A/N: I didn't plan it, but this chapter is from Jasper POV only. If I'm honest, this story won't be too much longer. I also don't plan on the confrontation with the Romanians to be some huge thing. Maybe it might have been, if not for Alice and the ability to know everything they can about their enemy. Forewarned is forearmed and makes taking down your enemy much easier. Don't worry there will be mayhem, but it'll mostly be the good guys creating it. ;)
let me tell you. I pretty much rewrote this woke chapter. I didn't like the majority of it, Hans Zimmer radio on pandora is my new best friend. I practically flew through this. It was great!
Chapter Twenty- Six
Jasper
Alice had a vision this morning. Her vision consisted of Edward finally reaching the Romanian stronghold and the following events being exactly as we predicted. They panicked seeing Edward and have already sent someone to Volterra to see what could be found out. According to her vision it'll be someone named Diego and Raoul. They are supposed to get here around six in the evening, having had to get a flight out of Bucharest to Rome, which is two hours travel. Then a car to Volterra from Rome- which is an hours travel. So despite making the decision at like six this morning, it still took them a good portion of the day. Most of which was spent getting the flight.
I'm still trying to get used to the fact that it's a nine hour difference between here and Seattle, the kids are too since they were demanding breakfast when I left- Bella trying to explain to them it is dinner time. Of course in their infinite knowledge they reminded her that there were some people who had breakfast for dinner. I had to leave before I got myself slapped for laughing at her. So now here we are, me, Felix, Garrett and Peter- because heaven forbid we leave those two behind- heading into the bar Alice saw the one named Diego coming to. The one closest to the clock tower that holds the front entrance to the citadel. They decided the other should stay in Rome apparently. Which is actually a good thing, means we will only have one to contend with.
All of us are wearing hooded jackets so we can hide our faces. The Italian winter is just as cold as the one in Washington state and the snow is falling lightly as we walk across the way. It's five thirty. We wanted to be sure we would get there before him. As soon as we step inside I feel it. That wariness that all humans get around the presence of vampires, but when you have four men walk into a room with their faces hooded and all stand well above six feet, well... It tends to be a little worse. We make our way to a back corner and a waitress takes our order, which Felix makes in perfect Italian making the wariness in the room die a little. They recognize his voice from what I can feel in their emotions.
After we have our glasses of wine in front of us, we settle in to wait. As the time gets closer to six, I begin to watch the door. About ten minutes into our wait a man walks in, or should I say- a vampire. It's the one Alice described. Diego. And he indeed comes in alone. He's dressed like a tourist: plain white shirt, dark jeans, sneakers and a dark gray/blue hooded wool jacket. He's about six feet tall, slim but muscular. I'd say he was seventeen when turned, like Edward, but unlike Edward there's a maturity about him that is rare in newborns. I'd say he's about eleven months old at this point. His year is almost up.
He looks around. His face coming into view as he looks our way for a brief moment. All the teen girls I've heard talking about guys that looked like him in the years we've gone to high school would probably describe him as 'swoon worthy'. The classically beautiful vampire enhancement merely added to what was already a handsome man. I'm not ashamed to say that, we are all extremely handsome after all. He has a lean face, bushy straight brows over almond shaped brown eyes- contacts. His lips are full, like mine, straight nose, that cut that most guys his age have lately. The cropped short on the sides, long on top and 'artfully' tousled.
His eyes move past us and we all relax as he continues to study those in the room, as if choosing someone to talk to, then he walks up to a man at the corner of the bar farthest from us and sits next to him. That's good, the air that's coming in through the cracks of the old wooden door will help hide our scents a bit.
The men ignore each other for a round, but then Diego orders another- the grimace on his face as he downs the human liquor exactly as mine would look if I had drank it. He's dedicated, I'll give him that. "Can I get another, and another one for my friend here." He's using Italian near as perfect as Felix's. But the accent isn't there like with our friend. He's most definitely American.
The man next to our vampire smiles, clearly half drunk already. "Grazie my friend. I appreciate that." If it weren't for the fact that I know Italian, among several other different languages thanks to how easy it is for us to learn new things, I might be irritated. But since all four of us can understand them perfectly, we settle into watch.
As the two men get chummy I watch the vampire closely. He's not gifted. I can tell that right away, but he has a kindness about him that's hard to ignore. He's friendly and engaging and he easily draws the old man into their conversation. They make small talk for a while, Diego clearly getting him drunker with each drink he plies the old man with. Then, finally, he turns talk to the Volturi. "I hear interesting things about the benefactors of your city. Is it true they allow anyone to come into the citadel during the day to look at all the art and such they have in there?"
"Oh, sí, many visitors come and go almost daily. They have some beautiful pieces. You should go see them for yourself tomorrow."
"I might do that. Have they had any visitors in the past couple days?"
"No. They haven't had anyone come for about two weeks now." Diego just nods his head. This was the advantage of that long ass flight from Seattle to Rome. It got us here late at night and the city was quiet when we arrived. No one saw us get here but the brothers and those inside the citadel.
"Have they talked about anyone coming to visit? You know, friends or anything?"
"No." The old man seems to be sobering up. His emotions are showing some mild distrust of the friendly stranger now. He isn't as jovial and ok with answering questions. The people here are very protective of their benefactors.
"Oh, ok. I just wondered. Do you know what time they open? I may just go tomorrow and see these fantastic works of art you spoke of." When he smiles at the man, he smiles back.
Then the vampire says his thanks and goodbyes to his unwitting informant. He walks out the door, pulling a cell phone from his pocket as he goes. Nodding to Felix we all stand and follow him. We remain close enough to hear him, but not for him to detect us. Despite his control, he still doesn't have the instincts to detect others of his kind. A deadly mistake in enemy territory.
Whoever he's on the phone with is angry though, we can hear the shouting. We can just barely make out the words though. "Dammit Diego. You should have let me come with you. I could have gotten more information than that. My gift could have been more useful than you. If not then at least I wouldn't be too pansy ass to torture it out of him. Mele won't be happy to hear about this." There is no mention of Stefan or Vladimir and it makes us wonder. Even though they sent these two, are they getting the information from them or through the middle woman Mele?
"It's called finesse Raoul. You get more flies with honey, didn't your mom ever tell you that? Stop griping. This is why I left you in Rome. We need information without alerting the enemy we are here. If you go through the town beating information from people I'm pretty sure they'll realize they have a spy in their midst and promptly end the threat. Your gift is no match for one like Jane's. She doesn't need to touch you or build her's up to be able to put you on your knees long enough to stop that little attractant you have and dispatch you. If you're dying for some action, go back to the commander. I'm sure she'll have something for you to do.
"I don't need you here and I'm going to stick around, see if I can't talk my way into the brother's good graces. A fox among the hens as it were. I'll call Mele in four days and report in. I didn't even have to call you you know? You're not the right hand and it'll do you good to remember that. You report to me, just get back to the camp and watch our troops. And try really hard not to kill any of them would you?"
"Fuck you Diego. We'll just see how much longer you're Mele's little pet. Perhaps I'll have a little fun with Bree. I bet she'd like me between those pale little thighs a lot more than your ass."
"You touch her and no one will be able to save you. No one!" There was a laugh on the other end and then the sound of the phone call ending. Diego began cursing.
"Stupid son of a bitch. He won't even get close. Fred will keep her safe. Goddamn I want this shit over with." Then we hear the sounds of his attempts to regurgitate all the alcohol so I send Felix around to the other end of the alley, Peter and Garrett to the rooftops- we are excellent climbers after all so we need to block all exits. When I see them in their positions, I move in. He has made his way down a darkened alley and is stopped behind a dumpster at the end to rid himself of the liquor.
As I approach he senses me and straightens up, eyeing me warily. There's an intelligence in his eyes, recognition too. I have a feeling he's heard of me. Which wouldn't be surprising since I'm sure this Mele has prepared for every possibility, knowing full well that even if they did win over the brothers there would be those like me and my family who would try to fight back.
His shoulders droop a bit, resignation pouring off him on waves. He's heard the others and knows there's no escape. They close in. Peter and Garrett dropping down on either side of him while Felix comes in from behind. "I'm not going to live through this am I, Major?"
Yep, he knows who I am. "Depends, are you willing to betray your masters like you've tried to betray those who rule us? You know who I am. You know there's no escape and if you truly know anything about me, you know that I can tell if you're lying or not. So let's not dance around. Come quietly, give us what we need, and I'll try to talk them into letting you live. Treason is a major criminal offense after all."
"And why should I trust you?"
"Why would you not? I don't make it a habit of saying things I don't mean."
He eyes me for a moment. I can see he's debating if he can get by me, but he knows me well enough- whoever told him taught him well- to know he can't. "Fine. I'll come with you. But to get me to betray my creator, you're going to have to make a hell of an impression."
I don't miss the singular. He's smart, I'll give him that. I shrug. "Fair enough."
I gesture for him to go before me and we walk back to the citadel. When we get to the Judgement Room, Felix makes him sit at the table and then holds his hand out silently. A man his size, even as young as he looks, would intimidate anyone. So I'm mildly impressed when our spy just sits there, doesn't even blink, and says nothing.
"Your phone. Give it to me." The vampire just shrugs and pulls it from his pocket. There are no numbers in it, not even the one he called Raoul at. Smart. He's probably got any numbers he uses memorized. We won't be getting info that way. I turn back to him and begin to question him, we don't want him to know about Alice just yet- not until we feel we can trust him- so I ask the usual generic questions I shouldn't know first.
"What is your name?"
"Diego. I know yours Major, so what's their's," he asks, pointing at the other three. Felix sighs. Peter scowls and Garrett just looks impassive.
"I wasn't aware we were making introductions, but fine. I am Felix Volturi. The two men behind me are Peter and Garrett. You apparently already know The Major, though I am curious as to how. A newborn such as yourself shouldn't."
He ignores Felix's question and turns back to me, expectant. Introductions are done, so he's waiting for what comes next. I think I surprise him just a little when, instead of asking the next question, I give him a warning. "Jasper, my name is Jasper. I ceased being The Major over fifty years ago. But make no mistake. I remember him well and can easily become him again. Now that introductions are out of the way, why don't you tell us what we want to know?"
He chuckles at me. "I thought we already discussed this. You have to give me a reason as to why I should betray my master. So how about you tell me what you know."
I go to answer but Peter interrupts me. "Oh fuck this! Major just beat it out of him! Christ. I'm already sick of him and we haven't even started yet!"
I give Peter the look he knows not to disobey and he shuts up. Turning back to Diego, I smile. "Sorry about that. Looks like we are a lot alike in some ways, you and I. We both have head strong, jump to the beatings to get what they want second in commands. But we can come back to that later. This isn't the time for us to become friends, yet.
"After watching you in the bar I came to a conclusion, you are a rather mature person for a newborn vampire and I feel that you might just have a sharp mind and will pay attention. So here's what we know. We know that the Romanians are your masters but they aren't the ones making the decisions, a vampire named Mele is- your actual creator. Has she told you her story?" He shakes his head. "Of course not. She could care less about you, you and your army are just a means to an end. Well let me tell you what we know about her.
"She was once a guard here, one of the upper members. When the Volturi turned themselves around and gave some seats on the council to members of the Guard, they didn't feel she was a good fit and told her no. She got angry and left, vowing to take their thrones. Obviously somewhere along the way she joined the Romanians and started doing their dirty work.
"From your conversation you seem like a decent person. You don't like to inflict pain on others if it's not necessary, you don't seem to dislike humans, you have a good intelligent head on your soldiers. Do you know anything about the men you serve? Do you know anything about how they ruled?" He shakes his head no for a second time. "Then allow me. They were sadistic. They treated humans as cattle, they killed anyone they felt slighted them even in the smallest of ways. Our existence was out in the open and eventually it caused a war. Vampire hunters killed us constantly. We had to hide in the sewers and caves and come out only at night to feed. The very first Guardian tribe came into existence, their sole purpose to kill vampires and protect people.
"The hunter became the hunted. And while the rest of us scrambled and fought to survive, they sat on their thrones in their castle in the mountains- a different one than where they are now- and lived off their carnage like kings. They were never in danger, they were never in hiding. Eventually they became so lazy that they started to literally gather dust. The same thing happened here with the Volturi, but they were smart enough to realize they were being stupid and changed. The Romanians weren't so lucky. Aro, tired of having to live in hiding like we were, gathered an army and destroyed all but Stefan and Vladimir.
"We were allowed to come out of hiding eventually, after he cleaned up the Romanian's mess. They only have two ironclad laws: don't let human's know we exist and you can't separate mates. There are exceptions of course, but that's beside the point. We can live among humans. We can interact with them whenever we want as long as they don't know what we are. You think that living under the Romanians and their free for all lifestyle is a good idea, but you won't once you're being hunted down by a human with a flamethrower."
I finish my little speech. He looks at me in silence for what seems forever, before finally speaking. "I didn't know any of that. When we were trained we were being told that the Volturi were the enemy. That they were trying to keep as slaves to their whims and that if we wanted to be free to be vampires we have to end them. I hear there are archives here. Written accounts of others, by unbiased parties. Can I look at them? Then I will make my decision. I can't go anywhere, you have my cell phone. Please, if you think I'm so intelligent then allow me to make an intelligent informed decison."
Felix looks to me and I nod. It won't hurt anything. We have four days until he has to call in after all. So Felix leads Diego to the archives and I and the other two sit down at the table to discuss what happened.
"Do you think he'll turn?"
"Yes Garrett I think he will. He seems to genuinely dislike the idea of what I told him would happen if the Romanians come back into power. We just have to give him a chance. This could be our answer. We probably won't need Edward or any information from any visions Alice has about him anymore. Diego probably knows where the camp is, how many strong they are, what the plan is. We just need him to trust us. I'm going to go find the brothers. We need to tell them we've caught the spy if Alice hasn't already."
We go our separate ways, them going to find their mates, tell the others what happened and walk around the city. Me to let the brothers know what we've learned. I find them all in Aro's suite, Alice is with them. They smile when I enter the room. "Ah Jasper, we were just talking about you. Alice said you four have caught the spy. She told us the other is making preparations to leave Rome, but he's not going back to Bucharest, so we can only assume he's going ack to the army. I hope we can learn why she can't see them from this... Diego. Did you learn anything of interest yet?"
"She didn't see that," I ask, turning to Alice.
Alice winked at me. "Of course, but we felt it best coming from you. After all, you're the one who feels emotions, not me."
Nodding I take a seat in the chair between the two couches they're sitting on. "We've learned nothing from him yet," Aro frowns at this so I finish quickly. "But that's only because, like any good soldier, he wants a valid reason to turn traitor. He's in the archives with Felix. It would seem our friends haven't been too candid with their army. He knew nothing of the Romanians from before. He didn't even know about Mele's past here. It would seem she doesn't even trust her right hand man. He's asked to be allowed to make an informed decision and I've let him. We have four days until he has to report back in. Four days to learn all we can."
"Do you think he'll turn?" I laugh at the deja vu I feel.
"Yes I do. I got the sense he doesn't like the idea of humans as cattle and the probability of having to go underground just to live. He likes it as it is now, where we have the freedom to walk amongst the humans without fear. He's very mature and controlled for a newborn. He's been a vampire longer than Bella, but she's also a special case. Normally they would still have some anger and confusion heading into their second year, but he doesn't. I'm sure we'll have everything from him soon."
"Excellent work, even though it wasn't as much as we had hoped. I'm sure he'll be down there a while. Perhaps Marcus, you should go hasten them along. After all, you know where things are more readily than the rest of us. I think I'm going to go find Carlisle. Perhaps when this Diego is ready we could allow him some time with Carlisle. After all, it isn't every day one learns about a vampire doctoring humans. He might be able to persuade the young man even farther."
"I'm sure he will. I'm going to spend some time with my children. Caius, would you care to join us? I'm sure they might enjoy a story from you. Be forewarned though, their favorite stories are all knights slaying dragons and princesses getting their prince."
He smiled and stood to follow me. "I think I might have a tale or two they might enjoy. Thank you."
"You're welcome." We spend the next couple of hours listening to Caius tell Carlie and Micah tale after tale of his life. But he spun it in such a way that he was the prince and his wife the princess. They have lived so long and it is fascinating hearing about the things he has seen and done. He came from a time when men worshipped heroes and Gods. We heard the tales of Zeus and Hera. Of Aphrodite. Of Socrates and other great men like him. It was amazing.
Around eight thirty Felix comes to find us, Diego is ready to talk. Everyone wants to join us, but I ask them to wait until we are done hearing from him. I don't want to overwhelm him. So they will wait on the other side of the door until we are ready for them. The brothers, myself and of course Peter and Garrett go in to find Diego in the same chair, just facing away from the table, Felix sitting before him. We each grab a chair and move to sit in a half circle in front of him.
"So. Are you ready to make your decison?"
"Yes. I'm assuming our three newcomers are the Volturi brothers?"
"Yes we are Diego. What do you have to tell us?"
He stands, turns his chair around and sits back down so he is straddling it and leans against the back- getting comfortable. Then he begins his tale, starting from when Edward came to them, after asking us to think about promising him one thing. The brothers tell him that it will depend on his information. "Ok then. The promise is that anyone who surrenders be given leniency. We have been warped and brainwashed into our way of thinking. Not one of us knows the truth about all this. We were all dragged into something we had no clue even existed and there are many of us who want no part of it, but have no choice." The emotions he's feeling tells me there's more to it than that. Perhaps it has something to do with the girl Raoul threatened.
"A new man joined us early this morning. Some pompous fool named Edward and his paramour Tanya. He's looking for revenge against you Jasper. You and your family. Why I do not know, but they know of his version of events between you and that you have children. He called them something like, Immortal Children. Said you are breaking the law and the brothers here have allowed it despite killing anyone else who has ever broken that law."
He looks at me expectantly. I can tell through the look in his eyes and the emotions he's giving off that he thinks there's more to it than that but I'm not ready to tell him about the twins yet. "If you prove yourself trustworthy you might just learn the truth of that. For now, I don't trust you."
He turns my words back at me. "Fair enough."
"I will say that I'm sure Edward gave a skewed version of what happened between himself, me and my mate. Let me tell you what really happened. She was his singer. That's a person whose blood calls to a vampire extemely strongly. He tried to kill her, we kicked him out, he tried to kill her a couple more times, when he couldn't get to her he got pissy, then she my children can along and she became a vampire thus thwarting him entirely and now he's gone all tattle tale big baby to your masters because he knows that I will kill him if he tries to hurt her or my children. That's the cliff notes."
"Yeah, he definitely made it seem he was wronged completely and solely by you. That he had done nothing wrong and you were now walking around with immortal children and the Volturi were allowing it, showing favoritism. I take they're not immortal?"
"Not telling you that yet Diego. Finish first." Just then Carlisle comes in and all eyes turn to him. He grabs a chair, shakes the vampire's hand and then sits.
"Hello Diego. My name is Carlisle Cullen. I wanted to bring some more perspective to you to help you choose your path better. You can ask anyone in this room, I don't lie. I am a compassionate man and my biggest worry if the Romanians take over is that they will go back to their old ways. Treating human's like cattle, killing indiscriminately, killing anyone who doesn't believe the way they do. I'm sure you have noticed the color of my and my son, Jasper's, eyes. They are gold for a reason. It is not contacts, it is natural. We feed from animals. If the Romanians took over we would be forced to stop. Or killed because we are considered unnatural. I have never tasted human blood in my over three hundred years.
"I am in fact, a doctor. A doctor that treats humans." Diego's eyes widen at that information and I get a feeling of longing from him. Perhaps he had plans to go to college before he was taken. "That's right, a doctor. Do you think they'll let me continue to do that? They don't think the humans mean a thing except for food. You were human less than a year ago I'm asssuming, do you feel the same?" I can also tell you that the Volturi are fair, they rule this world well and that to lose them would be a great loss. I spent a long time with them learning a lot about them and I will certainly take them over the Romanians any day."
I can see and feel him contemplating that. I think we've already got him convinced. Time for the icing on the cake. "What did they steal you away from Diego? You are old enough to have wanted a life, perhaps to go to college? Maybe find a pretty girl eventually and have a home, maybe have children one day. What life did they steal from you? You know the Volturi no longer do that? They learned a long time ago that that isn't the way to do things. To earn the loyalty of their followers. We have lived in peace for Millenia. Do you really want to be part of destroying that?"
Just then Alice walks in, Bella and my children in tow. I knew she'd see when the time came for them to join us. Upon seeing my kids his eyes widen in surprise, it is clear that they are not immortal as Edward has claimed. Upon seeing my mate his eyes glaze over as if he's thinking of something, or perhaps someone? My mind goes back to the name we heard, Bree. Whatever life he was stolen from, he can get it back. We just have to convince him to help us.
"Yes Diego. My children are not immortal. Well, not frozen in time like we are. They will grow, they will change. They may stop aging at some point, we don't know yet. But because of them and my mate, who was human when I met her and human when she had them, the Volturi made an exception to that don't tell the humans rule. You can have what I have. At least the human mate, I'm not sure about the children..."
I turn to Aro and he just smiles. "We will be adding another addendum to the rule, Diego. Vampires cannot go out and force human women to provide them children, but say you found a human mate and wanted them. Or say one of our human receptionists decided to allow you to get her pregnant willingly- she's going to become a vampire anyway. We can't allow indiscriminate impregnating of humans of course because that could out us, but one day maybe you could have what Jasper does. You would never be able to have that with the Romanians. A mate yes, but she would have to hide with you, to live in fear of death daily. Do you really want that?"
I can feel the moment he makes up his mind and see the huge smile Alice has when she sees what his decision will mean for us. "I will help you, if it means that I may have a life of my own. I will help you defeat them."
At that, he begins to tell us everything. "I was one of the first. They began recruiting heavily. They have gifts you have no clue of. There are six. The man I was on the phone with, Raoul, he has what I call attractive magnetism. He's also merciless and bad tempered. Then there's a man named Fred, he repels people away from him. He has this strange smell that comes off him. Most stay away from him because of it. He never wanted this life, much as I didn't want it. If he could, he'd have already walked away. He's one of the ones I ask you to show leniency to.
"Then there's Jasmine who can command the elements, Rabbit and his twin brother Hare, they're identical right down to their gifts. They're cloaks. A type of shield that literally hides all thoughts, all decisions. They put a shield around the army and if you were to fly over you wouldn't see them at all. As if you're seeing them under, what was that thing in Harry Potter? Oh yes, an Invisibility Cloak. It's as if someone threw one giant Invisibility Cloak around the army. But that gift won't help them when it comes down to fighting.
"Mele is our leader, you know of her gift. She makes all the decisions and relays them to the army through me. She talks to none of the rest of us. I'm assuming because I have the most control of any of them. I keep the less controlled newborns in line and make sure they don't get into trouble. Raoul does that when I'm not away, though his personality means that I'll probably be down one or two by the time this mission is over and they'll have probably replaced them with newer vampires by the time the fight comes. So it is possible that there may be a new gift I won't know of."
"With myself and the others, we number fifteen normal newborns, six gifts, and a number of discontents similar to your Edward and his girlfriend. A little over thirty in all I believe. We are prepared to move at any time. The Romanians have a stronghold in the mountains outside Bucharest as you probably know, but the army and the rest of us are camped closer to Italy. They didn't want us to be found with them, just in case. They are trying their hardest to be sure that they can avoid any implications if things go wrong. They will put any and all failure and blame on Mele. She doesn't know it yet though. They haven't come out and said it, but I'm not stupid. I'm very observant and I knew the moment she told me she was the one making all the decisions for them that they would lay the blame on her. She's their scapegoat.
"But in the end, they are going to be the ones to decide when to move. One of her plans once we took over is to force Chelsea to tie Felix there to her. She's quite taken with you, Felix, but from the looks of it- you're already taken."
Little Alice shows just how deadly she can be then. She bares her teeth and I can feel her anger so forcefully I almost go mad with it myself. "She won't fucking touch him! I'll rip her into tiny itty bitty pieces! She's mine Jasper! I get to kill her!" She stares at me with hate filled eyes and I know just how she feels. I feel the same about Edward.
"She's yours Alice. All yours." She smiles at me, but it's forced.
Aro chimes in then. "You have no idea when they plan to move?"
"I'm afraid not. It's like they're waiting to be sure everything is perfect. With this last hiccup with Edward showing up and their fear you know, which you do obviously but they don't know that- though I wouldn't mind knowing it myself-, it may make them hesitate longer. Unless I can convince them that you don't know a thing. I can call Mele at the scheduled time in four days and set their minds at ease. Make them believe that you truly know nothing."
"I have one question," I say. "Why are you calling her and not them? Obviously they sent you here, right? So why not contact them again directly?"
"I can't, Mele told us where to go, they called her first. We have no way to contact them, only her. I could go back to the castle, but they forbade it. When my mission is over I am to report back to the army. I may be able to get away with remaining here one more day after the phone call, but that's it. After that any communication between you and I will have to be when I can sneak away."
"That makes sense. Jasper, is he telling the truth?" I nod, satisfied with his answers and hopeful that this will work and we can finally end some things.
"Yes Aro he is." Diego looks at me and nods in gratitude. Then Aro pulls his attention back to him.
"Well then, I think I speak for the council when I say that we feel we can pardon you. You have helped us immensely and you obviously had no idea what it was truly that you were getting into."
"No sir, I didn't know. They stole me from my home, forced me to become a vampire and fed me lies about you all. I was led to believe that you were the devil reincarnate. That to allow you to maintain control of this world would mean no freedom for anyone. Seems that following them would mean that instead."
Marcus steps forward then. "Well then, we ask that you join us. For the time being. If you want to fight beside us or not is your choice. But I'm sure if you wish a new way of life, Carlisle there would be willing to take you in. He does a lot of that." Carlisle laughs at that and nods. "I'm afraid any questions you may have will have to be answered once you make that call. Until then we can't trust you completely."
"I understand."
Caius rubs his hands together them and stands. "We can also promise that anyone who surrenders, of the newborns- we can't promise to show leniency to the discontents because they do know better than you newer vampires do and we can't allow them to go unpunished- we will show leniency. Does this meet your approval?" Diego nods looking more hopeful than he did a few hours ago. "Excellent. Well, we can show you a room to keep while you're here, if you wish to stay that is. Once this is all said and done you can go about your life, just remember that we do still have laws."
"I understand and yes I would like to stay in the citadel, thank you. Maybe in the next four days we can discuss what to tell Mele to make Stefan and Vladimir relax. Then maybe I can spend some more time in the archives? I found the idea of all those books a lot to try to quench. My fingers were just itching to touch them and my eyes to read them. This not sleeping thing is fantastic."
We all laugh at that and the meeting is adjourned. Felix and Alice lead Diego off while Bella and I make our way to the suite to get the kids into bed. When we arrive, Athenadora is there and asks if she can tuck them in and maybe tell them a story. They're usually shy with strangers, and she is just that, but they've seemed to really take to the brothers and their wives in the day we've been here. Tomorrow we're heading into Rome to shop for Christmas. Then the next day is apparently going to be the whole of the citadel pitching in to decorate it.
This is their first Christmas and I can't wait to see their reaction to it all. Bella and I sit in the living room and listen in as Athena tells them the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I can feel the love and desire in her emotions and wonder if perhaps one of the first to use that new addendum they will write and add to our laws won't be my ancestor and his mate.
A/N: in case anyone was wondering how their gifts gave them their nicknames: rabbit and hare, if you've ever seen a rabbit warren you'll understand. Most of the time you won't see them until you're literally right on top of them. Most rabbits are like foxes in that they dig their burrows in the dirt of an overhang on a hill. A fair few are visible as they are just multiple holes in the ground, but there are some that don't. So, Rabbit and Hare cover over Mele and her army just like that. You'd never see them until you practically stepped on them.