Chapter Eleven: the rose garden in barren

"Oh god, oh god, oh god, ohgod, ohgod, ohmyfuckinggod!" Alice paced around the room, words slurring together, hands tangled in her hair. How could the blonde do that? Why was she stupid? Why? What the fuck had she been thinking? What? WHAT?

Alice wanted to rush right over to the blonde's side, get her to come back, to talk to her, to apologize. She just wanted her to be safe; Alice didn't care if she had to prostrate herself in front of the other vampire and beg as long as she got the girl back. What was the blonde thinking when she went to the Volturi? Was this because of their argument? Alice would take back everything so long as it prevented Rosalie from making this stupid decision.

Jasper was holding a comforting arm over her shoulder, trying to keep her emotions from bursting out violently as she walked the length of the entire room back and forth. While he helped a bit, Alice vaguely was aware of his presence around her or the fact that he was whispering comforting words into her ears. She was lost in her own turmoil of thoughts.

Esme and Carlisle were talking this over with themselves, keeping a watchful eye on the agitated vampire.

"Why could Rosalie have gone to the Voltuir?" Esme asked, horror on her face. Despite the prickly attitude of the blonde vampire, she still saw the girl as her daughter and felt responsible for her going to Italy.

"My only guess was that she was so upset by Alice's vision that she had to leave. But had the vision already occurred, if Alice had it two months ago, or did it still not occur?" Carlisle rubbed his forehead in distraught. "Why didn't she stay to talk to us about it? What could the Volturi help her with that we cannot..." Carlisle trailed off, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Does, does she want them to kill her?" Esme voiced the one thing they were all thinking but too afraid to say.

Through her agonized thoughts, Alice registered that phrase and stopped pacing, swinging around violently to face her mother and father. "I need to go. I need to get to her right now!" She was grabbed roughly by Jasper who tried to reign in her nervous energy.

Esme flinched at her outburst as Alice strained in Jasper's grasp. Her teeth were bared and she was breathing heavily. "Alice," Esme held only concern for her other daughter's pain. "You cannot go sweetie. It's too dangerous."

"But if I don't go, she'll die!"

"Alice, we're just saying things out-loud, it's not necessarily true-"

"Let me go now. If you don't then she'll die and it'll be all my fault!" Alice pulled at Jasper's hold on her arms, but he was too strong for her.

"Alice, listen to me." Esme approached her daughter and placed both hands on her cheeks, forcing Alice's wild gaze on her. "Calm down. Rushing in will do nothing for us."

"But every minute we waste is a minute more that she could die!" Alice snarled back, her eyes black and swirling with raw emotion. She couldn't bare it if the blonde died. It would be all her fault.

"Carlisle and I are going to go to Italy after her. We will bring her back."

"But I want to go with you!"

"I think I know why she went to Italy." Carlisle's statement cut off anything else Alice would have said.

Esme let got of her face to direct her attention to her mate as he dropped the hand from his chin and fixed a sad gaze on them. "She wants to break her bond."

"What do you mean?" Alice hissed.

"There is someone in the Volturi who commands the ability to break vampire bonds. This is typically something reserved for mates and the Volturi use this power to punish disobedient vampires by breaking the ties with their destined one leaving both parties emotionless and mentally broken."

"What are you getting at?" Alice demanded, impatient to know the answer. Did he have to take so long to explain everything? They were wasting precious time!

"So, Rosalie wants to break her bond with Alice?" Emmett deduced, from where he had been leaning on the wall the whole time, calmly and solemnly assessing the situation.

"Yes, Emmett." Carlisle nodded his head in approval. "But why would she want to do that?" the muscular vamp asked and the doctor replied with, "she must want to break the bond because she hopes to cut off whatever Alice saw in the vision from happening."

Alice paused in her growling for that. Was the blonde really that embarrassed to have her feelings for the pixie known? Granted Alice had been mortified too when the rest of the coven found out, but she could live with it.

"What bonds would Alice and Rosalie have to break? The only relations we have with each other is as a coven, and although we are loyal to one another, that does not mean we have something so strong it will physically manifest so that they can use the power to break it, right?" Jasper spoke out, his soft voice full of confusion. "I do not understand. How does this power of the Volturi work?"

"Let me explain," Carlisle began to pace around the room slowly, lacing his hands together in front of him as he explained. "There are many bonds that a vampire can form. As you have mentioned, everyone in this coven has a bond. While this bond is strong, it cannot be broken by the power of the Volturi. This is because the only bonds that really matter to a vampire is the mate principle. Therefore the power focuses on disrupting that relation because it decimates a vampire, making them like a vegetable. So," as this Carlisle paused dramatically and looked at Jasper. "Rosalie wants to break her mate bond with Alice."

Silence followed this statement and Alice couldn't wrap her brain around this concept at first. Rosalie and her were...mates? As in soul mates? As in those that were destined for one another? And the blonde wanted to break that bond? This didn't help clear anything!

"Oh, dear, I guess the problem was more grave than we originally thought." Esme said, wringing her hands. "Isn't Rosalie aware of what this will do to Alice? Both of them will be shells of their former self's."

"I'm sure she knows the extent of what she is seeking to do. She must feel as if this option is better than the alternative of having to be bound to Alice." Carlisle rubbed his hand over his face. "We failed her. We should have been there to explain that there is nothing wrong with feeling this way, with being bound to someone of the same gender."

"We should have never reacted the way we did," Esme said, her face scrunched up in pain and disgust at the memory of her reaction. "I treated her with pity, and she's such a proud person. And to have it be thrown out there publicly, how she feels, when she's so private...It must have devastated her."

"We don't know if she does feel this way, for all we know she could be overreacting." Emmett added in, shrugging.

"I think she does have feelings." Jasper countered. "Usually she keeps her emotions well buried and I can barely get a read on her, but she was noticeably happier in the past months and when Alice left to go to the Denali's she sulked around for a while."

"But that's just Rosalie being Rosalie. She always walks around in a bad mood." Emmett pointed out.

As they talked, Alice still couldn't get her head around this idea. She was still stuck on the concept of her and Rosalie being soul mates. It made sense, in a sick twisted way. Alice couldn't recall a time she had felt so interested in a person, so willing to overlook their faults and obsess over them. And she had been with others before, none of her previous relationships containing as much emotion as what she held for the blonde. Even in moments of love making with her previous lovers, the feelings were never as intense as just simply talking or brushing hands with the blonde had been. Alice had wondered why she felt so strongly for the other vampire, the concept of soul mates never breaching her considerations. Now it all made sense. And now that the blonde was seeking to destroy that bond, that meant she had felt at one point the same way for Alice; had longed for her presence next to her, had dreamed of kissing and holding her, or simply basking in the radiance of one another.

But she was on her way to destroy the very bond that had taken them painstaking years to realize. And she was going to do it, ruin their undead lives, without even considering if Alice wanted it done. The urge to get to the blonde only magnified, but now it was filled with anger. How dare she try to drag Alice down with her? How dare she try to smother what they had?

"Let's cut out this chit-chat, we need to leave now and stop her." Alice snarled, surprising everyone with how much venom was in her voice. "I'm not about to turn into a vegetable because she doesn't want to share the burden of being mated to me. Well? What is everyone waiting around for?" Alice looked at them, her black eyes glimmering, and they stared back, care for her on their faces.

"Alice, I think you should stay here. Putting you two together right now would be a volatile mixture. Me and Carlisle are going to go and stop her. You keep your visions trained on her, in case she decides to change her mind. Jasper, you stay with her and calm her down. Emmett you stay here too. With us gone, we'll need to keep some vampires to watch over Bella."

"So I'm not allowed to go?" Alice needed to go, she had to be there in person to deliver the ass whopping Rosalie deserved.

"No Alice, you're too agitated." Carlisle's voice was firm.

"This is my future we're talking about!"

"We are aware of that Alice dear, but you are terribly agitated and need to stay here and calm down. Jasper will help you with that. Besides Rosalie might run away from you because she's not ready to face her feelings yet."

"I don't care. I need to go." Alice gritted her teeth in frustration. Why were they being so stubborn. Her life was at stake here.

"Sorry to bother while you guys are discussing something important, but Alice the hour is up and I need to go see Bella." Edward zoomed down the stairs, hands in his pockets and pointed look sent at the pixie.

"What?" the pixie spat at him, at a loss to what he was referring to.

"I'm supposed to go pick Bella up and you were supposed to tell me what to get her." Edward tried to clarify without giving away too much. But his answer was vague and it just pissed Alice off more. "The fuck you talking about. Just spit it out!"

Edward clenched his jaw. "You know what I'm talking about. Don't you remember? Bella. Charlie. Visit her in an hour?"

Alice stared blankly at him as slowly she recalled some things. Holy shit, she had completely forgot that Bella was still in danger. Fuck! Fuck the stupid blonde for making her forget, and fuck, what was she supposed to do now? She still wanted to badly go to Rosalie, but she couldn't leave Bella's fate unknown. She and Edward were the only ones who knew of the predicament the human was in.

Alice heaved a great sigh, screwing her eyes up in concentration as she finally made her decision, the choice leaving her chest throbbing with pain. "Fine, I'll stay here, but I don't have to be happy. I'm going to go help Edward get the stuff ready for Bella. You can let me go now, Jasper. I'm cool." Jasper reluctantly released his hold on the smaller girl, who tested out her arms. They were sore from being held forcefully behind her back.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Carlisle asked, voice gentle. Alice shook her head. "I will be. I have to trust you, to help Rosalie."

Carlisle appraised her, trying to see if this was indeed true. Jasper could sense that Alice was still on edge, but that she wasn't overtly violent. "She's fine," he notified Carlisle who nodded his head.

"If that's all settled then," he clapped his hands, "we will be on our way." He and Esme blurred out of the house without another word, leaving Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Edward behind. Alice heaved out another sigh and plopped down in the kitchen chair, feeling drained after emotional ups and downs. Edward cleared his throat and she shot him a quick mental, sorry, just give me a second to get my shit together.

She could hear him tap his foot impatiently but ignored him, trying to take deep calming breaths. Jasper sat in the chair next to her's, rubbing a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"Whelp, I'll be playing games if anyone needs me," Emmett said, leaving to his den.

"It's been an hour, Alice," Edward said, his voice tight.

"I know, Edward."

"Any minute now would be great."

"Edward give her some time. She needs to relax." Jasper said, shooting the bronze haired boy a look.

"Yes, I know but-"

"What is so important that it cannot wait?" Jasper rumbled, eyes narrowing at Edward.

"Alice knows what," the boy hissed back and then let out a huff. "Fine, take your time." With that he stormed upstairs.

"Alice, I'm sorry for what has happened," Jasper said, once Edward was gone for more than sixty seconds.

"Thanks," Alice replied. She just wanted to be by herself right now. In her room, drawing and sketching out her emotions. But she had a job to do, which she should be doing right now. Was Victoria even still out there? She had forgotten about her too.

"I hope everything works out for the better."

"I hope so too," Alice smiled wryly, wishing that things could be so easy.

"I never knew you liked her like that. I always thought you hated each other." Oh great, Jasper wanted to talk about this right now. Alice did not have time for this. He could feel her back straighten under his hand because he addressed it. "I know this makes you uncomfortable to talk about, but you need to make it clear what you want or don't want from Rosalie. It's only going to escalate into a situation like the one we have now."

"Jasper, I don't want to talk about this now. Later, when she gets here and with her." Alice saw the boy flinch and felt bad, but she didn't want him butting into her affairs. This was something she and her soul mate were to discuss. Ha, soul mate, she still couldn't get over that idea.

"I understand," he said at last. "So there's never a chance of anything between us now, is there?"

Alice wanted to scream out loud. Was he seriously bringing this up now? Now? Of all times, now? She did not have time for this. Jumping up from her seat, she twirled around to face him. Taking a deep breath she decided she would just get it over with and answer his question. "Jasper, once upon a time, there could have been. I did have a crush on you, you were my perfect male. But then Rosalie came along and she blew away everything I thought I knew about my sexuality. So, no, there is never a chance of anything happening between us. Even if me and Rosalie do not work out, I can never be the same again."

Jasper sat there silently and took it in. "I'm sorry." Alice pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead when she realized maybe she had come off as too harsh. "I'm sorry for all we could've been." She knew the boy had feelings for her, and she had had some too, years ago. But now, all she wanted was Rosalie even if the blonde was trying to ruin the bond between them by acting stupidly and selfishly.

"I understand," the blonde said at last, looking up at her with a smile that did not meet his eyes. "I had to ask is all. Make sure that it was your final decision."

After the exchange between her and Jasper, she excused herself to her room, saying she needed some alone time, and she was pretty sure the boy wanted some distance from her as well. She found Edward upstairs pacing in his room, hands tearing at his hair.

"Are you done now?" he rushed over to her, anger in his eyes. He was upset she had taken so long, but his overreactions would tip Victoria off.

Remember that Victoria is still in the woods around our house. We cannot let her know that you know, so you need to chill. Edward snorted heavily through his nose but nodded his head in understanding and tried to reel in his anger.

There are not many options we can chose from, but if we silently take out Victoria and then run over to James, we might have a chance to catch him off guard.

"Okay," Edward said slowly, formulating a plan in his head. "I'll go grab some of Bella's things and meet you at the back door so we can go."

"Sure, I'm just going to make a quick call." While Edward searched for Bella's things, Alice let herself out the back door of the house and rested on the stairs of the porch. She pulled out her phone and dialed James number. It rang once before it picked up.

"Well, do you have the boy?" his malignant voice sent shivers down Alice's spine and she regretted leaving Charlie and Bella defenseless while he prowled out by their house. "Because I'm getting impatient."

"I do have him. Ask Victoria if you don't believe me."

"Oh, I already asked her. She told me quite the story. It seems your household is very entertaining. What was her name again? Rosalie, right?" Alice swallowed harshly. It hadn't occurred to her that the redhead vampire would listen in and tell James about Alice's romantic issues. How rude of her.

"She is quite the looker. Nice tits and ass. Tell her to come over here and I'll show her a good time. It'll spare her the burden of going to the Volturi and asking them to break their bond to you. I'll have her be back to being straight in no time." There was disgusting cackle at the other end of the phone and Alice's chest began to rumble, her hold on the cell getting dangerously tight.

"Must suck to have your soul mate reject you. What a pity." Alice was practically shaking with anger now. She wanted to fling the offending device as far away from her as possible, wanted to slit James' throat open with her own hands, yet she held it all in. She couldn't get angry and blow the plan.

"Just shut up. I'll have the boy over in half an hour. Be ready." Then she hung up before he could say anything else. She got up from her spot on the porch and ventured into the woods, keeping her senses keen. She needed to spot Victoria so that the next step of the plan could be carried out.

In her head she told Edward to follow her scent trail into the woods. The woods were dark now, night approaching. Yet she could see as clearly as day, could hear all the night animals coming out to play. Victoria's scent hit her nose after a couple of minutes of walking, and she tried to not curl up her lip from disgust. The vampire had feed and recently from the smells of lingering copper in the air. She found the redhead crouching down by a small boulder, the rock stained with red. She was licking her lips, traces of her last meal still on her fangs. Alice's own fangs began to poke out, reminding her she had not fed in a while. Her stomach churned and venom pooled in her mouth. She tried to avoid breathing or looking at the blood stains patterning the woods around Victoria.

"Where are my manners, do you want some?" Victoria reached behind the rock she was crouching next to and pulled out a limp, lifeless body of a young boy. Alice's mind told her she should be revolted but a groan of longing escaped her lips. She quickly tried to cover it up by coughing loudly but Victoria only sneered. She had heard the sound.

"Come, it's still fresh." She shook the body and a few drops fell free onto the ground, mesmerizing Alice with their fall. More venom pooled in her mouth and she had to remind herself she was not here to eat, but to talk to the redhead. And where was Edward?

"I'll pass," she mumbled out, having a hard time pronouncing words because of the way her fangs were obstructing her mouth. "I'm here to inform you that I have the boy, he's going to go to Bella's house now. So you can go back."

"Oh, really?" Victoria cocked her head to one side, dropping the dead body and straightening up. "Good job." She clapped her hands sarcastically. "But one problem. I'm not supposed to come back just yet."

Alice raised her eyebrow, pretending she was shocked by this information. In truth, she had seen what was going to happen in a vision. All she had to do now was wait. "I'm going to kill you. Sorry, looks like I can't keep my end of the bargain." And with that Victoria launched herself at the pixie, who sidestepped her. Victoria landed behind Alice, having completely missed her. She turned to snarl at the small girl, and to strike at her, when a cleared throat interrupted her. She whirled her head to see that Edward was behind her. He stepped out of the shadows he had been hiding under, his eyes glinting with fire.

"I really hate vampires that can't hold up their bargains."

A/N: Will the plan work? Who knows!