Chapter 18

Distrust

There was not much time to catch up with Jacob and his pack. We knew exactly what time they had left and we assumed they should be very close to where we were going. It was times like this when I wished that Alice could see the wolves in her visions. I wished even more that Alice could see Renesmee in her visions; to make sure she was safe.

Carlisle, Charlie, Edward and I, went in one car; my "before" car, the one that Edward had bought me for protection, when I was still a human. We followed Alice, Emmet, Rosalie and Jasper, who went on one of Jasper's cars. Esme had stayed at the house, to watch over Sue.

Alice seemed to know exactly where she was going; she and Edward drove even faster then they usually did. I didn't have to lie to Charlie when he asked if they always drove like that.

"Never quite that fast, dad." I left it at that.

I could tell Charlie felt uncomfortable. He liked laws being followed, but he did not say a word. I assumed he just knew what was at stake here; if it wasn't for that, he would probably have arrested Edward and Alice himself. I knew that once things were back to normal, they would surely get a lecture about their driving.

"We are almost there." Edward said. I knew he was reading Alice's mind when he started explaining what would be done.

"Alice wants to park somewhere near here. It is best if they don't hear the cars. They have no special abilities, but they can still pick up on our scents, and their hearing capabilities are just the same as before. Once we get near, we need to act and we need to do it fast. That is, hoping that it is not too late.

We parked the cars in an empty parking lot in the nearest town. According to Alice, the Volturi's home away from home was about 3 miles into the woods. Alice ordered Charlie, Edward and I to go look for Jacob and stop him; once again, hoping it was not too late. She said the others would go and rescue Renesmee.

Neither one of us was pleased with that, but as much as I hated to admit it, Alice had a few good points about how we would act on instinct and possibly put Renesmee in danger.

Luckily, Jacob was smart enough to realize that they needed a plan. We found him and the others about a mile away from where we were going. They were all in wolf form, just about to split up and ready to attack when we stopped them.

"Jacob, stop the others!?" I ordered.

Jacob phased back into human form. He was furious. He came directly towards me.

"How could you?! How could you let them get Nessie?!"

Edward stood in front of me, shielding me from Jacob's rage.

"Get away from her, dog!" Edward hissed at Jacob. "This only happened because we were trying to protect your people."

Jacob laughed and with a sarcastic tone, he turned to Seth. "I told you Seth, this little friendship would not last long."

I was beyond irritated. "What is wrong with you Jacob? Get over yourself! This is not about you, it is about Renesmee."

"Fine, Bella! But just so you know, once this is over and Nessie is safe, we are going to revisit our situation."

"Oh, we have a situation?!" I said, rolling my eyes.

Jacob continued, his voice sharp and cold, "The treaty; I admit, it is partially my fault, I made way too many exceptions." As Jacob spoke, he was looking Charlie up and down.

The only good thing that came out from our little discussion was that it bought time for the others. Rosalie came towards me, holding Renesmee's hand.

Her brown eyes lit up once she saw us. She came running to my arms. I felt so relieved; I was checking her to make sure she was fine. Edward was reading her mind, and did not seem to find anything unusual. Then Renesmee started talking about the nice man and lady who had been playing with her and showed her all sorts of tricks.

I thought to myself that maybe Alice was right; Demetri did just want to get his ability back, and that is the only way he had found to get our attention.

"Where are the others?" I asked Rosalie.

"They are talking to Demetri and Scarlett; they would like us all to join them, but without the wolves."

I didn't even want to look at Jacob right now. He was going on and on about how he would not leave until he knew Renesmee was safe; although, he felt that now he would never know for sure that we could keep her safe… I had had enough!

"You know, apparently you weren't able to protect her either."

Renesmee looked at me a little disappointed, which devastated me.

"I am sorry Nessie, we are just a little stressed out." Jacob said in a much softer voice.

She gazed at Jacob. "It is okay Jake, we are all fine now." She walked towards him, using her own special gift, and showed him pictures of her spending time with Demetri and Scarlett.

Jacob agreed to leave but assured us that he would be around when we returned to the house.

As soon as we knew they were gone, we went to the Volturi's place. It was a surprisingly discrete house, in the middle of the woods. It couldn't possibly have more than 5 rooms total; it was small, and dark. Anyone in their right minds would be afraid to go in there.

As soon as Edward and I saw Demetri and Scarlett, all the feeling of rage came right back to us. Jasper wasted no time in controlling out emotions, and Carlisle began speaking right away; but first, ensuring that Demetri and Scarlett apologized to us. We said we accepted their apologies, but there was no meaning behind our words.

Carlisle went on to say that the mission in New Hampshire, with the newborns did not go as well as it should have and he admitted that the Volturi had much more experience in dealing with such things. Carlisle had made an agreement with Demetri. He would ask Charlie to return Demetri's abilities and well as the others, as long as they could work together in dealing with anyone who broke the rules; each of us in our own territorial zones. Carlisle demanded that Aro would be the one in charge and that if under any circumstances, the Volturi abused their power as the enforcers of our unwritten laws; Charlie would take away their abilities once and for all.

Demetri agreed to convey the message to the others in his coven, and as long as we were all in agreement, we would take action to make sure everything went as agreed.

We all seemed please with that option; of course, we still had to wait and make sure the Volturi was in agreement, but I did not see any reason why they would object. The best part of all this, was that Jasper, Charlie, and the others would not have to leave every time there was a troubling newborn causing problems.

Now there was only one main problem to deal with: Jacob!