Chapter 16
Even though we knew that the Volturi would be arriving today, everyone was still shocked when Alice broke the news yesterday that they were arriving. I think it was because it just made everything seem more real.
As the time drew closer, everyone got into position. After school yesterday, Jasper and I spent some time in the clearing setting up for a game of baseball. The diamond was considerably larger than what we normally make it but it was just perfect for what we needed it to be for this occasion. Alice took her spot on the pitcher's mound, while me, Edward, and Jasper choose first, second, and third base respectively. Rosalie, Emmett, Renesmee, and Carlisle were going to be up to bat first. Esme always choose to be the referee in our games, she was under the impression that we cheated. The other vampires in the clearing with us: Zafrina, Kate, Eleazar, Carmen, Garrett, Tanya and Irina each divided the remaining positions of the game and choose sides. It didn't matter where they stood, we just wanted to give the impression that we were gathered for a game.
We started the game, but minded to keep the ball controlled within the field. I listened to the surrounding forest for the remaining vampires. They were hiding in the woods along with the wolves. Taylor and the pack came through for us, with the number of vampires that came into the area this time, there were a total of thirty two werewolves, all the size of horses waiting to defend us. Benjamin was using his talent of manipulating the elements in holding back the wind so the scent of the wolves or the unseen vampires could not be detected by the Volturi. Since I knew where everyone was, I was able to project my shield to fit over everyone individually. I checked the shields and made sure that nothing would be able to penetrate them.
When we switched sides, Alice was up to bat first. I watched as the plan I set in motion was being carried out, and she hit the ball so hard that it disappeared at the tree line. We each waited as we heard the ball being caught in the far off distance. I felt a sense of déjà vu as the Volturi were entering the clearing just as James, Victoria and Laurent had.
At the tree line, I could clearly see that Renata caught the ball behind Aro, as everyone were making their way into the clearing. Their précised movements were still similar to the marching of a well disciplined army. They moved so fast and were several yards away within seconds. Renata threw the ball back into our direction, but nobody made a move for it, so it fell limply to the ground.
"Ahhh the Cullen's. How I have missed my old friends, especially you Carlisle." Aro's voice still sent chills up my skin. How could someone so devious be so polite? "I see you have a gathering of sorts."
"Yes Aro." Carlisle was very cold. "The Denali family decided they wanted to come visit us for a spell and so did Zafrina. Since the town would be preoccupied with setting up for the parade today, we decided to play some baseball. I see you have a gathering of sorts as well. What would warrant such a visit from you in this manner? We have broken no rules."
Edward stood beside me and gasped. I cranked my neck to get a better view of what Edward was looking at, and gasped myself. There standing behind the guard, but before the wives, were ten great wolves, just as big as ours. That's why Alice wasn't able to accurately see the Volturi's decisions. Somehow they had acquired their own set of werewolves and were using them to shield themselves. I had to admit that that was very clever of Aro.
"Well, my dear friend, I will get to that in time. Renesmee, that is a beautiful trinket around your neck. Might I have a closer look at it?" Aro inquired. Before she could answer him, he took two steps over into her direction by first base. Edward's body stiffened and I growled and moved to Renesmee's side. I crouched instinctively in front of my daughter as Aro still carefully made his way to her. "Relax Bella. I merely noticed that she is wearing the trinket that I gave to you and Edward as your wedding gift. She truly is remarkable in immortality. Like mother like daughter." Aro raised his hand to my face and lightly touched the side of my cheek. "Edward."
I turned as I watched my Edward walk over to us. Now it was my turn to stiffen, I knew what was going to happen next. And though it pained me to do so, since it left him vulnerable, I pulled the shield that I placed around him back so that Aro could read Edward's mind. Aro held his hand out and Edward promptly placed his in Aro's. I saw Aro's glee that Edward didn't know anything of a way to set up the Volturi. For all Edward knew was that we had guests and we wanted to get a round of baseball in. "Ahhhh." As soon as Aro dropped Edward's hand, I violently snapped the shield around him. I bowed my head and swept my hand across the back of my neck. Veronica saw the signal and immediately started telling Edward the plan. I smiled absently as I saw him looking at me and realizing that I was the one that had put this plan in motion.
"Carlisle, you asked me before why we were here. It has come to my attention that your coven has become quite large." He hissed the word coven.
"My family is the same size as it has always been. In fact with the death of Jacob, it is minus one than from when you last saw us."
"Hmmm, Jacob, he was the shapeshifter? How is your alliance with the local natives, I wonder. I do not see them in the clearing."
"I did not know there was a need for them today."
"Nonetheless, I would like to extend an invitation to Bella, Edward, and Alice to join the Volturi. That way your family will become more manageable for your lifestyle of course."
"I do not speak for my children, Aro, but I can tell you my family is quite manageable as it is. You did not need to bother yourself in bringing everyone here, to concern them in matters that are not up to discussion."
"Well it is up for discussion. I'd extend my invitation to all of you, but I really have no need. I just want Bella, Alice and Edward."
"I'm sure you know what our answer will be considering it hasn't changed since the last time you invited us. But I am curious why you would think that it would change." Edward's voice was thick and I was cautious with my movements since Felix seemed to be watching my every move. I nervously gathered and lifted my hair and let it down behind my head, a perfectly normal motion, and Felix put his attention back to the rest of the scene. To Zafrina, the motion was her signal to give the illusion that the guard was in the clearing alone with us, when in fact, our allies moved into the clearing, surrounding them.
Within the next few seconds, I resisted the urge to hold my breath as everyone sauntered into the clearing. Most of them were people that I had come to love as family, especially since my own had passed away. And now, again, they were here protecting me. I wrestled with the very idea that I needed protecting yet again, and now not only was I endangering the lives of my immediate family, now everyone that I had come to know.
"Well that my dear Edward, will present itself in a few moments." Immediately I feared our counterparts had moved in too soon, as Heidi moved into the clearing as well, but I'm assuming that Zafrina saw her before I did because she didn't seem alarmed. Behind Heidi was a group of people, three of whom I recognized as teens from the high school, the Newton kid was among one of them. I didn't know the names of the other kids, but my heart would have stopped at the sight of Sarah's mother within the group. I extended my shield again to include the humans, I didn't want to risk Jane or Alec getting to them.
"Edward."
"I see."
"My dear Cullen's, as you can see, the lovely Heidi has brought guests. And I will kill them and everyone in this pathetic little town." Aro sneered as he was speaking and I wanted to throw up at the sight of Sarah's mom in danger. Marcus' eyes and nose flared up at the sight of humans being brought into the clearing.
As I stood there watching the scene playing out, a thought popped in my head and before I could formulate a plan my mouth opened first. "Excuse me, Aro, Caius, and Marcus. It rather seems to me that you, the guard, your wives and the witnesses have excellent timing, as I'd like to make a formal complaint. And since you are here to judge, I would inquire that you'd permit my complaint be made first." I never heard myself speak with so much authority before.
"Hmmm, a complaint. I am slightly intrigued as to what your complaint is about? Could it be against the Cullen's themselves?"
"No, Aro. It is not against the Cullen's, but more against you! You have exposed us to the likes of humans for a purpose other than feeding on them. This is the type of exposure that you were sworn to protect against and yet here you are flaunting it."
"What makes you think I will not hesitate to kill these puny few?"
"If you must kill them, you must. But I wonder how it would play out to the public, how an entire town was decimated. You have to know that no one in my family would wear one of your black robes. We would be better prepared to fight than join the guard." I was pleased that my words gave Aro pause. He never thought that we wouldn't join him even to save our hometown of Forks.
"Is it possible then that the perfect Cullen's would not join my coven even if it meant to save the very people that they endeavor to be like?" Aro waved a hand and suddenly one of Heidi's captives was being levitated in the air towards Aro. I pushed a separate shield to the guards direction and the man effectively stopped floating towards danger.
"Enough!" Marcus yelled. "Aro you have gone on far too long. Power has been abused in the most gregarious way. This is not our way!"
"Brother, you stand against me in the matter?"
"I am standing for what's due and fair. What right do you have to condemn this town and this coven to death?" Marcus moved closer and closer to Aro almost till they were face to face.
"They are a threat."
Marcus now pressed his cheek against Aro's and whispered, "Like my wife?"
Aro's face went whiter than it possibly could have been. Never in all his existence did he think Marcus would ever find out. Caius stood there listening to the exchange that just took place, as we all were. It was hard to tell if Caius was shocked that Marcus knew of the plot, or that Aro stooped as low as to kill his own sister. The wives gasped at the revelation and somewhere in the clearing was an ear piercing scream that rang out several miles away.
There wasn't enough time for Aro to react before everyone realized who was producing the scream. All the while Marcus moved over to Aro, Demetri matched Marcus' movements over to Sulpicia, Aro's wife. Demetri was ripping her apart, seeing what he was doing, Benjamin lit up the mounds that we disguised as bases, on fire. Zafrina being the closest vampire to Demetri, lifted the illusion and grabbed as many pieces of Sulpicia into the fiery mound.
"A wife, for a wife, my dear brother." Marcus said his peace and I placed my shield to include him and Demetri. As the Volturi received their correct sight back, and saw that they were suddenly surrounded, they could see I meant business about a fight. The fear that fixated on their face quickly changed to determination. There was no running back to Volterra this time.
Caius pointed at the wolves and gave a signal. The wolves started advancing towards us fiercely. I was able to get a better look at them, all ten wolves had fur that was light grey almost white, red eyes. I tested my own shield to make sure there weren't any sneak attacks against me, and when I was confident there weren't, I pulled my personal shield and let Edward hear my thoughts. "Edward, ask Taylor if he can hear the thoughts of the Alpha." Edward nodded his head in compliance. Kachiri retrieved her bow and arrow and shot one in the shoulder. Our own werewolves stood their ground surround the pack and attacked the remaining nine wolves. It hardly seemed fair that there were thirty two wolves versus nine, but some were only grabbing the pieces and throwing them to the fire as well.
The major secret weapon that they had for us proved to be insufficient to our preparedness. Aro looked at Edward in bewilderment as he realized that he was duped again. Caius was no longer smug about the werewolves, and now only realized the true danger that they were in. I could see everyone divvie-up who they wanted to take out. Alice, Kate and Irina were looking at Jane. Jane the blond witch was frightened and cowering behind Aro. No longer concerned with Jane, Vladimir and Stephen fixated on Aro; while Carlisle and Edward paired up for Caius. Emmett and Felix were wrestling on the ground and Rosalie was ripping apart Caius' wife, Athenodora., along with Esme. Everyone, save for me, was busy with an opponent. I wasn't allowed to fight. Carlisle thought it best that I stay away from the fight since I was protecting everyone with my shield. I hated feeling useless.
I saw creatures on both sides going down. The Romanians went after Aro and they had the upper hand for most of their battle. In synchronization, they pounced on Aro, and tackled him to the ground. Vladimir almost had a grip on Aro's arm, when suddenly, Aro swung Stefan into a fire pit. Vladimir in shock, lost his composure for a tenth of a second too long and Aro notoriously ripped his head off. Aro finished Vladimir up and was headed in my direction.
I couldn't fight, I was too clumsy as a human to learn and Edward refused to teach me when I became a vampire. There was no need. But I refused to run while my family was here fighting for me. I looked around at my family. I suppressed a laugh at Heidi, her long flowing hair was being ripped out by Renesmee. Heidi wasn't even concentrating on the fact that Renesmee had moved from her hair and was now breaking her neck in one swift movement. I could tell Emmett was playing around with Felix. I think it almost disappointed him that Demetri was on our side now, he'd always been eager to fight him, so he may have settled for Felix. Jane was done for. I could see Irina and Kate gather the last of her remains into a pit. Alice had joined Jasper with Santiago. The clearing was filling up with smoke, but that didn't bother me. I couldn't see Edward.
I turned to look for my husband, but I couldn't find him anywhere. Two of the newcomers were being thrown into the fire by Corin. I was barely able to make out the once alive faces of Cam and Regan. Nahuel's sister Xochitl was kneeling on the ground facing me. But as I felt Aro's hand gripping my neck, I could see she wasn't just kneeling. A silver blade had pierced her torso and she simply fallen to her knees. I focused my eyes and saw Afton slide his sword from Xochitl's body and slice off her head.
"Not even with all your family dying around you, will you join?" Aro hissed. It was very apparent that he was quite disturbed that his plan was not accordingly. "Not even to save your own existence?"
I closed my eyes trying to think of something clever to say but I couldn't with all the screams. I opened my eyes and at the corner of my left eye, I saw a blur rushing towards us. The blur knocked into Aro who in turn lost his grip on my neck. I looked up to see who my rescuer was, though I knew without knowing. Edward was crouched on the ground waiting for Aro to get up. A growl escaped Edward's lips as he leaped over Aro's head, and brought his neck backwards. I ran up alongside Aro and bit into his neck and tugged at his right arm. It sounded as if fabric was ripping and I vowed that after this day I would never hear that noise again. I flung the arm to the side towards second base. In an epic battle such as this, leave it to me and Edward to take apart our biggest challenge together. We continued tearing what was left of Aro's body and throwing them to the flames. I wanted to make sure that there was nothing left of him, but Edward assured me that he was a goner.
As I recomposed myself, I checked my shields to see if they held. Throughout my scuffle with Aro, I didn't realize that the werewolves that the Volturi brought with them, were now fighting alongside our team, at least what was left of them. I had counted six grey wolves left. I surveyed the clearing again and saw the damage that was inflicted on both sides. I couldn't see Afton, or Corin anymore. I could only hope that someone had taken care of them. Peter was fighting Alec, the last remaining threat of the Volturi back towards a pit. There weren't even too many witnesses left. Most of them I saw were too scared to join a battle that wasn't theirs, and ran off. Those that stayed to fight, met a burning end. Charlotte went over to help her mate, and they finished Alec.
I walked up behind Carlisle as he was kneeling over one of the wolves. "How long will it take for him to heal?" His bone was sticking out of his leg. I wasn't a doctor but I knew it was bad.
"He'll probably be fine by the end of the day. It looks a lot worse than it really is." Carlisle started rambling to Edward about the break in his leg, and I looked all across the field. Very few on our side died in the battle. Benjamin was injured a bit but he'd heal fine. At the moment he was bringing down some rain to douse the fires. But the Volturi lost so much. Besides their leaders, Aro and Caius, everyone else that sided with them had perished as well, including the two vampires that accompanied Jane on her visit to us. In fact, the only ones left were Marcus, Demetri, and Renata. I noticed that our wolves were completely intact. Renesmee and Taylor were reuniting, as were the other couples.
"Carlisle? What are we going to do about them?" I turned my head in the direction that Edward was inclining. There at the tree line, I saw all of the humans huddled together in fear. Well most of them, the Newton kid wet himself and even though they were scared, no one wanted to touch him.
"Hmm, it seems Aro presented a problem. Edward reach into my bag and get out a few syringes and the bottle of Verazicodone. Verazicodone is a very strong narcotic. In fact, the patient will probably wake up in about 7 hours, throwing up and a mild case of diarrhea. They'd hardly remember anything, but I think if we put them in their beds, what they may remember will be a dream to them. " He looked over to Alice, who nodded.
"No one will give us any trouble. Do the Newton kid first, when he notices what you're doing he'll commit as much as possible to memory. He still gets it wrong, and people will dismiss him, but he'd make a lot of noise in the meantime." Alice returned to her embrace with Jasper. We apparently weren't in the clearing.
Edward and Carlisle filled the syringes with the medicine, and ran over to the gathering. Before the last human, Sarah's mom was struck, the Newton kid was knocked out. Carlisle caught Newton, I rushed over to get Sarah's mom, while Emmett, Rose, Edward, Alice and Jasper grabbed someone else.
"Follow their scents back to their houses and lay them in their beds." Edward said. And we all split up. I ran through the woods without following a scent since I knew where Sarah lived. I ran to the house, careful that no one saw me. No one was inside. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was now a quarter after 10. Sarah and Michael would have left for Seattle by now. Her dad and little sister were probably wondering where Mrs. Moore was so they'd be back soon to check on her. I laid her in her bed and went to the medicine closet in the bathroom. I found the Pepto-Bismol and fed some down her throat. I hoped that would help with the side effects later.
I ran back to the house where everybody else was gathering. The few vampires that had someone to mourn had already left, but the rest were here to celebrate and go over their kills. I went up into Edward's arms and I didn't want to let him go. I saw Marcus, followed by; Renata and Demetri walk over to Carlisle. They spoke earnestly for a moment, before beckoning the vampires to listen.
"I wish that none of the vampires had left, but there seems to be a matter that needs to go up for discussion." Carlisle said, his arms were raised as he was asking everyone to settle down. What could he possibly need to talk about that was so urgent?
A/N: Okay my longest chapter yet, I hope you liked it. Sorry if the fight scene wasn't what you expected, I'm not used to writing fight scenes at all and I have no training in fighting, so whatever. I'll be writing at least one more story for twilight, once i finish up with this one, but it may take awhile. i have several stories in my head so keep a look out!!