Not my characters
Chapter 14: Tea Time
EPOV
I had a multitude of problems.
It was my fault. It always was. What had seemed so logical yesterday I now realized was beyond foolhardy. How could I run off to Italy without any confirmation that Bella was there? To have promised my family I would keep them out of this when I'd probably done the exact opposite, ensuring they would have no choice but to jump into this hole with me. I couldn't ensure a soft landing to anyone who might make the jump. I still hadn't figured out how deep the hole was. It might never end.
In fact, even trying to assess my options or to figure out which problem was my greatest reminded me of the complexity of the rabbit hole. Lewis Carroll's Alice might have ended up in an imaginary world, but I felt more like Peter Rabbit. The hole was small and constricting. Once in, the directions were endless. It would be easy to forget what you were searching for in the first place. If you happened to come upon a way out, you would be excited to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, but chances are it was a trap. You would pop up in a fenced yard with angry dogs. You wouldn't know they were there, so you might get out and explore, searching for a garden. Only when you'd gone too far from the safety of the hole would the dogs came barking and snapping. You would run as fast as you could, all the time noting the irony that the hole you desperately wanted to escape was now the safest place you could go.
If I trusted what I'd learned from Felix and Demetri, there was civil unrest in the vampire world. Aro had mentioned it too, so I was inclined to believe them. It was exactly the kind of thing Carlisle spent years trying to avoid. If we'd merely heard about it through the grapevine, we would have slipped away quietly to someplace remote like the island Carlisle bought Esme. No one would bother us there.
In a brief moment of weakness, I allowed myself the luxury of fantasy. The beauty. The simplicity. The ability to hide. We were well equipped to do it. We would have had no problems letting everyone else fight it out. News would travel. We would know when it was safe to show our faces in the metaphoric daylight again.
Oddly though, each time I put myself on that island, something was wrong. We all should have been happy to swim, to take turns heading off to the mainland or nearby islands to hunt. We should been pleased to enjoy the freedom from pretending to be high school students.
Funny thing about the word "pretend." One definition is "to make believe." Most of us think of make believe as a fantasy, but if you think of the term as an action, if I pretend, I am trying to make you believe something. Or myself.
After a while, just for curiosity's sake, I added a member to the island. She couldn't be there as a human; I knew that was impossible. Too many vampires in too small a space. So I pulled in that old image of her standing beside me as an equal. Her eyes flamed and her skin sparkled. I thought back to my earlier fears. Would I still want her? Would her being like me take away what had fundamentally drawn me to her? The answer now was easier.
No.
I would always want her.
If it came down to it though, could I change her? I didn't know if it was worth it for me to contemplate that question. I doubted our reunion would be happy one. There was too much bad blood between us, pardon the expression.
If I could just pull up her number and hear her voice, it would all be so much easier. Of course, if I had a way to do that, then I wouldn't have gone to Italy in the first place. I had found a cell phone bill when I went through her apartment, but I got a recorded message from the provider instead of Bella's voice. The phone was no longer in service. If she was with the wolves, contacting her wasn't any easier.
Jake hadn't returned any of my attempts to call him before, and I doubted things would be different now, especially if he was trying to protect her. That was going to make any approach on La Push even more of a challenge. I would have to try to contact him again.
I still wanted to believe I was capable of handling something without my family's help.
Unfortunately, wanting didn't make it happen. I was not and never had been as self sufficient as I fooled myself to believe. Given all of the constraints of situation, I had to admit my failures. I wanted to wait until we were on the ground. Something about having the conversation in this cooped up space was overwhelming. It was all psychological though. I knew walking a few feet away from Felix and Demetri when we landed wasn't going to afford me any more privacy than I had in this fuselage.
In the end, I decided they deserved as much of a head's up as I could give them.
"Edward," Carlisle answered. His voice was thick with concern. "We've been waiting for any news."
"I'm sorry. I wasn't able to call sooner. There were too many complications."
"I'm so relieved to know you're alive. Alice said it was true, but we know things can change."
"Yes, well, it may have been better for you if I weren't."
He took a deep breath. "I will never believe that, son."
He rarely invoked the parental card. It was always a hard hit for me, one guaranteed to bruise on impact.
"I have created more trouble."
"No, Edward. It's not all your fault. You can't take all the blame here. We shouldn't have let you go off by yourself, but we didn't know for sure where you were going. Alice didn't get a lock until it was too late for us to make any difference."
"I appreciate the thought, but I wouldn't have wanted you to come. I didn't expect that I was going to make it out."
"I know, son. So, she wasn't there?
"No, what did Alice see?"
"She only got snippets. We knew you were in Italy and she got a flash of a meeting with the Volturi, but she didn't know exactly how you got from there to the plane she saw you on."
"It's a long story, and none of it is particularly good news."
I filled him in briefly, though I had to avoid any of my concern about trusting Felix and Demetri or the choice they had forced. I would live with that failure, but I preferred to suffer that burden in silence.
"That's the gist of it. I know I promised not to involve you all, but that seems unavoidable now. So, when we get there, we need help getting information quickly. I can't really waste any time coming to the house first."
"You won't need to. We'll be at the airport when you land."
"What?" I asked incredulously.
"Alice thought she had a lock on a time, so we took a shot. We didn't really know what condition you'd be in."
"You're all coming?"
"Yes, we thought it best. Alice doesn't see any trouble, but things can change."
"Carlisle," I said. But nothing else came out.
"We love you, Edward."
It was silent. "Thank you."
"If what you say is true, we'll need all of us, even more. I think you may be right that her contacts are the important links. Do these two guard members have any other ideas?"
"We haven't gotten that far yet."
"We'll talk more when you land then."
The fact still remained that I needed a plan. I needed to define a starting point. It all came back to trust. Would I be a fool to trust two members of the Volturi guard? If I didn't, what then? Both our lives were surely lost and Alice and Jasper would likely become easy replacements for Felix and Demetri. Carlisle said Alice didn't expect trouble. How far did that go?
There were seven of us and two of them. If I didn't trust them, we would destroy them.
Would Carlisle consent to that without more information? He had to know the entire guard would descend on us if we rebelled. We'd be unable to outrun or hide from that.
Perhaps we could contain them while we sought more information.
Given that I'd already brought my family into this, maybe containment was the best option.
Thinking about how involved my family was made me feel like even more of a failure, like I was heading back with my tail between my legs. No Bella, no kept promises, arms out begging for help. I had been such an incredible fool for so long; I just wanted a chance to do something right.
My biggest problem was that I only wanted to do one thing, what I intended to do all along, to tell Bella I loved her. But again . . . then what? Would she come with me? Did she still want me? Did she feel the same way about me? Could these two actually control themselves around her? I wasn't entirely sure she was where I thought she would be. If I was right, getting her away from La Push wouldn't be easy, and I wasn't convinced that I should yet. It pained me to admit it, but she was actually safer there than with me.
I knew it was completely illogical and probably risky, but I wanted to see her anyway.
I didn't think there was much chance that this could all end well for me, but I wanted to position the pieces in such a way that perhaps Bella and my family could walk away unscathed. Relatively anyway. That was really the only goal I could have in all of this.
I had to admit I had some sympathy toward Felix and Demetri. I didn't wish their plight on any of us. I was leaning more toward trusting them than not. Still, our purposes were not the same.
Being with a tracker was both a benefit and a serious complication. I wanted to find Bella, yet I wasn't granted the privacy to seek her out. Taking Felix and Demetri with me could prove disastrous. Then there was the whole issue of impending vampire wars and what would happen if and when I did find her. That was yet another set of problems. I didn't even know where to begin. The plane was quiet. Felix and Demetri seemed to understand my need for reflection. Felix spent his time thinking about his mate, and his memories were the happy ones. He was truly at peace with whatever might come. Demetri listened to music and sang along in his head. Thankfully, I didn't dislike his song choices.
They gave nothing away for awhile. How they gained this skill was beyond me; maybe it wasn't strategic at all. Maybe after so many years of being in the guard, they'd steeled themselves against any real thoughts or emotions. From what I could tell, they trusted no one, perhaps not even each other. They had no relationships outside of the guard, and the ones inside were tenuous at best. One of the guard members had the ability to influence relationships, to make people feel closer than they really were. I'd seen both Felix and Demetri reference her in their thoughts. For whatever reason, they'd felt her power over them waning in recent months.
"Have you decided if you trust us yet?" Felix interrupted my musing.
I laughed. It probably wasn't the most logical reaction, but it fit at that moment. "No."
"Smart man."
"And here I thought I was the mind reader."
Felix chuckled. "Where's your head now?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" He rolled his eyes, and I paused trying to summarize my ideas. "I'm trying to figure out how there can possibly be any good ending to all of this."
"There's only one way."
"Knock out the Volturi?"
"Yes."
"But how can there be any guarantee that the successor would be any better?"
"I've been thinking a lot about that," Demetri chimed in. I hadn't even realized he was listening. "I think it's time to consider an alternative structure to our government. I guess maybe the better way to phrase that is we may actually need some structure."
"You mean like elections? Vampires are hardly democratic by nature."
"I don't know. Maybe. But instead of one group with all the power in Italy, there would be some benefit to have representation from across the continents, and it would be good to have information more readily available. There are few of our kind who would really want to see us take over the humans; we would need structure to maintain a quiet coexistence. But maybe there can be more interaction among us."
"It never worked in the past."
"Bullshit," Felix said. "Look at you. It's not just animal blood; it's free will. We have choices, and if we were taught what we were supposed to do instead of left to figure out who we are and why, we wouldn't have crazy newborns trying to control the world or running around making mistakes. What is the point of all the secrecy? I'm not saying most of us are going to carpool with the humans or anything, but could we be less aggressive toward each other? Could we have better systems in place for hunting? Yes."
"I don't know. I see where you're going, and I admit the logic is there, but it all seems so complicated. We are fundamentally at odds with our ethical and moral code; how can we work together? Plus, there's the matter of fighting the Volturi."
Demetri spoke with passion. "But it's not just us. We know there are others. And you have allies, too."
"My allies don't want a fight."
"They may have to now," Felix stated matter of factly.
"That's what I'm afraid of," I said. "So, I know I lost my cool for a minute earlier, but do you have a plan?"
"Sort of," admitted Felix.
"That doesn't inspire confidence."
"Well, you were the first part of the plan, so it's going well so far," Demetri joked.
"What's the second part? You must have a general direction if you've been gathering information for a while. Who do you think is behind this?"
"We know that the Romanians are involved. We've come across a few of their old allies in our travels. At first I was convinced they were behind it everything," Demetri continued.
"I've never met them; I've only heard the basic history."
"Then you know it wouldn't be the first time," Felix added.
I nodded. Everyone knew the Romanians were bitter about the Volturi's rise to power and wanted nothing more than to see them ousted. They had always viewed their reign as superior. Over the years, they had tried to form numerous rebellions, but they always feel short.
Felix's thoughts were on the Romanians as well. "The thing is they aren't really leaders. That's why they lost power in the first place. They like to wait for everyone else to act and then hop on board, so it seems more likely that they are along for the ride."
"What other options are there? Aro mentioned Maria." Given Jasper's history with her, I wasn't enthusiastic about her involvement.
Demetri nodded. "Yes, we've put some feelers out about her, and it's probably fair to assume she's got her hand in it somewhere too. Anyone instigating would be stupid not to contact her. She's had a lot of influence over the years, and she's a master of strategy. However, this all seems a little too sophisticated for her doesn't it? She's always been about aggression and blatant acts, and this is much more of a subtle infiltration."
"If it's so widespread, why didn't we hear about it sooner?"
"Have you had much contact with anyone?" Felix stated.
The question was rhetorical, but I thought about it, and we had been fairly isolated. Our only contact until Alice mentioned Peter and Charlotte's visit had been with the Denali coven, and they were just as isolated as we were.
"So where do we start?" I asked.
"Everyone believed your human was set up right?" Demetri suggested.
"Yes, I've believed that for a while now."
"How well do you know her blog?"
I laughed. "I'm pretty familiar."
"We need to break down the facts. Figure out all of the relevant details," Felix argued.
"That's what led me to Voltera in the first place. Maybe I'm too connected. Perhaps, you can see things from a different angle. She's admitted to two vampire contacts. One who she claims she met randomly and one who sought her out."
"The random one disappeared right?" Demetri asked.
"She lost contact with him, yes."
"Both male?" Felix questioned.
I had to think for a second, then nodded. She had always referred to her contacts as male.
"I think it's safe to assume the disappearance of one is connected to the appearance of the other," I acknowledged. "The first one was named Riley. Does that name ring a bell to either of you?"
They both shook their heads.
"Well from her writing, he didn't drink from humans. He actually seemed like a loner."
"It could have been an act."
I shrugged. It was possible.
"And the second contact?" Felix encouraged.
"He supplied her with information that he shouldn't have," I said. "They didn't meet in person as often. In fact, I didn't notice any vampire scent other than yours, Demetri."
"No," he nodded. "I would wager he was never in her apartment."
The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. Why couldn't these so called organizers have started their own blog with some fictional human? Why did they have to use and innocent woman for their cause? It made me infinitely less sympathetic toward them, but it came down to the simple fact that they wouldn't respect humans.
"So, it would seem if we figure out who he is, we would have a big piece of the puzzle. How long do you think we have before they send more members of the guard? What's realistic?"
"Good question. If we could find your human, we could probably find the contact faster," Felix theorized.
I made sure not to give anything away in my facial expression.
"But they wouldn't expect us to take long; she's a human. We're . . . us," admitted Demetri.
"So, what's 'long?' A few days?" I asked.
"A week would be the most we can stretch it out before they get suspicious. Maybe two if we can justify it with some kind of evidence, but I'd say the sooner we can move, the better."
I nodded, but didn't say anything.
"You both understand that I am clearly at a disadvantage here, right? You hold all the cards. I have no choice but to trust you. I guess my only consolation is you're just as likely to be destroyed as I am should things turn sour, but still, I would like to request a favor."
Now it was Felix's turn to laugh. "That was certainly a unique way to ask."
"I want to find Bella on my own."
"You really think we're going to let you out of our sight?"
"I respect that, but I had to ask. I want to see her, but I need to keep her safe. I would like to involve her in all of this as little as possible. I may have a hunch about where she is but it's not some place even I would be welcome, let alone vampires who don't share my diet."
They were both confused. They exchanged a look with each other and then waited for me to continue.
"Have you both read the blog?"
"I did," Demetri stated. "But not until recently. I was trying to discover how I might have lost her."
"Then you know we are not the only super natural beings she encountered."
His eyes went wide, and he smacked his hand on his leg. "That obnoxious scent in the woods!"
"I think so," I agreed.
"Would you be willing to fill me in?" Felix asked.
"The werewolves, Felix. She's with the werewolves."
"I'm not absolutely positive, but it makes sense," I added.
"Well, we're not afraid of them. Who cares if we're not welcome," Demetri claimed.
"First of all, I don't know how many there are. While I never took much stock in their strength, if we are well outnumbered, it could be a struggle for us. Besides, my family has had a treaty with this pack for decades. We have a home in the area, and I do not want to do more to destroy this relationship than I've already done. Given the history, my showing up probably won't help the situation. I can't even guarantee Bella wants to see me. But the last thing we need is to fight them. And if it comes down to it, they may be the only place she can hide effectively."
"Is hiding her the best option? It might help our cause to have the girl with us," Demetri observed quietly. "Many of the others will have read her blog. They may have learned something from it. Honestly, I think there is a chance she could add credibility to our case."
"But why do we need it? They're already going to be on the attack," I argued.
"Everyone's motives are questionable. We don't know who is at the helm. We need all the help we can get," Felix suggested.
"All the more reason not to involve her." I was becoming increasingly more adamant about this. The more I thought about her being around human drinking vampires, the less I wanted her anywhere near this fight.
We continued to bat around ideas until we landed.
I had to prepare myself to walk down the stairs when the door opened. It was a private runway, but they were smart enough to wait out of eye shot of the pilot.
It was an interesting welcoming committee. Alice was at the helm. She stood in front, but Jasper was close enough to touch her. Carlisle flanked her other side. Emmett was standing next to the BMW. The door was open, and he leaned against it. I could just see a pair of shoes peaking out, and I deduced that Rosalie was sitting inside the car. Esme stood next to Mercedes. She smiled when she saw me, and I nodded toward her.
As much as I didn't want to have them involved, I'd never been happier to see them. Everyone took a moment to assess each other. Sensing no conflict, Alice, Jasper, and Carlise moved forward for introductions.
Tentative plans were set in motion almost instantly. I insisted on going to La Push first.
"Perhaps, I should go with you," Carlisle suggested. "Given your history, I might have more luck with the negotiations."
I knew he hadn't meant it as an insult, but he also worried that I would lose my temper if I saw Jake.
We hoped if that trip was a success, we'd have more information about Bella's vampire contacts. We still needed assistance, and the two places we planned to start were with the Denalis and Maria.
Jasper wasn't happy about it, but we decided to start by making phone calls, and if that didn't work, he wouldn't go in without support. In fact, the advantage we had was that no one would know Felix and Demetri were working against the Volturi. This meant we could use them as muscle against her.
The planning phase was short. We needed to act fast.
Time was as much an enemy as the Volturi themselves.
E/N: And the Cullens return. It appears no one is overly suspicious of Felix and Demetri. Is that a mistake? Several of you mentioned Chelsea in the last chapter; what do you suppose is going on there? Next chapter is another blog, but after that, Edward is off to La Push. What do you think he will find there?
Thanks to all of you wonderful reviewers. I am infinitely grateful to know that you're all still interested in the story and finding out what the deal is with Bella. Updates are coming a little slower as life gets chaotic, but I'll make a deal. I'll keep writing if you keep reading and reviewing.
