Disclaimer: Characters are not mine.
Chapter 9
Ashes Ashes
"Where are we going?" Athenadora demanded, but she fled quickly with Sulpicia by her side. They ran through the old corridors of the the inner maze of the vulture catacombs, that sprawled beneath the Italian city. After she was attacked by Alec in the tower, the remaining guard left in Italy were on high alert, awaiting news from the other side of the world. Their best defenders had been sent out, commanded to, or by their own volition.
"Aro says the safest place for you is down here." Chelsea finally stopped. "You'll be out of harms way here." The door behind her was rusted iron. Drips of sewage and blood from the feeding chambers above trickled down the blackened walls. Chains lined the floor of the walls. Old pikes stood on either side of the room, holding waxed wood. Various metal devices hung on the walls and on a broken down table. The old torture chambers.
"How long do we have to stay here?" Sulpicia turned around elegantly, showing no amount of worry or disdain.
"Until Aro so." Chelsea nodded for them to get in.
"What about Bella?" Sully whispered. The thought slipping out in a silly hush.
"She is no one to you." Chelsea stared into their eyes, longer than comfortable. The sentence echoed unnervingly in the chamber.
No one
no one
no one
And it felt so good to let go of her. So easy.
A loud clank settled in the walls behind them as the door closed. Chelsea stood guard on the other side. A sliding bolt clunk into place. Athena and Sully shared a glance. They were locked in from the outside.
The makeshift sisters clasped their hands together.
"How long can they stay airborne?" Jasper asked, or was about to ask as Alice finished hot-wiring a Ferrari at the airport in Brussels. Edward had carried Bella aboard a small aircraft about 28 hours ago. It was flying across Europe no, circling the Greenwich time zone.
"Not much longer. But that's not why we have to hurry." The car roared to life under her fingertips. "We have to catch her."
"Catch her?" Jasper's furrowed anxious expression briefly changed to puzzlement before settling on worried again.
"Get in. Now." Alice ordered. She wasn't going to ask again. Even now, Jasper indulged himself in the tiny fury in Alice. She was terrifying and he loved her for it. He obeyed, slipping into the passenger seat.
"I love you too." Alice grinned as she gunned it, and they flew out of the parking lot.
-This is the part where she'll remember now. Lucid enough for thoughts.- Edward glanced at his watch. Carlisle had done this four times. Created a small sample size and choreographed the science of the eternal transformation. His hand roamed down to her wrist, grazing the bite mark left there. Reflexively, Bella crushed her hand onto his, craving his cold skin on hers.
Bella's eyes fluttered open. "Hot." She muttered, exhausted. Bella surprised herself that she still had vocal chords at all and not charred husks of flesh tying her to the rest of her ashes that lined the crevices of whatever luxury seat she was supposed to be in.
-I'm sorry.- "I'm sorry." -I didn't want this for you.- "I didn't want this for you."
Bella groaned. "Stop." Her finger shook.
-Talking?- "Talking?"
"Thinking." Bella grunted. "Stop thinking." She rolled over, forcing her way out of Edward's hold on her. Her heart was racing, faster than her human body could sustain, but forced to from the venom. Sweat glistened on her skin, soaking through the fibers. She writhed on the floor.
A tiny ding interrupted and the "seat belt sign" blinked overhead.
-What- "What do you need?"
"Fucking shoes." Bella hissed. Edward suddenly understood that there was in fact, a reason she was dragging her leg across the carpet repeatedly.
"Let me help." Edward knelt by her feet and took her shoes off. And her socks. "Did that help?"
Bella cried, a sob wreaking through her torso. "No."
She'd seen it. She knew what to expect. She watched some of the "Karens" go through the agonizing process, just to be killed off before they completed it. They were going to kill them anyway. Caius decided she should watch what its like to go through the process of eternal transformation. They hadn't added anyone to their ranks from a new human in centuries. The only way she could learn was on these "experiments."
Torture is what it was to the poor women. Pure. Torture. For Bella's benefit.
She heard their cries in her head sometime when it gets to quiet. Like ghosts haunting her memories, bringing forth the wretched sound. She'd heard the sounds of humans dying, bleeding out for the immortal to feed on. Like sandpaper on wood, it shaped her world view. Normalizing the horror til it wasn't anything she was afraid of. But the sounds the women made while venom coursed through them. . . that she never could internalize.
And the experiments, to prepare her for it herself, were in vain. Nothing could have prepared her for it. She thought she knew, but it was the difference between lighting a candle in the dark and being burned by the full oppressive light from the sun. How could she have ever been ready.
She tried desperately to not make a sound, each time the fire inside of her burned out a scream, she heard Edward beside her in anguish too. She couldn't get a moment without pain to steady herself, wave after unending wave, one starting before the last one ended and she couldn't stop herself from feeling it. From reacting. From watching Edward try to deal with it beside her.
His presence, an immense relief. she knew she should feel sad that he was with her, that she couldn't guarantee they'll make it out alive, but, just like the unending fire, she knew she loved him and she just had to accept it.
But right now it was just too much to handle. "I can't." Bella shook her head, or tried. her neck just flopped her head from side to side. She had no control over her movements. Her eyes fluttered again. They were milky, a fog blocking out the deep brown, changing them on the cellular level.
-Can't what?-
"Live like this." Bella pulled at her clothes. "So. hot.' She touched her throat and her finger nails dug into her skin, as if to rip herself apart.
"Bella." Edward grasped his hand over hers. "You're halfway there. I know. It's horrible. But then it will end. I promise and it feel so good." The moment after his heart stopped beating, was a wild confusing, maniacal high. Freeing. Powerful. Painless. "I'm here."
Bella pulled Edward on top of her. Edward felt some type of way from her struggling, her hands ducking her his shirt. Her hands, flushed and hot. His head snapped back. -Right. She's overheated.- "Here." Edward pulled his shirt off and Bella nuzzled into his chest, pressing every part of her that she could manage to the parts of his cold skin. It helped. A little. Nominally, but it was better than nothing. He tried to imagine what this would have been like, had she not been in a horrifying body transformation. Had they not been fighting for their lives. Had they just been normal. He imagined, it must have been nice.
After another hour, the effects wore off. His skin warmed under hers. Belled kicked herself away, sitting up against the right side of the plane. She was much stronger than she was a few hours ago. Edward actually felt it. The engine hummed beneath her. She imagined the head from the engine rising, from beneath her. The jets on either side. The fire blazing. The wind wiping it away.
Edward stood up and tried to mess with the dials of the air vents. While fiddling, oxygen masks popped out from the over head compartments. His hair flapped towards the left hand side of the plane.
Alice jerked off the side of the road. They had been driving for a few hours and were in the countryside. A herd of sheep baaa'd at them as they broke through a fence. Alice wheeled the car into a corn field. "Here!" She declared throwing the car into park." She and Jasper lept out of the car with so much grace, no one would guess their mission beyond being late for a dance. Jasper crouched down, bending his knees, getting into position. "Tell me when."
"I'll count you down." Alice rubbed her temples. Above they could hear a plane approaching. Jasper glanced at Alice. She shook her head. It grew louder. Still no.
Alice nodded. "Three." She paused. "Two." Another pause, this one more careful. Her eyes flung open. "JUMP NOW!"
Jasper leaped straight up into the air, using every amount of force available. Flexing all of his physical prowess, he launched himself into the air.
"Arms!" Alice shouted below. Jasper looked up just in time. A bundle of Bella fell into his arms. He swung her down and back up again, so the momentum wouldn't break her.
"Hello Bella." Jasper smiled, showing all his teeth. "Fancy meeting you here."
"Bella!" Edward yelled through the air. A thud on the ground announced his arrival, a few hundred yards away. "Oh my god."
Alice sat on top of the Ferrari and crossed her legs. "Hi Eddie. She's a real fire cracker. I like her." She grinned and winked at him.
"What were you thinking?" Edward ignored Alice and Jasper and retrieved Bella back into his arms. "You're not immortal yet. You can't just jump from-" Jasper gripped his shoulders. -Easy Edward. You just have to let her experience it the way she needs to. You can't argue with her. You can't reason. Let her be.-
Edward had forgotten that, Carlisle, the creator of four vampires, Jasper was the director of armies of new vampires. If anyone could handle her transformation, it would be Jasper. He felt somewhat calmer with him here, and not just because of his abilities.
"Alice." Bella breathed. Her eyes fluttered open. Red seeping into. the milky haze, breaking up the fog. "Seer." She whispered. Not a question, but a statement. Her hand fell open towards Alice. Hesitantly, keeping eye contact with Edward, Alice set her fingers onto Bella's palm. They had barely spoken together, but Alice always wanted to be closer, but this seemed more like business than an act of friendship.
"Ah." Bella closed her eyes again, and her expression was once more of pain. But now there was concentration.
"You can let go." Jasper touched a pinky to the space behind her ear. She was barely human now. Her smell was external, the remnants of her human life layered on her skin. Neither human nor vampire, but somewhere in the middle."You don't have to try to be anything."
"No." Bella shook her head and spoke through gritted teeth. "I have to be everything."
Heidi led Samantha toward the throne room. She was used to the human pace, but with the current atmosphere, she set it too fast and Samantha kept tripping to keep up.
"Am I in trouble?" Samantha cleared her throat, trying to remain professionally calm but doubt seized her mind. At least they weren't going to the feeding room.
"No." Heidi breathed. "We need your services here." She opened up the door. Aro was pacing back and forth. He turned and smiled charmingly as soon as the door opened. The three thrones beside his were empty. The were no guards lining the room. There was no Alec or Demetri or Chelsea. It was only Aro.
Samantha bowed politely. "How can I be of assistance, sir?"
"A storm is blowing from the west. And you are going to hold up our umbrella, my dear." Aro patted her shoulders, remembering not to kill her. "Caius and. . . " Aro paused. "And the rest will be arriving back soon." He paced back to his throne and rubbed his finger on the arm rest.
Heidi cocked her head to the side. "And Marcus?"
Aro slide his eyes to Samantha and back to Heidi. "Unfortunately, he is not coming back, Heidi. If you see him. . . you are to kill him. Is that clear?"
Heidi froze for just a moment. "Crystal." She replied then walked back out of the throne room.
Alice and Jasper conversed in hushed tones, sitting on a couch from one of Rosalie and Emmett's house they used for their last honeymoon in the countryside of Greece. They politely ignored the dents in the walls and floors. There was a new fire in Alice's eyes and she was trying to explain everything to Jasper. Edward paced in front of them. He didn't know what to do with his hands. At one point pulling on his hair, another checking his shirt again, smoothing the collar.
Everything and everyone stood still as Bella opened the door. Her feet still bare, she stepped confidently into the living room. Alice had found a silky kimono for her to wear. It touched the ground as she walked past. A vision in red, the color of her eyes. Bright. Deadly. The soft silk of the robe delicately showcased her now impenetrable and angular body underneath.
Edward opened up his lips. He was absolutely knocked sideways with her beauty, with the way she carried herself. She placed a finger on his lips, still gliding forward. "It's not the time for that." She slid her finger to his cheek and hesitated. "I have work to do." She continued her path outside.
"You need to hunt." Jasper walked by her side as they felt the crunch of the gravel driveway beneath their feet.
"That will have to wait." Bella frowned. Her lips twitched, her body rebelling against the idea of waiting. After her heart stopped beating, she wanted time alone. To get to know her new self. To resolve herself for what she had to do next. Nothing would get in her way. Not herself especially.
"You can't possibly ignore the new cravings for too long. You'll drive yourself mad." Jasper argued.
"Carlisle did it." Bella shrugged. "I'll drink when I'm done." She took in a deep breath and smelled the air, finding the direction she needs. Burning desire racked her chest. She was free of pain. This was just a nuisance compared to the burning fire of the transformation. This she could handle.
"Done with what exactly?" Edward asked, nervous about the answer.
"Done with what I've been trained to do my whole life." Bella began pulling her hair up into a high pony tail. "Protect the Volturi."
Alice stepped forward. "Here. Let me." Alice began braiding Bella's hair down each side, joining the brides together and twisting them up into a intricate pattern. her fingers worked so quickly she was done in four seconds. Bella stopped breathing, and froze at her touch. Then softened as she realized what Alice was doing. This was the hair style Didyme wore. Bella nodded her gratitude and continued her march forward.
Caius stomped through the entrance of the throne room, opening up the door with a loud crack. A constant snarl ripped through him. His face was cracked, like a broken mirror. Splinters of his skin like spider web veins. Behind him, Alec shuffled in, carrying his sister Jane on his back, keeping her in the fog. Her neck was splintered like Caius's face. He kept her down for her own good and to keep them from fighting again. He was puzzled to see Aro still there. Caius stepped his hand onto Aro's outstretched palm. Aro took a moment and then breathed. "Ah. Well. You're failure shall be a lesson, won't it." Aro smiled.
"Have your fortified the corridors?" Caius arched his eyebrows.
"No." Aro smiled. "I want them to come. He thinks he can overthrow us with her? I will show him he is nothing without us. Nothing. Even at our weakest he won't be able to win." He giggled. This was all just a game to him.
Caius cursed but made no more remarks.
They braced themselves. Ready to receive Marcus and Bella through the doors next. When they did finally open, they weren't expecting who walked in.
Athenadora and Sulpicia, fury in their eyes, glided into the throne room.
Caius and Aro blinked.
"Ladies, my love, what are-" Aro's fake smile fell.
He stood and reached out his hand as is custom, but none of them budged. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?"
"You lied to us." Athenadora hissed. Sulpicia held her hand and stepped forward. "As the highest ranking members of the Volturi we are here to try two cases of treason before the court."
"Treason?" Aro cocked his head. "Well, surely you mean of Marcus's disappearance."
Sulpicia took a deep breath and stared at her husband, her eyes cold, her mind steadfast, her heart breaking. "I, Sulpicia, of the Volturi, condemn the accused, Aro of the charges of Treason, for killing one of his own and hurting the Volturi."
Athendadora closed her eyes and stepped forward. "I, Athenadora, of the Volturi, condemn the accused, Caius" her voice broke only for a second. "For the charged of Treason set before him. For murdering a member of his own coven and taking away the soul love of one of the three heads of the vulturi."
Aro laughed. "Oh, this is so cute. My my, my loves. Whatever has gotten into your heads. Where is Chelsea?"
Behind them, Bella kicked the door open. Not human Bella. Not cute and amusing and fascinating Bella. But the weapon Aro had been training her for for all these years. Bella dragged the body of Chelsea behind her.
"And Bella. How lovely to see you. My, you are radiant aren't you. And ah, yes. Chelsea. Well, it appears the person in charge of treason my love is behind you. There, see. Bella is the wicked one, hurting our company. Besides, there has to be a unanimous agreement on charges. And you only have two votes."
Marcus stepped from the shadows and joined Bella. "I, Marcus of the Volturi, hearby condemn Aro and Caius on the charges of murder and treason. For killing my wife. And taking away the only person that meant anything to me in this damned world." The words he spoke with were so resonant with more emotion he had shown in a millennia, all bottled up and echoing in the room now.
"This is madness." Caius stood. "You can't touch us." He prepared to fight again. "You have no army. Everyone is dead. You still have to kill us and we still have Alec and Jane."
Bella shifted forward, standing in front of Athena and Sully. "I, Isabella. Daughter of the Volturi, condemn Caius and Aro to death on the charges of treason and murder. And I, daughter of the Volturi, will be the hand of this sentence. And now, the witnesses." Bella held a hand out to the door. Edward, Alice, Jasper, Demetri and Felix filed in. they lined the walls, their backs pressing against the stone.
Caius shook Alec. "Go." He ordered.
Alec dropped his sister and ran out into the middle of the room. He stared at Bella, in awe as she glided towards him. Her started to spin a fog up, but then stopped. He wasn't sure what Bella could do now. She was already so powerful as a human. Bella held out a hand.
"You don't have to die." She offered. "But if you stand in my way, I will not hesitate."
Alec thought for a second. A second too long. Jane snarled and jumped in front of him. "You bloody bitch." She screamed. "I'll end you." She thought the words of pain into Bella, but like always, she didn't even flinch. "Then I'll kill him." Jane pointed at Edward who leaned on the wall, casually. Sure of himself and of Bella. She thought of pain and torment again. But Nothing. Edward smiled and winked at her.
"No!" Jane screamed. She tried to hurt anyone. Everyone in the room.
Bella walked past her and patted her on the shoulder. "You have no power here."
Jane screamed and charged Bella. She crumbled before she could get close enough to breath on her. Pain etched on her face. A silent scream on her mouth. Bella continued forward toward Caius and Aro.
"Let's just talk this through, shall we." Aro grinned. His eyes darted around the room, trying to find an escape. "We haven't had a chance to defend ourselves." With Bella's enhanced strength, there was no contest for physical power.
"I am truth." Bella spoke, in such a melodic voice it was as if she were chanting a spell. "I am justice. And I am here to right the wrongs that you have committed in the name of the Volturi. We are here to establish order and keep the world of vampires safe. You have committed a crime against this company. You will pay the price now as you should have then."
"Athenadora. Sulpicia." Bella called behind her. "Permission?"
"Granted." They said in unison.
Three seconds later, after a whirlwind of movement, anguish, speed, power struggles. Aro and Caius fell from their thrones. Athena and Sully stepped over their bodies and took their place on the thrones. Marcus took his seat.
Bella stood beside them.
"The Volturi have always and will always protect the world order. To keep the vampires safe from the light of the day in the human world. And it will continue to do so. I, Athenadora,"
"I, Sulpicia"
"I, Marcus" and then he nodded at Bella. She blinked. He nodded at her. Athena and Sully agreed silently to.
"And I, Isabella, vow to keep the peace within the vampire world. To make sure that across the world, our existence is safe and secret. To protect and look out for one another and to do so in truth and justice."
She shared a glance with Edward, and she smiled. For the first time, feeling lucky to be alive. This was a new world and they would face it together.
From that day forward, the world acknowledged the new four heads of the Volturi.
AN: Thank you for reading and reviewing!
xoxoxo
- Rosalie
