Author Note - Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed last time. Again, if you have any ideas for good ole' fluffy bits, please drop me a line. I struggle with the fluff sometimes.
Thanks to Content1 for her awesomeness. It's the only word I could use to describe her really.
This chapter sees our favourite vampire family look for help and finding nothing but closed doors.
Sit back, relax and enjoy.
Chapter 19
Reaching out.
"If we avoid want to avoid the Volturi's involvement, we will have to do something." My voice sounded just as miserable as I felt as I said the words.
"We will have to destroy the newborns and we will have to do it very soon," Jasper said. His voice was flat, almost mechanical and it seemed to match his stone heard face pretty well. His assessment of the situation seemed pretty accurate. If we wanted to keep safe, if we wanted to keep Bella safe, then we would have to act. Didn't mean I had to like the fucking idea."I can teach you how," Jasper said, and I could hear the sharp edge that the words had. He hated the idea of that kind of violence now. His past was, honestly, disgusting. No person, vampire or otherwise should have been subject to the things he had seen and done and I knew that the thought of reliving it was beyond painful. Instead of acknowledging this and helping him emotionally, practically, I could be of more use.
"It won't be easy in the city, Jasper. They aren't exactly discrete and if we draw too much attention to ourselves by having a running battle in Downtown Seattle, it will be US the Volturi come to silence." The very thought shot ice-water through my dead veins.
"We lure them out. Away from the city. Will you help?" He could not be serious, could he?
"Why are you even asking that question? I teased, putting a hand on his shoulder as I looked into his eyes. I hoped he could either see or feel my determination and commitment to see this through and to help in any way that I could. He nodded once and patted my hand to let me know that he had understood.
"We may not need to lure them out," Edward said quietly. My head whipped round to where he had been sitting and his face was bleak. I didn't want to be inside his head to see what had illicited that look. Although, his expression, like Jasper's before, seemed to match his tone. "doesn't it occur to anyone else that the only possible threat that would call for the creation of an army would be us?"
If I could have went green with nausea, I would have. Bella yelped as Jasper's eyes narrowed. Carlisle looked completely horrified.
"Tanya's family are also close," Esme said, trying to keep everyone calm but the desperation of her words was blatant as she tried to prove her son wrong.
"There aren't any newborns ravaging Anchorage, Esme. I think we have to consider the idea that we are the intended targets."
"They aren't coming after us," Alice said, her eyes fogged over and in a totally different place than the rest of her. Everyone paused to wait on her finishing her statement. Hopefully, she would see something that would prove Edward to be a drama queen, once again and everything would be just fine... only I didn't have luck that ran that good. "Or they don't know that they are. Not yet,"
"What was that?" Edward asked, tension rolling off of him. "What are you remembering?" I didn't have the focus to look and see for myself. It took me all my time not to scream out in pain whenever I peaked at Alice's vision and I wasn't in the mood to have my brain fried at that moment.
"Flickers," Alice advised, her vision a thousand miles away from the rest of her. "I can't see a clear picture when I try to see what's going. But I have been getting these strange flashes. Someone keeps changing their mind, moving from one path to another so quickly that I can't get a good look..."
"Indecision?" I asked
"Not indecision," Edward growled, "Knowledge."
I was confused again. "Pardon me?"
"Someone who knows you can't see anything until the decision is made. Playing with the holes in your vision," I felt cold again. Only one person could have that knowledge outside of our family and the Denali coven. That one person would know how anyone's gift worked with a touch of the hand. I shivered involuntarily and it did not go unnoticed.
Alice, Esme and Bella all turned to look at me. "If Aro Volturi has met you, touched you, he would know more about your gift that even you do, Alice. He would know how to manipulate his way around the visions."
"But I would see if they decided to come..." Alice protested.
"Unless they didn't want to get their hands dirty?" Rose asked "Someone from the south who was already in trouble. They do this and lget let off with it?"
Carlisle just shook his head "But the Volturi have no reason-"
"Yes there was," Edward interrupted. I saw it in his head before he could even explain it. Aro Volturi was a collector. Anything that he thought would solidify his power, he craved. With a coven of formidable size and strength like the Cullens, he would want the gifts that they possessed. The Cullen's were a target. Jasper would be invaluable with his military knowledge, strategic mind and his empathic ability. Edward would give Aro the power or hearing thoughts without the need to touch. No doubt, the biggest target was strapped to Alice's back. Her clairvoyance, however sketchy, would be the crown jewel of the Volturi guard if Aro had anything to do with it. Edward unfortunately confirmed my thoughts.
"You're right, Kali." He said simply "However, with your gift, you will be a target if he finds out you are here." I didn't hear a lot of the rest of his explanation for the others. My mind was too occupied by the images running through my head. Alice, Edward and Jasper were draped in the dark grey robes of the Volturi guard; Edward holding one of Aro's hands and Alice holding the other, their eyes glinting an horrific velvet red. I didn't see myself in those visions. I wasn't there, dawning a robe with my eyes bearing the evidence against the human life I would have taken. I smiled to myself at that. I would burn before I joined their ranks. I tried to listen to Edward as I watched the scene play out in my head, but not all the words got through. Words like 'Wanted and competition and omniscient' bled through the visions of the volturi guard and tainted them a rather sickly green colour. Envy polluted the images in my mind. Aro was jealous of what he thought Carlisle had and I was damn sure he would do just about anything to get it, even if that meant breaking his own laws.
"It goes against their own rules," Carlisle broke through my thoughts because he was saying the exact opposite from what I was thinking. I would have deemed the Volturi capable of anything. The stress in his voice was unmistakable. "They are too committed to their mission."
"If it is them, Carlisle, they will clean up afterwards. Just like they are supposed to do, they will take care of the evidence." I said, realising more and more that there was a good chance that this was right.
Jasper leaned forward, shaking his messy blonde head. "The Volturi like their rules too much. Besides, it's too sloppy, too rough. This person - threat- have no idea what they are doing. A first-timer, I would swear to it."
"Let's GO!" Emmett yelled, jumping out of his seat. "What are we waiting for?" I felt the urge to hit him again and had to shove my hands a little deeper into my pockets just so that I couldn't try and put my fist through his head. I locked down my muscles and and forced myself to tear my trained gaze off of him. It landed on Carlisle and Edward who appeared to be having a rather private, non-verbal conversation.
I managed to tune in just in time to hear the end. "-Edward. I don't like this. I don't want to fight but they cannot be allowed to get this far. It's not safe." Edward nodded once and turned to face jasper and I. I waited for Edward to ask us the question that I was honestly dreading just a little bit.
"Will you teach us, Jasper? Kali?" Carlisle asked, shocking me a little. "How to fight them. How to ...destroy them." The sparkle that was always held in Carlisle's eyes disappeared when he finished that sentence. I could almost feel the disgust exploding out of him at the thought of killing another living creature.
"We will need help," Jasper mused. "Do you think Tanya's family will help?"
"I will call and ask." Carlisle said a little too mechanically for my liking.
Jasper pulled out a mobile phone and handed it to Carlisle and said one simple word that set me into a slight panic. "Hurry."
Carlisle moved away from us, whether it was for a little privacy or not, I'm not sure, but he ended up next to the back window, bracing himself against it as if trying to hold himself up. I had never seen him this shaken before, it was terrifying. "Hello, Tanya? It's Carlisle," He began when the phone finished it's second ring.
"Carlisle! How are you?" Came the response from the female vampire.
"Tanya, I am slightly short of time right now so we will have to do without the pleasantries today, I am afraid."
"What's wrong, Carlisle?"
"Tanya, we need your help. There are a number of newborn vampires ravaging Seattle. We think they are coming here for us. We need your help to take care of them."
"Why? The Volturi take care of messes like that." Tanya said, in a tone I didn't quite like.
"We cannot let them come this far. They will stop and check on Bella after what happened in Italy during the Spring."
"So you are doing all of this to keep Bell safe?" Tanya almost sneered. Who the fuck was this bitch and what gave her the right to talk like that?
"It is one of the main reasons, yes."
"Then, Carlisle, I am afraid I might not be able to help."
"What do you mean?" Carlisle demanded, his free hand baling and releasing against the window.
"Irina is unhappy with Edward's human."
"What are you talking about, Tanya?"
"Irina was mated with Laurent, Carlisle."
"I had no idea she felt that way about him."
"She would be willing to help, if she was allowed to avenge her mate."
"You mean...-" Carlisle began again.
"If she is allowed to kill the wolf responsible for her mates demise, we will help you." Tanya said. I could practically hear her shoulders shrugging over the phone.
"That's out of the question, Tanya. We have a treaty with the wolves and the treaty stands." Carlisle growled. his diplomacy vanished with Tanya's previous statement. As much as I hated the wolves, and- trust me- I did, I wouldn't allow a massacre over a vile creature that had tried to harm Bella. I would have ripped Laurent apart myself if given the opportunity. Laurent deserved his fate and it brought me a measurable amount of peace to know that he was sent to it in a reasonably painful fashion.
"I am afraid, Carlisle, that we will be unable to help you." Tanya stated, her cool manner pissed me off.
"Then we will just have to do this on our own." Carlisle growled more forcefully before snapping the phone shut and throwing it against the wall. The dent in the plaster was peppered with pieces of broken plastic and silicone, which had also gathered in a little heap on the floor. Carlisle was losing his control rapidly. Jasper, thank God, sent a much needed surge of calm around the room. I felt my shoulders unbunch and my hands de-claw themselves under Jasper's manipulations.
"What happened, Carlisle?" Bella asked. Fuck! It never even occurred to me that the phone conversation would have been too quick for her to understand.
"Irina was closer to Laurent than we thought," He explained "She is unhappy with the wolves for killing him to save Bella. She wants-" He paused, I knew he didn't want to scare her but there really wasn't any other way.
"Just say it, Carlisle," She said, slightly less polite that unusual. Carlisle caught the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger before continuing. "She wants to destroy the wolves in exchange for the Denali clan's help."
"No!" Bella leapt out of her seat, nearly falling flat on her face as her feet caught on nothing but air. Her voice carried fury and fear in equal measures.
"It's alright, Bella. Carlisle would never agree to it." I said, trying to calm her down.
"Laurent had it coming," Edward snarled. "I still owe the wolves for that."
"I don't like it, Carlisle," Jasper said quietly. "The numbers are too close. We would have the upper hand with skill. We would win, but at what cost?"
I looked around the room when he had finished speaking. He knew just as well as I did that we would be victorious, but we would have to lose members of our family. I shuddered at the thought. There must have been something we could do. I could not let anything happen to my family. I wouldn't.
Edward was gone for the night. After what had been a long evening for everyone, Bella was particularly exhausted. Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie and Emmett all retired to their rooms while myself, Alice and Jasper were strategising.
"We could have really used the extra help for Alaska," Jasper sighed downheartedly. His utter defeat by the Alaskan covens reluctance to help was depressing.
"Fuck them!" I stated. " I mean, they are supposed to be family, they should be here but they aren't. So, at the risk of repeating myself- Fuck. Them. The extra bodies would have helped, but they ain't coming, so lets make do with what they have." I had been trying to maintain some kind of realistic thought during the two hours that interceded Carlisle's phone call and our little cabinet meeting that we were conducting on the back lawn.
Alice finally spoke. "So how do you think we should do it?"
"Well, you all need to be trained," Jasper said. "You have seen one vampire fight, but he was older and he was thirsty. These will be well fed, wild newborns. They are a completely different animal than a mature vampire."
"Might I suggest scouting out Seattle at some point? I have a house just outside the city limits and it might be an idea to try and see what we are up against." It sounded like a good idea in my head. Jasper's raised eyebrows and skeptical face made me think otherwise.
"You want to do reconnaissance?"
"Couldn't hurt..." I shrugged.
"True. We will wait until Alice see's something then we will go and look."
"But everything is still so vague..." Alice muttered. Her eyes had been constantly drifting in and out for focus for the past two hours, trying to find something that would help. I pointedly focused my thoughts on anything but her while she was doing this. The burning pain in my head when I tried to used her gift was not worth it.
"When we get a plan together they will be come clearer, Darlin' "Jasper squeezed Alice's knee in reassurance. Unfortunately, Alice wasn't quite so hopeful.
"Let's hope so," She huffed.
Out of sheer frustration, I threw myself back onto the blanket that Alice had laid out for us to sit on. Laying face up, I stared into the black sky. Another scene where a thousands suns blazed, making me feel just a little bit smaller than I was used to. It triggered all kinds of negative thoughts. One of which was that the fight that was coming, was too big for us. The eight vampires on our side couldn't win against an army of newborns, regardless of how well trained we were. We weren't all going to make it.
"Kali, quit it," Jasper demanded, flinching under the weight of my pessimism. I knew my premature feelings of defeat would affect him, but I honestly didn't care enough to try and curtail them.
"I guess the best thing to do would be to train everyone. I have experience with more mature vampires, but I have dealt with newborns before. I could be of some use in getting the family ready. Between the two of us-"
"We should have all the bases covered." It was slightly weird that we found ourselves on the same page. So much so that finishing each others sentences had become an issue. The only explanation I could come up with was that we both knew what had to be done and what it would take to do it. Destroying others of my kind had always been difficult for me. It took the monster- The untamed, feral beast inside of me- to do it. My diet made me more compassionate than others of my kind but that only added to the guilt I felt whenever I had to defend myself and destroy one of them. Killing vampires was inordinately painful for me. It upset me that my family would have to deal with that.
"Kali..." Jasper reprimanded me again for my negativity. He didn't even need to finish the sentence before I felt guilty.
"Sorry Jazz,"
"How do you think we should do this then?" Alice asked.
"We need to get everyone together and outside. Out of town where the noise won't become an issue." I mused.
"The baseball clearing," They both said in unison before collapsing in a heap laughing. At least Jasper was able to pull himself together long enough to give the statement some clarity. "It is out of the way and big enough for what we need."
"We will need to do one on one sessions, uneven groupings, defensive skills, kill-shots, evasive maneuvers, tactics, shock treatment, disposal of bodies, reattachment of limbs- just in case..." I began running the ideas through my head as I said them out loud.
"Might I suggest a couple of sessions then?" Alice offered.
"One night, we could do defensive, the next would be for offensive." Jasper suggested. It seemed like the best way to do it.
"If we have time, I will take Edward aside and do some one to one training with him," Alice and Jasper looked at me with incredulity. I quickly moved to defend myself. "He is too emotional. He needs to be driven to be clinical and calculating. Seeing as he knows me the least, I can do it. I bet I can piss off the eternal gentleman to the point where he hits me. "
"I'll take you up on that bet, Kali." Jasper put his hand forward which I shook dramatically, causing us both to chuckle.
"Right, so what are our main problems, then?" Alice asked, "What are we facing up to here?" I could almost see the list form in her head as she considered the issues for herself.
"Well, the numbers aren't in our favour," Jasper offered.
It was my suggestion next... "Our lack of knowledge as to why this is happening?"
"Lack of help," Jasper followed after me.
"The need to remain inconspicuous." I mused
"The Volturi getting too close... Need we continue?" Jasper asked, smiling slightly at our little game of 'Calamity Tennis'.
"Alright, I get the picture..." Alice huffed.
"We will organise something for Monday or Tuesday."
As I said the words, Alice glared at me. "What did I do now?"
"Kali, graduation is Monday and we are having a party."
"Are you kidding me?"
"I've seen it." Alice stated. As if that would mean anything.
"You've seen it because you decided it would go ahead, you monumental pain in my arse!" I called her out, laughing as I did so.
"It is going to happen." This conversation just became a lot less funny.
"You are out of your mind. Loud music, flashing lights- Why not just slap a big 'Cullens here' sign on each of our foreheads?" I was starting to get seriously pissed off now. Her need for a party should be a lot further down her list of priorities than it appeared to be. Her desire to help and protect her family should overrule everything.
"Everyone will get through the party and we will train afterwards." She sounded happy. The little pixie sounded happy at the idea of blowing off important things like training for the sake of having some stupid fucking party that she could have in five years when they have to move house again. How the hell is it even scientifically possible for someone that small to be that annoying?
"Alice, are you absolutely, one hundred percent sure that everything about the party will be alright and go off without a hitch?" I pressed.
"Positive." She looked way too smug for her own good. Annoying little elf! "I will need your help though. I need some stuff from Olympia and you will need Emmett's jeep to get it."
"Is there any point in arguing?" I asked, knowing the answer already.
"No," Both Alice and Jasper's voice sounded out in the night air. "Kali, do you have a strong desire to go to school tomorrow?"
"What day would that be?"
"Thursday." I thought about it for a moment. English, Spanish, Calculus (Why didn't they just call it maths?) PE and Art... Nothing I couldn't get away with skipping. "Nope, I can live with a day off. It will save me having to worry about dodging Mike fucking Newton and his fixation on my- and I quote- 'Rockin' Ass' as he so delicately put it in his mind." I was grumbling and unfortunately, my current company was hardly sympathetic. Their loud guffaws scared the owls out of the trees on the other side of the river. "Thanks for the support there, you monsters!" I placed a hand over my heart, looking hurt and disappointed.
"Now Kali, it has been more than once that I have caught you gazing into Mike Newtons eyes." Alice teased.
"Does hoping that my vampire abilities would allow me to make him a victim of spontaneous human combustion count as gazing?." I spat.
"So you thought you could get him hot by just looking at him?" Jasper asked, waggling his eyebrows. I curled my hand into a fist again, pulling it back slow enough so that Jasper could see it coming for him. He just laughed harder as he noticed my movements.
"Right, that's enough." A strange authority ran out of the pint-sized pixie as she pointed a finger into both mines and Jasper's face. "Kali, you will go to Olympia tomorrow and I will give you a list of what I need and where to get it. Jasper will help you when you get home. Well, that is if you stop arguing about Mike bloody Newton!"
"Yes boss," We crowed in unison before falling over laughing again.
"You know, Alice, dictatorship looks good on you." I noted, silently proud of our own little Mussolini.
"It's only going to get worse" Jasper muttered.
"You have no idea' Jazzy." She purred, still with her fingers extended towards our faces. . "It will get worse before it get's better." She said menacingly shuddered at the mere thought.
Author Note-That one was a little shorter than the last two, but the length will hold steady from now on I think.
Thanks for reading, once again. It makes me happy to know that people are reading this and connecting with the character.
The next chapter will have a section titled 'No More Bubblewrap.' We will see Edward finally break that carefully composed facade.
Thanks again to Content1 for all her help and understanding.
Go forth and review, they make me smile when I am having a shite day.