Chapter 16: A fake rose is used to hide the ugliness of a barren garden
A/N: Poor Alice, will she ever be reunited with her love? Will she ever be able to leave the Volturi?
"Tell me my dear Sulpicia, how goes the bond?" Aro and his wife were sitting at a huge dining table, the large marble piece of furniture bare except for a pitcher of red liquid in the middle of it, and the two wine glasses the vampires were using to drink it with. Aro was leaning forward in his seat, eyes trained on Sulpicia as she took a deliberately long time to drain her glass before setting it down and licking the red residue from her thin lips.
"I can say it went successfully." The woman vaguely stated to which Aro leaned even more forwards.
"And?" he inquired, childlike curiosity on his face.
"And she will soon be back to a hundred percent capacity with her powers. Currently it is taking a bit of time since they were so depleted to begin with," the woman replied, purposefully keeping her answers sparse in other to make the leader of the Volturi practically beg for the information.
"And?" he asked with a hint of impatience this time. He knew Sulpicia was trying to drag this out as one of the games she played for her sick enjoyment but he was not in the mood for it. She could do that another time.
"We cannot rush this, I hope you are not thinking of doing that," she said, indicating with a finger for one of the guards in the room to refill her glass. There was a short burst of wind and she picked up her refilled wine glass to her lips before taking a slow sip.
"Tell me already," Aro growled, slamming his hand onto the table. "I'm not in the mood for your little mind games Sulpicia. I want to know now!"
Sulpicia's nostrils flared and Aro winced at this, afraid of incurring his wife's ire. "My dear husband, let me tell the story the way I want to. If you hadn't asked your annoying questions of 'and' I would be halfway through divulging the information by now." She sat the glass down and cast him a reproachful look.
"Fine," Aro muttered, crossing his arms over his chest in resignation. "I"m listening."
Sulpicia's lips curled up in delight at this, having once again cowed her husband into submission. He may be the leader of the Volturi now, but not for long if she had her way...
"As I stated at an earlier date, I had used my manipulation of vampiric pheromones to make Alice believe I was Rosalie. The process was quick and worked on her, yet I know she is still fighting it even to this day. She doesn't want to give into my powers-"
"So fix it," Aro interjected only to sink into his seat in apprehension at the glare Sulpicia shot at him after being interrupted. "As I was saying, she doesn't want to lose control of herself, but this is a battle she is steadily losing. I have used little tricks and charms to slowly seduce her into believing the false reality I have given her. Fear not Aro, no matter how strong Alice thinks she is, no one can resist their mate for that long. Soon enough I will have her eating out of my hand. I only need one event, one big and special event to completely knock her off of her equilibrium," Sulpicia mussed, running a finger along the lip of the glass. She looked off into the distance as she did this, pretending her mind was hard at work. She already had an idea on what she wanted to do, she only had to bait Aro into thinking it was his idea as well.
"A big event such as what?" Aro asked tentatively, unsure if he could speak up now.
Sulpicia shrugged. "I'm not sure. A Volturi event? A battle perhaps?"
Aro frowned, thinking. "Are you suggesting the battle of the Volturi against the rogue vampires?"
"That is an excellent idea, Aro!" Sulpicia praised, surprising him with her approval. The man smiled despite himself. "If we take her along we can finally get her to fight for our side!"
"But won't she run away?"
"No, I guarantee she won't. I'll pretend I am in distress and there is no better way to muddle a vampires mind then when their mate is in danger. Alice despite her misgivings in killing other vampires will not hesitate if it means it will save me. And by the time the battle is done she will be entirely on our side, serving the Volturi. Those seven years of service will turn into an eternity, and she will never want to return to the Cullen's ever again!"
Aro's eyes open wide in shock, narrowed in delight at his wife's words. He began to chuckle, a high pitched thing that rang throughout their dinning hall. He clapped his hands too until at last his bout of amusement had faded. "So little Alice will forever be in our control! Just like I wanted! Sulpicia you are a genius!" Aro rose from his seat, hands outstretched in admiration as he said this. Sulpicia merely smiled smugly and leaned back into her chair, hand lazily holding her wine glass. "Anything to please my husband."
"Alice you're coming with us."
"Huh?" Alice craned her neck from the second floor of the library where she had been browsing through some vampire stories. She saw Alec on the first floor, red hood covering his face. "I said you're coming with us."
"To where?" the little vampire inquired, shelving the book and jumping quietly down to join him.
"To the fight against the rogue vampires," he replied simply and Alice had to do a double take at that.
She had never been allowed outside before. Why the sudden change? "I'm fighting with you? Why?"
"To use your powers on the field. We need as much help as we can get if we want to quell their little rebellion." They were out in the hallway now, moving down it to meet the others.
"I'm not killing anyone!" Alice hissed stopping in her tracks to glare at the man as panic filled her chest. She had gotten away with all these years of not having to kill anyone, surely they weren't going to make her do it now? "My only job was to predict the future and that is it."
Alec stopped, pulled his hood down to fix her with a glare and grabbed her by her thin wrist before she could so much as move. "That choice is not yours to decide Cullen. When you work for the Volturi you do as they ask. If they ask you to jump off a building you do it. When they ask you to kill, you. Do. It!" He let go off her wrist which was throbbing from how tightly he had held it. "Do I make myself clear?"
Alice's lips curled up in a rebellious sneer. "Perfectly."
Alec nodded his head and they continued on their way to meet the others.
The Volturi army moved like a silent and deadly red fog, traversing the woods outside of the city of Rome. They knew the vampire rogues resided in the mountains not far from here and they were going to make a direct assault onto their home base to wipe them out once and for all.
Alice was somewhere at the front of the army, sandwiched between Alec and Jane, her watchers. They were here to make sure she didn't run away. Alice was jittering with nervous energy. This was the first time she had been outside in years and she had forgotten how nice it was. The air was warm, caressing her cheeks and hair softly. Rich smells of living things hit her nose and her mouth watered as she picked up the trail of a deer. She reveled in the feel of the setting sun on her skin and the spongy ground under her feet. Being outside made her feel alive in a way she hadn't felt in so long.
"Enjoying the nature?" Jane asked as she kept pace with Alice.
"Yes," the girl answered, her face dreamy as she attuned her ear to listen to the birds chirping and took in a deep whiff of air. She was too happy to be bothered by Jane's presence next to her.
"Well it won't last for long. Soon the air will be ripe with the smell of death and the screams of those disgusting rogues," Jane sneered, taking delight in the awaiting bloodbath. Alice frowned, her good mood slightly shattered by Jane. But the blonde's words brought a clarity to her. What was she doing enjoying the nature like some sort of fool? She was outside, she had a chance for escape! She better start coming up with a way to plan it.
As the Volturi continued onto their path of war, Alice's brain was coming up with multiple ways she could escape. She had five good ideas planned out but she wouldn't be able to acknowledge if they would work until she used her powers. But she couldn't use them now without garnering the attention of Jane and Alec. During the battle she might have a chance, the confusion and chaos of it distracting her captors.
Alice allowed herself a small smile. Yes, soon she would be free. Soon.
"What are you smiling about freak?" Jane spat, noting the small grin on Alice's face.
Alice hide her smile and shook her head. "Nothing, nothing at all."
When they arrived at the mountain range Aro signaled them to stop. They did so, dropping into a crouch. The woods ended here and there was a vast expanse of bare terrain to the edge of the mountains. With their bright red robes they would be easily spotted if they tried to cross it in such high a number as they did now. With another signal from Aro, twos and threes of vampires separated from the main group and ran across the empty space before ducking down and hiding in the crevices of the rocks. This went on for a while, the numbers of Volturi around Alice slowly thinning as they joined their companions on the other side. Maybe Alice could take the chance to run now? Soon there wouldn't be any vampires on her side and she was pretty fast. She was sure she could outrace them. She didn't have the opportunity to deliberate on this more as Jane grabbed her roughly by her upper arm, Alec doing the same to her other. With hurried movements and a clamped hand over her mouth to keep her quiet, they dragged her across to the other side with all the dignity of a thrashing cat.
Alice struggled in their grip, kicking her legs at them for manhandling her like this. "Did you have to do that? Do you not trust me?" she accused once they set her free.
"No." They both answered at the same time and she gave a small growl. Of course they shouldn't trust her. She had been planning to escape but this mistrust was going to make her escape harder.
At last when all the vampires were on this side Aro gave the signal to start moving. The vampires snuck through the mountain finally reaching their destination. They stood on the ridge of the rogues camp, their red robes billowing in the wind as they gazed down at the unsuspecting enemy. The rogue vampires had built an entire town inside the mountains, complete with small houses and farms. They were walking around, chatting with one another and Alice felt her heart twist. She didn't want to hurt them. She didn't want to subject them to the evils of the Volturi.
One of the rogues stiffened as he caught the scent of something on the breeze. His nostrils flared as he sniffed at it, unsure if what he had smelled had been correct. He slowly turned his head around to look up to where the scent had come from and froze, his mouth open in shock at the horde of robed individuals. He was about to yell something when the Volturi dropped down into the village like crimson rain, eliciting screams from the incognizant.
Alec landed on the rogues back, crushing it with his feet. The vampire gave a twitch, trying to free himself from his attacker but Alec only reached down and ripped his head off, throwing it into the sea of fighting figures.
Snarls and growls rebounded off of the cavernous walls and fists and fury flew at astounding speeds. Alice felt lost in the conflict. She didn't want to be here. She didn't want to do this. She was going to run. Now.
She turned to leave when something grabbed her by the back of her cloak. She only had time to turn her face so that her aggressor could pummel it. She fell onto the floor, clutching the broken fragments of her nose.
"You Volturi scum! How dare you attack us in are own home!" the man above her was livid and he threw himself on her, fists digging into her unprotected body.
"I'm not Volturi," she wheezed between hits, hands up to protect her face.
"You wear their red robes!"
"I'm their slave! Their slave!" she cried out, as she felt a rib crack under his blow.
"Their slave?" he paused in his punches momentarily, looking down at her and how pitiful and defenseless she looked.
"Please I can help you. I possess the gift of sight. I can tell you what their going to do next. Just help me leave them!" Alice felt a sliver of hope in her chest. Maybe she could use the rogues to help her escape.
A vampire flew over their heads but neither paid attention, the man too deep in contemplation and Alice wondering if he would help her. Finally he let out a scoff. "As if I could trust a single word that rolls off of your poisoned tongue, leech!" His fury was redoubled if possible and he raised both hands to smash her into oblivion when a big hand grabbed him by the back of his neck. With a loud rip his head and body detached.
"You are pathetic," Alec sneered, looking down at her. "Get up and fight before Aro kills me for letting you die." Alice scrambled to her feet, kicking the limp body of the rogue away from her in revulsion. It span in the direction of a couple fighting vampires who trampled over it in their rush to kill each other. Alice gave Alec a wary look, wondering if he had heard anything she had said to the other vampire. But if the Volturi vampire had heard anything he gave nothing away.
A loud scream resounded from her right side and she instinctively dodged the attack aimed at her before she even knew who had attacked her. It was another rogue, one with shaggy black hair and a ragged beard. "Fight him!" Alec growled watching as Alice only evaded the hits sent at her by the vampire. Two vampires tried to do a sneak attack on Alec behind his back as he watched but he whirled around quicker than they expected for a man of his size. He grabbed each one of them by their faces, each palm as big as their heads. With a grunt he snapped them to the ground and twisted their heads to the point of breaking. Done with them he turned back to Alice.
"I won't!" Alice shot back, her foot slipping on a rock. She regained her balance but took a hit to the face as punishment for her misstep. "I won't kill them!"
"I knew it was foolish to bring you to this battle!" The man growled and took on Alice's opponent for her. Snapping his neck, the useless body dropped to the floor but when he turned around he saw the pixie girl had disappeared into the fray. Where had she gone? He only been occupied for mere seconds! How could she completely disappear like that? Aro was going to have his head if Alec didn't watch over her! Growling he began to push past the warring bodies around him in search of her.
Alice had thankfully managed to give Alec the slip. Now all she had to do was make sure no one spotted her leaving the fight and she would be home free. The faces of her family danced in front of her eyes, fueling her. Slipping the heavy red cloak from off of her shoulders she spat on it and gave it an additional kick. The hated symbol of the Voturi was gone from her shoulders and she felt like a giant weight had lifted off of her being.
"Alice! Alice!" A sharp all too familiar cry rang in Alice's ears, stirring the mate bond in her. There, surrounded by three vicious looking rogues, was Rosalie. She was pinned to the ground on her stomach. One had pinned her hands to her back and another was crouching over her ready to rip her head off as the last vampire leered at her in victory.
"It's not her. It's not the real one. The real one is back home," Alice muttered to herself, trying to quell the insatiable urge to run to the rescue. "Don't do it. It's not real. Just an illusion." She found that her body was slowly moving towards Rosalie, her eyes glued to the scene. "You're so close to going home," she told herself but her body wasn't listening and neither was her mind now, the words falling emptily from her mouth.
"Rosalie!" she screamed, her legs pumping, adrenaline shooting through her body as she rushed forward to save her mate. The three vampires surrounding the blonde looked up warily at her, wondering what this little vampire was raging on about. "Get away from her!" Alice screeched, rage filling her very being. How dare they hurt her mate! How dare they! She was going to teach them a lesson they wouldn't forget.
Snarling she launched herself into the fight, the vampire that had been leering at Rosalie meeting her headfirst. They crashed into each other with the sound of rocks shattering.
"Kill the Volturi bitch already, while I take this one on," the rogue hollered back to his friends and Alice let a cry of pure panic rip from her chest. "NO!" she pushed the vampire back with a surge of new strength, his eyes opening wide in surprise at her power before he flew over his friend's heads and collided with a rock wall. Alice aimed a kick right at the vampire clutching Rosalie's head and he fell off of her, chunks of his cheek spraying outwards. The last vampire didn't even have time to jump at her because Rosalie was twisting her body around able to move due to a lightened load. Now on her back she wrapped her legs around him to keep him still and reared up to grasp his head between her slender fingers. It came free with a sharp crack and she tossed the body to the side. "Rosalie I'm so happy you're okay," Alice panted as she dropped next to her mate and drew her into her trembling arms.
"I am now my sweet Alice, because I knew you would save me." Rosalie nuzzled Alice's neck and the pixie felt relief claw at her chest. It had been too close. One second more and Rosalie would have been dead. What had Alice been thinking, trying to leave when Rosalie was here in the Volturi with her. A small part of Alice revolted at that idea however. Since when was Rosalie part of the Volturi? Alice didn't get to follow that particular train of thought as the snarls of the still alive vampires made her jump to her feet, anger rushing through her veins. The sight of them set her on edge and she was ready to rip their heads of once more. Gone was her desire to not harm them. She hadn't wanted to fight the rogues but now they had hurt her mate and they were going to learn first hand what that meant.
Rosalie stood by her side, smirk on her face. "Let's teach these assholes what happens when they mess with our bond," the blonde hissed, flexing her claws. Alice gave a curt nod of the head and followed her beloved into battle. The two rogues stood no chance to their combined power. Rosalie tore them apart with cruel precision and Alice admired the moves of her mate. They were powerful and cold and calculating but something was off about them. Didn't Rosalie use to fight differently? Alice shook the thought out of her head. That wasn't important now.
"Come Alice. Take your revenge," Rosalie held up the rogue vampire, pinning his hands behind his back and forcing him to his knees in front of the pixie. He was shaking with rage and spat on Alice's shoes.
"Volturi scum!" he snarled but those were his last words. Alice stepped forward and cracked his neck. There, he had gotten his punishment. But now that he was dead Alice's rage and blood lust subsided, her head clearing. She had just killed a vampire. Never before had she...never had she wanted to for the Volturi.
She turned wide horror stricken eyes to Rosalie. "I killed for...the Volturi."
Rosalie's smile faltered but she dropped the already decomposing body and approached her mate. She placed a gentle hand on Alice's cheek, her scent of roses and heavy spice permeating the air around her and wiping away the bitter scent of vampiric death.
"No Alice. You killed for me. You killed to save me," the blonde insisted gently, tipping Alice's head up to her. "And that's all that matters." Alice looked into her eyes, getting lost in their brown depths. The blonde was so irresistible right now and Alice longed to bury her hands into her long locks. She had to remind herself they were in the middle of a battle. She reluctantly pulled away. "I suppose..." she mumbled still feeling ill at ease. She had never hurt another vampire as far as she could recall. This would be her first head count.
"Alice," Rosalie called, pulling the pixie back to her, crushing her against her.
"What?" she asked, unable to meet the others eyes.
"I love you," the blonde said, grinning cheesily. Then with shaking hands she gently grabbed Alice's face and pulled it close to her own.
The words alone would have been enough to lift Alice's mood from the deepest darkest pit of despair but the kiss worked wonders as well. Alice soon forgot about the battle, about the world happening around her. All her misgivings fell away. She let herself fall into the sensation of the kiss, fall into the clutches of Sulpicia even more.
The Volturi queen had Alice where she finally wanted her. The rest of the plan could now commence.
A/N: What exactly are Sulpicia's plans? What is she planning to do with Alice?
