No matter how many stars I wish on, I don't own Twilight or its characters, darn it! Twilight and its characters are property of Stephanie Meyer. All my original characters (Not many of them, but the few that are here) are the result of too many late nights and too many energy drinks! :) Take care all! ~AD
Chapter 17
"A shield?" I asked, surprised. "What does that even mean?"
Eleazar looked at me with gentle eyes. "You, my dear, have a very rare, and very useful gift."
Carlisle looked at me assessing. "It makes sense."
"To you, maybe," I blurted out impatiently. "But to me, it doesn't make a bit of sense. I don't have a gift, remember?"
"You may think so," Eleazar said patiently. "You have spent much time away from your kind. Obviously, you were not trained how to identify and strengthen your strengths and abilities."
"That would explain why I could never read your mind," Edward said.
Eleazar seemed surprised. "Even as a human?"
Edward shook his head. "Even then, I wasn't able to read her thoughts."
"Becoming a vampire may have enhanced it," Carlisle suggested.
Again, I felt left in the dark.
"Let us try an experiment," Eleazar suggested.
Eleazar turned to the hallway and called, "Jean, Yselle, would you come here for a few moments?"
A few seconds later, a pair of the newly arrived vamps walked in. The male, Jean, had a short haircut that looked similar to Alice's style, only his hair was pitch black with blood red stripes in it. Yselle, the female, had shoulder-length honey colored hair, with seemingly random neon colored stripes haphazardly thrown in.
Ah, yes. I remember meeting these two, thinking they looked like a couple of kids that you'd see at an emo dance club.
"These two have very interesting additional gifts as well. The Volturi offered them both positions, but they politely refused." Eleazar continued.
I had to interrupt, "Wait...they 'politely refused'? How did that work?"
Jean smiled at me, looking more feral than the wolves on a bad day, "That was due to our aforementioned gifts. I can mess with the memories of others at a distance, and my sister can….freeze things."
"OK…" I said, then turned back to Eleazar, "So, what's this experiment that you want me to do?"
Eleazar turned to look at Jean, who was staring intently at me. "Bella, would you be so kind as to tell me that vampire's name?"
Still confused I said, "Who? Jean-who-just-walked-in?"
Jean shook his head. "I don't understand it, but I can't even see her memories, let alone change them. It's as though she's got a wall around her mind."
Eleazar nodded. "Excellent, now Bella, please shake Yselle's hand."
I wasn't really sure what was supposed to happen, so I walked over and did as I was asked. What started as a normal handshake gradually became a death grip. Yselle was clearly trying whatever mojo she had on me. I noticed the floor under her feet and the table beside her started to frost over. After a couple of minutes of spreading frost, she finally let go and collapsed back against Jean, "I don't understand her either. She should be in the middle of an iceberg by now. That's some block you've got."
"Wonderful," Eleazar said, clapping his hands. He looked to Carlisle, "The Volturi have no knowledge of her? You're certain?"
"No," Edward said. "As you said, she spent her time until now separated from any other vampires. They'd have had no reason to be interested in one lone vampire who, even as a newborn, attracted no human attention."
"She may be our best weapon in this fight," Eleazar said. "The Volturi act first and listen rarely. If she is immune to their powers, they will not know how to react."
So they were all counting on me to be this big, scary secret weapon?
Great. Just great...
Chapter 18
What followed was a "war briefing" that would put any government to shame. I was suddenly surrounded by every vampire that we had in the house.
I furiously jotted down notes in a small notebook as a study guide, hoping against hope that I'd be able to remember what vampire matched what description and who had what powers.
Jane, of course, was a threat with her little china doll appearance and scary-as-hell ability. But as much as it pained me to admit it, she could only affect one vampire (and a wolf...although we were only theorizing that the wolves would be affected) at a time.
My main goal, as I saw it, was Alec. He had the ability to completely numb one's senses all at once. We'd be essentially made deaf, dumb and blind to everything around us, and they'd be free to do whatever they'd like with us.
We were still going on the assumption that their abilities wouldn't work on me.
If he couldn't affect me, maybe I could take him out so that the others could fight...or maybe at least I could distract him.
I didn't tell anyone my plan of action, knowing that they'd protest and we just didn't have the time. They had to be free to keep fighting if something happened to me.
Ever since I'd been told that the Volturi were on their way, and just how powerful they were, I'd known that there was a chance that I could die. I was prepared to fight to save the wolves, and now I'd fight to save the vampires who'd come to our defense as well.
That being said, I had to acknowledge that I wasn't a good fighter, and prepare for the worst.
If Alec worked his mojo, and it really didn't affect me, then it would be me against all of the Volturi. There were at least 6 coming; Aro, Caius, Marcus, Jane, Felix and Alec. There was no way I was going to be able to take them all on and win.
So, I chose my battle. Alec was my target. If I had the time, I'd go after Jane. The rest of them, scary enough as they were, were not as troubling to me.
Perfect. I practiced with my new-found ability all day, being paired up with the strongest vampires with abilities. After every failed attempt to get through my shields, I felt my hopes for my plan rise.
I was encouraged to try and expand my shield to cover others, but I couldn't figure out how. The Volturi were due to arrive in less than 24 hours, and we simply didn't have the time to experiment with it anymore.
Alice had finally managed to pin-point the location that the Volturi would be arriving, and we were as ready as we'd ever be. They would be arriving in The Meadow just after the sunrise.
'Fitting,' I thought. It was there that I began my life as a vampire...
...And it was there that it might end.
We arrived at the meadow a little over two hours early. The vampires ended up splitting off into small groups, although it was mainly in pairs. The couples wanted to their time with each other, and I couldn't blame them. More than anything else, however, it showed me that all the positive thinking and encouraging words had been for show.
We were all worried...and it seemed that we all had similar doubts. Realistically, I don't think that any of us thought we'd walk off of this field.
I spent my time sitting with the wolves...and, yes, with Edward too. Knowing that you may be killed soon kind of put things into perspective. I found all of my bitterness and anger was useless to hold on to, and I wanted to be near him. So there we sat, talking softly in the center of a large pack of familiar forms and scents.
Edward and I spoke of all the places we'd been, and the changes that we'd seen. Idly, I ran my hands through the nearest wolves' fur. On my right sat Gwendolyn, small and brown colored. Lilah, the petite and thin female who was almost a dark blonde color, sat on my left. I loved the familiar feel through my fingers.
The wolves had really come together in these last weeks. Any of the petty sibling-like squabbles had been set aside, and they'd trained to be one large, functioning unit.
Gabe was still broody and stand-off-ish, but with the impending fight, there simply hadn't been time to deal with it. Especially since he'd been avoiding every vampire...including me.
Still, angry or not, he was there, and that was all that mattered.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alice rise to her feet. The other vampires followed suit. Edward rose, and held out his hand to me in order to help me to my feet.
And then, I knew...
...We were out of time.