Chapter Nine: More Questions
I felt Edward's hand stop me from advancing. "Edward!" I yelled, "Let me go!"
"Bella," he answered, "Charlie's okay. The bullet just hit the seat of a car. We need to figure out who is behind this. I'm going after the shooter."
"So am I." Jacob was beside us quickly.
I could hear Charlie's voice raised above the others; he was shouting orders at his officers. He sounded alright. "I'm coming too," I decided.
How hard could it be to catch the shooter? We'd be able to run faster than he probably thought possible; and he'd have to answer for what he had done. We took off running after him. I was aware of the three members of my family, and the two phased wolves, running with us.
The shooter had moved fast. I listened as I ran, trying to hear his clumsy, human feet against the ground, his breathing, or his heartbeat, but I couldn't hear anything. How had he moved out of range that quickly? Then the scent filled my nose and I understood. He was a vampire. I pushed aside all of the new questions that this information brought, and concentrated on running. After running for several miles, I could see the Cullen house. His scent led us towards it.
Edward was faster than the rest of us. He ran into the living room. I heard a table topple to the floor, along with the vase that was on top of it, as we entered the room. Edward had pinned the vampire against the wall; his hand gripped his neck.
The vampire was tall—a few inches taller than Edward. He was clean-shaven, and his dusty, brown hair was cut to a conservative length. His eyes were red and shining. He had an odd grin on his face, like he was amused.
"Who are you?" I demanded. "Why did you kill those people?"
The vampire chuckled. "I don't suppose you'd let me call my lawyer, would you?"
"What?" I began incredulously.
"Good job Will," came a disappointed voice from behind me. I spun around to look at the young woman. She stood a few inches taller than me. Her wavy, blond hair hung past her shoulder blades. She was dressed in clothes that clung to her hourglass figure. Her eyes were blue, and her skin was lightly tanned.
"Ah!" the vampire exclaimed. "My girlfriend—even better."
I recognized the woman who stood there—the one that this vampire had called his girlfriend. It was Ariel: the girl that had rear-ended us in Port Angelas a few days ago. She seemed different though. After the accident she had been flustered and girlish. Now she was cool, calm, and almost expressionless.
Her words broke through my thoughts. "You were supposed to lead them back here and then disappear," she told the vampire. Her words suggested irritation, though her tone and expression were still calm and even.
"Alexis?" I turned to see Jacob staring at the girl I knew as Ariel.
"Who's Alexis?" Jasper asked Jacob.
"You were in La Push the other day," Jacob said to the woman. "Billy and I met you at the grocery store."
Jasper looked intently at the young woman, who continued to stand very calm. "There seems to be some confusion about your identity," Jasper told the girl.
She seemed to ignore his remark. "I'd appreciate it if you let my friend go, Edward," she said, indicating Edward's hand, which was still around Will's neck, his back pressed against the wall. "I can assure you that William did not kill those humans," she continued. "Your issue is with the Volturi."
Carlisle cut in. "But we met…"
"You met them in the woods," Ariel finished for him. "Demetri and Trevor. Yes, I know."
"They thought we had killed the humans," I said.
She now turned to look at me. "That's what they told you, yes. It was Demetri's poor attempt at improvising to catch you off guard…"
"What are you talking about?" I interrupted her.
"The Volturi want you dead," Ariel answered simply, not bothering with tact. "That was the reason for their elaborate, little scheme."
"Scheme?" Jacob and I said together in disbelief.
"It's been the Volturi all along, hasn't it?" Jasper remarked with a knowing smile.
"Yes," Ariel confirmed. "And, you should know, they're bound to try again."
"I don't understand. Where do you fit in all of this?" Carlisle asked.
"I'll answer your questions, but only after you let Will go." Edward studied her for a minute, then released his grip on Will. Will nodded to Ariel, indicating that he was okay. "My name is Anastasia and this is my fiancé, William Luckey," she said. "I was sent here by the Volturi, along with Demetri and Trevor."
"You work for the Volturi?" I asked.
"I'm a member of the Volturi guard," Anastasia clarified.
"But you're human," I said.
Anastasia smiled, as if at some inside joke that we were too dumb to understand. "I'm only half-human," she said finally, "like your daughter." Suddenly, as if a light had been turned on, I could see that her blue eyes were flecked with red. "My talents made it easy for the Volturi to carry out their plan here," she continued.
"What talent would that be?" Carlisle asked, interested.
"I can change my scent, and the scents of what's around me," Anastasia answered.
"That's why the murder victims smelled like wolf or vampire," Edward said suddenly.
Anastasia nodded. "I need only to touch someone to mimic their scent," she went on. "That's what I did with Jacob in La Push, and with you and Jasper after the car accident. You all, of course, had no idea what I was, because I masked the scent of the vampire side of me. Instead, what you saw was a regular, human girl."
"Why did you kill those humans?" I asked. "What good would it do the Volturi?"
Anastasia looked at me like I was thick. "To turn the Cullens and the wolves against each other of course," she said. "The plan was perfect: Kill Scott Young in case anyone decided on buying plane tickets," she eyed me when she said this, "Then kill humans and plant false scents for your benefit, and plant evidence of gang activity for the FBI's benefit—so the kids in La Push would be investigated. So their stress and suspicions, on top of your stress and suspicions," she indicated the Cullens, "would cause your groups to destroy one another."
"I don't believe it," I said, even though it all was beginning to make sense in my mind.
"Believe it," Anastasia said. "Aro's plan was perfect. First, he would have the Cullens destroyed. Second, he would be sending a message to all those who were there to witness your little stand-off last year, that to ally with non-vampires is a bad idea." He glanced at Jacob and Leah. "And third, he would do it all without anyone suspecting the Volturi was involved."
"But it didn't work," Jasper prodded.
Anastasia sighed. "Yes," she said. "Despite the perfect set-up, those of you in the woods were planning on having a little chit-chat instead, to work things out. Aro's original plan didn't call for a lot of back-up, so Demetri and Trevor confronted you in the woods, with the story that the Volturi thought the Cullens were responsible—all so they could catch you off-guard while I came from behind to finish it."
"But you didn't finish it," Carlisle pointed out.
"I didn't," Anastasia confirmed. "I had Will create a diversion to get you out of there."
"Why?" I asked softly, as I allowed everything to sink in. "Why didn't you finish what you came here to do?"
Anastasia met my gaze. "I don't agree with everything Aro does," she answered. "This is one of those times."
"That's awfully vague," Jasper said suddenly, with a hint of anger in his tone. "How do we know this isn't part of the plan too?"
Anastasia looked at Jasper. Then her lips curled into a smile. "You don't," she said simply.
Then Will spoke up. I had almost forgotten he was there. "Ana risked a lot by helping you," he said. "You ought to show her some gratitude."
"Oh really?" Jasper said sarcastically. "What did she risk? Will Aro not give her a bonus check this year?"
"You don't understand," Will said in frustration.
"What don't I understand?" Jasper pushed.
"Will!" Ana said, as if to caution him to stop talking—though he didn't listen.
Instead he stared down at Jasper. "Ana is Aro's daughter," he said, "his biological daughter."
Had I heard that right? The room suddenly went very silent and very still. No one spoke. I looked over at Ana, trying to read her face, though she kept her expression well guarded.
"I didn't know Aro had a daughter," Carlisle said finally, almost breathless.
"Not a lot of people do," Ana said, before Will could say anything else. "Mostly, it's because of the work that I do. Hunting, and working jobs for the Volturi, with my special talent, wouldn't be as easy if everyone knew who I was."
So the Volturi had kept her a secret. Then, suddenly, another thought came to my mind—one so obvious that I didn't know why it hadn't surfaced before now. I spoke up, breaking through everyone's thoughts. "If Aro knew about hybrids—even had a daughter," I said, "then why did he claim to know nothing of them last year?" My words caught in my throat. "Why did he bring the entire Volturi guard down on us, saying that we had an immortal child?"
Ana met my gaze. Her eyes held no sadness, no regret, and no sympathy. She spoke as though she were commenting on the weather. "Aro knew you didn't have an immortal child," she said. "At the very least, he highly suspected you didn't. He used that as an excuse to destroy you and make an example out of your family in the process. But, he didn't count on you finding other half-humans and having an army of wolves with you. So, he decided to try again: now."
It had all been a lie. Aro had known about hybrids—or half-humans—all along. It had never been about upholding vampire rules. It had always been about killing my family.
As if Ana could read my thoughts, she continued. "Aro found out he'd never be able to make any of the Cullens work for the Volturi when Bella first came to Volterra as a human. He could see the bond your family had; and he could see the danger of your power together. It also hasn't escaped his notice that Carlisle seems to have a knack for turning very talented humans into very gifted and powerful vampires. He's been trying to destroy the Cullens ever since." Then Ana chuckled without humor. "But there are others who believe the Volturi is corrupt. Aro wouldn't risk turning your family into martyrs and losing loyalty, so he's treaded carefully—biding his time, and coming up with the proper excuses."
It was silent until Edward suddenly spoke up. "I can't read you," he said to Ana. "Is that another one of your abilities? Though, I didn't think there was anyone else like Bella."
"There isn't," Ana replied. "At least, not any that I know of." Edward looked confused, so Ana continued. "Living with Alec, Jane, and Aro, one learns how to control the mind. It's difficult, and not foolproof, but it comes in handy."
"And all I'm getting from you," Edwards turned to Will, "is 'B-i-n-g-o, and Bingo was his name-o.'" Will grinned.
"He's less practiced than me," Ana said to Edward. "If I want, I can also place thoughts in my head, for you to read, deliberately—which is what I did after the accident."
"Then you can do something your father can't," Edward said to her.
Ana smiled. "No," she corrected. "He can do the same—which is why you didn't figure out the truth behind his actions last year when he came to visit." She glanced at Jasper and then Alice. "That, on top of changing plans back and forth to prevent you from getting visions, made this child's play."
"You can't possibly believe it would be easy to turn us against each other," Jacob retorted.
"We got pretty damn close," Ana shot back. Then her tone and her look turned sarcastic. "We knew it wouldn't have been the Cullens that cracked first. It's the wolves that are the unstable, loose cannons." Jacob glared at her angrily. "Hence, why we concentrated on planting evidence for Mr. Ramsey."
"You kept me from seeing things until you wanted us to find a body," Alice said. "Then you led us right to it." Ana nodded, showing no remorse. That girl at the side of the road had been a set-up to try and push both of our groups over the edge.
Ana's expression remained cool. Her smile seemed to show that she was somehow pleased with what she had done. "What does your mother think of all of this?" I asked, suddenly interested in the female figure in Ana's life. "What does she think about what you do for your father?"
"Frankly, I don't think my mother is able to give a crap," Ana answered. I thought I heard hurt in her voice, though she covered it quickly. "The wife Aro has in Italy with him now is not my mother," she continued matter-of-factly. "Aro was involved with a human girl from Spain a long time ago, when he was younger. She had me, and died in childbirth."
"Your mother didn't want to be changed into a vampire?" I inquired.
Ana was quiet for a moment, and I saw her blue, red-specked eyes flash. Then she spoke as if she couldn't care less. "Aro didn't give her the option."
As the others began to converse quietly around me, another thought burst into my mind: Renesme. I had left Renesme with Charlie, but he had been in the forest with Agent Ramsey. Edward walked over to me; the expression on my face must have caused him concern.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I left Nessie with Charlie," I answered.
"Charlie wouldn't have left Nessie alone," he said, seeing my train of thought.
"I know," I said quickly. "I just have this awful feeling." I glanced around the room to see if anyone had caught our conversation; no one, it seemed, had heard.
"Call him," Edward broke through my thoughts. I looked back at him with what must have been a huge question mark on my face. "Call Charlie," he repeated.
I nodded in agreement. I took out my cell phone from my pocket and hit the speed dial button for Charlie's cell phone. "Hey," Charlie answered after a few rings. "Bells, I'm kind of busy right now." In the background, I could hear a lot of commotion punctuated every so often by Ramsey's raised voice.
"Where's Renesme?" I asked.
"She's fine Bella," he answered. "I got called to a murder scene, and I couldn't get a hold of you, so I had one of the cadets go over to the house to be with Nessie. Mary Jane Wilcox is a good officer; Nessie will be fine." I heard more raised voices in the background. "Bells," Charlie then said, "I've got to go. I'm kind of in the middle of something."
"I just have this bad feeling," I said, more to myself.
Charlie rushed through the words as he spoke. "I'll give her a call to see how they're doing, if that will make you feel better."
"Yes," I told him.
We hung up. I waited for Charlie to call back. How many minutes had passed? It seemed to take too long. Finally, I felt my phone vibrate.
"She's not answering her cell or her radio," Charlie said as soon as I answered my phone. I knew he was talking about Cadet Wilcox. "I tried the home phone too," he added.
"Charlie," I began, "I have a bad feeling."
"Yeah, I know," he agreed, as he now seemed to be fully invested in my growing concerns. "I'm going to go over there and check on things. With all the murders going on lately…" he broke off. "I'm sure everything is fine," he added, trying not to worry me. "I'll call you." Then he hung up.
Like heck I was going to wait for his call. I suddenly looked up at the rest of the people in the room; I hadn't noticed, until then, that their talking had stopped and that they were all looking at me. My eyes caught Ana's gaze in particular; the look on her face confused me—was it knowing?—then it was gone.
"We need to go to Charlie's house," I told Edward. He nodded once in response. Ana moved to follow us.
"I'm coming too," Ana said to Edward, seeming to ignore my presence.
The three of us got into Edward's Volvo, since Carlisle's Mercedes was still at the crime scene; I wasn't sure how we were going to explain that one. As we sped through the night, I hoped that we weren't going to find another crime scene.
We made it to Charlie's house in record time, with Edward driving. It would take Charlie longer to get here. We got out of the car, and I could see that there were lights on inside the house. It was quiet. I noticed Ana taking in the scents on the air. She looked over to Edward with a sharp look, and I followed her gaze. Edward's eyes got huge and he bounded towards the front door.
"What is it?" I shouted after him as I followed.
"I can't hear any thoughts!" he called to me. Did that mean no one was there? Then it hit me—the smell of blood—Edward couldn't read the thoughts of people that were dead.
We entered the living room, and there lie a woman that I assumed to be Cadet Wilcox. She was crumpled in a very unnatural position on the floor, and there was blood pooled around her. But where was Renesme? I was pulled from my thoughts when I saw Ana lift Wilcox unceremoniously to her lips; she took a sample of the blood clotted at the gash on her neck.
"What are you doing?!" I cried.
Ana spoke matter-of-factly. "Demetri took time to play with his food."
"How would you know that?" I asked, still shocked at her callousness.
Ana looked at me severely. "The adrenaline in her blood," she answered simply. "I can also tell you that she's had mono in the past, she's anemic, and she's eaten red meat within the last twelve hours."
"Where is Renesme?" I asked as my concern grew. For the moment, I had to push aside the fact that Wilcox, a person with a life and a family, now lie dead at my feet; though Ana didn't seem as upset by this as me.
Instead of answering me, Ana picked up a gun on the floor that probably had belonged to Wilcox. "The clip is empty," Ana said, more to herself than to me. "But I don't see any shell casings."
Edward went up the stairs to my old room, and Ana and I followed. Ana picked up a bullet casing, and there were several others littering the floor. "Renesme was up here," Ana said. Then she turned her gaze to the open window, and appeared to take in the scents around her. "Trevor came through the window," she explained. "He grabbed Renesme. Wilcox tried to stop him." She held up the shell casing as proof. "Wilcox ran downstairs to try and head off Trevor after he jumped out the window. Demetri finished her in the living room."
"Demetri has Renesme?" I asked breathlessly. What I was hearing couldn't be possible.
"That would appear to be the case," Ana responded.
"Then we have to go after them," I said in a rush. "We have to get Renesme back."
"Bella," Ana began, "It's probably been over an hour since they were here. They could be anywhere by now." Then she turned away to look around the room. "In fact, they probably came here right after you chased Will out of the woods." I heard her chuckle without humor as she shook her head back and forth. "Plan B," she said.
"Then we follow their scent. We'll get the wolves to help." I was frustrated with her lack of urgency.
Ana turned back to look at me. "I'll bet the trail runs cold at the airport," she said.
"You think that they're taking Nessie to Italy?" Edward suddenly asked.
"That would be my guess," Ana replied. "Though there might be a way that we can find out for sure."
"How do we do that?" Edward asked.
"We should go back to your house," Ana said.
"We can't waste any time!" I protested. "We should go after them now!"
"Our best chance is to try and find out where they're going for sure and head them off," Ana said severely. "Just running after them won't solve anything." I didn't appreciate her tone; this wasn't her daughter we were trying to find.
Suddenly, I could hear sirens in the distance. Ana seemed to hear them too. "Probably your father and the rest of the cavalry since they couldn't get through to Wilcox," she said to me.
"Can you help us find Renesme?" Edward asked Ana.
"We should go back to your house," Ana gave as her answer.
We left right before Charlie's police cruiser pulled up in front of the house. Edward sped through the thick, dark night, on our way back home.