Part 12

Jane grumbled as she stalked the footpath across from the high school. She could do this if she wanted to. Bella and the Cullen's were so adamant that she couldn't but she'd prove them wrong.

Jane walked confidently towards the parking lot. Determined to stroll into the human infested building like she did it every day. She was a Volturi high guard member, feared the world over she could-

She froze as a boy raced out of the building and headed for a car twenty feet in front of her.

The smell.

The sound of his thundering heartbeat as he looked through his boot and slammed it closed again before racing back to the school.

Jane swallowed hard, digging her fingernails into the palms of her hands to keep her in place.

With a grunt she turned slowly around and made her way back to the footpath.

She just needed a little more time. She could control herself.

No matter what Bella said to the contrary.

It had only been a few hours since classes had started but she was already contemplating mass murder. Not even a feeding frenzy just multiple deaths at her hands.

They were disgusting. Humans, all of them but teenagers specifically.

And to think that her friend was in there with them. The smell alone. Jane shuddered and spun around, unable to take it anymore. There was a field and behind that dense forest and she took advantage of it to clear her senses away from the stench of human children.

She was not running away from them. Just to be clear. And if she had gone along with Bella and the rest of the Cullen's she could have stayed as long as she wanted to.

She could have controlled herself, if she wanted to, she simply had better things to do with her time right now.

Like prepare for her return to Volterra

Jane knew that a call to her brother would set things into motion and perhaps she would speak to Chelsea as well. Carlisle would be a good distraction for Aro and maybe it would be the chance she needed to finally set her plan into motion.

xxxxx

"What?" Bella asked as her mate let out a relieved sigh.

Alice shook her head thankful that her visions had left. Jane must have found something else to take her attention away from the school. Finally she could concentrate on the lesson going on around her. "Your friend has gone I think." She whispered to Bella sat beside her.

Scowling Bella glanced towards the window of the classroom but she had no idea what Jane was up to. She eyed Alice again and tried to work out why the human would know but the answer was as clear to her as it had been yesterday. She couldn't hold in a smirk as she leaned closer to her mate. "How many did she plan to kill?"

Alice snorted as she kept her eyes on her workbook. "A lot."

Bella chuckled as she sat back in her seat. She'd known Jane wouldn't have been able to see out a day of high school without fatalities. She would tease her friend about it later. Remind Jane of her age and temper issues.

Her brother Alec would enjoy hearing about this. She would have to get word to him somehow, maybe she'd talk to Felix later or Alec himself, but that was likely just to upset Jane all the more.

"She's…different from you." Alice continued quietly, her head still down.

Her voice brought Bella back to her surroundings and away from thoughts of teasing her friend. She frowned at her mate.

"She's angry." Alice bit her lip not sure she could be completely honest with her thoughts, she'd seen the Cullen's in her visions and knew they could be trusted. But hadn't seen Bella before she arrived, and she'd certainly not seen Jane. What she did know was that her family were afraid of them.

Edward had been only too quick to inform her that the Volturi vampires fed from humans. And by feed he assured her he meant murder.

Even Jasper was uneasy, worried not just for himself or for her and for his mate Bree.

So Alice didn't know if Bella was supposed to be her enemy or not, she certainly didn't feel like she was. Rosalie and Emmett weren't as afraid, concerned was a better word, and mostly about how Esme was going to cope with Carlisle leaving tonight.

Alice hadn't seen that coming either.

Something that had earned her a glare from Edward as they were leaving this morning. He'd remained behind to talk with Carlisle and Esme but the rest of them had gone ahead to school at Carlisle's urging.

She still wasn't sure what was going on and for the last while her visions had been all about Jane attacking the school. Maybe now that the blonde had apparently decided to leave she would see more of what had changed with her family.

She wasn't stupid, Alice knew the arrival of Bella and Jane had set off the change of events but she couldn't feel afraid of Bella, it just wasn't possible. Jane however was a different story.

"She's a vampire, of course she's angry around humans." Bella replied although she knew that Jane was angry around everyone. There were very few times when her friend wasn't angry. Feeding being the most obvious time. Feed and killing. Both activities Jane enjoyed immeasurably. The highlight of her existence to be exact.

Alice shook her head in disagreement. "It's different with her." She continued, careful not to be overheard. "I've seen Jasper kill, and you, you both enjoy it but it's different with Jane." Alice scowled a little trying her best to explain it. "She hates them."

"Humans?" Bella asked but she already knew the answer.

Alice nodded.

Bella sighed, it really wasn't her story to tell. "You live among vampires and yet you haven't been changed." Bella began softly. "Did Jasper or the Cullen's explain why?"

Alice turned her head to eye Bella. She and Jasper had discussed it briefly but her visions of future events had always shown her to be living. Jasper had simple said it was an option open to her in the future. None of the Cullen's had mentioned turning her and she had always thought it was because Jasper had spoken to them on her behalf. "No."

"Hm." Bella glanced to Bree who was further along the row she and Alice were seated in. The other vampire was listening in and gave her a guarded look. Bree likely understood some of what Bella was going to share. "The change from human doesn't create a monster Alice." Bella explained carefully. "It merely releases an individual's inhibitions, combined with the thirst that is present after the change and you get an indiscriminate killer."

Alice didn't look convinced by that so Bella continued on.

"Jane and her brother were changed at a young age," Bella waited for Alice to nod and then went on. "They were both similar to you when they were human."

"How?" Alice asked.

"They were already gifted with powers." Bella replied.

That made Alice shift closer, Jasper hadn't been gifted while he'd been human and neither had Edward she'd been told by Carlisle. To hear that Jane had her gift as a human was intriguing. Alice hadn't met anyone like that before, her own father had called her a freak and beat her when she shared her visions with him.

"But in those times being different meant being called a witch." Bella sighed again. The events occurred a long time ago but she still felt angry that her friend had been treated so. "Eventually her village were going to burn them as witches, thinking they brought bad luck. Aro had already marked them for his coven because of their gifts but his hand was played and they had to be turned much younger than he would have liked. After their change they both sought revenge for their treatment when human. Being burned at the stake will do that to a person."

Alice gasped.

"Now some will have worked through their anger issues in the following thousand or so years, but as you can tell Jane is not one of those. That isn't exactly her fault, given the circumstances of her change and her age it's inevitable that there would be lasting effects. It's one of the leading reasons there are no humans changed at such an age. By rule of law those that do will be brought before the Masters and forced to explain themselves before they meet their own end." Bella concluded.

The bell went off loudly to signal the end of class.

Bella help Alice pack her things away as she seemed rather distracted by what Bella had shared with her. Bree followed them out of the room but kept a few feet between the two of them. "What about me?" She asked hesitantly. She'd been changed at 16 years old but she knew she could pass for younger. The Cullen's were already in trouble with Bella and Jane, Jasper had explained to her last night about who the Volturi's were, and the last thing she wanted was to cause problems for the Coven that had welcomed her so willingly into their home.

"What about you?" Bella asked as she slipped her hand into Alice's. They had a break between classes now and were meeting the rest of the Cullen's in the canteen. "You are what you are." Bella knew the other vampire was nervous by nature and that it was mostly how she would have been as a human.

That wasn't a bad thing. Not every vampire woke with a gift, and not every human that was turned needed to be more than they were.

The last thing the world needed was more vampires like Jane or even like Bella herself.

A wave of comfort flooded Bree's senses and soon Jasper was wrapping his arm around her shoulder as he joined them in the hallway.

"She means her age. Bree was turned at sixteen." Jasper explains for his mate knowing it was a point of concern. The fact that she looked younger had been brought up with the Cullen's before but not in relation to the Volturi.

Bella shrugged. While sixteen was on the young side and eighteen was preferred, Jane and Alec had been changed at barely fourteen years of age in a time when things were much different. Besides, Bree was mated to a very seasoned vampire.

"There are other issues to be dealt with, your age at turning is not one of them." Bella finally told the pair as they continued walking among the humans also headed to the food hall.

"What exactly are those issues?" Rosalie asked as she and Emmett stood outside the doors to the canteen waiting on them.

Bella eased Alice to the side and they all waited until the hallway was empty of teenagers. Bella felt Alice tighten her grip as they waited for her response. The longer the wait the more nervous the others looked. Except Emmett whose grin remained throughout.

Bella eyed Jasper and his mate, the fearful Bree. They were both an issue but the one holding her hand outweighed even them.

She turned her attention to the waiting blonde. "Some issues can be overlooked, others, such as the shifters, cannot."

It wasn't like Bella could turn back time anyway. She had already sent one of them as a gift to her Father. And she'd just as happily send the rest of them to Volterra as she would kill them.

"Then we do have a problem don't we?" Rosalie replied.

Bella shrugged. It was a problem but one for another day as far as she was concerned. Today was for saying goodbye to Carlisle and reminding Edward of his place. She started for the canteen unwilling to waste Alice's time with petty discussions on what couldn't be changed.

"Do you need food?" Bella asked her mate, unsure how often feedings took place for humans out with the main meals of the day. "A drink? Some murder and mayhem?"

"Stop it." Alice said with a giggle as Bella guided her inside.

Jasper quickly sent Rosalie some waves of calm and tranquillity. "Good thoughts Rosalie, good thoughts." He advised as he slipped in ahead of the blonde as Emmett wrapped her in his arms.

Jasper knew Bella was just teasing. But she did have a point. The Quileute tribe had been an issue for the Cullen's long before he and Alice had joined the family. Even in his solitary days he knew that shifters were to be reported to the Volturi. Not that he had ever done so. Shifters had been hunted the earth over for centuries. Any that were left knew that to expose themselves meant risking death.

The shifters on the outskirts of Forks had no sense of the bigger picture thinking that the Cullen's were the only threat they faced.

They couldn't be more wrong.

Emmett hugged Rosalie closer, he knew she was worried about everyone but there was little they could do now, and the last thing he wanted was to anger any of the Volturi. Edward had already done enough of that for them and it would cost them Carlisle for the next year.

"It's going to be fine babe."

Rosalie buried her head into his shoulder and willed herself to believe that. "I hope so."

"Trust me. Tink has everything under control, just you watch." Emmett replied. "The mightiest vampires lays down at her feet already, the rest of the Volturi won't know what hit them."

Rosalie shook her head just as a crash was heard from inside.

Emmett shifted on his feet, letting go of Rosalie as he guessed what, or rather who, had caused the noise. "She heard that huh?"

Rosalie stepped back away from her husband. "It was nice knowing you."

"Love you too babe." And with that Emmett took off away from the school.

Straightening her shoulder Rosalie enter the hall and set about saving her husband's skin. And if that didn't work, she'd rely on Alice to smooth things over with the Volturi guard.

The last thing she wanted was to have Emmett sent to Volterra for the next year as well.

Or something even worse.

xxxxxx

AN/

It's been a while but this hasn't been forgotten I swear.