18.

The hour passed by uneventfully. Unlike when we had been waiting for Fred to come, we were more relaxed. Most of us did what we normally did; Emmett and Jasper watched a game together, while Edward and Nessie sat at the piano, and I had my nose buried in a book. This time I had picked a good novel; Esme had recommended it to me a few days ago and I hadn't gotten the chance to read it yet.

Alice sat next to Jasper, her feet propped up in his lap, where he unconsciously rubbed them. Her and Rose were painting their nails together. They had tried to pull Bella into their little nail party, but she politely declined and put the headphones for her mp3 player into her ears. Her eyes were closed, head bobbing softly, to whatever she was listening to.

Alice had just finished painting her last nail when she tensed up. Jasper noticed it immediately.

"Are they close?"

She nodded. "Five minutes."

We didn't have to wait any longer than she had predicted. There was a soft knock on the door. Carlisle pulled it open. The first person I saw was Aro, his personal shield named Reneta right behind him. Marcus and Caius filed in. The minute Bella saw Jane and Alec come in, her shield pulsed out and covered all the Cullens. Jane threw a hateful snare at Bella as she passed by her, though I wasn't sure if it was because she sensed the shield was up or because of their past history.

Aro was looking around the room with great interest. "A beautiful home, Carlisle."

Carlisle nodded his thanks and offered a seat to the six Volturi. Aro, Caius, and Marcus all sat, though the others remained standing, moving in behind the couch. Aro folded his hands together, smiling giddily as he surveyed everyone in the room. His red eyes landed on mine and remained there for a while. By his expression I could tell he was recalling my gift. "Hello, Lisa."

I didn't smile, simply nodding my head in response.

"Still bitter about before, I see."

"It's not something I'll easily forgive you for," I answered curtly.

"Of course not, dear." His smile widened. "Tell me, is your husband here?"

Edward answered the question for me. "He's none of your concern."

Aro chuckled quietly and glanced at the two people on either side of him, but they weren't smiling. Aro humphed quietly and turned back to us.

Caius spoke. "We did not come here to question Lisa about her husband," looking at Carlisle. "I'm sure you know why we're here," he added as his eyes moved to Alice's face. She smiled sweetly, as if she had no idea what he meant.

"The issue has been taken care of," said Carlisle.

"How did you come across them," asked Marcus.

"There was a woman that came to us, claiming she had knowledge of Alice's past."

"Did she?"

"Yes."

"So you let her in?"

Carlisle glanced at Esme before replying. "Yes."

"And then what happened?"

"She distressed Alice greatly and she left. Lisa and Emmett went outside to confront her and found her trying to get to John."

Aro glanced from me to Emmett. Your wolf friends were here to protect him," he guessed.

Carlisle nodded. "Emmett and Lisa chased her a ways into the forest before she disappeared. A little later, when Lisa went back to the cabin, she found that John was gone."

"And your wolf friends were still there?" Carlisle nodded, to which Aro clicked his tongue in response. "Not very good watch dogs."

"She climbed in through the back window," spoke up Bella in defense.

Aro smiled at her. "Of course," he said with a chuckle.

"So you followed her trail to their hiding place?" asked Marcus.

"We followed John's scent. None of us could smell or feel Camila."

"Because she was a ghost."

Carlisle responded in the affirmative. "She had left us a trail to mislead us, so we split up to find where they had actually gone. My group realized we were close when Jasper mentioned that he couldn't feel anything at all. We thought that it might be because these ghost vampires were emitting a sort of shield."

"Interesting," muttered Caius. He whispered something in Aro's ear about not having known that.

"We went in together and killed all four of the vampires."

"There were only four?"

"Yes. We tore them apart and burned them."

"Good."

Marcus, Aro, and Caius turned towards each other and began muttering quietly. When they were done, Caius looked at us. "Was there anything else in the cave?"

"No," Edward lied. "We only found the four vampires."

Caius looked Edward up and down and then glanced at Carlisle. "Then you won't mind if Aro takes a look at your memories."

Carlisle spoke up softly. "Don't you trust us now, Caius? Have we ever lied to you?"

Caius exchanged a look with Marcus and Aro that suggested he thought we had, but he let the subject drop. He stood, followed by the other two occupants of the couch. "Thank you for your time, Carlisle."

I could feel Aro's eyes burning into my skull. Finally I met his eyes. He walked towards me. "You know, if you start finding this life boring, you should join us in Italy. Life is never boring there."

Carlisle moved to protect me, but I held up my hand, signaling I could hold my own. "I don't think I'll ever find life here boring, and I've been around you enough to know that living in Washington, as far away from you and your friends as possible, is closer than I can stand." Aro looked taken aback by my outright rejection. "But thank you," I added with a mocking smile.

Again he humph-ed and turned on his heel. But he seemed to remember something else and turned back to me. "Where is your husband?"

"Like Edward said, that is none of your business."

His hand was coming towards me. "Maybe I'll just take a look-see."

I jerked away from him and replied quickly. "He's in the cottage we share together, away from you."

Aro's lips split into a cat-like grin. "He's still human, isn't he?"

"He won't be for long, Aro, so leave it alone," I replied without thinking.

"Mmhmm," he answered. He turned to Carlisle. "It's quite an interesting household you have here. You're quite the human-lover, aren't you, Carlisle?"

"How me and my family choose to live our lives should be none of your concern, Aro."

"But you're so… interesting," Aro replied, sounding like a snake luring in it's prey. Edward shot a warning glance towards Carlisle, letting him know that Aro was trying to play one of his mind games.

"You cannot threaten John's life just so you can get Lisa on your side. I won't allow you to play with my family like that again."

Aro feigned a look of hurt. "But I wasn't even going to suggest that."

Carlisle didn't respond. He didn't have the chance to. From outside came a loud crashing noise. Everyone's heads turned toward the window by the front door. If my heart was still beating, it would have skipped a beat. A figure stood a few yards away from the porch, bathed in the waning sunlight. I would have recognized her anywhere.

Her mouth opened wide and from her throat ripped a glass-shattering scream. "Cuuulleeeen!"

Camila was back from the dead.