Confuzzlement

Hey everyone! I'm back from outer space with a brand new update. I'm very sorry, I has been the victim of a plague of writer's block and computer issues, not to mention a whole bunch of things which got in the way of writing. The bad news is; I'm not really very happy with this chapter, it could be better, but I really want to get it up. The good news is that the next two chapters are already written. Yay! *rejoices*


Sulpicia POV

How could he? How dare he?

"Calm down my sweetheart, I know what I'm doing."

I hissed at my husband, "Do you!? Or are you too obsessed with your collecting to care? I don't trust that Cullen boy. Carmen was bad enough..."

He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my hair "Shhhh, sweetheart, no-one could ever hope to take her from us, and who would be fool enough to try? When my plan is complete, she'll be bound tighter to us than ever before."

"Do you promise?"

"Yes," he whispered, and kissed me warmly.

EPOV

Bella had outdone herself. She'd ranted, raved, whined, begged, cried and somehow managed to convince her parents to let her see us more often. It was a week since we'd come to Volterra and since my first visit we'd been allowed to see her for two whole hours every day. Carmen certainly had something to do with it.

I tried very hard not to let the woman get to me. She was kind, sincere and honourable; a worthy friend for Bella, far more worthy than myself, but maybe that was the problem. Whatever it was, the jealousy continued to eat at me.

So when Chelsea informed us that Carmen would be absent from our next visit I was almost too delighted to be suspicious. Almost. If there was one thing I knew, it was that Aro was always up to something - and usually several somethings.

If that weren't enough, no-one else seemed remotely surprised and all were carefully controlling their thoughts. Esme was obviously distressed, but gave me a watery smile. Rosalie stormed out of the room for reasons unknown to me, Emmett followed after with an apologetic look. Carlisle merely murmured that he had been afraid that this would happen. Something was up.

I know it was wrong, but all the secrecy had triggered my curiosity and I was concentrating on my families thoughts to try to figure it out. Likewise, it seemed that they were equally determined to block me. It took hours, but eventually Emmett gave me my next clue;

This is absurd! She's only five for goodness sake!

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Emmett looked up awkwardly, his frustration had peaked only moments ago, but that was now lost in his embarrassment at getting caught. "What's what supposed mean?"

"What do you mean by 'She's only five'?"

Everyone stopped and stared at us, worry etched on all their faces, thoughts perfectly controlled. Emmet looked around to the others, as if asking for help, but none came. "Look bro," he tried to backtrack "Just....be good. Ok?"

"You're not coming?"

"I don't think we were invited" Rosalie's voice was cold and hard, "But you go have fun with Bella, and just forget about the rest of us. Don't even think about what this will mean for Alice and Jasper, or Esme. Don't worry about what you'll do to her!"

"Rosalie!" Carlisle looked disappointed, Esme had an expression to match. Moments later she was gone again, and Emmett with her.

Esme hugged me sadly, "Just do what you think is best," she whispered.

I don't know what it was about that sentence, but somehow it just made everything snap into place. I suddenly understood why they were all up in arms, I knew exactly why they'd been expecting this, I knew what they thought was going on. Worst of all, I knew they were right.

Meanwhile, Neutral POV;

At the southern most tip of America, his charges departed, The Master turned his back on the departing plane and returned to his fortress where his more mature army awaited. He sent half north to assist his ally. Just one more piece of the puzzle was waiting to be put in place and then they would be ready.

Sorry, know its short, but you shouldn't need to wait long for the next installment.

Also, I know I don't deserve it, but could you please find it in your heart to review?