Chapter 33
She had given him the barest hint of interest. Just a short look of tacit attraction, through a curtain of long brown hair. That's all he could tell of her, since her mind was blocked to him. Except for the unkind things bouncing through the minds of the insipid teenagers around her. Then Alice had a vision, that couldn't happen. A horrible future awaited this stranger. She would become a vampire, and she and Alice would be happy; holding hands, caressing each other, kissing, they would be perfect mates... it was perverse. He didn't know much beyond her name, Bella. All he knew was that had to stop that future from happening no matter what. It was a kindness to his sister, and a gift to this new stranger. She would never know the pain of transformation, and her soul would remain intact.
Static
The lonely storage facility was covered in a thick mist as Edward punched in the code that lifted the modest gate. Row upon row of identical structures, most would get lost in the sameness, especially since he hadn't been back in well over a decade. The key unlocked the space, the biggest and best of its kind. The dull hum of the environment conditioner irritated him a little as he made his way past a maze of canvas covered shapes. Abandoned furniture projects of Esme's, old sets of Rosalie's tools, entire closets worth of clothes forgotten by Alice, nothing real or important. At the back was his baby. The enamel was still glossy, the black still made his heart sing a little. The piano was perfect, but a single key stroke told him it was woefully out of tune.
Static.
The explosion of thought felt like a million stars expanding around him before their brilliant light was snuffed out in the blink of an eye. A moment later Edward found himself laying in the rough dirt at the base of the tree he'd been perched in. No voices, no thoughts, all that remained was the white noise of dullness and his own thoughts. All that was left was silence. The absence of the usual prattling of minds felt wrong, as if the world had suddenly collapsed in on him. He needed to find out why, so he charged back towards the house, only to be startled by the baying of the mongrels that pretended to be men and women. His Isabella was following closely behind them, along with her.
Static.
He'd spent hours correcting matching harmonics, tightening where needed, losing where necessary. Finally... Middle C. He danced his long fingers across the keys in just the right sequence to produce a sound that could make hearts weep. E-Sharp. The first keystroke in his tribute to her. The melody perfectly describing her, the shape of her hip into her bust, the line of her neck up to her jaw. The slope of her nose, the tilt of her lips and chin. He'd crafted the sounds around her, about her. His sonata, his masterpiece.
Static.
The little demon spawn, the newborn with her bright crimson eyes and hateful rage. Was a wrapped in the same void as Isabella, but she was just as wrong as Eliza, the bitch who was keeping his Bella from him and had probably robbed away his gift as well. No, she hadn't just robbed him of Bella, she had stolen her away from his family too. From Esme, who wanted nothing more than to love her. From Carlisle, who wanted nothing more than a daughter that wasn't stuck up like Rosalie or twisted like Alice.
Static.
He swept his hands into patterns no human could master. He created just the right hint of beauty in a discordant cascade of notes. His last tribute to her, not their love song... no the tale of their last moment together, his requiem. His pain in having to lie, her pain... no his sacrifice. He kept that beautiful memory of her in his heart all these decades. He knew it was the right thing, to stay human, to keep her soul. More importantly to keep her humanity.
Static.
She wasn't Bella. No. She was the thing that had consumed her. The demon doppelganger, Eliza. She had dug her otherworldly talon's into his beloved and twisted her. Along with that horrible newborn who must've been twisted in the same way as Isabella had been. Was it all Eliza's doing? Why couldn't Bella see, why couldn't he make her understand. No. Nothing he said would work, not even actions would work. Eliza's hold on her was simply too strong. Something else had to be done. But without his gift, how could he learn enough to manipulate everyone enough to separate them permanently.
Static.
Middle C again, and again, and again. The cord started to lose tone as he struck the key until the ivory began to crack. Two hundred years old, the piano had been on four continents, seventeen countries, hundreds of cities. He had played countless hours of music on it. It was his most cherished of possessions. Except for her. And she was gone, stolen away by a demon with purple eyes. A demon that had taken all their thoughts away from him.
Static.
Alice's continued obsession, that mocked his definition of love. Her expression had been all he needed to understand the truth. She wanted to keep his Bella away from him, her and that bitch Eliza. Alice would stand in his way, she would keep Bella from understanding her place. She would feed sweet immoral lies into her ears, confessing a love that she had no business confessing. Bella was his, for now and for all time. She was his other grand masterpiece. Molded, trained, controlled, happily submissive. She had been so hard to walk away from. No one could understand the depth of patience he had to endure, waiting for her simple mind to accept him, to love him unequivocally. No one could understand the sacrifices he had made for her. The hours of torment standing by her side. The constant gift of life he gave to her every moment he didn't give into her call. His singer. He ran away from his house, feeling no longer welcome among his family that supposedly loved him. Didn't they understand, all he wanted was to keep things in place, everyone needed to play their parts he wrote for them in his perfectly orchestrated performance.
Static.
The cord snapped. Just like his last nerve. The silence was deafening since the voices went away. His Bella was gone, his other great possession. She died in that forest all those years ago. Now all that mattered was the music, but even his piano failed him, just like she had. He closed his fist. The keys shattered under his strength, the first blackened eye he should've given her. He stood knocking the stool down and back across the concrete. He slammed his other first into the lower keys, cracking the wood below it, the slaps and hits he didn't give her so that she would learn her place. Again and again he hit his favorite thing in the world, since his other favorite thing was beyond his reach. Splintering the wood, stretching the strings, pulverizing the ivory, bending her body to his will. He worked in silence, until all that was left was dust and rubble, her body broken and spent just like in his favorite dark fantasies of her. He screamed into the emptiness around him, and was met with nothing but mocking echoes that sounded just like her. He turned around and left without a backward glance. His beloved instrument, abandoned like all the rest of his family's forgotten trash. Abandoned like this Isabella had abandoned him.
Nothing but static.
He knew what he had to do. If he couldn't have her, no one could.
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"What do you mean you have no idea where it's from?" Eliza demanded loudly as Isabella entered the house with both of her daughters in tow. Henry was sitting in the living room watching TV when they came in, he looked up a little startled at their loud entrance.
"Eliza… just let it drop." Isabella said with a touch of irritation as she crossed the threshold. Then she took a moment hang her cloak up in the closet by the door.
"Drop it? Drop it, how? Her movie knowledge is woefully inadequate, and it'll take me forever to bring her up to speed... but how can she not know about Gandalf sacrificing himself in Moria? It's… It's classic. It's like not knowing about Christmas!" Eliza protested, waving her hands around in the air for emphasis.
"It's hardly the end of the world, and It's not like we're getting any older, well physically." Isabella sounded indifferent, and a little tired of the argument. Still she kept a slight smile on her face, she loved Eliza's enthusiasm for books. It was something that Isabella had introduced her to.
From that first day after she brought Eliza home to Volterra, there had been a oddly quick learning curve. The first day Eliza went from illiterate to proficient in both reading and writing. At first Isabella was stunned at how fast Eliza was learning, since she knew she wasn't that good of a teacher. Then she realized it wasn't that she was a great teacher; but a perfect one… for Eliza. With their connection, so new and not fully understood in those early days; Eliza had literally picked up how to do things directly from Isabella's mind, combined with her own natural intelligence made her learning curve days and weeks instead of years.
Isabella marveled at her new daughter's thirst for knowledge and experience, although she was slightly less infatuated with Eliza's preference for "geeky" things and her obsession with television and cinema. Eliza could spend hours watching movies or shows, sometimes over again and again. It wasn't something Isabella especially cared for, but in the early days she indulged her more often than not. After a while she would generally spend her free time in the training rooms sparring. Only occasionally giving into a request to watch something with her. However, usually she waved it off with a laugh, saying if she really wanted, she could always catch it in fast forward in Eliza's memories if she really felt the need.
It occurred to Isabella then, that Eliza would finally have someone to spend fun time with, someone to share her interests with, that could share in her enthusiasm. It made her happy to think of Bree as a member of the family. If anything ever happened to Isabella, Bree would be there for Eliza. Isabella knew Eliza still needed her, at least a little… but probably not for much longer. Privately she wondered if that was part of Eliza's sudden impulsive decision with Bree, a way to make sure Isabella was still needed.
"You don't get it. I pull off an awesome distraction, and I do it by re-enacting one of the greatest cinema moments of all time. And the only non-biased person to see it, and still be alive… has no idea what it's from!" Eliza was in full pout mode.
"It was cool, and it was scary." Bree tried to add helpfully, with an earnest tone in her voice.
"Well... I guess if you've never seen it before it could be a little... I never thought about it that way." She pulled Bree into a hug and dragged her towards the television. "At least I know where to start." She pulled down one of the three large disc cases labeled A-L and flipped to the end.
Henry was observing Isabella and Eliza with an amused smile on his face and noted the new face eyeing him curiously. Henry coughed to draw attention to himself.
"Henry." Isabella nodded in greeting to the man, still watching Eliza with a twist of amusement on her face. He glanced at Bree with a question in his eyes.
"A new guest?" Henry guessed delicately. Isabella was about to shake her head when Eliza snapped her head in Henry's direction.
"Oh, I have to tell you what I did!" She sounded excited, bounding over the couch to stand in the open space of the room so she could demonstrate properly. Then she caught the expression on Henry's face and guessed that he was curious about Bree.
"Bree, Henry. Henry, Bree. So anyway, Mom told you about the newborn attack right?" Eliza started, before Isabella shook her head at her.
"Eliza, a proper introduction." Isabella scolded, though her tone reflected the barest hint of humor.
Eliza pouted again slightly, then turned to Bree and gestured to Henry. "Bree, this is Henry Jansen, he's a friend of ours and keeps things running around here."
After a small hesitation Isabella moved close to Bree and put her arm around the smaller girl's shoulders as she turned to look at Henry. The movement seemed a little stiff and awkward to Henry, but the subtleties were lost on Bree who looked up at Isabella, clearly nervous about what she would say.
"This is Bree, my newest daughter." her tone reflected her slight discomfort and resignation at the definition, but at the same time there was no mistaking the pride in her voice.
Bree's eyes went wide at the clear declaration, first a sister, then a mother. They were serious about including her in their family. She practically threw herself against Isabella and hugged her tightly.
Henry looked back and forth between Eliza who was smirking, and Bree who was clinging to Isabella with a child's need. He couldn't help but notice the pure the look of joy on the girl's face was. He wondered what she'd been through to display that level of affection towards someone she'd known for less than a day.
"Heck of a busy night." Henry deadpanned, although absolutely curious about what was sure to be one hell of a story.
"You have no idea." Isabella rolled her eyes and squeezed the young girl gently. Feeling a sense of contentment she hadn't expected.
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That night and most of the next day went by quickly.
Eliza first forced them all to watch the first Lord of the Rings, which Bree loved. Then they spent hours talking, just the three of them. They spent the first bit questioning Bree about her history, and any details she might have forgotten, or seen as unimportant in relating her story the evening before.
The whole process was greatly facilitated by the fact that Bree could now show them exactly what she saw through the connection. Both Eliza and Isabella tensed when they were shown the image of Joham. Eliza stiffened and snarled for several minutes before she could calm herself down.
Her reaction scared Bree a little, but Isabella, who managed to calm down first after vibrating in her seat for almost a minute as well, shared the reasons for their anger. After the story shown and spoken, Bree was nearly as furious. Her sweet indignation at the idea of someone hurting her new family was truly endearing and broke both Isabella's and Eliza temporary fury. Unfortunately other than images of Joham's 'friends' , Bree's memories didn't provide much more insight on the experiments.
Then as dawn slowly broke, Bree started to get more and more nervous, even though the curtains were tightly drawn closed.
"What's the matter?" Eliza asked, worried that they might have shared too much darkness with her for one day. Still Bree had seemed to be getting more comfortable with her new situation little by little for hours, so it didn't make sense that she was getting nervous again.
"Shouldn't we go to the basement now before the sun gets us?" Bree asked nervously, looking ready to bolt for safety at a single hint of sunlight peaking through the cloth covering the windows.
Isabella shook her head, "There are a lot of things we need to teach you, and that is probably the first one we should get out of the way. Sunlight cannot not hurt us."
Bree looked at Isabella blankly as if she were playing some great joke on her, or worse that she wanted to get rid of her. Isabella shook her head, and sent several images of them walking in the daylight, but that only seemed to make things worse. Bree curled in on herself, and began to cower in one corner of the couch. She realized that vocal or even visual demonstrations weren't going to work. They would have to prove it to her, physically. She looked over at her first daughter. "Eliza would you please go and demonstrate?"
Eliza nodded and stood up, and walked out the front door into the morning light. The sun had just crested above the pink and purple clouds of dawn, and asure blue sky was slowly coming to bright contrast with the soft glow of early morning. The rays of light struck Eliza's skin and she basked in it's radiance, happy to have a sunny moment before the clouds moved in from off in the distance with their pendulous darkness threatening heavy rain.
Bree sat inside tensely, her eyes shut tightly awaiting Eliza's screams of pain, instead there was a light tap on the window. Isabella went to the curtains, and very slowly drew them back, so as not to alarm Bree. Despite Isabella's attempt, Bree jumped off the couch as the line of sunlight came towards her, darted over to the furthest corner away from the light, and cowered in terror.
When Isabella pulled the curtain all the way back, Bree gasped out loud and Isabella sighed almost as loudly. Outside, looking perfectly unhurt was Eliza. Instead of burning up in agonizing pain her skin seemed to catch the light in a million tiny reflections, making her entire face appear to shimmer and glow. Isabella knew from experiences in the past that the effect was more subdued than that normal vampires had but still more than enough for even human senses to get. The whole effect would have been breathtakingly beautiful, but Eliza had to spoil the moment by pressing her mouth up against the glass to make a giant blowfish face.
Isabella shook her head in exasperation "Seventy plus years old and still a child." Her irritation and her exasperation were mollified though as she watched Bree. Even Eliza stopped goofing around to watch Bree.
Bree hesitantly stuck her hand into the light for a second, before jerking it back in the same movement. Then she carefully examined her hand to make sure there was no burns before she held it out again, this time she held it in the light. Her face scrunched up like she was bracing herself for the worst, but after a moment she relaxed, and opened her eyes to stare at her hand. She turned hand around slowly in the ray of sunshine, startled by the same radiant effect the light had on her skin as Eliza's. Isabella watched happily as an expression of sheer joy filled Bree's countenance.
She almost laughed when the tension completely relaxed from her body, and she straightened up and blurred out the front door without even bothering to test anymore. Once she was immersed in the morning sunlight, she took a deep breath of the crisp cool morning air. She just stood absolutely still for a long moment with her face turned to the sun, leaning against the railing of the front porch breathing deeply. Isabella moved into the doorway behind her, a small smile on her face.
Bree let out a laugh and turned to tackle Eliza in fierce hug. Unfortunately, Eliza had shifted to half sit on the porch railing and Bree's momentum sent them right through the sturdy wood, destroying a good portion of the gorgeous woodwork as they hit the ground.
Bree's mood completely flipped and she immediately seemed to panic, looking up at Isabella "Oh god I'm so sorry, please I didn't mean to, I'm sorry! I forgot…" her apology trailed off as the sound of Eliza's laughter penetrated her thoughts.
Eliza grinned and gestured with her head to where Isabella still stood at the front door, "Bree, it's okay. There used to be a screen door there, we haven't replaced it yet. Mom broke that Wednesday." Then she pointed up towards the attic window. It was it was still only boarded over, since the window hadn't been replaced yet. "She broke that on Wednesday too."
"Excuse me, dear. You broke that window." Isabella replied, without a trace of anger in her voice.
"It was your stubbornness and your body that broke it." Eliza replied haughtily.
"Yes, because you tackled me through the window to stop me from leaving." Isabella replied dryly.
Bree had been flinching waiting for the inevitable pain, but when it didn't come she relaxed enough to absorb their easy banter. There were no shouts of anger, threats, accusations, and neither of them tried to move to hit her.
"If you two are finished I think it's quite obvious that we have a lot of stuff to talk about." Isabella shook her head, faint amusement in her tone.
"Yes Mother," Eliza giggled as she got to her feet and then helped Bree up, before they followed Isabella back into the house.
The three of them spent the rest of the day talking. Isabella and Eliza gave the girl a full crash course on being a vampire, and the world they lived in. Shortly before noon, they were joined by Leah who settled in on the couch next to Eliza after briefly checking in on her brother.
Bree watched Leah warily, shifting away from her toward Isabella. When Isabella asked her why, she explained and shared images of the wolves they had met up with, including how many times they nearly attacked the other vampires, including her.
Explaining everything stretched out through the day and into the early evening. Bree was full of questions as she asked about Isabella's history and Eliza's history to make better sense of what she'd seen, and then asked about Leah and her pack. Henry joined them for a little bit after a breakfast in the afternoon. Bree peppered him with questions about himself which he answered without hesitation. Henry eventually excused himself to go into the Batcave to check up on things.
When he left, Bree looked at Isabella and Eliza in confusion, "I didn't attack him..." she said, though it came out as more of a question and was more full of surprise than anything. Isabella tilted her head curiously at that statement, silently inviting Bree to expand on what she meant.
"Before… anytime we got near humans we couldn't help ourselves. I couldn't help myself. Joham said that was normal for a newborn, that the scent of a human would be irresistible to us, that it was natural for us to be unable to stop ourselves. He said it would take years to learn that sort of control." Bree looked around guiltily as if she was suddenly afraid she was confessing some great sin.
Isabella nodded, "That might've been one of the only things they didn't lie to you about, newborn's usually do have a lot of trouble controlling themselves. It generally does take several months, even years to learn to be able to control your thirst normally. But… like we explained, you're different now. You're like us. You still need blood but it's less of an instinctual impulse, so it isn't so urgent and overriding. Control won't always be simple, but I can say from experience that it is easier."
They continued to talk as the topics got more general and Bree attempted to learn more about the odd family that seemed to have taken her in. Then they all started to talk about little things, personal details that were less about family secrets or histories than the things that they liked or just wanted to share. Eliza made a mental note of Arnold and tucked that bit away for a surprise gift down the road, she also managed to glean Bree's birthday without drawing attention to it.
It was still a ways off, but she knew the girl had never celebrated a single one. Isabella wasn't exactly fond of birthdays, but Eliza made a big deal of them every year. She loved the sense of family and togetherness that came from celebrating each other for a day. Sometime in late afternoon the following day, they had shifted outside to sit on the porch. The group wasn't really aware of the passage of time until Henry came outside and coughed to get Isabella's attention.
Henry's expression was grave as he met Isabella's eyes. "The Volturi Council is demanding to speak with you, and Aro does not look happy." Isabella gave him a puzzled look but nodded. Henry jerked his thumb toward the basement. "They're using a webcam, I have no idea when they started using Skype, but even Caius is in on the call. They want to speak to you now. Both of you."
Isabella shrugged and stood up, heading into the house and toward the basement, wondering what was going on. Eliza followed suit, though she paused when Leah caught her eye.
"I think I'll go get Paul and Seth and see if they want to come outside, stretch their arms and legs as long as they're careful. If we leave them cooped up in their rooms too much longer they might go nuts." Leah was standing up and shaking her head in amusement as she continued "Skype huh? Next thing you know these old vampires will be Tweeting."
Eliza looked at Leah blankly, "Aro loves twitter."
Leah's mouth dropped open, "Seriously?"
Eliza nodded turning her head to follow Isabella down to the basement, saying over her shoulder "Yeah, I know. Mom and I have argued over which is creepier; that he follows the Kardashian sluts and those Jersey Shore morons, that he follows the Pope, or that he religiously follows Adam Lambert in hopes of another European tour."
She shook her head a couple of time's at the ridiculousness of that image that still startled her to this day, and frowned to see Bree close on her heels. She almost turned to shoo her away, but they had to tell the Council about her at some point, might as well get it over with.
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Aro hung up the phone and shook his head lightly before he glanced first at Marcus and then at Caius. He frowned slightly, and directed his focus on Caius, when he spoke his tone was light but serious. "I'm afraid that our fears have come to pass."
Caius narrowed his eyes at Aro, "What fears are those?"
"I'm afraid that we may not be able to trust our two princesses anymore." Aro replied. Caius' face broke slowly into a cruel grin.
"What have they done?" Marcus' dull voice asked; causing both Aro and Caius to glance at him in surprise. He almost never spoke with interest about anything.
Aro regained his composure after a brief moment. "It seems that young Eliza has entered into some sort of dalliance with a young female wolf shifter."
Caius hissed immediately, "Unacceptable! I told you that alliance was a mistake! This… this is so far beyond that!" His tone reflected a combination of fury and disgust.
"I agree brother, they are all a danger to our kind regardless of their current affiliations. They'll all turn against us eventually, so we must destroy them before they have the opportunity." Aro elaborated to no one in particular. Caius was already chomping at the bit to call their lives forfeit.
"Those wolves have not openly attacked." Marcus argued, which again struck both Caius and Aro as unusual. Both gave each other slight glances confirming that they were already on the same page.
"There is no proof of that innocence. We now have four covens that have been destroyed all within the past fortnight. Always the scent of shifters and vampires on the remains. We can no longer afford the risk. They are allies now, but if they turn on us they pose an unacceptable threat. They must be destroyed, and Eliza knows better than to lower herself to lie with that creature it's a... perversion." Caius practically spit out the last word, as if it its meaning wasn't quite enough to illustrate his point.
Aro held out his hand in a calming gesture. "Calm yourself brother. You are correct. This is not acceptable."
"What are we planning to do?" Caius asked, his face crinkled angrily.
Aro shrugged, "It's rather simple. We shall give them a choice. If they chose to obey our will, then there is no problem at all. If however they chose to contest our decision, it is good that we have a contingency that will solve the problem permanently."
"Are you sure it's worth losing them?" Once again, Marcus' voice surprised the other two, even though he still remained as detached as ever, but three vocal reactions to a single debate was practically unheard of. It spoke to his mild attachment to the girls, something Aro noted silently.
"It would be a shame to lose two such… valued commodities." Aro said, his voice brimming with regret. "But if they chose to protest this, and given their sometimes stubborn nature it's possible, I'm afraid we must act to curb such insubordination. Not only as a lesson to the others, but as their final punishment for repeated acts. No one is above reproach."
Caius grinned and rubbed his hands together with a dreadful eagerness. "They'll never know what hit them. Now they'll finally pay for their impertinences, not that they'll ever learn how to show the proper respect."
Aro nodded once and called one of the guards over. "Set up the call, immediately."
Alice was in her room, rigid in shock from the impact of the vision. She could tell that Aro and Caius had already made up their minds, and there was no way Isabella and Eliza were going to submit to breaking their alliance with the Quileute's. She didn't know what the contingency was going to be, but there was no time to figure it out. Without another moment of hesitation she leapt out of the nearest window, and pressed into a sprint as soon as she hit the ground. She knew there was no point in alerting the others, so she didn't even bother to shout a word of warning to her family or the Denali.
The forest seemed thicker with underbrush, more dense with trees. Even as quickly as she ran she felt slow, even though she was recklessly smashing through obstacles. She only had a vague idea which direction Isabella's house was based on spotty information from Jasper. Her only hope and prayer was that she wasn't already too late, since she wasn't sure how far in the future the vision took place.
As she ran she tried to look ahead, but she only got blank spots when she tried to picture Isabella or Eliza, or their house. She pushed herself faster than she had ever moved before, leaping through the forest as fast as her legs could move. She replayed the vision in her mind, and it continued into the conversation... no she wouldn't let that happen. She reached down deep inside, and somehow managed to push even faster, her only though was to get to Isabella and warn her before...
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Isabella descended the stairs, Eliza and Bree right behind her, with Henry bringing up the rear. There were several monitors throughout the basement on different parts of the wall, but most of them were dark at the moment. The central screen, which was by far the largest, a full 59 inch flat screen TV, was front and center, and on it appeared the Volturi throne room.
"Gramps! Uncle C! Uncle M! You're using Skype now? Letting our home at Volterra join the twenty-first century is awesome!" Eliza said as she and Isabella came to stand in front of the monitor. Despite her teasing of Leah a few moments earlier, the Volturi Council tended to be slow to adopt technology. Caius hadn't even allowed electrical lights in his room until a few years earlier, when he had left a candle sitting precariously on a shelf. It had tipped over and burnt one of his favorite books.
Curiously, Henry remained out of sight of the camera, leaning against the wall by the stairs. Isabella didn't say anything, she just bowed her head respectfully. She had noticed that Aro hadn't even cracked a smile at Eliza's greeting which was very rare for him.
Aro's voice was brisk and business-like. "Good, you're both there. We have some serious business to discuss. But first who is this?"
Isabella nodded in agreement. "Someone I wanted to discuss with you. A lot has happened this evening, and we... "
Aro cut her off, shaking his head. "Never mind, it doesn't matter. There is another topic I wish to discuss first."
Isabella raised her eyebrow curiously and crossed her arms, waiting for him to elaborate.
Aro's eyes fixed on Isabella, and his tone turned mildly accusatory, "It seems you have been less than forthcoming with us." Isabella just raised an eyebrow in response, but didn't say anything, allowing him to continue. "When you brought us this… alliance with your wolf shifters, we were all understandably wary of the idea, but we allowed it. However, you neglected to give us all the specifics. I refer of course to your daughter's... situation."
Isabella kept her tone just as mild, but her eyes were cautious now. "What situation would that be?"
"This… relationship between Eliza and one of the shifters." Aro replied a very obvious note of disgust in his voice.
Eliza's jaw dropped, she was speechless as she turned her head slightly to glance worriedly at her mother. Then she shifted her gaze towards Henry who was shaking his head and waving his arms off camera trying to emphatically explain that he wasn't the one that had shared the damning information with the Volturi.
"I fail to see how that's a situation of any sort, less of one that should concern you." Isabella said, her jaw tightened for only a moment, her mind racing through possibilities, wondering who might have told them. From Henry's non-vocal anger and wild gesticulations it was clearly not him. She nodded very slightly in understanding and acknowledgement, telling him she believed him. Then she shifted her eyes up the stairs; wordlessly telling him it might be best to leave than get drawn into this disagreement by Aro. She wished she could do the same with Bree, this had nothing to do with her.
"Come, come." Aro's tone was one of recrimination. "You know very well that any sort of intermingling between species is against our laws."
Eliza watched Henry nod in wordless acknowledgement to her mother and head up the stairs quietly. Then she turned to Aro. "We haven't even done anything yet! And we're both girls!" Eliza spoke up without thinking, and flinched realizing her mistake. A look of embarrassment crossed over her immediately, but in another bout of incredulous defiance she plowed on. "I don't see what the big deal is."
Caius spoke up in a smug, almost taunting voice. "The big deal is that their kind has been attacking us, their kind has had a hand in the destruction of four covens, their kind are one step away from the plague we've vowed to stop at all costs. We cannot tolerate a threat like this, let alone fraternization with a creature that we should never even associate with. Whatever this imprint is, it is not allowed of any vampire, much less a Volturi."
"My daughter's personal life is none of the Volturi Council's business. She is not harming anyone." Isabella stated, her voice firm.
Aro held up his hand to calm Caius, not wanting him get too worked up yet. "Unfortunately daughter, Caius is correct. No matter his choice of words, we allowed this alliance against our better judgment. Further, based on your last report and recent developments, the wolf shifters do present a significant threat to us. A personal relationship goes far beyond that, it could easily lead to exposed secrets which may expose a potential vulnerability."
"Expose us? Secrets? The shifters were born..." Eliza began to protest, but her rant was cut off when Isabella's voice thundered in her mind. "Eliza, be quiet. They hear one word of evolution or being born to kill our kind and it's over. We need to be smart here, and indignant remarks are just going to make things worse than they already are. Let me try and handle this." Isabella had to suppress the urge to give her a harsh look, showing her frustration outwardly, but she was worried that even that small gesture might be enough to make the situation spin out of control.
Eliza snapped her mouth closed, and tried not to react. She had been scolded before for her sense of humor and occasionally disrespectful attitude, this was different. She could tell from her mother's tone just how serious the stakes were, and how much was on the line. Isabella rarely ever said "try", and the idea that she wasn't certain if she could handle Aro struck Eliza more deeply than anything else.
"Any relationship has the potential for careless trust or willful manipulation. We have no way to confirm the motivations of these wolf shifters, so it is very conceivable that they have an agenda to use your daughter to discover any vulnerabilities or weak points we may have." Aro replied.
"They have not been a threat to us. Quite the opposite in fact, they've helped us a great deal." Isabella replied, modulating her voice to create the illusion of control and calm.
"Yes, Eliza mentioned that when she called. However, now that we have confirmation that these kind of wolf shifters are located throughout the world, as part of this global scheme you mentioned. We realize now that their mere existence is a far bigger problem than we originally imagined." Aro stated calmly.
Isabella nodded agreeably. "Yes, and we've made the first steps toward unraveling this mystery, you see.."
Aro shook his head again cutting off Isabella's reply. "No! What we see is that we've ignored a dangerous species for too long. Whether you were ignorant of the danger they present is something we are willing to overlook though." Isabella didn't like sound of that, she let a bit of her frustration show on her face. Aro smiled widely. "We are calling a hunt. All Volturi are now to consider all shifters wolf or otherwise a threat to our continued existence. From this point forward all Volturi will be expected to kill any confirmed shifter without hesitation or exception."
"What of the Quileutes? We have an alliance with them." Isabella asked, her voice still calm, though the seething anger Eliza could feel through their connection made her worried that her mother might not be able to continue things civilly.
"The Quileute alliance is hereby terminated. We will be dispatching a dozen of our reserve guard to your location. They will assist you in the elimination of the pack." Aro stated with casual indifference, although it was clearly a bait. "You will evaluate the performance of the twelve guard, to determine whether any of them are worthy of permanent status." He continued as if the matter had been closed.
Isabella closed her eyes slowly, and there was silence from both sides of the connection. Eliza watched her mother, but kept her mouth shut despite wanting to say a ton of things that kept popping into mind. Bree huddled close to Eliza, fear radiating off of her. The eyes of two of the three council members seemed to be focused on Isabella as well. Marcus was staring at Bree, his face strangely curious.
"No." Isabella opened her eyes to look at the screen and shook her head. "We allied with them. On my honor and status as a Volturi. I created the alliance. I will not betray it." Aro's face feel in an exaggerated way, Caius smiled somehow even more smugly, but Marcus seemed genuinely upset about something and turned to look at something off screen.
Caius voice was sharp, but there was an air of condescension in it and withering contempt made him sound like a snake hissing out his reply instead of speaking it. "Are you refusing a direct order from the Council?"
Isabella's voice was calm, "Not at all, I'm refusing to abandon an alliance made in my name. An Alliance that speaks to the integrity and honor of our coven. To turn around and attack them, would be to betray everything you have taught me to stand for. I'm asking that you listen to reason, I am absolutely confident that given the change you'll find that they can help u..."
Aro's voice was deathly quiet, all humor and lightness gone, when he interrupted again. "You are defying our orders. No matter how you try to frame it ideologically. There is no debate here. You know there is only one punishment for defiance. Are you ready to condemn both you and your daughter, for creatures that will very likely betray you? Now, I'm asking you again. Will you abide by the council's decision?"
Isabella looked at the monitor for several long seconds before she turned to meet Eliza's violet eyes. Eliza's met her mother's red eyes, and without words she agreed wholeheartedly. She looked down to Bree who didn't entirely seem to understand what was going on, but also sent an acknowledgement that she preferred to stand up for the shifters rather than let them get slaughtered. Isabella turned back to the screen. She squared her shoulders and met Aro's impatient gaze across the thousands of miles that separated them.
"No." She didn't need to elaborate further, it was clear that no argument could be made in their defense.
"Well then, know that this brings me no pleasure my daughter, but I'm afraid you leave us no choice." Aro said pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and proceeded to quickly dial numbers. Caius grinned expectantly, and Isabella's brow furrowed in confusion. A sense of dread beginning to seep into her stomach.
Isabella watched Aro dial with a frown, she turned her head to meet her daughter's equally confused gaze for just a moment. Their last shared thought was a question, who could Aro possibly be calling… and then the house exploded around them.
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Author's notes: The End!
No Really!
Nothing more to see here!
Credit's rolling
*laughs* No of course that's not the end
We have alot of stuff planned. The question is "Who will survive?" CLIFFHANGER! DUN DUN DUN DUN! Honestly if I were writing this as a book. This would be where the first one ended. Just so you know when people start saying this story is getting super duper long!
2) Thank you to Samantha Minuet who wrote the entire Edward section. Creepy. I know. But i wanted to establish once and for all that he's a selfish bastard. Redemption for him? UNLIKELY. She really is taking the part of "Co-Author" And i'm so thankful for it! I just had a really impossible time fitting my head into a personality that warped and self-centered. But I wanted something with a bit of poetry as well, she did awesome.
3) I really expected that people would hit her power on the head. It will be revealed in the next chapter O_O sort of. I will admit here and now to stealing some of the idea from Vampire the Masquerade. So maybe that hint will help those of you who are still looking. It's NOT the cloaking (that's Eliza's) and it's not the mental block. (that's already in there). It's something else!
4) Samantha Minuet's Co-Author Note: Cliffy... I'm so sorry, story's over folks I hope you all liked it. So did you like how they all died and... *falls over laughing* sorry couldn't keep a straight face. I won't say how things play moving forward, but I think Kathryn is awesome and the next couple of chapters are total game changers. Can't wait until next week to share it all with you guys!
5) Updates may be slightly slower going forward because we're getting closer and closer to what i have written. But i'm still going for twice a week.
6) It's been a couple of action packed chapters. I'll bring the focus back to some romances soon.
PLEASE Read and Review! We read all of the reviews and we invite constructive criticisms!
Next Chapter- Death
