Chapter 46- Rare But Not Unique.
Behind me Bella began a quick, murmuring conversation with Renesmee. Saying goodbye. I reached out and gripped Emmett's hand and our eyes met in sudden, miserable understanding.
"Is there no hope then?" Carlisle asked calmly.
"There is absolutely hope," Bella said stoutly. "I only know my own fate."
It seemed that no one held any real hope, despite Bella's words. Esme moved forward to stand with Carlisle, and all around me I heard murmured whispers of love and goodbye. I stared mutely up at Emmett, and then he gave me his irrepressible grin, dimples deep in his cheeks, as he took my face in his hands and kissed me passionately.
"It might be the last thing I get to do," he told me with a chuckle. "I'm gonna make it good!"
Then he hugged me, and as I buried my face in his neck and breathed in his scent I thought that there were probably worse ways to spend your final moments than in the arms of someone you loved. It was a hell of a lot better than dying alone and broken on the cold stones of a deserted alleyway…in a way I'd been running from Death since I dodged his scythe in that alleyway seventy years ago.
"Get ready," Bella whispered. "It's starting."
"Chelsea is trying to break our bindings," Edward said softly. "But she can't find them. She can't feel us here…" He looked incredulously at Bella. "Are you doing that?"
Bella smiled smugly. "I am all over this."
Edward suddenly lurched towards Carlisle. "Are you all right?" he gasped.
"Yes, why?" Carlisle said in surprise.
"Jane." Edward said. "She's trying to hurt you…different ones of us. Incredible." He looked at Bella with awe.
"Why aren't they waiting for the decision?" Tanya hissed.
"Normal procedure," Edward said brusquely. "They usually incapacitate those on trial so they can't escape."
Bella gripped Edward's hand. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," Edward whispered back.
"Is Alec trying?"
Edward nodded. "His gift is slower than Jane's. It creeps. It will touch us in a few seconds."
I braced myself for having all sensation disappear, watching as Alec's horrible mist drifted closer. But just ahead of us it seemed to hit a wall, and we all watched in fascination as it curled upwards, trying to break through the invisible barrier that Bella's shield had put in front of us. We could see, from the shimmering mist, just how solid and strong and large the shield was.
"Well done Bella!" Benjamin grinned.
Bella's face showed no triumph, only a grim determination. "I'm going to have to concentrate," she whispered to Edward. "When it comes to hand to hand, it's going to be harder to keep the shield around the right people."
"I'll keep them off you."
"No. You have to get to Demetri. Zafrina will keep them away from me."
Aro had been watching Alec's mist, apparently unruffled by its uselessness, and at last he spoke. "Before we vote, let me remind you, that whatever the council's decision there need be no violence here."
Edward laughed, and Aro gazed at him sadly as he continued. "It will be a regrettable waste to our kind to lose any of you. But you especially, young Edward, and your newborn mate. The Volturi would be glad to welcome many of you into our ranks. Bella, Benjamin, Zafrina, Kate. There are many choices before you. Consider them." Aro's eyes scanned us, more intently this time as he searched for some indication of hesitation, but when he found none he bowed his head and said with apparent reluctance, "Let us vote, then."
Caius was eager to see the violence he desired begin. "The child is an unknown quantity. There is no reason to allow such a risk to exist. It must be destroyed, along with all who protect it."
Marcus' face and demeanour were weary. I thought it very unlikely that this expedition of carnage and collection had been something he had felt enthusiastic over. "I see no immediate danger. The child is safe enough for now. We can always re-evaluate later. Let us leave in peace."
"I must make the deciding vote, it seems," Aro mused thoughtfully. I hadn't realised that I had had any hope left, but I felt it when it shivered and vanished…after everything it would come down to Aro.
On Emmett's other side, Edward suddenly stiffened. "Yes!" he breathed, and as I glanced at him I saw his face transformed with a glow of triumph. My fingers tightened around Emmett's, as he too turned to stare at our brother who was looking, for no reason we could see, nothing short of victorious. "Aro?" he shouted.
"Yes, Edward? You have something further…?"
"Perhaps," Edward said smoothly, his face now inscrutable. "First, if I could clarify one point?"
"Certainly," Aro said graciously.
"The danger you foresee from my daughter – this stems entirely from our inability to guess how she will develop? That is the crux of the matter?"
"Yes, friend Edward," Aro said patiently. "If we could but be positive…be sure that, as she grows, she will be able to stay concealed from the human world – not endanger the safety of our obscurity…" He sighed and shrugged.
"So, if we could only know for sure exactly what she will become, then there would be no need for a council at all?" Edward suggested mildly.
"If there was some way to be absolutely sure," Aro said, with a note of tension that hadn't been in his voice before. It was clear to all that Edward questions were leading somewhere, but it was not at all clear where. "Then yes, there would be no question to debate."
"And we would part in peace, good friends once again?" Edward asked, his voice as sickly sweet and silky as Aro's own.
"Of course, my young friend. Nothing would please me more" Aro said shrilly.
Edward laughed, light and exultant. "Then I do have more to offer."
Aro's eyes narrowed. "She is absolutely unique. Her future can only be guessed at."
"Not absolutely unique," Edward said to the collective astonishment of both the Volturi and our own people. "Rare, certainly, but not one of a kind." He paused for a moment, a small smile playing over his lips as he enjoyed his moment, before he called out cheerfully, "Why don't you join us, Alice?"
Alice. Relief and fierce, overwhelming joy flooded my mind. Alice. She was back, she had had a plan all along… I could hear her now, the distinct and familiar cadence of her run as she came through the forest towards us, the beat of Jasper's footsteps mingling with hers as he ran with her. They broke into the clearing, Alice's face shining as she grinned joyously at us, Jasper more serious and intent at her heels.
Emmett smirked at me, the cock-sure grin I knew so well. "Told you they hadn't abandoned us!" he whispered jubilantly.
Close behind came three other figures; the first one I recognised as Kachiri at the same time as I heard Zafrina and Senna's pleased exclamation behind me; the second one was a small female vampire with a long dark braid, and the third was a young man, his dark brown skin and black hair gleaming, and his eyes…his eyes were brown. As they neared us the sound of footsteps was joined by another sound, that of a heartbeat.
Alice leapt gaily over the edges of Alec's dissipating mist and stopped at Edward's side, her familiar face wreathed in smiles. We all reached for her, but there was no time for anything other than the lightest touch of welcome before we had to turn our attention to the matter at hand. We were still not out of danger- having seen Alice pass easily through Bella's shield the Volturi now knew that it would not repel a physical attack and several of the guard were now looking at us with avaricious hostility.
"Alice has been searching for her own witnesses these last weeks," Edward said, composed. "And she does not come back empty-handed. Alice, why don't you introduce the witnesses you've brought?"
Caius could see his victory teetering on the edge. "The time for witnesses is past! Cast your vote, Aro!" he snarled.
Aro did not even look at him. He raised a finger for silence and kept his eyes glued to Alice as she stepped forward and introduced the strangers with all the grace she would show at an afternoon tea.
"This is Huilen and her nephew, Nahuel."
"Speak, Huilen," Aro commanded. He was not rude, but the sugary sweetness was gone and he spoke with steely determination. "Give us the witness you were brought to bear."
"I am Huilen," the newcomer announced. Her face was nervous but she spoke clearly enough to be heard by all on the field. "A century and a half ago, I lived with my people, the Mapuche. My sister was Pire. Our parents named her after the snow on the mountains because of her fair skin. And she was beautiful- too beautiful. She came to me one day in secret and told me of the angel that found her in the woods, that visited her by night. I warned her. As if the bruises on her skin were not warning enough. I knew it was the Libishomen of our legends, but she would not listen. She was bewitched.
"She told me when she was sure her dark angel's child was growing inside her. I didn't try to discourage her from her plan to run away- I knew even our father and mother would agree that the child must be destroyed, Pire with it. I went with her into the deepest parts of the forest. She searched for her demon angel but found nothing. I cared for her, hunted for her when her strength failed. She ate the animals raw, drinking their blood. I needed no more confirmation of what she carried in her womb. I hoped to save her life before I killed the monster.
"But she loved the child in side her. She called him Nahuel, after the jungle cat, when he grew strong and broke her bones- and loved him still.
"I could not save her. The child ripped his way free of her, and she died quickly, begging all the while that I would care for her Nahuel. Her dying wish- and I agreed.
"He bit me though, when I tried to lift him from her body. I crawled away into the jungle to die. I didn't get far- the pain was too much. But he found me; the newborn child struggled through the underbrush to my side and waited for me. When the pain ended, he was curled against my side, sleeping.
"I cared for him until he was able to hunt for himself. We hunted the villages around our forest, staying to ourselves. We have never come so far from our home, but Nahuel wished to see the child here." Finishing her story, the small woman stepped a little behind Kachiri.
Aro was staring at the Nahuel, his brows lowered in thought. "Nahuel, you are one hundred and fifty years old?"
"Give or take a decade," Nahuel smiled, "We don't keep track."
One hundred and fifty. That's older than I am…Nessie, baby girl, do you know what this means for you? So much life to look forward to!
"And you reached maturity at what age?"
"About seven years after my birth, more or less, I was full grown."
"You have not changed since then?"
Nahuel shrugged. "Not that I've noticed." He seemed quite at ease as he glanced curiously along our line and over at the Volturi.
"And your diet?" Aro pressed. The fascination in his eyes as he sought answers reminded me of Carlisle, and the way he had looked as he has tested the newborn Renesmee.
"Mostly blood, but some human food too. I can survive on either."
"You were able to create an immortal?" Aro asked intently, gesturing to Huilen.
"Yes, but none of the rest can," Nahuel answered.
The rest?
Aro's face betrayed his shock. "The rest?"
"My sisters," Nahuel shrugged.
Aro was staggered, but he rapidly composed himself. "Perhaps you would tell us the rest of your story, for there seems to be more."
"My father came looking for me a few years after my mother's death," Nahuel said, and I could tell by his clipped tones that this displeased him. "He was pleased to find me. He had two daughters, but no sons. He expected me to join him, as my sisters had.
"He was surprised I was not alone. My sisters are not venomous, but whether that's due to gender or a random chance…who knows? I already had my family with Huilen, and I was not interested in making a change. I see him from time to time. I have a new sister; she reached maturity about ten years back."
"Your father's name?" Caius asked through clenched teeth.
"Joham," Nahuel answered. "He considers himself a scientist. He thinks he's creating a new super-race." His lip curled with disgust and I felt my own stomach clench. I remembered all too clearly how Bella had suffered, and the idea of these women, alone in the jungle, suffering like that but without the benefit of knowledge or our medical care, such as it was, made me feel sick. How could anyone do that?
Caius glared at Bella. "Your daughter, is she venomous?"
I remembered how often Ness had bitten Jacob as an infant. No, she was not venomous.
Caius was determined, even in the face of the mounting evidence in our favour, to see vengeance done. "We take care of the aberration here, and then follow it south," he growled at Aro.
I watched Aro carefully. Emmett traced his thumb over the back of my hand, but apart from that tiny movement he was motionless, staring at Aro too, as we all waited for his next words. We knew that the back and forth couldn't continue- it was time for Aro to make a decision.
"Brother," he said softly. "There appears to be no danger. This is an unusual development, but I see no threat. These half-vampire children are much like us, it appears."
"Is that your vote?" Caius demanded.
Aro's voice was low. "It is."
Caius scowled. "And this Joham?" he said aggressively, obviously determined to find a victim somehow. "This immortal so fond of experimentation?"
"Perhaps we should speak to him," Aro conceded.
"Stop Joham if you will," Nahuel said flatly. "But leave my sisters be. They are innocent."
Aro nodded solemnly before he turned back to his guards with a warm smile. "Dear ones, we do not fight today," he declared, and almost instantly his guards straightened from their ready positions and stood in perfect formation again. Caius was seething with rage but said nothing, and Marcus looked as disengaged from the proceedings as he ever had as they all began to drift away as smoothly and majestically as they had arrived.
Aro faced us one last time, holding his hands out almost apologetically. "I'm so glad this could be resolved without violence," he said sweetly. "My friend, Carlisle – how pleased I am to call you friend again! I hope there are no hard feelings. I know you understand the strict burden that our duty places on our shoulders."
"Leave us in peace, Aro," Carlisle said stiffly, and for a moment my heart ached for him. We were safe for now, Nessie was safe- but the ripples from today's storm would be felt for a long time to come. Carlisle's optimistic nature had been badly shaken by the actions of ones he had once considered friends, and that could not be brushed aside instantly. "Please remember that we still have our anonymity to protect here, and keep your guard from hunting in this region."
"Of course Carlisle," Aro assured him, as if nothing would give him more pleasure than doing as Carlisle asked. "I am sorry to earn your disapproval, my dear friend. Perhaps, in time, you will forgive me."
"Perhaps, in time, if you prove a friend to us again."
Aro bowed his head remorsefully, and drifted backwards for a moment before he turned around and strode after his companions. My family and friends watched in silence as the last of the Volturi disappeared into the trees, and even then there was no sound.
"Is it really over?" Bella whispered.
Edward turned to her with a smile that illuminated his face. "Yes. They've given up."
Alice laughed. "Seriously, people. They're not coming back. Everybody can relax now."
"Of all the rotten luck," Stefan muttered gloomily.
There was a final beat of silence and then the knowledge crashed over us all like a joyful wave. We had won. We were safe. The elation made itself felt and heard in rapturous cheers and shouts from the vampires and howls from the wolves as people converged on each other, hugging and kissing and sharing their relief. I could feel my own smile spreading across my face and then I was suddenly engulfed in the overwhelming sensations of a bear hug from Emmett- all massive chest and strong arms and the beautiful, bewitching smell of him as he kissed me exultantly.
"Hey pretty girl," he murmured. "You got any plans? Because my life is suddenly looking like it's going to last a lot longer than I thought it would five minutes ago, and I wouldn't mind spending some of that time with you. If you're not busy."
I laughed, and kissed him again with my eyes sparkling. "I think I can find the time."
