Yes, it's a double update weekend.
The newborns falter for half a second, as shocked as the Volturi by the appearance of the wolves. Then I see something that makes me furious. Standing at the back of their group, barking orders, is Riley. A growl builds in my chest. This is Jane's fault. That he's still alive; that he's here, goading these wild children into battle.
They don't need much encouragement. Deciding, to their folly, that the wolves are not a threat, the group explodes across the clearing in a frenzied, snarling mass. My family is more than ready to meet them.
Emmett takes the first one like a wrecking ball, clattering into the trees and ripping the newborn's head clean off his shoulders. And then the whole clearing is a blur of motion. The noise, screaming and snarling, and the crunch of bone. The howl of the wolves. So much movement and mayhem and so hard to see who is winning. Bonfires catch and take hold on either side of the field, and I can only assume someone built them in advance. Pieces of the defeated are tossed into the flames and soon our line of sight is obscured with thick, acrid smoke.
"Come," Aro announces with frustration. "We move closer."
I let out a breath in relief. Closer and I feel sure I will be able to hear what's going on. Closer, and I might be able to make a decision so that Alice can see what happens next.
The Volturi sweep down the hill in silence, toward the confrontation. Aro is determined, his thoughts reflecting nothing but what he sees in front of him, as if he's holding up a mirror to me in his mind. Caius is, as ever, slightly irritated by proceedings. Wishing this was over. Annoyed that he has to dirty his hands. Marcus is drifting along with the wives. His thoughts are troubled. It's a long time since he's been in a forest, and the noise of the battle and the smell of the burning corpses is unsettling him, bringing back terrible memories.
Finally, through the haze of Volturi thoughts, I start to hear others. Fear and panic mostly. A foreign, plural voice that must be the wolves. And my family. Carlisle's concern for Esme as she knocks a lithe young man to his knees and tears off one of his arms. Alice's satisfaction as yet another torso is tossed onto a fire. Emmett's pain, from a glancing blow to the ribs. I'm counting them off, rapidly, in my head. Rose kicks out at the dismembered head of a young girl. Jasper runs, flipping neatly over a wolf, blindsiding a distracted vampire. All of them are alive. I nearly sob with gratitude. Our friends are alive. It is the newborns who lie strewn across the battlefield, dead and dying.
Bella. My mind ranges across the surrounding landscape, looking for her protectors even if I could never hear her. But there is nothing.
We're close enough now that I can hear them out loud, the sound of their voices alone like a homecoming after so long apart.
"Jasper!" Carlisle's tone is warning, and in my mind's eye I see Jasper crouching, poised to attack the last newborn. A slip of a girl, wide-eyed, petrified. Kneeling at Esme's feet.
"She doesn't want to fight. She's surrendered."
"Carlisle, I…" Jasper's hesitant. I want to scream out. I want to warn them that we're here. Why hasn't Alice seen us yet? I listen for her, but her thoughts are distracted. She's surrounded by wolves and it's almost like a headache for her, like what humans experience as a migraine.
Jasper continues, "I'm sorry, but that's not possible. We can't have any of these newborns
associated with us when the Volturi come. Do you realize the danger that would put us in?"
I suck in a breath. They do know we're coming.
"Jasper, she's only a child," Esme protests. "We can't just murder her in cold blood!"
"It's our family on the line here, Esme. We can't afford to have them think we broke this rule."
Suddenly I hear Alice's voice, clear as a bell. "They're here. The north end of the clearing. Now."
And she's right, of course, as we step through the thinning trees, spreading like a dark fog through the tendrils of smoke, our robes sweeping over the detritus of war.
"Welcome, Aro," Carlisle manages, straightening himself up and trying to put a friendly face on his greeting. His thoughts are worried. Concerned that we have arrived now, when they are weakened and on the back foot. He's trying not to make eye-contact with me, but his thoughts are full of concern and love and worry. It makes my heart ache, the depth of his commitment to me. My father.
I look along the line as they form up. Clothing torn and hair out of place. Mud-streaked but victorious. I want to run to them; to pull Alice into a tight hug. To feel Emmett pound me on the back in greeting. None of them will look at me, even as their minds reach out. And even as these feelings threaten to overwhelm me, I feel a thick dampening influence from Chelsea. A disinterest that creeps through my subconscious, leaving me standing where I am, shoulder to shoulder with the Guard.
The wolves are even more striking than I remember. Huge, panting creatures, standing like sentries. I hear discomfort in the minds of the Guard around me, staggered by their size and power.
"It seems we missed all of the fun!" Aro waves around at the destruction, his voice light. "But I see that you perhaps saved someone for us?"
"She has surrendered," Esme explains, one hand on the frightened girl's shoulder.
"Surrendered?" Jane snaps in disbelief and annoyance.
"Carlisle gave her the option," Esme replies, seemingly unfazed by Jane's tone. Her face gives nothing away, but like Carlisle, her thoughts are only for me. She's safe, Edward. We have her protected. She's not here, but she's not far.
Bella. My Bella. I struggle against Chelsea's influence. Alice, too, is trying to comfort me in her mind. Bella is with a wolf. He's young, and strong, and can take care of her. The wolves here can communicate with him. It's going to be okay, Edward.
I wish I could believe her.
"There are no options for those who break the rules," Jane says, her tone dead and cold.
Carlisle answers Jane in a soft voice. "That's in your hands. As long as she was willing to halt her attack on us, I saw no need to destroy her. She was never taught the rules."
"That is irrelevant," snorts Caius.
"As you wish." Carlisle spreads his hand as if to turn the matter over to us. I see pain flash across Esme's features, a mother to the core.
"It appears that you've done our work for us today… for the most part," Aro muses. "Just out of professional curiosity, how many were there? They left quite a wake of destruction in Seattle."
"Eighteen, including this one." The vampires around me murmur. There is disquiet that the newborn pack could have grown so large. Either Victoria and Riley were acting very quickly, or this has been going on longer than we had been told.
"Eighteen?" Jane repeats, a note of surprise in her voice. I can't tell if it's real or if she's faking it.
"All brand-new," Carlisle says. "They were unskilled."
"All?" Aro enquires. "Then who was their creator?"
I think about Riley, at the edges of the battle, yelling at the newborns. I look around for any evidence of his corpse.
"Her name is Victoria," Esme is explaining. "She wasn't with them."
"She's dead," Jane announces dispassionately. "Edward killed her." A mental fist-bump from Emmett. Disappointment from the wolves. Concern from Esme.
"You there," Jane snarls at the vampire on the ground. "Your name." The gesture is almost undetectable, but the girl's spine arches in pain.
"Bree," she yelps, as fast as she can, gasping though the agony.
"She'll tell you anything you want to know," Esme growls. "You don't have to do that."
"Oh, I know," Jane sounds almost cheerful. "Bree? Who brought you here?"
"Riley told us that we had to destroy the yellow-eyes. He said it would be easy. He said that the city was theirs, and they were coming to get us. He said once they were gone, all the blood
would be ours. He gave us a scent. He said we would know that we had the right coven, because she would be with them. He said whoever got to her first could have her."
Rage floods over me, bursting through the net that Chelsea has cast over my devotion, and I can't contain the growl that rumbles in my chest. How dare he? Offer up Bella as bait?
Aro swings briefly to look at me, his carefully-constructed thoughts slipping for just a heartbeat. I sense a wave of angry surprise, that Bella still produces such strength of reaction in me, despite his best efforts. And something else. A woman. A surge of uncontrolled emotion. And before I can process what I'm hearing, it's gone. His facade is firmly back in place.
He turns back to Bree. "It looks like Riley was wrong about the easy part," he says, a hint of teasing in his tone.
"Riley left us, and he didn't come to help like he promised. And then it was so confusing, and everybody was in pieces." She flinches at the memory of the fight, shuddering and not looking around at the carnage.
"I was afraid. I wanted to run away." She nods at Carlisle. "That one said they wouldn't hurt me if I stopped fighting."
"Ah, but that wasn't his gift to offer, young one," Aro says. He sounds like he is enjoying himself. "Broken rules demand a consequence."
This comment is as much for the benefit of everyone else in the clearing as it is for Bree. I stare hard at Alice, willing her to look at me. Willing her to understand why we are here and what is about to happen, but there is nothing. The hum of her headache, the occasional burst of clarity, and a deep-seated frustration with her powerlessness.
"Are you sure you got all of them?" Demetri asks, kicking out at a loose limb near his feet. I'm thinking the same thing. Bree thinks Riley left them. Where did he go? I want Aro to order Demetri to track the edges of the clearing; to make sure.
Carlisle, however, nods. "We split up, too."
"I can't deny that I'm impressed," Aro says, sounding sincere. He was clearly hopeful that Riley's army would do some damage here, and they failed. Spectacularly.
"I've never seen a coven escape this magnitude of offensive intact," Caius asks. "Do you know what was behind it? It seems like extreme behavior, considering the way you live here."
It feels like he's laying a trap. Wanting them to talk about Victoria's motivations, about James' death. About Bella.
"Victoria held a grudge against us," Carlisle responds carefully, without elaboration.
"As I understand it, there's a little more to it than that," Aro drawls slowly, stepping to one side and allowing Felix to thrust Irina forward roughly to the front of the group. Alice gasps in shock. Carlisle looks deeply pained. Irina, for her part, is clearly regretting playing any part in this. Even the memories of her loss are not enough to sustain her now that she faces old friends.
"These animals that surround you destroyed Irina's devoted mate."
The wolves snap and growl, clearly understanding the insult, but they do not break the line. Carlisle lets out a shuddering breath. "They were protecting a human. That is their nature and their commitment to this land."
Aro nods, as if he is considering this, before springing his trap. "But, dear Carlisle, as I understand it, this grudge you speak of came about because you destroyed Victoria's mate. And that you also did to protect a human."
Bella. Aro's mind is suddenly flooded with images of her, bereft and sobbing on the floor of the Grand Hall. Screaming my name. My knees buckle, and I struggle to keep my footing. Aro's expression is outwardly calm, but inside his emotions are boiling up, a seething rage that seems to be melting through the veil he has drawn over his thoughts to hide them from me.
"And so, it seems to me that your Coven has not only revealed itself to this human child, a transgression that Edward had to atone for in Volterra, but that you continue to shelter her, and you do so at the expense of the lives of two of our kind. That you have forged an alliance with our natural enemies, seemingly for the sole purpose of protecting a human life over a vampire one. Can this be true?"
The images of Bella in his mind are devastating; the pain wrought across her delicate features entirely my doing. I close my eyes briefly. It is all I can do not to throw myself forward into the center of the clearing and put the blame for all of this where it belongs, squarely on my shoulders. If only I could be convinced that the punishment Aro would exact would only be leveled at me.
Aro's mental picture of Bella starts to shimmer, shift. Her hair seems a little darker, the twisted agony across her brow the same. The pain. The rage. Something's wrong; something is off. I struggle to focus on what Aro is thinking, but it's hard with so many people around me. It looks like Bella, but it isn't. Aro's hands are around her neck. Anger. Heart-wrenching pain. No reason to leave.
"It is true that both James and Laurent died because they attacked Bella," Carlisle concedes quietly. "She is still human. And for that reason, on these lands, she demands the wolves' protection." A large russet-colored wolf lets out a low howl, pawing at the ground in agreement. The thoughts of the wolves are hard to distinguish, but it seems this must be Jacob.
"But Aro, she is also, without question, Edward's mate. We protect her accordingly."
The words are like an incantation. Somewhere behind me I hear Marcus thinking. No reason to leave. No reason for anyone to leave.I've heard this before. The clamor of the minds around me is becoming frustrating. I need silence. I need to focus.
Aro laughs; a soulless, ugly sound. "Come, come, Carlisle. You know better than that. We have so little in the way of laws, our kind. And yet you flout them all."
"Do not treat us as fools, Carlisle." Caius says, drifting to Aro's side. "You know as well as we do that without the law, we are no better than the animals at your side."
Aro nods. "I see no reason to delay..." He turns slightly toward us, and I realize that this will be it. He will pass sentence; order the others forward. I try to zoom in on just Marcus' mind, searching for an answer that is eluding me. Something just out of my reach.
In his thoughts, he's sitting on the ground; outside, but not here. The season is different; it's daylight. No reason to leave. No reason for anyone to leave. Aro is with him. A hand on his shoulder; and at the fringes of the vision, I see Chelsea. Suddenly the image comes into stark relief. Marcus' pale hand pressed to the cheek of a woman in pain. The woman from Aro's memories who looks like Bella, but isn't. The savage, fatal injury across her neck. The incomprehensible heartbreak. Didyme.
The two halves of the puzzle fly together in my mind with a snap.
"This has nothing to do with the law."
My voice is louder than I intend it, harsh in the still of the forest. Unexpected. Aro's bloodied eyes narrow in fury. The Guard's thoughts are in unison, stunned at my outburst.
"You're not here to enforce the law. You're here to take what you want. You want my commitment, my undivided loyalty. You want me to have no reason to leave."
I hear Marcus murmur the words behind me, and I whirl on my heel. I'm in front of him in an instant, his translucent hands in mind, willing his mind to focus. Willing him to really hearme through the fog of history and Chelsea's tentacle reach. "That's right," I urge him. "It's what he's told you. It's what Chelsea's convinced you of for centuries. That there is no reason for anyone to leave."
Out of the corner of one eye, I see Aro gesture in Alec's direction.
I clutch at Marcus' hands. "It's all a lie, don't you see. All of this is artifice. Aro killed her, Marcus. Aro killed Didyme."
The thoughts of everyone in the field recoil in shock and disbelief. Everyone except Aro, who has turned into a pillar of rage.
"ALEC", he hisses, disgusted that the boy has not yet acted. Alec shakes his head briefly, staring at me, and flicks an impatient hand. I wait for the fog to descend, for this to be over, but with a shrill cry it is Chelsea who collapses noisily to the ground.
"What is the MEANING of this?" Aro shrieks, rounding on Alec, and finding Jane standing between them, one tiny palm in the air to stop him.
"Is it true?" she asks, her voice suddenly sounding tiny, like the child she is embodied within.
Around me, the Guard is restless. Their thoughts, suddenly freed from Chelsea's grasp, are wide-ranging. Suspicion, fear, and paranoia uncurl and roll out around me. It seems to magnify and fold in upon itself, and I can't help but wonder if that's Jasper, conducting this like an orchestra.
Before Aro can respond I turn back to Marcus, his ruby eyes boring in to mine, hoping desperately for an answer that is less hurtful than the one I have for him.
"You were planning to leave," I remind him, dragging forth the memories long-buried from his mind. "There was a battle, I don't know where. In a forest, not so different from this one. It was to be your last." My voice is urgent, willing him to understand. "You and Didyme were separated. She was with Aro, and she was mortally wounded. He said it was a nomad, that he avenged her. But he lied. He lied. He killed her, Marcus. He killed his sister, so that you would have no reason to leave."
A clear voice cuts through the night. Assured, commanding. "Edward speaks the truth," Sarah says. "This has never been about the law. This has only ever been about your loyalty."
Aro hisses behind me and I think that he is about to attack. A noise tears forth from Marcus, a howl borne of centuries of heartbreak and betrayal. A cry for a lost love; for the other half of his soul. And even as Renata processes what is about to happen and begins to move, his ancient power has flung her across the clearing. Marcus moves faster than even my eyes can detect, lunging at Aro, his teeth bared and fists flying. The sound is horrific, from the far side of hell. Like thunderbolts colliding. Like the earth collapsing in on itself.
And then silence. Nothing but the sound of the wolves' heartbeats. Even the minds of those around me startled into absolute stillness.
Marcus lies sprawled on the ground, like a broken doll. His limbs at odd angles, grievous wounds across his chest and his neck that he will not recover from. His face is beatific, his eyes closed. Just the hint of a smile. Despite his injuries he looks at peace.
And in one hand, he clutches the severed head of Aro Volturi.
Caius is the only one who moves, flying to kneel by his brothers' sides. His expression is horrified and dismayed. Marcus' eyes flutter open, one pale hand reaching for Caius. His voice is barely audible. "Remember what is important, Caius," he whispers. "Do a better job of it than we did."
Caius lets out an anguished cry, tugging at his hair and tearing at his robes in grief.
Then, a noise that causes my stone heart to crack. In unison and urgency, the wolves begin to howl.
Bella.