Note: Sorry for the long wait. Enjoy this chapter!
GRAVITATION
by Yih
"Love—is anterior to Life—
Posterior—to Death—
Initial of Creation, and
The Exponent of Earth—"
- Emily Dickinson
12. Escape and Evade
Volterra 1816
Bella POV
"You have no need to worry about him," Carlisle said, placing both of his hands on my shoulders and drawing me to him – embracing me. "He knows how to keep safe."
"Do you not think it strange that he has not sent any letters?" I said, my voice sounding strangely detached and hollow. I missed Alistair badly, even moreso than Carlisle when I had first been separated for him the Alistair and I had wandered around Europe. "A letter would be a comfort." I paused. "Does he ever write you?"
"No," Carlisle answered. "He only sends word beforehand if he is making his way in my direction."
"Has he sent any word?"
Carlisle shook his head and tightened his arms around me. "Not yet."
I sighed and leaned back into his comforting hold. "I miss him."
"I know."
"I wish he would come back."
"He will," Carlisle murmured, stroking my hair. "He misses you too."
"Then why does he not return?" I asked.
"He has his reasons of that I am certain."
I was not so certain about that myself, but I could not bring myself to contradict Carlisle. It was so much easier just to believe what he said and hoped it was true when I wanted it to be true. I had not prayed since I was turned and yet nightly I prayed for Alistair's safe return, although not to God per say but to the omnipotent being above that must know everything and all about us mere creatures, mortal or otherwise.
Keep him safe and sound, please…
Volterra 1817
"Isabella," Demetri said as he surprised me from behind.
I turned and smiled when I saw him. He wasn't quite classically good-looking, but there was something interesting about his olive complexion that was fairly atypical for a vampire. There was a chalky pallor that indicated what he truly was, but his skin was still darker than any of the vampires here in Volterra.
Despite the fact he said my mind was elusive because of my shielding ability, he always did manage to locate me if I were somewhere in the vicinity. He said it was because I had a distinctive smell – it was sweet and flowery. When I had asked what flower, he said he did not know, but that everywhere I went there was a trace of that lingering sweetness.
"Did you find him yet?" I asked.
I had asked Demetri because of his superior tracking ability if he could locate Alistair for me. I had done this without telling Carlisle and I felt guilty for keeping this a secret, but I needed to know if my Creator was safe. And Demetri, one of the only members of the Guard I considered a friend. The other was Renata, but she was shy and timid and she told Aro everything.
I did not know if Demetri would keep my secrets from Aro and yet I believed that he would. At the very least, he would not go confessing to Carlisle and that was enough for now. I wanted to find Alistair on my own and Demetri was my only hope.
"He is in Sicily," Demetri said, picking up the silver brush. "And he is on his way back."
I could feel a smile threatening to break across my face. "Are you certain?"
"Your friend, Carlisle, received a message this morning." Demetri began to brush my hair in the intimate manner that Alistair used to and I allowed it because I missed this small comfort. "I do not know what it says, but that it came from Sicily. I believe it was from your Creator."
For a moment my happiness was smashed to the ground by the revelation that Alistair would tell Carlisle he was returning and yet not send me the same message. Was I not important to him anymore? I shook my head, trying to shake away my fears, he saved me because I reminded me of his sister. He would not forsake me.
And yet, what if he remembered while he was away that I was most definitely not his sister?
And that I would never be his sister?
Colle di Val d'Elsa 1817
If Demetri had not intercepted the letter from Alistair to Carlisle, I would not have known of the secret meeting between the two of them. Why had Carlisle not told me about this? He knew better than anyone else how much I missed Alistair and yet he was going off to see my Creator without telling me?
I was devastated and distraught, my thoughts muddled. If I did not have Demetri with me, I would not have been able to follow Carlisle all the way to Colle di Val d'Elsa, a small city a short run for a vampire from Volterra. I had never been good at tracking and Carlisle was carefully covering up his trail, sidetracking to hunt a deer before continuing onward.
It was clever as the Volturi knew that Carlisle enjoyed the hunt as long as it was not human and would partake in such activities occasionally rather than having his meals brought to him. I sometimes went with him and it was a thrill to chase your prey and to sink your teeth into their vulnerable neck and drain them dry.
"Hold up," Demetri said, grabbing me by the arm.
I instinctively resisted him until he pointed in the direction of Carlisle and I saw that he was slowing down and I gasped when I saw in the shadows a figure standing, waiting. It had to be Alistair. I was tempted to break cover and to run to him, but Demetri held me back.
"Watch," he said, "and listen."
I hated this, having to spy on my two dearest friends, but they had given me no choice. I crouched down, Demetri flanking me behind, his arms surrounding me. It was not comforting, not the way Carlisle's or Alistair's were when they embraced me. I wondered why, when I did consider Demetri also a friend.
"Thank you for coming," Alistair said in a normal conversational tone, which was loud enough for both Demetri and I to hear him clearly despite the whistling of the wind.
"I don't understand why you could not just return to Volterra," Carlisle spoke. "Isabella dearly misses you, I hope you realize."
"I am sure you realize the feeling is mutual," Alistair replied, much to my sweet relief. I had not been certain he missed me, to hear so was reassuring.
"Then why – "
"Surely you must know the Volturi," Alistair interrupted. "You have been with them before and you have told me how they tried to get you to join in their ranks the last time. I believe the only reason they let you go was merely because you had no talent, no special ability they could exploit."
"Unlike Isabella," Carlisle finished.
"Exactly."
I glanced at Demetri, wanting to know if what they were saying was true and Demetri looked back at me with his grave eyes and slowly he nodded. I wanted to fight the hold he had on me, but I did not. I was certain I could not win against Demetri, not when he was trained by the Volturi.
"What are you suggesting?" Carlisle asked carefully.
"You know precisely what."
"It will be impossible to simply slip away," Carlisle responded and I had to agree.
What was Alistair thinking? The Volturi weren't going to let me leave without a fight. There was no way I could escape secretively away from the rest, not when there were guards posted every night and not to mention the fact they had dozens of powerful vampires at their disposal to find me once I had gotten away. I would be chased and chased until I was caught.
"No one must know you are leaving," Alistair stated calmly. "If you go on a hunting trip and take Isabella with you, and then you never returned… we would have the jump on them by a day at the very least. That is enough time to get far if you have already made plans and I have. There are fast, fleet horses waiting for us in Florence. All we need to do is get there."
"When did you make these plans?" Carlisle asked, sounding stunned. "I hadn't even heard you went to Florence again."
"The less you know the better. It is not for lack of trust," Alistar remarked, "that I must keep you in the shadows. You are not a shield like Isabella. Just grazing Aro accidentally before we can set our plan into motion will cause it to fail before we can even try. All we need now is a date."
I twisted around in Demetri's arms and stared up at his crimson eyes. "Is it true?" I asked softly. "Is what Alistair is planning necessary?"
"You must understand," Demetri said, "you have very strong powers that the Volturi needs."
"No," I responded, "what the Volturi wants."
"Regardless," he said, "Aro has already discussed inviting you with Caius and Marcus and they have both agreed. The official invitation was to wait until Alistair's return."
"Why?" I inquired before I realized the answer.
They were going to capture Alistair when he returned, pitting my affections for him against me. They had seen all too easily and all too clearly from the time he had spent away how deeply I cared for him. And they knew that Alistair would not be content to stay in Volturi always by my side. He needed to roam, to be free, and if I did not agree to join the Volturi, he would be locked up in a cage forever. He would be miserable and it would be all my own fault.
Alistair had been right. We should have never gone to Volterra. It was the epitome of danger.
"Let me go," I said, pulling away from Demetri. "Let me go."
"Isabella…"
"Please, Demetri," I begged, "let me go."
I could see the struggle on his face. I had feared for a moment that he was not a true friend, that the Volturi had set him on me to befriend me and to use our closeness against me, but Demetri was truly my friend. He did care for him in his own way, probably no where near how Alistair and Carlisle cared for me, but enough that he did struggle.
It was enough for me to break free from his grasp and before he had the chance to grab my arm and pull me back, I was running toward my two dearest companions. I did not know if they would greet me in happiness or in shock, but I was too overcome with adrenaline to think too much.
Alistair saw me before Carlisle and he opened his arms for me. I flew into them, sighing as his arms wrapped around me. "I missed you," I said against his chest.
"I'm sorry," he said back.
I was so caught in the moment that I barely registered Carlisle shifting his body until he was shielding us from the intruder. I had forgotten about Demetri. He was close enough to us to be a danger, but he was not crouched and ready to fight like Carlisle. Instead he looked almost relaxed, although I could tell from his shoulders he was tense.
I did not envy his position. He knew he could not win this fight, not when it was three against one. He may have been trained by the Volturi, but that did not make him invincible. I was also fairly certain that if Alistair wanted, he could take on Demetri one-on-one. It would be a fair fight. Alistair had some unscrupulous skills to pit against Demetri's honed abilities.
I stared at them, at all three of them, and I just wanted this moment to be erased from history. And yet, it was impossible to go back and change the past. All you could do was live in the present and plan for the future.
"We are not going back," Alistair declared, tightening his hold on me.
"You know it will be impossible for you to escape the Volturi," Demetri stated. "We will find you."
I broke free from Alistair and evaded both him and Carlisle until I was standing within Demetri's grasp. "Please Demetri," I said. "Let us go?"
"Even if I let you go," Demetri murmured, "I am not the only tracker the Volturi employs. There are others, not so talented, but they will be able to eventually track the three of you down. And when they do, they will realize that I should have been able to track you down first."
Everything he said was true and if the other trackers caught wind of us first, Demetri would be punished for allowing us to evade the Volturi. No matter what I did, where I went, someone was going to be hurt. It was only a matter of time.
"Then give us what time you can," I responded. "For me?"
I saw the struggle, the indecision in his eyes before he finally looked away. "Go," he said. "You have as Alistair said, one day's head start, then I will track you as recklessly as I dare."
"Thank you!" I exclaim, rushing forward and hugging him with gratitude.
He embraced me briefly, before pushing me away from him. "You have little time, make use of it," he said, bending down and pressing a kiss against my forehead. "Now go."
Demetri did not look at Carlisle or Alistair when he said, "I would get out of Italy as soon as you are able. The Volturi's reach is tenuous abroad, although still palpable."
"Thank you," Carlisle said and Alistair echoed the same sentiment.
I looked one more time at Demetri and I knew I had misjudged him for being too much like the rest of the Volturi to see that perhaps he still retained the heart of his former human self. After all, hadn't Carlisle taught me that just because our human selves were dead did not mean that our souls were forsaken. We could still care; we could still love; we are alive.
And there is still hope.
I reached and squeezed Demetri's hand in gratitude before I turned and I ran to my Creator and Carlisle. I did not look back, I did not want to see the expression on Demetri's face as I and my companions journeyed forth…
Where we would go, who knows?
To be continued…
A/N: It took me a while to get this chapter done, but thanks for the reviews that kept nagging at me to keep going with the story. I'm going to try my hand at an AU-all human story soon, so be on the look out for that. It should be out soon and the chapters will be shorter and updated more frequently. Let me know what you think of this chapter and the progression. Thanks!
Keep reviewing and I will keep writing!
Released: 6/18/2009