Alice and Jasper stood in the increasingly long line to walk through the metal detectors. Incoming and outgoing traffic was divided by a large frosted glass wall, that ran the length of the hallway. Jasper watched shadows moving amorphously on the other side of the glass, the texture obscuring everything but their shape, his eyes easily scanned the line, forward, backward, watching for anyone approaching too quickly or too slowly. He also kept a gentle calm on the people waiting in security around them, tensions always ran high at airports. Alice noticed him, but didn't stop him. His protectiveness curled her lips into a grin, and she moved in closer to him, one hand on her suitcase, her other found his hand, and wove her fingers between his. Ever since they had started their careers he had been so watchful, even though nothing had gone wrong in a year and a half, he hadn't let his guard down in public once. After everything that happened between Bella becoming a Cullen and the Quilleute boys, and the Volturi, Alice only ever really felt calm and safe with Jasper. Their arrangement in the public sector worked out perfectly, he got to play captain again, head of her building's security, and she got to play editor. A year after their confrontation with the Volturi, they had worked with the vampire monarchy's business half to get jobs, both because the Cullens all felt it was time to try something new, and because they wanted to show the Volturi they still accepted their leadership in politics. As it turns out, the two-thousand year old aristocrats had some very strong relationships in the New York fashion world.
They finally made it to the front of the line, and bags, shoes, and anything metal or toe-nail clipper shaped had to go through the detectors, while they stepped through security. They gathered up their things and sat on a bench off to the side, past the gates, and re-equipped themselves with their metals and shoes. Jasper felt him approach before he turned the corner, he was agitated, and Alice saw him quickly afterward. Their Volturi 'handler' Michael stepped into view, his pace was easy but there was always a tinge of nervousness about him, his steps were never as even as they could have been. Jasper met his eyes before he and Alice stood, Michael had blue contacts in, under the glasses he liked to wear as distraction.
"What's the matter?" Jasper asked, giving Michael a quick once-over, he was supposed to be their guard, but Jasper always knew that he'd be the one that needed protection in a fight.
"I tried to book us with an in-flight meal of live deer, no dice. Maybe if we flew Southwest." Michael answered, entirely calm, and they were walking again. Once they were caught up in the crowd, he spoke quietly to the two,
"Just some chatter on the channels that matter, nothing alarming." Michael's voice was smooth, easygoing, and his tone didn't show any of the unease Jasper could sense, or a vampire's eyes could see. That was something interesting about Michael, no matter how nervous he might be, he never seemed to seem it. "What, the fact that we're about to pack ourselves into metal tube flying six-hundred miles an hour with two-hundred of the tastiest things on the menu isn't enough reason for me to have the shakes?" He glanced back at them, grinning widely, his cheeks pinched back from his big smile. That was the other thing about Michael; the humor, Michael told jokes even when it was inappropriate... especially when it was inappropriate. Alice rose to the occasion, grinning, and joked back,
"Well I know you won't, but if you change your mind, the plane would take care of the evidence."
Michael looked back again, thoughtful. "I've never jumped out of a plane before, I've heard it's great, seems stupid." He gave them another mild smile, then turned back forward, leading them up an escalator and onto a moving sidewalk. Alice glanced over quickly at Jasper, who got the message, and immediately smoothed out Michael's nervousness. Alice asked quickly, a little ashamed at extorting information out of their friend like this,
"Mike, who's Cain?"
Michael's mood spiked fearful for a moment, before he could hold it back, Jasper's posture firmed, and he met eyes with Alice again, and nodded. Michael turned to the two, and sighed,
"You two are ridiculous." He was annoyed, but amused by their tricks, and told them off through a spreading grin. Before he began, he asked them, "Well then, what do you know about Cain? You wouldn't have asked without some idea."
"Only what we know of the name." Jasper answered. "Biblical theology, a couple celebrities with the name, several more companies. Carlisle thought it was a codeword, the Romanians used to like to use names from the bible."
"Well that's about what we know, Stefan is dead, Vladimir's in custody." Michael answered back, and Alice's jaw dropped.
"How could I not have seen this, I wasn't looking them up or anything, but this is a huge event."
"Not necessarily," Michael cut in, "Vladimir turned himself in." This time it was Jasper's turn to look surprised.
"Turned himself in? Why?" Jasper asked, incredulous.
"I couldn't tell you if I wanted to, I don't know any of the details. A message went out to the entire guard about what happened, with nothing but the bare facts." Michael said, meeting Jasper's eyes so that he'd know he was being truthful. "Maybe the old guy just couldn't handle it any more, killed himself." Michael said, faking a thoughtful tone. "He sure was ugly, you know."
They had reached their gate and stepped off the sidewalk to go and sit by the boarding area, something tugged at Alice's thoughts though, and she voiced her concern to Michael, "So what's the significance of Cain? You didn't say why the name matters." Michael turned to face her now that they were free of any crowds, and she got her first good look at him all night, behind the thin framed glasses he wore as a disguise, he had a cheerful face, with the slightest hint of smile lines around his eyes, even in spite of being a vampire. His features were rounded, not bulging or plump, but just gentle, all the way up to his loosely curled light brown hair that had a golden shine to it. He dressed as an average member of society, brown suede zip-up, loafers and a pair of blue jeans. Michael was a master of fitting in, and who'd ever suspect the charming fellow always ready with a joke and the disarming smile?
"It's apparently all the Romanians had on them, was a slip of paper with 'CAIN' written on it in blood." He paused for a moment, when Jasper asked,
"How did Stefan die?"
"Don't know." Michael said matter-of-factly. "Old age, maybe." He added with a grin. He turned and walked to the counter, presenting all three of their tickets and getting their boarding passes, then sat down across from them in the uncomfortable airport chairs. He interrupted the two of them talking quietly trying to puzzle out what or who Cain was, and why it mattered. "The less I know about this the better, if you want to talk about Cain then wait until we get to New York, please. You know who I work for." His voice struck a rare serious note, and his face was imploring as he looked from Alice to Jasper, "I have my little career going on here, I'm seen after and taken care of, I don't want to lose it for knowing too much."
"Of course, we'd never do that to you." Jasper said, lightly touching Alice's hand, at which she gave a small smile to Michael. Alice sank back into her grey plastic seat, trying again to sift through the future, and worry washed over her again. Aro, Caius, Marcus, Vladimir, all mist, nothing but mist.