Chapter Thirty Four

Eleazar

I should have known Stefan had something in mind when he insisted I accompany him to watch their newborn army drill. I wondered why we were going so far from the castle when he was due to leave within hours.

"Don't worry Eleazar, we won't miss our plane but I wanted you to see just how good these soldiers are. I believe I may have misled you by calling them newborns. They were once but that was a very long time ago. In fact, they are probably the best-drilled soldiers in existence today. I will be holding them in reserve and if anything should go wrong, not that I expect it will although you haven't exactly been very forthcoming with gifts, they will take revenge on whoever they can. They have a list of those we want to see dead if we fail. Would you like to know who is on that list?"

"No, you seem confident enough in your ability to succeed. I could probably write such a list for you and not miss many names."

"How true but you see you will not need to write the list or even see the one we wrote, you will be there to witness the deaths personally."

Although I had no idea what he was talking about all soon became clear, I was to stay with this crack team of Romanian commandos whose only objective was to kill everyone who had stood in opposition to the Romanians if they were captured or killed.

When he left, I was left behind and their orders were to make sure I survived until the very last name on their list was crossed through. He had handed me a copy of the list to amuse myself with while I waited and every friend was on there as well as my family. It had become obvious to me that both Stefan and Vladimir understood the cost of defeat but they intended making very sure the conquerors did not live to enjoy their victory.

I had asked about the girls if they could not be brought here with me but I was refused,

"Oh no, that would make it far too easy for anyone storming the castle. We want them to understand that they might have saved the girls but that did not mean they would save you too. I wonder how poor Carmen will survive knowing you might be anywhere, suffering, dying even, and that there is nothing she can do to help. You see Eleazar, we think of everything, even victory in defeat. This time, I have no doubt that Aro and his brothers will ensure our deaths but that will not get them everything they want. We have fanatical followers willing to continue after our deaths so Aro will never be truly safe even if he wins and executes us."

Of course, we were cut off here, learning of how things were going only when updates were received over the radio and it was seldom I was informed, the leader of the commandos seemed to revel in torturing me by withholding information. He wouldn't even tell me if the girls had been moved. Stefan and Vladimir were certainly stretching their forces thinly and I wondered if they had known they might lose this war and this time were determined that the Volturi would not sit easily on their thrones. It was the mind of thinking Stefan was renowned for, forward planning.

I was kept in close confinement in a single room and fed only on human blood, humans captured from the nearby villages I assumed. Much as it sickened me to kill in order to survive I forced myself. If I were ever to get out of here and rescue the girls then find my beloved Carmen I needed my strength. I had forgotten how satisfying human blood was and knew it would take an iron will to turn back to animal blood again once this was over. While I waited for news or action I wrote with materials provided by the commandos who didn't seem to worry about what I was writing so long as it was keeping me quiet.

I started by writing a letter to Carmen hoping that if I didn't make it out of here she might eventually get it. I told her how much she meant to me and how the years with her had been the happiest of my life. Then I wrote to the girls, a fatherly missive reminding them that their strength lay in their loyalty to each other and begging them to look after Carmen for me if I were to die or disappear. After that, I played word games to stop myself slumping into depression at the mind numbing boredom that threatened me here in the tiny room all alone.

They were usually very careful to keep my door locked and to move away if they were going to converse but suddenly everything changed. There was a lot of noise, sounding like orders being shouted and men moving quickly and then I heard two of the soldiers talking outside my door.

"So, it's true then?"

"Seems so, they always knew it would be difficult to succeed if the Major and others weren't killed quickly. Now it's up to us to mop up. Any idea what mission you will be on?"

"Not yet, I'd give everything to be among those chosen to slaughter the Cullens though. I feel sorry for those hunting down The Major, that's a suicide mission. What about him."

I understood he was talking about me and listened even more closely to discover my fate.

As they moved away, called stridently by one of the commanding officers I slumped to the floor. Just how many groups would be leaving here to begin the slaughter of the rebels? It seemed I would be the first to die before they moved out but I still had no idea what had happened to Tanya, Irina, and Kate, their names hadn't been mentioned. I looked around but the room was bare of anything I could use as a weapon and I had to face the fact that when the door opened the first face I saw would be that of my killer.

Their orders had been to keep me alive until all the names on the list were slashed through but their commander had decided it would be foolish to drag an unwilling prisoner around with them so I was to die before they left. I just prayed that my sweet Carmen would somehow overcome the pain of. .losing her mate and go on, finding happiness once more but I knew the odds were against me, very few vampires survived the loss of their mate longer than a few months.

There was a lot more noise and then it began to diminish and I assumed the commandos were moving out in small groups spreading through the world to fulfil their duties. Would The Major, Carlisle and the Volturi understand they were still in danger? Were they likely to imagine Stefan and Vladimir contemplating defeat? What were the odds they would still be on alert once they knew they had won the war? If only there were some way to warn them, at least I wouldn't feel my life had been such a waste, my death would have had some meaning.

I pulled the single blank sheet of paper from my pocket and found the pen which had rolled into the corner of the room hidden in shadows. Writing a warning on it I added Carlisle's cell phone number and that of The Major then wrapped it around the few dollar bills I had in my pocket and thrust it between the bars high up in the wall that gave the room a little dim light.

All I could do was to hope it, might be found by some curious villager once the soldiers had gone. I had written it in Italian, English, Spanish, and Romanian and told the reader there would be a large monetary reward if the contents were followed to the letter. It was all I could do and I turned back, sliding to the floor to await my fate. An hour later I tensed as the lock was turned and the door to my cell began to open.