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 19
Edward held out his hand and helped me to my feet. It wasn't that I couldn't get up on my own, but it was nice having a hand to hold at a moment like this.
Slowly, reluctantly, I turned my gaze from his familiar face in the direction of his and faced the foggy field ahead of me.
Slowly, as if it was so routine that it had become an unconscious habit, they appeared. They seemed to simply separate from the mist, as if they'd always been a part of it and suddenly decided to make themselves visible.
It was almost a beautiful, dream-like scene.
I was terrified.
They had no expressions on their faces, and if they were surprised to see us they weren't showing it.
Slowly, I ran through my memory and tried to match the descriptions and names I'd been given to the group in front of me. I'd done the best I could, but there was an extra female that I couldn't place. She was tall, super-model thin, had white-blonde hair and gold eyes. She was also the only one who showed any kind of emotion...it was a toss up between fear and shame.
Ah, yes. Irina. The traitorous wench.
"What have we here?" a male, Aro, asked.
"Yes," one of the other men, Caius, said. "Our purpose here has no business with our kind."
Carlisle, ever the mediating peacemaker, stepped forward and bowed deeply. "Greetings to the Volturi. We are honored at your presence."
Aro seemed to perk up at the show of reverence. "Carlisle, my old friend. We have not seen you in many years, but are happy to see you again."
"But why are you here?" Caius broke in.
Carlisle, smart as always, looked his friends in the eyes.
And he lied.
"Word travels," he said, smoothly. "We had heard that you might be passing through, and we were anxiously awaiting your visit."
The smaller female, Jane, frowned. "But why are you with them? She motioned to the wolves.
"Ah, yes," Aro said, as if he'd just noticed the almost horse-sized wolves. "That is curious."
"They are all proud warriors from the nearby Indian tribe," Carlisle said. "They are our friends and allies. I thought it was only right that you should finally be introduced."
"Allies?" Aro said, an exaggerated look of surprise on his face. "Friends? Surely, you haven't been away from us for so long that you've forgotten that any contact with the Children of the Moon is forbidden."
"I have not forgotten the laws," Carlisle hurried to assure them, "However, there wolves are not Children of the Moon."
"Interesting," Aro said. "And why would you say that?"
"Children of the Moon are created, much as we were through bite and claw punctures." Carlisle stated. "These wolves were not."
"How so?" Caius asked.
I think he was actually curious. His voice held genuine puzzlement, where none of the others had.
"The wolves of the Quileute tribe are born with the ability to change to a wolf form." Carlisle said. They come in to their abilities when Vampires are near. It has been that way for generations."
"Hmm," Aro said, thoughtfully tenting his fingers under his chin. I could almost hear the wheels in his mind turning.
Edward didn't look very happy with what he saw there.
"They hunt vampires, do they not?" Jane asked in her musical child-like voice.
"In the past, yes," Carlisle admitted. "But only in the defense of themselves or those under their care. As you can see," He gestured to the wolves around us, "they have not attacked us, or you."
"This generation of wolves has had no reason to," Esme said.
"Until now," said an angry voice from behind us.
I recognized the voice, but still hoped I was wrong. I turned my head to see Gabe, in human form and clad only in denim cut-off shorts. I hadn't noticed him leave, and certainly hadn't seen him walk back on the field as a human.
'Damn it,' I thought. All we needed was an angry teenager mouthing off to the big, bad vampires and undoing all of Carlisle's carefully planned maneuvering.
I could see my thoughts reflected on the faces of the vampires around me.
"Who is this?" Aro asked, irritated.
"This is one of the wolves," Carlisle said, recovering quickly. "His father was killed a few weeks ago because of a grudge that was held by a female vampire named Victoria."
"A grudge, you say?" Aro asked, intrigued.
"Yes," Carlisle said, nodding sadly. "Victoria held a grudge because of the deaths of her clan mates. First, her mate, James, was regrettably killed because he'd tracked and attempted to kill a friend of ours who was under our protection. They had been told of this fact, yet James insisted on attacking." Carlisle breezed over the fact that it was me, and I'd been human at the time. "In an attempt at retaliation, she'd sent her other clan mate, Laurent, here to continue her bid for revenge. Laurent was attacked and killed by the previous wolf pack, in defense of themselves and a friend that he'd bitten."
"And did that 'friend' turn, or did the wolves attack their friend as well?" Caius asked.
"She is here," he motioned me to step forward. "Bella was able to complete the process, and with the help of the wolves, she survived and has become the lovely vampire that you see before you today."
"I see that she shares in your...strange diet," Aro said.
"Yes," Carlisle said. "As a human, she was a very good friend of our family, and it was because of us that she'd gotten tangled up with Victoria, James and Laurent. She'd become aware of our existence, and kept our secret. As a result, she didn't know any other way to survive."
Pretty words, glossing over such a crazy situation, but...it was working, I hoped.
"I'm afraid that you have made this long journey because you were passed information that was untrue," Carlisle said. "Victoria had begun recruiting other vampires in an effort to finally get the revenge that she'd wrongfully sought for so long." Carlisle pause for a moment before continuing, "I'm afraid that Irina may have unknowingly passed on false information that Victoria had fed her, in order to raise enough curiosity for you to travel such a great distance and do what Victoria could not."
"Is this true?" Caius demanded, turning to Irina.
Irina was definitely showing her fear now, and I could only guess at what was going through her mind. She'd been lied to and convinced to go to the Volturi. It was possible that she'd never even seen the full pack of wolves until now, yet she'd gone to report their large number to the Volturi.
And now, when it was too late, it was becoming painfully obvious that she'd been used. She was an expendable pawn in Victoria's twisted game.
Irina spoke softly, "I only wanted to tell you of a possible threat that I was led to believe existed."
"We do not take matters like this lightly," Jane said harshly. "False witness is not tolerated, no matter the reason."
Tanya and Kate let out soft gasps behind me.
I looked around me, and all of the vampires suddenly had rigid postures and somber expressions. That alone was enough to let me know that something really bad was about to happen.
I saw the Volturi surround Irina, and moved my gaze to a point above them all. I didn't close my eyes, out of showing weakness to the Volturi, but I really didn't want to see what was about to happen.
I heard a high scream that was cut off abruptly. There was the sound like you'd get by grinding stones together, then almost a shattering. There was an almost cartoon-ish, unrealistic sound like a "whoosh", and I could see the tops of flames.
I slowly moved my gaze downward, and saw the fire engulfing Irina's remains.
It was over for Irina, but I had a feeling that our fight was about to begin.
Chapter 20
"Now then," Aro said, absently moving his hands as if he was dusting them off. "I must apologize for our being led here under false pretenses."
I felt myself tense up.
"However," he continued, "I'm afraid that we must discuss the presence of these unique wolves."
"They are a cause for concern," Caius said.
"Only if we're given a reason to attack," Gabe interjected.
Peter turned and snapped at him, probably telling him to be quiet.
I wanted to do the same. What was going on with him? Didn't he understand what was at stake here?
...Or did he just not care.
"You have been given a reason," Jane reminded everyone. "Your father was killed. You're obviously still very angry, and who knows what you'll do when approached by a vampire."
"Yes," Aro said. Turning, he faced the one vampire I'd hoped not to hear from. "Alec? If you would?"
I could almost see the dark wind that blew toward us, and there was almost immediately a change in the group. The vampires' expressions all went blank, their eyes vacant. It was as if they'd all fallen asleep standing up.
Gabe and the wolves were affected too. They gave off soft whines, them most of them simply laid down where they'd stood.
I tried for a blank expression of my own, and knelt down between two of the wolves. I put a hand on each of their backs for comfort, not sure if they'd even know I was there.
I listened to the Volturi discuss their plan.
As Alice had told me, they wanted to recruit as many of the wolves as possible. Those who didn't go with them would be destroyed.
That angered me, but I'd been expecting that much.
Then the topic of the vampires came up, and I listened quietly. Alice had said nothing of the vampires being in danger...but then, I'm assuming that's because they'd only just made the choice. Alice couldn't see the decision before now, because they hadn't known we'd be there.
Oh, crap...
Aro wanted the chance to touch each and every one of the us to see what abilities we possessed. If they were powerful and useful enough to be of use to them, they'd be recruited to the Volturi Clan.
If not, well it was a loss, but if we wouldn't go gladly with the Volturi then we'd be killed.
Their reasoning for these actions seemed to be that they couldn't allow a large group of vampires to get away with their treasonous actions. Questioning the Volturi was unheard of, and might give other vampires ideas.
I couldn't let Aro get near us. Edward and Alice's powers alone would make powerful additions to the Volturi...and they'd become the things nightmares were made of. I'd joked about them being the Bogeymen of the vampire world, but that implies that they were only stories to frighten the little vampires with in order to have them straighten up and fly right.
If they got a hold of some of the vampires here, they'd be able to wipe out entire covens with little effort at all.
The longer the conversation went, the angrier I was getting. Suddenly, I felt like my anger was an actual, physical thing as it surrounded me. I felt my shield start to expand, almost as if I were in the middle of a large bubble. I could feel my shield as if it had always been a part of me.
It was suddenly pliable. This is what Eleazar had been speaking of!
I had to try.
I concentrated and "pushed" at the sides of my shield. It gave enough to encompass Gwendolyn and Lilah beside me, and I felt the moment they were inside my shield.
They both huffed out a breath, and turned to look at me.
"Shh," I whispered as quietly as I could and still be heard. "Be still."
They turned forward, lowering their heads to their paws once more. I continued to coax my shield around the pack. One by one, I felt them wake from whatever kind of senselessness that they'd been in. Lilah and Gwendolyn must have been passing on the information that they needed to be still, because none of the wolves moved.
As much as it pained me, I held off on adding Gabe to the shield just yet, not sure what he'd do if he had all his senses back right now. Better safe than sorry, I focused my shield in the other direction now. Slowly, the vampires were brought under my shield.
Edward was standing close enough to me, that he'd been able to put a hand on my back without being seen by the Volturi.
"Good," I thought. "At least this is working."
"Yes," Edward said very quietly, answering me as if I'd spoken out loud. "Keep it up "
I nodded, afraid to speak. I didn't want to think or say anything that might break my concentration on my shield. I stared straight ahead, straight at the Volturi where they stood, plotting.
I tried to center my thoughts, calm myself so that I could better hold my shield. A line from the last movie I'd seen with Jacob popped in my head, and I started reciting it to myself.
"It's every one of us who holds the power over the worlds we create."
The discussion seemed to be winding down, the Volturi's decisions made.
"Who honors those we love for the very life we live? Who sends monsters to kill us, and at the same time sings that we never die?"
Their group turned, starting to advance upon us.
"Who teaches us what's real, and how to laugh at lies? Who decides why we live, and what we'll die to defend?"
Who was going to make the first move?
"Who chains us, and who holds the keys to set us free?"
Alec was coming forward, I only needed him a little closer...
"It's you. You have all the weapons you need. Now fight."
With that, I gave the final push that would encompass everyone that was on our side. I raised my head and glared at these vampires who'd basically just plotted and planned on killing everyone here, and shouted, "Stop."