A/N: Look at me linking more people together, the gift of evasion should give you a clue xx
Managed to fit in another place name for my Facebook group as well xx
No sex scene for these two, it would spoil the tender loving relationship I've cultivated for them xx Alexis
"Alistair! Why? Why him?" Caius roared dementedly,
The London coven all looked at each other, the looks of disgust and disdain on their faces. Aro could see exactly what they thought of the Volturi's behaviour and it wasn't favourable. To make matters worse Marcus began to laugh loudly,
"Fate, its fate you fool! It's not like you could catch him before, but now you never will! Call Demetri and asked him where Alistair is right now!" Marcus sneered at Caius,
"May I ask why? Why is having Alistair so important to you all? It's not like he's a troublemaker or even a naysayer of your regime! Alistair is the most inoffensive vampire I've ever met, he just dislikes fools and frauds, is that the problem?" Mathias queries and Aro sighs,
"Caius dislikes that he escaped from him six hundred years ago and refused him to his face the first time he attempted to take him by force! Instead of asking Alistair to join us, he tried to force him and you can see how well that worked! Alistair seemed to have gained a little of George's evasion gift along with his being the ultimate tracker!" Aro admitted heavily,
"George was his sire? He never said, but I can understand why! He was a pompous ass and exposed us so many times to the then humans. Wasn't he finally killed by one of his own descendants?" Mathias asked now and Marcus nodded,
"Yes, he changed Hilda from Germany. Essen in Westphalia, I believe and she turned Anne from Harrogate in the United Kingdom, who turned her sister Victoria and it was she who along with her mate James, who killed George! Coming full circle I believe you call that" he explained, loving the history of vampires very much,
"Yes, thanks for the history lesson brother! But what are we to do about Edward?" Aro asked bluntly,
"Kill the obnoxious fool of course! He's a waste of space and should never have been changed" Caius spat, annoyed by both Aro and Marcus' earlier comments,
"But, come now, this is a little rash you know. His talent is worth something, isn't it?" Aro hedged,
Mathias loudly cleared his throat then, whilst also standing with his four coven mates. The look of disgust on his face was not hidden or passed off as anything else.
"He is insane, Aro! He is a grubby little thief, Aro! His life is forfeit to me the wronged party, Aro! If he is not put to death in front of my eyes then I will remove The United Kingdom from the rule of Italy for its own good! Dishonest rulers who follow their own selfish whims garner no respect, Aro!" Mathias' voice booms loudly,
His Alpha male timber has everyone in the castle stopping to listen, never has anyone before taken Master Aro to task for his blatant and outrageous behaviour. Caius jumps up to say nobody knows what, when Marcus had, had enough.
"Sit down Caius, you are only proving Mathias correct and behaving like a child! Rest assured Mathias that boy will die today and as a way of trying to prove our honour if we still have any. You will be the de facto leader in the British Isles as of this day and we will never set foot there without your consent. Alice Brandon will also be permanently dealt with, will you please inform Miss Swan! I have given you my word and I will kill any member of the guard who disregards it, regardless of who gives them the order!" Marcus said in a deadly calm voice,
Aro was shaken from his stupor, realising what his careless words has caused. He had been warned a myriad of times by Marcus about his irrational greed for gifted vampires. Now the British Isles were willing to break away from Italy because of him and only Marcus' quick thinking had once again saved them.
"Yes, yes Marcus is correct Edward will die this day and we will be letting you take over the day-to-day ruling of Britain and its local dependences," Aro said trying to backpedal so fast it was unbecoming and obviously fake,
"Now would be a good time!" Bartholomew sneered at Aro unafraid,
Everyone in the room was without a doubt that Aro and Caius Volturi had put a ridiculous strain on any future dealings they would ever have with each other.
HLMWAINS
Bella and Alistair were both sitting in the now finished lady's breakfast room. It was small, homey and received the morning light through its windows. This was where the women of the house could eat breakfast before dressing for the day and it was acceptable to be in your sleeping/dressing robe. It was one of the lighter in decor rooms and even though it was miles from home for Bella it reminded her of ones she'd seen before, well like little parlours. Seemingly lots of things crossed the pond, both ways, but it was only now she could see it for herself. Bella was really enjoying doing interior design and appreciating lots of things about architecture as well. She wondered if that could be something she studied at Exeter University, they did have an Art History course and she thought maybe she'd start there.
With so many years it would be easy to try anything she wanted to.
"Alistair, how would you feel about me going to University in a year or so?" she asked leaning across the table to take his hand,
Alistair loved these moments when she just had to touch him, be it for reassurance or any other reason they made his heart swell. Bella too loved the feel of his slightly roughened skin, it made him seem more real, more manly, not like the smoothness of Edward Cullen's hand. It just proved he had never done an honest day's labour in his life.
"That sounds good, which Uni were you thinking about?" he asked quietly, hoping and praying it wasn't far away,
"Exeter of course, I can't go too far from you, it would make me nervous and edgy!" she replied happily, not worried about how dependent she was on him now,
"Okay, what has taken your fancy to study?" he asked much happier about it all,
"Art History, to start with anyway. I can delve deeper later, no rush!" she said smiling and playing unconsciously with his fingers,
As she chatted Bella moved her seat closer to him and held his hand in her lap. Alistair had never had this type of closeness before and he revelled in the little things. Anyone else holding his hand would have bombarded his gift, but not Bella and he loved her all the more for it. She was giving him back something he thought was lost to him forever. Something others have taken for granted was alien to him and just sitting with her holding hands meant more to him than he could express. It was the balm to his soul that had been missing for so very long.
"Which room next Alistair? One that you want this time" Bella quizzed,
"Not so much a room, as all of them, well the windows I mean. We need to see which needs repairs, which needs new leading that sort of thing. To make the place more draught-proof, the more furniture and decor we add the more imperative it becomes! The weather won't bother us, but the books and furnishings won't like it, I'm afraid" Alistair explained,
"Can you do that? Leading I mean, will you teach me too? Okay, we could start at the top and work our way down!" Bella said enthusiastically,
"That's what I love about you, you're not afraid to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in!" Alistair told her and she turned to face him now,
"I love you too! You know that right? Every day I find something new to love about you Alistair, it's as easy as breathing used to be" Bella says and he wraps his arms around her,
"Everything about us will always be as easy as breathing, my beautiful Dark Swan" he responds before kissing her more soundly than he ever had before,
"I'm ready!" Bella whispered against his lips,
HLMWAINS
"Ah, I'm guessing Aro read Edward's mind and I'm screwed?" Alice said as Demetri and Felix walked towards her,
"Yes, but he's more screwed since he's dead!" Felix quipped,
"Oh well, I really should have warned him, but! Do I have time to at least shut up shop here and send the money to Jasper, I owe him a great deal?" she asked and then felt her phone buzz,
"Never mind, Peter's on it! God, I hate him! No, actually if I'm honest I envy him" she mused as she pulled on her coat,
"Envy?" Demetri asks,
"Yes, his gift is rock solid and never wrong, I wish I'd had that" Alice explained without recrimination,
The two vampires just exchange glances, they expected screaming, sobbing, or even running. But calm acceptance never crossed their minds.
"So who wants me this badly? Aro, I assume!" she asked as they climbed into a luxurious car,
"Master Marcus will be dealing with you. The others are shall we say watching their P's & Q's" Felix muttered, still hardly believing what happened,
"Oh! Oh yeah, Mathias!" she also muttered and they looked shocked she actually knew,
The flight was comfortable and when they offered her real blood she took it willingly. Why should she deny herself for these last few days? She had brought with her one small bag, so unlike Alice of old. But in it was her finest outfit; she intended to go out looking her absolute best. If they remembered her for nothing else it would be her style! It was a little thing, but of tantamount importance to Alice. So with thirty minutes to go until they landed Alice went to change. To say she looked stunning would have been an understatement. This was class, sophistication and style all wrapped into one. Her hair calmed and controlled, her person clothed impeccably and her manner regal and confident. She met the Volturi brothers looking every inch the queen she once expected to be!
"Alice, how beautiful you look, my dear. Let the record show Miss Brandon came to meet her death in a manner befitting of her station!" Aro said after taking her hand,
Unlike Edward, Alice's demise was clean and tidy. Alec removed her senses on Marcus' signal and her head was swiftly removed and destroyed before she had time to realise, then her body followed suit making it almost painless. Edward had screamed and pleaded and because they never believed a word he said, he died painfully and fully aware. That was the final chapter to a life full of lies and manipulation, when he was finally telling the truth; nobody believed a word he said!
"Well Marcus, let them all know both have been destroyed for their crimes against vampire laws! Let's hope this appeases those less than enamoured with us at present" Aro said, he was annoyed that two gifts he had wanted were now gone,
"Yes, let's hope this is enough to counter your stupidity, Aro!" Marcus replied sweeping out of the room,
HLMWAINS
"I can't believe it, Carlisle, Alice was truly insane! She planned to take you for herself, to let me die so she could be one of the Queens! I can't believe or understand her!" Esme sobbed,
Carlisle was completely bamboozled by the whole story. As Marcus Volturi explained it to him, yes he could see things he passed off before. But it was always there under the surface and he felt such a fool for not paying more attention to what both she and Edward were doing. As for Edward's demise, well he knew it was a long time coming. However, unlike everyone else, he also knew Edward didn't have the brains to pull this off and he had to have been set up! Was he angry about it, no! Edward was a greedy fool and he, Carlisle, believed Edward had come up against a vampire who had much more power, strength and resolve. Yes, Edward fell afoul of Mathias he guessed and got what was coming to him! The business with Alice was crazier than he could comprehend.
"Well it's over my love and we won out. You see, love can conquer all!" he replied holding his mate close,
Carlisle was truly thanking God she survived Alice's insanity because he knew it was a close-run thing back then. If he hadn't gone to the morgue that night, his mate would have died for sure. But he remembered that overwhelming need to be there, he'd even argued with Edward about it. For just that, once he acted like a real vampire and did what his instincts told him to! Yes, he knew his way was wrong now, but not totally. Though in regards to the others, yes because they were not children, except for Edward! They should have been given choices, not it's my way or nothing attitudes!
"We also live and learn Carlisle and that is a big part of being a vampire! We make mistakes and learn from them" Esme said smiling at her mate and enjoying it just being the two of them,
HLMWAINS
"Rose, are you okay? What happened?" Randall asked watching his mate freeze,
She was reading the letter in her hand and just froze! Not caring if it was rude he pried it from her and scanned the contents. Dear heavens above, they both were dead and Alice's plans were insane! But this proves he wasn't wrong in his assessment of those two. That was one of the main reasons he never visited Carlisle, Edward and Alice ran into him in nineteen-seventy-five. He was only six years into this life and they were terrible! Rude, arrogant and spoilt rotten that was how he thought of them, did Alice know and made sure he would never visit because of them?
"Well, good riddance I say! They ran me off years ago Rose, I was coming to see Carlisle and they made me change my mind. You spoilt nothing, Alice did, that was all her doing!" He exclaimed holding her close,
"Oh my God! She wanted Carlisle, not for love but glory and we all had to suffer because her mate died! We didn't know her at all and well with Edward it was only a matter of time! I just can't believe this, no I believe it, but I don't understand it! Why? Why did we not see this?" Rose said sobbing into his chest,
They both reread the letter from Master Marcus and his postscript to Rose telling her how lucky she was to have broken away from them after they left Carlisle's coven. Because Alice would have dragged her down with her or Edward entrench her in his scheme to rob anyone he could.
HLMWAINS
Jasper and Peter were sitting discussing all Peter had to tell him when Marcus' letter arrived. It just confirmed all Peter had said and Marcus even quipped that he was sure Jasper already knew everything from his brother. They did of course, and really neither was surprised how things had gone. Well, maybe Peter a little knowing how Alice felt at the end about him. As for Edward, sure he was set up, apparently, Marcus didn't know that, but he would have died at some vampire's hand eventually so no great loss to their world. As it stood everyone who mattered survived and prospered now they were gone. Rose managed to pull herself out of the morass and was now happily running a small garage with Randall; he was the business side and she was the mechanic, which always surprised their customers.
"Incoming call from Emmett, Major!" Peter said lazily as Jasper's cell buzzed,
"Hey bro, well that's a turn-up for the books! Did you guys get a letter too? Anyway, Luca is coming to change Orsel here soon, so we don't have to leave Alessia alone in America. Now she's in college we don't need to be right on top of her like we all used to do. So he'll stay a few weeks and said I should ask you guys if I needed help. What do you think?" Emmett enquired,
"Sure Em, I'll come and introduce myself to both Orsel and Alessia, plus see Luca. Just in case shields need special handling. I'm happy for you man, we all are" Jasper replied and he was happy for Emmett,
It looked like everyone was moving forward and were happy now away from the claustrophobic life the Cullen coven had cultivated.
HLMWAINS
Life had moved on for everyone as it always does and Alistair and Bella slipped into a good routine. Once they had taken their relationship to a physical level it just cemented everything in place for them. They both had things they wanted to do and once they had finally fixed all the windows in the manor they took a step back for more fun things. The world was their oyster as they say and so they decided to make lists of what they wanted to see and where they wanted to go. After the letter from Marcus and the visit from Mathias, both felt lighter, and less burdened and were happy to get out and about meeting more vampires. Maybe it was because Mathias was in charge now and he would never need to defer to Italy, Aro shot himself in the foot there.
"Bella, how does Falcon & Swan Restorers, sound to you? I was thinking, with all the trades we've learned maybe we should turn it into a business! Because once we finish up here we'll never use them again. Not only that but we could teach humans how to do it too. There must be others out there who are like us, just slowly acquiring the knowledge they could pass on? I'm thinking of asking Mathias to ask around because our way isn't the only way. The Shetland coven are Norwegian so they might have a different take on things" Alistair said out of the blue,
"Oh yes! That sounds great, you have the patience to teach others, and I hope to one day acquire it. I love the name maybe we could have our own crest on things? Like the wings of each bird crossed!" Bella said smiling at him,
"Or a pair of stylized Swan's wings cupping a pain of Falcon wings. In the natural world we would be enemies, me the predator and you the prey! But in our world you are the protector of me and my saviour too" Alistair said lovingly,
"We saved each other my Falcon!" Bella exclaimed reaching up to kiss his lips tenderly,