Uncovered Secret

"Alice, do you hear that?" Bella asked Alice in the midst of excavating.

Alice looks up and inhales nothingsness but the indistinct scent of someone. She listens and narrows her eyes.

"I didn't see anyone arriving. Maybe it's Tanya," suggested Alice, then began sprinting towards the scent.

Meanwhile, Edward furrowed his brows in a troubled way and Bella indicated this.

"It's not the Denali coven," he said as he narrowed his eyes in the direction where Alice ran off. "It's the Volturi."

. . .

"Aro, I've done it," annnounce Benjamin with a relieved grin. "It's the most amazing thing I have ever seen!"

"Yet, we are not finished," Amun said calmly. "The earth is still icy and whatever ice you pull from the ground, the ground would still be frozen. We need a solution for the re-growth of the seedlings."

"With a temperature as this, it's nearly impossible."

"Nearly, but not quite. Benjamin, your abilities are unique and the Volturi appointed you for a reason ---"

"Yes, yes, I know," Benjamin intervened and Amun raised an eyebrow.

"You don't like the Volturi," Amun stated and Benjamin smirked.

"You loathed them more than I do," Benjamin emphasized. "You left when we were supposed to battle them. You were so protective of my capabilities that you even doubted the Cullens of stealing me away from your little coven. I believe you were just too protective of your own life that you cowered away from those royalties. Now, what did they do to you, Amun? Did they use Chelsea?" He indicated one of the Volutri guards, whom can mentally tie the bond of a person to another. Therefore, Chelsea could have effortlessly lured Amun to be part of their mission.

"Do you think I let them do that?" Amun hissed. "You know well that I ponder things through and would not let them deceive me in such way. Has it not crossed your mind that I wanted to help? Why can't you just do your job and stop bickering about my decision?"

"Because I am losing it, Amun! This is the biggest secret you've kept from me, despite the fact that everyone is depending on me! Human life is depending on me! Has it not crossed your mind that all I need are real answers? You said that you've told me everything regarding the plan but I know you know something I don't."

"Will you please stop assuming that I'm still keeping something from you! What more can I hide? Are my answers not enough? Apparently not because you are clearly too stubborn to accept what's in front of you."

"Exactly how many humans did the Volturi save?" Benjamin inquired all of a sudden.

"Is that what's been bothering you?" Amun slightly smirked.

"Answer me."

After a moment, Amun decided to be candid.

"Enough to fill a small vicinity."

"That's not exact."

"They didn't give me an exact population."

"Nonetheless that's a lot of people for hungry vampires to carry around. How can a four-thousand-year-old vampire coven resist eating them when their blood is the only satisfying thing there is? Are there others involved in this? Other than who you've told me?"

Amun was speechless. He did not consider that Benjamin would have such a broad thinking about this. Moreover, why is he hesitant? The awaited answer is spoken with Amun's words.

"Yes," he confessed. "There is something that I haven't mentioned to you. I was forbidden to tell."

"Tell me, Amun. I deserve to know," Benjamin said in a more lenient tone, though with a slightly demanding one also.

Amun pursed his lips then sighed, finding no way out of this dilemma. It is inevitable, anyway, Amun thought. He is bound to know one way or another.

"The Volturi have encountered another help. The only beings that keep them from harming the humans," Amun began. Benjamin waited patiently as his comrade gazed at the snowy ice beneath them. Amun then finished, "are the shape-shifters."

- - - - - - - -

Benjamin is really troubled, isn't he? But it led him to the last of Amun's secret, so that's good, right?

After I proofread this, I was a bit annoyed at how the two of them always end up arguing about the same thing: Why Amun trusted the Volturi, despite the good it will do to the world, and how extremely demanding Benjamin has become.

I needed a good cliffhanger, so there.

But seriously, I hope you guys won't think Benjamin is nosy because he presses for Amun's secrets. He's merely doing that because he is pressured (even for a vampire) about "saving the world" and having the biggest responsibility there is. Besides, Amun is usually frank and very blunt, so it's unusual for him to be hiding something. Let alone hiding something that clearly involves Benjamin.