Chapter Thirty-One — Awareness

Edward POV

Awareness came to me in increments. At first, there was only darkness. Then came sounds, though they were only murmuring voices that I could make no sense of. I had only a moment to ponder this before the pain came. It seared around my throat to the nape of my neck. I wanted to cry out, to beg for help, but my lips would not move. The only sound I could make was a low gurgle in my throat.

I tried to bring my hands up to my throat to extinguish the fire raging there, but they did not move. They did not even seem to be there. I could feel nothing but the pain at my neck. Almost as soon as the thought came to me, I felt the change. My arms were there again, I could feel them, though I wished I couldn't. At my wrists, elbows, and shoulders, there was more burning. Then, just like the lick of a flame, it spread. My hips, knees and feet joined in the chorus of agony, and for a while, it was impossible to think of anything else; though I was sure there was something very important I was missing. There was a pain in my chest outside of the burning in my limbs. Something important had happened, something more important than the flames that were licking at my flesh.

I tried to cry out again, and this time I was able to produce a low moan.

"Easy, Edward," a familiar voice murmured. "You're okay. Just try to keep still." I tried to put a face to the voice but failed. My thinking capabilities, usually lightning fast, felt sluggish. I tried to speak, to ask what was happening, but the pain rendered me incomprehensible.

For a while, the pain took me. It could have been seconds, it could have been days, I was unable to tell. I merely floated on the edge of sanity as the pain raged.

Then it changed again. The pain at my throat eased, and then disappeared. I found I had control of that small part of myself again. I opened my eyes and saw dappled sunlight peeking through the leaves at what seemed an impossible distance. I turned my head to the side and saw a figure beside me. I blinked once and the image cleared. It was Alice. As if she had been the key my mind needed, thought returned to me, and with it horror.

I gasped. "Bella!" I tried to sit up but strong hands pinned me in place. I struggled against the hands holding me, making the pain in my arms and legs sear more than ever.

"You're still healing. You need to lie still," Alice cautioned, but I paid her no mind. I had more pressing concerns than my health. I needed Bella.

"Where is she?" I demanded.

Tension was etched into every detail of Alice's face. "What do you remember?"

The pain was still waging in my limbs, making it hard to think. I pushed away every thought but that of my Bella and concentrated.

"We were in the jungle, at her cave. The Volturi came. They… oh God, they took her."

I looked from Alice to Jasper, hoping one of them would calm my fears, but they merely looked at me with sympathetic gazes.

"She's gone." It was not a question; it was an admission of defeat. I had failed her again. She had been taken from me. I turned my head away from them and stared through the trees. My Bella was gone. I had lost her.

"Stop that!" Jasper barked. He punctuated his words with a blow to the jaw.

"Jasper!" Alice said in a shocked tone. "We've only just put him together again. You want to knock his head off?"

"He needed it," Jasper spat. "He's losing himself again, and that's the last thing Bella needs."

I rubbed a hand across the line of my jaw where Jasper had laid his blow. It hurt, but it was nothing compared to the pain I was already suffering without my Bella.

"Damnit, Edward. If you don't stop that, I swear I will hit you again. Bella needs you, so get up off your ass and do something."

I was about to open my mouth to explain that I couldn't, that my limbs were not my own anymore, but I realized it was a lie. I could feel every inch of myself again, and, blessedly, the burning was gone. I got steadily to my feet and examined myself. My clothes were tattered and torn, and I was covered in small scars. Unlike Jasper's bite marks, there were thin lines. I examined one encircling my wrist and understood. I had been dismembered.

Alice's hand reached out and caught mine as it travelled upward towards my chest. The ache that Bella had left there was pulsing.

"She's alive," she said simply.

"What's happening to her?" I asked.

"I don't know at the moment, I see her in the throne room later though, and she looks… okay."

There was something she wasn't telling me. Her silence brought to mind horrors. "Please tell me, Alice."

"Jane was there."

I groaned. "She can hurt Bella, now."

Alice nodded. "I saw. I'm sorry we didn't get here in time. We were our way to the hotel to meet with the family when I had the vision. We came as fast as we could, but we were too late."

I brushed off my clothes and looked around for my backpack. It had my passport and wallet in it. I would need them if I was to join my family in their flight to rescue my love. It was gone though. Jane or her cronies must have taken it to slow me down. For the same reason they had dismembered me, but not burned me. They didn't want me dead; they wanted the satisfaction of my capitulation.

"They took my stuff." My tone was defeated.

"We have spare papers for you," Alice said, holding out a brown envelope. It's in your Masen name. Jasper has had spares for us all since this started." She gave him a small smile. "Always battle ready."

I nodded my gratitude and took the envelope from her. "Right, that's great. Thank you, Jasper."

Turning from them, I began running in the direction of Novo Progresso. There were other airports closer, but I had more chance of getting a more direct flight to Italy from the town.

"You can't go there," Alice called after me in a panicked tone.

I ground to a halt and spun around to face her. "What do you mean I can't go there? Bella is there."

"Think about it, Jasper said. "What will you do when you get there? Ask Aro nicely if you can have Bella back." He scoffed. "All that will do is give them another bargaining chip against us."

I hated him in that moment. It was easy for him; his mate was at his side, safe and sound. My Bella was in the arms of the enemy, having who knew what tortures heaped upon her. I wanted to rage at him, but his next words brought me up short.

"I love her too, Edward. We all do. None of us want her to be there a second longer that is necessary, but we have to be smart about this. We have been preparing for this moment for weeks. It would be madness to throw it all away now."

"What do you suggest?" I asked through gritted teeth.

He crossed his arms over his chest, surely feeling my hostility and reacting to it unconsciously. "We go to Forks and get the others. Then, and only then, do we begin our attack."

The thought of running to Forks to ask for others' aid in this went against my every instinct, Bella was mine to protect, but I knew that wasn't logical. In a very real way, she belonged to us all. To Garrett who had found her again. To Peter and Charlotte who had taken her into their hearts. To the Denali coven who fought at our side now to repay us for their previous failure. To the wolves and my family who had long loved her. She was ours, not just mine.

"Fine." I sighed in resignation. "We go to Forks."

Even as we set out again towards the airport, I made a vow to myself. Every injury the Volturi animals did to my Bella, I would return to them twice over. They would be screaming for mercy before I was done with them.

xXx

Aro POV

I sat in the throne room awaiting the return of my most prized creation.

I had lived a long time, millennia in fact, and I had done many great things, but none of them could compare to Isabella. She was a masterpiece that I had labored over and was now ready to reap my rewards. Life in the castle sometime grew slow and I liked to have her brought to me on occasion for my enjoyment. This was not such an occasion, however. This was a time to bring my long worked over plan into action. A few select guards knew parts of it, my dear Jane being one of them, but none knew its entirety. That was a secret I alone kept.

My plan was a simple, though ingenious, one. I was to use Isabella, my most prized creation, to lure to me my most coveted gift: Alice Cullen. I learned every thought the youngling had ever had the first time she visited the castle. I knew her greatest fears and deepest desires, and it was those fears that I was going to exploit for my own gain.

Her strange and lonesome entry to this life made her value her loved ones more than anything. Her greatest fear was the destruction of her coven, or to use her own word, family. When she came to rescue the boy Cullen, I had seen her despair at the perceived loss of Isabella. I knew, even without reading her mind, that there was little she would not have done had she been able to save her. That was the crux of my plan. I knew Carlisle's coven were oblivious to the continued existence of Isabella; had they known they would have come to find her long ago. It was time they knew.

I would utilize her constant protective instincts to bring her to me. If I was to arrange a visit to her coven's home, she would see us coming. If I was to make that decision whilst Isabella was with me, she would see that too. They would surely come to me to rescue the boy's mate and Alice would be within my grasp.

It was a plan that would have been much easier to execute had I been in my right mind the time of their most recent visit. I had been too exhilarated at the success of the breaking of Isabella to think in the long term. I would not make the same mistake again. Alice would come to me and I would take her mate and the boy Cullen for good measure. It was just a matter of careful lies and Chelsea's influence.

I sat back in my throne and steepled my fingers at my chin. My smile was wide. It was almost time.

"They should be here soon," I said in a conversational tone.

"Are you really so eager for its return, Aro?" Caius quirked a brow at me. "Personally, I do not find it as appealing as you. It is like a skittish animal, too easily frightened. And the screaming becomes tiresome."

He knew nothing of my plan. I had tried to bring him into my plotting, but he was uninterested. Of late, he had partaken in Corin's influence too often. It made him disinterested to the greater world.

"But it does not last long," I countered. "Jane said when she saw her last that it was the shortest period of pain before she learned to suffer in silence so far."

He shrugged and eased himself to his feet. "Be that as it may, I believe I will leave you and Marcus to enjoy it alone. I will come when the screams stop."

He made for the door, and I was left alone with Marcus. I glanced at my brother. He was staring at the wall with a blank expression. It rarely changed. I knew his every thought, and they were thoroughly uninteresting. If Isabella was my greatest triumph, then Marcus was my greatest failure. I had sacrificed my sister to keep him with me, but it was all for naught. He was almost useless to me now, lost as he was in memories of his mate. I could have bellowed my plan in his ear and he would have remained oblivious.

I had to wait several long hours for the arrival of Jane and her hunting party. The sun had disappeared from the high windows of the throne room and stars had replaced it when I finally heard sounds of their approach.

Jane was predictably the first to enter. Behind her Santiago and Demetri dragged Isabella's unresponsive shell, and Alec brought up the rear keeping his eyes locked on Isabella.

I stood and held open my arms in greeting. "Welcome home, my dear ones. I see you had a successful trip."

For the first time I saw the unease underlying their smiles. Something had happened, and they were wary of my reaction. It made me curious, a situation that was not new to me. I lived in a constant state of curiosity, though it was not often that my desires were sated.

I beckoned Jane forward and she came towards me without her usual haste. Something serious had happened. Deciding it was easier to tempt her with my approval—something she desperately sought—I eyed her with feigned affection. "What is it that you have to show me, dear one?"

"I fear I made a grave error, Master," she said in a tone tight with tension.

I forced down my aggravation and smiled indulgently at her. "I do not believe that is possible, but show me your thoughts and I will ease your mind."

She hesitated. "The girl was not alone, Master. The Cullen boy was there."

The boy was already there! And yet there was no sign of him returning with them. Why had they not brought him to me? I felt the warmth of anger rising in me and I made no attempt to mask it.

"Show me." My voice was cold.

She drew a deep breath and held out her hand to me. I snatched at it as if it was going to be withdrawn from me if I took too long. It was a pointless fear. Jane would never defy me like that.

Bowing my head over our entwined hands, I searched through her memories. What I saw there stole my caution for a moment, and I growled deep in my throat.

They had happened across Isabella and the Cullen boy at Isabella's cave. Rather than using her initiative and bringing him to me, she had allowed her personal feelings to cloud her judgment. Jane had long detested the boy, as she knew how I coveted his gift. Rather than bringing him to me, she had torn him apart and left him scattered. I comforted myself with the fact she had not burned him.

Pulling myself from her memories, I raised my head and spoke in a measured tone. "You failed me."

She ducked her head, apparently unable to meet my eye. "I'm sorry, Master."

I looked at the Demetri. He was braver than Jane by far. He looked me directly in the eye. I was sure that, had I taken the time to read his mind, I would see that he had acquiesced to Jane to avoid her wrath. She was not above using her gift on others among my guard when the urge took her. I usually overlooked these instances of temper, as she was very young at her time of changing, but that would not be the case any longer. It was time she learned her place. She had shown in this failure that she could not be trusted to make independent decisions.

"You left him, when I could have him within my reach even now." Though I was looking at Demetri, I was addressing the group as a whole. They each shifted uncomfortably.

I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "This failure reflects badly upon you all."

Jane looked up at me with wide eyes. I had never spoken to her like this. I was not remotely afraid of her using her gift upon me in a fit of pique, she was my inferior and she knew it, but I had always treated her with deference as she was among the jewels in my collection. Or rather she had been.

"We can go back," Santiago offered. "The boy will not have been able to repair himself alone, we left him scattered."

I didn't deign to answer him. He was below my notice in that moment. He had given me an idea. The boy was out there somewhere, scattered and spread like pieces of a jigsaw. That sort of event must have been enough to trigger the protective instincts of Alice. She must even now be looking for him, if she had not already found him. As soon as he was pieced back together, his first focus would be to retrieve his Isabella. If I was patient, and I could be patient, he would come to me after all. And with him would come Alice.

I returned to my throne and sat back in a relaxed manner. "You may release Isabella now, Alec."

He dropped his focus from the girl and looked to his sister, possibly wanting to give comfort to her.

I watched as animation returned to Isabella's face. She opened her eyes and blinked rapidly as if trying to focus. As soon as she realized where she was, her expression became haunted and she glanced around looking for something, or someone.

"Welcome home, Isabella," I crooned.

She looked to me with fear-filled eyes and gasped one word. "Edward!"

I smiled to myself. This was going to be ever so entertaining.