Back to Bella and the others :)
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Enjoy :)
Theory
All eyes were on Alice waiting for her to fill us in.
"She wants us to know that she´s being held here in Italy by someone named Simon and Samantha," Alice answered.
"It appears that she´s trying to get as much information as possible to pass on to me," Alice continued.
"She´s a very smart girl," Esme said sounding very proud.
What would being smart cost her?
"I do hope she´s being very careful," I whispered.
"What do you mean, Bella?" Jasper could feel the anxiety growing.
"Well, you all know her. She´s not the most tactful of persons. When she doesn´t get her way she can be very stubborn and sarcastic," I answered.
I heard Emmet cough and whisper to Rosalie, " Gee, I wonder who she got that from."
Rosalie just rolled her eyes at him but seemed to be struggling to hold back a giggle.
"Yes Emmet. And that is exactly why I know that that side of her personality can get her in even more trouble," I snapped back at him.
I had had my share of trouble in my human years because of my stubbornness and my sarcastic attitude so I could only imagine how Nessie could be holding up. She was after all twice as stubborn as I was and pretty much used to getting her way.
"Well at least we have some names to go on now," Carlisle said trying to change the subject obviously. And he was right; this was no time to be giving up hope.
"I just don´t get it," Rosalie said. "Why Nessie? What do they want from her?"
"I´m afraid there are a few alternative answers to your questions Rosalie, dear," Carlisle answered.
I was pretty sure I had guessed a couple of them and Edward didn´t seem too surprised either. But then again he was hardly ever surprised of what was said.
Rosalie, Emmet and Jasper all glared back at Carlisle with a look of expectancy.
"Well, go on then," Emmet nearly shouted. Our dear not so patient Emmet.
"It could be fascination of the phenomenon that is Nessie," he answered. "But I doubt it´s that one since we´ve established that this is not Aro´s doing."
"There´s also the possibility of her being kidnapped in an attempt to blackmail us," Carlisle had gotten to his feet now and was pacing the room. It seemed like he was thinking out loud. "But that doesn't explain why they had to go to Italy though. It´s not a secret that our family has money. We don't hide it that well now do we," he said with a smile on his lips as he looked at each of his beloved children. "And it´s common sense that we would pay whatever the demand was to get our little pride and joy back to safety," he added.
Two theories down.
"The last theory I have is the one I think is the most likely," he said continuing to pace back and forth.
"Revenge," he said in a clear voice.
I held my breath. He had finally come to the theory that had been shouting in my head for hours now.
"Elaborate please," Emmet pleaded. He liked games, but detested guessing games. He was way too impatient to wait for all the pieces in his head to be put together. Even if this was a no brainer.
"Well if we look at the facts," Carlisle said looking at Emmet.
Emmet rolled his eyes. He didn´t want to look at the facts. That would mean he would have to put those pieces together by himself.
"We found a handkerchief dozed in chloroform with the embroider `Victoria` on it outside Nessie´s bedroom window," Carlisle began. "Then we found one of Bella´s blouses in the woods. We already know the fact that it was taken from her old room in Charlie´s house years back by Riley, Victoria´s helper. We also know that Bella hadn´t worn that blouse since she was a human, she couldn´t have."
Carlisle looked up at Emmet expecting him to speak. Or at least understand by now.
Emmet´s glare was confused. "And?" was all he said.
"So maybe Victoria didn´t bring her whole army with her 6 years ago. Maybe someone stayed behind to finish the job if anything went wrong," he answered.
"Victoria didn´t count on failure," Jasper interrupted, "that wasn´t her style. She was way too confident to have a backup plan."
That´s what we all thought anyway.
"But we don´t know that for sure," Carlisle continued to argue his case. "Perhaps she was just sparing her favorite newborn, counting on returning to him when the fight had been won. She wasn´t expecting any of the newborns to survive. Not even Riley. She knew he wouldn´t be a match for Edward and the army in the field was merely a distraction to keep us busy. The only one she counted on surviving was herself. She had already lost James and maybe she couldn´t bear the thought of maybe loosing another possible mate."
It all made sense when Carlisle put it that way. So once again I was the one who had endangered my family.
"It´s almost been six years. Why have they waited this long to attack?" Tanya asked.
"Since they weren´t there that day they didn´t know where to look or how Bella looked like. Bella´s scent isn´t quite the same now as it was when she was human. And they might have been oblivious to the fact that she was transformed," Carlisle answered. "And then they would have to wait until Edward wasn´t home. He would be able to hear their minds and their intentions long before they would be able to do anything."
Edward stiffened. He was probably blaming himself for ever leaving us.
"Even if you are right that still doesn´t explain the why her part," Rosalie said facing Carlisle.
"What could possibly hurt more than losing you mate?" Edward answered and asked it in a small unsteady voice.
"The loss of your child," Esme gasped. She knew the pain of losing a child. She knew that it would be the worst pain to experience. She knew it would be totally and completely heartbreaking.
Carlisle quickly flew to her side to comfort her. Jasper, Emmet, Alice, Rosalie and the Denali´s all stared down at the floor. Nobody could truly relate to the pain Esme, Edward and I were feeling. Nobody who didn´t have a child of their own would truly understand.
Nobody spoke for the longest time. Not until Edward cleared his throat and said loud and firm, "Let´s not let it get to that."
He was right. We did look like we had been defeated and that was not the case yet. We would fight. Fight for our baby girl and fight for the right to stay together as a family.
Everyone nodded. We would not give up.
Though he tried to hide it Emmet still looked a little confused. He finally asked the question I bet had been on his mind for a long time. "Victoria wanted Edward to suffer," he said, "she was going after Bella."
"Yes Emmet. Your point?" Rosalie asked. She obviously didn´t need any other reason than what we had already heard.
"Bella was in the room next to Nessie´s. Why not take both?" he asked.
I had wondered about that myself.
"You see Emmet, " Edward said while looking at me with pride in his eyes, "my wife here has quite the reputation. She´s not one you dare attack alone." He winked at me.
Oh if I could still blush I would have.
It had been a couple of hours since Alice had received the message from Nessie and we were just waiting for the sun to hide behind the clouds. We now knew the names of our targets. We could start a more detailed search.
Nobody noticed that Alice´s eyes glazed over yet again so we all jumped a bit when she spoke up.
"They´re moving her tomorrow. We have to hurry," she squealed.
I was struck by panic.
"Where to?" Emmet said jumping to his feet. He was ready to fight.
"She doesn't know. We have to act fast," Alice answered him.
"We can go outside in about 30 minutes," Jasper said checking the time. "Then we can start our hunt."
30 minutes was a long time when you had nothing to do but to wait.
Jacob and the pack returned. They had searched the whole city and had found nothing. Not a trace of Nessie´s scent and they couldn´t find anything that looked like it would contain a stone basement or dungeon for that matter.
Edward quickly informed them of our new clues and the theory we had found to be the most likely. Jacob was fuming with anger.
"I swear to god if he or she has laid so much as a finger on her I will tear him apart in pieces and burn one piece at a time. I will safe his head for last so he sees me enjoying every minute of it. Death is much so sweet a deal for the person behind this," he spat it all out fiercely and was shaking from head to toe.
"He´s mine," Emmet, Jasper and Emmet said at the same time.
Everyone wanted their own revenge. A little piece of their personal terror.
"When we do catch whomever it is," I said trying to calm them all down so we could focus on the matter at hand, "I´m sure there´s enough for everyone to torment. There´s no doubt about it. The one behind this whole thing will pay."
It had already been clarified that Nessie wasn´t in this town so we would split up to cover the most ground at the same time. We would stay in touch through cell phones at all times.
We were staying in a town called Saline in Tuscany. Saline wasn´t far away from Volterra and we stayed here because we had all expected that our journey somehow would lead to Volterra.
Edward, Jacob and I teamed up and were to go east of the town. We insisted on being the ones since we would have to go through Volterra.
Alice, Jasper and Seth were to go south.
Rosalie, Emmet and Quil went north.
Carlisle, Esme and Leah went west.
Kate, Tanya, Carmen, Eleazar, Garret and Embry would stay close to town and try to track down some of our kind. If we were lucky maybe someone knew of this Simon and Samantha.
"We will meet back here before the sun rises tomorrow morning. That is unless we find her sooner," Carlisle said with a smile.
We could only hope.
We drove through town and were headed east. We reached the outskirts of Volterra and didn´t enjoy revisiting this hell on earth.
Flashes of human memories flew through my mind as we came to the parking lots outside the gates. Edward parked the car and we stepped out.
Edward took a deep breath and ran to my side and took my hand in his. He wasn´t comfortable at all by the fact that he was forced to allow me to enter this city once again.
Volterra had a lot of ancient buildings made out of stone. Exactly the kind of buildings Alice had described. So we had a lot of ground to cover.
We would try to stay out of the way of the Volturi guards to avoid having to pay Aro a visit. We knew it would be a long shot not being noticed by any of them. Aro would have a field day when he found out we were all so close by.
Hours passed and we had found nothing.
Jacob wanted us to go further east and get away from the royal leeches as he called them.
I just couldn´t shake the feeling that we needed to search this particular town. I would not leave until I was absolutely sure she wasn´t here. I felt so close to her being here.
When dawn came we knew we had to get back to the others but we still hadn´t been in one part of the town yet. We could have split up and have finished searching through Volterra in a couple of hours but Edward wouldn´t let go of my hand.
I found Carlisle´s number on speed dial and pressed the send button.
"Carlisle it´s Bella. We´re staying in Volterra," I said to him, "We´re not quite finished here since the option of splitting up evidently is out of the question."
I could hear Carlisle chuckle just a little but I knew that he would not have let go of Esme´s hand if he had been here with her.
"I don´t think you should stay there Bella. It´s not safe," he said.
"I can´t explain why Carlisle. But I have a feeling about this place. I feel like I´m close to her."
He was silent for a few seconds then I heard Alice in the background chiming "They´ll be fine Carlisle. It´s OK."
Carlisle sighed but resigned. "OK Bella. But you have to be careful and stay close to each other."
"Trust me, we will," I said rolling my eyes at my overprotective husband.
We said our goodbyes and hung up the phone.
We headed for that part of the town we hadn´t been to yet. Luckily it seemed it would be a cloudy day in Volterra.
We were able to continue our search.
Sorry DanielWhite - I just love my suspense :)
I promise I will try to update real soon - and we´re nearly there.
Maybe you´ve figured it out by now where I´m going with this. Or maybe you´re just like Emmet ;)
Ideas for more twists and turns are also very welcomed ;)