A/N: Hey, rockin' readers! I've got a revelation filled chapter ahead for you. Thanks so much for your patience between updates.

Edward growls to my awesome prereaders, Keye, Sandy, and Aleea. These ladies rock my socks!

Thanks to my awesome betas, Katmom and SassySue (chayasara), for their invaluable input and for red penning my flubs. Best betas ever.

Chapter 36

Secrets and Lies

If you reveal your secrets to the wind,

you should not blame the wind

for revealing them to the trees.

-Khalil Gibran

Twenty-three days. Twenty-three excruciating days locked in a basement chamber with no outside communication and no sustenance. After day three, the guards left their post. The hum of the elevator is the last sound we heard as it carried our captors several floors above us. Jasper hasn't returned, and I'm pretty sure Alice and Carlisle are being held elsewhere since repeated callouts have gone unanswered.

Isabella's eyes turned to pools of shining obsidian a little over a week ago. Newborns need to feed often, and I shudder every time she paces the floor of our prison and whimpers with a hand to her throat. She refuses to complain more than that, but I know she's in a great deal of discomfort. I've gone far longer than this before without feeding, but I'm concerned for my mate.

I can't read her mind, but I can read her eyes. She's worried for Hannah, terrified the Volturi will be successful in their endeavor to locate our precious girl. Aro said they would worship Hannah because the cure runs through her veins. There are some fates worse than death.

The sudden hum of the elevator after three weeks of complete silence is a shock. As one, the two of us rush to the door and listen in an attempt to glean any possible information. Two sets of footsteps and two recognizable minds emerge when the metal doors swish open—the same two guards who were assigned to us previously. Both minds are focused on one thing: to bring us to Aro.

I turn to Isabella and mouth, They're coming for us—to bring us to Aro.

Her eyes widen with fear. Do they have Hannah? she mouths back.

Not sure.

And then our time is up.

The door opens, and the taller of the two guards says, "Come with us." They turn abruptly and walk out.

I take Isabella's hand, and we follow the silent guards down the hall and into the elevator. With no apparent signal given, it rises until the doors open to the floor where the throne room is.

When we enter, Aro is the lone occupant, seated on the dais with his head lowered. His long, dark hair curtains his face. The absolute stillness surrounding him like a shroud is alarming. I stiffen, my gait faltering for a millisecond, and Isabella looks up into my face. Her lips part, but I shake my head and tighten my hand over hers.

The guards lead us forward until we reach the bottom of the steps. They bow, though Aro never bothers to look up, then leave. The heavy wooden doors close with a muffled slam, and we're left alone with Aro.

The unnerving silence goes on and on, his mind silent to me. Isabella squeezes my hand but wisely remains silent.

Nearly ten minutes go by before he moves a muscle. He shakes his head and lets out a sharp laugh. It's an ugly sound, an evil sound. No good will come of this meeting—this much I know.

Aro clasps his hands and raises his head slowly. The look deep in his eyes has gone past crazy, straight to full-blown insane. He points a finger at Isabella. "You will tell me where the child is."

"You don't have her?" Isabella strains forward, stopping short of climbing the steps of the dais.

"No, and it's unacceptable!" Aro slams his fist down on the arm of the throne, and it disintegrates. "I'm not sure how it happened, but you will help me fix this. If you don't, I'll systematically kill everyone you hold dear."

"Why are you addressing Isabella?" Her name is a growl on my lips. Every muscle coils in readiness. It would take me 1.2 seconds to skim the steps, cross the dais, and snap his neck. What would the Volturi do to us if the head were cut off?

Aro's eyes meet mine. His are filled with cunning. "You think you can rush me, Edward? Come on, then." He beckons me with his hand, then leans forward on his ruined throne. "I always have a plan, youngling! You are so arrogant, so foolish."

Isabella twitches by my side, her grip on my hand growing painful. "What is it you want from us, you crazy bastard?"

Aro laughs. A true, from deep inside, laugh. I wonder how long it's been since something amused him so.

"You're a brave lass. I'm going to forgive your display of insolence since you were just hatched." His laughter finally dries up, and his expression turns dark. "We travel tonight. The two of you will come with me, but Carlisle and Alice shall remain here as insurance. If anything untoward should happen to me or any of my people . . . well, you can use your imagination."

~*RK*~

We take the Cullen jet back home. Aro brings Alec, Renata, and a handful of other members of the Volturi I'm not familiar with. Bags of human blood are handed out once we're in the air since Aro wasn't willing to "diddle around." Nobody speaks during the interminable flight. Isabella spends the entire time in my lap, wrapped around me with her face buried in my neck.

After we land, Aro leads us through the forest to the border of Quileute land. Before we reach the treaty line, I see columns of smoke billowing into the sky, and a feeling of foreboding settles between my shoulder blades.

Jane, Felix, and Demetri morph out of the shadows; they're already on the reservation.

"Oh my God." Isabella's anguished whisper cuts through me.

Aro leads Isabella and me onto the reservation, his face grim, and tells the others with us to stay behind and remain watchful. When he reaches the waiting trio, he turns to face us. "Normally, your wolves would be here by now, ripping and tearing, yes?" His eyes are on Isabella again. I don't know why this disturbs me so, but I have to restrain myself yet again.

"Yes."

"And yet, they are nowhere." Aro sweeps an arm out, his lips twisting into an ugly sneer. "When my people arrived here, do you know what they found?"

"What?"

"Emptiness. The reservation was abandoned. Like the Mayans, an entire people disappeared without a trace. Embers from a fire still red hot, a warm teakettle on a stove, food laid out for a meal never to be consumed. Lights were still on in many homes, but not one person or shape-shifter could be rustled up."

I glance to the sky where billows of smoke continue to rise. The air near the ground is beginning to fog over with it. "And what of that, Aro?"

He bares his teeth with a ragged growl. "I ordered it all to be burned to the ground! The scent of the miracle child was all over this place, and I want her!"

Isabella falls to her knees, sifting dirt through her fingers. "So you burned their homes? What kind of sick bastard are you?"

"One that always gets what he wants!" Aro bellows.

I kneel beside Isabella and rub her back. "I'm sorry."

Aro snorts. "You have no idea what sorry is. Demetri, why don't you tell them what you found when I had you track them and their coven?"

The malicious tone causes me to glance up. Aro's eyes glitter with satisfaction.

Demetri hangs his head. "I'm sorry, Edward. When we found out you and Isabella flew to Italy, Aro requested I track the rest of your family. The trail led to Spain, to Hunter's compound. We found their . . . remains. Esme, Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper."

"Oh dear God," Isabella whispers.

"No!" I shake my head. Surely this can't be true because Jasper was in Italy while we were there, and although Esme and Emmett were together, Rose was sent elsewhere. This isn't right, but I can't let on that something is amiss.

My attention is drawn to Jane. There's a faraway look in her eyes, and I'm drawn into her memories of Spain.

Demetri led them through the woods behind the compound, which was now deserted, and dug up the remains of several vampires. The bodies had already turned to dust, but Demetri assured them he'd tracked the signature of each of my family members to the surrounding shallow graves.

Jane stepped forward to look at the bluish glittering dust. "This is all that's left? Impossible."

Demetri glared up at her. "Oh, it's true. You have no idea what I've seen, little girl." He held up a handful of the remains. "Take a sniff—it's unmistakably vampire."

"Enough of this." Jane turned and stalked away.

A rustling in the woods drew their attention, and they slipped into the cover of the forest to watch. Several men in white hazmat suits, complete with helmets and breathing apparatus, came up the mountain trail. Emblazoned in the center of their chests was the strange blue symbol I'd seen on the top of Hunter's lab tests when I went through the boxes stored in the attic at the compound.

From my indrawn breath, Jane realizes I'm reading her and snarls at me. Get out of my head!

I look away toward the trees, knowing it wouldn't be wise to bait her. Who the hell were the hazmat guys, and why did they have the logo on their suits from the lab that conducted Hunter's testing? I know Demetri's lying about the bodies being my family members but don't understand why he'd risk it. His mind is closed off; he keeps playing the memory of uncovering the bodies in Spain over and over again, concealing the truth that lies beneath.

Aro strides forward, towering over us, and glares down on Isabella. "Do you see all that has been lost already? An entire people—gone. Half of your new coven—dead. I want the child!" He grabs Isabella's jaw in his bony hand. "If I don't get what I want, everyone you love will die before your eyes. I'll begin with Alice and Carlisle, and then I'll dismember Edward in front of you—piece by piece, bit by bit, until there's nothing left."

Isabella smacks his hand away and rises to her feet, chin jutting out defiantly. "No, you won't. You can't read me. If you harm a hair on any of their heads, you'll get nothing out of me. I'm the only one who can give you the cure."

"What are you talking about?" Aro's voice drops to a whisper, and he grabs her hand.

Despite how tight his grip must be, a self-satisfied smirk spreads across Isabella's face. "All the answers are up here." She taps the side of her head with an index finger. "The cure, the serum, and information about the organization doing research on vampires."

Several shocked faces turn her way. Jane's gaze snaps to Isabella, and fear emanates from her eyes. Those people in hazmat suits she saw in Spain are probably from the organization Isabella is referring to. I'm shocked by Isabella's words myself; she never mentioned anything like this to me. It takes a great deal of effort not to let on that I was in the dark along with everyone else.

Aro drops Isabella's hand, looking haunted. If a vampire could go pale, I think he'd be white as a sheet. "I don't believe you."

Jane glides up beside him. "Master, the men . . . in the suits . . ."

Aro turns his head sharply, his fierce gaze meeting Jane's. Intimidated, she looks down and backs away.

Isabella goes on. "Believe what you will. Just remember that it's human nature to fight to stay at the top of the food chain. Do you really believe the Volturi will be safe in this new world?"

"New world? What the hell are you talking about?" Aro swings to face her again.

"When they discover the secret to immortality, that they have the ability to choose who receives it, who lives, and who dies—when that day arrives, the Volturi will become obsolete, a threat that must be extinguished."

"We are the top of the food chain."

"Maybe not for long. There are more of us out there. More like me and James—with the anomaly. Think of it, Aro. If they figure out how to infect the masses with the anomaly, and they also have the cure, control over the population of humans and vampires will rest in their hands."

Felix leaves Demetri's side, coming closer, his features transformed by abject terror. "They could starve us out, kill us off." His voice shakes. "We could be at someone else's mercy. Do something, Master!"

"Shut up, you fool!" Aro shakes with rage and turns back to Isabella—strands of inky hair lay across his cheek, and his robe is askew. "Listen closely, my dear. This . . . organization . . . it can't be allowed to succeed."

"I agree completely."

Aro tilts his head. "You do?"

"Of course. They must be stopped." Her eyes harden. "No one should have that kind of power."

He purses his lips, obviously disagreeing. I'm sure Aro believes the Volturi should have exactly such power. "Since your ex-husband did all this, I hold you responsible by proxy."

I move to Isabella's side with a growl. "She's not responsible for what that slime was involved in! She was his victim. Her child was his victim. He acted alone."

"Really? You believe Hunter was working alone? He figured out the existence of vampires with no assistance whatsoever?" Aro barks a harsh laugh.

An unsettling lurch twists my gut. He's right—Hunter couldn't have figured all this out on his own. My brows draw together, and my jaw tightens. I hate that Aro's right. "Okay, I suppose he couldn't have done it alone, but that doesn't make Isabella responsible."

"That may be so by some standards of fairness. The fact is, she knows more about all of this than any of us—even you, Edward." Aro smiles craftily. His gaze flicks back to Isabella. "You will eliminate any threat to our kind or Carlisle and Alice will die long before this organization has a chance in hell of taking on the Volturi! Furthermore, you will either deliver the child to me or deliver the formulas for the serum and cure. Carlisle and Alice will remain my guests for now."

Isabella stands straighter, examining Aro with a determined, appraising expression. "If I eliminate this threat and give you the formulas, you'll set us all free? No more talk of treason and execution?"

Aro considers this for a moment, then relents. "You have a deal. Give me the formulas."

Isabella laughs. "Not on your life. You get nothing until this organization is neutralized, and we return to Italy to collect on our deal."

Aro smiles grimly. "You drive a hard bargain, lass. Don't muck this up—there are many lives hanging in the balance." He turns in a flutter of robes and gestures to the small group huddled behind us. "Let's go."

They all seem eager to comply, with the exception of Demetri, who hangs toward the tail end.

"Wait," I call out. "We need Demetri. Surely you can't expect the two of us to do this alone. Besides, his tracking abilities will be vital to the success of this insane mission."

"Very well. Demetri is a free agent at the moment." Aro glares Demetri's way. "Let me be clear—if you fail, there will be a reconciling, and it won't include leniency."

"I'll go with them," Demetri says. As if you'd give me leniency anyway. You were probably going to kill me as soon as we got to Italy.

Seconds later, it's just the three of us—Isabella, Demetri, and me. We look at one another warily. I'm still reeling from Isabella's admission that she knew about the men Jane saw recently at the compound in Spain.

Isabella turns and strides onto the reservation.

"Demetri, wait for us at the house," I say, moving to follow Isabella.

"Okay."

"Don't even think of taking off."

"Really, Edward? Where the fuck would I go?"

Satisfied Demetri will be at the house when we get back, I go after Isabella. She moves fast, straight for Sue's place. I want to shelter her from the devastation that's surely ahead, but I realize my fiercely independent mate won't appreciate my interference. It's more likely she'll hand my ass to me right after kicking it.

As she emerges from the woods into Sue's backyard, I shadow her. The adorable little house where we had dinner and played with Hannah is just a pile of smoking rubble. The blackened chimney is all that stands against the waning light.

Isabella's quick strides slow until she's barely moving. "Oh, Mom. Your little house." Her voice breaks. She kneels in the scorched grass, letting out dry sobs. "Damn it all to hell! I can't cry."

I fall to my knees in front of her, blocking her view of the destruction, and take her beautiful face between my palms. "I'm so sorry, sweet one." With a tug, I pull her into my arms, and she sinks against me. Her arms wind around me so tightly it's painful, but I don't care. I don't care about the challenge that's ahead of us; I don't care that she lied to me; my only goal is to console her. There's time for all that later on.

After a while, she lifts her head and gazes up at me. "Do you think Hannah is safe?"

"Absolutely."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Isabella, the entire tribe is gone. If vampires were subject to human maladies, Aro would have stroked out." I caress her cheek and brush a few strands of hair out of her eyes. "Jasper was able to warn them—I'm sure of it. They got Hannah out of here."

Finally, her mouth curves into the ghost of a smile. "You're right. Yeah. I want to find her as soon as possible, but . . ." Her eyes cloud over.

"But we have work to do, and it's best if we leave the 'miracle child' out of harm's way." I chuck her under the chin. "The wolves will protect her until we find each other again."

"Edward, I'm sorry I lied to you. I never . . ." She shakes her head.

"Shh . . ." I stop her words by pressing a soft kiss to her lips. "Why don't we head over to our cottage? It's a much better place for this conversation."

"Sure." She smiles a little wider and links her fingers in mine. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Ah! Must I gag you?"

"In another place and time that could be great fun, but no. I'll go quietly."

In no time at all, we're home. The cottage has an air of home, of peace. This is where we spent most of our short, but intense, relationship. This is where we made love for the first time and where I woke from my comatose state to the sight of Isabella's beauty.

I sweep her off her feet and carry her over the threshold. We haven't been here since she took my name.

"Welcome home, Mrs. Masen." I gaze down at her exquisite face. "Though our troubles are many, we belong to each other forever, and I'll do everything in my power to see this through."

Isabella strokes my face. "I know you will."

Though she doesn't sleep anymore, and I haven't for nearly a century, my feet carry us to the bedroom. Somehow it seems central to us—it's where I've loved her, where she curled next to me as I fought to return to her.

I lay her on top of the duvet and join her. We face each other, and I reach out to trace the graceful slope of her cheek. "It seems my wife has secrets."

"It was necessary. Aro might have read you . . ."

"How were you so sure he couldn't read you?"

"Alice."

"You took the cure before we went to Italy?"

"We all did." She lifts her head, looking at me with concern. "Hey, your family's really alive, right?"

"They must be. None of them were going to Spain. They weren't even together. When we talk to Demetri, we'll find out the truth, but it looks to me like he led the Volturi to the victims he and I found when we went to Spain." Thoughts of the way I returned from there—in a coma with a broken body—cause me to shudder.

"Thank God. I don't know why Demetri's helping us, but I'm really glad."

"Me, too." I gaze into her eyes and tap her nose with my index finger. "Want to tell me what you know about this secret organization now?"

Isabella smiles, an odd look coming over her features. "Well, I don't know anything for sure."

"You don't. Then what was all that back there?"

"That was me hedging my bets that Aro would take the bait. Don't get me wrong—I do believe there's an organization and that James was working with them. Let's just say there are a lot of little things that are starting to come together in my mind. I saw and heard stuff that didn't make sense to me at the time, but when I saw James in Italy, it started coming together."

"Why do you think that is?"

Isabella's lips twist into a sardonic smile. "Being exposed to his special brand of asshole might have something to do with it. It was a fantastic reminder how unlikely it is that James figured out anything about vampires all on his own or that he thought of experimenting on themor that he was the one to design that atomizer. I did live with the man for a few years, you know."

An involuntary growl rumbles in my chest. The thought of Isabella or Hannah at the mercy of Hunter for even a moment still ignites anger inside me. I'll never have the satisfaction of crushing Hunter in my hands, but the fact Isabella was the one to mete out justice makes me feel better.

I roll on my back and stare up at the ceiling, contemplating Isabella's words. Hunter was intelligent in a pull-the-wool-over-your-eyes smarmy politician kind of way, but it's not likely he designed and built the atomizer—or that he discovered the existence of vampires and realized he had an anomaly that precluded him from immortality. It was a further stretch to believe he decided and implemented those experiments on his own.

"You're right. No way Hunter was working alone. Tell me what you know."

"There's the calculating Edward Masen in action," Isabella says with satisfaction. She shifts on the bed, resting her head on her arm. "Before I knew our life was merely a farce, I came across some papers on James' desk one day—lab reports on him. They had that weird blue logo on top, but I didn't really have a chance to look at the results before he stalked into the room and snatched them from my hands. When I expressed concern, he just said it was a confidential lab he used because of his political career. He didn't want rumors circulating about his health. The funny thing? He never used them to test me or Hannah. Thinking back on it now, I think he was protecting us in some way, keeping us a secret."

"That I can believe. Hunter was all about stacking the deck and playing the odds. Who knows what they would have done if they knew about you and Hannah? I'm sure he was using them as much as they were using him."

"Now what?" Isabella rubs her temples.

"Jane last spotted men from that organization in hazmat suits in Spain, so that's where we go. I want to get my hands on those files in the attic of the compound. Maybe there's an address or some other identifier in those papers."

"Hazmat suits?"

I smirk. "They obviously aren't entirely sure what they're dealing with, which is a big plus in our favor. We have the serum, the cure, and knowledge about vampires on our side."

"How's Demetri going to react to the news?"

"He'll do what we need him to, or I'll hand-deliver him to Aro myself."

"What about the rest of your family?"

I roll toward Isabella and cup her cheek, pressing my lips to hers. "Part of me wants to leave you behind while I do this, but I can't bear to let you out of my sight again. Let's take Demetri to Spain and see what we find out. Then we can figure out what part the rest of our family will play in this. They're yours now, too."

Isabella smiles. "Yeah, they are. I went from no family, other than Hannah, to finding all of you and my mother. God is good."

"Let's hope God likes Spain then."

Like muscle memory, my entire body balks at the mere suggestion of going back to Spain. It seems to be the epicenter of the tempest, though, and the only way to victory is to fight our way from the inside out without being torn to pieces in the process.

~*RK*~

A/N: A lot going on in this chapter. I tried to make things as clear as possible—hope I did my job. Where are Hannah and the tribe? What are you thinking about Aro? Where do you think the clues might lead Edward and Isabella?

I'm hard at work on the next chapter of I Want it Painted Black! It's a toughy, so I make no promises as to when it will be out. I'm hoping in 1-2 weeks, if all goes well. Haha.

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