So... I got it wrong and Alice got a Porsche, not a Lamborghini... I went back to change that. P.s. would people like me to write a bit about what happened during slavery so that her reaction is clearer?

PSA: Please stay through the issue of her and Jasper! I thought their heart to heart would come sooner, but there's a pain in what Carys has just found out. While the plot will continue to speed up, this isn't going to be as quick and easy as shouting and we're done as I previously expected it could be when mapping things out. I don't think Carys could have immediately been fine with Jasper - not even if I wanted her to... If this was my story entirely (i.e. I wasn't using SMeyer's characters as a base), I don't think Jasper would have been a Confederate... Yeah...

Eclipse, Chapter 12

"Would you prefer to leave?" Carlisle whispered urgently into Carys' ear, his arms shifting, tightening around her as he drew her into his full embrace. "We could go up and if you want to know, I could tell you what's being said?"

"No," Carys replied just as quietly, squeezing his knee and trying to ignore the fact that the attention of each and every vampire in the room was - whether overtly or subtly - upon her following the end of Jasper's story. "I'd rather stay here."

The matter of Seattle was pressing. Immediate. She'd not stayed through Jasper's story to duck out when it came to the rest, and she knew Carlisle would prefer to be in the room while they discussed.

Carlisle... No wonder he'd been willing to suggest - more than once - that he tell her the rest of Jasper's story.

Jasper's admission of who he was as a human had had a little time to sink in, and so had his clear remorse. Still, she was in a state of shock and wasn't sure how much of a difference it made to the fact he'd hidden it from her for so long with so many chances to tell her. Could his remorse and their friendship be enough to make a difference that as a human he had chosen to fight to continue to enslave people; she knew well of the atrocities committed and the continued presence and ramifications in the world.

That one of her best friends had been a genuine part of such humanly inhumane brutality hurt in a way she couldn't express. Carys was mixed-race; her mother was black. If Jasper had been descended from people who thought them subhuman and enslaved people such as some of their ancestors, it would be one thing - but he wasn't. Standing in front of her, one of her friends had been that person; history was coming together in a way she'd never fully expected it would.

Could she move past that?

It had been so long ago... He was remorseful... It wasn't who he was anymore or had been for a long time... But... Was that enough? He should have told her. He hadn't told her because he knew how deeply it would wound - and so he had kept something so personally horrific from her.

And yet he too had been through subjugation, had he not? For a lifetime - seventy years - at the hands of Maria, as he'd just laid out once again...

The tears that pricked her eyes as she finally allowed herself to try to think about it dried as she felt a sudden deadening of her emotions. Jasper turned quickly to meet her eye. She looked away. He hadn't been responsible for the lack of feeling - insomuch as he wasn't using his power on her. He was surprised and wary, expecting her resolve would soon strengthen again. That they would speak about it further, there was no doubt.

Carys blinked and adjusted her position, sliding her legs to the floor, wiggling her toes to put some feeling back into them. Being immediately assaulted by pins and needles brought her out of her thoughts.

She would have to work out her feelings after they'd talked. For now, she would focus on the matter of the future rather than the past.

"Carlisle said-" she looked sideways at him and he drew back a little to meet her eye "-you said there could be more, but," she looked at Jasper again, "from what you've said... Could there be as many newborns as you and Maria kept in reserve?"

The vampires reacted at once to her words; her choice to move on gave permission she realised they'd been seeking.

Emmett dropped his pen to the notepad with a thwack! and shoved them both down the side of his armchair.

"Could be more," Jasper confirmed, accepting the pin Carys had put in the issue of his past. "Fewer than twenty, I'd hazard. But why would he create an army in Seattle? There's no history there, no vendetta." Arms now crossed, he emphasised each point with a flick of his wrist. "It makes no sense from a conquest standpoint, either; no one claims it. Nomads pass through, but there's no one to fight for it. No one to defend it from.

"Whoever Riley's creator is, they must'a told him about armies, but they don't seem to've left much else in regards to history. Either they're behind it, or he's got control and focus to rival mine back in the day.

"We will have to destroy the newborns now, and we will have to do it very soon." Jasper nodded to himself - grimly resolute. "I can teach everyone how, but it won't be easy in the city. The young'uns aren't concerned about secrecy, but we will have to be. It'll limit us in ways." He frowned in concentration. "Maybe we can lure them out."

Edward's nostrils flared as he sighed. "Maybe we won't have to. Does it occur to anyone else that the only possible threat in the area that would call for the creation of an army is... Us?"

Carys held her free hand high in the air. They all turned to her as one.

She slowly lowered her hand and shrugged. "I mean, I'm not saying I called it when I first found them, but I'm pretty sure I called it when I first found them."

"You did."

"And then Carlisle did - kinda. And Jasper," she said, pointing to each of them as she spoke.

Edward pursed his lips, tapping his index finger to his knee. "It has to be someone who knows Alice can't see anything until the decision is made. Riley wouldn't know how to play with the holes in your vision, Alice - not unless he had... No... It must be the Volturi, but how?"

"A favour," Rosalie suggested. "Someone in the South... Someone who already had trouble with the rules. Someone who should have been destroyed but was offered a second chance - if they take care of this one small problem... That would explain the Volturi's sluggish response."

Carlisle shook his head. "There's no reason for the Volturi-"

"It was there," Edward disagreed thoughtfully. "I'm surprised it's come to this so soon because the other thoughts were stronger. Aro saw a future with me at his one side and Alice at his other. The past, present and future, virtual omniscience.

"The power of the idea intoxicated him. I would have thought it would take him much longer to give up on that plan - he wanted it too much.

"But there was also the thought of you, Carlisle, of our family, growing stronger and larger. The jealousy and the fear: you having... Not more than he had, but still, things that he wanted; me, Alice, Bella...

"He tried not to think about it, but he couldn't hide it completely. Besides their own, ours is the largest coven..."

Carlisle gravely shook his head. "You should have told us that, Edward. If that were the case, your original plan for Bella would have further doomed us all. But I cannot believe it would be the Volturi. They would never break the rules themselves. It goes against everything they've worked for."

"They'll clean up afterward. A double betrayal," Edward said in a grim voice. "No harm done."

Jasper shook his head. "No, Carl-isle is right. The Volturi do not break rules. Besides, it's much too sloppy. I cannot believe the Volturi are involved. But they will be."

"Then let's go," Emmett loudly insisted, throwing his hands up. "Enough talking about it! What are we waiting for?"

"We need Jasper to teach us how to destroy them first," Carlisle allowed. Hard faced and weary, his hand gripped Carys' side.

She rubbed his thigh. It was the last thing he would want. There was no question he would fight and kill for his family when there was no other option, but it went against everything in him to do so.

It would be like asking Esme to hate, Alice to stop looking into the future, Edward to stop listening to thoughts, Jasper to stop feeling, Rosalie to completely turn her back on her family, Emmett to lose his strength.

Carlisle kissed Carys' cheek - a self-soothing gesture as much as it was one to soothe her.

Before Edward had called Emmett, Carlisle had said there was little hope, but even a glimmer of hope can hold immense power for those who need it.

Esme stirred. "You gave a list of people who could know how your power works, Alice," she murmured thoughtfully.

"Yes. The Volturi, a friend - well, we know it wouldn't be one of them-"

"Victoria," Carys announced. "What if it is her? Carlisle's wondered it more than once. She could be behind the army-"

"But-"

"She's the only person who makes perfect sense," Carlisle said over the top of Edward's interjection. "She has the motive, the knowledge, the abilities. Carys' research gives us a much more precise timeline; Riley was created shortly after James was destroyed, and the others will have followed."

Bella gasped. She looked as if she were about to be sick. Or faint. Either way, she'd paled more than Carys thought possible, and was breathing quickly and shallowly.

Edward shook his head. "I tracked Victoria for months," he explained. "She wouldn't have had the time-"

"Unless she did," Carlisle interrupted. "You tracked her South, but you didn't have eyes on her. Victoria had time enough to find Laurent and to ask him to check on us without alerting our cousins - she could just as easily have seen the remaining armies in the South and decided it looked like a good idea."

Jasper nodded. "It would make the most sense if it were her. As I said, our kind doesn't let the loss of a mate go easy - and she's been suspiciously quiet. Careful."

"More than careful," Carys expanded. "She's been scouting everything out. Our territory, the Quileute territory, boundaries... Even Richard." Counting the points out on her fingers, she stopped suddenly. "If he's still alive, he... God.

"Before he asked me ou-" she stopped, glancing at Carlisle whose fuller bottom lip was in the process of thinning ever so slightly "-when we first knew each other," she tried instead. His mouth relaxed and she glanced around the room. "When we were friends, he was always going on about trails and places to camp. He grew up here and he's the outdoorsy type. He knows the terrain like the back of his hand.

"Safety's her jam-oh, you know what I mean," she huffed, throwing a wave out with each of her points as she spoke. "Her mate was dead. She felt unsafe. Riley's built like a brick shithouse, and... He's..."

"Six foot three," Carlisle supplied.

"Thank you lovely. If she's using Riley as Maria used Jasper... He could be building an army for her to send after her enemies. If she still has Richard, he'd be able to get in and out of town, to choose a battleground even."

"Then they'll definitely be bringing the fight to us," Jasper concluded. "And soon. That might actually work in our favour." He caught Carlisle's eye. "Could our cousins be called upon to help? Eleazar knows how to fight newborn armies, and Kate... Well, she's as good a fighter as - she's better than any I've met. Kate and I alone could take down more than our fair share - and then some."

"Of course," Carlisle agreed.

After squeezing Carys' side one last time, he drew his phone from his pocket and stood, striding to the wall of windows. The tilt of his head and set of his shoulders betrayed the depth of his pain; the light hit the windows in such a way that his uncertain expression was reflected back at himself and the room as he neared.

Standing before the windows, he took a long, deep breath and dialled. After greeting Tanya, he thrust his free hand in his trouser pocket and paced away as if unable to face himself.

Everyone in the room seemed to hold their breath as he talked. His words were lost to the humans as he spoke quickly and quietly, but his tone was not.

His head snapped up and he turned on his heel, staring wide-eyed across the room before pacing quickly away again.

"Damn it." Edward groaned, sinking low in his seat. "Damn Laurent to the deepest pit of hell where he belongs," he growled

"Laurent?" Bella whispered as the shallow unsteadiness returned to her breathing. The pallor of her face became such that her pale skin was barely a shade above the vampires on either side of her.

Carys stilled as a dull roaring filled her ears. Her head was heavy, her blood heating as it rushed through her. Now she was the one who dizzied. She fought against it; it hadn't come from the dead vampire's name, as Bella's reaction had seemed to. It made sense that she was dizzying, really - with everything being thrown in the air.

"There's no question of that," Carlisle said, his tone so severe that it brought Carys back. He'd returned to the windows, his expression ominous at best, baleful at worst. "We have a truce. They haven't broken it, and neither will we. We'll just have to do our best alone."

Carlisle hung up immediately. Carys couldn't be sure, but it looked as if he deposited two separate pieces of phone back into his pocket.

"What's the problem?" Bella asked Edward.

Carys stood up, placed her cup on the coffee table, and headed over to Carlisle. Edward, Bella and Emmett's voices followed her across the room, but she paid no attention to their words.

When she reached him, she faltered just before laying her palm to the middle of his back. Slowly, gently, she closed the small gap and touched him.

His reaction was instantaneous.

Before she could take a breath, she was standing between him and the glass, his free arm around her waist as he held her close.

"They said no," she said when her heart had steadied.

Carlisle nodded and squeezed her waist. He'd calmed somewhat, but he stared unseeing out of the windows. "They already knew some of what was going on in Seattle, of course, but... Irina had grown close to Laurent," he told her, carefully tempering his tone.

"How close?"

"They might have been on their way to becoming mates."

"They might have, or they were?"

"Might," Carlisle sighed, resting his chin atop her head as he removed his hand from his pocket, gathered her more securely against him, and tightened his arms.

"They weren't there just yet," he explained. "There were feelings, deep ones on her side, but she didn't feel his death. All the same, Irina wants the Pack - permission to destroy them - in return for their assistance."

"I'm guessing they're not coming to the wedding, then?" Carys said, her cheek pressed to his shoulder. There was so much between now and then; what if not all of them made it that far? What if they - the two of them - didn't make it that far?

The what-ifs almost overtook her.

One stuck in her mind.

What if Edward had had a point months before - what if running and hiding was the best option - in this case, at least.

Carlisle chuckled bleakly, unaware of the specific nature of her inner turmoil.

"Ever the optimist," he said. "Without our cousins..." He raised his head and nodded curtly; it was the commander, the general, the head of coven, who finished the thought. "We'll have to try and gather others. It won't be easy and it may take time to track them down; time we don't have."

And, Carys realised, none of the 'others' would be vegetarian. Carlisle sighed and buried his face in her hair. Would it work as it had with Garrett - that they would hunt further afield? How would the Quileute wolves react to having those vampires nearby? Would it lead to more of them phasing, or was it a matter of long term contact? Would she need to move out?

Carys closed her eyes and hugged Carlisle's statue-like form as tightly as she could. Her list of questions continued; on and on it went. She had too many of them and not enough answers.

All she knew for sure was that there would be a battle, and they'd be lucky to escape without loss.

"I think we should go to your house," Carlisle suggested after they'd held each other for a short while, pulling back just enough to alert Carys to Edward and Bella's preparation to leave. "We should assess the damage, and I doubt you're ready to-"

"Yes," Carys said simply, cutting him off. "I think I might stay there tonight... If it's okay, I think I'm going to ask Leah to come round later. I'm not sure if she'd be open or free for staying over, but if she is, I..." She briefly shook her head, her gaze fixed on his shoulder. "I'm not saying I don't want you to be there. I do. But you have a night shift and it would mean..."

"You need some human time," he picked up when she trailed off.

Carys nodded. Human time. That was it. Human time with a werewolf.


A/N: No, we don't have Jasper closure yet, but we will. It was going to be in this chapter, but as it won't be immediate, it was far too long and skipped too much important stuff (e.g. there was no time or space to even allude to Jacob checking out Bella's place for the scent. We're maybe going to get to see Leah again next chapter, and I know it got dark at the start but I hope you stayed with us through it. I don't think this is the full-scale outburst reaction we all thought was coming, but this is Carys now versus a year ago.

Thank you to: Momochan77, jhaenox, vancabreuniter, KEZZ 1, BMBMDooDoo- Doo- Doo- Doo, chellekathrynnn, Nina (it's coming up soon... ;)), Ella (very true! And they will - I expected it would be this chapter before I wrote it and realised it wouldn't be!), derniermom, ReadLikeHermione, and ksyushangel for your reviews!