Disclaimer: I do no own these here characters.


Chapter 8

Reckoning Part 2


Samantha stared at the post it not on her desk. It was late now in Italy. The edges of the orange paper curled up. "Not the Romanians" was scribbled in blue pen. Bella meant nothing to her, except what she knew about her, and that was only she was no longer allowed in the Volturi ranks. She sounded human on the phone though. Not symphonic and melodic like the voices that ordered her around all day. Human. Desperate. Scratchy. Breathy. Alive. Mortal.

They're lying to you.

Words from a burned lip.

Words from a lip like her own. What good were lies to come from those lips, a message she was trying to get back into the group that expelled her.

"Excuse me." She stood up when a group of Vampires came through the lobby about to explore in the darkness of the moonless sky. "I have a message. From a human girl."

The tallest one in the back shifted forward. His frown a permanent fixture, sculpted by horrors long ago. Samantha cowered back for a second. This was foolish.

"From who, child?" Marcus looked past her, not seeing her, but somehow, seeing everything about her.

Samantha bowed her head. She didn't know he was among them. She was instructed not to talk to the three heads.

"The black listed girl. She called, wanting you to know that it. Well." She outstretched her hand and reveled the post it note.

She wasn't even sure if he read it. His eyes darted so fast.

"Felix. What do you make of this?"

Hushed tones spoken too quickly made Samantha step back. She had finished her work. She needed to leave now. The rest was up to fate.


Bella hugged her chest together and gritted her teeth. She barely felt the hand on her shoulder. When she did, she knew her practiced defense techniques would be useless. "Caius." Bella exhaled. "It's good to see you. I've missed you so terribly." Her lips barely moved, turning her words into knives by default.

"Jane. Not here. Not now." Caius ignored Bella, only making sure Jane would not make a move.

For a half second Bella thought the hand belonged to Edward. Caius's papery skin, left her feeling devastated but on some level releaved. He wouldn't have to suffer and he wouldn't have to watch whatever happens next.

Jane glowered. "Aro-"

"You failed Jane." Caius criticized. "You had your chance."

"I demand a trail." Bella's jaws were quacking, but she forced the words out. "Whatever I've done, whatever crimes you think I'm responsible for, I demand a high trial."

Jane squinted. "You think you'll get out of this alive by screaming 'parlay'?"

Caius remained motionless, but Jane was waiting on his word.

"I would offer you High Trial." Caius spoke. "But, I cannot. They're for vampires alone. And you my dear, are no vampire." His grip hardened and he pulled Bella up to her feet. She wobbled, her right leg shaking, while she held back tears and screams. She hid the empty syringe in her back pocket. They couldn't know.

"Is everything alright?" A members staff from the theatre came out. "She looks injured."

"I'm fine." Bella winced. Don't get involved, it will be your death. "Just was sitting for too long." She tried to smile, but was unsure if her lips could make the shape right now. It was only going to get worse.

"Jane. Escort our dear Bella away from here please." Caius grumbled when the employee shrieked back to her other responsibilities.

Jane's small frame picked Bella up. Her hands were so smooth, but her strength was so rough. It probably looked so awkward to see a small child practically picking up a large girl with one hand.

"Do you remember when we used to play hide and seek together." Bella's speech started to slur, and her breath came in gasps as she was moved away from the general public. "I was always so jealous of your nose. Isn't that odd. Your nose." Bella laughed, and then winced. Keep it together.The longer she can hide it, the better her chances are. Even though it meant her death, it felt better to get away from all those eyes, all those standby's. Caius and Jane alone could have tortured and slaughtered them in a snap of a finger. Though Caius's fighting days were long over, he was a formidable soldier, and he always would be. The reason Aro loved him so much.

"Set her here." Caius ordered and abruptly she was turned over and slammed onto the sticky wet concrete of some back alley. Bella whimpered, a rising pain bubbling up, but she suppressed it back down with all of her energy.

"Does Aro know?" Bella whispered, her fists tightening into balls. The pain she was hiding had be kept secret. "Does he know that I know what he had done?" She slid down the brick wall behind her, her legs gave out.

"I knew you always hated me." She laughed, but choked herself on the sound before it became a scream. "Aro loved you for your passionate hatred. And now you don't have to hide it anymore. Will you tell Athenadora how much you hated me when this is all over with? Or will you pretend to mourn with her? She loves me. You know that. She loves me more than you imagined. I was the one thing you never could have given her. And now you have to take me away from her. Again."

"Silence, girl." Caius frowned. "Jane. Take a walk."

"What-" Jane flashed red eyes up at her leader.

"I will not ask again." Caius briefly glanced her way.

Insolently, Jane tossed her cape around and turned out of the alley.

Caius grew closer to Bella, almost touching, then lowers onto his knees to be at the same level. "I tried to warn him of his affection for you. That it would only damage us in the end. But he never listened to me." He turned his palm over, and traced the lines of Bella's face with the tips of his fingers. So delicately, almost lovingly. "He was obsessed with your potential. He wanted you to reign by his side, you know. Aro even made preliminary plans for a celebration, adopting you, officially. Once you turned of age, he was going to change you himself. You would have been the princess of Volturi. But like with anything Aro does, it's all for show. He wanted you in his pocket. He wanted to collect you." He pushed a strand of Bella's hair behind her ear. "It's the closest form of love Aro is capable of. So yes, Aro did love you in his own way. And yes. I always hated you."

Somewhere in the distance a car screeched.

He leaned back contemplative and looked at their surroundings. "I forgot what it's like. Sequestered to dark alleys in large cities." An odd smile grew on his face as he turned back to Bella. "The first human I ever drank from looked so much like you." His hand tilted her chin up to meet his gaze. "I never noticed before now, I suppose the setting helps to awakening such old memories." His smile grew, revealing daggered teeth. "It's such a shame, you really would have made a terribly powerful vampire. You would have been such a good asset to the Volturi, but your own power makes you a threat. It's nothing personal, Bella. It's my job within the Volturi." He began to lean down, aiming for her throat. "To protect it from threats. I'll try to make this quick."

"Bella!" A voice so sweet she could almost taste the honey on it. She felt the cool breath of Caius as he was leaning in, but the sharp ripping never came. For a second, Bella thought it was over with, dead, gone, no longer able to feel or hear, or see, lifeless. It didn't hurt too much, though if it did, she couldn't feel it over the overwhelming burning spreading in her thigh. But then she blinked her eyes open. The burning continued. No not dead.

Caius was on his back, a perplexed expression on his face. Then anger rippled the lines of his papery skin, as if they would shred with a rage inside.

"What the-" Caius was launched back again. "Who are you?"

"My name is Edward Masen and you're not touching her again." Edward stood in front of Bella, defensive, blocking each other's views.

"Edward?" Bella fluttered her eyes open. Panic and relief mixed in together. "Shit. Shit." She steadied her breathing. Keep it together.

"Bella, are you alright?"

"Why?" Bella grunted through her teeth. "Why are you here?"

"Because you needed me." Edward answered, watching closely as Caius righted himself and dusted himself off, preparing. "You didn't answer my question. Are you alright?"

Groaning, she closed her eyes again. "I will be. But you have to leave. Jane-."

"Run, Bella." Edward pleaded.

Caius flung himself onto Edward, but he saw it in his mind, dodging out of the way. Edward wasn't skilled in combat but he could see the moves in Caius's mind. He just had to keep one step ahead.

Caius nearly ran into the garbage, trying to flank Edward on the side. His reflexes hadn't really been needed in over 400 years. There was a certain thrill to this that he has missed, but he was rusty. Again and again, he tried to out maneuver Edward and gain the upper hand. Caius grew angrier each time. Edward saw it. His anger might have proved useful in his time, but not against Edward. Yet, Edward was in no way able to touch Caius. He just had to stay out of his reach. He couldn't very well attack a member of the Volturi. That would mean death not just to him, but likely his whole coven, which is why he gave his mortal was Caius even here in the flesh? He didn't understand anything, only that Bella was in danger. And this time, she couldn't fight her way out of it. Not against them. This was his playing field.

Eventually he would have to strike back, but first perhaps, he could reason his way out. Dig through his mind and find an escape route.

"Caius, is it?" Edward asked "May I ask, why you are all the way out on the West Coast of the USA?"

Caius growled, pale shimmering in the moon light, and thick robes streaking in the shadows. No intention of patronizing Edward's questions. Edward had to jump to a third story emergency stair way landing. Edward grinned. He thought this would be harder. I mean, this was one of the leader's of the whole vampire world. Praised for his viciousness and strength in combat, but he could get a lick on Edward, and he would have to bring him down in order to get through him to Bella.

The pain came from nowhere. He wasn't paying enough attention. He was focused entirely on Caius's combative moves. He didn't hear her or her mental attack. Mid air, Jane strikes him from across the alley. He crashed down, flattening a garbage can beneath him. His involuntary scream ricocheted around the brick walls.

Pain wasn't something he had experienced since his transformation. His brightest memory of his human life was forged in that pain.

The pain Jane forced onto him now, hurt almost as bad. A different pain, not burning, but sharp. Yet unyielding.

"Edward!" Bella began crawling towards his shaking frame. His screams never ended. She could still smell the sewage lining the street, but she didn't care as she raked across the parking lot. But Jane's foot slammed into the concrete in front off er next move. The road cracked and splintered.

"Let him go. He doesn't understand what's happening. He doesn't know what he's doing." Bella pleaded. She could still see his bronze hair writhing on the other side of Jane.

Jane leaned down to Bella. "For so long, I've been trying to find a way to hurt you." Jane glanced back at Edward. "Finally, someone you care about that I can destroy. Is this the one that awakened you to your own downfall, then? The one you let stay in your bedroom?"

Jane never moved, but Caius was closing in on Edward. It would just take one snap to rip his head off, and that would be the end. Bella had watched them do it from the gallery before, desinsentizing herself to this life. Not him. Not him. There wasn't anything she could do except charge.

"No." Bella with a gigantuam amount of effort found her feet by some miracle, though she could no longer feel them. She dove behind Jane, but Jane's small arm caught her easily.

"Did you think you could ever stop me? Ever get passed me?" Jane smiled sweetly, but her lips curled. "I'm going to make him suffer the way I want to make you suffer."

But Bella wasn't trying to get away from her. Just block her vision.

Jane wasn't smiling anymore. In the next second she crumbled, folding in on her self. Her horrible screams scared nearby pigeons from the roofs above. Her body trembled. Caius paused, looking up to see what had happened.

"I'm. Going. To. Kill. You." Jane said between her teeth. Jane had tried to hurt Bella, but her power deflected back. It was just enough time for Edward to escape the shackles of torment and right himself, before Caius swung in with his arms ready to rip his head off.

Jane dusted herself off again, then grabbed Bella's arm. She didn't let go but increasingly strengthened her grip, watching Bella's reaction, to see the pain on her face as she slowly crushed her bones. Each snap or tear, should have elicited a gruesome reaction. Jane was hoping the stress of it would make her eye ball pop out, like it did that one time in Barcelona. However, Bella seemed impervious. She didn't even blink or gasp or tremble in response to the new pain. Jane grabbed her other arm and bent it back until it snapped. Bella's eyes remained closed, and her breathing, though it was staggered and struggling, remained consistent.

Jane's forehead creased. "How?" She didn't know that Bella was already swimming in a lake of fire. Any new amount of pain inflicted was quite literally just a drop in the bucket.

Edward swooped in trying to force Jane to stop, but all it took was a snap and Edward was writhing back on the ground. His efforts futile. He couldn't stop Jane from picking Bella apart limb by limb.

Caius smoothed his hair back. "Destroy them. Enough playing with your food."

Bella collapsed onto Edward. Her hand finding it's way to his mouth. "Shhhh." She couldn't stand his screaming. Not when she was trying so hard to hold it back. Edward bit down reflexively. He tried to kiss her hand, he wanted to, but the pain in his head and the dry thirsty ever constant need for blood in his throat changed his course.

"Venom can't save you now." Jane grabbed her neck and held her up. Bella's legs dangled in mid air, kicking to find the earth.

The last thing Bella saw was a fog rolling through. Then she was flung back to the earth, dropping so heavily, she thought she might shatter the crust of the earth with her weight.

No one was moving. No one was screaming. Everything fell silent. Edward. Jane. Caius. There were all motionless on the ground. Eyes glassy. Lost in some trapped corner of their mind.

And then she found Alec, leaning on the wall, motionless too. His ability rebuffed against him. A piece of white paper fell out of his hand. Bella could hardly read it behind the fire that raged on inside of her. A fire that Alec's own venom had started before they had even entered the alley. His childish round features made it look like he was nearly napping.

Stand behind me.

"ALEC!" Jane screamed. Since Alec had been knocked out his power over everyone else had dissipated. Bella quickly dove behind Alec, understanding his meaning.

As soon as she was outside of the fog, Alec opened his eyes, red gleaming jewels.

"Jane, dear, my lovely sister." Alec curved his mist to cut out a hole for Jane, Edward and Caius went back into a trance. "How wonderful to see you."

"I have to kill her, love." Jane reasoned. "Orders are orders, my brother."

"Things are changing. You don't feel it?" Alec countered. They stood looking straight at each other, down the barrel of each other's guns. Twins, formed in more ways than one together. They've been protecting each other for over 600 years, but now their weapons were aimed at each other. "She's changing it. Aro will be finished. His orders mean nothing."

"She will be dead, Alec. She will change nothing." Jane promised.

Alec laughed and he sounded like a school boy giggling at something naughty. "Oh, but she is changing, Jane." Alec glanced behind him to see Bella's gritted teeth, her arms hung uselessly by her side. Every time she breathed, a whine of pain escaped. "She's so much older now." He commented.

"She doesn't love you, Alec." Jane huffed. "She never will."

"She's mine, Jane. I'm changing her. I will be responsible for her. She'll have to follow me." Alec's smile widened.

"She's not a toy, Alec." Jane argued. "Besides, she cares for someone else. Her hand. Do you see it? Bite marks from this one. I guess, if she does happen to live, you'll have to fight over which one she was transformed by. She loves him, you know. I can tell. It's pathetic. He tried to save her, but he's weak."

Alec tilted his head. "What? Another?" He stepped forward and made the mist swirl away to reveal Edward's motionless body. "Well, I'll kill him too."

"Too?" The fog started to creep in towards Jane. "Alec. Stop. Stop this." Jane leaped into the air. "Fine. If you wanna play this way."

Alec crumbled to the floor.

Released from the mist. Caius and Edward reawakened. Edward immediately darted to Bella's side. He picked her up and rounded the corner. "I'll take you far away from here." Jane attacked him immediately. They both fell forward, Bella rolling into a pile of garbage.

Then the pain was gone from Edward's head. The screams he heard belonged to Jane. A vampire he didn't recognize or hadn't heard enough about appeared and had his arms wrapped around Jane's neck.

"Felix. I'm on Aro's orders." Jane kicked. "I'll hurt you too."

"I'm on Marcus's orders." Felix squeezed, a crack formed in Jane's neck. Caius threw Felix off of Jane, or tried to. His grip on Jane was too strong and they both crashed into the side of the building.

The space was filled once more with fog.

Alec walked slowly towards the mangled bodies of Felix and Jane. He pulled them apart, further splitting the crack in Jane's neck as he wrangled Felix's hands off of her. "Get. Off. My. Sister." Alec growled, throwing Felix into a curve spin.

"This is madness." Edward muttered. He picked Bella up in his arms once more. Jane was still in the fog. He could leave.

"Bella." Another voice.

Edward didn't have to turn around. He could tell who it was just by the tenor of his thoughts.

Demetri.

"I-" Edward eyes went wide. "I'm-"

"In love with her. She told me." Demetri's determined face didn't change. "Let me." His arms outreached. Edward carefully handed over Bella's body into Demetri's arms. He wasn't going to hurt her. He could see that much in his mind.

"Child." Demetri combed her hair back.

"Marcus." Bella's eyes opened. She struggled to breath. Every word spoken fanned the flame inside her. Her hand wrapped out Demetri's shoulder. "Didyme."

"Didyme was murdered by her brother. By Aro. I'm sorry. I should have known earlier. I didn't put it together. I'm sorry." She coughed. "It was all just a set up. He lied to everyone. He lied to you. He murdered Marcus's wife."

Edward spoke quietly. "And now he's trying to have Bella killed."

Demetri turned towards the back and forth of powers happening in the alley. "I will not allow this." He held Bella back out to Edward. "Stay with her. Take her far away. Do not leave her side. I will find you when this is over." Demetri's red eyes turned to slits. "I have been fighting the wrong wars my entire life. Today I will make it right."Demetri threw off his cloak and squared his shoulders to Caius. "Protect her."

He didn't need another word. Edward ran, the screams left behind him he couldn't distinguish. Sirens sounded in the distance. So much screaming would have alerted the police. Would it be a stalemate. Would there be a massacre. What would be left of the Volturi. Edward didn't care. His only objective was to take Bella far away from this. If he could hide her away for three days, she would be much easier to protect. Much less breakable. Soon the venom would be in her heart. And he could relax just a little, but until then, he had to run.

When the intense mental voices of the Volturi faded behind him, he pulled out a phone and called Alice.

She picked up immediately. "I know what you need. It's already waiting for you. I'll send you the directions. I've already told the pilot to ignore the sound of screaming."

"Thank you, Alice."

"Next time, don't lie to me."

"I won't."

"How is she?"

"Changing." He hung up.

He arrived at a private airport. A jet with lights on was ready in the taxi. He loaded her in and slipped into the seat next to her.

She muttered, pain etched in her face. "It will end. This will end. I promise. I'm right here. I'll never leave. I'm here. It'll be over soon." The safest place for Bella was in the air. The Volturi were tearing themselves apart. In the aftermath, when the dust settled, Bella would arise and it would be time to take her home.