While I held everyone else inside the house, Charlotte took Rose and Emmett outside. She was explaining to them everything that had happened since Alice turned up at their door. They are angry and appalled by her callous and cavalier attitude. The fact she liked to rub it in Gabriella's face every year had them growling in disgust. But that was just one part of the scenario, next came the revelations that Carlisle knew and helped to keep Jasper down. He did it to save Edward from Aro's wrath and certain death for his many indiscretions.
"Are you telling us, Carlisle built this family for Edward? We're just here to keep him amused and make him feel superior?" Emmett roars and Carlisle shudders where he lies on the floor,
"Basically yes! There were never meant to be more of you, but Aro changed all that" Char replies,
"I've heard all I need too. Emmett get onto a computer and liquidate this fucked up coven. I want to be recompensed for these years of lies and deceit!"Rose exclaims and you can't blame her,
"I don't think so Rosalie, why should you get anything!" Edward says and then he's on his back next to Carlisle,
The fool had to open his mouth but forgot he no longer has his gift and never heard her decision. His face is almost cleaved in two, jeez that's some right hook she's got.
"Divide everything into five please Emmett. For you, Rose, Carlisle, Jasper and me. Edward never contributed a dime in all these years, so Carlisle can carry on supporting him and Alice obviously doesn't need the money as Aro is her pimp!" Esme says with a deadly tone,
"Count me out Esme. I've got my own money because of Peter and Char, I just never told Alice" Jasper explains and Emmett nods,
"Four it is then, I'm on it!" Emmett says happily and starts dissolving the whole sham,
"Do something, Carlisle! Stop them!" Edward mumbles as his face heals,
"Shut up Edward, for once just shut up!" Carlisle says exasperatedly, of course, he doesn't and I just couldn't help myself,
"No worries Carlisle, his days are numbered. Soon you'll have all the quiet you need, all on your own in Volterra!"
"Garrett, you still filmin' all this shit?" Peter asks from behind me and I take his hand,
"Yup! It's like one of those crappy TV shows" he tells him and we all snigger,
"Quindi Alice, ti farò vedere cosa riserva il tuo futuro! Prima che io metta in atto tutto per te!" (So Alice, I'm going to let you see what your future holds! Before I enact it all out for you!) Abriel says in a tone I never want to be directed at me,
Alice gasps as her gift is amplified and God knows what she saw but she's shaking and sobbing. I have no sympathy for her at all.
"You can't just kill her?" Carlisle splutters from the floor,
"What's our second law, Cullen? Which law has both Aro and Alice broken and used you as their stooge to conceal? I wouldn't be surprised if they'd set it up so you would take the fall, when or if the truth came out. Except we have all the information, thanks to Peter. Not just the bits Aro wanted people to know" the Major says in a seething tone and Esme shrieks,
"You actually knew all this time Carlisle? You went along with breaking one of our most important laws, why?"
"One guess Esme, who's the bane of your undead life?" I said getting my bit in,
"Edward! All this was for him and him alone? Am I even your mate? Because from where I'm standing it looks like no!" was her reply almost in a whisper,
"Esme, I'm sorry" Carlisle murmured,
"Yeah, that must be where Edward learned that phrase from. Another worthless platitude!" Rose spat at he once pseudo-father,
"Too little Carlisle and much too late!" Emmett chimed in, as he hit enter for the last time on the keyboard, "It's done and I left you the island, Esme, in case you need to get away"
"Thank you, Emmett, that's where I'll be then. If you and Rose want to join me, I'll be happy to have you? I'm going to tear down the house and start afresh" Esme states now with resolve in the voice,
"Wait Esme, you can't leave me?" Carlisle whimpers,
"Oh, I can. This mating was obviously just on my side. So I'm giving you your freedom. You and Edward can be a family now, well for as long as Bella lets him live!" Esme answers, before turning away and heading upstairs to pack I guess,
"I'm saving you for last Edward! Once I'm free of the CIA, I'll be hunting down Jacob Black for the murder of my Uncle. Then I'll be back for you, for my murder!
You can run if you want, but Garrett and Peter already put out the word that anyone who helps you will die alongside you. Enjoy your little reprieve; it may be one year or even five. But I will be back for you and I'm not returning your gift! Let's see how you fare without it?" I say with deadly conviction,
What no one knows is I can't shield a mind further than about ten miles away. But Abriel has turned off his mind-reading permanently and I have already removed the little shield he had. We don't need everyone to know all our secrets; she's disabled Alice's visions as well now since she's seen her fate. I believe from Peter, that Emmett will leave them Edward's home in Chicago and Carlisle's in London, so it won't be hard to find them when the time comes. The house here is forfeit if they leave without it; it's mine to do with as I please.
Charlotte's already explained this to Rose and Emmett, so they can take anything they want and they'll tell Esme to do likewise. When we build the new training facility it will be much further back. We want it to be as far from the border with La Push as possible. I will not take lightly the phasing of any of those young men like the Cullens did! I see out of the corner of my eye Abriel has Alice trussed up like a hog. She plans to take her to the mountains and torture her slowly. I don't really know the details and I don't actually want to, too tell the truth. Char and Garrett are going with them to record it for the brother's Volturi.
"You have three weeks Carlisle until the terms of your contract with me or should I say Pacific Northwest Trust has with me runs out. Please make sure you take everything, as I'll be having the house demolished. Just one more thing you can thank Edward for! I was going to renew your contract when I got home, but well I never got there, did I? Oh, but don't leave the area Doctor until I no longer require your services" I say with some satisfaction,
OTITRM
Peter and I returned to Uncle Charlie's house, while the other's headed high into the mountains. I knew we wouldn't be seeing Alice ever again, But her demise was being recorded for posterity. I saw Peter wince a couple of times and knew he had seen something,
"Fuck! She's devious that Abriel. Remind me never to piss her off!" He says out of the blue,
"Do I want to know?" I quiz him and he shrugs,
"Not all but, well, you know how short Alice is?" he explains and I nod,
"She's moaned about it for years apparently. Abriel is grantin' her that, as a prisoner's last wish!" he tells me,
So it turns out if you tear for instance a vampire's leg or arm apart and hold them immobile the skin can be stretched slightly to rejoin. But if the vampire is kept really cold, like sub-zero and solid ice is placed between the bone and muscle they can't marry up. You can keep doing this several times before the skin can stretch no more without tearing itself apart if bent. Then if the vampire was able to stand their legs won't work because no venom is getting through or at least it's at a very slow sluggish rate. So it's pure agony and this takes about two weeks or so to do.
Then when the vampire is suddenly and violently reheated, like thrown in boiling water. The ice will melt allowing their leg or arm neck or shoulder bones and muscles to painfully rejoin finally. But their skin no longer fits their frame. It's a sagging mess hanging loosely below the original break. At this moment imagine this done to all the major bones simultaneously! Twice in each arm and leg, collar bones and shoulder blades, sternum you get the picture. When it's over the vampire looks like a Shar-pei pup with that distinct droopy skin! It would right itself over time, but Alice doesn't have the luxury of time anymore.
Now imagine how a vain and self-professed fashion diva like her will react to other's seeing her like that. This is the reason Garrett and Char are there to record her ignominy, her humiliation, her fall from grace so to speak. Peter says they will return after that and only Jasper and Abriel will film her slow and agonizing death at their hands. This is a direct warning to Aro; if he ever ventures outside the wall of Volterra again he too will meet his fate at their hands. But the video will be sent to the three brothers simultaneously, so he can't hide his part in all of this. They might remove him themselves or cast him out, who knows!
Whereas Abriel knows all about using ice to bring her enemies pain and madness. Jasper is equally versed in using fire as a slow excruciating way to kill them. But the upshot is Alice will die before the month is out! I know I plan to hunt down and kill both Jacob Black and Edward Cullen, but I don't think I could torture them. Mind you, I haven't been kept from my mate for half a century! Maybe that makes all the difference, or maybe the age of the vampire is a contributing factor. I can see myself taunting and hounding them, but not all-out torture. No, that's just not me and I hope it never is, but as I said only time will tell!
I will have to wait another couple of weeks before I can pretend to have gotten an infection in my leg. Meanwhile, Peter is going to help me with Uncle Charlie's things. I've been putting it off, but it needs to be done sooner rather than later. It's strange for us to have the house to ourselves, for once. In fact, it's turning into a getting to know each other time for us and that can only be good. We've discussed books, TV, theatre and music of course. We like many similar things and several we are agreeing to disagree on. But most importantly he's by my side and there to support me no matter what. This is a new concept for me.
In my pretend cast Peter takes me to the Goodwill in Port Angeles. Takes me to the supermarket, generally doing everything a person with a broken leg shouldn't really be doing. I remember to wince a couple of times at the checkouts because my boss will ask around. That's just how it is; nothing is taken at face value when you work for the CIA. By the end of the week, I get a public reprimand from Carlisle outside the police station. We are doing everything to make people aware I am a bad patient and my Doctor is exasperated with me.
Carlisle has put in his notice at the hospital too, stating his mother who lives in Prince Rupert, Canada is seriously ill and he wants to be nearby in case anything happens. Immediately everyone attributes his slight English accent as Canadian and accepts his explanation with no qualms. This covers why Esme, Alice, Rose and Emmett are already gone. Peter has made it known he's Jasper's real brother and he's now working with him on my house before returning down south with him later. Giving everyone the small world story, how Peter knows me from Arizona and came up here to help me out.
Finding his younger brother here of all places. Wow, imagine that! Any story is acceptable if it's spun right and vampires and CIA officers are good at that. Next, will be me being rushed to a private clinic with a frazzled Nurse Whitlock by my side. News will trickle back through that I may never walk again or even lose my leg and I've returned home to Phoenix. Peter, Jasper and Garrett will close up the renovated house, it'll go up for rental and they'll leave too. Forks will settle back into a quiet backwater where nothing exciting ever happens. If they only knew!
We once again use someone else's records as mine and have them sent to my boss. My leg, of course, is saved by a quick thinking Doctor Cullen before he leaves for Canada and I now request to resign due to the lengthy recovery I'm about to face. My whirlwind romance with Peter, who proposed when he thought he was going to lose me, is the cover for me moving to his family's ranch and slightly off the grid for now. It just has to be as close to the truth as possible to be believable. So many people make the mistake of having convoluted scenarios and they are always tripped up because of it. Nice and simple, as close to the truth as it can be.
OTITRM
"When did they say they'd be here Peter," I ask from my side of the couch,
"About noon suga'. They're lookin' forward to a break" Peter says looking up from his book,
"How is he? How did he handle all that?" I quiz him, worried about Jasper,
"The Major was so fuckin' glad Abriel turned off his gift while they were dealin' with Alice! I sure as shit wouldn't have wanted to feel all that pain either! But he's back to normal, well as normal as an empath can be" Peter says laughingly,
I know he was as worried about Jasper as Char and I were. He can't hide his feelings from me. We are so attuned to each other it's mind-boggling! Once they're back and we all get caught up with each other. We're heading off to start our or is that my hunt for Jacob Black. Peter said if he was any further north he'd fall in the goddamn water. I'm beginning to think he might start Island hopping and then head on over to Greenland. He's in wolf form Peter told me, but looking mighty rough. I don't care; I hope he's suffering somehow. At least he took my warning to heart and hasn't tried to find protection within another tribe.
I wouldn't really want to kill any innocents, but I would to get to him. He has to pay for his crimes and by now he must know how ill his father is. He can't go home either because the pack has shunned him, the tribe have no idea what happened. I know before we left Forks they were spreading the rumour around that he had been doing drugs and went off the rails and ran away. Once I've caught up to him and the deed is done, I'll inform Sam Uley and if they want his body they can have it. I don't care if I have to chase him across the world, I will find him and I will kill him.
"We're home!" Jasper's voice rang out,
"Ciao, everyone" (Hello) Abriel calls from the driveway too,
Char and Garrett appear beside Peter and me as we all hug each other firmly, but fondly. We are a family above all else, not a mock human one though. No, we are a vampire family of six and proud of it.
"How are you both? Did you learn anythin' new?" Peter asks as he holds Jasper just a tad longer than anyone else did,
"I'm okay my brother, feel! She did spill more details so it's going to be harder for Aro to explain this away" Jasper says,
As he holds Peter at arm's length and floods him with his emotions I guess. Peter visibly relaxes and slaps Jasper's back heartily. Char and I group hug Abriel and she sighs.
"Thank you both. I haven't had this for many years. Vera famiglia! (Real family) She says throatily,
"Me neither!" Char and I say together and we three break out into happy sobs, tinged with a little sadness,
The feel of our mates behind us, also joining our family hug completes it perfectly. Jasper sends us what he feels from each of us and it's a solid bond, an amazing bond.
We all help Abriel settle into Jasper's section of this magnificent house, no it's a home. They tell us that they will split their time between here and Italy. Both are more used to permanent living spaces than any of the rest of us. Peter, Char and Garrett because they are more nomadic, me because of my job. So we decide when they are stateside we will all come together here. While they are in Europe we will wander or visit with them and travel around over there. It sounds like a plan, one I can't do just yet, but soon. I have my death to fake and two problems to deal with first.
All my stuff from Forks and Phoenix is now here and Uncle Charlie's books are in the library along with so many others. Abriel says she will add some of her most favourite ones, her older irreplaceable ones. Peter had shown me the hidden area in the library. It has hermetically sealed shelving for older, rarer books. Some are Jasper's, some are Peter's, but many are Garrett's and they are delicate. I decide then and there to one day restore them all too as good as they can be. I see a future for myself learning the art of restoration, not just books. But also the many other treasures they have all accumulated over the years.
With my vampire eyesight and ultra steady cool hands, who better to save our history? Everyone else has a hobby that brings in income as well. Peter and his classic cars, Char makes exquisite jewellery, Garrett loves making period furniture. Jasper writes books on Warfare and Psychology, Abriel is an artist and sculptor. They all do these things under a pseudonym, eventually so will I. After all these things are rarely done in sunlight due to the damage it causes. Hell, it the perfect job for a vampire now I think about it! I tell them all my long term plan and they are so happy for me, to have found that perfect niche.
"It's the perfect thing for you suga'. With your eye for details, you'll see the flaws and defects that others could miss" Peter says hugging me tightly,
I think he's glad I have an outlet now because vampire life can become stale and wearing if you have no goals. Look at the Cullens, yes they had hobbies, but only Jasper, Carlisle and Esme made money from them. The other's just wasted their talents doing nothing at all for anyone but themselves.
"So darlin', what're your plans for the dog?" Jasper asks out of the blue.
"Yes, it's time for me to deal with Jacob Black isn't it? Peter says he's way up north, I'm convinced he'll hop on over to Greenland. As a wolf, his body heat and fur will protect him from the elements and he can eat on the go. If he does what my gut thinks he will, we'll end up in Europe before this is done and dusted!" I explain to them my thoughts,
"You might be right Bella, especially once he realises you are on his tail!" Garrett pipes in and I nod,
We all stand looking at a map of the world and see it's doable for us. Some of the longer stretches of water may be problematic, but with a small craft, he could manage them as well. The hardest part would be from Iceland to the Faroe Islands and from there to Norway.
"Damn fool should have gone the other way! Gettin' into Russia is far easier" Char says as she shakes her head,
I agree, but then planning ahead doesn't seem like that child's forte! So it was decided Peter and I leave on Friday and head for Canada. Jasper and Garrett start phoning all their contacts and tell them the Captain's mate is hunting a shifter wolf. If they see him not to engage, but to pass the info back to them. He really doesn't stand a chance and I think he's in for a shock when he realises vampires are everywhere. Peter and I pack light; we've got solar chargers for our phones and waterproof bags for our clothes and valuables too. The shifters don't know vampires do this sort of shit all the time. Not all have money to burn like the Cullens did!
OTITRM
Everyone saw us off and wished me good hunting! I know it sounds bad, but that child made his bed. He thought nobody could stop him, the big bad future Alpha! Now he's nobody, disowned and unwanted, I wonder if he still thinks it was worth killing my Uncle for? Peter had his friend Conrad on the lookout for a sign of the mutt entering Greenland. That would be his first taste of finding others of our kind for Jacob Black; the violet-eyed Conrad was unique even amongst us. His half human, half marine life diet was not something many indulged in.
I was really enjoying running with Peter and the being alone together didn't hurt either. Ours wasn't the normal type of courtship, but it was working for us.
"You seem happy suga', what's got you smilin' like the cat that got the cream?" Peter asks, with a big smile of his own,
"You! I was thinking about you and me and that makes me very happy" I explain laughing back at him,
He pulls me to a stop and wraps his arms around me. The kiss he gives me is from the bottom of his heart and I can feel us both purring to each other. God, I fucking love him!