Chapter Fifty Four

Charlie

I could hardly believe it when Aro told me what he knew,

"There is a way to free the warrior, or rather there was at one time, but it no longer exists and please..."

"What?"

"Charlie, please listen before calling me a liar. I spent much time in the archives over the centuries discovering all I could about the man who created our super warrior. As you quite rightly pointed out one likes to have total control over a dangerous weapon and with the creator dead my only hope was in our huge collection of papers, parchments, and books."

I studied his face carefully,

"You thought that everything was destroyed when his creator died but you were wrong, you found something didn't you?"

"Eventually yes, my perseverance was rewarded, I found a diary in one of the crates that we stole from the Romanian castle after we overthrew them, we already had the parchment scroll with the words to activate him but the diary...well that was most interesting."

"And I bet you didn't bother to tell the others what you had discovered did you?"

Aro shrugged his shoulders,

"I didn't think it necessary, no."

"Yeah, that figures. Go on, what did you discover exactly?"

"Well, in his diary he wrote that there was a way to deactivate the warrior permanently, I think he wanted to have a weapon he could hold over the Romanians if they ever threatened him but...well as I say he never lived long enough to use it. As I say he wrote that there was a way but the command could only be given by the same blood that helped to trap the warrior's soul for all eternity and as I have already explained, Noctua died at the hands of his creation."

"I have a feeling there's a big BUT missing from that sentence and I'm fast losing patience so I suggest you talk faster. before I decide to beat it out of you."

Aro sighed, he didn't like being hurried and he hated not being in control but I didn't give a flying fuck, I just wanted to know how to stop Jasper before it was too late.

"The clue that I picked up on was was in his choice of words, he didn't say by the same person but by the same blood and I wondered if he wrote that because anyone of his origin or ancestry could give the command. Not that it matters because there is no one left of his ancestry."

"How do you know that?"

Aro smiled,

"It's very simple really, I know because I personally have hunted down every descendant of Noctua and believe me it hasn't been easy over the centuries."

"You killed them all?"

He shrugged then grimaced,

"Well, as far as I know, there was one descendant who slipped through my fingers, a certain man, from Noctua's own blood line who escaped my clutches by sailing with Henri de Tonti to the New World in the 17th Century. Have you heard of him?"

I shook my head, why would I have heard of some obscure foreigner from the 17th century? Did I look like a fucking encyclopedia?

"No? Well, he founded the first European settlement in Illinois in 1679 but my quarry had already moved on before I reached there and vanished into obscurity."

"So, there is still a possibility that a descendant survives?"

"Actually I don't know, by the time I finally traced my quarry many years had passed and he had produced six daughters and three sons but five died in infancy leaving only one daughter and the three sons. One son was drowned in a shipwreck and his remaining daughter died in child bed along with her infant son. Of the two remaining sons one entered the priesthood and died childless but the other had four sons. When I finally traced the descendants of those four sons there was only one male survivor of the original blood line, the others having met untimely ends in various ways, epidemics, accidents, and of course violence. The world was an even more dangerous place for humans in those days."

"Yeah, thanks for the history lesson but what about the survivor? Did you trace him?"

"Unfortunately he disappeared in 1812 during the war but he did leave a fiancée who was pregnant with his child. The man's name was Carlo Oliver Cigno but that my friend is where the trail goes cold. There was no paper trail left by the woman and I had no family name to trace her by, she was just a passing mention in a letter he wrote to his family before going to war and the chances of her giving birth to a boy rather than a girl, and one who lived wasn't great. So you see, without a way of tracing this young woman there is no way to find his descendants if any still survive and that is questionable considering the times this girl and her baby lived through besides which you don't have time, even if you knew of a living descendant, to bring him here."

I sat back utterly confounded by his story, I'd never believed in or trusted coincidences but here was one that could only be true because I knew it to be so.

"The girl's name was Mary."

He stared at me in astonishment,

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Because I happen to know how this particular story ends. Carlo deserted and ran away to Canada where Mary joined him after she gave birth to his son. They changed their name so they wouldn't be discovered and stayed in Canada where their son grew up. The family continued down the years and there was only ever one son who survived to manhood in each generation so you see the bloodline did indeed go on."

"And how could you possibly know all this Charlie?"

I smiled as I explained,

"My grandparents held a family bible that dated back to 1813 when a son was born to Mary and Charles Swan. Carlo Oliver Cigno had changed his name but he just translated it to English when they married and the bible has been passed down the generations along with a document written by Mary explaining their story and the history of our family right back to the 17th century."

Aro stared at me mouth open in shock,

"So you see Aro, I'm the one you've been hunting for all this time and I am the very last remaining descendant of the man who called himself Noctua."

He looked at me calculatingly,

"Allow me to point out how ironic it is to find out that your ancestor put the curse on your daughter's mate especially as you won't be able to put a stop to it."

I smiled at him,

"Oh but I will, you see I already have the command stored in my head. We often wondered what the words meant, written in bold black ink on the fly sheet of the bible. The document only said that they had been passed down through the generations as words with great power. for good"

"He left the command there in the family bible for all to see? How fortunate for you that it survived Charlie, however, I am truly sorry but I cannot allow you to use them."

My smile broadened,

"I'm the one whose sorry Aro, but you see, you can't stop me."

I pulled Renata to her feet and shoved her out of the door.

"Go, now. If I see you again I'll assume you're coming back for Aro and I'll be forced to kill you."

I needn't have worried, within a second she had vanished and I knew I wouldn't be seeing her again.

I stepped back inside and grabbed Aro by the collar,

"You and I have an appointment with a certain warrior, come on."

He tried to struggle but I just used my strange gift to force him to do my bidding and he walked beside me stony faced but I knew he wasn't finished yet and if I let my guard down for a second he would attempt to finish his task and kill me.

"I hope you speak fluent Romanian Charlie or it won't work you know."

I smiled,

"Good try Aro, thought you'd catch me out, did you? Romanian wasn't Carlo's native language. He probably used the Romanian tongue to activate the warrior because he was working for Stefan and Vladimir. Actually, I don't speak Romanian at all but I did learn enough Latin to pronounce the words I need. It was a game we played when I was a kid, learning how to talk like a gladiator."

His smile had gone completely now and he tried unsuccessfully to struggle as I pulled him with me back to the main chamber where the fighting was still going on.

Garrett

We finally overpowered and killed the Volturi guards but we had no idea where Charlie had gone or where Aro was and for the moment we were more concerned with finding The Major because if things had gone wrong he would be looking for us and I wanted to see his face before he killed me! It didn't take long to find out where the others were, we just had to follow the sounds of the fighting, at least they had made it into the citadel. When we finally met up I couldn't see Bella anywhere or Darius and Peter glanced at me,

"I've got a bad feeling about this Garrett, stay here with Charlotte, see if you can fight your way through to The Major, I want to know where the rest of the Volturi guards are and our two favorite black cloaks Marcus and Caius."

Peter disappeared down one of the corridors while Charlotte and I threw ourselves into the fighting wading through the Volturi guard from the rear. Then I caught a glimpse of Bella and my heart sank, she was laying on the ground propped up against the stone walls, her eyes black with thirst and concentrating exclusively on The Major. If she failed because of her thirst we were all dead, The Major would mow his way through everyone, probably killing Bella too in his rage. Shouting over get Charlotte's attention I pointed out Bella and nodding her understanding she began to fight her way over to where the girl sat.

Charlotte

Bella looked bad and from the expression on her face, she was struggling to keep The Major shielded from his compulsion to act on his orders. I knelt down beside her and took one limp hand in mine.

"Bella? Are you OK?"

She shook her head,

"I failed him Charlotte, I should have realized all this was taking a lot out of me but I never gave it a thought and seeing my mother should have warned me, using her gift drained her. I'm so thirsty I can hardly concentrate but if I let my shield down so many people will die and I'll lose Jasper Charlotte. I can't bear the thought of that."

I nodded looking around frantically, there had to be a supply of blood here somewhere...but where?

Even as I watched Bella's eyes closed and I could see she was struggling to keep her shield up but one look at The Major showed me that he was feeling the effects of the compulsion, his eyes flashed with rage and his ferocity began to increase taking out guard after guard as if they were no more than stuffed toys who stood in his way.

He must have felt my eyes on him because he turned in my direction and forced words out through gritted teeth.

"Get Bella out of here Charlotte. Run and keep running and take the others with you. Warn Carlisle I'll be coming for him."

Bella heard his words and her eyes flickered open,

"No Jasper, I won't leave you."

His eyes became cold for a moment,

"Go, or die Bella."

I pulled her to her feet and explained why as she tried to struggle,

"Bella there must be blood stored here somewhere, if not I'll take you out into the town and find a human for you but we have to go now."

Reluctantly she followed me out with a final backward glance at The Major then we moved as quickly as possible away from the chamber where all the fighting was centered.