A/N: Sorry this took a while to get out. I forgot how tiring the 3rd Trimester of pregnancy could be! Anyway, I hope you are all still with me on this story! :) I am also going to blame the Hunger Games trilogy on this delay too. Got sucked in. Damn Peeta and Katniss. :)

Chapter 27

Bella nodded at Demetri, giving one last glance at Jasper as she ducked into the car, seeing Jasper led away by Alec to complete his own end of the bargain. She sighed as they pulled away; staring down at the manila envelope that now lay flat in her lap, the contents peaking her curiosity.

She looked up at her new comrades, Felix and Demetri, whose face was facing ahead, driving. "I am guessing I should open this now?"

Felix nodded. "It should have the details of where we are going. Caius always takes extreme caution on these missions, never divulging even to us the full details of these missions until we are on them."

"Seems a little over the top to me." Bella saw Demetri's back move as he chuckled at her statement. "I mean really, what is the difference between revealing it here and in the room?"

Felix threw an unappreciative look at his fellow guard member. "He is quite paranoid when it comes to Werewolves; he views them as our greatest threat so he has always taken every precaution with this and every mission. He thought that had gotten all of them; but over the years, their population has been increasing yet again, all over, and Caius is ready to be on a rampage."

"But he revealed that we are going to Siberia. If they were so paranoid, why would they reveal that?" Bella mused.

Demetri interjected. "Siberia is extremely vast, Bella. Telling us it is in Siberia is nothing; it's like saying that there we are visiting an island in the Pacific."

Bella nodded. It was only yet another reason why she needed to continue her education after being turned. She hated feeling inferior in any way to these vampires; even if it was just in terms of geography.

She opened up the envelope, pulling out the thick cream paper that outlined their mission.

Location:

Krasnoyarsk Krai – Taymyr Peninsula

Mission:

It has been reported that the Nganasan people of Taymyr Peninsula have begun over the past several decades, to exhibit behaviors that were similar to those of a werewolf. Over the past few years, we have been observing their people to see if they posed any threat to the Volturi or to vampires as a whole. It was not until recently that we came across them exhibiting more aggressive behavior, becoming more organized. They have been traveling during the full moon, eliminating small vampire covens they have come across in the process.

It is our belief that that these attacks are not circumstance. We have intelligence that indicates they are being instructed on where and who to take out, and that they are being rewarded financially and through other means as well.

It is your mission to discover who are the leaders of their kind and if there is any vampire or outside involvement. Once that is discovered, should the opportunity present itself, you will take out said leaders and those that are involved. If you should encounter anyone who attempts to prevent you from completing your mission, you are hereby ordered to kill them on the spot, regardless of affiliation.

Timeframe: Upon arrival, you will rendezvous with your contact at the northwestern most point of Lake Taymyr. There your contract will have shelter provided in the remote region.

It is expected that you report back to Italy no later than 5 days after the new moon.

Bella folded the letter, repeating back the contents to Felix and Demetri. "It does not say who our contact is. How do we know if they are friend or enemy?"

Felix leaned back on the leather seats. "There is a code word that is always provided. There should be one word that is in bold on the document?"

Bella nodded. "Affiliation."

"That is the word. Our contact will use it in a sentence. And where the region is so remote, I am guessing that we should not have any problem identifying our contact."

It was with relief that Bella was surprised to note that Felix was not trying to hit on her or at least flirt, perhaps Jasper had gotten through to him after all with his threats or perhaps he was just more professional when on official Volturi business. She began to relax a bit as the car rumbled on towards a remote private airport. "Do you often go on missions for the Volturi?"

Felix shrugged. "Usually about five or six times a year we are called on internationally. Usually it involves taking care of a single rouge vampire, but once in a while we will get something larger, like in this instance. Believe it or not, the Volturi stay out of a lot of matters. Unless it breaks one of our laws or is something they deem as a matter of security, we generally stay out of it. Having two missions at once is extremely unusual and Aro, Marcus, and Caius must have felt both demanded immediate attention do both simultaneously. I can't help but wonder if they think the instances are related."

Bella laughed a little. In her short life, she has more than her fair share of run-ins with the ruling hierarchy. "I hardly believe that you stay out of most matters."

Demetri failed to see what was so humorous. "We really do, Bella. I know you know us fairly well, but most vampires never even come across us their entire existence. Take Jasper, for example. He came across Jane, Alec, Demetri and I only several years ago, when you were still human. Before that, he had never encountered us, and had never met Aro, Caius, and Marcus until these past several weeks and he had been an important member of the Southern Vampire Wars. While we won't deny that we were aware of what was happening in the Southern United States, we ultimately stayed out of that, not showing our faces. It was a territorial dispute only. No humans were made aware of our existence, so chose not to get involved."

"We agree to disagree. So then, why me? Why get me involved in all of this? I must be a security risk by getting me involved and surely, I am really of no importance."

Felix raised his eyebrows. "Bella, you really cannot think that. Your shield is an extremely useful tool against other vampires. No one in the current guard has an ability like it, and as such, they had an opportunity to use you, and they wanted to take advantage of it."

"Exploit it, you mean."

The brown haired vampire now rolled his eyes. "No, I mean, take advantage. To exploit it, we would be would be parading you around as a member of our guard, holding you against your will. We would make sure that every vampire was aware that you were working with us. Most of this has been kept very much under wraps. You were given a choice on whether or not to get involved. Trust me when I say that the Volturi did not need to give you that choice."

"The only reason why I was not paraded around is because the Volturi did not want to make it known that they were in the business of altering other's memories."

Demetri spoke up from the driver's seat. "Bella, I have seen the Volturi do many things in the centuries that I have been a guard member, I won't deny that. But believe Aro when he states he was doing a favor. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen on occasion. I am not the one to say why the Volturi agree to favors at times, because I don't know myself. But Aro actually does respect Carlisle tremendously, with the exception of his questionable choice of lifestyle."

Demetris comments gave Bella pause. It bothered her that it really may have been someone else who gave the orders to change the Cullens memories. The question would be, who, and why?

After considering the possibilities and coming up with nothing, Bella moved on to a new subject. "Do you know who our contact will be?"

Felix furrowed his brow in thought. "I have several ideas, but I am not positive."

"The contact is not part of the guard?" Bella was quite surprised by this fact.

He shook his head. "We have eyes and ears all over, Bella. There are a lot of vampires who are not part of the guard, but associate themselves with the Volturi. Often it is a mutually beneficial relationship."

Bella had a hard time believing that it was a mutually beneficial, but she kept her thoughts to herself. "How can you be sure that you can trust them?"

"If Caius trusts them enough to work with us, then so do I. He is very through."

She caught the Russians eye through the rearview mirror. "Demetri, how familiar are you with the territory?"

"I was raised in the lower part of Russia, but I have spent significant time in Siberia, probably more so than any other Volturi member. I stayed in Soviet Union throughout most of the cold war, as a contact for the Volturi. During that time, I traveled extensively throughout the motherland, and found that I actually enjoyed the solace that the land afforded."

"Is it really as barren as they say?"

"The part that we are going to is. There are not a whole lot of people, which isn't good for Felix and I, but for you… there will be no shortage of game. Luckily, we all ate well last night."

Bella thought back to the all the wine goblets filled with blood and cringed at how for a moment she almost gave in. She did not want to respond to Demetris comment, so she looked out the window at the passing scenery, thinking that Jasper was most likely in an unmarked car like this one, on his way to France.

She tried not to worry about him, she knew her mate was more than capable of handling himself in any situation, but still she couldn't help be wish she was there with him. Her instinct told her to get out of this car and run to Jasper as quickly as possible, but she repressed that feeling. She did not have the option to do so, as much as she longed to.

She decided to try to throw herself into this mission, in hopes that they could make a quick return back, with Jasper doing the same. The rest of the ride was uneventful, and Felix piloted the Cessna plane. They made a quick stop in Moscow to refuel and pick up some additional supplies, Demetri handling all the transactions in his flawless Russian. When the boarded the plane again, it was only a matter of time before the houses that dotted the landscape became fewer and fewer, and soon there was nothing but an icy tundra around them, with a few scattered buildings here and there.

Felix turned briefly, looking at the both of them. "We will be pulling in there," pointing to a field of ice. "It's going to be a bit of a bumpy landing and then we will camouflage the plane and hike it the rest of the way to our destination. Buckle up."

Bella did as instructed. It was a rough landing, but luckily the plane was not damaged in the process. They gathered their backpacks and supplies they would need, and took off in a northerly direction, towards Lake Taymyr.

The hike itself would have been most unpleasant if she were still human, however, as a vampire, Bella found that they could literally run through the forest all night long in the bitter cold if they wanted to. They chose instead to take their time and cover their tracks, airing on the side of caution.

The stopped for a few minutes on the edge of the large lake, Demetri looking at his GPS unit to decide which route would be best to take. Bella took the opportunity to excuse her advising that she wanted to go hunt for a few minutes. The two guards merely nodded and she ran off into the woods. When she was sure that she was out of their hearing, she pulled out her cell phone and sent a quick text to Jasper.

All's Well. Arrived in Siberia at Lake Taymyr. On route to meeting our contact. Stay Safe.

Once she finished her text, she quickly took down a bear that was in the region and buried it, taking care to leave no trace. She looked down, noticing a response.

All is well here. Just outside of Paris, awaiting rendezvous as well. Be careful.

Bella, satisfied with Jasper's current safety, ran back to Felix and Demetri. Felix gave a look of disgust and fascination. "I can smell the bear on your breath. How can you stomach that?"

"It's pretty good. You should try it some time. Do we know which way you want to go?"

Demetri nodded. "We are going to head west, then north. There are several fields that should also provide sufficient cover from any prying eyes, so I would guess we will find our person there. Are you ready?"

Bella nodded. After another couple of hours of walking at a near human pace, Bella smelt it. Vampire. She tensed, and then recognized the scent, her shoulders relaxing.

Tallulah.