Characters are always the property of Stephenie Meyer.

Chapter 5 Distraction

EPOV

Even without the benefit of tears, Esme was the picture of heartbroken. She had been beside herself for the last week, standing poised at the back window gazing into the darkness of the trees. It was heart wrenching to watch. Each day she fell apart a little bit more. Her hopelessness radiated out, affecting everyone in the house.

Rosalie hated to see anything come between us and worried constantly when our siblings would return and mend our broken family. Emmett tried to be his usual jovial self and lighten our dour moods, but no one paid attention to his antics. He spent most of his time pouting in front of the X-Box, lifelessly engaging in the games he and Jasper had spent countless, mind-numbing hours playing before the world shifted beneath our feet.

Carlisle naturally took Esme's heartache the hardest. He had struggled through centuries of loneliness, desiring more until finally giving into temptation and creating me. Then he found Esme: his love, his light, his wife. Nothing completed him the way she did. It was a beautiful, selfless love that outshone even that of my married siblings. His unresponsive bleakness weighed on my mind above the others of my family. Alone in this existence, Carlisle was my anchor. During these immeasurably long days, the man I knew, loved and respected was drowning in sorrow and it was killing me to watch.

Even knowing Alice had foreseen her imminent capture by the Volturi made it no less easy to take. And once Jasper had gone off on his own to find her, I was able to unload the sordid tale on my other family members. Even then, the burden didn't relinquish its hold on me, like I had hoped. Instead, my misery grew, unable to avoid the helpless thoughts bombarding my mind.

I went over everything I knew again, praying that this time I'd see something I hadn't seen before, some clue as to how this would work.

Carlisle and I had been on an extended hunting trip when Esme called. We raced home to find Alice lapsed into a deep trance. Jasper was pacing nervously back and forth as the girls explained she had gone catatonic in the driver's seat of her Porsche while parked in the garage.

"What's she seeing?" Jasper demanded, deciding quickly I was the most likely to provide the answers he desired.

But I couldn't answer him. I was already lost in Alice's mind as it whirled in a frenzy of glimpses from the future. Though the details rearranged themselves over and over, the outcome was constant. My family is annihilated by the Volturi. In some glimpses, different members lay dismembered and burning. Sometimes, Alice sobbed next to the gray columns of smoke as it rose lazily into the air. In other visions even Alice had been torn apart and the entire Volturi Guard watched the extinction of the Cullen family. I was immediately taken with fury at the impending doom of the Cullen family. Jasper stared at me hard.

What are you seeing? he hissed in my mind.

I could only shake my head as scene after scene crashed on me like waves over a sinking ship. My knees were becoming weak as the pressure built inside my head. Horror after horror. Death after death. It was dizzying and I felt my body sway. Alice had locked herself in this catatonia to filter through everything, to see it from all angles. She was trying to find hope that we could cling to amidst the chaotic images, but I couldn't take it. The possibilities didn't look good.

All at once the visions ended. Though she didn't stir in the slightest, I heard her familiar voice in my mind. Don't speak yet, Edward, she warned. There is a way to avoid it.

This time it was a single scene. It was simple, but very clear. An attack party surrounded our residence in Forks. Before they have the chance to infiltrate our home, Alice walks from the front door and raises her arms in surrender. Demetri smiles widely as he has her bound by one of the faceless members of the would-be murderers.

I was stunned, but held my tongue as Alice opened her eyes slowly. A flurry of worry and questions ran through my mind, but I pushed it away from my thoughts. Was she crazy, giving herself to protect us? I couldn't let it happen.

It's the only way, she thought sadly. I shook my head at her as she briefly met my eye. No one else noticed the silent exchange, absorbed as they were in Alice's present condition.

It was impossible to believe. Any of it. The Volturi was coming down on our peaceful family for no reason other than they felt threatened by diet. We had long been aware they believed Carlisle was building an army to overthrow their tedious hold over the vampire world. Of course it was insanity. Carlisle had turned only four humans and only because we were dying. Jasper and Alice were already vampires when they joined us. There would be no more siblings added, no matter how Carlisle and Esme wished I'd make an effort to find a mate. I just wasn't interested. Now it looked like it didn't matter.

For two days, I mulled Alice's decision over in my mind just like I did now, until we could finally get some time alone. I laid into her as soon as we separated ourselves from the intrusive ears of our family. "You are insane! There is no way I'll let you do this, Alice. It's suicide. Jasper will kill me if I let you do this."

"That's why you have to help me Edward. We have to plan perfectly, to get everyone out of the house before they get here. I'll stay behind and-"

"And what?" I interrupted angrily. "Feign a headache?"

Alice's eyes immediately brightened as they focused on something not happening in the here and now. She's telling Jasper she has a headache. He kisses her forehead and walks out the front door. She had her excuse, one I unwittingly provided her.

Showing the genuine concern I had, I spoke again, "You realize they'll never let you go."

She stayed silent for a long time, but I understood the direction of her thoughts. There was still a missing element in the outcome. After she is captured by the Volturi, there is nothing. I knew it was because after they had her, the Volturi would be the ones controlling the future. She seemed to believe that was the hope she had been hunting.

I shook my head. "It's too risky. Volterra's prison is beneath the city in an impenetrable maze of caves. Even if we could get in undetected, there are no guarantees I could hear your voice through the miles of rock. You know how iron reacts with our powers."

"Look, Edward, if you want to blab about it to the rest of them, I'll go on my own and intercept them. There's something I can't see and I think it's exactly what we need. We have to keep the family intact-"

"That's what I'm saying!" I had to be careful to keep my voice low, as we were strolling relatively close to the house. "Don't do this, Alice. It will destroy everyone."

She sighed and looked away. "It's the only way," she breathed.

After that, knowing she had already compared a thousand scenes, I grudgingly agreed to follow along, but with a final warning. "Jasper will come for you."

Remaining silent for a long time, Alice finally answered. "That's why you can't mention any of this to him until I'm gone. It'll be less agony that way." She shuddered slightly and I reached over and grabbed her in my arms.

"I will help you, Alice, but this doesn't feel right at all. I hope you know what you're doing."

"Me, too," she whispered and buried her face in my shirt.

Until the day of the incident, Alice put on a very good show, much more convincing than the zombie haze I'd been walking around in. Jasper was suspicious of the constant nervous hopelessness that had started to build inside me. I caught him staring worriedly at his energetic wife as she threw herself into the mundane tasks of daily life with more exhuberence than usual.

I avoided everyone as much as I could until the day we were getting ready to leave. We were set up to take a family trip for a weeklong visit to Denali to visit Tanya's coven. Alice had spun a story so effortlessly on the phone with her that our cousin believed she was the one insisting we come. Naturally, the rest of my family was thrilled at the idea. Alice plunged head first into planning the get-away: a week none of us would ever actually experience.

The morning dawned clear and bright and we began piling ourselves and the fifteen piece luggage set Rosalie insisted on into every single open space in the available cars. We always made our trips to Alaska in two vehicles, our own personal attempt at "staying green."

"Where are Alice and I supposed to sit?" Jasper asked, staring into the backseat of my Volvo. They generally rode with me, being the lesser of two evils as far as the gooey love junk was concerned.

Alice suddenly danced up next to him. "Actually, Jazz, I'm not feeling very well. My head is pounding." She grabbed her head and shook it softly side to side. "I think I'll just lie down for a few hours until I'm feeling better."

Jasper looked over her anxiously and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "I'll stay with you, then. We can leave in a few hours," he said. I could see his thoughts were concerned and not the least bit suspicious even though my own mind saw the lie screaming in his face.

Perfectly rehearsed, she said softly, "No. I'll be fine on my own for awhile. Maybe it'll...maybe it'll do some good."

I didn't miss the fact that she hadn't added the word "me" to her statement. "It would do me some good." But no. Alice's plan was far from being beneficial to her.

Jasper glanced at me curiously feeling the disparity spin off at an alarming rate. Not aligning the two facts, he looked back into Alice's face and the smile she pasted onto it. He grinned and winked at his wife, thinking he had discovered her hidden intentions. "You want to drive your car, who am I to say you shouldn't?" He bent low and kissed her with soft passion. It would have broken my heart if it were still capable of beating. As it was, the pure sweetness of it churned my stomach and I had to look away.

The rest of the family remained oblivious to the situation playing out before them. No one shared the least bit of concern for the impending demise of the family as we knew it. I coughed back my moan, but everyone took it as the sign to load ourselves into the cars. Jasper kissed Alice one more time, then dashed around the back of the Volvo and hopped in. My eyes were glued to Alice's as everyone tried to make themselves as comfortable as possible in Carlisle's Mercedes amongst the piles of Rosalie's luggage.

Tell them I love them, she told me.

I pleaded with my eyes for her to reconsider, to climb in the car and run with us. There had to be other choices. This seemed completely ludicrous. Maybe I should just lift her up and throw her in the backseat and leave.

It'll never work, she said flashing a quick series of images of our burning bodies.

I sighed and without caring how everyone else would take it, reached over and pulled Alice closer to me. "I love you, little sister," I whispered impossibly soft. She looked up at me, the ghosts of tears that could never fall swimming behind her lashes. She smiled in the radiant way only Alice had and stepped backward, raising her hand to wave us off.

I got in nervously, swallowed, and turned the ignition. As I drove away behind the black Mercedes, Alice sent one last agonized thought to me. Please keep him safe and don't tell him until it's done.

It took a great deal of effort not to crush the steering wheel as we sped away. Jasper was already staring at me curiously. What's up, Edward?

I hesitated, turning onto the freeway headed north. There'd be no way to mask the kind of tension I was feeling from my empathic brother.

"I have the feeling something is going wrong," I finally answered.

"Alice?" he shot back worriedly.

I shook my head back and forth slowly. If I had actually managed to keep a hold of some portion of my soul through this existence, it tore away from me in that moment. That monumental lie ripped away the last of my humanity.

I waited the appropriated two hours before telling them we had to go back. Jasper was instantly nervous, already accusing me with his eyes. I wouldn't have been surprised if he knew everything by that point. The tortured expression I wore as I buried the needle in the little silver Volvo should make all the deception clear.

Of course we had been too late. It's the way she had planned it. By the mixture of scents, they had probably arrived within minutes of our departure. Jasper was beside himself, running off after the fading trail until he lost it halfway to Idaho.

He reappeared the next afternoon after I had told the others exactly what I knew. He walked in the front door and turned his black eyes directly to me. Signs of his furious pursuit were evident in his torn clothing and muddy shoes. The look on his face was half crazed and I felt like slinking into the wall. I deserved whatever punishment he throttled me with.

Never taking his eyes from mine, he sprinted forward. Able to see his plan of attack before he moved, I slipped easily out of his grasp, but he swung back around wildly. One fist connected with my jaw and my body crashed into the coffee table ten feet away. I deserved that and more, but I wanted to tear him apart. Esme was screaming in the background, but the roar of instinct was crashing in my ears.

Recovering quickly, I jumped to my feet, snarling, and Jasper was at me again. I didn't try to get out of his way this time and met his charge with a fist in the face. It took all my effort not to continue tear his head from his neck.

He stood stunned and the entire room was deathly silent. I felt the stares of my family on me, but couldn't look anywhere as Jasper's furious eyes and angry thoughts held me.

Then, Emmett's booming laugh cut through the tension in the air. "Oh, come on, Jazz," he chuckled walking into the midst of our standoff. "You know how Alice is."

My body relaxed as Jasper thought about it. He mumbled an apology that I echoed, but never looked at me again. The next day he disappeared too, looking for his captive wife, and the true agony set in for the rest of us. Jasper would be able to find Alice, but I wasn't sure if we would ever see either one of them again.

With the threat of the Volturi still strong in our minds we made the only decision we could. We packed up our things and vacated the States, opting to hide out in Ireland with some old friends of Carlisle's. Luckily, the small Coven had been more or less willing to take on a family of refugees with little more that a raised eyebrow.

It was there that it happened. As we stood around listlessly in the borrowed home, a plan began to form as I watched Emmett with his X-Box.

There had to be some way to get them back. Maggie, Liam and Sebohan had already pledged their help to Carlisle. There were others like us all over the world who felt the way we did. The Volturi were stepping outside their reign and it had to stop, before it got worse. There were others who would be sympathetic to our cause, the Irish and Romanians, as well as Tanya's coven, if no one else.

But we wouldn't need them to fight. We would be calling in other favors, favors that would draw the Volturi Guard outside their castle and make them spread their defenses all over the world.

It happened quickly. The nightly news across the globe began telling strange tales worthy of fantasy novels. One word was on the lips of millions of people worldwide in a few short days. Bhuta, Nahuales, Upyr. It all meant the same thing: vampire.

Our friends and acquaintances of the world had been breaking the "rule," calling attention to the life the Volturi had strenuously tried to hide for eons. Slowly, the Guard began scattering itself thin trying to enact justice to the far ends of the earth. Soon we had the opportunity to get into Volterra and take back our family.

We all knew the whole thing was risky beyond belief, but none of us thought for even a moment about not following through. It put our closest friends in danger – hell, we had endangered the entire vampire world with our actions – but it never crossed our minds that it wasn't worth it.

Now, as Esme stood worrying herself sick as she gazed out into the Italian countryside, I dared let hope bubble to the surface. There wasn't much we could do, but hopefully we could give them just the right amount of distraction to get out. After that, we would face our existence on the run, but it was the only chance we had and we were going to take it.

I called out to Emmett. It was time. The siege begins at twilight.