Chapter Fifty One

Bella

We decided to play Aro at his own game and let him think he had the upper hand, no doubt he would want any confrontation to take place on home turf so I'd let him win that one and I wouldn't let on that we knew of his involvement in Alice's little game. I tried to persuade Darius to stay back with Jenny, after all surely she'd had enough of Volterra already but it seemed the warrior code meant a lot to her too. Secretly I think she was hoping that Aro would meet his match with us and I intended to do all I could to make her dream come true. Also, she wasn't going to let Garrett out of her sight which seemed to suit him just fine.

"What about the Cullens Bella?"

"The jury is still out on them but I wouldn't let Aro execute them for sheer stupidity or gullibility and I guess that's all they are really guilty of although it seems much more"

"Well I think you are being extremely generous Bella. Personally I'd be itching to light the pyre if they'd done it to me."

I understood Charlotte's words but I knew to kill them would hurt Rose and Emmett deeply and I really thought they'd paid any debt to me. I smiled reassuringly at the two of them.

"I'm sure we can come to some less drastic understanding."

Edward opened his mouth then saw Darius raise an eyebrow questioningly and shut it quickly. I knew he was going to ask about himself but I thought I'd let him stew a bit longer. Did he think I was calculating and cold enough to have him put to death for the same crime his "parents" were guilty of?

Edward

I didn't want to go to Volterra, I didn't want to go anywhere near Italy when Bella and Aro clashed as I knew they would. She was confident in her ability to best him but I wondered if she really knew what he was capable of, for that matter did any of us? We all knew he was ruthless and utterly devoid of any real scruples but there were rumours that compared to the Aro of old, the one who had formed the Volturi along with Marcus and later Caius, he was a pussy cat. That Aro had been much more of a monster. I didn't want to find out it that were true and I had thought about making a run for it but I was scared of Darius. It wasn't that I couldn't read his mind, I could only too easily, it was what lurked inside his head that scared me most. Darius was a killing machine very much like Jasper and his thoughts were equally as dark making my skin go even colder and my body shudder. No, I preferred to stay out of his mind and of course that put me at a disadvantage. All I could do was wait and watch, perhaps there would be the possibility of escape on the way.

Again we were travelling in several groups and again I was ordered to stay with Darius, Garrett, and Jenny. Peter and his mate would travel with Emmett and Rose leaving Bella and Jazz to travel alone. We would go on two separate flights. Bella, Jasper, and my group would fly direct to Pisa arriving in two days time while the others would fly via Rome and drive to meet us. I didn't think Aro would be so naïve as to watch only the Pisa flights but if it made the others feel better I wasn't going to point this little fact out to them. I had tried speaking to Rose and Emmett but they were firmly on Bella's side even if it meant some form of punishment for the rest of us. They'd seen what she was capable of, did they really think she had forgiven any of us? The old adage "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" applied in spades to Bella Swan but they were too blind to see it.

Carlisle

We had heard rumours that Caius Volturi was dead and Bella was returning to Volterra but isolated as we were in our suite, no longer free to roam as we once had, we could only find out snippets. Most of the guard we came in contact with refused to speak at all.

"Do you think Bella killed Caius? I understand his wife freed Darius sister after his death. It could mean there is a split developing Carlisle and maybe it will aid us."

"If there was going to be a split it would have been between Aro and Caius not Marcus. No, I fear Aro has what he has always wanted. Direct and sole power over our world."

"What about Marcus? Doesn't he count at all?"

"Marcus may disagree with Aro's decisions and actions but he cannot act against his former brother in law, Aro made sure of that after killing his own sister."

"So that's true then? Not just a myth?"

"No, I'm afraid it's the truth Esme and a man who could do that could do anything at all."

"You know I've been thinking Carlisle and I really wish we could go back and do things differently, with Edward and Bella I mean. We crucified the poor girl on Alice's say so, why didn't we ever question her, check the truth of what she said? I think even worse was the fact that Charlie and Renee both believed your accusations and not Bella, their own daughter."

I was afraid this topic would come up sooner or later and I knew I would have to come clean.

"Esme, you know how good I am with my human patients, persuading them to agree to surgery or take certain treatments?"

"Yes of course, its one of the things that makes you such a popular doctor, the number of patients you save."

"Well I have a gift of my own although I only ever use it for good or at least I did until I spoke to Charlie about Bella."

She put a hand to her mouth, her eyes widening with shock as she understood my meaning,

"You used your gift to make Charlie believe you, to think the worst of his own daughter? Oh Carlisle how could you? I find it incredible you should do something like that. You have to explain to Bella, so she understands her father would never have believed you otherwise."

"Do you really think it will make any difference after so long? That is if she will even listen to me."

"I don't know but we must try to explain things to her."

"Even if we do it's too late Esme, the damage is done and she's now a vampire so she can't go back to her parents even should she wish to."

"What have we done? We always prided ourselves on being different, on our ability to live among the humans and help them but when it came down to it we were as bad as the rest who kill humans for food. The only difference is that we left our victim alive to live with the bitterness and pain."

I wanted to argue my corner but I couldn't for the simple reason that Esme was right, at least about me. I was exactly the monster I'd prided myself on rising above.