AN: I just want to issue a warm thank you for all those who encourage me with your reviews. It really makes a difference in my choice to work on writing my own fanfiction or just relax and read somebody else's. *grin*

Carlisle drew himself up, squared his shoulders, and declared, "We will fight, and we will prevail."

xxxxxxx

Chapter 50 - Planning

Jasper POV

I felt the resolution and determination from the people all around me, except for one. Freaky Fred responded with reluctance and irritation.

"Great. I just got out of one stupid battle I didn't want to fight, only to be forced into another. Why can't we all just live in peace?" he complained.

"Shut up, boy!" I growled. "You know nothing of wars and battles! Some of us were tortured for decades and forced to fight for nothing more than breeding grounds for vampire food. Your sire, Victoria, was interested in avenging the death of the one she considered her mate, though he brought his death upon himself by breaking the law, attacking one of our family members without provocation, merely for sport, for entertainment. Neither of those is the type of fight we are discussing! We are trying to free those who've been unfairly oppressed for centuries, as well as those who've been tortured for months."

Fred sneered, "Everybody who starts a fight believes they are in the right, no matter who they are or what they've done. If you look at the leaders in history who wanted to rule the world, like Napoleon, Caesar, Attila the Hun, we may consider them delusional, egotistical megalomaniacs, but in their own minds, they fully believed they had the right to do what they did. So, don't think you're going to impress me with your self-righteous speeches about truth and justice. No doubt the other side will spout the same propaganda drivel to the vampires in their trenches."

"Nobody said you had to fight," I countered condescendingly, scowling at him. "In fact, I wouldn't want someone with your attitude on my side, as you're just the type to worry more about saving your own skin in the heat of battle, than protecting the flanks of your fellow fighters, who're counting on you to watch their backs, just as they do for you. You'd probably go AWOL, leaving your regiment a man short, getting them all injured or killed, just because you're a sniveling, traitorous coward."

"I'm not a coward!" Fred shouted back, clenching his fists. If his feet weren't still fusing back to his ankles, he'd likely be stalking toward me right now. "I just don't believe in fighting other people's battles."

"Exactly!" I sneered. "You're the type that would see a group of men in an alley getting ready to gang rape a lady and keep right on walking, too afraid to say or do anything for fear of them coming after you. Sure, maybe you'd dial 911 once you were safely away and report it, so the police can come in and fight that battle for her. Of course, she'll either be dead or scarred for life by the time they arrive, but what do you care? It's not your fight, right?"

Fred frowned and looked at me sullenly, knowing I was right. "Well, I wouldn't do the lady any good if I'm lying dead or unconscious in the alley too, right? The police are armed and trained to deal with situations like that. Besides, what about the people counting on me, my friends and family? Why should they and I suffer when interfering wouldn't do any good anyway?"

I rolled my eyes and looked at him in disgust. "What if that lady was your sister, or your mom?"

"Well, that's different. Of course, I'd step in and help them," he scoffed.

"Some of us gentlemen believe we should step in and help regardless, because whomever the lady is, she's somebody's sister, mother, or daughter. I would want somebody to protect my family, if I weren't there to do it. Sure, there is always a risk to one's self, but even something as simple as making that 911 call loud enough for them to hear and taking pictures with your phone from the top of the alley would likely be enough to send them running, for fear of getting caught. Knowing she's not alone would encourage the woman to fight harder, struggle longer in hopes of delaying long enough for help to arrive. Yelling loudly and alerting anybody else in the vicinity would help too, with there being safety in numbers and witnesses the perpetrators can't afford and would try to avoid."

Carlisle decided to intercede and defuse the situation then, but I knew I had made my point, not only to Fred, but to the rest of the group. Fred is a loser who shouldn't be trusted with any knowledge or responsibility.

"You do not have to fight alongside of us, Fred. What is it you want from us?" Carlisle asked congenially, but subtly nudging Charlie to work his truth magic.

"I just want to leave, to be left alone to make the best I can of this existence. I don't want to fight any wars or be a soldier. I want to go back to the comfort of my computer," Fred admitted. "I'm not a warrior. I prefer to fight my battles with different weapons."

"We can not simply let you go, Fred," Carlisle explained. "The law says all newborns must be supervised for the first year."

"Damn!" Fred pouted, turning his head away. He got a calculating look on his face and all of a sudden everyone was feeling repulsed by him, as if he'd just stepped in a big pile of dog poop, or was just sprayed by a skunk, and was stinking up the entire area.

"Why should we have to be stuck with him?" Rose protested, backing away from him. "We should just kill him like the others."

"Yeah, we don't need a loser like him anyway," Emmett agreed, curling his lip in disgust. "He'd probably just run away the first chance he got. We don't need any more traitors in this family, Carlisle. I vote we roast his ass."

"I agree," Laurent offered. "He didn't help Irina at all, even after Bree pleaded for his assistance. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. He intended to desert before the battle, but Victoria moved the date forward unexpectedly. Then he planned to run during the chaos of the initial attack, but Alec's power got to him before he could make a move. He is no friend of ours, so why should we bear responsibility for him? Kill him."

"I'm for killing the rotten bastard," Billy cheerfully remarked. "In fact, I volunteer for the honor. A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything. He has no sense of loyalty and thus cannot be trusted."

"Why do we need to kill him?" Bella asked, surprised at the reactions of her normally compassionate family, noticing nobody had yet come to his defense. She's the only one of us not feeling repulsed by this loser. Hmmm. Is this his gift then? To repulse others? It doesn't seem to working out in his favor at the moment.

Eleazar wrinkled his nose and moved himself and Carmen further away from Fred. "By law, since we have killed his sire, we are responsible for educating and guiding him until he is a year of age. If he does anything to expose our kind or call attention to himself, we will all be punished for his transgressions. We cannot simply let him go off on his own, or we risk severe penalties. Since we cannot let him go without risking our own lives, and he does not wish to join us, rendering him a security risk, we must kill him for our own safety. Every vampire here over a year old would be held accountable if we do not kill him. His one life is not worth all of ours. He has done nothing to merit us taking such a risk for him."

Carmen sighed and nodded. "Abandoning a newborn is a crime punishable by death. It is considered worse than not killing or changing a human who knows of our existence."

"You've got to be kidding me?" Fred protested in shock. "Seriously? You'd be put to death if you just let me go?"

Carlisle was regretful as he affirmed Fred's conclusion. "I'm afraid so. I hate to waste life in any form, but I must put my family first. Since you abhor your existence so much, we will put you out of your misery as quickly and painlessly as possible." Carlisle made a small hand gesture to me, his nonverbal way of telling me he wanted me to handle the situation, and he would not protest any decision I made. I solemnly nodded, trying hard not to show the smile I was feeling.

I felt Fred's terror as I raced over to him. He had finally realized the hole he'd dug for himself.

"Wait! Stop! Please!" He cried, backing away from me as fast as he could, in a sitting position with healing ankles. "I changed my mind! I'll join your coven!"

The feeling of being repulsed by him disappeared from everyone simultaneously. Yep, definitely a gift, I thought to myself. I felt Charlie forcing him to spill his guts, making sure his change of heart was real.

"At least until the year is over," he admitted. "I don't really want to be around anyone or participate in your fight with the Volturi, but I will if my only other alternative is death."

"Fine," Carlisle reluctantly accepted. "We can figure it out later I guess, when we have a better idea of what our future holds."

I felt resistance in several of our family and friends, but everyone agreed we had bigger fish to fry. Charlie decided it would be a good time to introduce his new mate to the rest of us. Chelsea told us all her human history leading up to her change and then a little bit about her life in Volterra afterward. Jake proudly introduced Jane, and she filled in some more parts of her human past with her mother and brother. I had been right that both had been abused and was happy to see Esme and Rose move in to offer comfort to them, along with a level of understanding, acceptance, and sisterhood only someone with a similar experience could provide.

While the women were talking, comforting and congratulating our newest family members, the men gathered for a little conversation of our own. We waited for Jake to phase back to human form, and Billy loaned him his shirt to cover his nudity. I decided to voice the question we all were thinking.

"As happy as I am that you're no longer lusting after my mate," I began. "How on earth could you imprint on a vampire, much less one that had you squirming on the ground in pain?"

Jake blushed, though if I weren't a vampire, I'm not sure I'd be able to tell. "Look, I don't have any control over it. It's not like I chose to imprint on the vampire who was torturing me. Tell them, Dad! It just happens, and once it does, it's irreversible. So, wondering why is useless, it just simply IS. Knowing why the sun rises and sets every day doesn't change the fact that it does."

"Good answer, son!" Billy exclaimed proudly. He looked around at the rest of us. "It's true, you know. A wolf's imprint is governed by the same supernatural source who chooses vampire mates. You might as well be asking why Tanya knew I was her mate instantly, when she hadn't met anyone else who fit her in a thousand years, or how Chelsea and Charlie immediately recognized each other as mates the moment their eyes met. Jake's and Jane's souls are obviously meant to be together, as much as any pair of vampire mates. The real concern is what happens when they exchange bodily fluids, considering they're supposed to be poisonous to one another."

"I can run some tests in my lab, back at the house," Carlisle offered. "We can mix various fluids together and see what effect they have on each other's cells. That way, we can have a good idea of what is viable and what is harmful before they do anything in real life."

"It's a little late for that," Charlie muttered, disgruntled. "There's already been some spit swapping and exchange of certain bodily fluids."

Jake blushed harder this time, making it much more obvious. He held the shirt in place with one hand and rubbed the back of his neck, then his face, and finally ran his fingers through hair. He looked down and replied with a small hint of defiance, "Uh, yeah, sorry about that. I don't know what came over me. It's like she went into heat or something and that's all I could think about. I forgot we even had an audience."

The men all chuckled. "Don't worry, Jacob, we all did," Carlisle assured him. "Welcome to life with Jasper. Whenever he's feeling particularly amorous, everyone within a three mile radius is feeling it too."

Jake looked over at me and raised an eyebrow. I held my arms up defensively and smirked.

"Hey, all I did was kiss my mate. It's not my fault the rest of you couldn't contain your libidos," I teased.

"All that from a kiss?" Billy asked incredulously. I nodded smugly. He shook his head in disbelief. "Damn, boy, when you finally claim your mate the human population of any nearby towns or cities is going to double nine months later!"

Everybody laughed.

"Yeah, he's better than Viagra," Emmett hooted. "He was feeling 'amorous' near a nursing home one day, and those old geezers were all stiff as a board. We found out sex, or more specifically orgasms, reduce pain and depression, increase satisfaction and contentment, and improve overall morale. The women felt pretty, the men felt studly, and flirting abounded long afterward. The only problem was one of the guys had a heart attack and died from 'overexerting' himself." He chuckled.

"It may be amusing to you, Emmett, but you weren't the doctor who had to explain to the family the cause of his death. I'm sure you can all imagine how uncomfortable it was to tell his widow that his heart gave out during climax while he was pleasuring himself," Carlisle added dryly, his expression serious. Emmett and I tried hard to keep a straight face, knowing what was coming next and not wanting to give it away too soon.

Charlie was nodding his head in understanding, having had to be the one to deliver bad news to families before. "What did she say?"

Carlisle's lips twitched and then broke out into a smirk. "'At least he died happy.' She then went on to add 'Too bad I wasn't here. I wouldn't have minded one last ride before he kicked the bucket.' Their poor children were both looking a little green around the gills at that point and both rapidly excused themselves. I say children, but they were in their fifties, of course. Their children were in their early thirties and weren't nearly as upset about Grandma's confession."

"Ew, that's just gross! Who wants to think about old people sex?" Jake complained.

"Well, considering I'm older than that guy was when he died, I'm all in favor of old people sex!" Emmett exclaimed, pretending to be offended. "Considering your new little wifey is centuries old, I'd think you'd be interested in the subject too!"

Jake grimaced and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but none of you look your real age, so it's not the same."

"But if you truly love somebody, it doesn't matter what they look like, because love is blind, right?" Emmett taunted. "What if you had imprinted on an eighty year old? You wouldn't be willing to tap that?"

Jake shuddered and shook his head, as if trying to shake out the image that comment had conjured up in his mind.

Before anybody else could make any more disturbing comments, we were joined by the ladies. It was time for us to finish cleaning up the clearing and talk strategy. However, I didn't want Fred to know our plans, since I didn't trust him. Plus, large groups are significantly less efficient than smaller ones in making decisions and coming to an agreement. As such, I carefully orchestrated a hunt to get rid of everyone other than my chosen war council. I waited until I could no longer feel any of them with my gift before addressing those who stayed behind.

Looking around the circle at Carlisle, Esme, Peter, Charlotte, Chelsea, Charlie, and Bella, I was satisfied with my team, knowing each had something important and unique to offer. I looked over at Alec's unresponsive form and sighed. Chief was lying on the ground near the body, watching it carefully for signs of Alec's awakening.

"First of all, we need to figure out what's going on with Alec. Why is he still unconscious?" I asked, looking at Carlisle.

"Well, he got werewolf slobber in all of his orifices. I think that has affected his senses," Chelsea hesitantly suggested, cowering back into Charlie a bit, as if she were afraid of being punished for speaking. I wondered if that's the way Aro normally conducted his meetings.

Knowing her need for reassurance, I encouraged, "Good thinking, Chelsea! That may well be the problem." I felt the tinge of bemusement come over Peter, the indicator his gift was currently informing him of some piece of information. Chelsea smiled warmly at me, and I felt her comfort level and self-confidence increase.

"You're absolutely right, Chelsea," Peter confirmed. She looked at him in surprise. "Sometimes I just know things. The knowledge just comes to me out of the blue, but it's always right. Alec's senses of sight, smell, taste, and hearing have been cut off, though he can still feel. So his mind knows his head took a little journey and that his body was ripped apart. He knows he's been put back together and is healing. Other than that, he has no clue about anything that has happened since he was beheaded by Chief."

It was silent then for a few minutes as everybody thought about what this meant.

"Is it permanent?" Charlie asked, hugging his mate closer to comfort her.

"No, it's temporary. His body will have healed itself in few hours, and he'll be good as new," Peter assured them. Chelsea sagged against Charlie in relief, glad to know her son wasn't permanently disabled.

Everyone was deep in contemplation, their emotions fluctuating as they considered different options before rejecting them for some reason or another. My own mind was desperately considering all the angles, trying to figure out the best plan of attack that would still keep my loved ones safe.

"The problem is that Aro will always see us coming, since he has Alice now," Carlisle grumbled. "Though, why did he send Chelsea and Jane, if he knew they'd find their mates here?"

Chelsea shook her head and frowned. "He didn't know. Alice saw all your futures fade to black. He thought you would all die in the battle with Victoria, including her and her army. We were sent to pull out any gifted vampires before the massacre."

We all frowned now. This doesn't make sense. How could Alice not see us, not see the outcome of the fight? I pondered. I felt Peter's bemusement again, followed by relief and giddiness, and turned to him expectantly.

Everybody turned to him also, following my lead subconsciously, and a big grin spread across his face. "Alice can't see the wolves, at all," he announced. "So as long as we keep a wolf near us, or involved in our plans, she can't see any of it."

Wide grins broke out across all our faces. "That's the best news yet!" Charlotte cheered.

"So, what's gonna happen when Chelsea, Jane, and Alec don't return?" Bella questioned. "Will Aro just assume they're dead?"

"Oh, no! He'll know we're not dead, because the moment Alec dies, Renata would feel the loss of their mate bond and be devastated! So, knowing we're not dead, he'd not only send Demetri to find us, but he would harm Renata to punish us as well," Chelsea wailed, panicking. Charlie hugged her tightly, trying his best to soothe her.

"Well, what if Alec goes back and tells Aro you and Jane are dead?" Bella suggested.

Carlisle shook his head. "No, that won't work. Aro can read minds like Edward, but he can hear everything you've ever thought. He'd know Alec was lying and what really happened."

"But Alec wouldn't be lying," Bella murmured thoughtfully, nodding her head.

"What? What do you mean?" Charlie demanded, shifting Chelsea behind him and glaring at his daughter.

Bella smiled and shrugged. "Uncle Pete said Alec doesn't know anything that happened since he was beheaded by a 'ghost' wolf, so that's all Aro will know too. He'll go back to Aro and tell him all the vampires were destroyed except him. That way, he can still protect his mate and Aro won't be expecting to see or hear from us again. He'll be too worried about ghost wolves going around eating vampires to investigate us further. As long as we keep the wolves close, he'll never know the difference, until we're knocking on his gate with an army of our own."

"Brilliant!" I exclaimed, in awe of my mate. She smiled up at me and purred a little in happiness.

Bloody brilliant! Major agreed. We could have used her mind in the Southern Wars. We would have been unstoppable!

We're unstoppable now, and I much prefer this life to that one. I wouldn't have wanted her anywhere near Maria and her sadistic treatment of others, I reminded him.

You're right, of course, though I have a feeling Maria wouldn't have lasted long against her, he smugly smirked.

I nuzzled my mate briefly, letting her feel my pride, love, and respect for her. Something shifted in her eyes then, but I didn't have time to dwell on it, because the meeting was still continuing, whether we wanted it to or not.

"But that means Alec will have to believe we're dead," Chelsea protested, looking over at her son's body with concern.

"I know it's not ideal, but it does sound like our best option, hon," Charlotte replied. "I know it will hurt him, but not as much as his mate being punished because he left her behind. We'll need to burn your clothes, preferably soaked in your venom, and maybe add a few locks of hair. That should be enough to lend your scent to the ashes. Mixed in with the other ashes of all the other vampires we've burned, he shouldn't be able to notice there aren't enough ashes to account for your body. Actually, all of us should do the same. Either he or Aro might notice if one of our scents is missing and assume we're still alive."

"But if we're all dead, except Alec, who killed us?" Esme asked thoughtfully. "Somebody had to throw the parts into the flames."

"That's easy, the wolves!" I declared. "Alec will remember how the 'ghost' wolf was able to tear his skin, but his arms passed right through the wolf's body. He had no idea how many wolves there were, so we need to make it so the wolves' scent is the only one leading away from the clearing. They need to saturate the whole area to cover up our movements collecting the spare body parts. Like Bella said, the wolves are an excellent distraction, and with Caius' particular fear of them, the Volturi should be in quite an uproar."

Chelsea nodded in agreement. "Especially since Alec's talent didn't work on the wolf either. We'll have to hide Alec's body somewhere where he can finish healing. It'll need to be convincing as to why the wolves didn't finish him off too."

"Good point," I remarked. "I suppose we could put him in a cave, or maybe underwater, or something like that, to mask his scent."

"Too complex," Esme commented. "It's supposed to be in the heat of battle, remember? How about up a tree? Wolves can't climb trees, right?"

"Awesome idea, Esme!" Peter enthused. "That's perfect! Simple, easy, and very believable."

Carlisle was rubbing his chin, deep in thought. Having come to a conclusion, he shared, "We'll need to have the wolves carry us out a ways, then we'll take to the trees until we're far enough away. At that point, Chief can walk on his 'spirit' feet to hide his scent, and carry Jacob the rest of the way out too."

"Hmmm, yes, that should work," Charlie ruminated. "That way when the scent of the two wolves disappears into thin air, they really will seem like ghost wolves. That makes them a good scapegoat too, since they seemingly can't be tracked, can't be seen in visions, are apparently immune to vampire gifts, don't just appear at night or with the full moon, and are natural enemies of vampires, so they have a good reason to randomly go around killing us."

Everyone nodded in agreement, starting to feel more confident about our chances of success.

"We should start calling on our friends, those we feel we can trust, and see if they are willing to stand with us against the Volturi," Esme recommended. "The more we have on our side, the less likely we are to be killed or seriously injured."

"I can't ask anyone to risk their lives for us," Carlisle protested.

"Yes, you can, for the sake of your mate and your 'children'," I growled. "You can certainly ask. You're not forcing anybody to fight. They have the right to say yes or no, to decide for themselves on which side they stand."

Carlisle sighed and grimly nodded. "You're right."

"Well, hey, at least the Volturi won't be as strong without Chelsea and Jane," Char shared enthusiastically.

Peter's gift began speaking to him again, and I waited patiently for him to reveal his new knowledge. His glazed eyes came back to alertness and snapped to mine. Then he gave me a Cheshire cat grin, his emotions as triumphant as the cat who ate the canary. "Don't forget, Chelsea, now that you're dead, you need to drop all the bonds you've created."

"Oh, but that'll dissolve all the Guards' bonds with Aro. It'll cause utter chaos," She admitted worriedly. Then it dawned on her what she was saying. Soon her smug grin mirrored Peter's. "Oh, my. Aro's life is about to get a lot harder. The most orderly coven in the world isn't going to be so orderly anymore."

We all shared a few speaking looks, thinking about what would happen in Volterra when everyone's false bonds disappeared simultaneously.

xxxxxxx

Bella POV

After offering up my plan of action, my Jasper nuzzled me briefly, letting me feel his pride, love, and respect for me.

That's it! Nstnx cheered excitedly. That's the last step. He sees you as an equal now, both halves of himself do.

So it's time for the claiming? I asked.

Indeed, she purred. As soon as this meeting is over, when the details are done, you need to go off with your mate somewhere private and consummate your connection with luscious lovemaking . . .

I thought about my mate's gorgeous naked body and felt the venom pool in my mouth. He felt my lust and nudged me with his elbow, reminding me to focus. I internally sighed and dutifully focused on the discussion at hand.

Just wait until I get him alone with me, I promised myself.

xxxxxxx

Marcus POV

Here I sit on my throne, gathering dust, like a useless statue long forgotten. I wish I could be forgotten. Then perhaps I could finally join my Didyme in the afterlife. I might as well be a statue. My heart is just as cold and still as one. My mind is just as blank as one. My core is just as hollow as one.

Every day blends into the next in a neverending stream of monotonous meaningless nonsense. I've tried to convince my brothers to let me go, to let me die, to let me find peace after all these years of misery, but still they cling to me, forcing me to keep existing day after torturous day. Nothing new or exciting ever happens. I've heard everything before, every excuse, every reason, every opinion. There is nothing that can pull my interest away from my mindless pastime of watching the paths of the dust motes as they drift down and coat my skin.

Vampires are created, contained, find companions, lovers, and mates. Vampires slowly go insane, burn to ash, fight battles and wars, seek revenge, and seek oblivion. Humans come and go - some are eaten, others are changed, some become servants, others become pets. Humans don't last long enough to be interesting, and vampires last too long to be interesting.

The last thing to catch my interest was a strange golden-eyed vampire with idealistic views and amazingly strong moral character. I'd never met anyone like him in all my three thousand years. His love and compassion for all sentient beings brought forth a warmth I hadn't felt since my Didyme died. For the first time in a long time, I had a spark of hope.

Of course, Aro had eventually shown enough of his natural cruelty to scare Carlisle away, and I had lost the single ray of sunshine in my interminable existence. My internal spark had dimmed, but not been snuffed, for as long as Carlisle existed there was a chance he, my only friend, would someday return. Naturally, Aro couldn't allow even that small glimmer of hope to continue to exist and had decided to destroy the only angelic vampire I had ever known.

My Didyme had been my one and only, my whole world, but she had never been angelic. On the contrary, she was quite a little vixen, which suited me fine. Only Carlisle had ever caused me to question our status as demons. I had even wanted to try Carlisle's way of feeding, but Aro never allowed it. For some reason, I could never cross my brother after I lost my mate, no matter how much I wanted to or wished I could. I suppose I just didn't have the energy to fight or argue anymore.

Sadly, I sit here in this throne room, just as I have every day for thousands of years, tuning out the sounds of Aro and Caius terrorizing their newest victim, playing their sadistic version of cat and mouse with the poor hapless fellow.

I hate the little games they play to amuse themselves. Really, if they are seeking excitement, it seems going hunting Carlisle's way, chasing after cheetahs and battling bears, would be a much better form of entertainment than performing the Spanish inquisition on a young vampire until he's a quivering bundle of nerves, fishing for a reason, any excuse, to punish him. This is how they are killing time, waiting for a report from Chelsea and the twins, as to the final results of the Cullen slaughter. They are eager to acquire more gifted vampires to pad their guard, to keep the power that consumes them.

I have watched as the power they have wielded all these years has corrupted their sanity, slowly driving them insane, making them fearful and paranoid, driven and obsessive, wicked and delusional. How much longer until they fall over the edge into madness? How many innocents will suffer when they do?

Suddenly, yellow lights winked out all over the castle. I blinked my eyes a few times, trying to figure out what happened. Looking around the room, I realized I was the only one who noticed. That's when it hit me - not yellow lights, yellow bonds! All of the bonds Chelsea had forged under Aro's command, under threat of her children being punished for any refusal or disobedience on her part, had disappeared at the same time.

Oh, no, I thought. Something has happened to Chelsea. She must be dead! Poor thing, she had it rough as a human and not much better as a vampire. What of the twins? Well, Alec must still be alive, I can see Renata's mate bond just as strong as ever.

As I sat there thinking of Chelsea and mourning her loss, I realized a weight had lifted from my shoulders and some imaginary steel band had loosened from my chest. I could breathe better than I had in forever. Curious about the new feeling of freedom coursing through my venomous veins, I tuned into my gift and concentrated my senses on the rest of the castle.

Demetri's bond with Heidi was rapidly strengthening, shifting into a mate bond the moment they were together and staring into each other's eyes again. Apparently, while Chelsea's gift wasn't able to break a mate bond, the divided loyalties her bonds caused could actually prevent one from fully forming. Those two had always felt a connection, but it had never progressed to its full extent as long as both had Aro as their primary priority.

Their fast movements in her room then his were surprising. I know they haven't been sent on a mission, so why are they packing up their bags and leaving? Like a torch flaming up in the night, the answer came to me. They are fleeing! They are escaping this dreary castle and life under Aro's thumb. No longer under the influence of Chelsea's bonds, which created a false sense of loyalty and devotion to Aro, they were no longer compelled to stay. Not only that, but they weren't the only ones sneaking away to their quarters, packing a bag, and hightailing it for the exit.

I felt like smiling for the first time in ages, but quickly suppressed the urge for fear of alerting Aro to this new development. If he sensed any changes in my demeanor, he would insist on reading my mind and would then put a stop to all the rats abandoning his sinking ship. I knew, as one of the captains, I would follow this wreck to its demise, but I would make no effort to bring anyone else down with us.

Let all who can flee get as much of a head start as possible before Aro learns of their defection. With Demetri gone, he will have a hard time catching them. Thanks to his threats and mistreatment of most of them, they will likely have no difficulty joining our enemies to fight against us as well.

I decided to go hide out in my library for a few hours. No doubt Aro will send for me as soon as he realizes something is wrong, but I might as well keep out of sight and help my fellow prisoners with their jailbreak as best I can, simply by keeping my mouth shut about what I know.

Aro and Caius didn't pay me any attention as I meandered out of the room, my expression appearing devoid of interest in anything at all, just like it had since I lost my mate and was denied revenge against her murderer. Demetri and Heidi crossed my path, holding hands and each shouldering a duffel bag of their belongings. They froze when they spotted me, but I simply smirked and waved them along encouragingly. Their mouths dropped open in shock. As it dawned on them I not only knew they were mates and were leaving, but that I was actually encouraging them to go and wouldn't report them, they smirked back, waved, and raced away.

That dim spark of hope was flaming again. Though I regretted the loss of Chelsea and the pain that would cause her children, I was beyond relieved to realize I belonged to myself again. My choices were my own, not Aro's anymore. For the first time in ages, since her death really, I could actually feel my mate inside of me again. I spent the next few hours pleasantly reminiscing over my favorite memories of my love, easing the pain of her loss, at least for a short time.

xxxxxxx

AN: So, the claiming is finally coming in the next chapter. Should I follow Stephenie's lead and fade to black, or would you like to know the details?