Chapter 9: Of Faults and Sacrifices

Emmett's Point of View

Why did everyone have to make this so much harder than it was?

'Carlisle, we have to do something.' And there it was, for the 2,000th time. Carlisle's gaze would fall, he would ignore my words and shuffle off to his office. 'It's been over a month!' He wouldn't look back.

Esme would smile sympathetically at me. And then I would leave the room. I was no good at comforting my mother. If I tried I usually just made it worse.

I shoved my hands deep into my pockets and frowned as I heard a rip. Fists through the pants pockets again. I have to get my frustration under control.

I shuffled off to the garage, knowing that was where I would find my Rose.

There she was, her feet just protruding from under Edward's Volvo. I gently nudged one of her feet with mine, then leaned back against the Volvo.

'Rose, tuning the Volvo's engine every day is not going to make Edward come home.' I heard her sharp intake of breath and braced myself for the storm that was coming.

She was out from under the car in less than a second, her eyes flashing. I shrugged and stared off into the distance.

'I know very well that nothing I can do will bring him home!' She jabbed a finger under my chin and I rolled my eyes.

'It's not like your doing anything to help him either, are you?!' She growled, probably because I would not meet her eyes. She shoved me roughly back into the car.

I finally looked at her in time to see her face crumple, she brushed past me and started to smooth out the dent that my body had left in the car.

I caught her hands up in mine and met her eyes. 'Rose, his name is Edward.' I swore she flinched when I said his name.

We had arrived back in Alaska just a day after our brothers and sisters had been taken by the Volturi. Ever since Carlisle and Esme told us what had happened, I had never heard Rose call Edward by his name.

She wrenched her hands from mine and I thought she was going to make a run for it. After taking two quick steps she stopped in her tracks. Her head drooped low against her collarbone and her shoulders shook.

I had to make a physical effort not to rush to her and comfort her. I knew my Rose's moods and she would appreciate if I left her be at a time like this. I was just thinking that I should slip past her outside the garage and give her some privacy when she spoke, very softly.

'You've never understood, but it's my fault they're all gone.' Her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides. 'I never gave Bella a chance. I was so sure she was throwing away her happiness. How dare she, I always thought. She was so young, and she was going to just walk away from everything like that.'

She laughed bitterly. 'But she wasn't throwing her life away at all. She was sharing it with my brother. And in doing that, she was also giving him new life.'

Her head rose as she stared off at some far away sight. 'Vanity. That's all I have, Emmett.'

I wanted to tell her that she was wrong. I wanted to scream at her that she was so much more. That she was my life, my love, my Rose. That she was good and kind and loving. But I remained silent. I knew she was not finished and that she had to get all of this out.

After a great time she spoke again. 'I was actually jealous, that he was attracted to this human. After all, he had never been attracted to me. And if he wasn't attracted to me, well then…he should have found no other girl beautiful.'

Her voice was now deep and husky. My arms ached with the need to go to her and comfort her. With a monumental effort I did not move.

She went on speaking, staring straight ahead, away from me. 'But in the end, I always did love him as a brother. The older brother I had needed so much in my human life, yet never had.'

Her voice grew even softer and I could not be entirely sure of her words anymore. 'I should have welcomed Bella with open arms, like Alice. But my vanity,' she spit the word, 'kept me from it.'

'I could not accept my own brother's happiness. Even after Bella was changed I couldn't really like her, not deep down. I never even gave her a chance. As soon as I could I whisked you off to Europe with me so that I would not have to see the happiness that Bella brought to the whole family. Especially to Edward.'

Finally she turned to look at me, and my breath caught in my throat. Her eyes were empty, her mouth quivering. I lost all sense of myself and rushed to her, catching her up in my arms and crushing her to me.

She gasped jaggedly and hid her face in my shoulder. 'If we had been here…we could have evened the odds. Our brothers and sisters may still be here with us. But I…I took us away from our family because of my horrible vanity.'

I smoothed my hand over her hair and murmured. 'It's not your fault Rose. You couldn't have known.' I did not know what to say about her earlier admissions of jealousy. 'Everything is going to be ok.' I kissed the top of her head.

She pulled back slightly and looked up at me, the dead look still in her eyes. 'No Emmett. You're wrong. Things will never be ok again.' She backed away from me and fled to the only solace she had been able to find, underneath the Volvo.

I shook my head as I gazed down at my Rose. This was all beyond me. My father acted like a different man, a beaten man. My mother would break off mid sentence and tremble at some unseen attacker. And my Rose. She would not come out from her hiding place.

I wandered out of the garage, barely seeing the world around me. My feet led me to the start of one of our hunting trails and I followed it. If only there was something we could do. My fist struck out suddenly and landed square in the trunk of a young fir tree. It splintered and slowly fell to the side while I wandered on aimlessly.

There were only four of us. As much as I loved Esme and Rose, they were not the best fighters. I could never pit the four of us against the whole Volturi coven and their guard. Even if we could convince the Denali clan to help, we were still hopelessly outnumbered. Maybe I could find Jasper's friends Charlotte and Peter, and then maybe some of Carlisle's friends would help…

It would be a suicide mission. I kicked a sizeable rock out of my way. It soared ahead of me, out of sight. No doubt Aro would be constantly monitoring us through Alice, making sure that we weren't planning a rescue.

I grimaced. He was right to be afraid, damn it. I hoped he was afraid of us and made Alice check on us, and often. I slammed my fist into my other hand. Every plan I came up with ended with Alice foreseeing our coming and then we were all slaughtered by the guard.

I hadn't been bothering to pay attention to time as I walked, and the moon had just emerged from behind a cluster of clouds when I heard it.

Far off, a wolf had howled.

The howl was solitary at first, and then one by one his pack mates joined him.

We would be outnumbered and Alice would see us coming. My feet began to pick up speed before I consciously knew where I was headed. Outnumbered, and Alice. I broke into a dead run, flying over the Alaskan terrain. Outnumbered, and Alice. I was like a blur as I raced across the wilderness, heading south.

Outnumbered? No, we did not have to be. And Alice? She had a blind spot.

It's a good thing I was a vampire. I laughed loudly to myself, feeling happy for the first time in a month. I had a long way to go.

A full day later I finally slowed. I had made awesome time. The sun had just set in the west as I passed Seattle. There was no moon tonight and the night was incredibly dark. Though that made no difference to me or to the wolves I sought.

As I passed onto their lands I figured the best thing to do would be to stay here and let them find me. I smirked. I hoped they were still running patrols. Or had they grown lazy in their security after the big bad Cullens had left?

A rapidly approaching scent assaulted my senses. Damn, that burns. I grinned. That's one question answered.

I stood in a small, open clearing. I moved to the exact center of the clearing and raised my arms above my head in the air. I hoped those dogs remembered my scent.

Two wolves stepped into the clearing, materializing out of the dark. One of the wolves was sandy brown, the other was smaller and a light grey color.

I turned to face them, my hands still held above my head. The sandy wolf's nose was in the air, sniffing. Suddenly he lowered his nose and trotted toward me, tail wagging.

The grey wolf snarled and leapt at the brown one, shoving him aside with a shoulder.

I watched silently and for the first time I wondered what I was going to say. I hoped they would at least listen to me instead of trying to kill me.

Suddenly I smelled more different wolves as they all stepped out of the trees. They formed a neat circle around me and they slowly moved forward as a pack.

They cautiously moved forward until the brown and grey wolves were included in the circle.

I spun around slowly. I was enclosed in a tight circle by the wolves and they were all staring intently at me. A few growled.

I gestured in an exaggerated motion to my hands and then called out loudly. 'I just want to talk to you. I'm not here to hurt anyone.'

There was a loud snarl behind my back and I whirled to face it. The slight grey wolf was snarling at the boy standing next to her, who was hastily slipping on a pair of sweatpants.

I relaxed, but only a little. 'Hey Seth.' The boy walked forward. By the sounds coming from some of the wolves I knew that they did not approve.

Suddenly there was another human form approaching me behind the boy. I recognized the giant form of Sam.

I nodded politely at him as he and Seth stopped a short distance from me.

Sam put a hand out and pushed Seth a little behind him, then squared his shoulders and scowled at me. 'We would be well within our rights to take your life right now. We know you broke the treaty with Bella.'

A large, russet colored wolf took a few steps toward the center of the clearing. His eyes never left me.

'Well yes, that's true.' A loud howl escaped from the russet wolf, and a few others contributed growls and snarls of their own. 'Wait a minute.' For the first time I started to think this might not have been my brightest idea.

'Just hear me out. Please.' Sam narrowed his eyes and scrutinized me closely. After an excruciatingly long time he nodded curtly. 'You have five minutes.'

I swallowed hard. Why hadn't I thought of something to say on the long run here? I took a deep, steadying breath. I would just tell them the truth.

'You remember the Volturi? The vampire coven who watches over all the vampires to make sure that we do not reveal ourselves to humans?'

Sam nodded once. 'They attacked our family.' Seth swore and Sam threw him a stern look. The russet wolf growled low in his throat.

'I…I was not there. But they took Jasper, Alice, Edward and Bella.' At the mention of Bella's name the russet wolf took a few more quick steps forward and stopped next to Sam.

Seth stared at me, eyes wide. 'What do you mean they took them?'

'You all know that Alice and Edward have powers that are exceptionally unusual, even for our kind.' Sam nodded again. 'The Volturi knew of their powers and they asked them several times to join their guard. My brother and sister always refused so the Volturi got tired of asking and they came and took them by force.'

Sam placed a hand on the great shaggy russet wolf next to him, as if restraining him. He glanced back at me. 'You said the Volturi took four, yet only desired two of them.'

I closed my eyes briefly. My stomach tightened as I felt the familiar rush of rage that always filled me when I thought of this. 'Carlisle thinks they took the other two to hold as hostages, to keep control over Alice and Edward.'

The russet wolf threw back his head and howled. I smiled grimly. That must be Jacob. He couldn't still possibly be in love with Bella, could he? And it would be so like him to blame my brother for this.

Two other wolves broke the circle to come and stand next to Jacob. Sam tossed me a sympathetic look. 'I am sorry to hear about that, but I am not sure why you felt the need to come and tell us.'

I stepped forward and suddenly all the wolves were closer to me and snarling threateningly. I raised my hands once again. 'I need your help.'

The uproar was deafening. Wolves were snarling and scuffling all around me, but I was only focused on Sam. He laughed harshly.

'You want our help? After your family broke the treaty and bit a human?' He shook his head. 'You shouldn't have come here.'

He took a brazen step toward me. 'We are well within our rights to tear you apart right now. Why would we help you? You killed Bella. Did you not stop to think what that would do to all of her friends, to her family?'

I remembered that her father, Charlie, was good friends to the Quileutes. 'Bella is not dead, she…'

'She may as well be.' Sam glared. If looks could kill, this one would just about do it. 'What happens to you is of no concern to us. If you leave now and never return we will spare your life. Which is more than you deserve.'

I could see my window of opportunity closing. Damn it, why can't I rattle off one of those speeches that Carlisle and Edward are so good at? But I couldn't leave here empty handed. The wolves were our only chance.

I kept my hands raised in the air and took a couple tentative steps toward Sam and the small cluster of Seth and wolves around him. I ignored all the threatening noises, took one more step, and then dropped to my knees.

My voice strained and I stared hopelessly up at Sam. 'Please. Please help us. My family has been pulled apart. We can't do anything against the numbers of the Volturi by ourselves. And Alice…you know she can see the future. The Volturi would be waiting and ready for any attack we tried. But…she can't see you. If you were involved, we would have a chance.'

Every instinct I possessed screamed against my next actions, but I lowered my head, giving the wolves a clean shot at me. 'I'm begging you, please. I know you all loved Bella once. Help her now, damn it. Don't leave her in that place.' I shuddered and swallowed hard, my eyes squeezed shut. 'And you were right, we did violate the treaty. But if you would just help me get my family back, you can take my life for our breach. All I ask is that you let me participate in the fight to get them back, then I will willingly come to you and take our punishment for breaking the treaty.'

There was chaos again as Seth shouted and the wolves growled. I remained in my position on my knees, the back of my neck exposed. I gritted my teeth. I would do anything for my family. Even freely give up my life. I would do it with a smile on my face if we managed to free my brothers and sisters.

Gradually all was silent and Sam spoke again. 'Come then, bloodsucker. I will not make this decision lightly. We all have much to discuss.'