The ethereal vocals of a 13th century cantata filled the high painted ceilings of the hall. The melody began to race toward a sinister crescendo, keeping in time with Bella's heart, the only other sound that could be heard as we faced the ancient kings and their guard.
Aro smiled lazily as he gazed down at us, his long dark hair slicked back behind his elvish ears.
On his right sat Caius, the wild eyed man with his thinning blonde hair tied in a low European hair bow. He glared and sneered, as if our presence came as a personal offense to him.
Conversely Marcus, the final king with the long face and sunken, bored eyes seemed completely unaffected by our presence. He hardly seemed conscious as he sat gripping the handles of his silver throne.
The harmony of the music swelled triumphantly, a stark contrast with the distress I felt deep in my gut. My eyes shifted from the members of the royalty to the other members of the guard, looking for any point of weakness; finding none. I maneuvered Bella to stand behind me. I did not like the thoughts that passed through the vile mind of Felix. Demetri's mind was uniquely quiet and contemplative. His taste for violence had long ago been quenched, and was now left reckoning with the disappointing theater of politics. How many times has he witnessed Aro's charade? Was there any way to change the outcome that this immortal had come to expect?
"Such a lovely group you have brought me Jane," Aro cooed. Jane approached and knelt before her master. Or rather, Father. She extended her hand.
"Let us learn of the events that led to this happy meeting, shall we?"
Aro grasped her in his. Astounded, I watched Aro read Jane's thoughts and memories. No, not read. He absorbed them. The memories played through like a rewinding VHS tape, pausing on the moments Aro chose to watch in close detail. I witnessed scenes I had not seen before; Jane speaking with Victoria on a mountain top, the guard watching Bella and I holding hands as we approached the hospital.
While I could read the thoughts someone experienced in the moment, Aro's ability allowed him to see every thought that Jane ever had directly through touch. He could not be deceived or led astray. He saw himself as a collector of truth, a soul reader. He thought of himself as beyond immortal; he thought himself inexorable.
I was struck by a particular image. I saw myself seated in some kind of an aircraft, with Bella in my lap. I saw myself writhing in agony, tearing the seat belt and damaging the plastic and fabric of the seat as I gritted my teeth. I saw Bella press her hand against my cheek. God, I could have hurt her. Still, she whispered to me, touching my cheeks, tracing my eyelids . . . Telling me she loved me, over and over and over.
She had finally told me that she loved me. She had said those paramount words, and I had not heard her. I marveled at the ludicrousy of it all.
My reverie was interrupted by Aro's disappointed sigh. "Ah." Aro frowned. "Such reckless crimes. The harboring of an immortal child cannot be taken lightly. Your brother and sister will need to answer for their actions, young Edward." He spared a glance at the Denali sisters. "And false witness cannot be tolerated. I would like to have a … conversation with your sister Irina."
"She did not know." Tanya protested. "She reported the crime as she understood it."
"You will not speak unless spoken to!" Caius suddenly shrieked, spitting. His hands dented the silver handles of his seat. The noise of his outburst echoed in the hall. The other members of the guard did not flinch, apparently accustomed to the immortal's shift in mood. Bella grasped my shirt, frightened.
Carlisle had once described Caius as disciplined and calculating, a genius in the art of war, perhaps even more so than Aro. He was once as controlled as he was lethal. This was not the man I saw before me now. His thoughts were jumbled, as if someone had interrupted the frequency that information previously passed through. Had Caius gone mad?
"Peace brother," Aro smiled gently. I watched as an auburn haired woman stepped slightly forward, as if following some unspoken command. This was Chelsea, I learned. A talented member of the guard who could manipulate the emotional bonds between immortals. Her power appeared to be mental, rather than physical in nature, differing from Jasper's talent for manipulating emotion. I observed her as she focused her energy on Caius, thought I remained unclear on the reason for her efforts. Caius seemed to deflate, his thoughts turning to deep respect for Aro's handling of the situation.
All will be well. Brother Aro knows the way.
I filed away this bizarre exchange, focusing again on pleading our case before the court.
"I will determine what punishment will fit the crime." Aro addressed Tanya directly. "You will not speak out of turn again, young one." She seemed to shrink inward, falling silent.
He looked over at Bella, a half smile appearing on his face. "Such delicious aroma. Such potential."
Bella buried her head into my back.
"Brothers, look how the human clings to him. She seems entirely un-afraid to be so close to a creature such as us. It is as if she finds comfort in holding tightly onto you, dear Edward."
"How unnatural," Marcus mused, his eyes half closed. His thoughts were so lacking in emotion, I wondered if he was clinically depressed or chemically sedated.
"Aro, please allow me to explain this predicament." I inclined my head to him respectfully. I stepped forward and prepared to offer my hand to the king, but hesitated when I saw the reluctance in Aro's eyes.
Trickery. The young one desires to read my thoughts. I will not offer him my secrets.
I realized at once that Aro assumed my ability worked in the same way as his. Jane paid little attention to Victoria's knowledge of us and our abilities. Perhaps I could use this to our advantage.
"Very well, though you should know dear Edward, there is not likely anything you could say that I do not already know."
"Knowledge does not always equate to understanding," I said. "I mean this respectfully, of course."
"We will see."
Aro sat back, displeased with my commentary but clearly willing to listen. He silently wondered if he should have organized there to be more witnesses. After all, he was making a great show of mercy by allowing me to speak. Demitri internally rolled his eyes. I chose my words carefully.
"l have broken our most sacred law. I have revealed the existence of vampires to a human, risking our exposure." The guard member's minds expressed surprise at my easy admission of guilt. "Despite the severity of my crime, I cannot say that I regret my actions. Gentlemen, my lords, I come to you begging pardon for the crime of finding my mate while she was still human."
Caius was aghast, disgusted by the concept. Aro focused his attention on Bella, reconciling the way she clung to me with this perspective. I thought of twin flames, of Daniel and Sofia, and of my fearless Bella.
"You, members of the Volturi know what it is to be mated. Your devotion to your wives is known by all immortals. You know, as I do, that this adoration can never be satiated, and takes and takes and takes until no individual part of either of you exists. You become an entirely new entity with another, a stronger entity, but it comes at a great cost. Love is relinquishing your power to another creature who can slay you in a way no other can, and doing so cheerfully. Perhaps that explains the pain one feels when it is unrequited."
I noted an acute pain in Aro's thoughts as I mentioned unrequited love. A pain, associated with the sad immortal man that sat at his side.
"Our lives are now intertwined in a single strand, one cannot be cut without cutting the other. We're two parts of the same soul. I didn't exist until I knew that she did. And no matter what happens now," I looked down at Bella, captured by the depth of her coffee eyes "... even if she should choose to live without me, she has already made me whole."
As I spoke, I listened to the minds of the Volturi royals. My words struck a chord, as I knew they would. The Volturi kings cherished and protected their queens. In the mind of Marcus I saw a raven haired beauty. Her features resembled Aro's, except for the fact that she had kindness in her eyes. Marcus thought of a woman who radiated joy.
"Your words are a gift to me young Edward," Marcus sighed. "It inspires memories I have long buried in my mind of my beloved Didyme."
I was inundated with flashes of a woman in white, with ruby red lips and a glorious smile. She beckoned like Eve in the garden. As Marcus mentioned this name, I saw a brief expression of panic flit across Aro's angular translucent face.
I decided to dig further.
"Your mate?" I clarified.
Marcus' sad sunken eyes found mine.
"She was. My darling wife, and Aro's sister. My Didyme was murdered many ages ago. I understand what it is to be separated from one's mate. I believe it would have been impossible to resist her, had I met her as human."
Aro's mind showed the same woman with the raven hair, this time in the presence of Marcus. The image was blurry, like a film that had been distorted.
"What a terrible loss that must have been for you Aro," I said carefully. "I am sorry."
No longer able to be held back, the memory came forth. I watched the scene play out in Aro's mind.
Marcus kissed Didyme on the hand as he prepared to go, leaving her with the rose he plucked from the garden. She hummed to herself, joyously in love. Aro's sudden appearance from behind the garden wall startled her.
"Brother, I did not see you there."
"Perhaps you should take more care to notice your surroundings sister, instead of living in your mind."
"Forgive me, I am just distracted." She smiled and pressed her face to the rose again.
"And what exactly are the thoughts that have taken up so much residence in your mind?" Aro took Didyme by the arm, strolling with her under the moonlight.
"Marcus" Didyme hummed. "He has promised to take me to see France, and Spain, and then the rest of Europe. Isn't it wonderful?"
"Marcus has obligations here, with me." Aro frowned.
Didyme stopped in her tracks, turning to face her brother.
"You only think of yourself, Aro." Didyme sighed in disapproval. "Marcus and I want to start a life together. An afterlife shouldn't be spent waging war and seeking power. That is not the path to true happiness." She gazed at her brother with true pity in her eyes. "You want what you cannot have. It is time that you think about someone else's happiness, rather than your own."
Aro looked at his youngest sister, his favorite sister, the creature he himself brought into his world. In her first year, sired to him, she had been unwaveringly loyal. She had so greatly disappointed him, and now she sought to take away the only thing that mattered to Aro. The only person that mattered to Aro.
"Yes." Aro said. "You are right."
In a swift motion, Aro dipped his sister as if dancing with her, and decapitated her with a sharp strike of his arm. The rose fell from her hand onto the garden, the petals falling to the ground like drops of blood.
"I do only think of myself."
This was it. This was the secret I needed to leverage in return for our freedom. A tragedy. A great betrayal. Aro appeared outwardly unaffected by the memory, though his internal narrative was in turmoil. He was in love with a man who's heart belonged to his sister. But how to make my knowledge known without revealing my hand? I would have to wait, to time it perfectly.
"Marcus, you cannot be suggesting we forgive Edward of his crime?" Caius asked. "She must either be made immortal, or be disposed of. We must assure that our secret is kept."
Bella seemed to find her voice. Stepping around me, she straightened and looked directly at the kings. "I won't tell anyone. I would never betray the Cullens."
"Hmm, It would appear she is, to them, already a member of the family," Marcus mused. I belatedly realized he must also have a gift. He could see the bonds between immortals. He saw the truth in my words. Bella was my mate. To have it confirmed in such a way was a pleasant and unexpected surprise.
I took her hand. "Bella will be one of us, in time. I intend to make her immortal, just as my maker did with his mate."
"Pretty words, but empty promises," Caius hissed.
Aro grinned, "Beautiful Isabella." He drew out her name, caressing the "L's" too intimately for my liking. "I have learned of your amazing resistance to Jane and Alec's gifts. I wonder if you might allow me to test your incredible shield."
"What?" Bella gasped.
"Come to me Isabella," Aro called. I growled loudly, moving Bella's body behind my own.
"Not a chance." I began to crouch before her.
"Come now Edward. Be reasonable. I do not wish her any harm." Yet, he added in his mind.
"No." I gritted my teeth.
Aro's eyes shifted to the left. "Jane, if you could be so kind..."
It began again. Jane's torture hit me like a tractor trailer, my ribs felt like they were going to explode out of my rib cage. I tried not to scream again. I failed spectacularly. Someone was slicing through me with a hot iron.
"Not again!" Bella cried. "Stop. Stop! Stop!"
Then all at once, the pain began to ease. It did not disappear entirely, but it was suddenly tolerable. Had Jane reduced the voltage of her attack? I blinked and found Bella standing over me, glaring daggers at Jane. Her hands were on either side of my shoulders, and she breathed hard, exerting herself.
"Ah Ha!" Aro clapped his hands. "Brothers! Do you see how she projects her power, even as a human! Truly extraordinary!" A truly rare breed. What potential this human has in her genetics. I wonder...
Jane's hands balled into fists. "Felix. Kill her," she commanded.
Felix appeared at Bella's side. I rose until we were chest to chest and shoved him hard. Demetri grabbed my arms and pinned me down again. Without Bella's physical contact, Jane began to assault me again. As Felix began to reach for Bella, Kate and Tanya pushed Bella to the ground and grabbed him by the arms. Kate electrocuted him, bringing the giant man to his knees.
"Enough," Aro commanded. He rose from his throne and strolled forward. Demerit continued to hold me. Alec blinded Kate, who fell to her knees. Her sister was quickly restrained by Felix. Aro paused as he glanced at Kate. "Interesting. I have not seen an offensive weapon such as yours before."
The guard flanked him on either side as he approached Bella, who lay on the ground at his feet. He caressed her face and grabbed her hand, helping her to stand. "No harm will come to this human until I have made my judgement." His eyes danced as he awaited the visions. But as expected, none came. Her mind was as silent to him as it was to me.
As he released her with a frown. Bella returned to my side. Demetri tightened his grip on my throat, leaving cracks where his fingers gripped me.
"Let him go," Bella said, her voice a warning. She tried to pry Demetri's arm away from me, with little effect.
"Such loyalty... among them all." Marcus looked at Bella with curiosity. "This human is willing to take on a vampire a thousand times stronger than her. Are you not afraid, human?"
She was barely staying upright, her body giving out from the fatigue of the last two days. Still she found her voice. Bella's reply came as a low whisper. "I am done being afraid."
"Then you are a fool," Caius replied, somewhat manically. "We should all be afraid." He spoke as if to himself.
Aro rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "What a waste of a very powerful potential shield. Brother Caius is correct. Despite Edward's pretty words, we cannot trust that our secret will be kept."
He leaned down and spoke directly to Bella, tracing the curve of her neck with one long finger. "uno spreco … What a shame that we cannot have a guarantee that your Edward intends to one day make you immortal. I would be inclined to come to some sort of agreement with you, dear Bella."
The creaking sound of a door slamming open ricocheted off of the high ceilings. From down the hall, the district click of kitten heels could be heard approaching, next to the careful footsteps of a gentleman, and the soft sway of cotton from a woman's dress. I knew those sounds anywhere.
"I can guarantee Bella will become one of us," Alice announced confidently, approaching us from the shadows with a dancer's grace. She bowed her head to Aro, curtsying.
"Carlisle!" Aro exclaimed. "What a treat. And this must be your amore Esme."
"Aro," Carlisle greeted him. "You look well."
"Buona sera." Esme smiled graciously.
"And who is this lovely young one who makes such declarative statements."
Alice rose and approached Aro. She glanced at me, and removed her long black glove from her right hand. "I am Alice."
Aro looked at her hand with amusement. "Indeed you are." Aro took her hand in his, and for the first time in his long life, experienced the disorienting kaleidoscope of the future.
Bella walks along a snowy path, her long legs leaving silent footprints in the now. She looks much like does now, though somehow different. More angular. Her face has lost it's girlish softness. She walks with a dancer's grace. I walk beside her, leading her through a hallowed graveyard. Bella holds my arm at the elbow. Bella places a rose on a grave. I recognize the inscription, it is the words I chose when I buried Sofia. As she touches the gravestone, a light shines onto her skin, sunlight breaking through the cloudbank. Bella's hand glimmers like a rare gem, throwing rainbows onto the pure white snow. She looks up at me with soft amber eyes below her doe-like lashes.
Aro closed his eyes, a look of pure pleasure on his translucent face. "Ah dear Alice. To see as you have seen. To know as you know - Yes, it appears certain that Isabella will be immortal."
"We cannot know for sure that this is not a farce!" Caius stood.
Aro turned to him, hissing. "Do you think they have deceived me?"
Chelsea stepped forward again, placating Caius with her influence. He returned to his seat at once. Aro returned his gaze onto Alice, still holding her hand in his.
"Though it may be true that Isabella shall soon be one of our kind, I see no reason why I should not insist that the change be made now. And I see no argument that can be made, young ones, that can excuse these other crimes." Aro sighed dramatically. "It is unfortunate, but the vampires that hid the immortal child will have to be punished, and the creature that gave false witness too will have to die."
"No!" Kate roared.
"Unless..." Aro looked at Carlisle. "You are interested in making a bargain."
"A bargain?" Carlisle's eyes found mine, trying to decipher Aro's intentions. Esme's thoughts were full of panic for Rosalie and Emmett. She contemplated how to warn them, how to tell them to run. I wish I could tell her it was useless. Demetri was the Volturi's most talented tracker. There was nowhere they could run.
"Yes. An exchange. Freedom, in exchange for service to the Volturi."
"I will be of service to you in any way that I can," Carlisle replied.
"We both will." Esme took his hand.
"He does not mean you, Carlisle." I spoke softly to my father now, knowing exactly how this would pain him. "He means me and Alice."
"And Alice's delightfully talented mate, of course." Aro replayed the images he took from Alice's mind, of the way Alice, Jasper, and I used our gifts to manipulate our universe. With us at his side, along with his most recent acquisition, Aro could have control of the past, present, and future.
"Aro, please...I cannot ask that of my children," Carlisle hung his head in his hands, pained.
"You don't have to," Alice said softly. She and I shared a long look. The beginnings of a vision began to flicker into her awareness. I saw myself in a dark black cloak, surrounded by a sea of red. The vision was not solid; like the ghostly touch of an idea that had not fully formed. Aro smiled as he observed this new vision. Esme cried silently.
Aro looked at Kate now, who had newly regained the sense of sight and sound "I offer the same to you, dear girl. Will you join us, in exchange for your sister's freedom?"
Kate stared at Aro with tearless eyes. She reached out for Tanya and grasped her hand. A silent exchange passed between the sisters, their love for one another palpable even in this cold underground court.
Aro grinned as he watched the vision solidify further, Kate now solidly visible at Aro's side. He took that as a yes.
Cauis's thoughts were disturbed by this exchange. Some long quieted part of him protested the coercion, the perversion of an honorable and just rule that he once believed he was a part of. As soon as the dissenting thought appeared, it was crushed into submission. A side effect of Chelsea's unrelenting influence.
Preturbed that he could not see me clearly at his side in Alice's mind, Aro spoke, his words a challenge. "It seems we remain ambivalent. Perhaps Bella will help you decide."
I thrashed against Demetri's iron grip.
"You don't have to answer him Bella." Demetri punched me in the gut. I cursed, using a word Bella had never heard me say aloud before. She looked at Aro with wide eyes.
"Isabella, I offer you a place at my side, to become one of my guards." Aro spoke in a sing-song voice. "I can offer you immortality, power and luxury beyond your wildest imagination."
A small crease began to form between Bella's eyes, a worry line I had come to know well. Her mind worked silently; thoughts and decisions I would have traded my life to hear. Her eyes were so tired. She inhaled deeply, and surprising us all, spoke calmly to the royal before her.
"Would you be willing to bargain with me, Aro?"
Aro giggled. The sound echoed throughout the chamber. "What do you have in mind, Bellisima?"
"You can have me, turn me. You can have my service, in exchange for all of their freedom. Let Alice, Kate, and Edward go. Pardon Rosalie, Emmett, and Irina."
"Oh, Bella," Tanya breathed. She held such affection for my fearless girl. Our fearless girl.
Aro laughed wholeheartedly. The guards behind him joined in, a chorus of laughter at the human girl's audacity.
Aro's response was predictable. "No deal."
"Okay, I offer an alternative." I watched a small smirk form in Bella's fatigued expression. She knew what she was doing. "You can have me, but you have to release the girl you took. My friend. Olly. A life for a life."
I saw a flash of a blonde girl in tattered clothing appear in Demerti's mind. The girl screamed in agony in the dungeons of the throne. She was heavily guarded, a prized possession of Aro's. But Bella knew this, she knew Aro would not make this trade. I told her about Olly's powers, and how they coveted her. I stared at Bella, realizing she had inquired about Olly for another reason. She wanted me to find her, to read the minds of the guard and find her location, perhaps.
"Try again darling." Aro was beginning to lose humor in the situation. He did not like feeling like he was being toyed with. Bella had clearly anticipated his responses.
"Fine then." The smile disappeared from Bella's face. "I ask for time. Time to get my affairs in order, time to disappear, to ensure that I can protect the Cullens from exposure. My sudden disappearance after their arrival into town is bound to cause suspicion. My father is a police chief, you know." Bella's argument faltered slightly. She straightened and continued speaking clearly. "Allow me to clear their name, to say goodbye to my friends and family. Give me time to choose when I become immortal," She looked to Tanya, and then to me. "On my terms."
Bella continued, ignoring the protests of the guards behind us. "Time has little meaning to you, but it means the world to me. Give me, no - all of us - 500 years. Allow me time to live as an immortal, to learn about this life, before all of us pledge our eternal service to you. 500 years, and then you can have forever." Bella clumsily dropped down and knelt before Aro. "My king," she added.
Aro contemplated. Bella was correct in her assessment. What difference could a few hundred years make? Still, he detested being challenged so in his own house.
"And why would I agree to such a demand?" Aro scoffed.
This was the moment. I knew exactly what I needed to say.
"Because you understand the importance of keeping a family secret." I spoke low, looking Aro directly in the eyes. "You understand that there are some secrets that you would be willing to kill for. To die for. And you understand the bond between family more than anyone, my king."
Aro glared. You dare speak of Didyme? For the first time, he directed his question directly at me. He had seen through Alice's mind that my powers worked differently than his. I dropped my chin slightly. A subtle nod. I wanted him to know that I knew everything.
Aro narrowed his eyes. I watched as he struggled to remain composed. You will not speak of what you know to anyone, he thought at me as he spoke aloud simultaneously. "Yes. I know of important secrets we must keep at all costs. Secrets that require loyalty," Aro said.
I dropped my chin again. We were in agreement.
Aro returned his gaze back to Bella. "I will grant you ... 100 years, Isabella. No more."
Alice's vision came into indisputable focus, as clear as a high definition image. Aro, Alice, and I saw all five of the immortals he sought to acquire at his side, dressed in blood-red cloaks, 100 years in the future. Behind us, the world burned at Aro's altar.
He released Alice's hand, content with this turn of events. He addressed us all. "100 years, and then you pledge your service eternally."
Bella stood back up and crossed her arms. Her brown eyes found mine. I drowned in the depth of them, eternally grateful to the woman who had saved us all. The woman who had bought us the time we needed to figure out a plan to defeat the Volturi once and for all. In Alice's mind, I watched the beginnings of the plan that Bella had put into action start to form; a series of new visions, splintered into a thousand threads. A gathering storm. A resistance.
She smiled a small smile, just for me, and turned back to Aro.
"Deal."
TO BE CONTINUED. . .
All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer, the Twilight Series.
No copyright infringement intended. Plot is mine :)
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Special thanks to my new Beta for being my soundboard and my new friend, and for inspiring a path for Part 2 of this journey that we find ourselves traveling together!
Here's the link to the soundtrack on Spotify! https/open./playlist/0kgyLShDmJwdza3uAqXi3q?si=YQuXxXruROSt35Pmwi28qQ