Chapter Thirty Six

Stefan

I could see something had changed after there was an emergency recess after only a few minutes of our trial. Esme had handed Aro a sheet of paper and after looking at it he sighed and nodded to Carlisle and The Major who sat facing us. The note was shown in turn to Marcus and Felix and they all rose and disappeared. They didn't go for long and when they returned I could see something had changed, Aro was less contemptuous of us.

"We have received news that Eleazar is dead so his murder will be added to the charges laid before you."

Eleazar dead? That was certainly not in the plan and Vladimir threw me a questioning look. Did this mean our commando unit had been found and destroyed? Somehow I doubted it if that were the case Aro couldn't help but gloat over thwarting our plans. So, for some reason they had decided to ignore a part of their orders. I suppose I could understand that it would slow them down trying to keep a prisoner incarcerated and work their way down our list. Still, the important thing was that they were still out there and Aro, Marcus and the rest of the rebels would never know a safe moment, always looking over their shoulder for the figure of death.

Aro stood looking solemn but it was easy to see that he was enjoying every moment of the proceedings just as I would have in his place.

"You are charged with reckless endangerment of our world, the slaughter of countless humans and vampires and high treason. How do you plead?"

"Does it really matter? You are going to execute us anyway. I do not recognise the Volturi as the leaders of the vampire world so I plead not guilty to the charge of treason. As for the deaths of some of our own kind, that is the price of our struggle to regain our thrones. Speaking of Eleazar I don't see how you can blame us for his death, we weren't even in…..I stopped unwilling to give them any ammunition. The humans I won't even dignify with an answer, they are mere cattle and should be treated as such. You are weak Aro, not fit to rule such as us."

Vladimir followed me citing exactly the same plea's and we waited to hear our fates.

It didn't take long for the verdicts to be reached, they didn't even leave the room, just gathered together around the table and agreed to our guilt without a single dissension. Aro was beaming as he handed down our sentences and told us they would be carried out immediately.

"I suppose you do not have the luxury of time to savour the moment, not with assassins hot on your heels. It is only a pity that we shall not be here to see you fall."

Carlisle

Usually, I would have spoken up for leniency but not on this occasion, I had lost a son and a good friend and it was likely there would be more losses if the Romanian death squad was real and not some story dreamed up to scare us. I know Aro hesitated to wait for me to speak but I just nodded, get on with it and he and Marcus accompanied by Felix and the few Volturi still alive took the prisoners outside to their execution. I heard the short screams and smelled the smoke from their pyres wishing these were the final deaths but knowing they probably were not.

When the Volturi brothers came back in they looked grimly determined rather than elated.

"Carlisle. It will be safer if you and your family join us in our new headquarters in Greece. Volterra is no longer viable as our centre for government and we can work towards making the villa a secure seat of government. For now, we know only that there is a death squad looking for its targets so we need to make those targets as difficult to reach as possible which means protecting each other."

"

And what if they have access to another of those bombs? They could wipe us all out at once."

"Marcus assures me he can have a solution to that problem in place within hours if Darius will help. All we need is an early warning system and then a missile that can shoot such a bomb down at a safe distance."

"Very well, we will join you but are we really going to sit by and wait for the death squad to give up?"

"No, that would be unwise and stupid in the extreme. The Major has offered to take a small force out to hunt them down and destroy them."

I looked at Jasper and Bella who stood together looking determined and knew there was no point in trying to dissuade them.

We travelled to Greece as a group in a plane chartered by Darius usually enough safeguards that the death squad would not trace the flight and attempt to bring it down but I was still relieved when we landed and reached the villa in safety, leaving behind Jasper, Peter and Charlotte, Darius, Charlie, and several others who insisted on helping rather than sit waiting for the death squad to find us or to find its own destruction.

There was plenty to be done although the villa hadn't been destroyed once the attackers found it deserted. Huge boulders were moved miles to reinforce the wall built around the villa and patrols were sent out daily to set up an early warning system using hideouts in caves and the forest. We would know the minute a force of some size tried sneaking up on us and it would be suicide for a small group to try storming the place once Marcus had set up the radar, infra-red and movement sensors around the perimeter with help over the internet from Darius.

He had also arranged for a couple of wayward missiles to be delivered ready to thwart any attempt to bomb us off the face of the earth, in short we felt well defended and secure but who wanted to be stuck here indefinitely? We all had lives we wanted to recommence but until Jasper and his friends tracked down the death squad which had presumably split into smaller groups by now, we were stuck here.

Esme and Sulpicia were particularly worried about Carmen and the girls who had become very withdrawn since they arrived at the villa. They had initially wanted to return home to Denali to wait for Carmen to make contact but Esme was able to persuade them it was too dangerous. Carmen was unlikely to go back there until she knew the fighting was over and even then it was likely she would contact us first. Tanya spent a long time talking to Sulpicia about Carmen's chances of survival without Eleazar and although the latter tried to be as optimistic as possible she wouldn't lie to the girl.

As she told Esme,

"They deserve the truth after all they have been through and false hope helps no one. I just hope Carmen is strong enough to survive his death, for their sakes. Those poor girls are lost without her."

After discussing the matter with the girls Esme told me that she and Sulpicia had offered them a home if Carmen didn't return,

"But they refused both of us. Carlisle, I really don't think they will make it on their own. They've always looked to Carmen and Eleazar to guide them, like parents."

"You can only offer my dear, it's for them to decide what to do. I think perhaps they are thinking of revenging themselves if there is anything left when Jasper and the others mop up the opposition."

"Revenge?"

"Yes my love, don't forget that the guards holding them captive had disappeared when Peter and Darius turned up."

"You think they will try to hunt them down? Wouldn't that be dangerous?"

"Yes, but they might think it will give them some peace although I doubt it myself."

She looked at me strangely for some time then surprised me with her reply,

"I think I understand that thirst for revenge and if they do go looking I might even offer to accompany them and don't look at me like that. I may be sweetness and light most of the time but I'm also a woman and I regard the girls almost as daughters. A mother defends her young and if killing off the bastards who imprisoned and ill-treated them will help them recover then I'll help all I can, Carlisle."