*This chapter will be done in Edwards point of view.*
CHAPTER TWELVE
(EPOV)
My mission was simple.
The task at hand direct.
Get to Voltera.
Get to Aro.
Keep my mind blocked enough so the others wouldn't be able to see my decisions through Alice.
This would be the hardest part. Leaving them all behind.
My journey there would be the same as before, but the end result wouldn't be the goal of my demise and destruction.
No, it would be to form a temporary alliance with the enemy so I could unveil what had occurred. The change of path I knew well that Aro wouldn't comply with. He would demand justice to be done. He would seek blood for it, seeing it as a betrayal.
I counted on that.
I would keep Bella safe from him.
The deal I was set to propose would be one to guarantee her safety in order for her to be changed as originally planned.
Jacob and the pack would be another story.
His interference wouldn't go unpunished. Of that I was certain.
Aro's prior knowledge of the wolves was none, but I was about to fill him in.
He would see their very existence as a threat to them. One way or another.
I knew well enough of the way his mind worked. He would want them abolished.
My car hit speeds of over a hundred as I flew toward my destination in the dead of the night. I had to get to Italy as fast as I could.
When I reached the inner city, I ditched the car and went on foot, my speed making it easy to hide myself in the shadows of the moon from any travelers who were visiting the tourist location this time of year. To my advantage, there were no large festivals scheduled to take place, and this meant less chances of me being seen.
I was weak in the way of my strength, having gone ten days without hunting at all. The dark shadows under my eyes were haunting and my gaze was as pitch black as the nite from thirst. This left me vulnerable, but I didn't waste the time on a hunt.
My sites were set on reaching Aro's lair before another day could dawn and I was swiftly running out of time now.
When I reached the gate, I was met by one of his guards.
Demetri looked me over in suspicion, his blood gaze seeming to be on edge when it searched mine.
"Edward-" He carefully greeted.
"Demetri."
"Does Aro have business with you I am unaware of?"
"No."
"Does he know you're coming?" He continued to question, while narrowing his gaze further.
"No."
Demetri unlocked the main gate with a guarded and leery look, swinging the bars open wide and gesturing for me to enter before slamming them shut again.
"Where's the rest of your coven?"
"They don't know I'm here." I pointedly told him.
"You look worn. When was the last time you fed?"
"Been days."
"Well, as you know, we have plenty of spare human delights on hand. Should you decide to treat your tastes to the less animal side of hunger again."
Venom pooled heavily in my mouth at the mere mention of this and I bit back an audible groan at the very idea.
He merely nodded then and gestured for me to follow him into the mansion that Aro called home.
"I am shocked to see you alone."
"I didn't need any extra's accompanying me on this trip."
"Where is the girl you so savagely fought for the last time you were here?"
The mention of Bella made my eyes darken further as I pondered where she was right now.
"Things have changed."
Demetri paused by the tall double doors that led us to Aro's main room and cocked his head to the side in an almost amusing fashion at this.
"Do tell-" He prompted.
"I will. When I'm in front of Aro."
"This should be interesting."
He swung the doors open wide and there stood them all. Their red gazes turning toward me at Demetris presence reappearing now.
Aro and Caius were seated, but the others were standing in a circle. Appearing to have been in a deep conversation of some kind.
Alec and Jane broke off into their own seperate group as I walked forward, and Felix and Marcus didn't barely flinch at the sight of me. This made me wonder if they'd been anticipating my visit after all. If maybe Carlilse had been ahead of me already and had warned them of my arrival.
"Edward...-" Aro delightfully hissed, his crimson gaze going wide with surprise. "We didn't know you were coming."
"It was unplanned." I admitted. "Am I interrupting something?"
"No, we were just deliberating over the plan of this upcoming Spring's festivals. That's our season of feeding." He chimed, the wicked glint in his gaze reminding me of how evil he really was.
He got off on other peoples fear and pain. It thrilled him.
"Yes, I do recall that."
"You're so thirsty. Your eyes, they are the reflection of starvation. Why haven't you hunted?" He inquired, rising from his chair and heading my way with a curious stare.
"I've been traveling. No time for it."
Aro nodded slowly at this and turned his head to peer behind me for a moment, as if he was expecting another to join me any second now.
"You've traveled alone? Do tell me- where is Isabella and the rest of your coven? Surely Carlisle would have sent word ahead of your visit with us if he knew."
"He didn't. I am alone."
This intrigued him greatly, his hand now waving away the others who were hovering close by.
They all gave us room, flitting back into the further corners there with watchful stares of our interaction.
"Why?" He implored further. "Doesn't seem likely that they would leave you alone on the journey here, knowing my vast interest in recruiting you over to our side and becoming one of us. Is that why you've made the trip? Change of heart perhaps?"
I squared my shoulders and held his gaze.
"Perhaps."
Aro's high pitched laughter of utter delight echoed off the walls around the main room.
"Oh, don't taunt me like that. You know it's not in your best interest to do so. Don't forget, I have my ways, dear Edward."
"I am aware, Aro."
"Then please, come have a seat with us and tell me the real intent of your visit."
"I'll stand if that's alright." I replied.
"Of course. Whatever you wish."
"Perhaps you would like to feast a little first? Get your appetite under control. Can't be healthy for you. We have a few guests in the main corridor who have been here since yesterday. We were planning on saving them for dessert, but you are our guest and you're more than welcome to sink your teeth into them first. I am nothing but hospitable as a host."
"Surely...-"
"Then allow me to fetch one of them for you. I can send Demetri to-"
"That won't be needed." I interjected. "Thank you though."
Aro looked annoyed with this choice, but took his seat and waved me on to continue anyway.
"I'm listening." He began.
"There's been changes since my last visit here. Many of them."
"Yes, I was informed of your wedding to Isabella. Carlisle sent along a copied invitation to us. Good to see things are moving right along toward her change."
"I am sorry to inform you that they are not."
The satisfaction in Aro's gaze disappeared at this and he glared toward me with eagerness of an explanation.
"Explain-" He demanded then.
"The wedding wasn't carried through."
"Per her request or yours?"
"Neither, not at first. There was an incident that halted things. Her father had a medical occurrence."
"Humans and their fragile states. So breakable at any given moment." Aro hedged.
"Yes, he was hospitalized and is on the mend now."
"Surely you didn't come all this way to deliver that message. That's only a mild delay. The wedding can continue and Isabella can be changed-"
"She no longer wants that."
Aro whipped his head back in my direction at this, and the others began to draw closer now.
"Come again?" He demanded, his head turning to the side with a lustful glint of fascination there in his red eyes.
"She no longer wishes to be what we are. There's been some interference. Mind games of sorts by another." I clarified.
"An outsider?"
"Yes."
"Someone who knows of our secret?!"
Aro's tone was lethal, as he rose from his sitting position with vast speed. His face now inches from mine in a matter of a second.
"I'm afraid so." I told him.
"Who?"
"Another kind."
"Of human descent?"
"Of wolf descent." I clarified, seeing his eyes narrow in confusion.
"Are you tricking me?"
"No, I assue you I am not. I would not have made the solo journey here for a mere trickery." I sharply hissed in return. "This matter is anything but a joke."
Caius rose from his sitting place then and came to stand beside Aro as he continued to question me.
"Wolves...-"
"The kind that can destroy us. They have the ability and skills to do so. They are shape shifters. Their ancestory and lineage go back to before my time of transformation. Even before Carlisle's. They reside in Washington. Living on the land of the Reservation in La'Push. We are not allowed to cross over into their territory. It was a treaty we made when we came across them during a hunting trip many years ago. Carlisle set it in place as a way to keep the peace between us, since we were both residing in the same state."
His eyes didn't move from mine as he reached for my hand and gripped it tightly in his.
"Show me!" He hissed in rage, pulling the memories from my mind with ease and great satisfaction.
Like a slide show, he gathered them all in seconds, his eyes closing briefly before snapping open again with alarm.
"They were the reason you handled the newborn attacks. When Jane and Alec-" He concluded.
"Yes. They aided us."
Jane visibly shrunk back in on herself at this realization.
"You never told me the rest of the story Jane. Something that will be dealt with later." Aro added.
"There were reasons-" She started to defend, but went silent upon seeing Aro's angered look her way.
"Tell me Edward. Tell me the rest." He soon prompted.
"When I left Bella before, when our coven and I relocated, one of them grew close to Bella in our absence. A boy whose heritage is deep in the ancestry of the wolves. His great grandfather was a head leader."
"His name?"
"Jacob. Jacob Black." I hissed.
"Is he the leader of this pack of wolves?"
"No, Sam Uley is."
"By choice or by birth right?" Aro insisted.
"Does it matter?" I countered.
"I assure you that it does. From the former memories I've pulled from your mind just now, they are a larger pack with the ability to grow in numbers much the same as we can."
"Jacob is Alpha by right of birth." I clarified.
"This Jacob, he is the one who has influenced Bella to change her mind?"
"Yes."
He despises our kind."
"Yes."
Aro stepped back then and started needlessly pacing in front of me, his temporary silence leaving me on edge.
"This leaves me such limited choices. You've come here with an intended goal in mind?"
"Yes, I have."
"Tell me...-"
"I want Jacob Black and the pack destroyed. Once and for all."
"This is a tall order." He reminded. "I've seen their skill through your mind, and while I am always up for a good old blood bath, I am also aware this won't be an easy fight."
"It will be if they don't see you coming. I know their lands. Their paths. Could run them blindfolded."
"You're proposing an ambush to end them all...-"
"Exactly."
Aro seemed more intrigued by this, his eyes flitting around the room to the others as they all nodded in agreement.
"Master, this will be an easier end than you think." Demetri confidently stated.
"Espcially with forces they can't fight in the physical." Jane added.
"We'd wipe them out before they even knew what hit them." Alec agreed.
"If we do this for you, Edward? There will be a heavy price to pay in return." Aro advised.
"Name it." I readily replied. "It's yours. I'm prepared to do whatever it takes."
"Clearly-... I see through your mind that you already tried to manipulate things by inducing a tragedy that would deem you the hero, only that didn't go as planned did it? Your tactics of manipulation needs work."
"My attempt didn't go the way I wanted it to. I wasn't intending to cause her father a major medical event. It was supposed to be minor-"
"Just enough for you to be the one running to her rescue. Only she appeared to need Jacob Black more."
I nodded, remembering the way she clung to him there at the hospital.
"I see only one major problem with this course of new action to wipe out these wolves." Aro explained.
"What's that?"
"That you fail to give up your own sacrifice as repayment."
"What kind of repayment are you seeking?"
"A long term one. In exchange for our aid with this unfortunate discovery, you must give me your word that you will not only guarantee Isabella's change, but once she is one of us, you'll surrender your alliance, the both of you, over to our side. I want you as part of our guard."
"...Deal."
"And secondly...-"
"There's more?"
"Yes, the other problem I see is the waste of potential with this Jacob. Once we end his pack, I want him alive and brought back as prisoner here to me in Voltera. His kind would make a divine addition don't you think?"
"No!"
"I'm afraid this will be a deal breaker if you don't comply. I am an opportunist. You know this of me. Jacob Black will be serving under us. By force. And as a result, he'll have to watch Isabella become that which he loathes. Do you not feel this is punishment enough for his interference?"
The idea gave me a sick sense of satisfaction and I nodded to him.
"If I meet these terms...-"
"You can consider the wolves of La'Push as much as gone already." Aro stated. "We will leave at first light."
"And I have your word in return that Bella won't be harmed in the crossfires before I change her?" I checked.
"But, of course."
"You have a deal, Aro."
A/N: Gah! Hope you all leave a review with your thoughts and thank you for all the feedback!