Chapter Forty-Three: Found Family

Mason (POV)

The Tuscany countryside was breathtaking in the late afternoon light, the high sun casting deep shadows through the scattered copses of trees and endless farms and vineyards dotted among the gently rolling hills. They had been right about one thing; the view was spectacular. My conversations with Jane had progressed well over the last three weeks, but we both worried that Aro would soon request her presence for an update and our ruse would falter. She was confident she could escape a direct confrontation with Aro, but her brother was another matter.

She had tried to have conversations with Alec, dancing around the facts. It had been weighing on her, the realization that she might never be able to repair her relationship with him. Meanwhile we had been exploring her actual gift, and what she could do with it. It turned out she had a beautiful natural gift to project a fragment of her memories to others. While I knew it was a dangerous risk to trust her with any information about gifts, I needed to trust her, which was made easier because of her hatred of Aro.

"I must try and get through to my brother again, I cannot abandon him." She said alluding to our planned escape later that evening. It had become quite clear that her situation was precarious, and neither of us could stay in Volterra any longer.

"It may be better to try when he is away from Volterra, going now risks your life." I said looking over and meeting her eyes, her worry clearly overwhelming any rational argument.

"Wouldn't you do the same for your 'family'?" She looked almost tired as she spoke, and slightly defeated, but managed a soft smile. Of course it was the one point I couldn't argue against.

"Yes." I said reluctantly, I hated that she was ready to risk herself and her freedom for a person who barely thought of her as family. "Do what you can to avoid Aro, you'll be fine otherwise." She nodded and left immediately, and I sighed as the door slammed shut. For two hours I waited, and felt my worry grow more and more. Then the door opened and in walked Aro, a small smile on his face and Jane was right behind him. I silently cursed myself for trusting her, but a small wink from her eased my mind.

"Aro." I greeted my wayward son with a somewhat warm smile, a little show of pleasantry might be key to keeping up our ruse.

"Mynos, you have played with Jane for long enough. Her attempts to break you seem to have failed completely. Now, I will not harm her, it is not her fault. However, you should know that Felix will spend the next century in a box as penance for his error in choosing his friends so poorly." Aro walked towards me and reached out towards me.

"No, I do not give my permission." Aro sneered and licked the back of his teeth in disgust.

"Fine. Keep your secret for now, I will have it eventually. As for your family in the States, I hear they have made a rather unfortunate enemy. We would be inclined to help them if you were willing to share with us." Aro smiled at me, his eyes widening. I allowed my head to cock in feigned interest.

"Interesting bargain. What enemy are you referring to?" I said sounding effectively curious, my eyebrows raised.

"Maria Santiago. She is dangerous." Aro said with a small satisfied smile, as though the news of who was threatening my family was a good thing.

"You are misinformed, our quarrel is with a Nomad named Victoria." I lied; we had figured out that Victoria had a connection to Maria already.

"She is one of Maria's daughters. Although I doubt that connection is known to many, I give that to you as a gift. Along with this promise. You reveal what you know, and you can go home. We will deal with Maria and her daughter, and you can live in peace." He smiled and his eyes grew wide thinking he had won his little game. I decided not to play along.

"For how long?" I shook my head at him, narrowing my eyes.

"Father, please. It would be a lasting peace. I was rash sending you up here. I should've treated you as a guest." He countered, continuing his game.

"Can I think about your offer?" I nodded thoughtfully; it was better to make him think I intended to consider his obvious deceit.

"Of course, but time is fleeting." Aro warned, his eyes instantly cold and threatening.

"Tomorrow, I'll have my decision by tomorrow." I said nodding, hoping to placate him into leaving me alone.

"Wonderful. I'll see you in twenty-four hours." Aro said standing back and clasping his hands together in triumph. Jane nodded to me slightly but kept her expression neutral. Then they were gone, and I dropped the chains to my feet and swore under my breath. While I knew that Aro had no intention of keeping his promise, I wondered if I could somehow craft it into something formal that he would sign, a contract he would honor no matter what. No, he would just string me along, keeping the promise of freedom on an ever-lengthening lure. Jane arrived exactly on time, with a different and more human outfit and a small bag on her back.

"Just in case." She motioned towards the bag. "There is a two-foot by five-inch window ledge just outside of view around the building to the left. From there we can get to a roof about thirty feet out just beyond the pit."

"I can't believe they have a two-hundred-foot pit, what a strange prison." I shook my head in minor disbelief, the design of this prison was both remarkable and ridiculous.

"Well, it was an attempt at making it capable of holding one of us." Jane shrugged.

"After you." I said waving a hand towards the window. She nodded, and together we tore open the wall around the window taking advantage of the weakness inherent in the mortared joints between the stones. In seconds we had made short work of it. Night masked our escape from human eyes, but she was more worried about the guard. Two sentries stood at the base of the tower's one entrance and bridge, but due to a quirk in the design that door was on the opposite side of the tower.

She looked back before jumping and took a deep breath. Then she half fell and half leapt towards the essentially invisible platform using the wall as a guide with her hand to partially slow her descent. I heard her land softly, and she stuck out a hand to wave at me before jumping to a roof just out of view from the window. I sighed and followed her lead.

The ledge was ridiculously small, and came up faster than I expected, but it was relatively easy to land on. I immediately looked towards the direction she jumped and found her crouched on that roof. I didn't bother to look down and jumped to join her. From there getting out of the actual Volturi compound was relatively easy, moving from rooftop to rooftop avoiding patrols that she had already mapped out a route to avoid. Once we were in the city, we dropped to street level and started to race towards the outskirts as quickly as possible without drawing attention or breaking the human witness law. We made it six blocks before we turned a corner to find Alec and Demetri waiting for us. I glanced at Jane and she grimaced, and we both headed right into an alleyway not on one of her original planned escape routes. Four twists and turns later and we found ourselves running into a sudden dead end.

The buildings enclosing the street on three sides were tall, too tall to jump. The ancient plaster was too fragile to effectively climb. Jane let out a small cry of frustration, and we both turned to see Alec and Demetri enter on the opposite end. I looked over at Jane who started to shake her head, refusing to hurt her own brother. Alec on the other hand seemed to have no issue in attacking us, as he immediately released his blinding vapors. As it hit me, I found I had lost more than just sight, I couldn't use my gifts to control his ability either. I was at a loss, and knew Jane was our only hope.

"Dear sister, why have you betrayed us?" He said from a distance, as a pair of powerful hands grabbed my arms and held them back.

"I tried to make you listen, he's evil. He burned us alive Alec. He uses Chelsea to keep the guard loyal. He doesn't care about us; he only wants us for our power." Her voice was pleading, frantic.

"This one has wormed his way into your mind and is playing tricks on you, how could you trust him over the man who saved our lives?" Alec wasn't listening to her, there was nothing she could say that could get through to him. I deeply wished Edward were with us, he could simply use his gift to share her memories. Yet I knew Jane wasn't about to give up on her brother.

"I wouldn't have trusted his word; I trust my own memories. I was awake, I saw them. Aro and Caius watching us burn. Aro wanted me for my latent power so he orchestrated our execution." She shouted into the darkness surrounding us. Her voice quivering with terror.

"You have to fight Jane." I pleaded with her, our only hope to get out was with her ability, no matter how much she no longer wanted to use that pain again. Demetri squeezed my arms even tighter as I spoke.

"I won't hurt him." She said, sounding defeated.

"I will." A familiar voice said from what I could only guess was behind Alec. In the same instant there was a ripping sound and the vapors instantly vanished. Jane was on her knees but looked up towards Demetri and forced him to release me. I turned and reluctantly grabbed a hold of his head and with a deafening snap separated it from his shoulders. I looked over to find someone I had never thought I would see again standing over Alec's beheaded body.

"Cain?" I took a step forward, but then Jane screamed and rushed at him.

"Jane!" I called after her, but she had already lashed out with her gift towards Cain who fell to his knees in agony.

"He isn't burned." Cain said through gritted teeth.

"Was there another way?" I asked Jane who looked back at me with fury in her eyes, slapping me with her power and then looking horrified at her own actions. She dropped down to a knee and picked up her brother's head and released Cain who slumped forward.

"No. But we'll take him with us, and someday I will revive him after the Volturi are nothing but ashes." She glanced at me for a second, but hatred filled her expression as she looked over Demetri's body.

"I'm sorry Jane." I got up and moved to her side, tentatively placing a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at me with a need I hadn't seen before. She needed me, I had become important to her, I just didn't know to what extent.

"Well this is touching, but I ken that will be in deep shite if dinnae get out of here now." Cain said getting to his feet and looking around cautiously.

"Mason. Is he a…?" Jane said looking up at me with a touch of disgust.

"Werewolf, yes. A brother who I haven't seen in an awfully long time." I looked up at Cain and felt a thousand emotions all at once at seeing my old coven mate. Was this what Alice had seen? Is this why I was supposed to come to Volterra?

"Help me." Jane shook her head at both of us and motioned for me to help with her brother. Cain frowned and threw Alec's body over his shoulder. Jane looked at him with clear conflict in her eyes, but Cain just shrugged.

"We can fight this out here lass, or we can do it in a less public place?" Cain's voice was a welcome thing and filled me with a renewed hope that maybe things were not quite so dire as I had believed. Jane sighed and then nodded. Together we traveled three blocks to a parked utility van, which he unlocked with a key dongle. The thought of Cain driving felt comical, he had been notoriously bad at adapting to new things when I had known him.

He drove us quietly out of town and made sure that no one was following us. We drove for nearly an hour through winding country roads to a small farmhouse resting literally in the middle of nowhere. Once we were inside, he dropped Alec on an old bed and plopped down in a rocking chair, kicking up his boots onto the large hand crafted oak coffee table, and crossed his arms before fixing an incredulous stare at both of us.

"I never thought you were dead. But you never came back. Still as curious as I am about what you've been up to for the last oh, thousand years, I'm more interested in why you are anywhere near Volterra. Especially considering Caius's hatred of your kind." I was torn in several directions as I asked the question. I was mildly confused, amused, and elated by Cain re-emergence in my life.

"I'm no child of the moon and you ken that. Caius is a closed-minded fool. I was tracking Aro if you must know. Heard about you being an idiot and thought you might need help. Never thought you would turn one of the witch twins." He said looking at Jane with a slightly disbelieving look.

"I am no witch." Jane said intently clearly ready to start the fight Cain had suggested, but I raised a hand to stop her from lashing out at Cain again.

"Jane, can I explain our relationship first?" I said hoping to defuse the situation, but she just cocked her head and frowned.

"Whose, his or mine?" She was clearly upset, and I could see distrust start to creep into her expression.

"He was a part of that coven I told you about, I left out his presence because he is hard to explain." I tried to cover, hoping she would understand if not accept my answer.

"He's got a point; no other shifter be caught dead with one of your kind." Cain added, but one glance at Jane told me his contribution hadn't helped a bit. Then I looked at Cain, and he just stared at me.

"Jane was burned alive as a mortal by Aro, and during my captivity we found a kinship with each other. I consider her… I think of her… she's important to me. So you will extend whatever you still feel for me to her." I said as sincerely as I felt, although I couldn't quite define my relationship with Jane, and calling her a friend felt a touch disingenuous. She had started to feel more like a daughter to me in the short time we had known each other.

"Gotcha, you consider her family. That's impressive lass, he dinnae take a shine to many." Cain said with a small knowing chuckle. It made me smile though if he only knew how much had changed for me.

"He has a whole family back in the States." She said with what felt like a touch of jealousy.

"Family? Shite, I would've looked you up if I'd ken you had softened up that much." Cain said with raised eyebrows, clearly surprised.

"They would accept you Jane, without hesitation." I said hoping she would accept my offer this time.

"I don't know, the Cullen's are so… virtuous. Then there's blood, I don't know if I could ever swear off human." She sounded like the entire idea was distasteful, which elicited a tired sigh from me.

"I'm not asking you to, only to consider alternative ways of feeding." Repeating my request felt a bit like nagging, but she was obviously still struggling with her choice.

"I will, I promised I wouldn't kill, and I meant it." Jane said looking me directly in the eye, I could tell she meant it. She had already proven herself to me, gained my trust, but I still worried that her loyalties could be torn given the right pressure.

"Well, now that's settled, I've been making plans, figuring out the best way to get into that place. You were easy to suss out, what I need to do next is hard." Cain sounded proud of himself.

"Sorry, what are you doing exactly?" I asked, feeling a bit confused. He sighed and looked pained, then he cleared his throat and stood up. He paused for a split second before walking over to a window. Without hesitation his right fist shot out and smashed a pane of glass with a quick jab. There was a loud crack, and then soft tinkling of glass hitting the floor coincided with a soft swear under his breath. He looked at his hand and watched briefly as blood began to well up on his knuckles. Pulling out a handkerchief he wiped the blood away and stared at the abrasion as it closed in seconds.

"Look I wouldn't be here if it was just a revenge thing. I mean Caius is an ass, but I'm not dumb. This is so much more than that. I'm not sure I should tell you though, I think you should go back to whatever you're protecting." I shook my head at him, his fight was my fight. I wasn't about to abandon my friend to torture and death.

"No, I'm here, what's this about?" I modulated my tone so that it was as soothing as would be appropriate in the situation. Cain was a good friend, but he was more than a little hotheaded, and he hated it when he felt he was being patronized.

"Okay. But don't say I didn't warn you. Well... um shit... look they got Katherine in one of their dungeons, and I think they've had her for a really long time." I felt myself react, and the poor chair I was sitting on was the victim of my instant flash of rage.

"I'm going to kill him, if I have to burn that city to the ground!" My rage filled the room with a wave of intense heat, and Jane moved quickly across the room to subdue me. She grabbed my shoulder roughly turned me to face her, a tickle of her power pushing into the edges of my senses. The small pain startled me enough to dissipate my anger and I smiled at her gratefully.

"That ain't the answer and you know it. Don't worry I got a plan brother." Cain said shaking his head, with a small look of fear around his eyes. I looked at Jane, and her expression reminded me of my own love and family waiting to hear from me.

"Can't wait to hear it, but first… Cain… you wouldn't happen to have a phone?" I wasn't sure if he would have anything that new, technology wise.

"Of course, I have a phone." He chuckled and pulled out an ancient beaten up flip phone and tossed it to me. I quickly remembered all the ridiculous codes to dial out of the country, and yet I held my breath as I heard it begin to ring though.

"You're not calling internationally? I don't exactly have a plan for that." Cain said, looking upset.

"Cain, how do you have no money?" I shook my head at him, he had always been a creature of habit, never bothering to save for the future. A bit like that old fable of the grasshopper and the ant.

"Not a lot of jobs for a werewolf with bad social skills." Cain shrugged, and gave me a familiar look.

"I'll set you up with a bank account tomorrow." I said as the line clicked through to voicemail. "Hi you've reached Angela's voice mail. I'm probably busy, or cannot answer because I've been abducted by aliens. Leave a message at the beep!"

"Angela, I hope you're safe." I said, not really sure how else to start. "I'm alive and free again. I'll be coming home soon, but there is something I have to do first. If you get this message, you can call this number. Tell the man who answers that you wish to speak to me. I love you and I hope I'll hear from you soon." I hung up and closed my eyes in mild pain. I desperately wanted her to call back, but I wasn't sure if I deserved it after spending the night with her and then abandoning her.

I handed Cain his phone back and sighed. "So, Cain, what's your plan?" I looked at him tiredly, although he had a look on his face that I had never seen before.

"Ah… I think it'll be a basic smash and grab, I ken where it is, I've watched it for nearly a decade. Yet I cannot figure out how to get into it." Cain said, sounding a little distracted, his brow creased with confusion and concern.

"That's your great plan? Huh, well Jane, do you know this facility?" I said ignoring his expression.

"I know of it; I saw a file on it once. It holds three long term prisoners. Two of the names were redacted, the third we should probably leave to rot." She sneered when she mentioned the third prisoner.

"Who is it?" I asked in curiosity, wondering who would be vile enough to cause that level of disgust.

"Joham." She said simply, as if the name was enough of an explanation.

"Never heard of him." Cain said mirroring my own confusion.

"Think of him as an actual Doctor Moreau. We never learned the nature of his experiments, but we do know he liked to torture humans and vampires. We also know he forcibly kept some sort of coven locked up in a facility in Brazil, until we raided it a few years ago. They all escaped, but we captured him." Jane's explanation made him sound like a monster.

"Sounds like a prince, I have no problem leaving him caged up, I just don't understand why they would keep someone like that alive?" Cain said with a mildly disgusted expression.

"Aro was very specific, and refused to execute him. I have no idea why. So he is to spend an eternity in a cage." She shrugged, and pulled her hair out of the tight bun letting her honey blond mane fall down her back. Cain stared at her for a moment, and I gave him a look to back off. He just smirked at me and nodded once with a small chuckle. I sat down across from her, and Cain took the remaining chair.

"If Katherine is one of those redacted prisoners, who could be the third?" I asked, feeling like we needed to figure out some answers before blinding running into a prison facility policed by a large coven of vampires.

"No bloody idea, but Aro does visit the place every year on March twenty-second." Cain shrugged, although even that much information was impressive.

"No… it can't be." Jane gasped and stood moved to a nearby window and shook her head after a few minutes of silence. She unlatched the cape still hung around her shoulders and balled it up and threw it into a dusty corner, her expression was clearly one of abject disgust. "His own sister." She muttered after a few more seconds.

"What's going on?" I eventually asked. She turned towards us and returned to her chair. Then she paused for a long time as if collecting her thoughts, or maybe trying to make sense of them.

"That date, March twenty-second. I don't know what significance it has to the larger world, but for the Volturi it is a hollowed date, we all mourn on that date. It was the birthday of Didyme, Aro's sister and Marcus' wife." Jane sounded horrified by the idea of such a possibility.

"That's fucked." Cain said, shaking his head.

"That is... unexpected. Can we get word to Marcus?" I wondered out loud, the idea that Didyme was alive changed things considerably.

"Maybe, what's your plan?" Jane asked, the same look of hope that I felt crossing her face. I furrowed my brow, it was one thing to know about a massive lie. It was another to plan around it. I realized we had to free Didyme first, there was no way to convince Marcus she was alive without confirmation.

"I walk a lonely road, the only road that I have ever known. Don't know where it..." The Green Day song broke the silence and made all three of us jump. Cain dug his phone out of his pocket and frowned.

"It's her." He said somberly.

"Answer it. See what she says." I was not quite ready to face my fears.

Cain answered the call with a small nod. "I really hope yer Mason's lass. I huvnae seen him like this before, I think he's about to lose his mind." I was glaring at him with a need I couldn't contain.

"Yeah. Is he there?" The woman on the other end spoke almost in a whisper, and she didn't sound familiar. Had I somehow forgotten Angela's voice in just a month? I reached out my hand towards the phone, my foot tapping in impatience and mild irritation.

"Just a sec." Cain said and tossed me the small plastic phone.

"Angela?" I said letting my emotions come through in my voice. I needed her to know I felt hollow without her.

"Yes." She paused for five full seconds, an eternity before continuing. "It's me."

"They turned you." I said, realizing why I hadn't recognized her voice, then winced as I heard my own question that sounded like an accusation.

"There wasn't any choice. I was in an accident with my human family." There was a darkness to her voice, a sadness that I hopped was just regret and not something worse. THen I recalled Alice's vision of her being injured severely enough to be put on a breathing machine. That must've come to pass after all. One of the major reasons I left, to protect the love of my life had failed.

"The ventilator, I wasn't there for you." Was all I could say, anything more would've broken me.

"No, but I think it might have happened anyway, whether you were here or not, Bella was watching us and there was nothing she could do." That's when I realized she was holding back, that there was so much more she wasn't saying.

"Still. Were you hurt, is everyone alright?" I couldn't hide my worry and pain. She didn't speak for nearly a minute, and finally I had to prompt her. "Angela?"

"No, all four of them are gone." Her words lashed at me, a pain far worse than anything Jane had inflicted on me. She had lost everything. I felt hot tears stinging the corners of my eyes, and stared down at the wooden table unable to think of anything to say. Then she continued, making it all the worse. "I'm actually standing at their grave right now."

"Angela." I gasped out loud. It was more than shock, I felt like I had failed her in every conceivable way. My need to cut off danger had done the opposite. "Is there anything…" No, there was nothing left to do. "Can I…" I started but realized it was stupid to give her platitudes and empty promises. "No." I finally said, coming to the only conclusion that made sense. "I'm so sorry. I know they loved you, I could see it in the way they were desperate to protect you from me. Maybe they were right." If I hadn't been in her life, maybe she wouldn't be standing next to their graves.

"No, I was a part of this life before you came into it. You've made it better; can you trust that?" Her counter to my declaration felt right, and had a certain logic to it. But the underlying question was more implicit, did I trust her.

"Yes, I trust you. I want to be there so much; you've never left my mind." I couldn't hold back, my love and need for her presence pouring out of me. She didn't respond immediately, and I was about to say something else when she finally continued.

"That's why I was there, I wanted to see them one last time. Now, at least I have good memories of them." Yet she had to watch them die. I racked my brain to think of anything I could say, until I remembered old Gregory. A monk who had devoted his life to god before being bitten by a stray vampire. He was left barely alive and turned, but the violence of his transition left him blank, without a single memory of his human life. When I came across him he was a broken man, but he needed a friend. We spent decades recovering his human memories, and developed a method of bringing those memories up to the level of vampire memory. The clarity and perfect recall gave him just what he needed to devote his life again to his faith. I hadn't seen him in centuries, but his legacy could maybe help my beloved.

"I know a way of clarifying those memories, kind of like art restoration. I can teach you when I come home." I offered and hoped she would find it interesting at the very least.

"I'd like that. When are you coming home?" Her voice was pleading, and I could feel her emotions. It made me understand that her love had not changed, and it had not been consumed by the fires of transformation. I felt my heart practically explode in joy.

"Soon, but not quite yet. Aro is dead set on attacking our family. I don't really understand why. He seems to want Alice, but beyond that it seems almost like an unspoken vendetta. Jane doesn't know much more." I had to be round about, I couldn't come right out and say I was about to raid a Volturi prison stronghold. It would've sounded insane.

"Jane, isn't she one of their enforcers? The one that can cause pain?" Her question made me look up at Jane who was looking out the window at the rising dawn, she looked back and gave me a sad smile. Her entire life summed up in two short sentences.

"Not anymore. We developed a friendship while I was in captivity and escaped together." I explained, hoping that in the future they could connect and form a similar bond that I shared with Jane.

"Wow, maybe that's what Alice felt when she said there was more." She sounded genuinely surprised, mostly likely because of a story told about Jane. Her exploits were infamous, and stoked by the Council's petty rules and power madness.

"Well, maybe. But there's more. It's hard to explain, but I have to do one more thing here and then we're all headed home." She had a point, my time with Jane was an unexpected consequence, and with Alec out of the picture as well the Volturi had lost two of their most powerful weapons. They still had Demetri, Renata and Chelsea which made them very dangerous, but thinking about my family our abilities were starting to balance out the numbers the Volturi had on us.

"Okay. When you get here, there are some things we need to discuss, I just don't know if they can be said over the phone." I blinked, feeling blindsided. That was a line used when someone wanted to break up. I felt my heart sink, and I had to keep my voice neutral to hide my pain.

"Are you breaking up with me?" The words stung in my mouth, and I felt a deep well of fear in my stomach waiting for her to answer. Thankfully she didn't make me wait long.

"No, never. Be safe and let me know when you're coming back." I let loose a silent sigh, and couldn't help the smile from pulling at my mouth. It also meant that our conversation had run its course. I wanted to talk with her for hours, but I had to plan something painfully stupid.

"I will. I love you." I said as if I had spoken those words a thousand times before.

"I love you too." She said just as easily as I had. It was unbelievably humbling to know there was someone out there who loved me, and someone that I loved in return. In thousands of years of life I had given up on the possibility that I could find my match, a mate that I could spend an eternity with. The three words somehow felt inadequate, yet totally defined what I was feeling. Not obsession, not fixation or possession. She was the person that completed me in a way that felt natural and wonderful. As if my past was nothing but a prelude to her walking into my life.

Then the line went dead, and I felt a bit empty again.

"So, what do you have in mind?" Cain asked curiously, continuing our conversation as if I hadn't just had a conversation with… my girlfriend. That didn't seem right. Were we ready for an engagement? No, after our one date she made it clear we weren't in that place yet. "Mason, you there mate?"

"Family." I said, realizing I had an answer to the dilemma facing us. I picked the phone back up and dialed Angela again in the hope that she was home and the rest of the family could listen.

Author's Note: I know that the last section of this is a rehash of the conversation with Angela, but I felt Mason's reaction had some important details. The next chapter is mostly finished already and should be up a bit more quickly. The next two, while partially written may take some time to post.

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