Do you remember what you said to me?
'Cause we lost track of time
Yeah, we lost track of time
You said that maybe this is where it ends
Take a bow for the bad decisions that we made
Bad decisions that we made
And if we're going down in flames
Take a bow for the bad decisions that we made
Bad decisions that we made
So we'll make the same mistakes
'Till the morning breaks
Chapter 39: The Final Plan
Alice POV
Esme was not my mother. I cannot even remember my real mother. And if I really thought about that, it made me quite sad. But I guess it saved me from the truth. In my imagination, my real mother was this wonderful and amazing person that loved me more than anything. But in reality, there was a possibility that she was not such a woman. Ignorance was bliss in my mind.
No, Esme was not my mother. But she sure as hell was my mom.
"Alice Swan!" The fiercely loving woman was in front of me the second my foot had reached the first floor. I gulped at her use of last name. When your mom says your last name, you know you're in for a good ass whooping. "Did you bite Bella?!"
"Well, it's complicated."
"YES OR NO IS NOT A COMPLICATED ANSWER YOUNG LADY!"
"Yes!" I cowered in fear like a small child that had just broken the expensive family vase.
"Why would you – after all – why would you do such a thing?" Esme was furious for a good reason. She had just thought she had lost her youngest daughter for good, and then I went and bit her. It didn't matter that I meant no harm from it.
"It didn't hurt her!"
"DID YOUR TEETH PIERCE HER SKIN?"
"Well, yes. But –"
"There are no buts here Alice!"
"But she said it was OK!"
"Yes, and we both know that a lot of things she says are 'OK' are most definitely NOT OK!"
"Wh-what is that supposed to mean?!" I stuttered and took a step back from her harsh accusation.
"Oh come on Alice! You know that woman better than any of us!"
"But what does-?"
"You and I both know that she lets certain things go that any normal person would not." Esme ended by disappointedly looking away from me, turning my insides into a big pile of self-loathing mush.
"That's Bella. She's always been ridiculously selfless. It's her weakness. But what am I supposed to do about it? I can't just change her Esme."
"No of course not! But you're not particularly helping her." She was obviously pissed at me for something other than biting her.
"I don't know what you want me to do here! And why is this suddenly about my wife's hero complex? I've accepted that part of her already!"
"Well maybe you shouldn't! Because it's going to get her actually killed one day!" Before I had the chance to rebuttal, my mother stormed off in a fit of rage.
"Esme! Esme come back!" I went to follow her, but two familiar heartbeats were approaching the back porch. Now was not the time.
"Hey there short stuff." Liam strutted in with a goofy grin on his face. It told me all was well between the two again.
"Good to see you too Pup." I quipped as he bear hugged me.
"Is that your new nickname for me?"
"Yeah?"
"Not the greatest. I'd keep thinking if I were you."
"Shut up you jerk." I giggled and pushed him away, catching Bella's eye as she leaned against the door frame. "I missed you Liam. It's good to see you."
"And to you my dear." He tipped an imaginary hat my way and then turned around to wink at Bella. "I shall leave you two alone. Although I heard this rumor from Emmett on my way in about what you two do on your own time."
"EMMETT I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" I screamed to the house, knowing wherever my deviant brother was, he could hear it. Sure enough, I heard gruff chuckling from somewhere upstairs. Liam joined in and wandered around me to the spare guest room.
"How long do you think he'll be using that ammunition?" Bella asked, her mood unreadable.
"Oh god. At least a century." I buried my face in my hands in shame. Bella laughed quietly and wrapped me into her arms.
"I think we'll live." I grunted unhappily and nuzzled myself further into her chest. "How was your chat with Esme?" I grunted again, not wanting to relive that argument so soon after. Bella rubbed soothing circles along my back. "That bad huh?"
"Worse." I popped my head up to look at her. "I'm sorry for biting you." She smiled and kissed the top of my head.
"Don't be." She withdrew from our embrace but I caught her hand, pulling her back. "What?"
"What I did wasn't ok Bella."
"I gave you my permission."
"But I still shouldn't have done it."
"Hey, stop that." She whispered and used her free hand to run a light finger down my jawline. I groaned and moved away. The damn woman was like catnip to me.
"So I take it your talk with Liam went well?" I walked to the kitchen, keeping my back turned to her.
"Yeah yeah. It got a little heated in the beginning. But all is forgiven now." I nodded absentmindedly and fiddled with the faucet. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." I automatically lied. "So all is forgiven huh?"
"Uh huh." She could tell I was off and walked over towards me, observing.
"That's good."
"It is." I heard her jump up on the counter and sit, watching me. "I actually learned a lot."
"Oh yeah?"
"Mmmm." She hummed, still studying my mood. "I understand why you left me now." I winced violently at the topic. "And I'm sorry I was so hard on you before."
"You had plenty of reason to." I swallowed the venom in my throat roughly, holding back a sob.
"Yes, but so did you." Bella hopped off the counter and caught my waist in one fluid movement, turning me around to face her. "I'm sorry for being so harsh on you." I glanced down to her hand on my hip and looked at those inky black numbers along her forearm, permanently scarring my mate.
"Stop." I blinked and pushed her away from me again.
"Stop what?" She furrowed her eyebrows together, genuinely confused. "What is with you?"
"Just – just stop forgiving me Bella! Esme was right."
"Esme? Esme was right about what?" She went to comfort me, but I shoved her, a little too rough this time. Bella stumbled back into the kitchen island, definitely bruising some bones.
"Fuck I'm sorry."
"Alice just talk to me."
"Stop being so nice!"
"Huh?" I was definitely making things worse, I knew that. And poor Bella, she had no idea what had brought on this argument. "I am so fucking confused right now. What is wrong?!"
"I-I don't know ok? It's just - I'm sick and tired of you forgiving so readily when some things shouldn't be forgotten so easily!"
"Are you serious right now? You're really mad at me for letting things go?" She was still trying to stay calm and collected, but the absurdity of my reason was thinning her patience.
"Well, yeah." I squeaked, kind of lamely. "You're always trying to be this completely selfless person. And I think sometimes you forget about taking care of yourself first."
"Alice." She started softly, reaching for my hand. "Life with all that resentment to hold onto? That's no way to live."
"But – "
"No no. Just listen for a second love. While you make extremely valid points about my tendency to, how shall I put this nicely? Continuously almost kill myself every other month or so?" She smiled crookedly at me and I couldn't help but to smile back.
"You could say that."
"But you should know that I'm never going to put myself first, alright? You are my priority, at all times."
"Bella – "
"No disputes Al." She booped my nose with her finger to keep things light. "You can't look me in the eye right now and tell me that you wouldn't do the same to me."
"Well, no but – "
"Then no but's about it. Ok?"
"I just don't want you to die." I whispered truthfully, falling back into her awaiting arms.
"And I won't." Her eyes were fierce, but I couldn't help but run my hand along the new scar on her face.
"I've heard that before."
"I won't." Maybe it was her tone, or the way her strong body surrounded me, but I believed her.
My irritation had dissipated as soon as it had come on, and I finally fully relaxed back into her. Bella let out a distinct content sigh at my body language. I was home again.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you." My voice came out all muffled as I had kept my face buried in her overheated skin.
"Well, I forgive you. And I always will." Small vibrations rose from her low chuckle.
"And I'm sorry that I bit you." I finally peeked my head up again, biting my lip in embarrassment.
"It's alright. I liked it." She winked down at me and I released an uncontrollable giggle.
"ISABELLA SWAN!" Esme had unfortunately returned with impeccable timing.
"Oh shit!" My lovable clumsy wolf tried to escape our embrace and run for the hills, but got caught in my legs and promptly fell to the kitchen floor rather loudly. In her moment of terror from my mother, she decided it seemed reasonable to try and rapidly crawl away.
"Get back here young lady!" Esme had her classic motherly rage face back on when she stormed towards us. As I had already been yelled at, the hilarity of the situation was not lost on me. I went into a full fit of giggles at the scene.
"What the hell is going on down here?" The combination of my laughter, Esme's yelling, and Bella's clumsy moment had alerted Rosalie, who came downstairs to see what was causing the ruckus.
"Nothing!" Bella jumped up, her face a dark glowing red.
"There will be no biting in this house you two!" Esme pulled Bella by the collar of her shirt and gave her a total death glare while she growled at me. "I mean it."
"Y-yes ma'am." Bella gulped loudly. I honestly don't even think she was this afraid of Aro or Caius.
"Good." She looked pointedly at me and I nodded fervently.
"Are we done here?" Rosalie strode our way, arms crossed, with her ice queen expression back in place. "Cause I would kind of like to have a family meeting."
"Oh for god's sake Rose!" I cried out, beyond annoyed. "The whole family knows already! What else could you possibly blab about?!"
"Not about your extracurricular activities." Rosalie hissed back in response. "I was thinking maybe we could talk about what you two have been up to for the past several weeks? And maybe come up with a game plan? We're kind of sitting ducks right now."
"Rosalie's right." Carlisle called, slowly strolling down the stairs with Edward on his heels. "But I think sitting ducks is the exact thing we want to be right now."
"Why's that?" I asked, confused by his sudden confidence in our situation. I looked to Bella, who was usually one step ahead when it came to scheming. But she was leaning against the counter, just as confused as I. She shrugged when I gave her a questioning look.
"Because Aro's regime is falling, and he knows it." Carlisle simply stated, gesturing for us to all move to the living room. One by one, everyone in the house gathered around, just like old times. "He's all alone. Well, mostly alone. Sure he has a few stragglers, but no guard. Nothing like what he had."
"He can recruit?" Liam suggested, finally joining the party.
"He can try. But no one's going to jump aboard his sinking ship now. The Volturi is over. The whole vampire world knows it now."
"Ok. I guess I'm still a little confused on how that helps us?" Emmett asked, looking around to see if anyone else was catching on.
"Yeah. If anything it'll just make it worse. He'll be self-destructive, nothing to lose." Even Jasper the great Major didn't see my father's point.
"Yes and no. He will be desperate. But he knows his time left on Earth is limited. So he's going to spend it getting rid of the only threat he thinks is better than him." Carlisle finished quietly and left us to figure out his puzzle.
"Great." Bella groaned, comprehending what he meant right away. "Just fucking great."
"I still don't understand." I said rather stupidly, everyone else was catching on but me.
"It means he knows he's going to die Al, he's willing. As long as he kills me before he goes." It was amazing how something so horrible could come out of her mouth, and it would still sound like an angel speaking.
"No." I jumped up right away. "No! That's not going to happen."
"Obviously we're not going to let anything happen to Bella." Carlisle got up and walked over to us, placing a fatherly hand on mine and Bella's shoulders. "But it does give us leverage."
"You say leverage, but I'm pretty sure the word you're looking for is bait." Rosalie hissed, suddenly standing in a defensive stance opposite Carlisle.
"Easy Rosie." Emmett went to hold her back, but she growled at his touch. "I'm sure that's not what Carlisle had in mind."
"Surely not." Esme joined Rosalie soon and my father had to backtrack.
"Easy, of course not. But it doesn't hurt that his only option is to come to us now."
"All we have to do is wait." My moronic wife unsurprisingly was on his side.
"You can't be serious Bella! This man is the only weapon that can kill you! And you're fine sitting here and waiting for him to come?!" She flinched at my screaming.
"I'm not a helpless animal here Alice. I can defend myself if need be. Why do you keep forgetting that?"
"Because you keep getting hurt!"
"Ok. Ok I will admit that is true. But we're not alone this time. We've got plenty of back up." She waved her hand, motioning for me to look around at this assembled family.
"And more." Carlisle reassured. "I've already called the Denali's. And I'm sure others will be willing to join us."
"It's not a bad plan." Jasper finally added some input to the problem, only angering me more. Edward nodded in agreement.
"Oh come on! This is ridiculous!" I stamped my foot at my brothers. "We just went through this! I am not dealing with that again."
"You won't." Liam whispered. "Not this time."
"No. No I just can't handle this anymore! Why are our lives so difficult?! Why can't we be a normal, happy, and healthy family?!"
"Of vampires? No." Scoffed an amused Rosalie.
"This is fucked up." I fell back into the sofa, exhausted by life. I longed for the days when Victoria and James were our only problems, and Bella was a human. I missed our lives without all this Volturi drama.
"It is." Bella knelt down in front of me. "But we can end it." She reached out and squeezed my hand. "One more fight. That's all I ask of you. One more fight, and it'll all be over."
I looked up and around to my watching family. Together again at last, in the same house. The image in front of me was one of power, but this was the Volturi. A reign that had lasted hundreds and hundreds of years. And we were the ones that were to end it?
"You promise?" She smiled that wolfy smile that I couldn't resist.
"Promise."