Chapter 18 Rescue
Tara and Jane moved ahead of Jacob toward the looming Volturi castle. The deep, arched windows of the scarred, brick building were like dark eyes that revealed no secrets. They could not know what would await them inside the building, but they would enter it nonetheless.
Jacob scanned the woods that surrounded them, looking for signs of life. It was so unlike the lush cloud forests of home. Each tree stood sentinel, individual and straight in an ancient order, rising so high into the mist that their tips were transformed into hazy impressionist paintings. The dry, sharp needles of the trees had a subdued green hue. To Jake's eyes everything seemed to be thirsty and brittle. He scanned the rows of trees, their straight lines forming diagonals and zigzags that mesmerized as he looked. It was impossible to tell what lurked. Jake cast another glance over his shoulder and hurried to catch up with Tara. He wanted to be in front of her if danger was waiting on the other side of that door.
As he approached, Jane whispered softly, "Alec is guarding the dungeon." She glanced back at Jacob. "There may be other guards. "
"Why don't you just call him and tell him to meet you out front?" Jacob asked. "Or better yet, he could hook up with us at a restaurant or something. Let us not forget I have not eaten."
The look Jane gave him would previously have sent her victim writhing on the floor. Fortunately for Jacob, she had mellowed into merely supernaturally scathing.
You may be a reformed bitch, but you are still a bitch, Jacob thought, returning Jane's hostile stare.
"I did consider that plan," Jane said, arching her eyebrows and staring up at him in haughty irritation. "Unfortunately, technology has its limits. We are in the middle of the country and he is deep in the bowels of this concrete fortress." She paused before elaborating in simple terms. "We have no cell phone reception."
Jacob glanced at his own phone, "Oh yeah, I got no bars either. Well, just give him a shout. Why is this so complicated? He's your brother. It's not like we have to kidnap him."
"I couldn't tell Alec anything in case Aro touched him," Jane explained. "Once Aro realizes I let you go, I'll never get another chance to get to Alec. He will be kept from me. Aro knows that would be my ultimate punishment."
Jacob knew that was the least Aro would do if he suspected betrayal. He understood wanting to be with his family, so he decided to keep quiet.
"Who is Alec guarding in the dungeon?" Tara asked urgently.
Jane turned and effortlessly opened the massive wooden door without answering, leading them into the fortress. As they entered, a permanent chill flowed from the hewn rock walls and struck Jacob bone deep. He flinched at the contrast of his superheated skin to the clammy dank.
"I said--who else is in the dungeon?" Tara demanded more insistently in a low voice.
"Some humans we had here for Aro," Jane reluctantly answered.
"We are freeing them too," Tara insisted.
Jacob recognized the determined look on Tara's lovely face. Jane did not. She waved her hand dismissively as if the matter was closed and began to walk ahead.
That was a miscalculation, Jacob thought, seeing Tara's green eyes snap. He knew she would never pass up the opportunity to help someone in need. Tara didn't follow Jane.
"Are you with me?" she asked, turning to Jacob.
"Always," Jacob answered without hesitation, delighting at the look of love in her eyes at his response. He looked around. "I do my best work in the open field. These cramped quarters do me no favors."
Jane had realized that they weren't following and returned.
"There is no time for debate," she whispered fiercely. "We need to get Alec and leave."
"How many people are down there? We are freeing them and that is final," Tara said, running her hand through her hair. Jacob could tell she was formulating a plan.
"I don't know how many are left," Jane answered.
The three paused for a moment of thought.
Jake spoke up. "We can do like when Luke and Han Solo were rescuing Princess Leia, I'll be Chewbacca," he said.
Jane looked at him blankly.
"I get it," Tara said, explaining to Jane in simple terms. "Jake will pretend to be your prisoner so that the guards will not anticipate an attack. You need to get Alec out of there so you can explain things and dismiss any other guards. As soon as the coast is clear, Jake and I will free the prisoners."
"Exactly," Jake said, putting his hand up for a high five. Tara smacked his hand lightly.
"Sounds like a plan, let's go," Tara said with satisfaction.
She started walking down the hall, then paused and graciously waved her hand forward. "Jane, I think you need to go first."
Jane raised a miffed eyebrow.
"Very well."
Jake followed her and Tara brought up the rear.
Jacob was having a hard time feeling more encouraged at their plan. He was no coward, he had faced an entire Volturi army in the past, but he'd done it with room to maneuver and his pack at his back. They were about to enter a narrow passageway of stone stairs cut directly into rock.
Jacob's mind was full of things he wanted to say, but the seconds were ticking by. He turned and looked at Tara. She was strong, that was true…and smart. In fact, her body was better suited to fight vampires than his, but it was her empathy he feared.
"If it is kill or be killed, you kill. Don't take any chances with your life," he said. Icy tendrils of tension were curling through him. I didn't find my place in the world only to lose it now, he thought.
As always, Tara answered the fears of his soul. "I am not going anywhere."
They entered the narrow stairway. Jacob's arms brushed the walls, and his skin crawled at the moisture that was tricking down the stones. The steps were slick with it and the darkness grew thicker. His human eyes were extremely keen, but he was having trouble adjusting to the light. Although he shielded Tara from the front, the walls were so close he could not even turn. Even now something could be creeping up on her from behind.
Jacob shut his eyes briefly and inhaled in an effort to rely on his other senses. He smelled the familiar scent of Tara behind him, along with the wet mushroom odor of the dungeon passageway and the unpleasant vampiric stench of Jane in front of him, but could distinguish little else. Just when Jacob thought that he couldn't take another second of being confined like a rat in a maze, the steps widened.
Jane took Jacob's arm firmly and muttered through tightly clenched lips, "Question nothing. Follow my lead."
They walked through a tunnel and into a larger room, where the walls and floors were carved out like a grave. It was not as wet as the stairway, but it was still damp and musty. The acrid stench of vampires was strong in this place, yet any odor of humans seemed long dull.
"Where are the prisoners?" Tara hissed. A thick-barred door opposite them was ajar, revealing only darkness.
Jane did not answer.
Jake swiveled his head. The route they had travelled was behind them, and black openings for hallways extended to his right and left. In the darkness he could not tell how long the halls ran or if anyone was there. It was an impossible spot to defend. Jacob noted a gouge mark in the wall; intending to remember it as a marker to his exit route. It was caked with a rusty substance. Jacob sniffed. Blood.
"Let's move on," Jacob said in a low voice. "I don't like the feel of this place."
Two figures emerged simultaneously from the passageways to his right and left. Jake recognized the small dark-haired boy on his left as Alec.
"Alec, we need to talk," Jane said urgently, but he disregarded her, holding up a pale hand.
"Do not move," he commanded low.
The other vampire, a slender young man, moved swiftly to stand beside Tara. She did not flinch as he approached. He had venom-induced facial symmetry; the perfection of the line of cheek and lip, nose and brow, but his red eyes were cruel, his hands clenched. The Volturi recruited some individuals for special abilities, some for strength, and some for their useful moral depravity.
This one appeared fascinated by Tara. He leaned in and sniffed her curiously with a reckless confidence, his eyes raking her golden skin. "She even smells different," he exclaimed in an excited voice. "Aro has big plans for this one."
The sudden spurt of fury had Jacob seeing red. He snarled, poised to forcefully remove the offending vampire from Tara's presence, but he was surprised to find that his muscles clenched in a delayed and dull way. He realized that as he had been distracted, a creeping numbness had slackened his strength. Tara turned slowly and lifted her hands. She was caught in the same net. The vampire behind her stepped back to avoiding the creeping mist. Jake knew he had to move, to speak, but he couldn't.
Jacob could see Jane's face, she appeared frozen in indecision. She moved towards Alec and placed a hand on his arm, but Jacob had trouble focusing on her. Is it the darkness or are my eyes growing dim?
Miraculously, Jacob heard Tara's voice as if it was coming from a great distance. Her voice was gentle and unstrained, comforting.
"You are fine, I'm right here. I'll be with you. You are not alone."
Jacob pulled from the inner well of his strength and moved his foot slightly.
"Your sister is here, she cares about you too."
Sister? Jacob realized that Tara wasn't talking to him. The numbness overwhelmed him. He realized that there was nothing to fight for, nothing to live for. His muscles relaxed as he stopped fighting the vortex and the blankness wrapped him. The wonderful gloss of his joy with Tara was rubbed and ground and grated from his skin. The mist had sucked his will to go on. His senses were blackened. Alec had not uttered a single word, yet he had paralyzed Jacob with his utter hopelessness.
"You are not alone. You are not alone," Tara whispered, feeling the strength of her voice ebb.
Jane watched her with a curious, hopeful fascination as she spoke, yet she made no further move to stop Alec. Jane's eyes, which had not yet lost their red hue, shifted to Alec as if trying to gauge the effect of Tara's words on her brother.
Alec gave no sign that he had heard a word. With a languid detachment, he gazed at Jacob, who appeared to be almost completely incapacitated. The mist spread, and the other vampire retreated back into the hallway.
Alec did not give pain, he gave emptiness, and it was a feeling that was as familiar to Tara as hunger and thirst had been when she was human. That feeling had kept her alone in dark rooms after she had been given only months to live. There was a name for it: clinical depression; a living death.
Not me. Not now, she thought, fighting with all of her considerable strength. Through the fog she experienced an almost imperceptible lifting of her spirits, which suddenly shifted into a blast of exhilaration and joy that hit her like an adrenaline shot in the heart and shattered her lassitude into a hundred pieces.
The first thing that met her reinvigorated gaze was a set of golden eyes. Tara recognized the tall, blond man as Jasper. He had an expression of extreme and inappropriate joy on his handsome face as if he was about to burst out laughing. He was the pure and shining antidote to the dark and dreary.
"Why are you so happy?" Tara mumbled, still feeling the residual anesthetic affects of Alec's power.
"You needed a little cheering up," Jasper answered swiftly in a pleasant southern drawl, before turning to fix Alec with a stare. "So do you," he said with considerably more energy in his tone.
Tara's head instantly cleared and she blurred forward to grab Jacob.
Alec and Jane stood frozen. The mist seemed to be retreating to Alec and he reeled back as the force of it hit him. Tara still had Jacob in her arms, but at the sight of the distant emptiness that rose in Jane's eyes she wanted to reach out to the girl.
"Jasper?" Jake said, pushing off Tara's arms, and standing on his own feet with his fists clenched.
Jasper gave a quick nod, his eyes never moving from Alec, who looked slightly frightened.
Tara noticed that Jasper's hands were relaxed, his eyes cool, and the expression of exuberant joy on his face had tempered. He seemed to be engaged in some kind of emotional warfare with Alec. For now it was a battle, but Tara felt Jasper understood what Alec was experiencing, or more precisely what Alec would not let himself feel. To really appreciate this, Jasper must have known and lived in the same dark place that she and Alec had dwelled.
"We won't hurt you, we just want to talk," Tara said smoothly, giving voice to the soothing emotions that Jasper was emitting. She sought to name it. "Peace…" she said, "…we come in peace. Just call the other guard and we'll talk."
"He was unavoidably detained," a lovely woman's voice answered. At the sound, the feelings of peace and contentment in the room intensified.
A small figure emerged from the hall. Her slim form was clad in a muted green pair of loose pants and a matching tunic top. Simple soft-soled shoes graced her feet. Her lovely face was dominated by large golden eyes and her short dark hair was smoothed down, but quirky curls of it sprung up here and there, as if they would not be tamed into modesty.
"Hi, Alice," Jacob said.
"Hi, Jake." She fluttered her fingers. "Hi, Tara." Her eyes moved approvingly over Tara's outfit.
Tara was astounded. The odds had turned decidedly in their favor. Just as the thought struck her, Alec turned and ran down the passage. With a moment's hesitation, Jane followed.
Jacob and Jasper moved to go after them.
"Let them go," Tara said swiftly. "They have a lot to talk about."
Both men stilled. Jasper looked at Tara with curiosity and then at Alice, who nodded.
"Thanks for the intervention," Tara said to Jasper, smiling. "That is a fantastic thing you do, projecting your emotions."
"You're welcome, Ma'am," Jasper replied with classic southern manners. "I'm told that you can fix things more permanently."
Tara remembered what Jacob had told her of the brutal life that Jasper had led. His initial expression of joy, an emotion he had clearly mustered to battle Alec's power, had faded. In the dim light, Tara could not see the hundreds of scars on Jasper's skin that she knew were there. So strange that the venom that saved my life, for a time destroyed Jasper's, she thought. She longed to touch and comfort him, but it was not the time or place.
Alice moved to give Tara quick hard hug.
"I barely even know you," Alice scolded her, but her disapproving look was for Jake.
What an odd thing to say to someone you just met, Tara thought.
Alice's disapproval quickly faded. "Nice job pairing that sweater with those jeans," she complimented. "I'll have to see it in the sun with your eyes, but I'd say I hit the color just right."
"Let's get out of here," Jacob said quickly, sensing that a dreaded and tangential conversation about wardrobe selection was about to inappropriately erupt. "I don't know how you got here, but we've got to go."
Jasper obviously agreed.
"We came because Edward read Aro's mind. We were tracking Jane anyway. Jasper had a feeling we couldn't trust her."
"Jane said there were prisoners here," Tara said, looking around urgently.
"I searched the whole place. There are no prisoners here except that beady-eyed fellow who was trying to sneak up on me. I'm pretty sure Volturi cells are designed to hold vampires," Alice said, looking satisfied.
"You were deceived," Jasper told Tara, his eyes gentle.
They were all grateful to get out into the fresh air. Alice and Jasper lead them to a waiting car. Jacob gawked. It was a compact hybrid.
"Alice has a new outlook and a care for the planet," Jasper explained the vehicle choice with a trace of laughter in his voice.
"I care about the planet, but I don't care much for cars, let's go!" Tara urged.
"Wherever we are going, we won't get there fast," Jacob grumbled.
"There will be too many people around for us to run, although I am sure we can outrun this car without half tryin'," Jasper offered.
Alice seemed to wince at the words, but she made no argument when Jasper was the one to slide behind the wheel. She slipped in beside him. Jacob took nearly all of the back seat, but Tara didn't mind being crammed in with him. She leaned against the warmth of his muscled shoulder.
"We're going to a wolf party," Alice threw over her shoulder. "Tara, I have a change of clothes for you. Jake, I think you will be appropriately dressed." Her laughter trilled.
Tara turned to look out the back window. The courtyard was retreating from view and the tall, straight trees moved past in a satisfying way. She was glad to take leave of the place, but she would have preferred to have Jane with them. The girl's reaction in the dungeon was strange, to say the least. She had not lifted a finger to help them. Maybe she had been misinformed about the prisoners, Tara thought.
Jacob's question to Alice interrupted Tara's thoughts. "Have you heard from Nessie?"
"Yes," Alice said soberly. "She's with Rose and Emmet. They will all be here soon."
Tara swallowed, sliding her hand into Jacob's. The family was assembling to be with Carlisle. We should not have come here, she thought. The Volturi do not want our help, they want to own us.
She looked at Alice. She was no bigger than Nessie, a tiny, fragile thing who always had the weight of the future on her shoulders. Still, Tara could not resist tapping into that power. She wanted a piece of it for herself, wanted to know what would come.
Alice's eyes glazed over and she gasped in horror. Jasper clenched the wheel tightly in one hand and reached for her.
"Alice, can you see the future? What is going to happen?" Tara asked, as if the words were pulled forth from her against her will.
Alice's eyes were filled with mindless panic, it crackled like lightning in the tiny car, and Tara felt the hair on the back of her neck rise up.
"It was his choice, his choice," Alice mumbled.
Jacob's face looked frozen with concern. "What is it, what did you see?"
"Alice doesn't like to share her visions," Jasper supplied, "Choices make changes, and then the future can change."
Alice put a shaking hand out in front of her.
"Death…Carlisle," she stammered.
The hiss and pulse of static, the connection to lost souls that Tara could hear, nearly rose to a wail in her ears, and she slid her hand over the seat. Alice's cool hand met hers and they pressed their palms together, fingers interlacing.
Tara created a chain between her and Alice and Jacob and the flow of comfort from Jasper.
We can heal this, she thought, and she felt the echo of her conviction returned from them.