Into the Woods

By: Everleigh Allen

Chapter 36

Edward moved through the room and set a cup of hot chocolate in front of Bella as she typed at Edward's computer. "Find anything?"

"Yeah," Bella groaned, running her hands over her face. "But I don't know how helpful it is. I searched black shadow things from Ireland- but there is mostly stuff on shadow people like ghosts or haunted houses. There's also a book or two and even a Black Shadow motorcycle which looks pretty cool if you like motorcycles."

"Well, that's not helpful."

"There is one thing," Bella sighed, "It's unfathomable, but so is your existence… Jake's too, and the fairies… so yeah, it's possible, but when I type in Scotland- this came up." Bella pointed to the screen, seeing a picture of an old drawing of the long thin, shadowy like thing.

"It's a Wrath. Apparently, they are a manifestation of anger; vindictiveness, and forceful anger."

"Renee?" Edward gasped, "She was so upset, so angry when she put the protection spells for you."

"Probably didn't help things, for sure. This place, Forks, is infused with such crazy, unfathomable, supernatural beings, Edward. What if these are just the stuff we can see and if there is more out there? No wonder she didn't want me in the woods! She's made it into the freaking Forbidden Forest!"

"Calm yourself, love. The others are close and can hear you. They have news."

Bella looked at Edward with wide eyes, but Edward wasn't giving anything away. He just sat there rigidly while the Cullen's made their way to the door, along with Victoria, Demetri, and Felix, in tow.

"Oh, yay, excellent!" Bella scoffed with bitter sarcasm, "No one better try to eat me, though. I am so not in the mood." Bella sneered as Edward chuckled.

The Cullen's watched as Edward grabbed Bella and hoisted her on his back before disappearing back into the forest but only for a moment as the large dark shadow things advanced on them. They turned around and went back to the group who were now standing on the porch.

"What do you see, Alice?" Carlisle sneered, finally snapping out of the dispirited manner he usually exhibited and into one of annoyance.

"The same as you!" She jeered back with a roll of her eyes. But she wasn't seeing anything but a void when it came to the shadow things. It was like there wasn't a future to foretell.

Jasper chuckled, pulling Alice behind him and she instantly felt the false calm he was trying to inflict on her.

Alice wasn't having it.

She was losing it.

"It's like… I've seen these before," Carlisle reiterated. "Maybe in Europe…"

She sang in a high pitch, clearly about to lose it, "Not a speck of light is showing- So the danger must be growing-"

"Ah, ha!" Carlisle smiled widely, "Thank you, Alice! It was the Black Plague… Yes, I vaguely recall all of that mess right after I was changed… when was it, 1665-66? Yes. That's when I've seen these shadow things."

But Alice continued singing, crouching down to seem even smaller, "Are the fires of Hell a-glowing - Is the grisly reaper mowing-"

"Wraths, we called them," Carlisle continued, unfazed, "angels of death for the underworld."

"Yes, the danger must be growing-"

"Stop that!" Felix jeered, glaring at Alice. "Does she do that all the time?"

"Yes." Rosalie huffed, "So annoying most of the time, other times it's just creepy, like now."

Emmett nodded solemnly. "We try to limit her TV and radio time, but it doesn't seem to work. You get used to it."

"That would drive Caius insane," Felix snickered.

Demetri nodded his agreement, "Marcus would try to guess the lyrics and Aro would love it because it's Alice."

Then, all the sudden, the long shadowy things encircled the head of Jane and they seemed to be looking at it with avid curiosity. One seemed to pick it up by the matted hair as large, red, vacant eyes stared over toward the Cullen's.

"Gross," Rosalie hissed, turning away for a moment and then looking on again. "Even decapitated she creeps me out. I keep thinking she's going to be like Medusa and shock us with her dead eyes."

"Oh, would you look at that! There was no way now that she's going to be able to put herself back together, now!" Alice cackled, happily, "Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch! Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead!"

Jasper snickered before quieting his wife as they watched with amazement when the shadows seemed to push themselves more and more close together until they were a mass of darkness and the glinting Jane head shimmered in the sun like a creepy disco ball in the middle.

Screaming suddenly filled the forest. The horrible screeching caused the nearby birds to flee their nests as the shadows consumed the head into their darkness.

The head was still shrieking.

"I've never seen anything like it." Carlisle mused with amazement. "The face didn't move- yet she's screaming. We all hear it…"

Moments later there was an ominous silence in the woods and no sign of Jane left anywhere.

Even the wolves were gone.

"I guess we don't have to light her up," Jasper sighed. "That's always my favorite part."

"Has it escaped anyone's notice they just ATE a vampire head?" Rosalie huffed. "Or did you all just conveniently look away?"

"Oh, snap." Emmett said with wide eyes.

There was a lot of mumbling of awareness of reality.

"I don't know about you, but I am not sticking around to be dessert." Rosalie turned and started to run away, followed by Demetri, Felix, and the other remaining Cullen's back inside the house.

.

"How are we going to tell Aro about Jane?" Felix was pacing back and forth in front of the Cullen house as Demetri sat on the porch when the Cullen's requested a moment inside, alone.

Dem shrugged "I didn't like her anyways. So I don't care. I'm glad she's gone."

"But Aro and Caius… they won't be happy their henchwoman is gone."

"We can't be held liable if Jane got herself ripped apart and eaten. I'm more worried about her brother, than Aro. Aro will see from our palms what happened with her. Alec won't."

Felix shuddered thinking about Alec, Jane's twin brother, and his gift of making vampires so numb that they cease to care what is about to happen to them. It's when they usually destroy the vampire before them, humanely. Well, as humanely as a blood-sucking, psychopathic coven of vampires can be.

"Alec is a liability that we may need to take care of."

"Like that will happen," Felix scoffed. "He would never leave Aro's side."

"Do you hear that? I hear a heartbeat. It's faint, but it's coming from inside the house."

Felix stopped his movement and looked at Demetri, "Are you sure?"

Dem scoffed. "Tracker, remember? I can almost… feel it. Bom bump… bom bump… its lovely."

"You think they keep humans in the house? Like a blood slave or a pet? Oh, man, I thought that was illegal! Now I want one!"

With narrowed eyes Demetri took in his partner, "Are you serious right now? The Cullen's eat animals. They don't have red eyes therefor they aren't consuming that human's blood. I have no idea what's going on, so let's go find out!"

Felix shrugged and scowled. He hated being made to feel stupid.

The door opened as the two Volturi walked up the path to the Cullen residence. The smell of human was obvious with the gush of air that wafted out with the door's movement.

"Mmmm," the Demetri sighed as both men sniffed the air.

"Welcome to our home," Esme cooed and the two Volturi just looked at each other. "Come on in."

They followed her inside.

"Is that dinner I smell, Mrs. Cullen?" Felix smiled as Esme laughed and shook her head. "It smells delicious."

"Better than any other I've had the pleasure of… consuming."

"No, no… that's Bella's mother, Renee. But maybe if you boys are good, Carlisle will give you a taste." She laughed, half-jokingly since she was still angry at what a horrible mother Renee had been and how she treated her son, Edward. "But maybe it would have to be before Bella and Edward get back of course."

"Oh, I didn't know they left."

Esme nodded and welcomed them inside.

"What are the Volturi doing in Forks, anyway?" Esme looked sharply at the vampires that sat in the Cullen living room.

Felix shrugged, "Aro sends us all over the world to keep tabs on the other covens to see if any new vampires have been created, document their whereabouts, their abilities, and so on."

"And to make sure there isn't any vampire army's being created," Demetri added looking blackly at Jasper who only smiled and tipped his imaginary hat at the small vampire before him.

"Yes, then we report back," Felix added, indifferently.

"That's disturbing." Rosalie sneered. But it made sense that they would want to gauge any potential threats to their self-imposed sovereignties.

"Yeah well, it's not like you don't do something similar with that one!" Demetri scoffed pointing at Alice. "Aro knows she keeps an eye on things, too. Aro wants her something awful but refuses to let us just to grab her-"

Jasper seethed as he stood up into a crouch, hands ready to tear them apart. "Because he knows you would be destroyed!"

Felix stood up and Emmett instantly stood up to go against him but he was undeterred. "Just wait until we report back on the little human shield you're hiding!"

"Is that a threat?" Emmett glared, sizing up his opponent.

Demetri instantly went to Alice, grabbing her by her throat before she even saw it coming. She took a sharp intake of breath but didn't otherwise move.

"That was a dumb thing to say and do," Carlisle said as he stood up. Rosalie and Esme followed suit.

Seeing they were clearly outnumbered, Demetri reluctantly released Alice and took a step away from her.

"It's not a threat," Felix bit out. "You and I both know that the minute he touches our hand he's going to see the truth. He'll see everything going on here- including the human laying comatose upstairs."

Demetri gave a low growl, remembering the yummy human upstairs.

"There is no need for all of this hostility. We've been very hospitable to you both," Esme's annoyance was apparent. "Take it outside if you're going to get aggressive."

Carlisle insisted for both of the vampires to sit down and they did so reluctantly, followed by Rosalie and Emmett, then Jasper and Alice.

"It's true, though." Demetri sighed. "You know it, too. Aro sees everything."

"Not if you don't go back," Carlisle said simply with a shrug of his shoulder as if it was that easy. "You have that choice you, know. You can choose to live a life not under someone else's command or be made to stay with Corin's power of contentment of circumstance."

Carlisle was giving them something to think about and everyone knew it.

Felix was not as high of ranking vampire as his Demetri and he knew it. As did Carlisle from when he was with the Volturi and it stayed the same for thousands of years. He was brute force and probably easily replaceable but he didn't know anything else. He was simply there because he was the strongest vampire they had ever come across so he was given a place in the guard. To them, it was better that he and Demetri were with the Volturi than against them.

"Don't you miss your coven?" Esme asked softly but Demetri just shrugged. "How long has it been?"

"Over a thousand years," He whispered. Demetri had been changed by Amun around 1000 AD and had been with the Volturi guard just as long. Corin had a way of keeping the relative peace between the vampires in Volterra but that same gift also made them ignore other inherent needs, too. Chelsea's gift of influencing emotional ties helped Aro's cause, as well, and kept them there out of perceived duty.

Neither had ever met a mate, nor the chance to look for one.

Esme sighed with a slight smile, knowing that she was going to try to convince them that a mate should be their priority, rather than the Volturi. "Over a thousand years is a long time to wait for a mate, Demetrios."

Demetri's head turned sharply.

"Yes, we know. Did you not once protect the faithful?" Esme smirked knowingly before she flicked a small icon replica of Saint Demetrios at Demetri. It still resembled him well.

He looked at it for a moment before he pocketed it.

"She's right, you know." Rosalie piped up, nodding her head avidly. "You are long overdue for some love."

Alice agreed with a smile as she bounced slightly, but with eyes far away and growing hazy.

"Corin can't control your emotions and make you stay there any longer if you choose to stay, that is. You have free will." Carlisle reminded him again.

Demetri sniffed the air taking in the he intoxicating smells of Renee's blood. Never had he smelled such fragrant human blood, but he was trying to ignore it. They were outnumbered, after all.

"Bella's Edward's singer," Alice smiled with understanding. "Maybe Renee could be yours?"

Demetri looked harshly at Alice with wide eyes and a slight growl.

"I accidently ate my singer," Emmett added flippantly. "She smelled like pie. Apple pie. Can you imagine? She didn't taste like apple pie."

Alice, Rosalie, and Esme rolled their eyes.

"Yes," Carlisle confirmed, "Bella is Edward's mate as well as his singer." He looked at the vampire that was overly preoccupied by the human upstairs. "He controls his hunger, the blood lust. You could learn to, too, sustaining from animals helps with that."

"Well, I've waited longer than him," Felix scoffed, folding his arms over his broad chest.

"Ugh, then go look for her!" Rosalie's arms flared up as she yelled with exasperation. "Go sow oats, go on a sabbatical or whatever. Get laid! Tap some ass. Be an incubus!"

Alice agreed with hazy eyes.

"You should go visit the Denali clan, then." Emmett scoffed. "Those sisters are total succubae and will work you over good." But then he caught Rosalie's glare. "Or so I've heard."

"Oh, I see it now!" Alice beamed. "Yes… I see Felix going to Alaska. Oh! And I see him with Tanya! And you could totally stay for a while you know, since Jane's gone, and there you are munching on the animals…"

Carlisle agreed, "Alice is right. There isn't anyone to force either of you back seeing how you are both the tracking and force that they use to control others. It will take them a while to find you, but by that time it'll be too late. They are impotent without you two and Jane and they know it."

Emmett snickered, "Impotent."

Alice nodded her head with pinched lips as her eyes regained focus, "Yeah, after all, they let go of Alistair as their tracker, for Demetri. They don't have another and I don't see Alistair going back willingly."

"What about me?" Demetri said with a scornful look. "What do you see for me?"

Alice was silent for a moment, her bright eyes going hazy and dark like coal. Her lips straightened into a hard, thin line. "That remains to be seen. For now, I see you staying put with the Cullen's."

Carlisle and Esme exchanged worried looks as Demetri huffed and sat back. He glared at the stairs that led up to the woman upstairs. He wondered what she looked like, what she tasted like. He wasn't hungry, per se, but was more curious about her than anything.

And if she got better he could have fun hunting her down.

Demetri grinned as Alice eyed him warily before glancing at the front door. "Edward and Bella are here." She rushed toward the door and then turned sharply to their house guests and pointed her small finger at the two Volturi in warning. "Don't eat her."

Both raised their hands in surrender as Edward opened the front door and walked into the room. Bella was close behind him as if walking into a house full of vampires was the worst thing in the world. It may have been for her.

"Jake, gone?" Carlisle asked as he stood up to greet his son before sitting back and crossing one leg over the other with his hands pitched together at the fingertips.

"For now," Edward said ominously. "He chased James off but the other two nomads are still out there, as well."

"He's a tracker, too." Esme looked worried as Demetri scoffed. "He will find her if he chooses to." Her eyes were searching everyone else's for confirmation and there was an array of agreement.

Demetri stood looking at Felix. "Not if I find him first."

A/N: Thank you for reading my brand of crazy.

Wraths are in many different types of stories, including the Dementors in Harry Potter, to Dungeon's and dragons.

Wrath (răth), Cape: A promontory at the northwest extremity of the Scottish mainland.
Wrath (răth, räth)n. 1. Forceful, often vindictive anger. See Synonyms at anger. 2. a. Punishment or vengeance as a manifestation of anger. b. Divine retribution for sin.

The "Forbidden Forest" is a reference from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Reference: Icon with Saint Demetrios, Date: 950–1000, Culture: Byzantine