With Bella It's Personal
Maybe I should make Alice kill her.
Owen pondered this thought as he watched security camera footage on his office wall. Lucy was leading Alice and Bella through the building's nearly deserted lobby. Owen glanced over his shoulder at Jane, noted the petulant fury distorting her features. Owen returned his attention to the monitor and frowned. It seemed Mrs. Cullen had little chance of surviving until dawn.
He took a seat behind his desk, with Jane standing to his left. Lucy brought in the two members of the Olympic Coven and took up position on his right. Owen had come to understand how much Jane despised Alice and Bella: Aro's longing to collect them had driven Jane mad with jealousy. But Owen couldn't let Jane kill Bella. Not yet. She still wanted it too badly. First growth and telos and self-control. Then the traitor's head on a plate.
"We've come to join your coven," Alice began, "to continue the work of the Volturi. We will add a new law to their code: no killing humans. Eat animals, or face our wrath."
Owen nodded. "You made the hard decisions that saved your family from Aro," he said. "You produced a creative solution that avoided casualties. You're the one who figured out what I wanted. Remarkable leadership potential, though you probably don't realize it. How I've longed to have the training of you! If we do this right you'll become the greatest leader your world has ever known."
Alice stepped forward. "You are our leader," she declared.
"For now," Owen acknowledged. "You must learn to thrive apart from your gift, and that will take time. But her," Owen said, gesturing toward Bella while keeping his attention fixed on Alice. "Why did you bring her here?"
"Because you have to learn also," Alice said. "You have to learn to get over your hangup, whatever it is."
Owen smiled despite himself. How right he'd been to pick Alice!
"We could change you," Bella suggested. "You could see things from our perspective. You could lead this coven for centuries."
A blinding rage threatened to overwhelm Owen. It was all he could do to keep from siccing Jane on her. "You stupid child!" Owen spat, rising and circling his desk to get in Bella's face. "How dare you speak as though becoming a vampire is a positive outcome. Like it's something anyone should desire! I am a human being. Human! What are you? You're nothing."
"I'm more than some bitter old man who gets off on controlling others," Bella proclaimed, and she leaned forward. Alice grabbed her around the waist.
"So Bella has a bit of spunk," Owen said. "That's good to see. I still say you're nothing."
"You don't even know me," Bella replied.
"Don't I? It's been over half a year since I destroyed the Volturi. What have you done with that time? Hiding. Waiting. Nothing."
"What was I supposed to do?"
"That you even ask the question proves what a zero you really are." Owen pulled a stack of photographs from his desk and shoved them in Bella's face.
Bella took the pictures and began glancing through them. They showed image after image of mangled, bloodless bodies, eyes staring vacantly in pain and terror. After a minute Bella shoved the pile of images away. "I don't know these people," she said.
"Exactly," Owen declared. "You don't know them, so you don't care about them. That's what makes you pathetic. All you care about is your own little world. Your own personal happiness. And if there are vampires eating people this very day - why, that has nothing to do with you. As long as you're happy, that's all that matters. And the worse thing about it is that you're able to be happy. You know what vampires are doing. You know it, Bella. And despite that knowledge you're still able to feel content. Pathetic freak."
"There's nothing wrong with being happy," Bella protested.
"Wrong," Owen maintained. "Yours is the happiness of the man who hears a rape victim crying for help, and instead of helping he shuts the window and goes back to his television program. So what if that loser is happy? So what if he enjoys his show? It's a monstrous happiness he's feeling. Sick, perverted, repulsive. And that's what you are. I spit on your happiness. I hope you die."
Bella shook her head. "We try to make a difference. We only eat animals. We encourage others to follow our example."
"Yes, you've done something," Owen allowed. "But how is that the same as doing enough? If I'm carrying a gun at the mall when some psycho runs in and starts shooting people, is it enough that I set a good example by not joining in? Don't I have an obligation to be proactive, to return fire, regardless of the risk to myself? And if I refuse to intervene, what kind of an excuse is, 'It's OK, as long as I'm happy?'"
"What do you expect? You want me to be miserable like you?"
"I want you to give a damn about people you don't know. I've saved thousands of lives through the vampires I've slain. I don't know those people I saved. I never will. They'll never know what I did for them. They'll never thank me. I care about them anyway. They matter to me. I'm human. But there's no humanity in you. You were a self-centered, narcissistic Nazi long before you met the Cullens."
"You bastard," Bella muttered.
"Yes, I'm a bastard," Owen admitted. "But the people I've saved, Bella - they don't care. All they care about is that they're alive."
"How about them?" Bella challenged, motioning to Owen's servants. "Do they care about humans?"
"Lucy's a monster and Jane's a psychopath," Owen replied. "What's your excuse? Besides, they're not pretending to be something they're not. But you, Bella - you probably kiss your daughter goodnight thinking you're somehow one of the good guys, that because you haven't killed anyone that means you're not evil. The most powerful shield on earth. Think of all the lives you could have saved the last six months! Instead you buried your head in the sand and hoped I would go away."
"I thought you didn't want us using our gifts."
"Some must stop using their powers," Owen explained, "until they relearn how to think. But it seems you haven't even started using yours. So many lives you could have saved, Bella. What sort of creature are you? Why don't you care?"
"Head on a platter," Jane interrupted. "Can I give it to you, Master?"
"Bring it," Bella challenged.
Jane drew a .44 Magnum and aimed it at Bella's face. "White phosphorous. Care to learn how it feels?"
Alice intervened. "Let's assume you're right," she said. "Bella's shallow. How good are you, Owen? Can you get someone this vapid and self-centered to care about all those people getting eaten? Isn't that the sort of challenge you're looking for?"
"Why should I bother?" he asked.
"Because you need a long-term solution, and the power of the law isn't it. The only way vampires are going to permanently shift to an animal diet is if they start caring about their victims. I realize it sounds ridiculous. So start with Bella. Try to get her to care about random humans. Try with her and see where it takes us."
Owen found this notion intriguing. And he hadn't thought of it. Was it possible? Could a vampire be made to feel compassion toward its natural prey? An absurd notion, of course. But interesting. Owen liked interesting.
"How to define success?" he mused. "Jane, the day will come when I give Bella to you. How miserable will she have to be for you to decide to let her live, just so she can keep suffering?"
"Pretty miserable, Master."
"That's what I thought," he replied, redirecting his attention to Alice. "Very well. We'll try it your way. We get Bella invested in the war. We see if she can change, if she can grow beyond herself, if she can become a deep person. Hopefully she comes to care so much that the horror wrecks and ruins her. Such an empty shell that even Jane chooses to spare her. Yes. I like this," he concluded. "A plan with definite potential. And who knows? Maybe we really do discover a way to transform at least some vampires into compassionate creatures."
Bella approached him, her voice grim. "You talk about compassion, but all I hear is bitterness. It's more than war to you. It's insane, irrational hate."
Owen lifted a hand and stroked Bella's cheek. "Mrs. Cullen," he replied softly, "I'm perfectly rational. The only vampires I hate are happy ones."