Chapter Fifty Four
Aro
Of course, my dear brother was like a fox who had been left the run of the hen house when he returned with not only various rebels who had joined the Fraternidad but Raoul himself, quite a catch I was forced to admit myself. He would be our piece de resistance for the show trials. Luckily we now had several of the underground wine cellars once used by the monks in which to keep our prisoners with some of the Volturi guards to watch over them. We knew it wouldn't be wise to hold them for too long, Volturi justice was swift and violent so we decided on a weekend two weeks from hence and the invitations went out immediately but then Caius dropped his surprise on me.
"We've had no luck with drawing the girl out so it's time to put the pressure on."
"Oh? And what exactly do you suggest dear brother?"
"Suggest? Nothing, I've already put it in motion, put a small addition to the invitations, not that I thought you would balk at my suggestion, I was merely saving a little time."
I glared at him suspiciously and he handed me one of the heavy cream invitation cards embossed with the Volturi crest. At the bottom had been added a single line.
"Human executions also a possibility, if not a new gift to showcase."
I threw the card down furious,
"Why Caius? You know we need Bella's parents to draw her back."
"So you keep saying but it's already been several weeks and what do we have to show for it? Precisely nothing, this way your human either returns to us or becomes responsible for the death of one of her parents. You can choose which one if it makes you feel any better."
"You had no right to do this without consulting me first Caius."
My words came out in a quiet hiss he knew meant I was livid with him, but he merely smiled,
"Actually I did, we always allowed a decision backed by two of us and Marcus agreed with me on this occasion."
That stopped me in my tracks, Marcus had said nothing to me about this. Chelsea bound him to me so how did he make such a decision without consulting me? Unless of course Caius had tricked him in some way, something I wouldn't put past my dear brother.
After Caius left I went looking for Marcus but he was conspicuous by his absence. He wasn't in the new archives in the wine cellars or with our prisoners also housed down here, nor was he in the room that had become his by choice close to the cellar entrance so I called for Felix and ordered him to track Marcus down. He frowned,
"He went into town to pick up some ink and other things he needed along with Athenadora."
"Marcus went shopping? And you didn't think that at all odd?"
"No, why should I? Everyone is busy trying to get this place together and even in Volterra he used to go to Pisa on occasion, besides he's with Athenadora, it's not as if he's alone. Do you want me to tell him you are looking for him when he returns?"
"Yes, the moment he returns I wish to see him."
Felix
That had been close although we knew Aro was likely to react badly to Caius addition to the invitations which is why Marcus decided it might be a good idea for him to be unavailable for a while. Personally I was quite surprised that Aro hadn't noticed Marcus' change in attitude slight though it had been. Chelsea had warned him about giving himself away, but it had been hard for him to continue to act subservient to the man who murdered his mate.
Before he left he had asked me to organize a meeting with the girls parents so with Alec's help we made it possible although I waited outside just in case anyone not authorized to be here came on the scene. It meant I heard his conversation and I knew when it came to the showdown Marcus' attention would be on saving these two humans and killing his brother in law. The Volturi's day was fast coming to an end and I wasn't sure what would take its place, only that Aro was not going to be involved in its future.
I had leaned against the door with Alec while Marcus spoke to the humans listening curiously. They had sounded apprehensive as he introduced himself once more.
"We know who you are, we saw you with Aro."
"Yes I know but I'd rather you didn't go away with the impression that he and I are friends, or even working to the same ends."
"Really? And why would we believe anything you have to say?"
"I'm hoping that you will when I tell you that Aro, my brother in law, murdered my wife, his sister to stop us leaving Volterra and has kept me bound to him using a gifted vampire for centuries. Now at last allegiances are changing and I am being released. The only act I wish to perform would be revenge for the death of the woman I loved and still love. I want to destroy my dear brother-in-law a piece at a time and stopping him from laying hands on your daughter again is a part of that revenge. I will also do all I can to stop him taking your lives, but you have to trust me."
"Nope."
It was Bella's father and this word sounded final, but he was interrupted from saying more by her mother,
"If we trust you, can you save Bella?"
"Your daughter doesn't need my help to stay safe and I rather fancy she is already with the only person who can help her."
"You mean Edward Cullen? I thought it was over between them, but then I found a phone number, still that wasn't him so..."
"Renee, stop babbling for a minute. Edward Cullen? Please tell me she's not relying on him for help, I don't trust that boy any further than I could throw a Buick."
Marcus laughed, a strange rusty sound, before answering,
"It seems we have that much in common then, no I do not mean Edward Cullen although the Cullen family are not your enemies, if they can help then they will I'm sure."
"So who else can we trust according to you?"
"If I give you a list of names it would mean nothing to you but anyone who mentions my name to you can be considered a friend. Now I must go before Aro comes looking for me, it wouldn't be a good idea for him to discover that I had been speaking to you. This will soon be over one way or the other, at most two weeks."
"Why two weeks?"
"Because my brother Caius intends forcing both Aro and Bella to make their move and we will be waiting. For now may I suggest you are very careful not to upset Aro, he has a very short fuse right now and I would hate for either of you to have an accident."
Alec went off with Marcus while I hung around just until the guards recovered from Alec's gift which would take at least a few minutes. From inside I could still hear the two humans talking together although they were whispering, they didn't know about vampire hearing and I just hoped they didn't say anything that the guards would report back to Aro making him suspicious.
"Do you believe him, Renee?"
"His story was the same as the boy Alec's. We can trust the Cullens although I guess I'm surprised they have such a bad opinion of Edward."
"Yeah, well like Bella you were bowled over by the pretty face and honeyed words. That boy gave me the creeps."
"That could have been because he was dating your daughter Charlie."
"Nope, more like my cops antenna pinging. Anyway, who was it you spoke to? Do you think it's the same guy Marcus was alluding to?"
"I don't know, but he cared about Bella so maybe. For now I think we should be very careful what we say, we don't want anyone hearing what we've discussed."
He sighed heavily,
"I guess you're right, but I'll be glad when something happens, all this time just sitting here with no idea what's going on in the outside world is driving me crazy."
He wouldn't have to wait much longer, two more weeks at the most.
