68. Volterra

Edward and Isabella Cullen.

My fingers faltered on the keys as I read the looping script, feeling a sinking dread in the pit of my stomach. There was no return address, but the postage indicated the package had originated in Italy. There was only one person there who would have had cause to send something to any of us.

Aro.

Jacob sat up with a snort and looked around blearily, as if he hadn't just been seconds away from a sound sleep.

"What about him?" Bella asked.

"Who?" Jacob said around a yawn.

It wasn't until I met Bella's wide, fearful eyes that I realized I'd spoken aloud. I glanced past her at the rest of our family, who had come into the room when they'd heard me.

Alice, rolling her eyes as she flounced down the stairs, said, "Don't be silly! I'd have seen that." …should be okay, but you might wanna remind Bella not to breathe...

I didn't see anything specifically alarming in her thoughts, but I knew better than to doubt my sister.

"Hold your breath, Bella. Someone's coming. Someone human."

"And what does that have to do with Aro?" Bella pressed before gasping in a quick breath to hold.

"Wait, what'd I miss?" Jacob's head swiveled as he looked for one of us to answer.

"You'll see." Grimly, I stood and strode for the front door, opening it as the human climbed out of his car, and then quickly shutting it behind me to keep the smell out.

Juggling a box, a clipboard, and a pen, and nearly dropping all three, he didn't notice me at first, gawking up at the house with a mixture of wonder at the beautiful mansion hidden in the forest and irritation that he'd driven right past our driveway five times.

...place like this would be better mark- Jesus, where'd he come from!

The human stumbled back a few steps, and his heart broke into a sprint that everyone in the house could hear as clearly as I could. Various eyes showed me that Bella, clutching Renesmee to her chest, stood still as a statue in the middle of the room, with Jasper an arm's length away.

A similar visit by an unannounced human when Emmett was new had ended with a hasty move. Bella was amazing!

As my family watched, Alice wrapped an arm around Bella's shoulders, but the gesture seemed more companionable than cautionary. Bella was worried, and Alice was doing what she could to allay that feeling. The tableau was familiar. I'd seen this scene in Alice's mind many times, but it no longer filled me with horror. Skin white and eyes red, her expression inscrutable and at odds with the comforting smile on my sister's face, Bella leaned into Alice's embrace. I felt a sense of awe at my sister's omniscience. Even with Renesmee and Jacob creating blind spots in her visions, this visit and the worry it engendered had been inevitable.

I'd been so afraid of this future, spent so many useless hours worrying over what it must mean. None of my speculations had been remotely close. I should have realized. When did Bella ever behave the way I'd expected? I was reasonably certain, though, that when our eyes met again, hers would fill with love and warmth.

After Bella's complete lack of fear, I'd nearly forgotten how a human should react to the sudden appearance of a vampire. She had recognized that reaction in others, but had pointed out that we could dazzle them, as well as frighten. I had dazzled her. But not this human. I glanced at the sky, grateful for the reassuring cloud cover, and descended the stairs, giving him my most non-threatening smile.

"Hello. Can I help you?"

"Whoa, hey, didn't see you there." He laughed nervously at himself, trying to overcome the desire to run. I was just a kid, not that much younger than he was. No reason to be so creeped out.

"Sorry about that. Is there something I can do for you?"

"Oh. Um." He shuffled the package around again to read the names scrawled across the top. "I have a delivery for Edward and Isabella Cullen."

"I'm Edward Cullen," I said, relieving him of the box before he could drop it.

"Right. Okay. I just need your signature here. And here. And initial here. Aaand here. Great. Um, thanks. Um." He groped blindly for his car, unknowingly refusing to turn his back on me, until I walked away.

Humans, I scoffed as I shut the door on the fading sound of his car speeding down our long driveway. It was a good thing for him that we were not as controlled by our instincts as he was by his.

But Bella! She resisted the unexpected appearance of a random human as easily as she had resisted her father. When her newborn strength faded, she would still be the strongest vampire I would ever know. I smiled my love and amazement at her, but though her lips twitched in an attempt at returning my smile, she was apparently too concerned about the box I carried - or the one who had sent it - to do more than that. I turned my smile toward Alice instead, trying to convey everything I felt for the amazing women in my life in the simple gesture. She, at least, smiled back, understanding better than anyone else ever would why I could be happy, given what I carried.

The package was addressed to both of us, but I offered it to Bella to open. She exchanged our daughter for the box, then lightly ran her fingers over our names. I was surprised they were steady, as frightened as she'd been of the Volturi before. Perhaps she didn't remember the details of their first meeting. Or perhaps she did, which was why she hesitated to open it.

"How did he know we had married?" I mumbled. "Oh. Er, yes. I suppose that was the better option. But you might have said something."

"We've only had about a bazillion other things on our minds lately!" Alice said with a roll of her eyes. "And besides, they're waiting. It wasn't a big deal."

"You see the weather and tiny fluctuations in the stock market, but a package from Italy arrives unannounced, and it's not a big deal?"

"It's not. I sent them a wedding announcement. They sent a gift." She raised her chin haughtily, daring me to argue with her logic. "It's what humans would do."

"All perfectly reasonable. Yes. I see." I shifted Renesmee in my arms and tried to stifle my unreasonable irritation with my favorite sister. For fifty years her visions had kept us safe. Surprises had been few and far between. Given everything she did see, having a package from Italy show up without warning felt as though Aro himself were standing on the porch.

She already worries she's been letting everyone down, Edward, Jasper thought at me. I don't need you to make it worse!

Well, damn. I supposed it was a bit hypocritical for me to praise her for what she did see while blaming her for what she didn't. Feeling like the world's lousiest brother, I nodded, acknowledging his point, and gave her an apologetic smile. She jerked one of her shoulders at me and gestured for Bella to open the box.

I considered zipping across the room to muss Alice's carefully spiked hair. Fighting back a smug smile, I realized I could probably get away with it too. With Renesmee in my arms and Jacob hovering nearby, she'd never see me coming.

Knowing me well enough to guess my intention without her visions, she imagined herself stepping aside with one foot out, sending me sprawling face first on the floor. Renesmee, of course, would somersault to a safe stop.

I couldn't help but laugh.

"I saw Jane and Alec," Alice explained to Bella. "While you were on your honeymoon. Caius decided to send them by for a visit."

"To check up on us," Bella said, nodding. "Make sure we were following the rules."

"Hold up, this is from those Italian leeches?" Jacob's lips curled as he looked for one of us to refute his conclusion.

Alice nodded. "I saw that sending a wedding announcement would make them wait."

"Make them wait, but not stop? They're still coming?"

"Yes, but don't bother asking me when," she said quickly when he took a preparatory breath. "They haven't decided yet. I won't know until they do."

"No. It's good, Alice. Thanks." Deftly, Bella slid a finger under a corner, breaking the tape. She opened the box's other side, using the sharp edge of her fingernail where the tape didn't want to give way.

Within the plain cardboard box, carefully wrapped in a protective sheath and cushioned by styrofoam, was a wooden box, inlaid with gold and lavishly decorated with jewels.

"Well," Emmett said, ending the stunned silence that filled the room, "they say you should always send your rich relatives a wedding invite. They won't come but they'll send something nice."

Jasper snorted. "That's not 'something nice', Em. That's" - a threat - "extravagant."

"No, that's extravagant," Rose said when Bella lifted the lid. A silent whistle of appreciation went around the room.

"I always wondered where the crown jewels disappeared to after John of England pawned them in the thirteenth century," Carlisle commented dryly. "I suppose it doesn't surprise me that the Volturi have their share."

"Is that… a diamond?" Bella asked, lifting the stone from the velvet bed where it had lain. Trailing through her fingers was a thick gold chain, from which the golf ball-sized pendant was supposed to dangle.

"There's a letter," I said, retrieving it from where it was tucked behind the wooden box.

I skimmed it quickly, dismissing Aro's flowery congratulations along with the platitudes and banal apologies over our confrontations as the veiled threats they were. We had broken the law. Either we comply or pay the price, and it was time we proved that we had done as we aught.

"'I so look forward to seeing the new Mrs. Cullen in person,'" I quoted his closing line.

"May I?" Carlisle pointedly asked.

I handed him the letter, and then Bella offered the necklace to Renesmee to see. The gifts and the letter were passed around with varying degrees of interest. Everyone agreed on one thing, at least: The arrival of a gift from Aro was a sign that our idyllic interim was over. It was time we solidified our plans, and it was apparent that a visit to Volterra was an essential first stop. One we needed to embark upon without delay.

Aro's gift added impetus to my restless frustration. I had long hated the stagnant feeling of waiting, frozen and ineffective, while time rushed past. Eternity was merely time stuck on repeat. We no longer lived in a straight line, but were caught up in an endless loop, and Nessie was the only one moving forward. Our daughter grew right before my eyes, and all I could do was discover more of the same fallacies. I ached to follow our leads, just for the feeling of doing something, anything.

We had exhausted all our local resources, though we continued to comb through what we had for any clues we might have missed or misinterpreted. We refined our plans and destinations. I kept one eye on Alice's thoughts at all times, looking for a glimpse that would lead me to believe we might be leaving soon.

I couldn't understand why she never once saw us heading on our way. There was no point in staying save for Bella's desire to share the holidays with Charlie. There was nothing more we could find out from here. Nothing useful.

Alice had seen years, decades, into the future. Why couldn't she see us leaving Forks? Surely our departure was only weeks away! It didn't make sense. I tried changing my mind again and again on where we would go first, making reasoned arguments based on what facts we had. I made decisions based on wild guesses and hunches. Carlisle and I looked into travel options and studied vivid topographical maps, carefully planning the precise details of our journey.

Nothing.

As far as Alice was concerned, we were going nowhere.

It was maddening. And confusing.

Brazil called to me. The answers were there. They had to be. Of course we would go there! Why wouldn't Alice see it?!

Carlisle continued on as if the future was as unknowable to us as it was to everyone else. We would leave in the fullness of time, and until then, we would live our lives. The future would happen as it was meant to. Worrying had never altered nor hastened it.

I tired to follow his example, reveling in the little piece of paradise I'd found as much as I could, but the urgency of Renesmee's aging couldn't be ignored. Engaging in fruitless research was better than idly waiting for the future to catch up to us, but the constant failures still rankled.

There was little to be found online beyond the current misconceptions Hollywood promoted. Modern day vampire legend said we should burst into flame with the first touch of sunlight. We should not have reflections or be capable of being photographed. We should be killed by driving a piece of wood into our hearts. We should sleep in coffins, of all the ridiculous things.

"The blame does not lie with Hollywood alone," Carlisle argued when I griped about the mass produced nonsense humans came up with to entertain themselves. "For centuries, if not millennia, misinformation has been disseminated and encouraged by those of our kind who have taken it upon themselves to rule over and protect the rest of us."

"Protect," I scoffed.

"Yes. The laws are for our collective protection. Human and vampire. If the humans knew of us, they would come after us, and they would die. And our numbers would grow, exponentially. Without the need for secrecy, with our limitless strength, speed, and invulnerability, it is the humans who would pay the price for our lack of government. Imagine if the Southern Wars did not have to be hidden."

An involuntary shudder ran down my spine at the unpleasant image his words evoked.

"I do not think you want to live in a world where vampires are free to leave the shadows. We are the only ones capable of keeping ourselves in check. For that, there must be laws. And for any law to have any power, there must be those who enforce them, and consequences for breaking them."

"Well, we've followed their laws," Bella said.

"Something we're going to have to prove to them at some point," I said. "Sooner, rather than later. We don't want them coming here. You know what would happen to Charlie if they were to find him here."

"Or Jake. Or Sue, or any of the packs." Bella worried her lower lip.

Carlisle nodded. "There is another reason I would like to visit Volterra."

"You think the answer is there," I said, knowing him well enough that I didn't need to read it in his mind.

"Their library is bound to have older and more accurate accounts than any we will find elsewhere. We could search the entire world and not find a better record of our history."

"Yeah, probably," Bella said, "but you can't go there. None of you can."

"I lived among them for decades, and count friends among them still. As you said, we have broken no laws. We have nothing to fear from them."

"Until Aro shakes your hand and finds out about Renesmee."

"I know what you think of him, but using his gift is not a privilege he abuses. He does not need to take my hand to witness your transformation. He will be able to see that you are a vampire with his own eyes. That is all the proof he requires."

"But if you're looking to find answers about Renesmee, you can't really think he'll just let us waltz in there and go through his library without telling him what we're looking for."

"I am not above lying to protect my family," he said with a twist to his lips.

"Yeah," Bella scoffed. "Me neither."

Carlisle conceded her point with a nod. "Whatever we tell him, he has no reason to keep us out. Volterra welcomes guests. Hosting visitors enhances their authority."

"And provides a distraction from their monotony," I said. Aro had been excited to see me simply for the break in their unchanging routines. Boredom was but one of the many prices of immortality, one few understood until it was much too late.

"Precisely. He will allow us our secrets because they intrigue him. I have seen it before."

Jacob sputtered, "You're - you're talking about keeping Nessie secret from the vampire mafia, right? The ones who can read minds and are already threatening to kill all of you?"

"Our self-appointed royalty," I agreed sourly.

"Somehow," Bella said, "I don't think anyone's secrets stayed secrets for as long as you think. I'm the only one he can't read. I'm the one he needs to see. The only one."

Abruptly, the future that had been spotty and inane blossomed, fully formed and definite, in Alice's mind. Bella, alone, on a plane, speeding through the countryside, strolling up to the clock tower under which I had nearly died.

Incredulous, I locked eyes with Alice, who was already shaking her head at me.

"This you see. Our family following through on plans we've been making for weeks, no. But this, this is clear as day."

I only see the future, Edward. I can't be held responsible for what's in it.

At another time, I would have felt sympathetic toward Alice. After most of a century with the many possible futures clearly visible, to be so limited was frustrating and - though she wouldn't admit it - frightening. Her visions were as vital to her as sight, and while she was not completely blinded, trying to see around Nessie and a pack of werewolves who were constantly in and out of the house left her with gaping blind spots and a persistent feeling that she was missing an important detail.

Currently, I was inclined to agree with her. How had she missed this?!

But my sister was right. This wasn't her doing. This was Bella's decision. Alice simply saw what Bella intended, and it was Bella who had to be stopped.

Frozen, my muscles automatically locked in place, my fury fueled by fear, I knew I was already lost. Bella had always been a force of nature, unstoppable and unwavering in her resolve. She had been right about me, but her current plans relied on Aro's restraint, not mine.

Bella nodded calmly, as if it made perfect sense.

"No," I gasped.

"I have to go alone, Edward. Of course I do."

Fighting the need to snatch her into my arms, to hold her tight and never let go, my hands clenched into fists at my sides as I snarled, "You're not going alone."

"They won't hurt me. They have no reason to. I'm a vampire. Case closed."

"No. Absolutely no."

"Edward, it's the only way to protect her."

"And who's going to protect you?" I didn't care how selfish the question was. Bella was my life, and protecting her, that was and would always be my job.

"I will," Carlisle said firmly.

"And me," Emmett said.

Jasper stood up as well, silently indicating his readiness. Ostensibly he would be going along to protect Bella, but Alice was in as great a danger from Aro's clutches as Bella. He wanted to assure there would be no further threat to his family.

Esme's eyes darted between the lot of us. She knew her place was here, but she loathed the idea of not being there to comfort Carlisle after what was sure to be a trying encounter. We might not be monsters, but Aro had already taken far too much delight in tormenting her husband for his oddities. What would Aro do to Carlisle upon his return, or to the children who followed in his footsteps?

"You can't," Bella argued. "I don't need protecting, but Renesmee does. None of you can keep Aro from finding out about her. Only I can do that. They won't hurt me. By their own laws, they can't."

Her smile was infuriating and far too familiar. Her absolute certainty brooked no room for argument. Arguing never worked with her anyway. But sometimes... sometimes asking did. I would beg if I had to. Bella was not going to face the Volturi by herself!

I went to her and pulled her into my arms. Carefully, gently, as if she were still human and breakable, I traced the shape of her face with my fingertips and tilted her chin up until she looked into my eyes. The resolve in them was firm, but I could still dazzle her if I tried, and she was always quick to defend me from myself. I would use whatever weapons I had at my disposal to keep Bella out of Aro's clutches.

"You have to go. I accept that, and it's my own fault. Even now, when you're immortal, you're in danger because of me. I should never have left you!"

"Edward," she scoffed.

"You cannot deny that Aro knows about you because of me. You have to go because of my actions, because I went to them. Let me at least do what I can to mitigate the consequences. Allow me to accompany you. Please?"

The defiance in her eyes softened, but her voice remained resolute. "I know why you went. It's not your fault that I jumped off the stupid cliff."

Of course she would take the blame upon herself. If not for me, she would never have jumped off the cliff in the first place. If I'd bothered to check properly, rather than make assumptions based on second-hand information and a vague phone call, I'd have found out Bella was alive, and would soon have returned to beg her to take me back.

I'd stayed to protect her. I'd left to protect her. Neither one had been right, but I'd only ever wanted her safe.

"And anyway," Bella continued as I ground my teeth, "it doesn't matter. Keeping Renesmee safe is the only thing that matters."

"Keeping you safe is equally important to me," I insisted.

"I know. And thanks. Really. But you don't need to worry. I will be perfectly safe."

"Please, Bella. Please. Aro said he loved a happy ending. So let's show him ours. Together."

"And leave Renesmee without both her parents?"

"If it's as safe as you say, why not?" I challenged.

Bella rolled her eyes as if her answer should have been obvious to me. "It's safe for me, no one else. He can read your mind. You know that better than anyone. And he will. He won't be able to resist."

Already knowing myself defeated, I groaned, certain that she was right. I'd been so adamantly against her change, he would want to witness my capitulation however vicariously. And that would be true regardless of who accompanied her.

"Can you read my mind?" she pressed.

"You know I can't," I muttered.

Bella smiled her smug, infuriating smile. "Alice?"

"I see Bella going, Edward. Not you."

I could read it in her mind. I knew exactly what she saw. She only said it aloud for Bella's benefit.

I couldn't stop the low growl in my chest. Bella could claim immunity, trusting our lawmakers to follow their own laws to keep her safe, but those who made and enforced the laws could twist and change them to suit their purposes. There was no one to hold them accountable. I didn't trust Aro, nor any who kept his company, not to find a way to deprive me of the woman I loved. With no witnesses to say otherwise, Bella could simply disappear, like all the human tourists who went willingly to their own doom.

"Edward," Bella crooned as if she knew how much my name on her lips affected me. "It'll be okay."

As she ran fingers through my hair, I wondered if she remembered doing and saying the exact same thing the last time I'd thought I was going to lose her - when she was pregnant with Renesmee. Eventually, she had to be wrong.

"You met only a handful of the powers Aro surrounds himself with. Jasper can affect your emotions. Alice can see your future. Marcus could see our connection. Bella, you're not immune!"

"To what? He has no reason to hurt me, and he can't now anyway."

"You think not? Perhaps he wouldn't physically injure you, but what about mentally? Or emotionally? How will you feel if he makes you witness their meal time? Vampire memories don't fade, Bella, not ever."

The first hint of doubt entered her eyes. She'd never been concerned about her own safety, but that of others? Including myself? My selfishness knew no limits.

"And forgetting about any of that, I'm less concerned that he will want to hurt you than I am that he will try to keep you. You have no idea how... interesting your silence is. I can't lose you, Bella. You know what it would do to me."

"All the more reason for you to stay here. He can't have you, either. If we both go..."

"We're stronger together, love. You've proven that time and again. Separate, we're vulnerable. We belong together. You said that. Those are your words. And they're more true now than they ever were before."

"Not this time, Edward. I'm sorry."

"Carlisle, then."

Even as the words left my mouth, the future shifted in Alice's mind. I let her vision guide my compromise.

"He doesn't have to go all the way into the castle with you, but he can be close enough that Aro will know he's with you. That alone would assure your safe return."

"It'll work, Bella," Alice said with relief.

With no one else along to block her from seeing, the future was available to her, but the many influencing factors prevented the way it played out from being a sure thing. However, the main points were stable. Bella and Carlisle would fly to Italy, with Carlisle accompanying her only part of the way. Bella would continue on to the castle by herself.

A day or two, they would be gone, and then they would come back. Bella would come back to me. That was the important thing. Alice saw it, and I believed her. Bella would come back, and then we would be free to live out our eternity.

This was what I'd been waiting for, I realized. For Bella to make the decision to go. My plans meant nothing without her. I supposed some things never changed.