AN: Hello, I am back from Europe and back to my precious computer. So in short I can write again. Also, the next chapter is written, but not edited or sent to my beta yet, so it might be a few days. And it's really short, so it's more like a start to a new chapter that I just happened to seperate into it's own little world. I should probably let you get to reading now...
Disclaimer: I never haved owned anything but my guitar (the computer is my parents really). This hasn't changed.
Group Fights Chapter 5
Nia Pov
Oh my God. I feel so much better now that my wings weren't held so tightly against my back. Instead they were loose, the feathers catching every breath of air in the area. The first place I had to go was the Cullen's to get my belongings. Then I had to get out the door, before any of the others got there. I knew that Alice wanted to keep this on the down low and all of the people—well mutants and undead—who weren't meeting with her would be back to the house soon.
In the interest of getting out of the house quickly, I decided to just change out in the woods. I slipped deep into the forest, at least a couple of miles out from the house. I started working on the zipper of the dress, but I didn't even get it down a whole inch before a sound stopped me.
"Alright, I know someone is there, so either go away or come up where I can see you. I don't care which."
"Little girl scared of me? You should be you know." A vicious looking redhead came at me from some bushes. I had a feeling that this was Victoria, and boy did she need a good butt kicking.
"No actually, I just don't like being a slut," I cast a disapproving look at her risqué clothes, obviously worn for hunting reasons. "And undressing in front of other people qualifies. Now you look hungry so I'll leave you to it bloodsucker." Wow, I didn't usually act this stupid. Even though I did know why I was being such a brat. I was picking a fight with her, because she wanted to hurt my friend.
"You're right, I am hungry, and you would make the perfect snack."
"I'm sure I would taste quite gamey. Very unsavory."
She jumped at me. I smiled, ducking under her arm. "Can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man!" She scowled, and I ran. Now she had stopped playing with me. That first jump had just been a game, she wanted to scare me. The only problem was that my teenage years had all taken place in a mire of unimaginably horrible occurrences, with only a few things dispersed in between. I didn't scare easily. She ran at vampire speed, and I jumped straight up. It was harder to take off this way, but I didn't exactly have time for a running start. Anyways, I wasn't planning on a take off.
Jasper had told me at one point that there was no way that a human had a chance against a vampire, but I wasn't a human, now was I? I grabbed the branch that I had positioned myself under. I flipped over the branch. "You need some more practice."
I checked my back for the pack I had stowed there as soon as I heard Victoria. Good, flying in a skirt wouldn't be fun. And that thing held food that I would probably need. I was already on the move, and apparently Victoria had given up on me for easier prey. God did I feel sorry for the people of Port Angeles and Forks right about now. Speaking of, I'd better warn certain members of that population of Victoria's proximity.
Angel, can you pass something on to Alice and Carlisle for me?
Yeah.
Thanks, tell them that I just had a bit of a run in with Victoria about two miles out from their house. Don't tell Adrian, he'll kind of freak.
Got it. Are you hurt or anything? I could tell that she wasn't really worried. If I had been hut I would have followed Victoria if possible, and if that couldn't happen then I would return to the house to tell everyone and to pick up the stuff I needed to take care of myself.
Nope, I jumped into a tree and then she apparently gave up.
Good. You're not coming back are you?
No, but Adrian will be staying.
Alright.
I left quickly, wanting to be gone if a certain redheaded vampire returned.
As soon as I was far enough away, I slipped out of that dress. It was beautiful, even after its little trip through the forest. I couldn't move around easily in it though—that's one of the reasons that I hadn't been able to really fight with Victoria. Well, that and I needed to practice with the Cullens more. I slipped into a pair of jeans and a ratty black t-shirt. The clothes of a fighter.
First things first. When we all came, we agreed on a spot to leave the first clue to where we had gone so that we could find each other. There was a spot right behind the Cullen's house where you could find lots of small stones. There was an innocent looking group of rocks, ones that could have easily just fallen that way. But they didn't. That was the pattern for Artemis. We each had a pattern, one that we could make out of rocks or sticks. We also had different symbols for different groups, but that wasn't relevant. I took off in the direction that the mark indicated, barely noticing that I was heading east.
As I flew, I thought. Where could Artemis be headed? I saw a state park and landed. If there was another sign anywhere close, then it would be here. Northeast. Artemis did well, remembering to put down signs every time she stopped at a likely looking spot. North canceled out Phoenix, but I had long ago forbidden Artemis to go anywhere near our old house anyways. Neither of us could go there without backup. Well, I had, but I didn't tell her that.
New York was where I would go if I was her. But I wasn't, and the Big Apple was mine and Adrian's place. Artemis had never shown any interest in it, even when she heard me describe it to Bella, with lots of adjectives like awesome and beautiful. And I thought very little was beautiful. But as I checked marks across the country, it was exactly where I ended up. Why the heck did Artemis come here? Then her marks in Central Park led to the docks. Why on earth would the girl go to the docks? Now it was time for some real tracking, because she hadn't left any more marks.
"Hello sir, have you seen a girl around here in the past few weeks? You'd have noticed her if she came: blonde, model-like, tall. Oh, and she would have had a backpack with her." I carefully leaned over him, making sure to give him a fair look at the rip in my shirt that went right across my stomach. That was the other reason I had chosen this shirt, it made me look like a slut. And that could be useful.
"Umm…yeah. About two weeks ago, she boarded a yacht with this guy. Looked about three or four years older then her. He was wearing a long black robe, I figured he was her boyfriend, 'cause she was in all black too. Do you need her for something, 'cause I can get the name of the yacht."
That was why I had chosen a dock manager to get my answers from. He could get almost any piece of information I needed. "Yes please, that my sister and I think she ran off to go on vacation with her older boyfriend. Our parents had forbidden it, and I need to find her before they call the police."
"Oh, okay then. Come on and we can get into the records."
"Thank you sir." I gave him the sweetest smile that I could manage, making sure to let it contain all the gratitude that I could muster up. We walked up to the small building setting on the harbor. Perfect, I was now walking into a small, solitary building with a strange man whom had to have had some inappropriate thoughts about my body. In fact, I had made sure he had those thoughts. God, I can be such an idiot.
"Here we are, just make yourself comfortable while I boot up the computer." So at least he wasn't going to make a move on me.
"Alright." I sat on an old chair, and looked at the comfortable surroundings. It was definitely an office, the design sort of made that much obvious. Yet, it was just as obvious that it belonged to someone who didn't like life in an office, and tried to disguise the room's purpose as much as possible. Every chair was huge as in they looked like they belonged in a freaking library. He worked on the laptop sitting on the desk.
"Here it is. The yacht was a small one, but there was an extra gas tank attached like they were going on a long haul. I make people tell me if they have more then a certain amount of gas on board, just in case there is a fire or something. The yacht was named Romance's Death. It's registered to a Demetri Dispiacere, and I have him as leaving two weeks and one day ago."
"Thanks, hopefully I can find her quickly now, I know where Demetri was planning on going. I'm just glad she went with Demetri instead of some stranger."
"I understand. I have three siblings, and I would worry too."
"I have to go, I think—did they have enough fuel on board to get to Italy?"
"It might be tight, but if they stopped in Spain then they would be fine."
"Great. Thanks again."
"You're welcome. You might want to get going."
"I will."
I smiled at him again. So, Artemis went to Italy with the Volturi. I went immediately to the airport.
"Hey, I need a ticket to Italy. Do you have a plane going over there soon?"
"Yeah, but you have to be 18 to buy a ticket. And you have to have I.D."
"Well, I'm glad that I have I.D. Almost as glad about the fact that I'm 18." I fished out the fake I.D. that Jasper had made me months ago, bumping my age up a few months. I grabbed the credit card that had again been put in my luggage. Alice would never let me leave without one, and I felt no guilt about using it to find Artemis. "Here you go, is this sufficient?"
"Yes, that will do nicely. Now before I give you an international ticket, may I see your passport?"
"Sure, here you go." I handed her the passport that Jasper had given me. Thank you God for Jasper and his very through foraging skills.
"Go ahead to the terminal. That flight will be boarding in five minutes."
"Thank you ma'am."
Airplanes are some of the most boring places in history. Right up there with waiting rooms and clothing stores. I sat and waited to reach Italy, barely seeing the in flight movie or TV stations. I was too worried. The School had an alliance with the Volturi, and so what did my sister do? She ran off to the Volturi like a curious kitten. At this rate, if the Volturi didn't kill her, I would. I got off the plane after a long ten hours. I walked the streets of Volterra, remembering the stories that Alice had told me about the place. I was looking for a castle, and a good sized one at that.
Sure enough, Alice hadn't steered me wrong. I wondered vaguely if she knew that I would come here when she told me those stories. I looked at the castle appraisingly. I would be difficult to escape if I got caught up in there. I would certainly get lost easily, even with my since of direction. And there would be more then I could see under ground. Perfect, I needed a challenge. I walked up to the gates.
My life would be so much easier if the vampires didn't know of their little guest for as long as possible. I looked at the gates. Ornate, made for looks as much as to keep out intruders. Climbing up the beautiful fence was as easy as saying my own name. I hopped down the last step, thinking that the great powerful Volturi were thwarted by a girl with a little tiny bit of rock climbing skills. Or a child with a fence around their yard. I needed to find a place where I could hide out until they brought in their next meal; that was my opportunity. "Crap," I whispered so quietly that even I couldn't hear it. Immediate guilt hit me when I realized that I had just thought of those poor people's deaths as an opportunity. But there was nothing to do about it now. The thought had come, and it was correct.
For a freaking week at least I snuck back and forth into the castle. I couldn't sleep inside the gates, nor was there any food. So I had to venture out to gather supplies and find something that could act as a bed. In the end I just slept on the ground at the back of some hotel. I got to take food from the hotel restaurant when no one was looking, so it was a win-win situation. At this moment though, I was in my hiding place at the castle. When I heard some vampire's voice, I turned around really slowly, hoping that they wouldn't see me.
They didn't, and to make it worse, there was no they. It was one vampire talking to a crowd of humans. Ring the dinner bell, chows walking through the doors.
"Volturi castle was built in the 1500's, and since then has remained in the Volturi family. Despite recent pressure to sell to the city heritage organization, the family has steadfastly refused and is, by all accounts, determined to keep the family home in good condition and with the same décor that was put in during its creation. We are now entering the—" With that I stopped listening. I didn't need the history of the building, and at least half of the information was probably false anyways.
Now it was fun time. I slipped into the building, the sounds of my heartbeat and breathing now masked by all the other humans in the building. I started looking around, wondering how Artemis had ended up here. She hadn't been hurt in coming, because all the way up 'til the plane I had been able to find her marks, pointing me in the right direction. I didn't think someone who took her without her consent would let her leave marks that told others where to find her. So why was she here? Did she find out about the Volturi being after Bella? But she wouldn't come here for that, she would have just told us and let us muddle it out. I was thinking on it as I walked.
I saw a flash of feathers swirling down a hallway, and I followed instinctively. They were the same glossy shade as Artemis's, but they also meant that she saw no reason to sneak around the castle. She was invited. Then I heard a voice that sent me right back to cowering in the hallway. "When can we get to it? Dad is eager to have his precious daughter back." Ari was in Volturi castle, in the same room as Artemis, and there was no fighting. In fact, they were just… talking.
"As soon as we can weed away some of the wolves. Do you want to go up against the full Pack?" I didn't recognize this voice, but its cold beauty meant that it was a vampire.
"No, but could you hurry it up a little?"
"Always eager for the fight Ari, you idiot. Relax; you know that my sister will kick your butt, even if you catch her after that."
"I thought you were helping us so we wouldn't get our butts kicked, weren't you?"
"I can't give you extra fighting skills, and that's what you would need."
My sister was helping those bastards. I wasted my time in coming here, and I was needed back in Forks. I snuck out of the area, all the way back to the grounds. Then I hid in my old spot by the gate. I couldn't exactly sneak out with those mad scientists and madder experiments coming in and out of the gates. I noticed that whenever Ari had come in, probably with lunch to avoid notice, he had opened up the floodgates. Now there were workers from the School coming in and out of the castle like it belonged to them. I settled in for a long wait.