What Alice hadn't foreseen was that the packed airport would pose a huge issue to her.
She swore under her breath as she dodged cell phone after cell phone. No one approached her, thankfully, but every time she looked up she ended up staring directly at someone who was pointing their cell phone camera at her, either snapping a picture, recording a quick video, or showing her off on a video call to whoever was on the other end.
It took her almost twenty minutes to get out of the damn airport, and that blip in her plans was almost enough to force her to make her pace a little bit beyond human. Not a crime by any means, but absolutely unacceptable for someone of her status.
For some reason, Rosalie's scolding voice in her head was the only thing that stopped Alice from zipping out of the building. Rose would be mad enough when she found out where Alice was; it would only make her fury worse if headlines of her showcasing her speed in a goddamn public setting were brought to her attention.
In her mind, a quick vision snuck it's way across her subconscious.
"Uh," Skye sat up straighter on the couch, her eyes widening as she read whatever was on the screen of the tablet in her lap. "Um, excuse me?"
A Lieutenant that Alice didn't recognize turned and shot her a glare, "This is hardly a matter that should be interrupted," but when a manicured hand lifted, stopping him from ranting any further, Rosalie turned and raised an eyebrow toward Skye.
"What is it?" Rosalie asked in that measured, careful way that she spoke when she was busy trying to decide whether this was something she was going to be upset about.
"Look," Skye stood, approaching the table with her arm outstretched. On the screen was a webpage. The words BREAKING NEWS lit a banner at the top of the screen. "They know where Alice is."
Rosalie slowly reached out and grabbed the iPad from Skye, and Alice could see the anger taking root. As the people still seated at the table began to chat and bicker with one another, Rosalie only said one thing. "What the hell are you doing, Alice?"
"Shit," Alice cursed again as she strode briskly along the sidewalk. She knew exactly where she would find a cab that would take her wherever she wanted to go, no questions asked. As flickers of visions tried to intrude on her awareness, Alice shook her head. No. She had no time to waste with seeing what everyone else's reactions to her lie were going to be.
Cynthia's life was on the line, and Alice didn't have the time to mull over the repercussions that she might never have to face.
When she opened the door to a yellow cab, she instructed the man to drive toward the highway, and that she'd have the address for him in a moment.
Then, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and turned it on.
She only had eleven minutes before people started calling and texting her like mad, so she had to get a hold of James, and fast. Then, she'd either ditch the phone or just shut it back off.
In the back of her mind she wondered if her phone would still be traceable while it was off, and then decided ditching it was her best move.
But when she called Cynthia's number, no one answered.
Alice dialed again. And then again.
By the time they'd been traveling west on the freeway for eight minutes, Alice knew that her driver was beginning to get a bit irked at her inability to provide him with an address.
"Sorry," Alice apologized breathlessly, dialing Cynthia's number once more.
Instead of an answer, she received a text message.
1849 Winters Way. You have one hour.
"Eighteen forty-nine Winters Way," Alice recited quickly to the driver as he entered it in his GPS. But when the man snorted and shook his head, flicking his blinker on to merge off of the freeway, panic seized her. "Where are we going?"
"The other way," he said, his words mumbled as he lifted a hand and scratched at a white-grey beard. "That address is way past Anniston. That's two hours back the way we came."
"Stop the car," Alice demanded quickly, hand on the door-handle. "Please."
"Wait—hold on, now I say hold on, miss!"
But Alice could already see that he wasn't about to slow down, so when she opened the door and jumped out, her feet hit the pavement and she was off like a bullet. Backpack forgotten but phone still in hand. She didn't know where the hell Winters Way was, but she'd gotten a good glance at the map on her cab driver's screen before launching herself out of the car.
It was due to her visions alone that Alice was able to avoid other cars, people, and attention as she jumped and sprinted through the bright mid-morning sun, nothing but a beam of light to the human witnesses as she typed away on her phone, trying to find the exact location of Winters Way.
Alice knew that she had to be careful before she drew the attention from any curious vampire bystanders. A fleeing vampire was certainly cause for concern. And if they noticed it was a Protector running through their city and their woods, they might jump to some awful conclusions and some worst-case scenarios.
Of course, Alice was running toward two wanted vampires right now; vampires whose faces were being broadcast on every news station across the country and even beyond. So their fears wouldn't be too far from the mark. But still. Alice didn't want these people to panic.
She was taking care of things.
Once Alice had stared and studied the map on her phone for a few good seconds, she crushed the phone in her hands and tossed it into some woods as she crossed through a few residential neighborhoods.
She was only ninety-two miles away. It was a run she could make in just under an hour if she continued moving straight. It was also far enough away from where Cynthia lived that James and Victoria would be able to hide out comfortably, despite the fact that Tim was currently speaking to officers in his kitchen, trying to get a missing person's report filed.
Alice knew that once he let it slip that Cynthia was 'Alice Brandon's biological sister' it would get more than just their small-town police force involved, and the hunt to find Cynthia, alive, would begin on the humans' end, too.
Instead of feeling good about all the action that she knew would be taken soon, instead Alice's guilt felt suffocating. It was her fault that her sister's life was in jeopardy. It was her fault that James had been able to break Victoria out of Winnipeg's center. It was her fault that there was a national outrage right now.
It was all because Alice thought she knew best.
She thought she was ultimately doing Jasper a favor when she made a deal with James.
She thought she would be able to adequately set James and Victoria up as a scapegoat for Jasper.
All because she thought she'd be able to single-handedly change the mind of a suicidal teenage girl.
Her mind flickered to Skye, and the fear in her eyes as she showed Rosalie the headline, and Alice shook her head.
No. If there was anything right or good she had accomplished in the past month it had been getting to know Skye, and working toward helping her. If anyone had a bright future right now, it wasn't Alice, it wasn't her co-Protectors, and if things went haywire, it wouldn't even be Cynthia.
But Skye Ortiz would be okay.
And wasn't that what Alice set out to do, anyways?
The affection she felt toward the girl calmed her anxious head a little bit, and as she continued to run as fast as she could eastbound, Alice knew that it was up to her to make it so that someone else would be okay, too.
Cynthia's future flickered around her head, and Alice focused hard.
Alice couldn't have been more than two miles from Winters Way when she caught a scent that forced her feet to skid to a stop. She nearly took out a stop sign as the soles of her shoes burnt themselves up on the pavement. Then, she turned, and sprinted down the street and into an alleyway.
Her jaw dropped when a familiar face turned toward her and pointed a shotgun at her.
"Jesus! Alice!" Her niece jumped, lowering the gun quickly as Alice approached. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same question!" Alice was confused. But more than that, she was incensed. "Where the hell did you get a gun? What on Earth are you doing?!" It was bad enough that Cassie was here, brandishing a shotgun in broad daylight. But Alice had a thousand questions. Did she know that James and Victoria had her mother? How did she know where to go? They were miles from Cynthia's home and even further from the campus that Cassie lived on. How had she figured things out so quickly?
"I'm going after my mother!"
"No, no, no," Alice shook her head, approaching Cassie and lifting her hand out for the gun. When Cassie stumbled back, shaking her head and moving the gun away from Alice's reaching hands, Alice felt her frustration erupt. "You can't be here!" She hissed, not wanting to be overheard despite still being a couple of miles from her destination.
"I have every right to try and rescue her; just the same as you!"
"How do you even know about all this!?" After all, Tim had only filed the missing person's report a few minutes ago. And here was Cassie, on foot, just across town from the warehouse two vampires were holding her mother hostage.
Cassie's eyes widened and her face went white. "I—don't worry about that." Then, she flipped the script on her, stepping even further away from Alice's reach. "How do you know about it?" Her tone was accusatory, but Alice could see the fear reflected in her eyes, and in that moment she knew that they couldn't waste moments on idle conversation and hurried accusations.
Alice was running out of time.
"Cassie, I'm going to get your mom back. But I can't have you around, it—" Alice swallowed the sudden lump in her throat as she spoke, "I can protect your mom from them, but I can't do that if you're around. I—I can't keep you both safe. I'm not that strong."
"You were strong enough to kill Maria," Cassie pointed out, now shaking with anger.
"Cassie! I can't argue with you about this!" A vision came over her then. "You'll die if you come along." Then, a beat of silence. "I've seen it."
Cassie's expression morphed into one of shock and fear, and that is when Alice moved.
She did it quickly, as to not hurt her niece, but swiftly she yanked the gun from Cassie's grip and turned, swiftly tossing it onto the roof of the building before turning and running.
Alice could only hope that without a weapon, Cassie wouldn't be foolish enough to try and follow.
She was running out of time now. And as she vaulted across intersections and weaved her way through business parks, she knew that she was nearly there.
It was when the large, deep-blue painted building came into view that Alice slowed her feet down to a more human-paced run. She didn't need for them to take her entirely off guard. And when she reached the large side doors, she wrapped her hand around the cool metal of the doorknob and pulled.
The only noise in the warehouse as she entered was the sound of a broken padlock falling to the ground, echoing loudly.
Then, a slow clap filled the air.
As she stepped into the open, empty warehouse, letting the door close firmly behind her, Alice met James' gaze across the open space.
His red eyes were a sight she was expecting, but the reality of his diet shift in the several days he'd been gone did nothing to stifle the panic she felt, knowing her very human, very vulnerable sister wasn't far away from him. It also was evidence that, as wanted people, both James and Victoria were tossing their charade to the side, once and for all.
In the back of Alice's head, she knew her priority should be to either kill or take them into custody, but that wasn't the focus of her plan here.
Her only plan was to get Cynthia out of here. Alive.
Anything else that happened mattered very little to her in the moment.
Suddenly, a memory from last summer struck her. Alden's voice in her head again after so many months.
"I fear that one of you may abandon this mission for the sake of the other, dooming us all."
The ancient man had been referring to her and Jasper's new relationship, eyeing the bond that only he could see with fear and apprehension. Now, Alice couldn't help but wonder if it were less of a 'two people in love' issue and more of an 'Alice doesn't know how to prioritize those she has sworn to protect' issue.
Even though Cynthia was her sister, she was amongst those Alice had promised to guard with her life. And she would make good on that promise.
James was grinning widely at her, as if greeting a friend he was happy to see again. He let out a laugh. "Bravo," he complimented, and when he stepped to the side, Alice was finally able to see Cynthia.
The sight both broke her heart and infuriated her.
Her arms and legs were bound to a metal chair with dirty fabric tied tight (Alice could see where her hands were turning blue from the lack of circulation) but despite that, Cynthia appeared relatively uninjured. Her head was slumped forward, and she was unconscious. She didn't even stir at the sound of James' laughter; Alice could barely see the fabric tied tight around the back of her head. She was bound and gagged but at least she was still alive.
The sound of her heart beating evenly was so relieving to Alice in that moment that she almost let out a shaky sigh. She held it back, of course. She couldn't spare any reactions for the two vampires who were now gazing at her like she were their next target.
(She was, of course. But Alice knew she couldn't rush this.)
"You're late," a voice growled from the rafters. And Alice's eyes found Victoria's form, watching her from above, glaring down at her with a ferocity unlike anything Alice had ever seen her use.
As someone who had been on the receiving end of Victoria's glares many times, Alice knew that this one was different.
James strode forward with confidence, and it took Alice everything in her body not to back away from him. He wasn't going to grab her, she could see that much, but ever since she'd met him she hated when he encroached on her space. Right now was no different.
He tilted his head up as he approached, and that's when Alice realized he was smelling Cassie's scent on him. She tried not to react as he eyed her strangely.
"I had to shake a fan off my trail," she supplied the excuse through gritted teeth, hating the way that his pupils dilated as he inhaled the human scent.
James made an amused noise. "You seem to have plenty of those, nowadays. Must be nice."
"What do you want with me?" Alice snapped, cutting to the chase. She didn't have time for this. She wanted to get to the bottom of this, get her sister out, and get these two dealt with.
"If you're half as clever as everybody says you are, I can't believe you'd even ask that," he rolled his eyes as he turned and walked away. It was only evidence of his confidence, that he'd show her his unguarded back.
Not entirely unguarded…
Victoria growled at her from where she sat in the rafters, swinging her feet with a carelessness that she didn't seem to be displaying on her face. It seemed she'd had the same thought that Alice had when James turned to walk back toward Cynthia.
"I'm here now. Let her go." Alice gestured toward her sister, still unconscious in the chair. When she attempted to follow James, Victoria hissed loudly, suddenly on her feet, ready to lunge for Alice as she froze.
"You don't get to call the shots here," she spat down toward Alice, her teeth bared. "She stays until we get what we want." Then, slowly, she sat herself back down, her red eyes still furious.
"And what do you want?" Alice demanded.
"That, my friend," Alice could hear the grin on his voice as he continued walking away from her, "is the million dollar question, is it not?" Then, James lifted a hand, as if showcasing the world around them. He turned toward her, his lips quirked up in half of a smile as he shot Alice a glance over his shoulder. "But I do enjoy a good game."
Alice kept her feet planted when he leaned closer toward where Cynthia was seated and inhaled deeply. She could see in her mind that he wasn't going to attack her and Alice didn't want Victoria to lunge for her if she took another step closer.
She suddenly felt helpless.
"Something we aren't too fond of though," he added, as if just remembering a tiny detail, "is this attention and these broadcasts and mugshots." He clicked his tongue and Alice could see him roll his eyes. "We don't care about the state of this country or the people that live in it. I'll agree with Maria a little; she did have a point in helping to restore the world to the way it was before. The world as it is now is so unbearable for our kind." Then, his anger flickered across his face. "It's cruel, the things you force vampires to do in this part of the world."
"Not like that's ever stopped you from breaking our most basic rules," Alice couldn't keep her words to herself any longer.
"Doesn't mean it's easy," he scolded her like a child, shaking his head. "Back then, the world was ours. Sure, we had to abide by the laws the Kings set, but that was fine. They're reasonable enough. We could travel. We could feed," James inhaled again before turning and facing Alice once more. "We had freedom, Alice."
"At the expense of human lives?"
Victoria's laughter was what made her finally jump. Then, James laughed, too. Both of them enjoying her reaction.
"You really are a product of your time, aren't you?
"Jasper also fed at the expense of human lives, Alice," Victoria spoke up, still high above the rest of the conversation. "He took to it so easily last summer. It was amusing to see one of these highly-regarded 'Protectors' on his knees in a pool of human blood, ravenous."
"It's only natural. You shouldn't fault him for it," James half-shrugged. "If anything, people should be more accepting of that. But they aren't. Because of the rules you people enforce. Because vampires keep trying to pretend they are something they're not. It's embarrassing."
"What are you talking about?"
"We're predators, you silly girl," James began to approach her again. "We aren't human. We're vampires." And now he was speaking to her like she was stupid, and Alice knew that if she were human she would be red in the face right now. "It's in our nature to crave human blood. To travel and make a home of the land. Not to live in little colonial-style boxes and pretend to abide by human social hours. God," he shook his head again, quickly glancing back up to Victoria before speaking. "I really did think you were smarter than this; especially if they recruited you and wanted you among them. Hearing you talk now gives me a few regrets, I'll say that for sure."
"Why didn't you kill me before?" Alice spoke loudly, her question an out-right demand as she glared at him across the room.
He snorted, "Well, I was going to, but then you disappeared into that maze of a building—"
"I'm talking about back then," Alice cut him off, finally revealing some of the cards in her hand for the first time. "Why did you let me live? You could have killed me back then."
James only smiled widely, seemingly happy she'd put those pieces together. "Curiosity." He shrugged. "If a vampire was going to die for a random human's sake, I wanted to see why. I'm a little disappointed I have to kill you now. It seems you would've been pretty useful over the last fifty years after all."
"You were boring to watch," Victoria hummed, ripping a torn piece of fabric from her sleeve and letting it fall to the ground beneath her.
"We thought the lame, comatose newborn in the woods would pose enough of a problem that we wouldn't even need to get our hands dirty. Knowing you're alive now and that I have to kill you already?" He made a noise that implied his feelings were somehow hurt. "I wish I didn't have to yet. You would have made for a far more entertaining hunt than this."
Alice felt her feet turn to stone, even as she hadn't moved yet. "That's all I am? A piece of your game?"
"That's all you've ever been, Alice. Or Mary-Alice. Or whatever your name is."
"Who is Kumboh?" she demanded then. She continued to keep Victoria in her sights even as James moved closer and closer to her. She couldn't see either of them moving toward Cynthia, but she wasn't going to take any chances and let her guard down for any reason at all.
Even as she questioned him, Cynthia remained the main subject of her attention.
James laughed again; hard. "Wow, you really don't remember him, huh? Isn't that amazing? He gave up everything for you. Even died for you. And you don't have a clue who he is." A peculiar look fell across his features as he studied her guarded expression. "Although I suppose its for the best you don't remember the strange man that kept you as his pet. The mighty, forgettable Kumboh." His tone took on a teasing nature in that instant, and Alice felt the lead feeling spread to her stomach, and then her throat.
Nothing that James said jogged anything in her black-hole of a memory. So for all she knew, they were making it all up. That was the thought that stuck to her when she finally found her voice again. "You're lying."
James and Victoria shared an odd look then.
"Those doctors did a number on your brain then, didn't they?" Victoria mocked, grinning again. Suddenly Alice decided she liked Victoria better when she was angry. This vile grin was not something she wanted to be on the other end of. "We heard it, the night we came to find you. The screams of the other patients. The stink of that entire place was tragic, really."
"Dr. Baylor was every vampire's dream," James laughed. "Played a major role in keeping the Underground market on the east coast well-stocked. And in turn, vampires kept his pockets very, very full."
"Even Dr. Baylor didn't hire vampires often," James had told her the week prior, "but… if you can buy your way in, you better hope you can buy your way out."
"Look at her," Victoria sneered, still grinning, "the poor dumb thing has no idea what we're talking about." Then, she leaned forward. "You were a vampire's whore. Bought and paid for by the very man who changed you to try and 'save' you."
"I still don't understand why he did that," James took that opportunity to look Alice up and down, as if inspecting her worth with a simple glance. "It's one thing to buy your way into a place like that so you can feed or fuck indiscriminately, but to try and escape with a patient is just ridiculous."
"He couldn't buy your freedom or his," Victoria's grin was gone, but Alice could tell she was still thoroughly enjoying being able to taunt her like this. "Dr. Baylor knew he was trying to get out, so we were contacted."
"To put an end to you, and to a dirt poor man who only had his pride left, clinging to an old crown that was ripped from his hands centuries ago." He inhaled again, and frowned. "When I say I haven't smelled a human that was so mouthwatering before… I mean it, Alice. Contract or not, if I'd stumbled across your scent in any of my travels organically, I would have taken you from that place either way."
"You're welcome, by the way," Victoria spoke. "If it weren't for us you'd either be dead and rotting away in that hospital, or you'd be a whore to some degenerate. And with the way your head is, you wouldn't have had a say in it."
Alice's head was spinning. "My creator, he—?"
The couple almost looked upon her with pity, then, and Alice felt the strange urge to cry come over her. It couldn't be true. But if they knew about her commitment, and the name of the doctor whose care she was supposedly under, then what reason did they have to lie?
Plenty of reason, a quiet voice tried reminding her as she stood before them, mind still reeling.
"Kumboh," James repeated the name quietly. "Old royalty from some long-defunct tribe. He utilized aspects of the Underground the same way we all did. According to Dr. Baylor, he wanted something more permanent. So, he bought his way into the hospital; a groundskeeper. He helped himself to patients but, and no pun intended, he bit off more than he could chew when he tried to break his contact and leave."
"We were asked to step in."
James nodded at Victoria's addition. "Kumboh was a 'man of honor'," James scoffed at the title. "Which is apparently the only reason he stayed behind to fight us. That, and to keep us from killing you while you were going through your change."
"She didn't even make a peep," Victoria was either amused or impressed, Alice couldn't tell.
"To do anything for the sake of 'honor' at all is just stupid. Everyone has their own code of ethics, I suppose. But to let that hold you back from doing what you want is just silly. Kumboh wasn't a man of honor. He was a vampire who wanted the guarantee of a decent meal and," James' gestured to her, "some play-things, apparently."
"That's what I was, then?" Alice demanded to know, hating how she felt like she as about to cry. "A—a play-thing?"
"There are few things I can think of a vampire wanting a human around for, especially when they're dealing with Underground proceedings." In that moment, Alice despited the pitiful looks James and Victoria were giving her then. She didn't want their pity. They were about to kill her for heaven's sake.
It couldn't have been true. There was no way of her knowing, though. And that uncertainty was enough to make her wish they'd never told her.
"Honor, frankly, is bullshit. He dealt in plenty of unsavory dealings before he settled in with Dr. Baylor's hospital." James shot Victoria a look. "Once you take a walk in the dark, its a bit contradictory to act like you're someone who has morals."
"I didn't think you cared about money…" Alice spoke quietly, her mind still reeling. "But you were doing these people's bidding?"
"We didn't need the money." Victoria scoffed.
"But playing nice with certain people with connections helps strengthen them," James supplied, as if it were obvious. "And it's not just vampires who utilize it. But humans, too," James spoke, as if that made all this information they were giving her better. "To think of them as beings that need nothing but protection and care is demeaning to them."
"You just said that vampires are predators," Alice found her voice, hating how it shook as she refuted his point. "That implies that humans are prey."
"Balance of life, little Alice," he smiled again, so patronizing that Alice didn't know whether to be angry or to continue to cling to her confusion with ten fingers. Things were slowly making awful, terrible sense, and that was the worst part of it all. "Humans aren't entirely helpless. Have you not seen images from '64? They outlawed those firebombs for a reason. Only the strictest human laws prevented those from being used last summer."
Alice didn't even need to vocalize how contradictory it seemed that human laws would be something that had done vampires at war such a huge favor. She'd heard the horror stories about the firebombs…
"You just got bored?" Alice hated how quiet her voice was and forced herself to speak louder. "And just let me live? Only to what? Hope that someone else would kill me? To wander around doing fuck-all and then kill me later?"
Alice knew she couldn't keep the rising hysteria out of her voice. None of this sounded real. Her head was spinning the way visions were flickering. She kept trying to ignore them. She didn't want confirmation if any of this this were true—
But her visions showed her James' response before he even smiled back at her.
"All for the fun of the chase, my dear."
"That's why you do everything, huh?" Alice glared at him as furiously as she could, tapping into her anger. Surely it would serve her more than the defeat and humiliation and confusion she was battling down in her mind. (Hopefully it would make her feel less anxious over the fact that she was currently attempting to postpone her own inevitable murder.) "For the thrill of it? I'm sure the fact that I was figuring out your angle didn't inspire this whole debacle?"
They laughed in unison again.
"I don't care about being 'found out'. If anything that makes this game far more exciting. The stakes are so high." Instead of appearing angry at this information, he sounded elated. "Granted, I do have to get rid of a few key players," he eyed her pointedly before turning and glancing back at Cynthia. Thankfully, his attention didn't stay on her for too long. "But pitting you guys and the Kings against each other will only make the game far more interesting."
Alice only stared at him. The mention of the Volturi had thrown her confusion back into the forefront of her mind again, and as a vision flickered through her, the shock almost caused her to take a stumbling step back.
Jasper was right.
The Volturi were involved.
If he cared about her physical reaction to her realization, James didn't show it. "The money stopped coming when Maria died, and last week an informant let me know they'd be 'renegotiating' with me during their forthcoming visit." It felt strange to watch James use air-quotes so nonchalantly while discussing the source of his bribes. The information he was feeding to her was more than enough to prove to her that it was going to be damn near impossible to escape this encounter with her life. If they were giving her this much information, they were going to kill her. "I figured it would be perfect timing to start my most exciting game of all. They'll be so busy with keeping you all off their tails, and your Protectors will be so busy with their presence and the media circus. It'll give us the perfect opportunity to slip through the cracks."
Cynthia let out a heaving cough then, drawing their attention toward the unconscious human in their midst. Then, she started to groan, her head lolling backward as her neck struggled to keep her head up.
"Please," Alice whispered, finally taking note of a darkening bruise on Cynthia's forehead. Although her sister wasn't bleeding, she was hurt. That new information made Alice's adrenaline kick in, regret tasting sour on her tongue. "You have me now. Please let her go."
"Well, you see. It's not that simple—"
Alice felt red-hot rage course through her, "What the hell are you talking about? I'm here. Isn't that what you want?! Now let her go!"
"Now, now," James tsked, shaking his head at her outburst. "If you don't want your dear sister dead, I'd calm down if I were you."
Alice's anger was fully ignited now. With fists clenched she glared toward James hating the way he, once-again, put himself in the path of her view of Cynthia.
"I'll let her go soon, I promise. I just want a little bit of information out of you." His expression was calm, which only made Alice angrier. For him to treat her like a frustrated toddler made her feel so goddamn angry. But at the same time, so fucking helpless. He held all the cards now. And they both knew it. "Now," he smiled, and for a moment it almost made him look kind, "where is Aro?"
Alice swallowed thickly, desperately trying to reign in her anger. It took her a few seconds to speak. "In New York." James watched her, expectantly. "With Carlisle and Esme."
His grin widened, and Alice felt sick. "Very good, Alice," he praised, purring her name.
"If you're so many steps ahead, how come you don't know that?" She tried hard to keep her tone even, but she couldn't help but make her inquiry sound like the demands of a bratty child.
Victoria laughed while James shook his head. "What you should be aware of is that, if anything, I'm sparing you a fate worse than death by taking you out of the equation today."
"Really, you should be thanking us." Victoria was pacing, high above their heads, looking very much like a wild, caged animal. "We're the ones who will be on the run from them after today. You'll be free from their clutches."
"I—what—" and just like that, Alice's anger reignited, "I'm supposed to be thanking you for killing me? Are you fucking serious right now? I—"
Victoria finally dropped from the rafters, immediately silencing Alice's growing tirade. Cynthia was now waking up, and a witness meant bad things for all of them.
Her eyes were as vibrant as her hair as she stood, only feet away, glaring down at Alice. "Watch your mouth, little girl."
Another low groan fell from Cynthia's mouth, the noise stifled by the fabric that was tied tightly around the back of her head, gagging her. When she finally opened her eyes, she found Alice's gaze almost immediately.
"Cynthia," Alice reached out, lifting a hand as she stepped forward. Victoria hissed, moving to obstruct Cynthia from her view. "No! No, you don't get to do this. Let me talk to my sister!"
"James," Victoria snapped, her attention seemingly elsewhere for a few seconds as she took a low stance across from Alice, "let's hurry this up." Then, another pause as her pupils turned to tiny points and her nostrils flared. "Someone is on the way here."
James inhaled deeply, and then turned his eyes back onto Alice. "A fan, huh?" he snorted, shaking his head as he walked back toward Cynthia. "Who else is here besides Aro?" He asked, as he stalked forward. "Which of his guard came along?"
At the sight of the strange vampire walking toward her, Cynthia began to struggle against her restraints, her voice nothing more than a muffled cry as he approached.
He shushed her as he reached a hand out, and brushed strands of hair out of her petrified face. Alice wanted to shriek. It was as if he were simply enjoying the absolute terror across Cynthia's features. Then, he inhaled again, and at that moment, Alice decided she'd had enough.
"Kill me then," Alice shouted. As James turned to glance at her, a vision came over her. Victoria was right. Cassie was on the way there. Alice didn't know how she'd obtained a different gun, but within minutes, her very human niece would be stumbling across the sight of three vampires at-odds, and her injured mother. "If that's the purpose of all of this," she gestured toward Cynthia, and then toward the warehouse as a whole, "then do it now. Kill me, and let her go!"
What she wasn't expecting was the vision she received of her death then.
He would make it quick. That much was certain. (That much she could be grateful for.)
Despite her attempts and ridding herself of her fear, she knew it was pointless. After all, death still scared her. It didn't matter how many wars she fought, how many enemies she went toe-to-toe with, or how keeping her loved ones safe was a near-constant source of stress. To say she had conquered fear last fall was a foolish thought.
Had she stopped it from dictating her every waking thought? More or less, yes. But fear was something that she was always going to be warring with. It was her first companion at the beginning of her second-life, and it would be her last one, here at the end of it all.
"Who else is here?" James asked quietly as he turned back toward her. "Of the old Guard. Who?"
"Renata, Felix, and Demitri are the only ones I know about," and if James' eyes hardened at the mention of Demitri's name, it wasn't something there was time to adequately think about. Still, the more information she provided to James, the worse she felt.
Like some sort of traitor.
"You have to give me your word that you won't harm her," Alice spoke softly, arms like stones at her sides, as she forced herself not to shake. James approached slowly, and Alice tried hard not to watch Cynthia's confused, panicked glances between the two. "Promise me."
It didn't take long before James stopped directly in front of her, barely a foot of distance between them. Alice forced herself not to flinch back when he reached out and brushed the back of his hands against her cheeks.
Alice could barely hear Victoria's hiss. She was frozen on the spot.
There was no fighting her way free. There was no fighting at all as long as Cynthia was around, and with Cassie quickly approaching, she knew it was hopeless for her.
But this was her family. And she'd do anything to keep them safe. Anything to prove to them that she was different. That she loved and cared and would do what she could for them.
Even die for them.
James smiled down at her, his expression kind. "Of course, my little prey."
"And the human that's coming here," Alice spoke quickly. "Promise that you'll leave them both alive."
He chucked as he turned his hands around. The feeling of his palms against her cheeks was unwelcome, but there was nothing she could do any more. "You have my word."
"And Jasper," she added on quickly, before her time was up, "you can't harm him."
Victoria laughed then, and James wasted no time in joining her.
"Alice," he laughed through her name. "Why would we promise the safety of your mate?" He seemed genuinely baffled at that request. "You know we can't do that."
Alice stepped back swiftly, her eyes wide as she watched James' smile fall from his face in the same instant that his hands returned to his sides.
"The humans, we'll spare. That's an easy thing to promise. But do you really think you can spare your mate from the same fate as yours? Alice," he laughed again. This time, the sound held no trace of humor. James didn't think this was funny, nor did he think she was being serious. "That Jasper of yours is going to end up hunting us to the ends of the Earth. Do you really think he'll stop until he's avenged you?" He scoffed. "It's unlikely."
Victoria was equally unamused. "We aren't planning on being found. But we aren't fools. We will never live in peace as long as the two of you live."
"The fact that you were able to find us so quickly just goes to show that you have some sort of gift or ability. I know for a fact that to get from Denali to Tuscaloosa takes more than seven hours. You really should have timed your lies better."
"How did you—"
"It's so laughably easy to keep track of you guys, I'm insulted that you didn't think we'd be able to. Talents aside. And with Jasper the way he is, we know it would be… beneficial for us to try and take you two out of the game now, as opposed to later."
"You weren't going to do it at all," Alice pointed out. "You were almost out, scot-free," she pointed to Victoria, taking another step backward and pointing toward James, "and you, we would have never known about. If you'd waited for her to be released you both could have disappeared then."
"We didn't care about actually getting a new identity you idiot," Victoria growled. "We don't need that. Remember how Maria wouldn't have been found if she didn't decide to make her announcement? That was all me."
"Dealing with your little Protectors is one thing." James was serious then, and it forced Alice's words to die behind her lips. "I refuse to be around when the Volturi decide to raise this continent to the ground."
Alice blinked up at him, and Victoria stalked forward on angry feet.
"Hurry up," she growled to James, stopping right by his side to glare up at him angrily, "or I'll do it."
James reached out and gripped her arm tightly, roughly pulling her behind him. "I'm getting to it," he snarled, and his sudden anger forced Alice to take another step back.
This was really and truly it, she realized with a sense of terror.
Not only would she die, but Jasper…
The guilt that overcame her in that moment was almost more unbearable than the fear that was suffocating her every breath. Because James and Victoria were right. After she died here today, Jasper would stop at absolutely nothing to track these two down and kill them. And if he weren't careful, he might fall into the same set-up she did.
Although one ability Jasper possessed that Alice didn't was the ability to make decisions that weren't rooted entirely in his emotions. Despite his pathokenesis, he was likely the most logical person she knew.
But… Jasper would never get passed this. He would stay stuck, broken, and fixated on her death. He would spend every waking moment of the rest of his immortal life seeking their heads, and Alice knew that he would go to any length necessary to do it.
Even without the visions to confirm the nightmarish paths he would take, they were undeniable truths.
"You suddenly seem a little unsure." James flickered across the room in an instant, and suddenly he was standing beside Cynthia, his cold, hard hand wrapped tightly around her throat. "Choose," he demanded as Cynthia's eyes went wide and she began to struggle even harder, her face slowly turning blue, "either you die, or she dies."
"Take me," Alice blurted the words out, stumbling toward them on shaking legs.
Before James could release Cynthia, a loud, echoing noise ripped everyone's attention toward the doorway. Alice turned, only to watch in horror as Cassie strode confidently into the room, the door slamming shut behind her, a handgun pointed toward them all.
With no time to even gather a breath and scream, Alice watched, aghast, as Cassie lifted the gun toward James and Victoria's laughing forms, and fired three shots.
Everything happened too quickly after that.
Despite bullets not harming vampires, it didn't mean they couldn't be struck. And although two of Cassie's rounds embedded themselves in the walls of the warehouse, one bullet struck Victoria. It didn't hurt the woman, but it did ricochet off of her, embedding shrapnel into Cynthia's arm.
The scent of blood was quick to fill the room, and suddenly Alice was running.
Because James was still standing beside Cynthia, and now she was bleeding.
With barely a millisecond to spare, Alice crashed into James just before he could lean forward and bury his teeth into Cynthia's neck.
The instant her feet had started moving, Alice had known this wasn't a fight she would be winning. Sure, she had her visions, but James was bigger than her, and stronger than her, and Alice had to constantly remember that Victoria was also still there, and if she wasn't careful, Cynthia or Cassie or even both of them would end up dead.
After three seconds of fighting, Alice found her knees pressed against James back, her arms wrapped around his neck, ready to twist.
But for a split-second she hesitated, because she knew what would happen if she beheaded him.
Victoria cleared her throat primly, and when Alice turned her head, she could only cry out another soft, "No."
Because Victoria had Cassie by the neck, lifting her high up into the air as she stared toward Alice calmly. The only thing Alice had accomplished in lunging at James was getting him away from her bleeding sister. But now, several feet away from Cynthia, Alice stared as Victoria slowly strangled Cassie.
If Alice finished twisting, both her sister and her niece were as good as dead.
It didn't even feel like an active decision, the way her hands slowly released their grip on James' neck. But once she lessened her hold on him, he was quick to elbow her hard in the chest, sending her flying backward.
Alice watched, in horror, as James ripped Cassie out of Victoria's hold and sank his teeth into her. All before Alice even hit the ground.
"NO!" Alice shrieked the instant she regained her footing, throwing herself toward them with a fury igniting her bones.
Victoria crashed into her then, sending both of the women rolling across the floor, growling and screeching and yelling as Alice struggled to get the upper hand. She only had seconds before Cassie would be dead, and as she felt Victoria's teeth sink into her hip, she screamed, knowing that her inability to kill this woman quickly would also kill Cassie, too.
Alice's fear crescendoed when she felt a hand wrap around her throat, and suddenly, everything went dark.
With her fear still potent Alice tried to do… anything really. All she could do is think and hope and pray that whatever this was, it wasn't death.
There wasn't an emptiness here. Not like there had been in October. During that, there had been a blank nothingness that had been quickly replaced by hallucinations and terrors and every awful nightmare Skye could pull from her subconscious once she'd ripped her focus off of Jasper's mind.
In doing so, for long enough for Jasper to haphazardly shove her head back onto her shoulders in a blind, desperate panic, Skye had saved Alice's life last fall.
Now, she still had her wits about her, to an extent. But she couldn't see anything. She couldn't feel anything; not the pain of a fresh bite mark, nor the ground beneath her feet. She couldn't even smell any goddamn thing. The lack of her basic senses caused her fear to stay prevalent in her mind.
Her mind that was very much still waking and working and alive.
Unless… this was what death was. Maybe it was merciful in the way that it would skip those final, horrid moments, and only leave you with the seconds before the ones that rid you from your life. Alice couldn't be too upset about that. If anything, it seemed like a kindness gifted to her from the universe. The pain and fear of her last seconds on Earth was something she was sure she didn't want committed to her memory.
But if she wasn't alive then… what was she?
She willed her body to move but it felt like there was some sort of disconnect. Like there was no longer a body under her command.
It was when she tried to pull forth a vision when she felt her mind stunned by what she saw.
Of course, as habit would have it, her mind showed her Jasper first.
The sight of Jasper's foot tapping was her first hint that he wasn't just unhappy; he was actively furious. But seated alongside Peter on the commercial airline, all he could do was stare out of the window, his eyes unseeing, as Peter attempted to politely keep up with the small talk from the woman on his opposite side.
"What brings you to Atlanta?" The woman asked, as if she didn't know who Peter was, or who was sitting on the opposite side of him.
Peter forced an awkward, small smile. "Just work."
The dread that that vision provided her with was a heavy emotion. Did Jasper know that Alice was dead? Would her body be found before he landed? Or would he be cursed to be one of the ones to stumble across her ashes? Would she be cursed to exist in this state where she would be forced to witness her loved ones dealing with her death, and even the aftermath beyond?
Was this her new eternity?
The very idea was miserable.
With her visions still somehow at her disposal, even in the afterlife, Alice focused on them for several long seconds.
Josie was currently interrogating the head of her security team as to why an ambulance was parked outside the house. Rosalie was listening to Bella's hysterical ramblings on the other side of a phone call, for once letting her speak as Bella worried about Alice's decision to run off on her own. Rosalie didn't have much to offer, and Alice could see the frustration in her golden eyes.
Much like the last vision she'd gotten of him, Emmett was still in his car. But if she had to take a guess, Alice was sure that he was probably heading toward her final resting place.
It's when she started to poke around a bit more when suddenly the world came rushing back to her all at once.
Gasping, Alice reached out—it wasn't the first time she'd awoken to a pair of strong arms holding her closely—and grasped desperately at the arms that were embracing her.
"Alice, Alice, it's me," Edward's voice was soothing in her ear as she flailed about. And just the sound of his voice made her relax instantly as she spent the next several seconds struggling to remember how to inhale.
When she finally breathed in a deep, calming breath, Alice winced, the burn in her throat so severe that her hands flew up to grip her throat.
"Careful," Edward spoke softly, his arms still firmly around her, "just relax. Take a minute to get re-acclimated to your surroundings."
And now, the screaming was so hard to ignore.
"No, please, there has to be something else!" Cynthia screamed her voice raw through her tears, and when Alice sat up, she realized that she and Edward were far from alone.
At the far end of the warehouse, secluded away from the rest of the buildings inhabitants, Carlisle's unmistakable form was hunched at Cynthia's side, already quickly tending to her wounds. Far away, Alice could hear sirens slowly approaching. As she inhaled again, it suddenly made sense as to why Carlisle and Cynthia were so far away from everyone else. But despite the space between them, Cynthia's screaming was only the second-loudest noise in the warehouse.
The loudest was Cassie's gut-wrenching shrieks.
Writhing on the ground, not far from where Edward held her closely, Cassie was screaming in pain.
The occupants of the room gave the screaming teenager a wide berth as her muscles seized, pain blinding her senses and dictating her reactions. "Stop it!" She screamed her voice raw, the sound causing Alice to flinch, "Please! PLEASE!" Her shriek cut off on a sob as she arched her back and groaned in agony. "It hurts! Please, no, no no!"
"The change," Alice gasped, guilt and relief at war inside of her suddenly. "It's…"
"She'll be alright," Edward spoke quietly into her ear. "A crew from Birmingham's center is already on the way to escort her back."
"Please," Cynthia begged, sobbing as she grasped Carlisle's hand tightly, trying to pull her arm from his grasp and redirect him toward her daughter, "you can't let it happen. You can't!"
"Once the change process has begun, it can't be stopped," Carlisle's voice was even, but compassionate. "I'm sorry. We have to let the venom run it's course."
"Listen to her! She's suffering! Put a stop to it!"
The noise of a chuckle drew Alice's attention from Cynthia and Cassie and to the man that stood only a few feet away from them.
Aro stood in between James and Victoria's restrained forms, eyes closed as he focused hard on something. That's when Alice realized he was holding one of their hands in each of his.
Ungloved, bare hands.
James and Victoria were somehow entirely unresponsive. Their eyes were opened, and they were in one piece, but Alice suddenly knew that the European vampires that stood at both of their sides were doing more than just restraining them.
If Alice had to guess, it looked like James and Victoria were being held up.
From directly behind Aro, two vampires stood at his side.
With her attention not on Alice or Edward, Alice was finally able to get a good look at Renata. She was a plain, unassuming character. Dark, shoulder-length hair and no taller than Esme. The cloak she wore overtop of a deep red, ankle-length dress was a dark pitch black color. Far darker than Felix or even Demitri's.
Just behind her was a… not a child, but certainly not a man. He was young, and it wasn't until Alice's eyes landed on his hands, palms turned and facing toward James and Victoria, that she realized that this must be another one of the abilities that the European Protectors apparently had in their arsenal.
Is that what it is? Alice asked Edward. When he squeezed her shoulders, she knew it was a confirmation.
It wasn't until Alice tore her eyes away from Aro and turned her head fully when she realized that Demitri was standing there, behind both her and Edward, watching the two carefully.
When she met his eyes, he smiled at her slyly. Alice nearly shuddered at the sight, and when Edward turned and glared at him, Alice was suddenly thankful that Edward was there.
And while she didn't want to know what Demitri was thinking, she knew that if Edward's expression was any hint, it probably wasn't all that great.
What happened? Alice wanted so badly to know, but at the same time she knew that whatever information Edward had, or whatever information he was currently gathering, as Aro poked and sorted through two lifetime's worth of memories in James and Victoria's heads, was something she wasn't going to find out just yet.
Not until there was more privacy.
Alice's eyes fell upon Aro's hands again, and a sense of dread fell through her.
Somehow it was so, so easy to ignore both sets of screaming as her sister and niece shrieked and cried and begged. Even Edward's arms around her were nothing more than a mild fact of her current reality. Alice couldn't focus on anything in that moment except for the way Aro's two ungloved hands clung tightly to both James' and Victoria's.
Without confirmation, she just knew.
Lifting her hands slowly, she placed them near her face. Not close enough to make it look like she was doing anything other than curling in on herself after a traumatic event. But when she inhaled slowly, her dread nearly consumed her.
The worst had happened.
Aro had grabbed her hand.
No, Alice thought instantly, eyes flickering up to see Edward pointedly looking away from her. No, she thought louder as her panic began to rise, tell me he didn't. Edward, please. Please tell me he didn't touch me!
All Edward did was tighten his embrace, regarding Aro with a careful expression. No reaction in sight.
But the truth was right there, in the palm of her hand. Alice felt her stomach fall into her feet.
Not only did Aro now have access to every thought that had ever passed through her mind, but he also had access to every vision she'd ever seen. Ones that had come to fruition, and ones that hadn't. Passing visions of strangers and intimate visions of her and Jasper. He knew her every thought and secret and hope, but worst of all: he knew about her gift.
The sound of Aro drawing in a slow breath forced her attention from Edward's stony expression back to Aro's profile.
He stepped backward smoothly, James and Victoria's hands falling out of his grasp to lie limply at their sides. It frightened Alice how unmoving and still they were as they remained hoisted onto their feet, the vampires at their sides still gripping them tightly.
Aro hummed, nodding as he turned to acknowledge a few of his companions. Then, he turned his gaze toward Edward and Alice. His eyes locked on Edward, holding his gaze. "Interesting, no?"
Edward didn't reply. He held Alice firmly in his arms, but made no indication that he was about to move or speak.
The sirens grew louder and Alice knew that there would be human emergency personnel in the room very soon. Edward seemed to acknowledge this the same time she did, and when a couple of visions flickered through her mind, suddenly they were both on their feet.
Edward grabbed her hand firmly, keeping Alice close to his side as he gave Aro and his companions a wide berth, heading toward where Carlisle and Cynthia were.
"We need to get Cynthia out of here," Edward spoke his words low enough that Cynthia wouldn't hear them, but they both knew that Carlisle had heard the request loud and clear.
Alice let her eyes wander toward Cynthia, who was now sobbing loudly, her words no longer decipherable as she watched her youngest child writhe with change. The same time that she inhaled to speak, Alice's eyes locked on the blood dripping down Cynthia's elbow and onto the floor, and venom flooded her mouth.
Edward's feet ground to a halt at her reaction, and Alice was thankful.
"I'll take care of things," Edward gestured back toward the vampires behind them with his head. "It's okay. Esme is flagging the ambulance down now."
And that's when Alice realized that Esme was there, too. Suddenly, Alice knew that the only thing that would properly calm her down would be to be back in Esme's embrace.
"Wait," Edward whispered the word so softly she almost didn't pick up on it. His hand tightened around hers ever-so-slightly and Alice knew to trust him. A few more visions promised Alice a proper reunion with Esme soon, but first, she had to stick with Edward.
"Come on," Carlisle spoke softly, one arm still putting a decent amount of pressure on Cynthia's arm. With his other arm he reached around her for her other hand and slowly stood up, guiding her onto shaking feet. "We're going to meet the paramedics outside."
"Forget me!" Cynthia screamed, tears streaming thick down her red, splotchy face, "My baby! My baby girl, get her help! She—she can't die like this! You have to do something!"
Carlisle's voice was calm and even as he spoke, "In a few days she'll be awake, then we can—"
"No, no, no," Cynthia was shaking her head, her screams turning back into sobs, "she can't. She can't die like this. Not my baby, please God! Why?! Why my baby?!"
That's when Alice realized what was happening.
Despite the fact that Cassie would wake up in Birmingham in three days time, newly immortal, to Cynthia it was the same thing as losing her daughter entirely. Alice thought back to Tim's blow up in their driveway the month prior, and her heart wretched painfully in her chest.
Sure, Alice was both Cynthia's sister as well as a vampire, and that hadn't stopped Tim from casting her out, cursing her name, and forbidding her from ever contacting any of them again. But surely, it was different. Alice had entered their home as a stranger, truly. And had done so via Cynthia and behind Tim's back. It was different. It had to be. Because if it wasn't, that meant horrible things for Cassie in the coming weeks.
Alice pushed those thoughts from her head as she watched Carlisle wrap an arm around Cynthia's back, supporting her weight. Of course things would be different between Cassie and Cynthia and Tim.
They wouldn't turn away their own daughter.
Cynthia continued to sob and cry as Carlisle slowly led her toward the back door of the warehouse. It wasn't the most direct route to the street where Alice knew the ambulance would be pulling up, but it was the only safe way to get the bleeding human past the dozen vampires that were still standing around, listening to Cassie scream her throat raw.
It was as they were nearly out of the room, that Edward tugged Alice's hand, turning them back around to head back to where Aro was still standing in front of James and Victoria.
"Would you like to do the honors?" Aro asked her as they approached. The request forced Alice's feet to pause, but Edward pulled her forward despite the way she faltered. She knew that if she could read his thoughts, he'd likely be scolding her for her hesitation. They had to be united with this now, no matter what happened.
But the question threw her off guard.
"You know we don't perform extra-judiciary executions." Edward's voice was annoyed, and Alice was relieved when he finally stopped moving, allowing there to be several yards between them as he voiced her own thoughts out loud. "That's not what we do here."
Demitri chuckled. "Of course you don't. It's half the reason you're in this mess."
"Such a compassionate leader, Edward," Aro smiled, and even though the emotion seemed genuine, the sight sent a shiver down Alice's spine. "You take after Carlisle in such wonderful ways. But," he turned sad eyes toward the two unresponsive vampires. "It appears these two have taken advantage of your kindness," then, he turned toward Alice, "several times now."
"A witness has already watched them come into contact with us," Edward pointed out, and Alice knew that Cynthia's waking presence had thrown a wrench in things. "They'll be expected to be taken back into custody."
"And you, Alice?"
Alice blinked up at him, hating the way everyone's attention was now on her. With her opposite hand she reached toward Edward. She was sure she looked childish in that moment, holding his hand with one hand, and gripping his arm tightly with the other, clinging to him like a little girl. But Alice was scared, and Alice didn't want to take part in whatever was happening, and Alice knew that Edward would handle things.
Because in that moment, she knew that she couldn't. She couldn't speak without crying. She wouldn't be able to give any input. For god's sake, she could barely move. All she could do is stare back at Aro was he smiled toward her, knowing that he knew absolutely everything there was to know about her, and refusing to give him anything else.
Even a word.
"Leave her out of this."
The large man, Felix, laughed as he exchanged an amused look with Demetri, but other than those two, only Aro reacted, smiling as he clicked his tongue.
"I'm merely curious to get her input," Aro offered innocently. "After all, this is her mess, is it not?"
Edward shook his head, and the words Alice knew he was about to speak only caused her fear to compound. "You can go to hell," but before he could move to stand in front of Alice, she planted her feet, tugging lightly on his arm. Of course, her visions didn't show her anything bad happening, but somehow Alice could sense that this encounter would go much, much worse than her and Jasper's encounter with them back in Ricketts if she didn't stop it.
"What do you want?" She forced the words out, hating the way her voice shook. She clung to Edward tightly, still refusing to get any closer.
Aro appeared delighted at her willingness to engage, and took a few excited steps forward. "With the way these two have wronged you, I'm sure you'd be interested in doing the honors, no?" He pocketed his hands as he walked toward her, and when he pulled them back out, both hands were gloved.
Alice thought it was a pointless gesture. If it were done to make her ease up, that ship had sailed the moment she realized he'd seen her mind.
"After all, we interrupted your attempt at ridding them from the world, did we not?"
"You already know what happened." Alice spoke coldly, and when Aro took another step toward her, eyes bright and excited, Alice finally flinched back, pulling Edward's arm slightly, hiding behind his long limb.
Aro got the hint, then. "I see." He straightened back up to his full height. "Your 'containers' will be here soon," he spoke the word with amusement, pausing to pronounce it carefully, "I suggest we do it now before they come to retrieve the girl." He waved a hand toward Felix and then turned to approach the group. "You can tell your people whatever you'd like," he called over his shoulder. "Or I can give a statement. Clear some things up."
He glanced back at Edward and Alice, "If you wait long enough, I think we can give a story that helps you out more," the words were spoken to Alice specifically, but she didn't understand what Aro meant. "Either way, things should calm down for you considerably now."
The people holding up James and Victoria readjusted their holds, keeping the pair on their feet as they put a little bit of distance in between them.
Alice glanced into their futures and saw nothing.
She knew what that meant.
Alice forced herself to look away before Felix approached James, and her eyes fell upon Cassie's sobbing body, still crying out weakly as her initial adrenaline began to get eaten up by the venom that was swiftly spreading through her body.
"It hurts," she whimpered, eyes unseeing as she cried some of her very last tears. Alice focused on the blue of Cassie's eyes, knowing that the next time she saw them, they would be a bright, vibrant red. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please kill me. It hurts too much. I can't do this. It burns."
Even though she braced herself for it, Alice still flinched back at the screech of grinding flesh, closing her eyes and burying her face into Edward's arm. When the second screech echoed through the warehouse, Alice focused hard on Cassie's crying, trying hard to hold herself together as Aro and his guard cleaned up the mess she'd made.
The flicker of a lighter was louder than it should have been to her ears.
"I'm sorry," she whispered into the air. Who she was speaking to, she wasn't sure. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry."
She was sorry that Cassie's life was now forever altered, as the venom burned it's way through her veins. She was sorry that Cynthia had been hurt and, in her eyes, her daughter taken away from her. She was sorry that Skye had ever been taken from Hillside Heights. She was sorry that James and Victoria had decided, thanks to her, that hospitals were the perfect place to find convenient playthings. She was sorry that Edward was now put in an even more precarious position now that he'd bore witness to everything that had happened that morning.
She was sorry that she'd lied to Jasper, over and over again.
It wasn't until Edward pulled her into a firm embrace, wrapping his arms around her and shielding her from everyone's curious glances, that she finally began to cry.
"I'm sorry," she repeated, again and again, even as the sound of Birmingham's people surrounded her, "I'm so, so sorry."
When everyone began to slowly shuffle out of the warehouse, Alice knew that Aro was close when a small growl from deep within Edward's chest vibrated against her cheek.
"Such a sweet, talented thing," he hummed quietly as he passed. "It'll be alright." And then, the buzzing in Alice's ear stopped, Edward's crushing embrace loosened, and Alice knew that Aro was gone.
I'm sorry, she thought, needing Edward to know, I'm so, so sorry, Edward.
He didn't tell her it was okay. He didn't assure her that she was overreacting. All Edward did was embrace her, and let her cry.
A/N: I'm sorry about how long it took to get this chapter out. My life went a little wonky last fall and I only started getting it back together a little bit ago. Since the last chapter in October I got into a relationship, was driven to the brink of insanity by my job, moved into a new apartment, quit my job, got out of a relationship, went back east for a little bit, started two new jobs, and had to completely change the way I uh, live my life I guess. It also doesn't help that I have far too active of a social life now. I'm tired. But here you go. Home the climax didn't disappoint. The next chapter should be the last for the story.
Happy Aries season, and stay tuned for next month's finale.
Thanks for hanging in there with me, friends.