The Verdict
During our earlier meetings, the room had been occupied only by Aro, Marcus, Caius, and a few of their guard, Felix, Chelsea, and Renata. Now, though Marcus and Caius were absent, much of the rest of the coven was present, wanting to see the entertainment we were bound to provide. I ground my teeth together and tried to remain calm. It would not do to let Bella see how scared I was. I wondered how she was maintaining her outward air of calm, the only hint to her nervousness in how tightly she clung to me, her trembling breaths, and how fast her heart raced. Proud once again of my Bella's courage, I took heart, borrowing from her strength and the knowledge of our love to see me through this ordeal.
As enthusiastic as ever, Aro's voice rang out as he welcomed our party. "Jane, dear one, you've returned!" As though she had been gone for months rather than minutes, he swept over to her and lightly kissed her mouth.
"Yes, Master," she said, her pleasure in his approval evident. "I brought him back alive, just as you wished." …those idiots were about to dismember him, and the sister you wanted so much…
"Ah, Jane, you are such a comfort to me." He smiled at her and her face glowed, a smile touching her lips. I knew she'd been speaking directly to him, knowing he would hear her thoughts while he touched her.
Then Aro turned his attention to us with a broad smile. "And Alice and Bella, too! This is a happy surprise! Wonderful!" I hated hearing her name on his lips, and pressed my own together to avoid saying something we would all regret.
As he had done earlier when attempting to convince me to join him rather than die, he kept trying to hide his thoughts from me. The images were clear to me, though, even if I only caught a word or two. The guard had tracked the progress of a car that had attempted to force itself through the restricted city. Demetri hadn't recognized the driver, but his tracking instincts had told him a vampire was driving. He'd been shocked to see a human in the passenger seat.
Disgusted, I realized they had known. Aro had allowed the events to play out, curious to see how it would end. How the suspense had thrilled him! Would the human girl reach me in time, or would Felix tear me apart?
"Felix, be a dear and tell my brothers about our company. I'm sure they wouldn't want to miss this."
"Yes, Master," Felix replied as Jane had done and melted back through the doorway.
"You see, Edward? What did I tell you? Aren't you glad that I didn't give you what you wanted yesterday?" His tone was condescending, like he was scolding a small child.
I knew it would not be in our best interests to antagonize him, so avoided mentioning his deception, though my fear increased yet again. I felt my arms tighten around Bella and I answered truthfully, "Yes, Aro, I am."
"I love a happy ending," Aro said with a sigh. "They are so rare. But I want the whole story. How did this happen? Alice?" He turned to face her. "Your brother seemed to think you infallible, but apparently there was some mistake."
He had watched my memories of Alice's visions, how my family relied on them, how I had seen them come true time and again. If Alice had had a vision of Bella dying, how was it that she was there to stand at my side?
"Oh, I'm far from infallible," she assured him. She, too, was attempting to remain nonchalant, her tightly balled fists the only visible evidence of her anxiety. She had no more desire than I did to become a part of his coven, her visions flickering faster than I could catch them as every word, every facial expression, affected how this day would end. "As you can see today, I cause problems as often as I cure them."
"You're too modest," Aro scolded her. "I've seen some of your more amazing exploits and I must admit I've never observed anything like your talent. Wonderful!"
Alice glanced at me, knowing I must have had no choice but to tell him of her. Seen? How can he have seen me? Never mind. It's not important, Edward. It'll be okay…
I swallowed hard, wishing I could feel as certain. Having seen Carlisle's memories of the Volturi for myself, I had known of Aro's talent. He had not shared as much of this part of his past with Alice and she did not know the details of the coven the way I did. I felt guilty, exposing Alice to Aro as I had. That I had been out of my mind with grief was no excuse. Alice was my sister, and had I put her in danger.
"I'm sorry," Aro said as though he was caught being an impolite host, "we haven't been introduced properly at all, have we? It's just that I feel like I know you already, and I tend to get a little ahead of myself. Your brother introduced us yesterday, in a peculiar way. You see, I share some of your brother's talent, only I am limited in a way that he is not." He was shaking his head ruefully.
"And also exponentially more powerful." Limited, I scoffed. I turned to Alice to explain. "Aro needs physical contact to hear your thoughts, but he hears much more than I do. You know I can only hear what's passing through your head in the moment. Aro hears every thought your mind has ever had."
I saw her eyes widen as she took in my meaning. Every thought? So that's why he wants me so badly. He would be able to see my visions of the future… all of them… and would use me to gain yet more power, more control.
I nodded.
"But to be able to hear from a distance…" Aro sighed in longing and gestured toward us. "That would be so convenient."
And that's why he wants you. We would add the present and the future to his past. I felt her icy fear. This was why only rarely did she see us escaping. Aro wanted us, both of us. Badly. My talent would extend his own, but he wanted Alice especially.
Aro's attention was drawn behind us and we all turned to see Felix escorting Marcus and Caius. "Marcus, Caius, look!" he exclaimed in his sing-song voice. "Bella is alive after all, and Alice is here with her! Isn't that wonderful?" Though neither of them responded, Aro's fascination did not waver. "Let us have the story."
Marcus paused and brushed his hand against Aro's. He raised an eyebrow in surprise at what Marcus had shared. Aro had considered my desire to die melodramatic and unnecessary – so I had lost a girlfriend, so what? She was only a human – but even though he had seen my memories, apparently they had not been enough to convey to him the depth of my feelings for Bella, and certainly not hers for me. He had thought it was merely her blood that drew me, as blind to her perfection as any human. I snorted, contemptuous. Alice glanced at me, questioning what had happened.
"Thank you, Marcus. That's quite interesting," Aro commented. He saw a way to get what he wanted, was jubilant. Marcus's bored expression never changed as he took his seat. Shaking his head, staring at us with a new understanding, Aro murmured to himself, "Amazing. Absolutely amazing." …truly, a family, not a coven… and family members would sacrifice much to save their loved ones… He met my eyes. I wonder, dear Edward, how much are you willing to sacrifice… to save your singer's life? …
In his mind, I saw flickering images of Alice with a black cloak and red eyes, and another of myself dressed the same way. I could tell Aro was trying not to think of such things, but he was not used to shielding his thoughts. The harder he tried not to think of them, the more clear the images became.
What? Edward, what is going on? Alice was frustrated. She was so used to knowing more than those around her and her lack of understanding of this group of dangerous predators had her upset and anxious.
I explained quickly, "Marcus sees relationships. He's surprised by the intensity of ours." I knew that what surprised Marcus was not just Bella and I, but that of the three of us for each other; Bella and Alice, Alice and myself. I wondered briefly how he would have reacted to the rest of my family. We were unusually close, our bonds of love strong, unwavering. Aro planned on using our ties to each other to bind us to him.
"So convenient." Aro knew that I was answering Alice's unspoken question and smiled. "It takes quite a bit to surprise Marcus, I can assure you." He pondered Bella for a moment, recalling my memories of her scent, the affect she had had on me that first day, the affect he was sure she was having on me now.
"It's just so difficult to understand, even now." Aro inhaled, tasting her scent for himself. He didn't deny her appeal, but knew that it was a pale shadow of how she smelled to me. "How can you stand so close to her like that?"
"It's not without effort," I told him, truthfully. After seven months away, the resistance I had built up against her pull was gone. Strangely, though, as much as she pulled at me, as strong as her blood smelled to me, my need to drink her blood was… gone.
"But still," he persisted, "la tua cantante! What a waste!" …to live on animal blood… and I caught the revulsion in his mind at this thought …and then to be given such a treasure and not partake!?
I laughed derisively. How little he knew. "I look at it more as a price." If the cost of her life was to forgo a moment of pleasure, I would pay for the gift of her life gladly. The brief pleasure that drinking her blood again would give to me could never be enough to make up for eternity without her. The very thought of tasting her was no longer one of desire, but was now one of pain.
"A very high price," he said, seeing my memories again, showing me what it had been like to taste her blood.
"Opportunity cost." I clenched my jaw against the memory, but it didn't have the affect on me that he intended. The burning in my throat was nothing to me. There was no pain that could equal what her death had done to me.
He mocked me, laughing, "If I hadn't smelled her through your memories, I wouldn't have believed the call of anyone's blood could be so strong. I've never felt anything like it myself. Most of us would trade much for such a gift, and yet you…"
"Waste it," I snarled. Annoyed, I narrowed my eyes at him. There was so little he wanted out of his life. To gather about himself any powerful creature to serve him, to acquire knowledge, and to feed – his thirst for people's memories was surpassed only by his thirst for blood.
He laughed at me again, "Ah, how I miss my friend Carlisle! You remind me of him – only he was not so angry."
"Carlisle outshines me in many other ways as well," I answered, my respect for my father apparent in my voice. Carlisle had been my role-model for decades, but I always fell short of his example. Rosalie had been right to call me a selfish jerk.
"I certainly never thought to see Carlisle bested for self-control of all things, but you put him to shame." …never imagined that even Carlisle would be able to work with bleeding humans ...in a hospital, of all places…
"Hardly," I said, truly angry now. I hated being a source of entertainment to him. I could imagine only too well how he would torment me in much the same way he had Carlisle were I to enter his service. My ability to resist the call of Bella's blood was still astounding to him, and I felt his desire to see how far he could push me.
"I am gratified by his success," Aro said, recalling at the same time as I did how he used to offer bleeding humans to try to tempt Carlisle. "Your memories of him are quite a gift for me, though they astonish me exceedingly. I am surprised by how it… pleases me, his success in this unorthodox path he's chosen. I expected that he would waste, weaken with time. I'd scoffed at his plan to find others who would share his peculiar vision. Yet, somehow, I'm happy to be wrong." I knew that he spoke the truth. I had seen when he watched my memories how he delighted in Carlisle's self-control.
"But your restraint!" he said with a sigh, and I saw him remember the way her blood had tasted to me - saw it and knew that he was deliberately taunting me with the memory this time. "I did not know such restraint was possible. To inure yourself against such a siren call, not just once, but again and again – if I had not felt it myself, I would not have believed."
He waited, watching me for a reaction. I held myself still, watching Alice see me die again and again, at every choice I made. Every choice but this one: to do nothing. It was unbelievably difficult! Everything in me wanted to rip him to pieces.
He taunted me once more, "Just remembering how she appeals to you… it makes me thirsty." He imagined himself tasting her and I tensed to spring at him, furious.
No! Edward, this is what he wants! Alice cried. It took every ounce of self control I had not to fling myself at the monster. Concentrating on Bella, I counted her frantic heartbeats, heard her trembling breaths. I knew she was terrified and held myself still. I had to get her out of here, to safety. Sending a silent thanks to Alice, I waited for Aro's next move.
…however …I would even be willing to let the human go… so long as you …or at least your sister remained… He paused and considered his memories of my life. Specifically, the times when my temper had gotten me into trouble. He'd been sure he would be able to provoke me into an attack which would allow him to negotiate with me. In exchange for letting Bella live after I attempted to attack him, I would be forced to agree to serve him.
…could the human's death be the only thing to convince this boy to attack me… hold her life in my hands… kill her right now before he could stop me… Vividly, he pictured Bella's death for me, certain I would react. He eyed me, waiting calmly for me to attack him. I couldn't hold back the low rumble in my chest, but I refused to move.
Surprised by my lack of response, he said, soothingly, "Don't be disturbed, I mean her no harm." He decided to change the direction of his attack. "But I am so curious, about one thing in particular. May I?" he asked me, eyeing Bella in delight. How it would please him to be able to read her silent mind. Almost as excited by the prospect as he was – to be able to hear at last into her thoughts – I was still furious at his dismissal of her, like she was my pet, to ask permission of me to allow him to read her.
"Ask her."
"Of course, how rude of me!" Aro turned to Bella now, looking at her in anticipation. "Bella, I'm fascinated that you are the one exception to Edward's impressive talent – so very interesting that such a thing should occur! And I was wondering, since our talents are similar in many ways, if you would be so kind as to allow me to try – to see if you are an exception for me, as well?"
Looking into her face once again – at last – her terrified eyes met mine and I did my best to contain my fury and my fear. She needed me to be strong for her, just as I needed her strength. I did not want him anywhere near her. For him to invade her mind as he had done mine was repulsive to me. I wondered what she thought of him, if seeing this ancient monster would change in any way the way she saw me. Hoping for her sake that he would be unable to read her, and hoping – selfishly – for mine that he would, I nodded to her. We really had little choice either way, just as I had had none the previous time.
Her trembling fingers the only evidence of her fear, she raised her hand toward him and he hastened to her, eager. Taking her hand in his, covering them with his other as he had with mine, he stared into her eyes. I watched as he first looked at her with confidence - he had never been thwarted and was sure there was some flaw in me that made me unable to hear her – then, incredulous, he stared at her as he saw… nothing.
I smirked in satisfaction.
"So very interesting," he said, truly amazed. Never had he been blocked before. I saw him begin to understand my fascination with her, but this only heightened my anxiety. Realizing that his attack on me would need to be more direct, he came to a sudden decision. He shook his head and said, "A first. I wonder if she is immune to our other talents… Jane, dear?"
"No!" I cried, and prepared myself to leap at Aro.
Alice grabbed my arm, Don't, Edward! But I shook her off, terrified. Jane's memories of tormenting her human victims were vivid in my mind.
"Yes, Master?" Jane was smiling now, anticipating Bella's screams.
Growling furiously at Aro, only Alice's certain knowledge of Bella's immediate death if I acted kept me from launching myself at his hideous form. Shock swirled around the room. None of them understood why I would react so violently at the threat of harm to a human. Aro, though, knew exactly what he was doing. Felix laughed silently and moved to defend Aro. He had been wanting to rip me to shreds for too long not to act now. Aro didn't want me harmed, though. He wanted my service and could not get that if Felix killed me. Aro's commanding glare stopped him, but I never took my eyes off of Aro.
Aro ignored me, continuing to address Jane, "I was wondering dear one, if Bella is immune to you."
Barely conscious of Alice's cry of "Don't!" I launched myself, not at Aro, but at Jane, who turned to smile at me. At once, I felt in every cell the fires of my transformation, while at the same time, the cumulative pain of the past seven months swept through me. I felt the misery of missing Bella combined with the horror of seeing her smile as she threw herself off of the cliff. But worse – far worse – was the knowledge that I had caused her death, that she had killed herself because of me.
Incapable of moving, I fell to the ground and writhed in agony, forgetting for the moment that Bella was alive and standing just feet away from me. All I knew was the pain of her loss, of her death at my hands. All I could see was her face, floating in dark water, with her hair swirling around her still lifeless form. It went on for years - centuries - and I knew with certainty that I had indeed died and was burning in hell for my sins.
With a suddenness that left me gasping, it was over. I lay on the floor, cold, undamaged in body if not in mind. Reeling, I gradually heard the only sound that meant anything to me - a frantic heart beat, one I would recognize no matter how long I had been apart from her. Bella is not dead! As this realization swept through me, I sat up. In the same instant, I felt Jane's mind stab once again, but not at me this time. I leapt to my feet, looking with horror at Bella as she met my eyes with the same expression.
I waited in dread to see her fall to the ground, determined to pound Jane into dust the moment she was distracted, but Bella only stood still, clasped in Alice's arms, watching me with grief in her eyes. I felt Jane's mind push harder at Bella. The echo of the pain she was trying to cause her seared across my skin from the fierceness of her concentration, but still, Bella did not move.
I glanced at Jane, seeing an angry scowl contorting her face at being thwarted.
Relief flooded me then as I knew that my Bella - the exception to every rule - was immune to Jane as well. Instantly, I was at Bella's side, pulling her trembling body against mine.
"Ha, ha, ha! This is wonderful!" exclaimed Aro. I heard Jane's intention to spring at Bella, to force her to suffer one way or another, but Aro stopped her. "Don't be put out, dear one. She confounds us all." He placed a hand on her shoulder, gripping her tight to make her stay in place. She was hissing in fury, glaring at Bella. Aro continued to chuckle, then he turned to me.
"You are very brave, Edward, to endure in silence. I asked Jane to do that to me once – just out of curiosity." He shook his head and my lips curled in disgust. Bravery had nothing to do with it. I couldn't imagine screaming doing anyone any good when in hell. It certainly had made no difference during my transformation.
The preliminaries over with now, I could feel him building up to the reason we were there.
"So what do we do with you now?" Aro wondered, sighing. I felt Alice tense at my side as Aro wavered back and forth, deliberating the options.
"I don't suppose there's any chance that you've changed your mind?" he said to me. "Your talent would be an excellent addition to our little company."
Watching Alice's visions carefully, I spoke slowly, making sure to know the outcome of every word. "I'd… rather… not."
"Alice?" Aro turned to her now. "Would you perhaps be interested in joining with us?"
"No, thank you," she said politely.
"And you, Bella?"
I hissed at Aro, furious at the direction his attack on me had taken. He envisioned turning Bella, and I knew how much she wanted to be a vampire. I was terrified that she might accept his offer, knowing that if she did, Aro would win all three of us.
"What?" demanded Caius.
"Caius, surely you see the potential. I haven't seen a prospective talent so promising since we found Jane and Alec. Can you imagine the possibilities when she is one of us?" Aro's excitement was evident, as was Jane's fury and Felix's disappointment. I couldn't stop myself from growling at the lot of them.
In a small voice that nevertheless was calm, she whispered, "No, thank you," to my immense relief.
"That's unfortunate. Such a waste."
A waste. The very words he had used as I left him the last time to seek my death.
"Join or die, is that it? I suspected as much when we were brought to this room. So much for your laws." I said, scorn in my voice.
I was deliberately reminding him that we had done nothing wrong, nothing to warrant our deaths, at least not according to their rules - or their living arrangements. These vampires lived for their laws. The strength of their coven depended on them. If they were to break their own laws, to kill us without cause, their coven members would know that they could meet the same undeserved fate and their power would crumble.
Aro was surprised at my tone. At the force behind my words. I had seen him savoring Bella's death, enjoying watching me die at Felix's hands for continuing to refuse him. Alice, of course, would be kept alive. Backtracking now, unused to having his own thoughts read, he denied, "Of course not. We were already convened here, Edward, awaiting Heidi's return. Not for you."
"Aro, the law claims them," Caius insisted. The most militant of the three, he was the one who had actually written the laws, and the one who left the castle – with the company of his guard – the most often to enforce them. Exposure of our world to a human means death.
"How so?" I demanded, forcing him to prove his case to their coven.
Caius pointed at Bella, accusingly. "She knows too much. You have exposed our secrets."
Thinking of Gianna, I pointed out, "There are a few humans in on your charade here, as well."
Sneering at me, Caius responded, "Yes, but when they are no longer useful to us, they will serve to sustain us. That is not your plan for this one. If she betrays our secrets, are you prepared to destroy her? I think not."
Coming to my defense, Bella actually spoke to him, "I wouldn't – " but she broke off when he shot an icy glare at her.
"Nor do you intend to make her one of us," Caius pointed out, knowing that if I did, I would have done so already. "Therefore, she is a vulnerability. Though it is true, for this, only her life is forfeit. You may leave if you wish."
How they twisted the laws to suit themselves, I thought, my curled lip exposing my teeth to him. In the past, exposure had meant death for all parties involved. But Caius knew that Aro wanted Alice and me in his service. To twist the laws to allow us to live was not – quite – the same as twisting them to demand our deaths.
"That's what I thought," he said, smugly. Anticipating his master's next orders, Felix leaned toward Bella, his only thoughts revolving around his thirst and anticipation of her taste. Preparing myself to fight him, Aro stopped me with an image of Bella, like the image Alice had seen, cold, with crimson eyes, but standing at his side, protecting him as part of his guard. And at her side: me. My eyes a glowing red. He followed this with another image – the other possibility he was offering me – to grant my initial request of him. I saw myself and Bella dead at his feet, Alice being hauled off, punished for trying to defend me.
"Unless… unless you do intend to give her immortality?" Aro said, hopefully.
I hesitated. I had been tormented by the thought of eternity in Bella's arms. How I wanted that future for myself. But I had seen so much death at the hands of the newborns I had interacted with recently and the thought of her like them… Was the only way to save her life to take her humanity from her?
Temporizing, I spoke, "And if I do?"
Excited at my unexpected willingness, Aro smiled at me, "Why then, you would be free to go home and give my regards to my friend Carlisle." He saw my hesitation, though and said, "But I'm afraid you would have to mean it." He extended his hand to me once again, wanting to see my true intentions.
Pressing my lips hard together to keep them from trembling, I stared into Bella's deep brown eyes, trying to not imagine them a vivid red, trying not to know what that would mean. I knew I couldn't let Aro touch me, because I did not want Bella to be like us.
"Mean it," she whispered to me. "Please."
I had never been able to resist giving her what she wanted, but she didn't know what it would mean. Even seeing these monsters, I knew she had some glorified vision of what our life was like. Though she knew I had killed long ago, she didn't know what a constant struggle it was not to do so still. She also did not know that I had killed again. Vampires though they were, they still met death at my hands. I knew what it had done to me and I couldn't bear to see her hate herself, or me for doing that to her. But I had just been through her death once and knew that I would do anything to prevent it from happening again.
I gasped as Alice stepped toward Aro, her hand extended. Feeling he had won a great victory, he swept over to Alice and took her hand in his. I had seen Alice's visions of Bella like us more times than I could count and I knew that she was showing Aro this very future. Using Aro's distraction, I scanned the minds in the room, looking for something that could help us survive without losing the very thing we were fighting to save.
Felix's mind was shallow, existing only to feed and to fight.
Afton had a personal shield, but was more like Felix, a fighter, whose purpose was physical defense.
Jane enjoyed her position as punisher, but was not truly a threat to Bella other than as any vampire was.
Since Jane could not hurt her, Alec's ability was not likely to be affective against Bella either, but even if he were, the absence of sensation was not a weapon Aro would need to use against Bella.
Renata was Aro's personal shield, protecting him from attack. Bella was not about to attack him, nor – with Jane and Felix in such close proximity – would I be able to get close enough to him to do so.
Sampling Chelsea's mind, I understood at last what she had been trying to do to me earlier. Chelsea was a large part of the reason Aro had such a strong following. She caused the members of his guard to be attached to him. As we waited, I felt her trying again and again to bind Alice, Bella, and myself to Aro. She reached out to us, looping her mind around us and tried to forge a link between us and Aro. Every time she did, I felt the sensation of ants crawling over me - a prickling, stinging, drawing me toward Aro. Abruptly, as she stretched the tenuous link in Aro's direction, the ants would disappear, the link broken.
I felt her attempting to sever my links to Alice as well, but she was no more successfull in these attempts as she was in linking us to Aro. Chelsea's ability to affect relationships worked only on those loose ties of most coven members. They were easily made and easily broken. While she could strengthen what existed already, she was unable to sever the stronger bonds of love. The power of Bella and my love for each other was far beyond her ability to affect. Though not as strong, the love I felt for my family was unknown to her and well beyond her abilities at any rate.
I knew there were other guard members in the castle, standing watch over Aro and Caius's mates, but they were no threat to Bella or myself.
It was Demetri who I was worried more about. He was a tracker. Unlike my pitiful attempts at tracking Victoria, he was a natural and once he had caught the flavor of a person's mind, he could find them anywhere in the world. There was no place I would be able to hide from him that he could not find me. Bella, on the other hand…
"Ha, ha, ha!" Aro laughed, looking up. "That was fascinating!"
Alice smiled at him. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."
"To see the things you've seen – especially the ones that haven't happened yet!" He was shaking his head, wanting her in his service more now than he had before.
"But that will," Alice said, with calm certainty. I saw her again envision Bella, cold and dead, her eyes a vivid crimson. No, I thought with dread. The other possibility, that of Bella lifeless and still was gone. Bella had but one future, no matter how I fought against it, and Alice was absolutely positive it would come about.
"Yes, yes, it's quite determined. Certainly there's no problem." Aro was delighted. I was not.
I felt a flare of hatred from Jane and felt her stab over and over at Bella, trying to find some way past the barrier that protected her. I turned to glare at her, but she was oblivious to me, intent on making Bella hurt.
"Aro," Caius protested. He wanted me to suffer for flouting his laws. That I had not actually hunted in his city, that I had not managed to show myself, was irrelevant. I had meant to and he wanted me to pay.
Aro, on the other hand, was patient. He was disappointed that we refused him, but in seeing what Alice had to offer, was willing to wait. "Dear, Caius, do not fret. Think of the possibilities! They do not join us today, but we can always hope for the future. Imagine the joy young Alice alone would bring to our little household… Besides, I'm so terribly curious to see how Bella turns out!"
Feeling that we had both won and lost, I said, "Then we are free to go now?"
"Yes, yes. But please visit again. It's been absolutely enthralling!" I could see the truth in those words. As I had known from the moment I first walked into the room the previous day, Aro would be entertained by my visit – and Alice and Bella's – for a very long time.
Angry, Caius threatened me, "And we will visit you as well to be sure that you follow through on your side. Were I you, I would not delay too long. We do not offer second chances." And should we find that you have not, I will personally see to it that you watch your human suffer greatly before she dies. You, on the other hand, will live for a long, long time. I saw myself trapped in a rarely used cell, specially made to hold those vampires the coven wanted to punish.
I ground my teeth together, knowing he meant it. I nodded, acknowledging both his spoken and unspoken words.
I felt Felix's thirst burn and he groaned. He had been certain he would get to feed on Bella.
"Ah, Felix," Aro placated him, "Heidi will be here at any moment. Patience."
I searched and found - far too close - Heidi's thoughts, pleased at her success as she brought a tour group to meet her masters.
"Hmm. In that case, perhaps we'd better leave sooner rather than later," I said, anxious. They were nearly here.
"Yes," Aro agreed, "That's a good idea. Accidents do happen. Please wait below until after dark, though, if you don't mind."
"Of course." I grimaced, knowing they wanted no chance exposure.
"And here," Aro motioned Felix to come close to him and pulled his dark grey cloak off of the hulking vampire's shoulders. He tossed the thing to me, imagining me wearing it willingly while standing by his side. "Take this. You're a little conspicuous." I had left my shirt on the ground under the clock. Unwillingly, I put the cloak on.
Aro hid his laugh. "It suits you." I couldn't help but laugh at his persistence, but suddenly heard Heidi's tour only a few rooms away.
"Thank you, Aro. We'll wait below."
"Goodbye, young friends," he said, hearing them as well and anticipating vividly the meal he was about to enjoy.
"Let's go," I said, unable to hide my urgency. Demetri gestured to me, Follow me, and I pulled Bella out of the horrid room I had thought we would die in.
Alice was seeing the deaths of the humans who were on their way, hearing their screams as Jane took her frustration out on them. "Not fast enough."
"Well this is unusual," said one human.
"So medieval!" said another.
We pressed against the wall to let them past. I heard Aro calling out to them, eagerly. "Welcome, guests! Welcome to Volterra!"
Over forty humans entered the large room, some even taking pictures. There was only one who seemed to realize she was in danger, a tiny old woman carrying a rosary. She kept trying to talk to the others, but they didn't speak her language.
"Please," she said, "where is the church? This is not where I am supposed to go."
I pulled Bella's face to me, hoping to shield her from the knowledge that she was watching these humans walk to their deaths. As soon as I was able, I pushed through, Demetri and Alice close on our heels.
"Welcome home, Heidi," Demetri said to her.
"Demetri," she returned his greeting, looking at me with interest. …Oh, what did I miss? Do we have a new member of our family? … When she saw Bella, her curiosity deepened.
"Nice fishing," Demetri said. Heidi was the main hunter for the coven, though she did not hunt in the normal sense of the word. Her talent made her very persuasive and she convinced humans who could be easily disappeared to come from all over the world to visit a remarkable church and castle, where dinner would be an elaborate affair.
"Thanks. Aren't you coming?"
"In a minute," he assured her. "Save some for me."
With a smirk, she nodded and followed the tour into the Volturi's dining room. Pulling Bella as fast as I could, we were still not fast enough, as Alice had seen. The humans behind us began screaming.
