Disclaimer- All recognizable characters belong to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer, whereas all new characters belong to me.

Chapter 21- Troubling

The wolves were happy with their rooms, calling them "spacious and comfortable." They were sucking up, I knew it and they knew I knew it. But, that was alright with me. A little ass-kissing never hurt anyone. I was on my way back to the conference room when I was pulled aside and shoved into a little nook in the hall. I was about to gouge the person's eye out when I saw it was Laurent. " La'ent y'u better 'et 'e go." I said against his hand. He chuckled, but his eyes were dark. He removed his hand from my mouth and put a finger to his lips; a sign I should be silent.

" Someone tried to kill me last week in my hotel room in France." He muttered quietly. I rose my eyebrow in suspicion and waited for him to continue. " It was a necromancer, working for Annebelle."

" She has a necromancer!" I explained. " Do you know what that means?"

" She could receive control over someone close to you. I know, that's why I hurried here. She may have already infiltrated the castle. Nol, someone could betray you and not even mean it." I bit my lip and groaned. She was always one step ahead of me. Always! I rubbed my temple with my index finger and thumb, my thoughts racing. Then, something hit me.

" You don't think she would. . . Edward, you don't think she would try to control him do you?"

" He's your husband Nol, why wouldn't she? Hell, I'd be surprised if she didn't try to."

" I'll kill her. I'll fucking kill her Laurent. I swear to God, if she goes anywhere near my family I will rip her to shreds."

" You need to rip her to shreds anyways Noleen." I nodded my head, then stopped. Narrowing my eyes, I looked at him. What if he's already being controlled by Annebelle's necromancer? What if he's the- " I know what you're thinking, I'm not the infiltrate." I groaned, man why couldn't I have been right? It would have been so much easier.

" Yeah, I know, that would be too easy. Damn it!" I slammed my fist into the wall and growled. What if? No, she wouldn't try to. . . Yes she would. God damnit she would. " We need to find a necromancer fast. She may have gotten to one of the other Volturi members."

" And it's lucky that I happen to have one on their way from America right now." Laurent grinned at me, his eyes amused. " I called her before I reached Volterra, I figured it would be safer."

" Good going. But, how do you know a necromancer?" He was about to explain it when I held up my hand and cut him off. " Never mind, I don't want to know." He laughed, nodding his head in agreement. I placed my hands on my shoulders and frowned. " I'm supposed to go meet with the Volturi now. . . When will she be here?"

" Hour, tops."

" Alright. Go wait in the waiting area, I'll see what I can find out. Alert me as soon as she's here."

" Will do." We left the nook and began to go our separate ways. Before Laurent was gone I turned to him and smiled.

" Thanks Laurent. I owe you one."

" You bet your ass you do." He replied with a smirk. I rolled my eyes and continued to walk towards the conference area. Who would Annebelle go after? There were so many people close to me. . . Maybe she wouldn't pick just one. Maybe she would make them all into mindless zombies and then attack me when I was alone, singled out by my own family. Calm down Noleen, you're being paranoid. I let out a deep breath and shook my body out. I was suddenly very tense, too tense. The conference room loomed before me.

" Now or never," I muttered and pushed open the doors. Everyone was crouched together, their voices barely above a whisper. I cleared my throat and smiled when they looked up. " I'm back." I said simply.

" Ah, Bella, good." Aro replied, looking flustered. Was he the infiltrate? No, too easy. Annebelle would want to gain control over Volterra the hard way. She was too damn prideful to take the easy way out. I sat in my chair and leaned back, kicking my boots onto the table.

" So, talking about me while I was gone?" I asked, looking nonchalantly at my nails.

" Why would you say that?"

" I came in and you were whispering. That's like having a sign over your head saying, don't bother us we're talking about you. Come on, spill the beans."

" We don't think this is a good time for you to be a Volturi member." Marcus interrupted, his face like marble. I looked at him, my eyebrow arched. No one said a word.

" Come on, are you kidding me? I thirsty, not ignorant. I can do my job. Besides, once a member always a member. Isn't that right Aro?"

" Well, technically yes, but right now-"

" What? You want to temporally relieve me of my duties? I know where my loyalties lay and I know what my job is as a Volturi member. If you're questioning my abilities, maybe you didn't think hard enough when you decided to make me one of you."

" Are you positive you can keep a cool head about this?" Jane asked, her childlike voice making me cringe. God I hated her.

" No, I can't promise that. But I can promise that I will do nothing to put Volterra at risk."

" That's good enough for me." Caius leaned back and smiled. " You are a good warrior, and a better leader. I was, and still am, on your side." I blew him a kiss and then looked at the other members. Aro sighed and leaned back in his seat, his eyes on me. I knew he trusted me. He trusted me more than he trusted a lot of people in Volterra.

" Marcus, let me guess, you're the one who brought this up." I said, fists clenched. My hunger was flaring again. It was probably all the added stress. I was not looking forward to being near to a necromancer. Not one bit.

" Yes, it was. I do not think you are capable-"

" You're full of shit. You hate me and always have. You only agreed to me becoming a Volturi member because I am like you. I am blood thirsty and will stop at nothing to get what I want. You respect that, but you don't respect me."

" No, I don't."

" Well you better learn. Because right now I'm what's in the way of you and an untimely death." I narrowed my eyes and inched a little over the table, so I was closer to him. He didn't move, he wouldn't let me see his fear. But I could see something in his eyes. Some. . . uncertainty as to what I was going to do. " Let me tell you this, Annebelle would have fun with you." I sneered.

" And what do you mean by that?"

" I mean, she would dress up like your dear dead girlfriend, and do things to you that would make you scream in pleasure and in pain. She would rape your body, and your mind. And she would love every minute of it. She would love to hear a big, bad Volturi member beg and plead for it to stop." I told him in a deadly voice. If they didn't understand the gravity of the situation, I was sure as hell going to make them see it before Annebelle came storming through the castle.

" Fine," he whispered, his voice soft;" I shouldn't have doubted you." I agreed with him and then stood, my words said and done. I had a necromancer to meet.

-&-

I was pacing, again. I wondered where I got the pacing from. I didn't use to pace this much. Now, I'm a pacing machine. Although, it does help the thinking process. I was in the library, waiting for Laurent to bring the necromancer to me. A fire was crackling in the heath and there was a champagne glass of blood on one of the night tables. Finally, he came. I looked up, and was taken aback. The necromancer looked completely. . . normal. " What? Expecting me to wear all black and have white hair, ghoulish features?" She asked, a smirk on her face. I nodded, a sheepish smile on mine. " Where's your fangs and cape?" She teased. I sat, laughing as I kicked up my feet. I liked her.

" Point taken." I replied. " Now, how can you help us?" She sat down, Laurent was the only one standing.

" Well, I should be able to see a fellow necromancer's energy around the one they're possessing. It'll be... black, maybe gray. From what Laurent has told me, she may have more than one person in Volterra under her influence."

" A necromancer can control more than one. . . dead thing at a time?"

" Yes, which is troubling." I sighed and shook my head in agreement. If only she knew how troubling that was. I got up and grabbed my chalice of blood.

" Well, let's go for a walk. See if you see any-" A knock came from the door. We turned, a smile on all our faces. Yuzria stood there, his eyebrow arched. The woman stood, and tapped my shoulder. Then she leaned close to me.

" He's one."

-&-

A/N: Mmk, cliffy, I know. Short chapter, again, I know. Hope you liked it though. And yes, I know Yuzria isn't dead. Hehehe. Which makes my cliffy disturbing a bit. I'll try to update soon. Review and let me know your thoughts. Thanks for reading!!

Until next time,

Faith