AN: *sappy music* This chapter is dedicated to my faithful readers and reviewers. So here it is, because I care . . . .
Chapter 59 - Taking Down the Tower
Jasper POV
Benjamin concentrated on the tower, shaking his hands, making fists, bringing his fists together, and then ripping his fists apart in different directions, driving one hand up and the other hand down at the same time.
I shifted nervously in place, feeling the ground rumbling under my feet. It stirred something deep in my chest, resonating like it does when Emmett turns up the bass on the stereo. I didn't like it. I really fucking didn't like it. My instincts were going haywire, warning me of impending doom, wanting me to get the fuck out of Dodge before the shit hit the fan. Only my ironclad control kept me in place at the front of my army. I felt the troops beginning to shy away, to nervously retreat without even being consciously aware of it.
"Only the tower, Benjamin!" I hastily reminded him. "Try to keep the rest of the town standing, okay?"
He shot me a worried look, tensing and giving an uncertain nod. "I'll try," he snapped, before muttering, "Though I can't make any promises."
I noticed his arms were shaking now, and his foot was tapping. Every now and then, a shudder would rack his whole body.
"Any day now," somebody muttered impatiently from the crowd. I sent him a death glare that had him whimpering and hastily retreating from my line of sight.
Benjamin's wiggles were getting worse, mimicking the increased frequency of the ground's resonance, even as the pitch deepened. The ground began to sound as if it were moaning or groaning, as if the rocks were grinding against one another in the ground, sliding harshly. I suddenly realized it was the ground mimicking Benjamin's movements, not the other way around.
Suddenly Benjamin stomped hard at the same time he pushed his hands up from his waist to above his head, as if lifting something heavy. In response, the ground beneath the tower shook and sheered, raising on one side while dropping on the other. The devastation to the building was instantaneous.
The tower cracked right down the center and toppled on itself, crashing down from four stories high to one big ring of rubble on the now uneven ground. For a second or two, all that filled the air was dust, rocks, and crashing sounds. As soon as the dust settled and the shock receded, cheers filled the air instead.
"Way to go, Benjamin!"
"Three cheers for Benjamin!"
"Dude, you're the man!"
"Good job, son!"
This was followed by groans of pain from the vampires caught under the rubble. I performed a quick initial assessment and realized all the remaining vampires had either been on the first floor or underground at the time of the collapse. Luckily, we had Benjamin here to clear away the rubble as well. He easily shifted all the rock across the ground to another spot a few hundred yards away. There was no chance of him accidentally shifting a vampire along with it, as his gift only worked on the elements.
As soon as the rubble was cleared away, we realized there were only four vampires remaining on ground level. Two were Volturi Guards and the other two were a badly dehydrated Edward and Alice. They were in the process of fusing back together, but didn't have enough venom in their systems to complete the process.
"We're going to need blood! Get me a dozen bags STAT!" Carlisle shouted to someone down the line. I left our former family members to him and concentrated on the other two.
The female held up her hands in a gesture of surrender, full of fear. She was overcome with relief when her eyes lit upon Marcus, and she called out to him. "Marcus! Please! Can you grant me sanctuary?"
I looked to Marcus to see if he deemed this woman trustworthy.
"Corin! Yes, you may approach me without fear, my dear."
He looked at me and answered my unspoken question. "Corin has a gift which makes all those in her presence feel comfort and contentment. Aro has kept her sheltered in the tower with Sulpicia for hundreds of years, hoping to keep his mate happy, despite her confinement in a golden prison."
I nodded and tasted the emotions of the woman as she approached. She was fearful and grieving. I needed to be certain she would not be a danger to us.
"Charlie!" I called. "I need your assistance here!"
He eagerly came forward, ready to help in any way he could. I met his eyes and nodded toward the girl, indicating he should use his gift on her.
"Are you a danger to us?" I asked point blank. "Do you harbor ill will toward us?"
Charlie sent his compulsion into her, easily overcoming her will, showing how weak she was.
"I don't even know you! Why would I harbor ill will toward you? Are you evil? Do you intend to harm me? I'm not much of a fighter, kept mainly around for keeping the women content with their lot in life. I carry no secrets of value and wish only to live peacefully with others who care about me. Please, don't hurt me. I have nothing to offer, no threat to give. I seek only companionship with likeminded individuals who abhor violence and delight in the finer things life has to offer. I am but a fragile butterfly, fearing destruction."
I stared at her and then turned my gaze back to Marcus. "She's not all there, is she?" I deadpanned.
He smirked. "Centuries stuck in a tower, staring at the same four walls, will do that to the best of us."
"True," I admitted. Her insanity seemed relatively harmless at least. "What of this other one, the male over yonder?"
Marcus scowled when he spotted him. "That's Santiago. He's one of the few guards who remained loyal to the Volturi after Chelsea's gift ceased to tie everyone here against their will. I wouldn't trust him any further than I could throw him. No, not even that far. I guarantee he's been left behind deliberately as Caius's last stand, to distract us while Caius makes a clean getaway."
"You there, what are you doing?" I shouted to Santiago, startling him out of his preoccupation with something he was trying to keep hidden. Carlisle had already taken Alice and Edward away to be treated far from the front lines, which suited me fine. Anywhere out of my line of sight was good enough for me.
Santiago looked up and scowled at me. "How dare you address me so, you scurvy dog! I shall see you get what's coming to you! Mark my words!"
"Scurvy dog? What are you, a pirate?" I asked in amusement. "You couldn't come up with an insult better than that?"
"You may be laughing now, but I'll have the last laugh!" he declared, shaking his fist at me.
"Does anybody else feel like they're in the making of a campy Grade B movie? Your acting is pitiful! It wouldn't even fool a human, it's so bad!" I taunted.
Peter sidled up next to me. "Uh, Major? You might want to take a few steps back. That thing he's messing with there is the Grandaddy of all those baby flamethrowers the other vamps were using."
My eyes widened and shot to his. His expression was deadly serious, and he nodded once slowly to show he wasn't kidding.
Damn! Couldn't just one little part of this be easy? I mentally complained, while grabbing onto Marcus and Corin and retreating a few yards away. I didn't relax until Peter did.
I shifted my position in relation to the tower, moving further to the west, hoping to get a better view of the weapon in Santiago's clutches. I decided to provoke him further to see what he revealed.
"You must not have been important to Caius, since he left you behind to die," I mused in a casual tone.
"Shows what little you know," Santiago sneered. "It is you who will now die, and I will be joining him."
I laughed. "Boy, has he got you fooled. Don't you know he's long gone by now?"
Santiago growled, "No, once I have proven myself, by destroying all of you, he will allow me to take over Aro's empty throne."
"If you think Caius is going to share the throne with the likes of you, you must be higher than a kite. What have you been smoking? He won't even share power with his mate, for fuck's sake," I taunted. "Or didn't you notice Sulpicia and Athenadora were always referred to as the wives, not the queens."
Santiago furrowed his brow, then shook his head in frustration. "He is protecting his mate, of course. No doubt he believes that since they are one, they share the same throne. Naturally, as the man, he is the spokesperson for the couple."
"Okay, now I know you've been smoking something," I laughed. "Caius thinks women only have one purpose in life and it doesn't involve sharing the throne. I'll give you a hint - it involves sharing another piece of furniture altogether."
Santiago growled and yanked a large silver canister attached to what appeared to be a rocket launcher, out of the container he'd been rustling in all this time.
Oh, shit. I really hope that isn't what it looks like, even if Peter already warned me that it is.
"Are you sure we're far enough away?" I whispered to Peter, trying to control the urge to panic. He gulped and slowly nodded.
"I don't know why, but for whatever reason, we're safe here," He assured me. I nodded, then heard him mutter under his breath. "Gift, don't fail me now."
"Stay back!" I commanded my troops, just in case anyone was stupid enough to considering approaching the crazy man with the big gun full of instant death for us all. At least they can't say they weren't warned, right? I comforted myself in a bizarre kind of way.
"Should my life be flashing before my eyes right now?" I whisper to Peter.
He gave me an odd look. "Major, are you sure you're okay?"
"Sorry," I grinned sheepishly. "Just trying to lighten the moment."
"Stop trying to channel your inner Emmett," he bitched. "Some people have what it takes, but you aren't one of them."
"Fuck you," I grumbled.
"Only if that means I get to fuck Bella too," he shot back.
"Oh, hell no! I'm going to kick your ass from here to Timbuktu," I threatened. "Then I'm gonna tell Char, so she can do it too."
"Ha! As if my woman would take your word over mine!" he retorted.
"Fine, so I'll just tell Carlisle what you said about his baby girl," I snickered. He barely tolerates me touching his little princess, and I'm her mate. "I wonder how long it'll take you to locate your dick after he hides it?"
He winced and covered his junk, scowling at me. "Oh, just shut the fuck up, Whitlock, and take this shit like a man!"
Yes, my shit talk is all part of the effort to keep my mind distracted from the huge ass cannon directed my way and any thoughts of the size of the fire ball that sucker could shoot, I admitted to myself. But so is his!
He groaned and shifted awkwardly, trying to hid his own nervousness behind a mask of indifference. A few seconds later he broke, hissing, "How long is it going to take that asswipe to find the damn trigger anyway? I swear he wouldn't know his ass from a hole in the ground!"
The moment Peter lost it was unsurprisingly the moment the asswipe found it. With an evil grin, Santiago looked me dead in the eyes and pulled the trigger. We all heard the roar of the flame building in the belly of the beast, before it came pouring out of the terrifying weapon of mass destruction.
Unfortunately for Santiago, the Benjamin's rockslide had done irreparable damage to the cannon, preventing the fire from funneling out the way it was originally designed. Instead, the gun backfired, engulfing the entire remains of the tower in a massive fire ball that leapt nearly a thousand feet up into the sky. Santiago was ash before he ever knew what hit him. Even at the distance Peter and I were standing, it felt like my eyelashes and eyebrows were getting singed by the heat that subsequently rolled over and through us. It was like witnessing a rocket launch at close distance. Yeah, been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Thanks, Emmett.
I felt like yelling 'Fire in the hole', but figured it would only garner me funny looks, and I'd gotten enough of those for the time being.
"I wonder how long it'll take for the fire to cool enough for us to chase after Caius in the tunnels," I idly mused, as if I hadn't just witnessed an explosion that would have likely decimated my entire army in a single blow, if the weapon had been functioning properly.
Peter just groaned.
xxxxxxx
I shook myself off and went to find my mate. All these stressful events were taking a serious toll on my sanity. I needed some rejuvenating alone time with my mate to restore my sense of balance and confidence in my own ability to prevail against all odds. I found her scowling as she assisted Carlisle in working on repairing the damage to Edward and Alice, who as of yet were still unresponsive.
I eased up behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist and nuzzling my mouth against her neck. Rubbing suggestively against her backside, I purred softly into her ear. "Do you have a little time for me, my mate? I need some of that special brand of attention only you can give me." Before she had time to respond, I added the clencher, "I was awfully close to that latest fireball, my love. Don't you wish to check me for damage? I think I may have gotten a little singed."
Instantly, I had her undivided attention. I didn't know if Edward's and Alice's gifts were working, or if they were aware of their surroundings at all, and frankly, I didn't care. I needed my mate, and I needed her now. I certainly needed her more than Edward and Alice did. In my opinion anyway.
"Major! Are you hurt? Were you injured?" Bella frantically asked as her fingers began dancing over me.
"Nothing you can't kiss and make all better," I admitted with a smirk, for her ears only.
Her eyes flashed with wicked amusement, and she grabbed my hand, leading me away to a private alcove within the castle walls, with only a quick goodbye to Carlisle. Thinking I was injured, thanks to Bella's concerned outburst, he let us go without protest or even a second thought.
What the good doc doesn't know won't hurt him, I mentally snickered as I blindly followed my mate.
To my surprise, she found a hidden doorway tucked behind a tapestry and led me down the stairs into the bowels of the earth, along a hallway and up another staircase into a hidden garden. The walls were barren of windows or doors on all sides, other than the entranceway, with all the light coming through the frosted glass of the ceiling. The entire ceiling was made of this frosted glass, creating a greenhouse effect. Exotic flowers grew all along the walls, sending up a heady fragrance, sultry and sexy, to saturate the air.
"How did you find this?" I asked in amazed awe, looking around us.
Bella shrugged and grinned. "I got bored listening to all the speeches during the trial part and went exploring. After all, I already know to trust you guys. You've got nothing to prove to me, and I didn't really like hearing all the doubt about my family. This was a good way to blow off steam and not let it get to me."
I raised my eyebrows and shrugged in approval. "You won't hear me complaining, especially since I'm about to reap the benefit."
Scooping her up in my arms, I began nibbling on her skin, guessing I had at least half an hour before it would be safe to explore the tunnels under the tower.
xxxxx Mild Lemon Warning xxxxxx
As soon as her emotions were fully onboard for what I was planning, I stripped us both naked, carefully folding our clothes and setting them aside. We didn't have any spare clothes hidden anywhere nearby, not that I was aware of anyway.
Smiling mischievously down at her, I reminded her, "I seem to remember you promising that my wish was your command, my little vixen."
She purred, smirking up at me. "Absolutely, my sexy Major. I am yours to command."
I purred in response, loving her willingness to play. "Lay down, my lovely, and let me lick your luscious pussy until you scream my name."
She giggled, eagerly lying down in the soft grass and spreading her legs for me. "My pleasure, Major."
Instead of diving straight for dessert, I started leisurely with her lips and gradually worked my way down, lingering on her neck, then her nipples, before forging a path to my personal slice of heaven. I lathed her clit with my tongue, while my fingers pushed in and out of her sopping pussy, caressing her g-spot with each stroke. Swallowing her sweet nectar had my cock straining to find its home within her body. It didn't take long to bring her to ecstasy with my mouth and fingers, given my gift, which always let me know instantly what felt good, better, or best. Even so, it always made me feel smugly proud to know I could bring my mate such pleasure.
While her mind was still lost in orgasmic bliss, and her pussy walls were still rhythmically clenching, I sheathed my cock into her honeyed depths, the moist heat milking me up and down my length. I flipped us so she was on top and in control, loving how deeply I could bury myself inside her from this angle. I loved watching her breasts jiggling in time to the rhythm of her movements, rising and falling with her quickened breaths. I adored watching her bump and grind, seeking her pleasure from my body, gliding up and down my shaft and pushing her clit against my pubic bone. I loved watching myself pushing in and out of her body, seeing my cock coated with her glistening juices, the evidence of her arousal.
Most of all, I adore the look on her face as she rides me, knowing we belong to one another, knowing our pleasure is mutual. I love seeing the changes in her expression as she gets closer to her climax, the darkening of her eyes, the expansion of her pupils, the pursing of her lips, the furrowing of her eyebrows. I love the sounds she makes, the little mewls of pleasure that slip past her lips, the grunts and moans as she increases her pace and the force with which she lifts and drops herself down again, the panting of unneeded breath.
Then, as she crossed the next threshold, climbing up to the pinnacle, begging for me to push her over the edge, she began stutter-chanting my name in anticipation.
"J-J-Ja, J-J-Jaa, J-J-Jaaasss, Jas, Jas, Jas, Jaaaassssppppeeerrrrr!" The final keening cry of my name, proclaimed me the king of her heart, the key to her pleasure, the giver of her orgasm.
With her verbal acknowledgement of my triumph, I then let go, giving into my own release, shooting my venom as deeply inside of her as I could, wanting it to percolate and be absorbed, so that she'd bear my scent, the proof of my love and the mark of my mating, for days to come.
xxxxx Lemon Over xxxxx
"Where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you!" Alec demanded, as I strolled back into the courtyard with my Bella.
I gave him the evil eye, and he flinched, cowering for a few seconds before picking up where he left off with his ranting.
"It's time to search the tunnels! Marcus has supplied us with a map of the tunnel system to the best of his knowledge, though there are areas which he has never explored, never before having the inclination. We have split ourselves into groups and are just awaiting your final approval before we begin."
I rolled my eyes and gave my Bella a resounding kiss, before sending her on her way back to Carlisle. That alone time with my mate was just what I needed to restore me to the top of my game again, I thought smugly, feeling much more relaxed and ready to take on the world.
Alec huffed, then anxiously asked, "So what do you think?"
"Searching the tunnels for Caius is a complete waste of time. He's long gone by now. All we need to know are where the tunnels come out to the surface. We can track him from there. Besides, the entrances to the tunnels will all be blocked by rubble from Benjamin's earthquake, unless he has already begun work on removing the debris."
Alec stared at me in consternation. "Well, then why did we wait for the tower area to cool?"
Because I needed time to fuck my mate, I thought to myself. Of course, I'd never say that aloud, as it would embarrass my Bella, but it's true, nevertheless.
I ignored Alec's legitimate question, for there was no reasonable answer I could give him. I hadn't been thinking clearly before, or all of this would have occurred to me then. There was something about Caius's new weapons that unsettled me like nothing else ever had. Mainly it was the knowledge that no matter how good my gift was, no matter how hard I trained to fight, no matter how many years I practiced all my talents and skills, none of it was any good in the face of the flames. A simple human child could beat me in a second with one of those devices. I had no control over the outcome at all, no matter what I did.
Always before I'd been confident I could overcome any odds, thanks to my training, my intelligence, my instincts, my creativity, my experience, my skills, my talents, and my gift. Caius had created a whole new playing field, where even an untrained novice could defeat a Master General. It had turned my entire world upside down, just as our revelations today had done for so many others.
I needed to reconnect with my mate, in order to reconnect with myself, as odd as that sounds. I needed her to remind me of who I truly am and who I intend to be.
Alec didn't bother asking his question again, seeming to understand he wouldn't get a response.
Arriving back at the base of the tower, where the other volunteers were gathered, I took charge of the group, issuing orders for them to travel in groups of two over land to wherever Marcus had noted a tunnel breaching the surface. The remainder were assigned to run the perimeter of Volterra at the approximate distances where the tunnels emerged. Before the others even left to follow orders, those orders were rendered useless.
It was amazing how loud the roar of rocket engines were, even from half a mile away. Every vampire in the vicinity of Volterra lifted their eyes, wordlessly watching the first Volturi rocket blast into space. Caius and Athenadora smugly waved to us from the cockpit.
Amazingly enough, the launch went off without a hitch, each stage engaging or disengaging just when it should. There were no tragic explosions, no failed equipment. For a first attempt, it was utterly flawless. Way to go, Lance! It appears vampire space travel is much safer than human space travel. No surprise there.
Remembering the report Carlisle had given me after speaking with Aro's scientists, all I could think was, Good riddance!
xxxxxxx
AN: Somewhat anticlimactic I know, but I'm sure you haven't forgotten who and what are waiting in the wings. Our heroes can't always get off this easily, can they? How much luck can they possibly have?