Author's Note
Please forgive any spelling and/or grammar errors. I hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think!
This is the last chapter before the battle then each of the three main characters gets a wrap up epilogue chapter, so four more chapters total!
Any dialogue you recognize is from Breaking Dawn. Most has changed at least a little, but there are a few bits from the book. PS I'm not Stephenie Meyer, so I don't own anything :(
Chapter 23 - Alice
8 Days practically only a week
Seth took her to where the Amazons were waiting with the hybrid, and apparently his aunt, as soon as she got off the phone with Bella. Alice felt so much lighter, buoyant even, so much more herself now that one problem was solved. And in just over a week so would the other.
She noted the Amazons first. They seemed over any initial surprise, if they'd ever even felt any, which Alice seriously doubted. They faded into the background when Seth and Alice approached, blending into their beloved forest surroundings.
Then she saw the small, olive-toned woman, looking from the Amazons to her with distrust and suspicion.
Was the problem that they were strangers, or vampires? Seth wasn't receiving the same weary glances, so it must be the vampire thing. Odd, considering she was one herself. There must be a story there.
Nearby, shifting awkwardly, fidgeting in a distinctly unvampire way, was the hybrid. He looked like a less defined version of the Quileutes with his long, glossy black braid and teak eyes. Except his skin was a richer, deeper brown that faintly glimmered. He was beautiful, intriguing, and somehow visibly damaged. Not in a physical way, but Alice sensed emotional scars that ran deep and projected a sense of vulnerability. They mirrored ones she'd once possessed.
"Will you tell us your story? I'd very much like to hear it," Alice requested, approaching him cautiously.
"Yes, they said you'd be interested to hear it," he said, motioning towards the Amazons. "My name is Nahuel. Joham thought my mother, Pire, beautiful. He visited her until she became pregnant with me even though his visits hurt her. Then she and my aunt Huilen ran away." At that point he paused, looking to his aunt. She was frowning, lingering anger over the memory visible.
"I would have killed him,"Huilen said, and Alice thought she was referring to Joham. Good luck with that. But then she continued, adding, "But my sister loved him even as he hurt her from the inside." Alice stared at her in amazement. Huilen had been referring to Nahuel. And not once as she spoke, diid she seem to spare a thought to how her words must have hurt her nephew. Nor did she acknowledge his flinch when she mentioned once wanting him dead.
"It was the same for Bella," Seth shared, building a bridge to connect with the strangers, though he was frowning at Huilen. He didn't care for her, Alice could tell.
"He killed her, and bit me. The pain was so great I left him," Huilen responded, adding more to their story. A picture was starting to form in Alice's mind. One that was less than ideal. And there was a familiarity in the way she shared the information that indicated she reminded Nahuel often of his first actions in life.
"He's venomous?" Alice asked, realizing exactly what Huilen had just said and what it implied.
"You are?" Seth demanded, incredulous.
"Yes. Once I was born and fed, I followed after her. She smelled of my mother, and I was scared and alone. We have been together since," Nahuel concluded, seeming to leave quite a bit out of the story.
Alice could relate to the pain of waking alone, abandoned. The fear and confusion. Typically, she shied away from the painful memory. It was not something she liked to think about. It was much better to just move on and live her life. To find happiness and hope. Nahuel was apparently her opposite. He was obviously dwelling on the past - Huilen's presence a contrast reminder. How could he stand it? What damage must that inflict on his psyche?
"How old are you?" Alice asked.
"Over a hundred and fifty," Nahuel answered.
"How long before," Seth asked, waving a hand in a line tracing him from head to foot, before finishing, "this?"
"Seven years until I was full grown and stopped aging," Nahuel answered, glancing at Huilen like he wanted to add more or have her verify this, but she was busy covertly assessing the Amazons, sizing them up and looking ready to bolt if they continued their rapid, jerky movements.
"What happened to your father?" Alice asked, confused why he was with Huilen when she showed no indication of affection or protectiveness for Nahuel.
"Joham? He is with my sisters," he confessed, shocking Alice, and Seth too if his gasp was anything to judge by.
"There are others?" Alice demanded, stepping closer.
"Yes, three now. He plans to create others," Nahuel said, further startling her. More? But how?
"Guess it's not as hard for him as it was for Edward," Alice mused aloud.
"Edward?" Nahuel questioned.
"My brother. He's father to my niece, Renesmee. That's why we came to find you. We hoped to find answers about her," Alice explained, grateful Seth was letting her take the lead and determine how much information to share about her family.
"So your brother is a predator like Joham, seducing innocent women?" Huilen accused, her lips twisting in disgust.
"No, they were married first, and they're still friendly now," Seth interjected, trying to defuse her anger born of a mistaken idea.
"Her mother survived the birth? How?" Nahuel practically begged, eyes alighting at the news the way ones did when witnessing a miracle. It was slightly unnerving.
"We changed her directly after giving birth," Alice said, suddenly uneasy with the keen interest from the boy. Just the mention of Bella's survival had subtly altered him. He was more intense, more focused. Less cowed by his aunt.
"Is she gifted?" he quirred.
"Yes," Alice said, declining to elaborate. She caught Seth looking at her out of the corner of her eye, but he didn't say anything.
"Is that how she lived? Or was it something else?" Nahuel inquired, leaning towards Alice hopefully.
"No. We were just prepared to help her," Alice said, deliberately keeping her answer vague.
"I didn't think it was possible. I remember. The instinct to escape was unavoidable, and Pire was gone before I even fully emerged," Nahuel whispered, shaking his head in disbelief.
"You remember being born?" Seth said, voice filled with sympathy. He remembered how violent Mae's birth had been.
"It was terrifying. And I was so thirsty and alone," Nahuel added, fingers touching his throat at the memory. His eyes had gone distant, directed to the past. Haunted by the memory and the ever-present ghost of his mother.
"Until you found Huilen?" Seth asked, trying to brighten his mood. Alice didn't necessarily believe finding his aunt actually had been a blessing for the hybrid, not after witnessing their interactions thus far.
Nahuel nodded absently, noting, "It was four days before she stopped screaming and woke."
"I thought the change took three days normally," Seth asked uncertainly. "I know Bella's was special."
"Not enough venom. It would have taken longer to circulate and reach all of her tissue," Alice explained, imagining just how little the tiny infant bite likely produced, and how much worse it probably was for Huilen burning longer than necessary.
"How was Bella's special?" Nahuel asked insistently.
"We used extra venom so it went faster," Alice explained.
"Which parent does Renesmee favor?" Nahuel asked, glancing over Alice and Seth each as if that would help him envision what her niece looked like. None of them were bloor related though so it wouldn't do him much good.
"Why?" Alice fired off.
"My sister's and I all favor our mother's. I was curious if it was always the same, or just Joham's offspring," Nahuel explained, and Alice felt guilty for suspecting him of ulterior motives.
"Mae - that's what we call Renesmee - looks like both Edward and Bella," Seth answered. "She's already seven months old."
"It only took my sister's six year to reach maturity. I expect she is maturing similarly?"
"Yeah. She's already practically a teenager," Alice grumbled. They hadn't gotten enough time with her as a little kid before she'd grown up on them.
"Are Renesmee and Bella close?"
"Very," Alice replied.
Seth and Nahuel settled into conversation then, only slightly strained. Occasional Alice would ask a question she remembered someone asking at some point regarding hybrid development, but mostly she just watched Nahuel and Huilen. The small woman didn't say anything else, just stood nearby, disapproval evident.
"So... you were strange with him," Seth said on their way back to camp.
"I don't like him," Alice admitted.
"Just because you can't see him?" Seth asked, almost chiding her for being so unwilling to give the man the benefit of the doubt.
"Maybe," Alice allowed, not sure what else to say.
"He's not had it easy. That stuff about his family, and how his mom died. I feel sorry for him," Seth said.
"There is that," Alice nodded, their campsite coming into view. Switching topics, she said, "Thank you so much for your help finding him - he had all the answers we were hoping for," to Zafrina when they fully entered the area they'd been staying in.
"Please tell Carlisle we would welcome a visit from him or his family anytime," Zafrina said in response, moving rapidly over to her two companions.
The sentiment was strange, not at all the usual teasing remarks she'd begun making after finding Alice curled up against Seth while he slept one night. The visions had gotten bad, and she'd ached for a momentary reprieve, but she'd been caught like a kid with her hand in a cookie jar.
Then it struck her. It wasn't an odd thing to say. Not if you were saying your goodbyes. She hadn't seen because she'd been with Seth and Nahuel all day. They'd left shortly after she'd begun talking to Nahuel and Huilen, because Huilen wouldn't stop glaring at them. There was also the fact that they tended to live very much in the present, only making decisions when it became necessary to do so. Which meant, unfortunately for her, that they were largely exempt from her gift.
"You're leaving?" she asked a touch mournfully.
"We miss the wild rainforests of our home farther north. You do not need us here any longer, so we wish to return," Zafrina said, verbalizing all three's sentiments.
"But Mae is coming soon, and Seth is leaving," Alice tried, hoping to change their minds.
She'd come to enjoy their unusual relationship. They were so different from the hordes of high schoolers she was usually surrounded by. Different even than her family and extended family of vampires. They saw the world exactly as it was, without all the excess that humanity continued inventing to alter it.
"Did you not hear? Your young one will live a very long life. There will be time to meet her one day when you bring her for a visit. And you will visit?" Zafrina said lightly, yet somehow Alice thought it just might be prudent for them to make sure they did. Zafrina was not one she'd ever want to cross.
The idea of Zafrina making Alice see whatever she wanted… Well, it was too much like false visions. Zafrina's gift was one Alice didn't think she could best if it ever came to a fight. Guess it was a good thing they were friends.
"I'll miss you," Alice said, nodding agreement to the 'request' that they visit.
"We will miss you as well. Perhaps we would not shun others if more were like yourself," Zafrina said.
Ordinarily, Alice would have used the moment to make a quip about everyone wishing they could be as wonderfully unique as her, but this was not the right audience for her humor. They wouldn't be able to fully appreciate it. Such a shame.
"Safe travels," she said instead.
Zafrina and Kachiri nodded, then quickly spun to leave, swiftly departing.
"Goodbye, wolf," Senna said in highly accented English, the sounds so thick her tongue seemed to stick to the roof of her mouth making it impossible to articulate the words. That hardly mattered to Seth though.
"Yeah!" he whooped, grinning like a fool at finally succeeding in getting her to speak to him. Even if it was just to bid farewell, and possibly good riddance to the boy that had pestered her for so long. "I knew you liked me."
Senna stared at him blankly, not revealing a hint of her true emotions.
"You're pushing it," Alice said lightly, rolling her eyes and sticking her tongue out at him playfully.
"You know you'll miss me," Seth added anyway. Alice barely caught it, but Senna's lips quirked just the slightest bit before she turned and followed after her sisters, disappearing.
5 Days and counting
"I can't believe how old you've gotten. I mean I saw it in Jake's head, but seriously girl - slow down," Seth teased, hand on the top of Mae's head. She came up to his chest. And he was tall.
"I have - I swear!" Mae trilled, excited to see her auntie Alice and Seth after so long apart.
Probably thrilled to be out of the plane too. It took nearly nineteen hours to get from Seattle to Santiago, Chile. And it would take another twenty-four hours for Alice to drive them south to where Nahuel was. A normal person would need an additional twelve hours to make the trip, but Alice didn't bother paying attention to traffic laws. What was the point of going so slow? Even in the mountains.
"Geez, Alice, she's taller than you," Seth mocked, ruffling Mae's disarrayed curls. Jacob apparently hadn't made her brush the waist length tangle since they left Washington.
"I noticed. Thank you though for being rude enough to point it out," Alice said primly. There was no need to point out she'd never reached five feet herself.
Mae insisted on sharing all of her adventures with Seth since he was leaving soon, and interrogating him about the Amazons. She wanted to meet Zafrina so they could exchange pictures. Alice promised that Bella and Jasper would bring her back soon.
"I wish I could spend some more time with you," Seth said, adding, "but we were lucky to even get a couple hours between when your plane landed and mine departed."
They'd planned that deliberately. Alice and Seth had flown from the Punta Arenas airport to meet Jake and Mae in Santiago. It was the only way they could get a layover together and still end up where they needed to in time for the fight. But Alice was driving the three of them back down in case they wanted to see anything along the way. They had a couple days to kill, so why not. Besides, Alice needed the distractions and stimulations.
She was worried about her family. More than that, though, she'd miss Seth.
"I'll see you soon, pixie. I'm looking forward to that talk," Seth said, looking down at her with tender longing. The depth of his feelings staggered her. It was the most he'd revealed this entire trip apart from when Zafrina showed him whatever images she had and he'd stared at her directly after.
"Seth -" Alice breathed, his name a sigh. But then exclaimed, "Ohh." Alice gasped when Seth's arms formed bands around her hips and butt as he hauled her up against his chest.
His head descended towards her. He moved at a human pace, allowing her enough time to turn her head if she really wanted. She didn't. He sensed her submission and went for it, kissing her full on the mouth.
He was so hot he burned. Scorching flames that glimmered, begging to be touched. She melted against him, her stone body softening and conforming to his. Without thought, her arms wrapped around his shoulders, anchoring her against him. A steady port in a wild storm.
No hesitation. No fumbling. His lips pressed insistently against her own, coaxing them to open for him. There was no venom in her mouth. Once more it vanished the instant desire sparked, burning it away.
She didn't feel like stone in his arms. He was strong enough that her flesh seemed human against his hands and lips. Her tongue slid over his in an intimate caress.
The taste of him was dark and exhilarating. Hints of deluxe chocolate and cabernet wine. A promise of something hidden and mysterious, sensual.
It was the first time she could remember being kissed and being solidly there, every sensation felt. Sandalwood and the musky forest engulfed her. His skin sizzled against her own, fueling passions she'd never known she was capable of feeling. There were no visions. No possibilities. No insistent glimpses of the future demanding her attention.
There was only Seth.
Soaring, flying through the air on a zipline strung over a canyon. The sheer magnitude of what she was feeling left her dizzy and lightheaded like she'd consumed too much champagne - not that she knew what that felt like, but she'd seen movies and could guess.
A wolf whistle cut through the moment, and Seth slowly broke the kiss, brushing her lips with his twice more before fully separating them.
"Don't hit me or anything for taking liberties," he said, breathless like he'd just run a marathon against a vampire.
Bemused, Alice said, "Feel free."
Was that how it was supposed to be with the right person? Could she really have that?
Seth bent to place her back on her feet, though his hands lingered on her hips, squeezing gently, as he grinned triumphantly at her.
Mae was jumping around excitedly while Jake looked slightly uncomfortable, like he'd just walked in on Paul and Rachel having sex. It had been a little indecent for a public place. The adjective steamy came to mind.
"I'll see you in a week," Seth promised, nodding at Jake and walking off before she could say anything that might ruin the moment.
3 Days can this just be over already?
Mae took one look at Nahuel and flushed. Alice didn't like it. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she didn't much care for Nahuel. He was nice enough, but he was a little too eager to meet Mae and a little too interested in Bella. It didn't sit right. Seth thought she was crazy.
He was probably right. Misplaced aggression for not being with her family right now. It wouldn't be the first time she'd done that. But still.
"It's very nice to meet you, Renesmee," Nahuel said, bending his head in greeting.
"You're really like me?" Mae asked, so hopeful that Alice felt immediately guilty for her previous unkind thoughts. "I'm not alone anymore."
Alice caught Jake's face flicker at her words, but he didn't say a word, just continued scanning the area as if he expected a threat to jump out at any moment. Or like he was trying to give Mae the illusion of privacy.
"No, you're not," Nahuel acknowledged, then added, "I have three sisters too. Though they are not as approachable as I am."
"So you've always known others like us," Mae said sadly, a smidge envious.
"Not always. My aunt Huilen raised me," he said, gesturing to the silent woman nearby. Huilen didn't speak much the last time they'd visited either. Seth suggested that she resented Nahuel for his part in his mother's death. He thought the whole situation was horribly tragic. "She's a vampire like your family. So I went many years before I met my half-sisters. You're the first like me I've met that was not sired by Joham," he continued, offering her a way to connect with him. It was a similarity Alice had overlooked when they met a few days earlier.
"Joham is your father?" Mae asked, wanting clarification on the word sire. It must sound like a strange way to refer to a father in her mind.
"Yes. He left when my mother was pregnant, and only came back much later," he shared, revealing personal details of his life as freely as a comedian offered laughs. Talk about overshare. Seriously! They just met not five minutes ago.
"Mine did too!" Mae cried, bouncing up on her toes excitedly, not because Edward abandoned her, but because it was yet another thing they had in common. "But I had momma and papa," Mae added as an afterthought.
"Alice told me your mother survived your birth. I find it so hard to believe," Nahuel said, zeroing in on the mention of Bella.
"Momma's strong. The strongest," Mae said like it was simply a fact. To her it probably was. She had so many memories of Bella defeating Emmett, the largest vampire she knew, multiple times during Bella's first few weeks as a vampire when her newborn strength gave her an edge. "She fought for me, and she fought to live."
"You are very lucky," Nahuel said, sadness and longing clear on his face.
"I am," Mae agreed.
"Is this the first time you've visited my country?" Nahuel asked, though he knew it was.
"Yes. It's beautiful," Mae replied, glancing around. They'd stopped to see the towering, snow capped peak of Osorno and the jagged, irregular spikes of Fitz Roy, though only from a distance, on the way south.
"Have you ever seen an iceberg?" Nahuel asked, and when Mae shook her head no, invited, "Would you like to?"
The five of them spent the rest of the day together. If Alice didn't miss Seth so much, it actually would have been quite enjoyable. Although after the third time Nahuel brought up Bella, Alice changed the subject to what each of their preferred foods was. Aside from that, it went well, and Mae was ecstatic.
The loneliness and absentee fathers was just the beginning of their bonding. By the end of the day they'd also bonded over preferring blood to human food, an appreciation for foreign languages, which Alice hadn't even known about Mae liking, and the annoyance of needing sleep when surrounded with those that didn't. She was less than a year old and already they had much in common.
Alice had convinced Jake on the way that they should return north after Mae had a chance to meet Nahuel, so they'd be near the airport and could return immediately if things went well. He'd added that it would make it easier to run if they went the other way. He didn't want them staying in South America if the Cullens lost. It would be too easy for Aro to find out and come looking for them. Alice had agreed, though it hurt to consider the possibility of needing to run because her family was dead.
When it was time to say goodbye, Mae asked, "Are you coming with us?"
"Huilen doesn't like to travel much, so we stick to this region or the Mapuche territory that we're from mostly," Nahuel said apologetically.
"If you ever decide to visit Washington, or wherever my family is, I can show you around," Mae offered.
"I'd enjoy that very much, Renesmee. Though it may take a few years for me to convince Huilen to join me, and I would not like to leave her behind all alone," Nahuel said, conditionally accepting the offer. Mae beamed in anticipation of a future reunion.
They'd settled in at the camp Alice and Seth had been using a little while later. First thing in the morning, they'd head for the car and make the long drive back to Santiago.
"Well? You noticed it too, right?" Alice asked, eager for at least one of the wolves to be on her side and dislike Nahuel.
"You really don't like him?" Jake asked, disbelievingly.
"You do?" Alice demanded.
How did he not see what she did? Alice had finally figured out what she didn't like. Two things really. The first was his self-hatred. Alice recognized it from those moments after she first woke and when she'd first met Jasper. But they'd put it behind them and moved on. Nahuel obviously hadn't. And his fixation with Bella made her think Nahuel was under some mistaken impression that she could help him.
The second was that Nahuel liked the idea that Mae wasn't his sister, but was like him. Alice just knew he'd want to try being with her niece one day. But he was all wrong for her. Mae would get bored with someone that remote and tied up in the past. He'd never even seen a cellphone before Seth showed him the other day. Alice could just imagine what he'd do with a computer, and that was assuming he could get past his baggage with his family.
"He's nice - a little sheltered, yeah. But harmless," Jacob said, shrugging and poking at the fire he'd built with a stick.
"Hmm," Alice hummed non committedly.
"You're going to have to come up with a better reason than that if you want me to think less of him. Right now he's the only friendly hybrid out there that can help Nessie if she ever needs it as far as understanding what she is," Jacob said, pointing out how advantageous the budding friendship was for Mae.
"Oh, he's friendly," Alice muttered. Jacob hadn't always been this willfully blind. She remembered how he'd been before the imprint. So what changed?
"And that's a bad thing? She's not alone anymore. Nahuel is someone she can relate to. I want that for her," Jacob said thickly, repeating the words Mae had used.
"I didn't realize you were worried about that," Alice said carefully. There was something momentous happening right now, but without her sight, she was blind.
"Of course I am. I want her happy. I want her to get everything she can out of life - especially now that I know she's going to have a very long one," Jacob said, taking a deep breath. Almost as if it was the first one he'd taken in years.
Alice wished Jasper was here to help her understand Jacob. He was not the boy she'd met in Bella's house that day she'd thought her sister killed herself.
"So the future -"
"I knew this was about you not being able to see him with your gift," Jacob grinned. "You're just pissed that there's one more person that you're blind to, and can get one over on you," he laughed, slapping the ground several times as he did.
That wasn't it at all, but she didn't know what it was either - other than thinking Mae and Nahuel wouldn't suit. She just knew that she had a feeling there was something Jake was missing. One she couldn't explain or search for answers about. Maybe this would just have to be one of those times she let nature take its course, and let herself be surprised when the answers were revealed.
"Sure, mutt. But you don't have to rub it in," Alice grumbled, making Jacob chortle even more.
"Do you have relationships on the brain? Does this remind you too much of Seth?" he asked more seriously.
"No. Not every thought I have revolves around him," Alice hissed, baring her gritted teeth at him. He mock-shuttered, raising his hands in fake surrender at the weak threat.
"I'm shocked. After the kiss I saw," Jacob jibbed, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"Jacob Black!"
"What? I was just going to say get a room next time," he said with faux innocence. "Preferably a private one."
"I didn't exactly plan it," Alice huffed, but felt her lips curling at the memory. Would it be as intense and consuming every time? She could easily become addicted if it was.
"Those are the best moments though," Jacob said, reminiscing, though she couldn't imagine over what. The two times he kissed Bella weren't exactly under the best circumstances, nor did they have particularly welcome, or painless, outcomes. Maybe it was memories he'd seen in the pack mind. "You're really going to give him a shot when we get back?"
"Yes," Alice admitted for the first time. "Will the pack be all right with it?" she wondered, thinking of Leah in particular. Seth and his sister were close. Alice didn't want to come between them.
"You're my favorite Cullen, so I know I'm fine with you making my brother happy," he said, surprising her. Though perhaps he still didn't view Bella or Mae as Cullens. And if they weren't, Jasper wasn't either. Fourth. Alice came in fourth with Jake. She could live with that.
"And Leah?" she asked, voicing her true concern.
"Leah's a lot of things, but she's not a hypocrite," Jake said evasively. His tone told Alice the topic was closed and she'd get nothing more from him. How intriguing…
2 Days soon
They'd face off the day after tomorrow. Alice was still trying to see the outcome. The fact that she couldn't didn't really matter just then. She had to do something. Even if it meant putting up with Jake teasing her about her there-and-gone expressions as he called it when she had her visions.
She'd had one the day before that kept replaying through her mind.
"Felix, Demetri, a moment," Caius called, stopping the two from following everyone else out.
"Yes, master," Felix greeted, not quite looking the white-blond ancient in the eyes.
"I don't think killing Carlisle will send enough of a message. I want you to go ahead and destroy a few others. I don't care who," he said, smirking excitedly, basking in the chaos and upheaval he knew this would cause. Anything to alleviate his constant boredom.
"Master? I'm not sure Marcus and Aro would agree - "
"I will see it done," Demetri interrupted Felix.
"Very good."
She'd let everyone at home know right away. Neither Jasper nor Edward had been surprised, but Carlisle and Eleazar had been quite dismayed to learn of the intended betrayal. It made the decision to fight seem that much more justified.
But the need to protect her family even drove her to check what would happen if she went to the Volturi and surrendered herself in exchange for Carlisle. There was just enough time to get there if she splurged on private jets.
Alice was standing before the dais, boldly meeting Aro's greedy gaze. He was the only member of the ruling three present, and he was nearly salivating at having her so close, caught within his web of trickery and deceit.
"If I join you, will you stop your attack on the Cullens?"
"We will give them a fair trial. If they've done nothing wrong, then we will part in peace - friends once more," Aro agreed readily, nodding eagerly as if this was all he'd truly desired from the start.
"Then we can do a trial run to see if I fit in," Alice said, her face carefully blank.
"Excellent! Heidi, will you show Alice to her room? She will be with Corin," Aro announced, clapping his hands delightedly.
He waited for some time after she'd left before he spoke again.
"Corin?" Aro called, addressing a young woman with sandy blonde hair and a pert, slightly upturned nose who stepped forward at once upon being summoned. "Do not leave her side for any reason. Use your talents to become her new best friend. Am I clear?"
The woman nodded eagerly, happy for a new task from her master, and left, presumably to find her room - the room they were now to share.
"Jane, dear, let your brother know to proceed as planned," Aro added, sitting back in his chair and lifting his head higher, a truly wicked smile on his face.
He'd lied. He'd said what he needed to gain her cooperation. And to use Corin against her like that? Edward had told her about Corin's gift. She produced a drug-like feeling of contentment. It was addictive, and could actually make a vampire sick if they went without it. Aro was going to drug her until she was forced to remain with him.
There was no way she could let herself get trapped like that for Aro's use. He'd abuse her power, and so many would suffer because of her ability. Carlisle would never want that.
But even if they won, what would stop the Volturi from attempting to retaliate for such a massive blow to their numbers? Even as she thought the question, the answer came to her.
Edward was standing before Aro, Caius, and Marcus. Three metal cases were stacked beside him. Caius looked enraged, but Aro was speculative, calculating.
Aro's hand extended, and Edward moved to place his in the waiting palm.
They stood silently for several minutes, longer than usual. Aro's shoulders slumped forward under the onslaught of information. His expression flickered throughout the exchange, sometimes awed, others covetous, but mostly it was disappointed and resigned. Fear and something like genuine appreciation for a worthy opponent in a game well played passed over him too.
"Yes," Aro finally said, he looked mostly disappointed now, but his words did not betray his true feelings. "I believe that is an arrangement that we can agree upon - if not exactly what I'd hoped for. This outcome will serve as justice."
Alice waited, how had that been a possible future based on the parameters of what she'd been searching for? What was going on? What had the trigger been? Couldn't Edward have said something, anything, to give her some clues? How could she help if he left her blind?
What - and then she knew. At once Alice understood what the future would involve for her family. Little clicks sounded in her head as the pieces came together, fitting perfectly to form a new, completed picture.
She was dialing her brother even as the answer sorted itself in her mind, a clarity coming over her.
"Edward," Alice greeted her brother sadly when he answered her call.
"Alice?" The upward lilt to his voice let her know he'd detected her dismay and regret.
"What would you do to keep everyone safe?"
"Anything," Edward said at once, still seeking to make amends though he was already on better footing with everyone.
"I really hope you mean that, because you're not going to love what I think needs to happen."