I apologize for the delays lately. This time of year gets really crazy with games (we lost 1-0 in the championship after 15 innings), banquets, retirement parties, end of the year stuff... It's my last crazy week before summer! Can't wait to start writing more often :)
Chapter 43
Salvatore looked around the faces of the crowd before him. They looked convincing, he thought, but couldn't hide the fact that he was extremely skeptical. For all of his short life he had been around a manipulative group of ancient vampires, so trust wasn't something that came easy.
"What's your mother's name?" Salvatore asked, challenging Lucy to a stare-down.
"Our mothers..." she shook her head, "Let's just say that... Dad... found a way to hide things. My mother is not Sulpicia. Her name was Gianna, and he used her in the same way he's using you."
He continued to stare at her.
"I'm sure your mother knew something," Lucy went on, "Because let's face it you don't make it hundreds of years by being naïve. She probably looked the other way, and didn't question him."
"That's a load of-"
"The interior walls of your home," she cut him off, "They arch up to a beautiful collection of stained glass. The library down the hall has thousands of books, floor to ceiling, and paintings from a hundred years ago, or more, are scattered around the room; some of them are of Aro, Caius, Marcus. The last time I visited there was even one with Carlisle."
Salvatore looked completely caught off guard. "So... you've been there. So what?"
Lucy smiled, "I was born there. I was on their side. I came here with them a long time ago ready to kill... just like you."
"And what? Go on..."
"And I came to realize," she paused and looked at Seth who had inched closer to her side, still in his wolf form, "With a little help from Seth, that these people here, they're good. They're a real family."
"My mother-"
"Have you ever seen them interact?" Lucy asked him, "Your parents? I did, and I don't need mind reading abilities to know that they feel nothing for each other; not in the way these people do; not in the way that I do for Seth." She placed a hand on his coat, "And believe it or not, not even in the way that Caius feels for Athenodora."
Salvatore's eyes twitched just slightly and all of them could see that he was beginning to believe his sister's claims. She knew too much to be faking.
"Caius is a sociopathic crazy, old lunatic," she said, "But if there's one remotely positive thing I can say about him, it's that he loves his wife deeply. And while she may be the only one, it's true. I've seen them interact. Dad and... your mother," Lucy let a short snicker out through her nose, "They were constantly watching their backs, and taking an extra look over their shoulders at one another. They never looked at each other the way Caius and Athenodora did. And certainly never the way these people look at their mates."
There was a bout of silence before Salvatore closed his eyes and shook his head, "So romantically some relationships are better than others... big deal."
"It is a big deal," Lucy told him, "Dad never trusted anyone enough to love them; not me, not you, not your mother. It's not going to change."
"Shut up!" he shouted back.
"Definitely brother and sister," Emmett said quietly under his breath, prompting a death stare from Rosalie.
"We need to find Carlisle, Esme and Caleb," Rosalie told him, pacing up to him at full force. "Look at everyone around you. They've all done nothing."
"My father said-"
"Have you been the one lurking around here?" she asked him.
"No," he shook his head, "That was my brother Vincent."
Lucy swallowed hard and looked at Seth, then to Rosalie.
"Look at this rationally," Alice intervened, with a softer tone, "We were here minding our own business, and your brother was sent to terrorize us. He reported back to your father, right?"
Salvatore looked at Alice, and his eyes raised just slightly, though he didn't comment one way or the other.
"Right now," she went on, "Aro, your brother and whoever else is with them are gone. They've left you here."
"He knows you wouldn't hurt me," he argued. "He's told me about Carlisle."
"Carlisle isn't here," Rosalie reminded him firmly. She made eye contact with Emmett who held him firmly.
Salvatore followed her stare, and for the first time he had just the slightest hint of fear in his eyes.
"They aren't coming back," Alice said softly again. "We do live in peace with humans and other vampires, and the wolves." She pointed toward where Seth and Lucy stood side by side, "But we will do whatever is necessary to protect our family."
The innocent, friendly nature of her words seemed to penetrate Salvatore's body like knives. His eyes shifted to meet Nicole's for a moment, a spitting image of her mother, who flashed him a friendly smirk. For whatever reason, the pair seemed to frighten him the most.
Lucy stepped forward and looked into her brother's eyes. She placed a hand gently on the side of his face. "I know you know this is true Salvatore," she told him softly, "Dad left you the same way he left me." She let her hand drop, but continued to look him in the eye, "I lost a father. I don't want to lose a brother, too."
Salvatore's eyes moved back and forth, studying his sister. He swallowed hard and then closed his eyes. "Can you free one of my arms?" he asked, attempting to look back at Emmett and Jasper.
"No way," Rosalie said immediately.
"Please," he begged, looking down. "I was told... I was told not to use the gift I inherited from my father because he said it was dangerous and that others could see into my mind. The only person I've used it on has been my mother. He said that was safe."
Jasper suddenly released his arm, prompting alarm from everyone except for Lucy. Emmett tightened his grasp on Salvatore's right arm.
"Jasper!" Rosalie shouted, but he put a hand up.
Alice's posture relaxed upon seeing her mate's certainty. He winked at her, but remained stone-faced otherwise.
Salvatore quickly scooped up his sister's palm in his own, and her face twitched, initially with alarm, but then with a mesmerizing stare. Their faces mirrored, both blank and the rest of the family could only look on and watch, all wondering the same thing: what is happening?
