Chapter 15:

Finally, his fingers found their way to her face, and to my surprise, she nuzzled her cheek against his open palm.

"Jane…?" He breathed out, but like me, I don't think he expected her to give an answer. Something had caused the corners of her mouth to tear at the edge, giving her a smile akin to that of the Cheshire Cat. A knife?

Or Screams? I scanned the area, searching desperately through the trees for a sign of Audrey. She wouldn't have left without knowing if her victim had survived or not? Surely, she'd be back to be sure, to finish the job.

Would Aro mind? Would he care that Audrey had slaughtered one of his best?

I tried to give them enough room. Surely, a vampire who had just been mauled to near death by another, wouldn't want a total stranger leaning over her body. Still, curiosity did get the best of me.

Her arms had been torn open, the skin ripped and shredded so that more bone was visible than any skin. Had Audrey bitten her? Torn her skin off with her teeth? Had something else caused that kind of damage?

She opened her mouth to say something, but the second she did, a low groan escaped her. Alec's fingers moved into her blonde hair.

"Don't speak. Don't try to speak." He murmured, his body shaking. "I'm right here. I promise. I'm not going anywhere."

"We have to do something, though." I sighed, keeping my voice low. "We can stay here. She needs help."

Through the trees, I noticed a silhouette, but the scent that came with it didn't match that of Audrey's. My shoulders tensed, I moved passed the twins, watching the figure as it drew ever closer.

Two people, I noted as they came into my vision. A young man with rich, curly hair the color of honey, and a woman with inky black hair, cut short in an artistic fashion.

"Dammit," Alec whispered under his breath. "Saoirse, don't talk to them."

"I think I can talk to whoever I want to," I quipped, taking a step towards the treeline. Maybe I should have listened to his instructions, for the second the other pair caught our scents, their expressions twisted with disdain.

" "Alec," The blonde began, holding himself in a stiff sort of position, hands clasped behind his back. His stance conjured up the image of someone who had been in the military. I kept my place between the pairs. "What are you doing here?"

"Taking a fucking vacation, Jasper." He snapped, moving to stand in front of Jane. "I don't see why what I'm doing in Bosnia is any of your concern."

"Calm down," The woman groaned, pressing her fingers to her temples. "He's was only asking. Does Aro have yet another problem with our family?"

"If that were the case, he'd have sent Demetri to personally track you down." He hissed. "I couldn't say what goes through Aro's mind nowadays."

"He hasn't exactly been making rational decisions," I added. "I'm sure, if we had time, we'd be able to tell you more, but…" I made a kind of vague gesture towards Jane's mangled form. The black-haired woman gave a low gasp.

"How...H-how…?" She breathed out, her eyes flickering from Alec's to mine. "She couldn't have defended herself?"

Alec's cocked his head to the side, and his lips twisted at the corners. "Does it matter? Neither my sister or I have any problems with your family at the moment, so if you'll just leave us be, that would be incredible."

The blonde man took a step forward. For a moment, I thought was heading towards Alec, but he turned to me.

"We don't have time for proper introductions, but given that both of you look like Hell, I expect you've been with him through whatever's gone on." He began, keeping a fair distance between us.

Laughter lingered on the edge of my lips. If only he knew. "You could say that. It's been a Hell of a…" I trailed off for a second, "Do you know what month it is?"

His brow furrowed. "It's November, of course."

"Right. It's been a hell of an eight months." I tucked a lock of hair behind my ears. "Sorry- I didn't catch your names…? "

"It doesn't matter," Alec hissed, fingers curling around my wrist. "We're getting Jane and we're getting out of here before she comes back. You can make friends later."

"Jasper Whitlock, miss." the blonde said, his words faintly tinted with a honey-sweet southern drawl.

"And I'm Alice," The tiny, black-haired girl declared, a note of wariness lingering in her tone. "Alice Cullen."

Realization hit me. So that was why Alec was so inclined to keep me from interacting with them.

"My name's Saoirse," I introduced, keeping my tone neutral amidst Alec's not-so-subtle protests and snarls.

"You said that you needed to leave before 'she' comes back…?" Jasper questioned, his voice low. "Who did you mean?"

I bit the corner of my mouth. "Her name is Audrey. She's…"

"Satan." Alec supplied.

"Psychotic." I offered."She's impossibly vicious. Aro had a bit of a beef both of us and she's been one of our….main sources of company for a while now."

"And she's the one who did that to Jane?" Alice questioned. She made a move to get closer, but a hiss ripped through Alec's clenched teeth.

"Yes, we suspect so." I answered, moving my stance so that I stood between everyone. "Jane was sent here on a mission. I can't remember what for but… a few weeks ago, we learned that Audrey had been sent out of execute her."

"At least she wasn't successful." Alice murmured, her eyes trailing to Jane again. When they reached her arms, though, she made a face and her eyes snapped back to mine.

"She's like a wild animal." Alec sighed. I understood his frustration. To someone who had never met her before, it was hard to convey the sheer monstrosity that was Audrey. "She comes back to play with her prey before she really kills it."

Alice bit on the inside of her cheek. "You won't make it very far in her condition."

"I'll manage it."

"No, you won't," Jasper said, matter-of-factly. "Listen, I don't know what Aro's doing nowadays, but something's prevented her body's natural healing capabilities from kicking in. If Audrey's been gone for more than an hour, everything should have repaired itself."

My brow furrowed in thought, I studied her form. Whereas I'd cringed away before, I stared at the wounds covering her body. An odd, silvery substance had settled in the wounds on her arms, and one massive gash on her stomach.

"Venom," Alec announced before my brain could so much as come up with a list as to what it could be. "The same that Audrey used on us to keep us from healing properly."

For the first time, he allowed Jasper to get within arm's length of Jane without protest.

"Vampire venom doesn't work like that," He murmured, more to himself. He knelt opposite of Alec while I stood back to give them space. "It leaves scars but… it doesn't slow down the healing process. If anything, it accelerates it."

"That's because this isn't vampire venom," Alec reached around the grass and promptly found a small, bright green leaf. He allowed the tip of it to brush against some venom, and it instantly shriveled up and died, turning,g into nothing but fragments that a bit of wind tore out of his grasp. "Children of the Moon. "werewolf" venom."

"I didn't know…." Jasper licked his lips, his voice low and breathy now. "I don't know anything about that kind of venom, but I think it would be wise for the three of you to come with us. We'll call Carlisle and have him take a flight over."

Alec looked up as Jasper rose to his feet, eyes narrowed. "Why. Why do you want to help?"

"The blonde turned for a moment but turned back with a short laugh but grim expression.

"My family and I aren't in the business of holding decade like grudges. It makes for a rather...heavy way to live."

"And we know, in the end…. You were all just doing as you were told. As you thought was right." Alice chimed in, her voice a sweet birdsong in comparison to the haughty screech of Audrey. "We're just here visiting, but we have a small house we've rented for the month. It's just a few miles away."

I watched as his eyes flicked back and forth between both of them. Jane twitched and gave a low groan, her fingers curling on the ground.

"Alright." He said, finally. "Alright."

"Do you want me to carry her?" Jasper asked, stretching his hands out in offering.

Alec snorted. "I don't want any of this, but I don't suppose I have much of a choice, do I?"

Jasper merely shrugged and knelt down, carefully gathering the girl in his arms. With his fairly impressive height, she appeared remarkably small and sad- the remnants of a broken doll that someone had left out in the woods.

He carried Jane and led the way through the woods while Alice walked next to me. Other than a turn or two, the path we took was fairly direct. Within ten minutes, we came to a house.

I felt my stomach turn. I hadn't been used to the comfort of a home in a long time. It had been hard enough to readjust to the sunlight, but this house- or villa, as it would be properly named, was bright and open, with large glass windows and a somewhat Mediterranean feel to it.

Alice strode past Jasper, and swiftly unlocked the front door, motioning us inside.

"You came to Bosnia for vacation," Alec observed as he begrudgingly stepped into the front room behind him. "Is this not extravagant for a vacation?"

Without a word, he lay Jane on a rich, dark leather sofa across from an open window.

"We'll be here for a while." He answered. Jane gave a small whimper, her eyes screwed up tight. If she had any knowledge of what had happened or where she was, she hadn't made any protests. "Might as well stay somewhere comfortable."

"Do you want me to go ahead and call Carlisle?" Alice inquired, leaning up against a granite-topped bar that separated the kitchen from the sitting room. Alec and I stood near the door, watching...

Waiting.

"I think so." He answered, his brow furrowed in concentration, "Tell him what's going on, but… don't let him tell Bella or Edward anything."

"Good idea," She conceded, her lips pressed into a tense smile. Retrieving a sleek cell phone from the inside of her jacket, she swiftly dialed a number and stepped into an adjacent hallway.

"What happened to not holding grudges?" Alec asked, hesitantly moving to sit with Jane, his fingers brushing across the back of her hand. Jasper rose to his feet and took a half-step backward.

"Bella hasn't been able to let go as easily as the rest of us," He explained, giving a small, tight smile. "Edward, too, but they'll come around, eventually."

He nodded, his gaze focused on his sister's face. Her expression alternated between a grimace, to some odd level of resigned peace.

"Carlisle has an operation in the morning," Alice announced, setting her phone on the coffee table. "But he will be on a flight by ten in the morning. With the time difference, he should be here sometime early morning, the day after tomorrow."

Alec swallowed tightly. "What are we supposed to do until then?"

"You could start by telling us more about Audrey," Alice said simply, lacing her fingers through Jasper's. From the way that they interacted with each other, one knew them to be mates in an instant. "Why have we never heard about her before?"

"She has an odd relationship with the guard- with the coven as a whole." He answered. All of the time that he spoke, he didn't once take his eyes off of his twin. "Aro found her sometime in the 80s, but she's been around since the 1700s."

"Why Jane just didn't defend herself?" she asked.

"Audrey has a power," I answered, playing with the ends of my frayed shirt. "It's almost like a mirror. She reflects your own power back at you."

Alice gave a short nod, "She would just end up attacking herself if she attempted to use her gift."

"We need to let Bella know.." Jasper sighed, "She's the only one we know who would be able to block that kind of power."

"Hopefully," Alec answered, leaned back tentatively. The couch was imperceptibly more comfortable than the stone we'd been on for months, at the moment, anything that touches us was unpleasant. "But we don't need the help. We can handle it."

"Speak for yourself," I scoffed. "I'm not putting up with any of them again. If we come across Audrey, I want to have some chance."

Alec's jaw tightened. "Who's to say that we'll stand a chance, even if we have a battalion? Aro finds new vampires to add to his guard every day. Have you wondered why they haven't bothered you for a while? He found a psychic of his own. He found those who wanted power...who wanted respect. Audrey isn't the only person you've yet to meet."

"Tamsin, for example." I said, "She can make herself look like anyone. And Kiersten. She… she…"

"She makes you attack the first person you see." Alec finished, meeting my eyes for a moment. "Even if that person is your closest friend, or a mate...or a child. It makes you feel as though the other has committed some kind of...personal offense- an offense worthy of death."

"You and Jane have always been Aro's favorites. Why'd he allow them to attack you?" Jasper asked, moving to shut a curtain.

"He condoned it," Alec replied. "We pissed him off. Saoirse tried to infiltrate the castle, and I-"

"You?" Alice prompted.

"It doesn't matter. I did something he didn't like." He pushed himself up, eliciting a groan from Jane. "I think I might rest for a bit."

I cocked my head, watching as he moved towards the doorway. "Do you want me to come with you?"

We'd been together for almost a year, albeit with a wall between us for the most of the time. To be apart even in rooms separated by nothing but a hallway, made me impossibly uncomfortable.

"No. No, I just want to rest for a while." He murmured, disappearing into a hallway. Moments later, the door to one of the rooms clicked shut with a firm snap and locked.

"How do you know each other?" Alice asked, stepping away from the wall to sit across from me. Jasper stood a couple of feet away. I swallowed. In the right kind of light, when he was close enough, I saw that his arms were covered in the crisscrossing crescent moon scars that only the bite of another vampire could cause.

"We w-"

But I couldn't answer. My words were drowned out, ripped into nothingness by an anguished scream.