Title: Bonne Foi
Author: Amethyst Jackson
Category: Drama, Romance
Rating: M
Summary: AU. Edward Masen was changed in 1918 and abandoned by his sire. He feeds on human blood, unaware of any other way…until he stumbles across college freshman Bella Swan for a night that will change everything.
Disclaimer: A writer is like a goddess in her universe…but only one writer is making the money off Twilight, and that's Stephenie Meyer. These are her characters, and I'm just having fun with them.
A/N: I always forget to thank my lovely beta reader, BbEyedGirl, who gives me such a hard time about commas (and probably wouldn't approve of the ones I just used) and always has so much great insight. Thank you, doll!
Chapter Thirty-Eight
"Try not to panic," Aro said. "Alec's gift can be quite…disorienting."
"Is this really necessary?" I demanded.
Aro smiled as though humoring a petulant child. "Completely."
Alec simply stared at us, and I began to wonder if he could do anything at all until a fog began to rise from his feet and creep toward us.
I tensed and took a step back – and suddenly two of the Volturi guards were behind me, preventing me from escaping. The other Cullens watched nervously, unable to do anything to help.
As the fog closed around us, I did panic. I couldn't feel Bella in my arms. My vision went black. I couldn't smell the wolves or hear their breathing. I couldn't sense a single thing. It was a true void.
I could do nothing but wait for the world around me to return to my perception. I had no way of knowing how much time had passed. Without my senses to guide me, I couldn't trust my own internal clock. Terror swept through me at what could be happening without my knowledge. They could have taken Bella away. They could be killing all our allies as I stood helpless. Hell, for all I knew, they could be carting me off to Italy right now.
And then I felt the soft, warm touch of Bella's hand on my cheek. I gasped at the miraculous sensation. She was still with me.
"Edward?" I heard. "Edward?" It was a quiet whimper. I blinked rapidly as the fog began to recede, allowing me to see Bella's worried face looking up at me. The rest of the non-Volturi vampires and the wolves as well appeared to be in the same state I'd just been in. Around Bella and me, however, a strange bubble was forming, pushing the fog away. I looked across the field and met Aro's shocked, gleeful eyes.
"Are you done yet?" I asked, beyond furious.
"Yes, that will do nicely. Alec, let them be," Aro said, staring almost greedily at Bella. Reluctantly, Alec withdrew his strange fog and returned to Jane's side. The little girl looked bitterly jealous that she hadn't been able to use her gift on us.
Once the Cullens were released from the desensitization, they gathered close around us.
"Aro, this has gone far enough," Carlisle said, standing in front of Bella and me. "I won't tolerate you experimenting with my family."
Caius, silent until now, finally spoke. "Your 'family' – as you call it – is in violation of the law. You're harboring a human with too much knowledge – living in such a large, conspicuous group – consorting with werewolves. You are a disgrace to our kind," he spat.
Surprisingly, it was Tanya who spoke next. "They're not werewolves, they're shape-shifters," she said lowly, dangerously, "And I've seen how you enforce your laws, Caius. Your idea of justice is pretty damned skewed."
"Given your family's history, Tanya, I wouldn't want to offend us if I were you," Caius sneered. "We already have more than enough reason to destroy you and your sisters."
"Enough, now," Aro said, as though he were an impartial mediator. "There's no reason why we can't solve this amicably. Edward, if you and Bella would simply agree to return to Volterra with us, I'll leave everyone in peace. Of course, Alice and Jasper are more than welcome to join us as well."
"I'm not going to speak for Bella when she can't speak for herself," I said, stalling. I didn't want anyone here facing death from the Volturi for my sake – but I wasn't going to let Bella fall into their clutches, either.
Marcus reached out his hand to Aro, and they couldn't hide the thought he was sharing. The girl will go where he goes.
"Screw this," Emmett said loudly, charging forward. "No one's going to Volterra if I have anything to say about it."
"You don't want to fight us, my dear boy," Aro said, and there was a threatening undercurrent to his calm tone.
"I'm pretty sure I do," he replied, dropping into a predatory crouch. Rosalie joined him, never one to let her mate fight alone.
Aro narrowed his eyes. "Alec. Jane."
A flurry of motion erupted around us. The guards that had been flanking Bella and me moved to get out of the path of Alec. The wolves shifted into a defensive formation. And as Alec released his fog again, Jane stepped to Aro's side, awaiting further instruction.
"Get the girl away from him," Aro said succinctly.
"Edward, put me down," Bella whispered. Jane was moving quickly across the field.
I shot Bella an incredulous glance – how was she even capable of speech, and what was she thinking?
"Trust me," Bella hissed. Jane was advancing rapidly, and I had to make a snap decision. I set Bella on the ground and stepped in front of her.
I had only a nanosecond's warning before Jane attacked with her particular sadistic talent. I understood instantly why Aro valued her. The pain was excruciating, as bad if not worse than the pain of becoming a vampire. I crumpled over, swallowing a scream, and then –
It was gone. I stood straight as Jane watched in furious disbelief, and I smiled with pride because I knew I was under my girl's protection now. I also knew exactly what she'd freed me to do.
Jane was pitifully tiny, all but helpless without her gift, and it was a little too easy to remove her head from her shoulders.
I thought I'd have to quickly take care of Alec, but the sound of Jane's tearing flesh stole his attention from his task. The distraction allowed me to read his thoughts for the first time and understand his relationship to Jane – I'd just destroyed the only person he cared about.
The distraction also allowed the fog to lift, freeing his victims, and before I even took a step, a wolf was charging toward us – Seth Clearwater. He caught Alec in his large jaws, and Seth's sister joined him in tearing the vampire to pieces.
Just like that, a battle was underway.
The entire Volturi guard sprang into motion as soon as Alec was down. They clashed head-on with the werewolves and other vampires. Aro, Marcus and Caius stood back beyond the fray, content to watch. Evidently they had faith in their guard, no matter how outnumbered they were.
I hastened back to Bella's side. She looked up at me and gripped my hand so tightly it almost hurt, but she was smiling through her pain.
"You're so amazing, sweetheart," I told her, scooping her up in my arms. She was getting heavier – the change was well on its way.
I retreated with Bella, keeping her out of the chaos before us. I watched Jacob attack the large one called Felix and get pinned to the ground, and saw Tanya spring to his defense. Further away, Jasper sparred expertly with a dark-haired female, and Alice fought another female a few feet away, a blur of motion as she dodged every attack. Close to the tree line, Emmett held a large vampire back while Rosalie tore off his limbs. Even sweet Esme was in action, fiercely taking off the head of a vampire that had attempted to ambush Carlisle. I looked across the field to see Kate using a gift I hadn't known she possessed, zapping a vampire back into a tree with her electric hands.
In all of this, one thing was clear: we were winning.
"Edward," Bella hissed, tugging at my arm. I followed her gaze to the far edge of the clearing where Aro, Marcus and Caius were retreating just slowly enough to go unnoticed by the vampires and werewolves preoccupied with the fight.
I shouted for Esme, deposited Bella into her waiting arms, and took off in a sprint. In my periphery, I saw Alice's head snap up as she realized what I was going to do, and Jasper was immediately by her side. Together, the three of us set off at full speed toward the retreating figures.
Caius was the first to see us coming. He alerted the others, and they began to run in earnest. They were slower than we were, perhaps grown stiff from years of sitting on their self-made thrones and having their meals brought to them. No matter the reason, we caught them easily.
I closed my arms around Aro, tackling him face-first to the ground. Vaguely I was aware of Alice and Jasper catching Caius and Marcus respectively, but all my rage focused on Aro.
My first target was his neck, but as soon as my hands touched his skin, I froze. I'd allowed him to pull in every thought I'd ever had, a century's worth. It took all my faculties just to follow along, to see what he was seeing. Aro simply laughed with delight at his acquisition.
When we reached my memories of Bella, I shook with rage. He had no right to see her as I had – naked and vulnerable, feisty and wild with lust. Those were images for me alone.
I began to twist his neck.
Ah-ah-ah, Edward! Are you sure you want to do this? Aro thought at me. When we're dead, there's no one to manage our world. Vampires running wild – is that what you want? I know you know better.
If he'd made that argument before seeing every image I held in my head of Bella, I might have hesitated.
"There will always be someone to take your place," I growled. "Right now, what I want is you dead."
I was used to getting what I wanted.
Brittle with age, his flesh cracked into shards when I snapped his neck. I hurled his head into a nearby tree and watched both the tree and the head shatter.
I heard a laugh and looked around to see Emmett helping Alice to dismantle a still-struggling Caius. Jasper stood scowling over the remains of Marcus. "Nice one, man," Emmett said. "You're the one picking up all those pieces."
They were dead, I realized – every last vampire that had accompanied Aro from Volterra was torn apart and ready to burn. The thoughts at the scene of the battle showed me that we'd come out largely unscathed – only minor injuries.
"Stop laughing, Em," Jasper sighed. "We just caused a big-ass problem."
We had to drag the remains back to the clearing to add them to the crackling bonfire of body parts already in place. I helped the others with the slow disassembling process and soon, all that was left was a column of smoke drifting into the atmosphere.
"Let's go home," Carlisle said. "We have a lot to discuss."
All of the vampires gathered in the Cullen living room, a tight squeeze for everyone even given the large space. Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper and Alice all piled onto the largest sofa while Carmen and Eleazar shared the loveseat. Esme sat in a chair nearby with Carlisle standing behind her. Kate and Irina each found chairs. Tanya sat on the floor against Jacob, who was still in wolf form; he'd had to go through the back double doors just to make it into the house. The rest of the pack lingered in the forest around the house, listening through Jacob.
I'd claimed one of the large, well-stuffed armchairs and cradled Bella in my lap. Still in the grip of her transformation, Bella had returned to silence, refusing to show her suffering. I knew she was listening to every word we said, though.
We all waited for Carlisle, the accepted leader, to begin. He looked around at all of us, organizing his thoughts, and finally settled his eyes on me.
"Edward, I'm sure you know by now what happened to us in the clearing prior to your arrival. What we don't know is what happened to you and Bella."
I shifted, uncomfortable with the size of my audience, but I told the tale as concisely as possible – that Victoria had come to us and been dispatched of, that Aro had arrived shortly after with Felix, and that he'd insisted I bring Bella to the clearing.
"He suspected, then, that she had some value – value to him, I should say," Carlisle surmised.
"He knew I couldn't hear her thoughts," I told him. "I'm sure he wanted to know whether he'd be able to hear her, but I never did let him touch her."
"Clearly she is quite gifted," Carlisle mused. "For so much of her power to materialize before the change is complete…that's quite extraordinary. Tell me, what happened when Alec used his gift the first time?"
"At first, I felt the same thing you did," I answered, looking down at Bella. "But then I felt her hand on my face, and I could hear her voice calling to me, and then – then it was like she formed a cage of protection around us."
"She had to touch you first, then," Carlisle said, at this point more fascinated with the technical aspects of Bella's gift than anything else.
"Not the second time – not with Jane," I told him.
"She's so quiet," Esme murmured. "I've never seen that before."
"I think it's because of her gift, her shield," I said. "She's been this quiet the whole time. And when Victoria and I were fighting, she blocked her pain enough to throw a shoe at her."
"A shoe?" Alice repeated. "What kind of shoe?"
Emmett rolled his eyes. "That is so not relevant. Let's focus on how bad-ass Bella is. A shoe? That's hilarious."
"She is in every way extraordinary," Carlisle agreed, a smile tugging at his lips. "But we do have some serious matters to discuss."
All the faces in the room turned somber, acknowledging the turn the conversation was about to take.
"I understand the reason for what happened today. I'm not placing any blame. But the absence of the Volturi does cause a problem."
"What about the rest of the guard?" Tanya said. "Do you think they'll stay in place?"
Jasper snorted. "Without leadership? Trust me, they'll scatter as soon as they realize what's happened."
"We have some time, I think, before the vampires of the world realize that the Volturi are no longer monitoring their behavior. It won't be readily obvious until drastic action is needed and doesn't come. But I am horrified to think what may become of vampires and humans alike if vampires are allowed to feed without limits and without discretion."
"What about the Romanians?" Eleazar asked. "They've been dying to take over. Maybe they'll fill the void."
"But they don't have the kind of army needed to do a job like what the Volturi did. They don't have the weapons."
We could do it, I heard from Jacob's voice. Murmurs of both assent and alarm rippled through the minds of the pack.
"That's not a bad idea," I said, drawing the stares of everyone in the room. I smiled sheepishly. "Jacob had a thought – that the wolves could do it."
The rest of the group could hear the reactions now because some of the wolves were howling their protest. They were designed to protect their own territory, not to be vampire hunters. But they were uniquely suited to the job. Their communication abilities alone would be a significant advantage.
"Maybe that's the reason you imprinted," I said to Jacob. "It didn't make any sense at first – it wouldn't help you carry on the tribal bloodlines; it wouldn't allow you to procreate at all. But perhaps it happened to unite our kind – to give you an ally in protecting yourselves against the threat of other vampires."
The room was quiet, digesting this. Finally, Carlisle cleared his throat.
"I agree that it's not a bad idea for the wolves to attempt this task – but if they choose not to, we need to be prepared to step forward. I could be content living passively among humans as long as we were working toward their common good, but I cannot sit back and let them be slaughtered en masse. We have a great deal to decide in the coming days. For now, though, I think we could all use some rest."
I couldn't have agreed more.
"I'm going to take Bella back to the cottage," I told Carlisle and Esme as the others were trickling out of the room. There were maybe thirty-six hours left in her transformation, if that, and I wanted her to be left in peace for the rest of it.
Esme nodded, smiling widely. "We can't wait to see her. Take your time, but when she's ready, bring her home to us."
Home. It was such an unfamiliar concept and yet, I knew that was what Bella and I had found here.
"We'll see you in a few days," I promised.
A/N: We're getting close. There are maybe three chapters left, and I hope to use this holiday time to knock it all out. We'll see. Thanks to everyone that's been sticking around - I know for some of you, it's been a long, long time. It feels like a lifetime for me.