"She won't feed on humans," sighed Aro again, as if this were the saddest story anyone had ever told him. Several other vampires snickered; no lights came on as the sun dropped, and I had difficulty telling who was who. They all wore identical cloaks, the color altered occasionally from black to grey of varying degrees. The little girl vampire always stayed close to Aro, her vivid eyes following his every move as lovingly as the receptionist's had followed the vampire with the violet eyes. "She's practically starving to death, poverella. Of course, her mate was more than happy to feed, although you would have thought he was human, the way he carried on afterwards." With another wave of his hand, Aro revealed a defeated Jasper, his hands covering his face in shame. The black cloaks swirled around them, sighs and twittering laughter echoing cruelly across the chamber.
"You should let them go." I heard myself speak, and my voice sounded so darkly firm I didn't recognize it. The room hushed as Aro turned towards me, one slender brow raised. His brutish brother sneered and turned back towards another vampire with the same translucent, dusted skin. "I don't know how they ended up here, but this isn't right." Alice stared at me, her mouth slightly open, her chest moving. She was trying not to smell me.
"I suppose you think I—we—should let you all go," mused Aro, who also watched Alice, slowly coming closer to her. "Unfortunately, that does not serve the purpose of the guard." His chiding tone remained. "You see, I have a talent not unlike your former lover's, Bella Swan. I, too, can read minds. And I saw, in her very unusual and beautiful mind, your arrival, and her recruitment of these animals….and the others." He looped a casual arm over Alice's shoulder and pulled her up. Her head lolled to the side. "It's truly incredible—to think all of this began because she saw it happening! Perhaps, if she had not spoken out loud at that unfortunate meeting with the dogs…" He waved an elegant hand. "But who can know. Her mind shows only the solid present. And, theoretically, the future." He'd moved surreptitiously closer to me and the children. A familiar growl rumbled out of them.
"Theoretically?" I scoffed at him, imitating the children's bravery. "Alice sees the future, all right. Maybe you're just afraid of what she sees."
He shook his head, his expression piteous. "The closer we have come to the day of your arrival, dear Bella, the less she sees." Alice's black eyes bore in to me. "She was once in an asylum, as a human, you know." Aro's gaze turned back to the tiny vampire beneath his arm. "I didn't think it was possible for a vampire to go insane, but alas…all she sees now is a…blankness. An emptiness."
"It's because she's starving," hissed the pale little girl vampire from behind her master. Aro shook his head.
"No, my dear Jane." He loosed his arm from around Alice and she instantly fell to the ground. "It's because of those dogs—" he looked back at me "—Bella here has fallen in with a bad crowd. But thanks to Alice's extensive conversations about them with dear, noble Edward, I can surmise what is happening."
"We should kill them now," Caius whimpered, his hands shaped like claws. His terror put off the closest vampires, who all drifted away, except for the other one like him. The third whispy vampire stared at nothing, aloof to everything. It was almost as disconcerting as Caius's rabid behavior.
"Brother, they are surrounded. We vastly outnumber them. We know the exact point of congregation for the werewolves you so fear, we know the numbers and talents of all the dogs they brought from the New World—your fear, surely, is irrational." It occurred to me that Edward had not expected the entire Guard to be present when we arrived, but the room was dense with vampires. Nothing else Aro had said was surprising; I knew that because of Alice's blanked mind when it came to the wolves, there were some surprises yet. At least, I hoped. Aro was now looking at the smallest alpha. "I wanted to make these five an offer."
"No," the girl spoke heatedly. Alice's condition had rattled her.
"You're from Sweden?" Aro didn't wait for her to answer, but again drifted closer, nearing Alice. "There was quite a population there, once upon a time," he cooed softly. "Very fierce, very resilient."
"What kind of offer could you possibly have for these beasts?" Caius sneered, and the one called Jane twittered.
"I once enjoyed the company of dogs, in my long ago human existence," Aro continued in his soft voice, then snapped his head towards his brother in the unrestrained manner of an excited vampire. "Imagine, if the guard had a set of them—"
"No," the girl said again. "We've been told about joining your guard."
"Oh?" Aro turned towards her curiously.
"Slavery," spat the little alpha, and then she screamed in sheer pain. The line of the children broke as she crashed to her knees, her hands clutching her temple.
"Jane, dear," Aro said impatiently, and the alpha collapsed, breathing deeply with her eyes clenched shut. "They're only children, after all." She rose to her knees, then slowly stood; her white face wore an expression of pure hatred. "Well," Aro said blithely, and Jane cowered a bit, her white face wary. "That ends that." He cast an eye over us again, and his shoulders raised smoothly. "There seemed to be no convincing them anyway. But Bella," he soothed, gliding slowly towards me, "now that you understand the danger you face….perhaps you will accommodate some of my curiosity?"
I understood that he was saying the children would suffer if I didn't do what he wanted. The little alpha swayed on her feet. Alice refused to raise her face, staring instead at the black stones with her bottomless eyes; her lover moaned softly and pulled his hair. "If I give you what you want, will you let them go?"
"You have little I want," Aro said, suddenly callous beneath his beneficent smile. His red eyes ticked across the children's faces. "I am merely curious…is it true Edward cannot read your mind?" Behind him, the little girl vampire hissed. Her expression was incredulous.
"Yes," I said. Aro had turned to his tiny accomplice, his brow furrowed as well. She looked back at him with wide eyes.
"Come here," he murmured to me, moving suddenly and quickly next to Alice. He held one of her limp wrists, and then she screamed. My Alice, screaming on the floor.
"Let her go!" I pushed past the children before I realized what was happening, and they recircled in their tight defensive posture as I landed next to Alice, snatching her hand from his grasp. Alice's wail was only less loud than the scream of rage from Jasper, who was restrained by four vampires on the other side of the smirking Jane.
"Jane," whispered Aro, and Alice quieted. Like a ton of bricks, the previous scene with the small alpha made more sense—Jane hurt them with her mind. With my focus on the crumpled, dirty vampire I loved, I didn't notice that Aro had slipped a cool finger around my wrist until he was pulling me upright. Away from Alice. Away from the children.
The last rays of the sun shot out from the edge of the sky, blasting the room with rich, red beams of light. The skin of the vampires shone like stars. Aro's grip tightened. His expression changed from a mirror of Jane's infuriated incredulity to pure, unadulterated joy. It was horrifying.
"It doesn't work for Edward, or Jane, or myself….Bella, my darling, you are truly remarkable." I recoiled from his touch, his words—I didn't want Aro to compliment me. I didn't want the children to hear his words, or Alice—I didn't want to be anything Aro wanted. It felt dirty. I pulled harder on my wrist, and he let me go with a look of sheer delight on his ancient face. He turned to Alice. "Are you still hungry, dear?"
Alice didn't move. The sun was dropping quickly, more and more of the room giving in to impenetrable blackness as it swallowed the vibrant red; I wondered how the children would see to protect themselves. For the one fleeting second before Aro pushed me to the ground, I locked eyes with the tiny alpha. The red light made her pale skin glow like the vampires around her. Her eyes were closed, her lips parted. She seemed as though she were experiencing a private rapture.
I felt my collarbone snap as I clattered to the ground next to Alice. Alice, whose rigid black eyes avoided me at all costs, whose mouth hung open with a string of drool. She tried to crawl away from me but Jane tortured her, and then Aro spoke in his calming, wretchedly smooth voice. "Just one bight, little Alice." A chorus of wicked laughter erupted behind him. "You bight her, and your beloved Jasper lives." A sound I recognized ripped through the waves of lilting, heartless laughter, and Alice suddenly came to life, scrambling desperately to stand and run towards her mate. The laughter reached a roar. I threw up.