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Chapter 22

But you must know that we are all in agreement, whatever we say.

- Turba philosophorum

"I'm sorry! I can't play today," he apologized. "I'm talking with Carlisle."

Her face contorted with rage. "Carlisle!" she sneered. "He only delays you because he doesn't want you to play with me!" She made hissing, spitting sounds that reminded Edward unpleasantly of an angry snake. "I hope Aro does kill him! It will serve him right!" she added spitefully.

He struggled to control the emotions threatening to drown him. "It isn't like that at all, Jane. It's just that sometimes married people like to spend time with one another, just as Aro does with his wife.

"I'll tell you what," he proposed in a gentle tone to soothe the savagery he could feel building in her. "Come tomorrow and I will tell Carlisle we have a special date to play hide-and-seek, just you and me!" He smiled at her.

Ooooooooo, she loved hide-and-seek! It was her most favoritest game, especially when Edward played. He was simply a marvelous seeker!

"I'll hide!" she said quickly so she could get her choice, her bad temper vanishing instantly.

"And I will seek," he promised, kissing her on her forehead like a loving brother and then patting her on the head as he sent her away. Then he walked back through the tunnel to tell Carlisle.

Carlisle's Story

After I was turned, I spent the next few years in Britain and then journeyed across the Channel to commence my medical education in Europe. My father was deceased, and my mother long before my own death even, so there was no reason for me to remain in London.

For several decades, I apprenticed and then practiced medicine in Northern France until I chanced upon another vampire who told me of the Volturi. It was he who brought me to Volterra. I had already become quite famous for my practices - dietary as well as medical - and he informed me that the Volturi were eager to meet me.

I confess that I was quite curious about them. I had met the odd stray, usually some barbarian wandering the forest, incapable of civilized conversation. The first one I encountered terrified me - I knew my own strength but I was never much of a fighter at heart and I was convinced he would kill me. He merely laughed to watch me feed on a deer. I was relieved but I still made it a point to skirt every immortal if I sensed one in the area.

The man who brought me to Volterra was different. While he was far from polished or educated, he was still quite a step up from the others I had met, and even the human population I served for that matter. It made me think there might be something other than the appalling ignorance that I saw all around me.

I think to understand why Aro was such an attraction for me, you have to appreciate the environment I had come from, Edward. However grim the circumstances we witnessed in Europe in our travels - the appalling aftermath of the war - nothing in my memory can compare to the horrors of the 17th century. The living conditions of the miners, the sickness and the filth, the lack of any hygienic standards - it was all very depressing. He gave a rueful sort of smile. I worked so hard to try and better the lives of men, to make a difference, to change them. And nothing ever came from it. He shrugged gracefully, a profound sadness marring his lovely features.

And suddenly to meet someone who seemed, by comparison, refined? I was in Heaven!

(You can only imagine how completely shocked I was the first time I stepped into the castle and saw all of this! He gestured to the splendor all around them.)

It was time for a change anyway. I was young, then, and impatient, easily angered, idealistic. He laughed, but it was an angry, bitter sound. I couldn't understand why things didn't get better in spite of all my efforts. I worked so very hard!

So, you see, my Edward, I followed him quite willingly to Volterra. I wasn't lured here by trickery or false promises; neither was I captured. I walked through the front door of my own volition. What I failed to understand was once you come, it is almost impossible to leave...

His mind was plaintive, and he stared at the ground for a second before recovering.

Aro was very much then as he is today - charming, erudite, accepting. Or so I thought... He took me under his wing and selflessly devoted his time to my education. I was flattered to be made so much of! No one had ever even bothered to thank me before.

And back then, they all found my habits, my eccentricity ... quaint.

For many years, Aro permitted me to leave the grounds and hunt on my own. He even ordered the others to desist from harassing me. I had no reason to dislike him. And I literally spent every day of the first few years with him in the library. The next several decades were very amiable. I actually remember those times fondly. He seemed whimsical.

Imagine, Edward, if you had someone there to tell you the other version of events. Someone to say, "Well, Constantine wasn't the saint they say he was." Because he had seen the Emperor first hand! At times I thought he was making the whole thing up, but he had evidence. He stole various artifacts and writings and sequestered them away in various hiding places until he built the library here. I wasn't joking when I said he moved the contents of the Library at Alexandria. I would no sooner dispute some tale he told when he would produce the documents like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. It was the most amazing experience.

He was lost in his memories for a moment.

I was also very fortunate for being here in Volterra, which was quite near to one of the finest hospitals in Europe at the time. I studied in the psychiatric sector - Aro was fascinated by that - and was even allowed to work with various patients. It was a type of work I had never done and I loved it! God! All I ever did was to sew people up in France or try to stem some infection! Aro was as intrigued by the human mind as I was, so it made for a very comfortable companionship.

He was actually playful, and I had never even learned how to play. My life had been so grim. He dragged me along in his various escapades and I loved every minute of it. We started a game of hiding artifacts in their original locations to see how long it would take the humans to find them. We used to place bets on whether or not they would be able to actually figure out what they had found. They had no idea how to even read some of the scripts. Sometimes we'd plant additional clues to further their progress. Sometimes we would put something altogether out of place and time just to baffle them.

I am ashamed to confess I found it more entertaining than he did.

Carlisle sighed heavily, but Edward couldn't help but be amused by the image of the scholarly man playing boyish (harmless) pranks.

I thought myself happy - caught up in our games, absorbed in my studies, so totally involved with myself and the knowledge and power Aro had taught me - so much so that I failed to notice the political undercurrents developing at court.

I was indisputably Aro's favorite, a terrible position to be in as it engenders the wrath of all the others. I'm sure you can understand that...

Caius in particular fostered a vehement hatred of me and it was he who convinced Aro that my ways were a threat to the stability of their regime. As if any of them would have bothered to listen to my opinions. The lowest, most boorish of God's creatures! He snarled before he realized he had done so and then looked apologetically at Edward.

I suspect the real reason Aro listened to him was more of a show of strength to the others. He gets caught up sometimes in his newest toy, but then he comes back to the reality that it is damaging his position within his own dominions and he acts harshly to correct the problem.

Caius, of course, was blamed for all the measures taken. Aro didn't want to damage his relationship with me. I was still his favorite, even if I was unpopular with everyone else.

First, they required me to hunt with them. Ostensibly, this was done for my own "protection", as the human population was supposedly growing suspicious. This was before they had developed their practice of gathering stragglers and herding them into the castle. You must have noticed how clouded Aro's eyes are? They were not back then. It was the shift from active hunting to passive feeding, the sedentary nature of their lifestyle, that caused that.

Initially, I tried to evade them during the hunt, to strike out on my own. But you know how slow I am, he smiled affectionately at him. I never could outrun the guards.

And then the cries of the victims... He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. I couldn't ignore it. I had to help. Or try to...

It was only then that I recognized Aro for what he truly is: a murderer. Gracious, yes; educated, yes; cultured, yes - but, at heart, no more than the basest, the most primitive creature. I tried to reason with him because I truly believed that anyone who had seen what he had, anyone who had devoted his life to study, anyone who could converse with me as he had must be capable of enlightenment! He snorted softly and added bitterly, What a fool I was!

We'd spent too much time together for him to simply kill me in spite my flagrant rule breaking. And Caius convinced him he could cure me of my... he laughed lightly, human way of thinking.

So I was sent to the dungeon, almost exactly where they put me when I was away from you those eight months. So that Aro wouldn't be troubled by my screams.

I lived there for what felt like an eternity. First in the dark, dying of thirst. And then in a lit room, where they would bring bleeding humans to me for consumption. I thought I would lose my mind! I prayed to God to end my life! To not make me endure any more!

Oh, God, Edward! And suddenly he fell forward, his body convulsing with sobs, and he clutched the younger man's hand as the flood gate opened and unleashed every horrific detail he had suppressed for so long.

He was incoherent for a long while, his mind a shuffle of terrifying images of people dying at the hands of their iniquitous handlers. Edward knew then why the visions he had seen in Jane's head that fateful day so long ago had seemed familiar. He had seen glimpses of it in Carlisle's mind earlier on. He just hadn't understood the context.

He pulled the older vampire into his arms to comfort him. "I am so sorry! I wish I had known you then. I would have tried to help," he whispered.

The reinforcement of the correctness of his convictions and the solid feel of his mate against him helped Carlisle to calm himself. He leaned his head into Edward's shoulder. There's nothing you could have done. I am just so very grateful to have survived and to have found you! He kissed the underside of Edward's jaw.

"You didn't find me. I was given to you. Or are you changing your story now?" Edward smiled mockingly at him, trying to pull him from his despair.

Carlisle attempted a half-hearted laugh, but he actually did feel better.

I don't think I want to talk about this anymore.

Edward shook his head. "I don't think I want to hear about it anymore." He hugged him tighter. All that Carlisle had been through - and now this!

It was just that it was hard to think of himself as something worth going through so much for.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I'll speak with Caius about Jane. That's probably the best, indeed the only, way we can handle it. For now I would just try to keep her mollified - at bay, if you can manage it.

Edward. He turned to look at him. Thank you... for telling me. I don't want you ever to feel that you have to hide things from me. I know sometimes I lose my temper - I am only a vampire, after all, - and... know that this is hard for me as well.

But nothing you could ever say or do would cause me to love you any less. You are my life now!

Edward just nodded, too overwhelmed by emotion to speak.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Aro's return to court was marked by pomp and ceremony, not unlike a king returning from the battlefield. Ostensibly he had traveled far and wide to seek the best medical care in existence to correct Edward's condition, but no one was fooled. The room was filled with tension and hostility and Carlisle wanted to strike at Caius for doing nothing to ameliorate the atmosphere. The latter seemed to find the whole charade utterly amusing.

Aro exclaimed over Carlisle's return (Carlisle wisely decided not to comment; he was afraid he might lose control if he so much as looked at him); and then over his remarkable talent - how he alone had succeeded in curing Edward where all else had failed! "There is something to all those years practicing on humans, after all, eh, Carlisle?" the Volturi leader winked slyly at him. Carlisle could cheerfully have struck at him.

Eight months of unexplained incarceration was ignored as if it had never happened. Neither party wanted to address it, and Aro chose to pretend that the court at large was unaware of the circumstances of Carlisle's absence.

And then Aro turned his attention to his real interest.

"Edward?" he peered hungrily at the boy, his toad-like face grotesquely twisted into an unctuous smile.

Edward felt his flesh crawl and took a step behind Carlisle.

"I am so glad you are better," he said in his soft, sing-song voice. "I know our last conversation was not the most pleasant and I hope that you will forgive me." He sounded sincere, but his eyes were too greedy.

Edward nodded, leaning a little more into Carlisle. Jane, standing beside Aro, smiled at him, calling softly, "Don't forget! Tomorrow!" He glanced at her. She gave him a sultry smile, gestured to Aro, and then stifled a giggle with her hand. "He's so silly sometimes!"

Aro's focus was trained on Edward, oblivious to the conversations taking place around him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Come back!" He called to her, knowing if she went any further underground he would lose her.

"I'm going to visit Chelsea!" She was tired of the game anyway and wanted to see her very bestest friend who was so much more interesting than boring old Edward.

"Chelsea?" He frowned. "What is she doing down there?"

"Aro was angry because she couldn't turn you against Carlisle! He made me do terrible things to her." She had the decency to look remorseful. "And then he locked her up to punish her! And then he forgot all about her." She started to skip away, excited about seeing her playmate.

"Jane!" He called after her. "Does anyone else know she is down there?"

"Caius. And now you, I guess!" She added a nonsensical rhyme to match her slow skip. "Bye!"

And she disappeared down the hall.

He leaned his forehead against the wall and groaned.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm just voicing my concern. It's bad enough having to work with Caius - honestly, Carlisle, I don't understand how you can even look at him after all he did to you - and now you want to confide in Marcus? Aro's closest confidant? I just can't understand your line of reasoning sometimes." He threw himself on the bed, almost breaking it in his carelessness, and flung his arms over his face, exhaling loudly to express his frustration.

You simply have to trust me once more. I know all of this seems contradictory to you, but things are working in our favor right now. And Marcus is the key. Please, Edward. I know what I am doing