Chapter Thirty Eight

Rachel

I had known that Esme would paint herself into a corner sooner or later and would then be forced to take me up on my offer even if she didn't particularly like it, she was afraid of the Volturi and being in their debt but beggars couldn't be choosers. The poor woman didn't have one stroke of luck and she really should have known that once Major Whitlock became involved the game was over. Of course, the fact that it would be a feather in my cap being able to deliver the human who knew all about vampires and still lived to my superiors wasn't a factor, of course not!

Before anyone was able to do more than frown I closed my eyes and concentrated my gift on those around the table all of whom dropped like flies. It was rather unfortunate that Esme was one of them but I couldn't aim my gift so precisely that I could have avoided her. At last, I would be rid of Edward's ex-girlfriend about whom I was heartily sick of hearing, not to mention the man himself, every cloud has its silver lining.

Jasper

I has no idea what had happened to me but when I came round to find myself lying on the floor I felt as if I'd been hit with a steam hammer, my head was throbbing and my limbs heavy as lead. I picked myself up off the floor and looked around groaning. Rose was climbing slowly to her feet pulling herself up on the back of an empty chair while Carlisle, Esme, and Edward, were shaking their heads in an attempt to clear them and gazing around with unfocused eyes. Of Rachel and Bella, there was no sign, they has simply vanished.

I had no idea what had happened except it must have been Rachel since Esme had requested her help so I lunged across the table and grabbed her by the throat shaking her violently.

"Where's Bella? Where has Rachel taken her?"

Esme looked at me with a triumphant smirk even though I was choking her and as her lips moved I eased up my grip just a little.

"It's too late, Jasper. Even you can't save her this time."

I pulled my fist back ready to beat an answer out of her her, but Rose grabbed my arm stopping me.

"That won't work, you heard how crazy she is. Esme is willing to die herself if it means she destroys Bella. Let me try, Jazz."

She was right of course so I released my grasp and stepped back but if she had no luck I was willing to do whatever it took to find out where Rachel had taken Bella.

Rose

I turned to Esme, the woman I had considered my mother for so long, a woman I suddenly realized I didn't know at all.

"It's never too late, Esme, unless we stop trying. You've lost your family, all of us and I bet Edward didn't know his precious wife was one of them, did he?"

Jazz glanced at me frowning but I ignored him for now, I could fill him in shortly.

She stared at me her eyes wide with shock.

"How did you know?"

"Oh I'm not just a pretty face, I watch and I listen. I knew there was something strange about her. She was planted here to keep an eye on the troublesome Cullens, wasn't she? And now she's gone to file her report and with an added bonus."

I turned to Jazz.

"I'm sorry, Jazz, but I think Rachel is a member of the Volturi. One of their spies they send out to keep an eye on troublesome vampires or in our case a problem family. I could never work out why she was interested in Edward, she never seemed very fond of him, and now I understand why. I just wished I 'd realized sooner. Hopefully, we haven't been out for too long, there might still be a chance. Come on."

Esme laughed then, a cold sound that made my skin crawl,

"I suppose I should have thought of this solution earlier but I was terrified for my family, not that either of you would understand such a feeling."

Ignoring her I took my brother's hand and pulled him out at a run and as we left I heard Carlisle, his voice thick with hurt and confusion.

"How could you, Esme? Look what you've done"

I doubted anything Carlisle could say would get through to her, she was so deluded she lived in a world of her own where only she knew what was right for her family. She could wait for now but I had no doubt that once we found Bella and made her safe Jazz would be back and then Esme would really understand the meaning of pain.

There was no sign of Bella outside and Edward's car was missing but when we tried to follow we found the other cars had been immobilized and neither Jasper nor I had recovered sufficiently from Rachel's gift to run far or fast enough to give chase on foot. He cursed and beat the hood of Carlisle's Mercedes until it was smashed into an unrecognizable lump of tangled metal along with the engine block.

"I promised to keep her safe, Rose, I told her I wouldn't leave her and now she's alone with that bitch on her way to her death in Volterra if you're right."

"I'm right, Jazz. One look at Esme's face was enough to prove that. What do you think the volturi want with Bella?"

He shook his head and staggered, Rachel's gift was powerful and long lasting, just how long had we been unconscious? I checked my watch but it has stopped at 4. 30 pm and looking at the sky it was almost dawn, has we really been out for more than twelve hours? It meant Rachel had a huge head start, especially if she has a plane waiting. All we could do was to hope she had to wait but I doubted Rachel was one to take chances, when she discovered Bella was coming to the house to confront Esme she would know her time has come, that's if Alice hadn't been looking out for us and warned them even earlier.

While Jazz stood bent with his hands on his knees taking in deep breaths in an attempt to clear his head I struggled to coordinate my hands sufficiently to call Emmett and fill him in.

When Charlotte heard the situation she jumped into action and booked him on the next available flight from Sea-Tac to Italy. There was one leaving in two hours and she got the one remaining seat which was in business class.

"I'm sorry, I don't think he should go alone but there isn't another flight for ten hours and there are only two seats left on that one. Does he want me to book those too? We could meet him in Volterra."

Jazz shook his head,

"By then I'll be out or dead. Stay away from Volterra, this is my fight now."

I hadn't the time or tools and spares to repair the truck so I called us a cab and we waited outside for it.

"I'm so sorry, Jazz. I should have seen this coming."

He turned to look at me and I could see how angry and worried he was.

"It's too late for sorry, Rose. Why didn't you tell me what you suspected?"

I shook my head.

"I still couldn't believe Esme was the one and I wasn't sure about Rachel until today. She was just too smooth, too perfect for Edward when they first met, as if she'd been manufactured especially for him. Now I know she was and marrying him gave the Volturi a spy within the family. I think they started to worry when the family began to disintegrate and wanted someone on the inside. I'll bet they were only too pleased when they found out what Esme was doing. She did their job for them, the Cullens are a spent force."

He nodded but I could see he was still angry with me and maybe I should have said something but even now after hearing her confession I still found it hard to believe the depths to which Esme had stooped.

Jasper

I jumped out of the cab at the airport and turned to her.

"Go home to Emmett and the others, Rose. Tell them exactly what happened and make sure they don't try to follow me. It's between the Volturi and me now, I don't want anyone else going up against them, it's too dangerous. It's just Bella and me and If I'm too late I won't be coming back. Thank everyone for me, Rose. Goodbye."

I turned and ran for the terminal making it just in time to grab my ticket and get through the formalities before my flight was called. I gave silent thanks to Charlotte for grabbing me the only seat left aboard the plane. Being a VIP passenger had its compensations, the cabin crew tended to accept eccentric passengers and pretty much leave them alone.

As we took off I tried to clear my mind of anger and guilt. I needed a clear head if I were to stand any chance of getting Bella back from the Volturi. My chances of rescuing as a human were nil but I might claim her as my mate and be allowed to change her, if it wasn't already too late. I closed my eyes and pushed that thought from my mind, I would be in time, I had to be, I had a promise to keep.

Unfortunately, I couldn't stop thoughts of Esme and Edward from popping into my head and struggled to swallow down the resulting rage. If, no make that when, when we returned from Italy I would hunt both of them down and make sure they screamed for mercy before I killed them, if that is Peter and Rose didn't get there first. It was strange knowing I was going into battle without Peter at my side but he had Charlotte to think about and they had lives to lead whereas mine meant nothing if I couldn't spend it with Bella.

Rose

When I got back to the others they went crazy. Emmett couldn't believe it was all down to Esme and Peter and Charlotte were devastated that Bella had been snatched from Jasper by a Volturi bitch. I passed on his last message to them and they went very quiet but tension crackled in the air. I knew they wouldn't disobey him however much they wanted to but it was hard to stand by when your best friend was walking into danger.

"Are we going to stay together?" Emmett asked. "I'd like to be with you when we get any news about them."

Peter looked up surprised.

"It's your choice, just remember we don't live on bunnies and rodents."

Emmett shrugged dismissively.

"I don't care. I just feel like we should stick together till we know what happens. Besides, we've got nowhere else to go. The family doesn't exist anymore and I feel closer to you and Charlotte than anyone else."

"Fine by me, but I wouldn't hold out much hope for Bella. We all know how that's gonna go down, you don't need to be a fuckin' mind reader. Bella gets to Volterra, they may or may not talk to her first then wham, Swan souffle. The Major gets there and either a) finds out Bella is dead and commits suicide by Volturi or b) finds out she's still alive, tries to rescue her and they both end up dead at which point the fat lady sings."

Charlotte hit him so hard I thought his head was going to fly off.

"Don't you say that. Don't you dare say that, Peter. How can you write the Major off!

He looked at Charlotte who was still glaring at him and threw up his hands in exasperation.

"Apart from a quick death, I don't think there's much else we can hope for, for either of them."

I think we all felt hopeless, frustrated and guilty for not ignoring Jazz and following him but to what end? We would never have gotten to Italy in time to help in any case.

Peter then turned his attention to me,

"What about Edward and Esme?"

I looked at him blankly.

"What about them?"

"Well, let me see.. Did you finish business?"

I frowned then it dawned on me what he was talking about and I snapped a reply.

"I went with Jazz to the airport then came straight here to fill you all in. I'm just sorry my doppelgänger wasn't available to take on other business, Peter."

I think Emmett could see trouble coming but he stopped it by getting to his feet and grabbing Peter's car keys.

"Come on guys, fighting among ourselves won't get us anywhere. Rose couldn't finish business because she was still helping Jazz and she decided it was more important to let us know what had gone down than go back to the house alone to take on Esme and Edward so I guess it's down to us now. Are you coming, Peter? Or would you rather stay here and bitch?"

Charlotte looked closely at Emmett while Peter nodded his agreement,

"Too fucking right i'm coming and give me those keys. Hopefully Rose here will be able to mend your truck once we finish with the remainder of the Cullens."

Charlotte took Emmett's arm holding him back,

"Are you sure about this Emmett? It's not going to be easy. Remember they were the family you loved until recently."

I couldn't help feeling proud of his reply which came without the slightest hesitation.

"Nah, Charlotte, it'll be real easy. They're responsible for Bella's nightmare and forcing Jasper to walk into Volterra alone. They should at least pay for those things if they can't get them out."

Peter tossed his car keys in the air with a grim smile.

"Well, are we ready folks? It's payback time... with interest."