving James and Victoria, and from what I understood, had become close to Irina. I hadn't explained WHO Bella's mate now was. Since the wolves had killed Laurent, Irina could want to avenge him.

"Carmen, there is something else I need to explain to you before you talk to them, and then I leave it up to you." I again stressed the secrecy of the situation, and after getting complete assurances of her confidentiality, I explained the whole James, Victoria, & Laurent situation: How Laurent had gone up to the Denali coven at our suggestion. I told her about the wolves and how they came to be the protectors, and about the treaty I had forged with them all those years ago. I then gave her the news that the wolves had killed Laurent because he had come back to Forks and had tried to kill Bella on Victoria's orders.

"We wondered why he never returned. He'd only said he had to run an errand for an old friend. Irina will be devastated, for he was her mate."

"I am truly sorry, Carmen. I had known Irina was close to him but I had not heard they were a mated pair. Please consider everything carefully before telling them about this, for you see, Bella's mate is the Alpha wolf. The wolves were doing what they were put on this earth to do: defend humans. Had one of my family, who are part of the treaty, attacked a human, all bets would have been off and the wolves would have been in their rights to the kill."

Carmen was silent as she considered this. "While Irina will be unhappy, I will do my best to explain the situation to her. I do not feel I can tell the others without including her, and I know that Kate will feel strongly about wanting to help. Laurent was new to the idea of feeding on animals, and was known to slip off to find his preferred food source. We know, don't we Carlisle, that feeding on animals gives us more of our humanity back, and therefore the urge to kill another human isn't as strong. In Laurent, I think not so much."

"Well, do what you think best. Let me know what they decide, and please let me know if there is anything I can do to help Irina come to terms with what happened."

She said she would, and we hung up. Now all I could do was wait.

Later, I had just returned from hunting when my phone rang. It was Kate.

"Carlisle, I understand you need my help."

"Carmen explained everything to you? If you come, you'll be working closely with a human. Can you do that?"

"I think I can. I'm used to being around human males, anyway."

"I also want to tell you that this fight that is coming is ours, and you are not obligated to fight with us in any way. As soon as we figure out when they are coming, if you want to leave, you may do so. All we ask is help in training Bella to use her talent."

"I understand, Carlisle. Tanya and I have thought about it and we want to help. Victoria is the one who talked Laurent into going back down to Forks, which is what got him killed. I'm not saying he would have sworn off human blood forever, but he wouldn't have been in the wolves' territory. We can avenge Victoria for Irina. She, however, cannot bring herself to come."

"I am sorry to hear that. Is she very angry?"

"He was her mate, and she feels driven to avenge his death, even though she knows that he was breaking the treaty. She feels that it is better to stay away, for if you care so deeply about Bella, if she were to kill the wolves, it would also grieve you."

"She's right. We have also sworn to protect the wolves in this fight. If the Volturi do make an appearance, we have to protect the wolves' secret, for if Caius hears about them, he'll personally show up to eradicate them."

"Carmen explained that too. Tanya and I will come and we will abide by the treaty. We have some commitments to attend to before we leave, but can arrive in about 2 days. Is Tuesday alright?"

"Tuesday is fine. It gives me time to meet with everyone and prepare for your arrival. Thank you again, for your willingness to help, Kate."

"No problem, Carlisle. Tanya is especially anxious to see Edward again."

I laughed wryly as I hung up, realizing that Tanya would again be frustrated when he refused her advances. I hoped it wouldn't dampen her enthusiasm toward helping us, but if it did, she could return or sit out the fight. It was Kate who was needed and the fact that they wanted to help raised our numbers to 10 vampires and 8 wolves. I'd take all the help I could have.

A/N: First, I want to thank you for your kind words and thoughts. They have meant so much to me this past week. Things are okay at the moment, but there's still a horse-sized hole in my heart.

Secondly, I wanted to say with a laugh, that we are watching Goblet of Fire tonight. :P Woot Woot! I am team Jacob, but Cedric was a cutie even though he was a bit daft. Harry: Get back to the cup! Cedric: Why? Huh? What? Harry: RUN! Get back to the cup! Cedric: (to Wormtail) Who are you! Voldemort: Kill the Spare! Avada Kedavara! … Cedric dies. Sad, cute idiot.