A/N: Wow. Thanks for all the reviews and a TON of theories are out there! Worked on this chapter a few times, changing some things here and there. I hope the end product is to your liking!

Chapter 22

Aro's eyes fell on the mark on Bella's neck. He turned to a darkened corner and laughed. "My dear, I think that this might very well be your best work to date. You must simply come out here and introduce yourself."

Jasper POV

A young woman stepped out of the shadows slowly, her eyes cast down to the floor. A curly strawberry blond, Jasper could see her round face and big eyes. It gave her the look of an angel, an air of innocence and goodness and youth.

Jasper, like Bella, did not take his eyes off of the newcomer, watching her steady footsteps across the granite, eying her wearily. Instead, he reached out, hoping to catch a real glimpse of what she was feeling. Her emotions were muted, but still there. Jasper had expected to find the normal Volturi emotions of smugness and superiority, but they were surprisingly absent. Instead, he found that she was anxious as she walked across the room, each step making her more so.

Regardless of her nerves, if this vampire was the one in charge of changing his family's memories, she was dangerous. Very dangerous and Jasper was not about to trust her based off an emotion.

When she was about five feet from Aro, her feet stopped abruptly, her head finally snapping up to gaze at the leader. Aro strode the rest of the way over to her enthusiastically, giving what was a generous smile. "I must say, I am very impressed. I did not see this outcome at all. Not at all!"

The redhead smiled, but wore a confused look. "I am glad my work pleases you, Aro."

Aro turned to where Jasper and Bella were standing. "Ah, forgive me. Where are my manners? Jasper, Bella, please let me introduce you to Delilah. I believe she is the one that you have been looking for. She really is quite magnificent."

At Aro's confirmation, Jasper's anger at the vampire in front of them immediately erupted and he let out a ferocious growl towards the young woman, taking a step toward her, ready to end her life. She was the one responsible for all of this? She was the one who set their lives upside down? It was too much.

"Jasper, don't!" Bella screamed, panic clearly written all over her face. "They are just looking for an excuse to hurt us or worse, kill us. Don't let them win to settle a score."

Within milliseconds, Felix and Demetri appeared next to them, a tiny boy and girl in tow, whom Jasper assumed was the infamous Jane and Alec, based on the way that the much larger Guard deferred to them. Jane looked at him almost eagerly.

Jasper stepped back in place. He calmed himself inwardly. Bella was right. Any act of violence would surely end up with the both of them killed. He needed to think clearly, rationally. There would always be time for revenge after, he had forever.

Delilah glanced over at them, appraising them for a long minute before turning back to her leader. "May I ask what has you so satisfied, Aro?"

If possible, the head vampire's smile grew even wider as several members in the room were looking at him curiously and he now had the audience full attention. Aro's clasped his hands, pressing his two extended index fingers to his lips. "Ah, my dear, let's start from the beginning for the benefit of our guests, shall we?

"When you were ordered to change the Cullen's memories a few months back, you set in motion a series of events I could not have planned out more successfully if I tried." He turned back to Bella and Jasper, his voice casual as if he was just talking about the weather. "Delilah is a recent acquisition to our guard. Quite the brillant find, honestly. When we learned about her true capability, why, she rivals our Jane and Alex here."

Jasper could feel the jealously from the two children. Clearly, they were used to being the favorites and did not like that this recent addition was currently Aro's new flavor of the month. Delilah appeared unfazed by the comment; she was neither pleased, nor displeased. Clearly, she was not yet deeply emerged in the politics that the Volturi were so fond of playing. She did not care about climbing up the ranks, even though it appeared that she was nearing the top anyways.

"When Delilah first arrived a little over a year ago, she was undisciplined; she did not know how to take advantage of her ability. She came here looking for guidance, for a chance to be more than just some wandering nomad. We were more than happy to take her under our wing, show her a better way of life."

Jasper noticed Bella roll her eyes at this. Surely she was thinking as well that the Volturi were not the magnanimous type. Aro ignored the action and continued. "One of her first orders was to go America to see your family and change their memories, making them more compliant to the Volturi and separating your coven."

"Why?" Bella cried. "The Cullen's have done nothing to earn this. Carlisle has always been respectful of the Volturi! He stayed with you for years!"

"Yes, Carlisle always has been obedient. Still… do not think that it has escaped our notice that he has been gaining a rather large coven with special abilities."

Bella was going to respond, but Aro kept talking. "Delilah changed their memories along with a select few others that were close in nature to them. It was easy enough and really, the Cullen's did not put up much of a fight. Soon, we had the Cullen's where we wanted them. It was the two of you that were going to be the unknown factor. The both of you were what were so interesting about this whole experiment.

"We knew that you would try to contact the Cullen's, make them see that you were part of the family. It was a fantastic test of how resilient Delilah's ability was. The Cullen clan is strong; would emotional bonds eventually override the memory change? It was an important test."

"But why the two of us?" she asked.

"Well, Bella, you were an unknown factor in all of this. Rumors of your shield abounded; we couldn't risk having you block Delilah's ability and risking exposure of what was being done. So it was quite convenient when it was discovered the both of you were going away on trip. A few days were all that was needed to replace memories, change records and erase that you ever existed."

Jasper was reeling from this admission. He clenched his fists tightly at his side.

"It surprised me that the both of you left so quickly, so easily admitted defeat. But that was not the greatest surprise." Aro's excitement could not be contained. He turned to Delilah. "It was a stroke of brilliance when you had Jasper's wife and Bella's husband believe they were mates. It alienated the both of them further, but never…never! Did I ever think that these two," Pointing at Bella and Jasper, "would become lovers. More than lovers. They are mates! He has marked her. Quite the turn I was not expecting! So much fun! The drama of it all, it's better than any Shakespeare play I have ever seen."

Delilah smiled, and at this news, she was very, very pleased with herself. Jasper was barely containing himself from attacking all of them in the room and Aro's explanation did not leave him satisfied. There were too many things that were not adding up. "So, you sent her to our family to change their memories, in order to weaken our coven and to test her abilities. None of this makes sense."

Caius sat up. "How so?"

"Why wouldn't she have Edward and Alice join your guard? Why not change my memory? Or, why not change theirs and then try to manipulate Bella and myself into joining the guard to save them? You would have made us loyal to you and then erase Carlisle's and the others memories to forget about all of us?"

Caius smiled slightly and raised an eyebrow at Aro. Aro smiled in response. "You really would make a terrific addition to this guard, Jasper. You are absolutely right, of course. It would be easier to change you all to the Guard. But that was not my decision to make."

"Excuse me?"

"Even the Volturi once in a while are given a directive that we agree to follow. I never once said that we were the ones that gave the order to change the Cullen's memories. Our directive, limited our scope of how we would have gone about it, but we made it work to our advantage as we best knew how."

"Who gave the order?" Jasper did not know of anyone more powerful than the Volturi.

"I am not privy to releasing that information at this time." Aro replied calmly.

Jasper had reached his breaking point. "Tell me who it is!" He threatened, moving next to Delilah quicker than Felix and Demetri could stop him. Jasper had his hand around the redheads' throat and lifted her in the air.

"Jane!" Aro looked at her harshly.

"I am trying, but this one is using her shield on him as well."

Aro walked up calmly to Jasper. "I wouldn't recommend killing her. Not unless you do not wish her to reverse what was done to the Cullen's."

Jasper dropped her to the floor, Delilah grabbing her neck. "What?"

"You heard me. We can reverse what was done."

Jasper walked up to Aro. "Do it."

Aro ignored him, strolling calmly back to his throne, sitting down, indicating for Jasper to move back to his spot. Jasper turned to Bella and he could see the hope racing through her. "I don't think you are really in a position to demand at this moment. We seem to hold all the cards."

Jasper's eyes narrowed. Now it comes down to what was really at stake. "What do you want?"

Aro looked at both his brothers. "It's simple really. You want the memory restored of the Cullen's. We are willing to do that, if you and Bella agree to do a favor on behalf of the Volturi."

"What is it?" Bella was suspicious. Jasper couldn't blame her; he was as well.

"We have two different items that need attending to that could use your special talents. There is a newborn army being created in France. With your exceptional experience in that field Jasper, we would like you to assist with destroying the newborns and taking out their sire. They need to learn their place."

Jasper nodded. He could agree to those terms most likely. "And the second item?"

Aro deferred to Caius. "There used to be a werewolf population problem, until we culled the population a few decades back. However, it has come to our attention that there has been resurgence in one area of the world that we have become aware of, and before we attack, we would like some reconnaissance done, discreetly."

Bella passed an unemotional glance at Jasper. To anyone else, it would appear as nothing more than a fleeting look. But Jasper knew that Bella only had one concern- that those werewolves were Jacob and the pack.

"Where is this reconnaissance?"

"In Siberia. We need to find out if there are more of them before we attack."

Jasper was glad Forks was still off of the map in the eyes of the Volturi. Still, he knew that Aro must have seen the werewolves in his mind, but he was not sure if Aro was going to disclose that information to Caius or not.

"When do you need this done?"

"The sooner the better. So do we have an agreement?"

Jasper looked at Bella, a questioning look passing between them. "We would need the Cullen's and the Denali's memories restored and proof of it before we proceeded."

"In a show of good faith, we shall agree to restoring the Cullen's memories prior to your departure save for Edward and Alice. We shall change back their memories upon confirmation of you assisting with the missions."

Jasper knew that was to be expected. As it was, he was content to know that at least some of his family's memories would be able to be confirmed as restored.

"I will need more information on these missions before we proceed."

"You will be fully debriefed on the mission in France as will Bella on Siberia."

Jasper remained calm on the outside, but the inside was again reaching boiling point. "Excuse me? We go together."

Aro pretended to looked flabbergasted. "I'm sorry. Did I forget to mention? These missions are set to be completed simultaneously. This is non-negotiable. Each mission is of utmost importance. You will not be on your own as some of our guard will accompany you on these missions. You are to make the decision here and now, or the offer is void. So are we in agreement?"

Jasper couldn't stand being put on the spot like this, but what choice did he and Bella have? Both nodded. Aro smiled. "Delightful. We shall even arrange for a gathering for you and some of your family prior to your departure to get reacquainted."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Wanted to answer a couple of questions that came up from last chapter.

Q: Why did the Volturi give Bella and Jasper access to documents?

A: I could have clarified this a little more, but the Volturi would not have anything of any great significance in their eyes to them in the room. It's more just history of the Volturi, stories passed along that the Volturi do not deem any great importance and that most vampires in the area know. Honestly, it's more of bragging to them. But to Jasper, knowing their history, how they have responded and dealt with threats in the past, gives him an understanding of his enemy. At this point, he is desperate for any edge he can get in case he would need it and was hoping that perhaps a weakness would be revealed in there.

Q: Is Chelsea involved in this?

A: Now that this chapter is out, I can answer this and the answer is No! Chelsea does not exist in this story. While she can change bonds, it is only to strengthen ties to the Volturi and from my understanding of her character cannot change feelings of love, be it romantic or familial. I am just keeping her out of the story all together.