Chapter 22
Bella sighed heavily as she watched Jacob race out of the front door, phasing before he even got to the trees like he normally would have. She knew he was livid to find out that Riana's brother, Luke, had been the one who took Selene captive. Bella vowed to rip his throat out when they found her sister, eyes narrowed to slits. She could feel Edward's presence behind her, her hand instantly finding his; needing him to calm her down before she ended up following Jacob.
"Calm down, Bella love, there's nothing we can do right now. Alice is trying to find out more information from Riana." Edward murmured soothingly, running his hands up and down her arms, feeling how tense she was.
"Where's Renesmee?" Bella asked promptly, glancing over her shoulder at him.
"Sleeping, Rosalie took her upstairs and put her to bed." Edward knew Bella was trying to get her mind off of things, but even he was concerned about his sister-in-law. "Do you want to go see her?"
"No, I need to go speak with Riana, find out exactly what happened."
"That won't be necessary."
"What is it, Carlisle?" Bella walked over to her father-in-law, worry shining in her red eyes, though surprisingly she wasn't thirsting for blood at the moment. "Who attacked them?"
"The Volturi." Carlisle sighed deeply and walked over to stare out the window, leaning against it while rubbing his forehead gently with his fingertips. "It wasn't the main authority, but it sounds like it was them."
Bella looked up at Edward, eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "Why would the Volturi attack them? They have no business being here, I've been changed and…" She suddenly paled, knowing if her heart still beat, it would've stopped. "Edward…"
"They won't touch her." Edward vowed darkly, watching the solemn expression fall over Carlisle's face, scowling. "I will protect my child from them; she hasn't harmed anyone or anything."
"I know Edward, but that will not stop them from coming to investigate the situation. Someone obviously spotted Renesmee and informed the Volturi about her." Carlisle hated being the bearer of bad news, but at the same time, Edward and Bella had to be aware of how serious this situation was. "We will do everything in our power to protect Renesmee, you know that."
"Of course we do, Carlisle, but something's bothering me." Bella stepped away from Edward, staring out the window, seeing Jacob outside pacing in his wolf form, frowning. "Why would the Volturi attack two complete strangers in Charlie's home? Surely they would've come here first…"
Carlisle hadn't thought of that and knew Bella made a valid point, nodding. "Go on, Bella." He pressed, folding his arms in front of his chest and held his hand up when Edward went to say something.
"What if…What if we're dealing with another newborn army?"
She remembered the last time they'd dealt with one, how Bella had to be taken far away up in the mountains with Edward and Jacob. She'd been a weakling human back then and the best she could possibly do was slit her arm to stop Victoria and Riley from killing Edward. Victoria was a vampire that was slowly hunting Bella after Edward killed her mate, James, who wanted to kill Bella.
Riley was just a victim of Victoria, she'd attacked him one fatal night in Seattle, Washington and changed him into a vampire. She made him believe she loved him and that the Cullen's had to be destroyed in order to protect them both. When in reality, all Victoria wanted was her revenge on both Edward and Bella for the death of James.
Victoria had created this newborn army with Riley leading it and the Cullen's, with the help of the pack, had disposed nearly all of them. The only newborn vampire left was a little girl named Bree Tanner, who ended up surrendering herself to the Cullen's, not wanting to die. The Volturi arrived and the guard leader, Jane, had tortured the girl for information on who created her and why she came to Forks. Bree did her best through the pain and ultimately had her short life ended at the hands of Felix, one of the Volturi guards.
Not to mention Jacob nearly died; his bones had been crushed by a newborn because he'd stopped one from hurting Leah. Bella would never forget going to the reservation shortly after the Volturi left –they promised to return to make sure Bella fell through with becoming immortal- and heard the awful screams coming from inside Billy Black's house. Jacob had shattered her heart with how much screaming he'd done, it sounded like someone was torturing him slowly and painfully. The pack informed her they had to re-break Jacob's bones in order for them to mend properly, Carlisle being the one to do so. That was the night that the pack had somewhat formed a bond with the Cullen's, though they still had reservations about them.
It was also the night Bella had chosen Edward over Jacob, breaking his heart and leaving him lying in a bed full of pain.
"If this was another newborn army, Bella, they would've killed Riana and Paul without a second thought. This was a clear message to us, a warning through your family." Carlisle explained, hating to cause his daughter-in-law pain because they truly had been through a lot lately.
Not only was her sister missing, but now they possibly had the Volturi breathing down their necks. Bella's red eyes suddenly widened, the realization crashing over her like a tsunami wave, turning to face her husband with tears in her eyes. Her hand went to the gold-chained necklace that had a huge diamond the size of a golf ball hanging from it, remembering the note Aro, the leader of the Volturi- sent her with the gift.
I so look forward to meeting the new Mrs. Cullen in person.
She couldn't believe she hadn't saw this coming sooner and felt the tears swell in her eyes. "Edward…" Bella hadn't taken the gold-chained necklace off, feeling it was an honor to wear something so beautiful from the Volturi, but now she felt like a prisoner. "Carlisle is right, they're coming."
"What are you-" Edward's words cut off as the realization of his own crashed over him, the necklace Bella wore suddenly catching his eye. "Take it off." He ordered, watching as Bella's eyes widened slightly. "I said take it off, Bella." When she stood there frozen as a statue, Edward snarled and ripped it from her neck, the gift from Aro crashing to the floor.
"Edward!"
Carlisle sighed, knowing Edward was angry as he stalked away, reaching out his hand to stop her from going after him. "Give him a few minutes alone, Bella." He suggested, guiding the young woman over to the window again, both of them looking worried.
"Carlisle, what if someone found out about Renesmee's condition?" Bella suddenly asked, voicing her worries that she'd kept hidden well from Edward, knowing nobody really knew exactly what her daughter was. She was half vampire and half human, there was never anything created between a vampire and a human to the Cullen's knowledge.
"Who could've possibly told them? It is one thing to tell them you had a child with Edward, but to tell them about her condition?" Carlisle was bewildered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, glancing down at his daughter-in-law.
"I have no idea." Bella whispered, worried about her husband and Jacob, knowing both were extremely on edge. "We need to find out as quickly as possible. Who knows what kind of danger all of us are in?"
Bella had a point, Carlisle couldn't deny that, and let out a deep troubling sigh. "Go find Edward; have him take you and Renesmee to the cottage."
That's where Bella had been staying with Edward and Renesmee, a wedding gift from the family, but it was also a great hideout. After the Cullen's were certain Bella wouldn't lose control and let the thirst consume her, Edward immediately had her move into their new home with their daughter, wanting to start their family off right. The cottage wasn't far from the house, especially with their incredible speed and agility. They could easily make it back in forth within a few short minutes.
Bella headed upstairs and could hear commotion coming from the room down the hall from Edward's. Even though the cottage was their new home, Edward's room had remained untouched and Bella knew he came here whenever something troubled him. She slowly tapped on the door, seeing him staring out the window, and kept her distance from him in case he lashed out at her.
"Edward? Carlisle sent me up to check on you. He wants us to go back to the cottage and I'm going to ask Jacob to come with us. I just don't trust him being alone right now, he can't go after Luke until we locate Selene's whereabouts." Bella said, watching her husband slowly turn around, sorrowful golden amber eyes locking with blood red.
"How can you even stand to look at me after what I did downstairs, Bella?" He demanded through gritted teeth, not believing he had lost control like that, but Edward saw complete red when he spotted Aro's gift around her neck. "I'm a monster…"
"No you're not." Bella argued and walked over, running her hand up and down his back soothingly. "You're worried about the Volturi and I'm right there with you. I don't know what I would do if something happened to Renesmee…" Tears suddenly stung her eyes and Bella had to look away, wrapping her arms around herself.
"Nothing is going to happen to either of you, I swear it." Edward's voice was full of fire, running a finger down her cheek, his eyes flashing black before turning back to beautiful amber. "I love you, my Bella." He kissed her lips softly, feeling her instantly melt against him. "Let's go get Renesmee and head home."
"Before you leave, we need to talk." Paul stood in the doorway of Edward's room, his arm in a sling with a left swollen black eye that was already healing. "You want to know who attacked us right."
Edward wrapped a protective arm around Bella's shoulders, nodding. "Do you have an idea or do you know who it was?" He prompted, causing Paul to sigh heavily, still not believing he'd been blindsided by a group of bloodsuckers.
"They definitely weren't human if that's what you're getting at." By this time tomorrow, Paul would be fully healed, one of the perks of turning into a giant fur ball.
"We have an idea of who might've attacked you and your betrothed tonight." Edward stated, causing Paul's eyes to narrow instantly, taking a step toward them.
"Who was it?" Paul demanded, his reputation for being a hothead seeping out, but he tried controlling it. He was angry at whoever had attacked not only him, but his imprint. "And she's my imprint, not my betrothed."
"Same difference." Edward waved him off dismissively. "She's your other half, no matter how it is stated or identified."
"Right." Paul felt stupid talking to Edward and scowled, not finding that amusing at all. "Who attacked us tonight?"
"The Volturi, the royalty of our kind. It was a message that they are coming very soon." Edward answered, looking down at his wife, knowing she just wanted to have Renesmee in her arms. "We will know more in the morning, right now I must take my family home for the evening."
"No." Paul stepped in front of them, not caring if his arm was in a sling or not. "No, not until you tell me exactly who these bloodsuckers are and what they want with Riana."
"It was not a direct hit at you, Paul." Edward sighed resignedly, knowing the man wasn't backing down, especially after reading the angry thoughts coursing through his mind. "They wanted to attack someone close to Bella because that was her old home. They were probably hoping Charlie or Selene was there and instead found you and Riana…" Edward's eyes turned sad at the mention of that poor girl's name, knowing the amount of pain she was about to endure.
"What's going on with Riana?" Paul demanded in a lower voice, his tone quiet, knowing whatever it was couldn't be good. "Just tell me so I can break it to her."
Bella sighed heavily, holding her hand up when Edward went to speak, stepping toward Paul. "Paul, we know who took Selene. Alice had a vision and…" How was she supposed to break this type of news to Paul, knowing the amount of pain Riana would be in? "I-I'm sorry…" She stammered and immediately rushed past him, heading to Renesmee's room to retrieve her baby girl, just wanting to get back to the cottage.
"Don't even think about leaving bloodsucker." Paul warned, his voice tense. "Bella can get away with that, you can't. Riana is my imprint and I'm demanding to know what the hell Alice saw. Who took Selene?" He wasn't playing games anymore and removed the sling from his arm, staring at Edward coldly.
"There is no need for you to remove that, I know your arm is in a great deal of pain." Edward said politely, gesturing Paul forward into his room, the door closing behind him. "Selene was taken by someone we thought was dead…and he is as far as humans are concerned. He's one of us and he's not with the Volturi as far as we know."
Paul had no idea what Edward was talking about, folding his arms in front of his chest, not looking amused. "Cut the shit and just give me the name." He ordered gruffly, knowing Riana was scared to death by now, even though she was currently knocked out by a strong sedative the doctor gave her.
"Very well, his name is Luke Murphy." Edward waited patiently for Paul to register to that, actually smiling when the man looked confused.
"Who the hell is that?"
"Are you telling me you do not know your betrothed's thought-to-be deceased brother?" Edward asked again in that polite tone of voice, though there was a hint of ice in his tone, leaning against the wall with his arms folded in front of his chest. "It's Riana's brother. He's been changed into one of us."
Paul just stood there, staring at Edward in complete bewilderment, and immediately rushed out of the room to be with Riana.
Just as Edward was about to walk out after him to find Bella, Alice and Jasper came rushing inside the room, both of them breathing heavily. Edward looked directly at Alice, who looked like a deer caught in the headlights, cursing mentally when he read her thoughts and vision. She'd had another one and it was of the Volturi, having a meeting with a certain someone they all knew very well.
"Edward, we don't have much time left. The Volturi are on their way with her." Alice stated, completely terrified for her family's safety, and glanced up at Jasper with worried eyes. "Jasper and I have decided to leave temporarily. We have a vague idea on what she told the Volturi about Renesmee and there's only one way to prove she's innocent."
"What are you talking about, Alice?" Now Edward was confused and continued reading her mind, suddenly understanding perfectly. He lowered his head solemnly, nodding. "Go now, I will inform the others of your departure."
"Edward, this has to be kept between us. I've already told Bella about the plan, but I need your word you won't say anything." Alice placed her hand on his face, caressing it soothingly. "We will return once we find him, I promise."
"Go." He whispered and watched as two of the Cullen's jumped out of the window into the dark black forest, not knowing what he was going to tell Esme and Carlisle.
"Edward, are you coming?"
Without a word, he swept from the room toward his family, knowing he had to protect them at all costs and that included finding Selene.