Chapter 6 - I Blacked Out
"I think it was his mind reading gift that attracted you in the first place." Aro whispered into my ear when he saw Edward gaping at his arm around my shoulder. I couldn't believe he was flirting again! Since my feelings had changed since last time though, I decided to try flirting right back.
"Is that what you think?" I replied with a smile, nudging him in the side.
"Yes." Aro said, chuckling slightly. "It wasn't his class or smile."
"Oh!" I exclaimed, laughing behind my hand. "You are horrible!"
"That's how I got my power, babe." Aro half-joked with a huge grin. I laughed again, throwing my head back. Hearing a modern term like 'babe' come out of Aro's mouth was just too much. "Hello there, Edward. Hard to believe it's only been a few weeks, no?"
"Yes, sir." Edward replied, looking murderous. It was funny, considering it was King Aro of the Volturi he was glaring at.
"Where is my old friend Carlisle?"
"Aro, long time no see." Carlisle said with a smile, coming out of the front door.
"Too long. It seems you avoid me." Aro replied. "Just because you don't wish to join Marcus, Caius, and myself as rulers doesn't mean you have to stay away. You are still welcome in Volterra at any time."
"What...?" Edward said, flinching and wide eyed. "How did you keep that from me?"
"Son, it happened a long time ago. " Carlisle replied, looking embarrassed.
"It doesn't surprise me, Carlisle." Jasper spoke up. "You would have done very well as a leader of the vampire world."
"Thank you, Jasper." Carlisle said. "I thought so at first also, but I'm a bit too soft on wrong-doers."
"I tried telling him how that made him perfect for the job, but his thoughts said it was the King title that scared my friend away." Aro smiled. "Either that, or Carlisle was afraid of becoming my brother."
"Now that's ridiculous, Aro." Carlisle said with a shake of his head.
"Are you sure you don't want the spot?"
"As honored as I am that you've offered it to me, I'm sure." He replied. "It just isn't for me."
"I understand." Aro said. "It is a bit far from your preferred life style. When I find someone else to take the new, fourth throne, I'm going to ask for your input as well as Caius and Marcus's. You will always be a Volturi brother in spirit."
"That sounds great, old friend." He said before taking a peak at me. I smiled at him in encouragement. "I promise I won't avoid you anymore either, brother."
"Fantastic!" Aro exclaimed with a huge smile before clapping his hands and looking at me. "Down to business. All of us will be staying for the remainder of the week. That will give Jasper time to give Peter and Charlotte refresher courses. It will also allow us time to practice with your gift, create your scars, and refill your gift surplus at the end."
"Sounds good." I replied before turning to Jasper. "Where would you like to start?"
"Well, King Aro is right. The three of us need a refresher course." he said cautiously, indicating to himself as well as Peter and Char. "It's been a while. We can combine a few of these steps though. Time is of the essence."
"Agreed." I replied. "What do you suggest, Major?"
"We can practice with your gift and create your scars as we run the refresher course." Jasper stated, waving for Peter and Char to take their spots at his flanks.
"That'll also allow you to become a part of the aura a whole lot faster." Charlotte put in from where she now stood on Jasper's left.
"Seems perfect." Aro said, backing up. "Take the reigns, Jasper. The Volturi is at your service."
"Alright then." Jasper said in surprise with a nod. "Could everyone make a spar circle? Isabella and Charlotte, you two are up."
I walked forward five steps, and Char faced me from the other side. I absorbed the automatically projected gifts of Peter and Edward and crouched in waiting. Charlotte did the same, and we began to circle one another. It wasn't until she rushed at me that I felt it. I felt the aura of the Whitlocks, but stronger was the aura of the Volturi. It was right then that I felt I was a part of it, and I gained strength from their presence. Just before she got close to me, I screamed and began using Edward's and Peter's gifts.
She would move to strike, and I would dodge. She would move, and I would mirror her. It went on like that until I found an opening. Ducking down to dodge a blow, I kicked out with my feet. She was knocked on top of me, and I took her into a roll. As we rolled, I stuck my teeth to her neck in victory. I helped Char up and turned to face Jasper for evaluation.
"As amazing as that was, there's a problem." Jasper said, furrowing his eyebrows in concentration. "I would have never taught you to fight like a Volturi elite, and you fight as if you've been a Guard member for decades. You will have to get used to fighting a completely different way in just over 96 hours."
"I have an idea, Major." Demetri said from where he stood.
"Please share it, General." Jasper replied.
"Isabella learned to fight like a Volturi member by simply watching the rest of us spar, so if you were to spar with Peter and Charlotte simultaneously, she would be able to pick it up in two days. She may even be able to pick it up faster if you don't take breaks to feed. A thirsty vampire learns faster, especially on a newborn diet, right Isabella?" Demetri said, smiling at me.
"As much as I hated being starved, I'd have to agree that it did the trick." I replied, trying to suppress my smile. I then grew serious again. "There's another problem though. During that spar, I felt that I'm already strongly embedded into the Volturi aura. Is it possible to be part of two at once? If not, how will we detach me from such a strength?"
"Are you sure you are already connected in such a way, Isabella?" Aro asked in surprise.
"King Aro's right. It normally takes a huge fight with the coven in question to incorporate someone into an aura of such strength and age." Jasper said, looking amazed and doubtful all at once.
There wasn't time for me to be questioned. I walked over to where Aro and Marcus were standing.
"Aro, use your gift on Marcus and myself at once." I suggested. "That way you will see."
"Very well." Aro replied, take one of each of our hands. There was a slight silence, and then Aro's head shot up. He looked me in the eyes and shook his head slowly. "Impossible, yet it has happened. You are, indeed, part of the Volturi aura."
"So what do we do?" Jasper asked in a whisper. The silence seemed to stretch forever.
"Delfino Gilligan." Carlisle whispered under his breath, and Marcus, Aro, and I all hissed at the name.
"You'd better have a damn good reason for speaking that name aloud, old friend." Aro said carefully, barely concealing his utter hatred.
"He was able to become part of the Volturi aura, yet he fought against and betrayed you, getting Ularin killed in the process." Carlisle said, obviously speaking his thoughts aloud.
"Yes, I know that. What I want to know is why you are telling the whole world this story, and I want to know what he has to do with anything." Aro replied, losing his patients.
"There's no way he could have fought against an aura he was part of... unless..." Carlisle paused and turned to Demetri. "General, you said the raids confirmed that the Romanians were involved in Ularin's second death?"
"Yes." Demetri said, looking worried, confused, and angry all at once.
"The only way he could have fought against an aura he was part of, and aided the Romanians, was if he was a part of their aura as well." Dr. Cullen exclaimed, turning to face Aro again. "He was part of two coven auras at once. If Delfino was able to do it, the most powerful Child of Volterra certainly can!"
"Yes..." Aro murmured under his breath. He stood up straighter, and his voice grew with conviction. "Yes! There could have been no other way. There is hope again. Well done, Carlisle. Well done."
"Back to sparring then?" Jasper asked cautiously.
"Yes, Jasper. Sorry about that." Aro replied with a small smile. "The floor is yours again."
"Okay. I like Demitri's idea, but I have a slight twist in mind. Observers, beware. Come on Peter, Char, let's show Isabella how it's done down South." Jasper commanded, his red eyes sparkling with excitement. "Can I have two volunteers that aren't part of a coven aura?"
Lacy, whom had joined the Volturi a month before I had, and John, whom had been added four months ago, stepped forward in fear.
"They will do exactly what needs to be done." Peter whispered to Jasper loud enough for us to all hear. It was obviously an intimidation technique, and it was working. Jasper nodded and spoke to Lucy and John.
"You remember how it felt your first year of this life. Go back to those times, and hold nothing back." Jasper instructed. "On your mark."
Glancing at each other, Lucy and John crouched, letting loose very animalistic and untrained, newborn snarls. It all happened very fast after that.
The Whitlock coven did not move, but they didn't have to. Their coven aura could be felt like vibrations in the air, and Jasper sent waves of submission and defeat to envelop Lucy and John. I could feel the threat coming toward me because of my shield, and I shivered. I was the only one that seemed to realize what was coming. Just before Jasper's gift reached John and Lucy, Jasper nodded to Peter and lead the battle cry. The moment the three of them took their second synchronized step, the two oblivious vampires fell to their knees. Lucy screamed shortly, and John gasped before they fell to their hands as well. Jasper made a show of pretending to rip John's head from his shoulders. Peter and Charlotte did likewise to Lucy. Only after reforming on the other side did Jasper release his gift and dim down their aura.
Without saying a word, I reached over and touched my hand to Aro's palm so that he could see it the way I had with my gift. I saw him shiver as well, and that's what made me realize exactly how much having Jasper as an ally meant. Jasper had made King Aro of the Volturi himself shudder in fear. I remembered Sultana and the fact that she was killed by a skilled vampire with a powerful physical gift. Jasper could kill me if he wanted to. Were he to fight me, he would beat me as easily as I had beaten Edward. I knew that now, and I respected Jasper's ability and skill more than ever. He'd been right. I hadn't known the things he'd done. I would have never truly understood if I had not seen it for myself.
I got Alec's attention and nodded toward Lucy and John, who seemed to be having fits of some sort due to their encounter with the Major. He got the point and desensitized them. Demetri and Jane each grabbed one of them and carried them inside the Cullen house to put them comfortably on the couches.
"Isabella, it is your turn." Jasper announced, indicating to the opposite side of the Cullen lawn. I would be lying if I said I wasn't afraid. I was terrified. I went to the other side of the lawn as instructed. Jasper's face was cold and expressionless. "Hold nothing back. On your mark."
I crouched.
.:!*!:.
I tried everything, and after seventy-nine hours of little to no improvement and being defeated over and over and over again, I was ravenously thirsty. It was getting harder and harder to think around my thirst, especially when I'd try something new with my gift. It wasn't hard to see now, how vampires could go crazy from lack of blood.
Even though I was picking up everything that Jasper would show me or use against me, and even though he used the same technique every damn time, I couldn't get a handle on them. The bites were killing me, and Carlisle and Aro had already reattached both my arms and a leg the one time I got around Jasper's gift. That was when Peter and Char had come at me from both sides, removing the limbs, as Jasper turned to kick me in the stomach and throw the full weight of his gift onto me where I'd sat, helpless, on the ground.
Truthfully, I was hoping I could get another arm off so that I could take another reattachment break. Of course, during my break, Jasper'd had everyone start biting me to get a bunch of different shaped marks on my body.
Things had gotten even harder once I had become part of the Whitlock aura. I wasn't used to fighting against that kind of connection, so over and over again I lost to them.
Finally, it came to the end of it. Jasper used his gift to bring me to my hands and knees (for the millionth time), but this time I couldn't get back up. When I tried, my arms and legs shook, and I fell on my side. Aro was there right away, sitting me up and whispering encouragement so quietly that only I would hear. I was so out of it though, that I couldn't understand the words. Jasper's words, however, brought me to my senses.
"This isn't working. Perhaps watching her creator deal with something worse would help?" He suggested in a hard, detached voice.
"He's already feeling all my pain, Jasper." I gasped out. "Please don't."
"I think it would do the trick." Jasper said, ignoring my words. I felt Aro nod from where his head was touching my hair. He went to get up, and I gripped his cloak with all the strength I had left. It wasn't nearly enough. I forced my eyes open just on time to see Jasper throw every negative emotion at him at once. The Volturi aura was shocked to life in an agonized ripple, and I felt my body begin to shake unceasingly. I longed to jump to Aro's defense, but my body wouldn't respond. Jasper asked Aro a question. "How desperate are you for the death of the South, King Aro?"
"I would do anything." Aro answered weakly, but his voice also held a truthful power that I knew everyone heard. Jasper nodded and placed a hand on Aro's shoulder. He used the physical contact to take his ability to the limits.
Aro began to jerk and scream. I felt the painful, depressing emotions faintly from where I was, twenty meters away. In that moment of desperation, I found a reserve of strength and bravery somewhere deep inside of me.
"No!" I screamed, hurting my throat with the intensity of the sound. I jumped to my feet and threw myself between Aro and Jasper, breaking the connection, but I was now taking the whole Jasper's onslaught. It was pure, untainted agony. I was lonely, unloved, depressed, stressed, angry, hateful, empty, abandoned, betrayed, tired, thirsty, weak, broken hearted, trapped, overwhelmed, and a bunch of things I couldn't name... simultaneously. I felt them all at once, and they crashed on me with the force of a million tons. I was sure I was screaming just as loudly as Aro had been. I felt the gift seeping through me, and I could tell that the emotions were about to reach Aro again, and I couldn't let that happen.
It was then, that the impossible happened once again. I felt my mental gift mutate, and I began to absorb Jasper's physical gift. I could not block it from working on me, but I was able to take his gift into my shield. I didn't hesitate.
I threw every emotion back at him with all the strength I had left. Even when I heard his cries, I didn't stop. I spread it to Peter and Charlotte when they began to advance on me - and finally, after all I'd been through - I had the Whitlock coven on its hands and knees.
I got shakily to my feet, pulling Aro up with me and walked toward them. I bit each of their necks in victory, adding my bite to the collective bites of others. I couldn't keep it up though. I fell into Aro's arms, and I blacked out.
A.N.: I was going to make this as long as the others, but the next chapter is a bit insane. It's done, but I am still messing with it, trying to bring it up to par. This chapter was pretty action packed though, right? What do you guys think about this side of Jasper? You'll be seeing a lot more of it soon... I promise. (Whether it's a good thing or not will be for you guys to decide.) =P