"What was that?" Bella asked.
"My mate," I murmured quietly enough that Bella didn't hear, but Carlisle's head spun to me. That was why her feelings when she kissed me — and it had never completely faded in all the flip-flopping she'd done in the following minutes — had reminded me of Peter and Charlotte, because my brother had found his mate.
Charlotte was one of the very few female vampires Maria had created. She wanted soldiers, women didn't usually fit the model. When the time came to remove Charlotte, Peter stood against me. The first and only time. He took Charlotte and ran. I didn't realize how much of a friend and companion he'd become until he left. The weight of what I'd been doing for Maria was pulling me down before he left, but once he was gone, I found it so much harder to go on. When he came back, some years later, I was depressed; I was nearly useless. He told me about life in the north, where there were no territories. Freely choosing prey, moving among others of our kind without fear of destruction. I ran with him, eager to share the hope and happiness he came with. I found some of my own, but most of his came from Charlotte. That was love as I had never seen it, felt it. The peace of mind that came from not manipulating people was a relief, but my prey continued to make feeding less than satisfying, leading me to Carlisle. Still, that time had shown me the love between mates. I had fed on husbands and wives and felt the same sort of love in their dying moments. It was what I could see Bella's love for me, and mine for her, developing into. How did Alice already love me? She didn't even know me.
"That's apparently what passes for a Volturi guard these days," I said more loudly. "There were two others with her, both men, in dark cloaks. What one might expect a guardsman to look like."
"And where did she go?" Bella asked.
"They're hunting Victoria and James. She saw them attack you but nothing else."
Bella shivered. "They had me." She leaned into Carlisle who stroked her arm. "James had my arm and put his nose in my hair. That was when Jacob came from the trees and pulled him off me." She covered her face. I sent her my love, hoping to calm her.
She turned into Carlisle for a hug though. His love and concern was equal to mine. "You're all right, Bella. We won't let him get near you again."
She nodded, straightened and rose. She put her arms around me now. "What are they going to do with me?" she whispered.
"Alice said you'll be one of us. Perhaps that is what they will do," Carlisle suggested, distaste evident in his tone. "They have those who are ... practised at such things." I felt his hatred toward them. I knew how much he still wished he had passed away normally, despite all the recompense he had made. By comparison, I was still a monster, damned, although he claimed the choice was paramount — that I had reclaimed my soul. We hadn't had many such discussions. I had trouble seeing myself as anything but damned, although it was easy to believe Carlisle had kept his soul.
"I still want it," Bella murmured. I felt Carlisle's hurt. He didn't want Bella's life to end. Neither did I. "I'm supposed to be a vampire."
I closed my hands on her arms and pulled her a small way from me. "What does that mean?"
She shook her head. "I don't really know." She grabbed Carlisle's hand, pulling him closer and kissing his cheek. "You both seem so familiar to me. Like I was meant to find you. That's just crazy talk, isn't it?" She smiled, blushing.
Carlisle's love nearly washed out my own. It wasn't crazy at all. We had never met anyone like Bella. There couldn't be anyone better suited to falling into our lives, fitting into our family. I stepped away from her, releasing her arms. Carlisle almost pushed me out of the way, pulling her into another hug. "It's not crazy, Bella. It's true. You feel like part of our family already." Carlisle held her and I fought the urge to take her away. She wasn't mine. I had to remember that.
"Thank you, Carlisle, but I can't be, not really." She shook her head. "I mean, I'm not like you. I'll always be ..." She looked at me. "A temptation, a risk." I felt her sorrow, regret.
I kissed her temple. "You will always be a temptation, darlin'."
They both laughed at that.
"Oooh. I want in!" I didn't have a lot of warning before Alice was hugging Bella and Carlisle again, opposite me. She kissed Carlisle's cheek.
I shook my head and stepped back, taking her hand from Bella. She squeezed it and there was the love again — love and happiness. "Good news?" I asked her.
Her mood fell quickly. "Only half. The redhead not only boarded a plane, she bought an open ticket, so she didn't choose her flight until it boarded. I couldn't see it until she was in the air. And she's getting a car as soon as she lands, headed ..." she made a sweeping motion with her arm, "anywhere."
"So ... you can't see the future until the person makes a decision?" Bella guessed.
"That's right," Alice smiled at her, putting her free arm around Bella's waist. "What are you wearing, girlfriend? Why are you hiding those curves under that flannel? And those jeans? Way too baggy. I'm going shopping for you while I wait for her to pick a course." She looked over her shoulder at the trees. "Come on out. You should meet the Cullens after all. You don't mind if we stay a little while? We won't feed here, they can go to Seattle for that, but I want them close and ready to move when I get a whiff of what that redhead plans." Her displeasure was palpable. "This is Demetri and Felix." They came closer, I felt the thirst and lust from Felix as he approached Bella and put myself in his path, dropping Alice's hand.
"What do you know, soldier?" she asked. "I was just about to warn him off myself. How did you know?" She looked at me for a full second before rounding on the larger of the two thugs. "Felix. This human is under my protection. She is going to be one of us, not your plaything. If I ever see you plan on touching her again, I'll let Jane have you." She nodded to one of the smaller pair of vampires behind the thugs.
The larger vampire pulled back his lip, and Alice arched an eyebrow. Felix stepped down. "Demitri, Felix, Jane, Alec, I'd like you to meet Jasper Cullen, Carlisle Cullen and ... I haven't gotten your name yet."
"Bella."
"Bella Cullen."
"Bella Swan."
Alice stopped turning to face Bella. "Really? Swan? Hmmm." She lost focus for a moment. "Now she's at a train station. I swear she's playing with me. She won't like my game. She's headed south, though. I'm pretty sure I don't like that." She looked to me again.
"Unless they take care of her for us," I suggested.
Alice was filled with glee. "Yes, that would be convenient, wouldn't it? Demitri, Felix, why don't you go to Seattle now?"
"Yes, Mistress." They both murmured.
"But bring us the prisoner first."
I looked to Alice. She wasn't worried in the slightest.
The thugs returned with James between them. His eyes were unfocused and he didn't move as they carried him by the arms. "Where would you like him?" Demitri asked.
"Um, that outbuilding. That work for you, Alec?" She looked to the male of the smaller pair. I could see inside their cowls now. Both blonde, both young, they could have been twins.
"That will be fine, Alice. Near enough to the house."
As the thugs returned from the outbuilding, Felix murmured, "I look forward to seeing you again, Bella." His lust surpassed thirst. I snarled at him. He blew her a kiss before heading into the trees.
Alice clucked her tongue. "Really, boys."
Felix and Demitri left, Jane trailing after. Alec stayed with Alice.
"You aren't going hunting?" Carlisle asked.
"Oh no. I'm joining your family," she declared. "I do wish I'd seen you for myself. I didn't even know about you until I got to Volterra. And then, well, it's not easy to leave. They have a lot to offer." She fell silent for the first time in our presence. Her happiness and excitement didn't wane.
"You are joining our family, but you're taking us to Volterra?" I asked after a few minutes.
She sighed. "I wonder if it will be difficult to leave with you. I'm sure you will be free to go. After all, I will show Aro that none of you were complicit in this. He'll likely want to see it from each of you as well."
I looked to Carlisle. I did not want to give my entire mind to the Volturi. He shook his head. "I don't see a way around, Jasper."
"I'm going, too?" Bella asked quietly. "But ... my father."
"Father?" Alice looked to Carlisle.
"No, Charlie. My dad. He isn't going to let me run off to Italy."
"I don't know that we have a lot of choice in the matter, Bella." Alice sang, looking at Alec with trepidation. She wasn't actually afraid, just concerned. "Of course, they don't know when to expect us, and we do have this complication to deal with first. That will give us some time. I would like that. I would like to meet ... Charlie was it?"
Bella's mouth sagged and she looked to me for help. "Alice, don't you think you might want to be on our diet before you go meeting the humans?"
"That would be best, yes. Alec, you will be fine until Jane returns." She didn't ask, it was as if she were informing him of the fact. He nodded and walked to the outbuilding.
"But I don't want to go now," she said, nearly whining. "Will one of you hunt with me? Keep me company? Jasper?" She looked to me and I looked to Bella, then Carlisle.
"I'll go with you, Alice. You owe me," he said for Alice and I only.
"Big," I whispered in return. "Bella? Can I take you home?" I didn't want to expose her to any more Volturi, especially Alice, without a little time to digest.
"Yes, that sounds good." She turned to Alice first, hugging her. "It was nice to meet you, Alice."
Alice closed her eyes and I felt the pleasure spilling from her. She slid a hand down Bella's back and up again. "I can't wait to spend more time with you, Bella." She pulled back from the hug and kissed Bella before grabbing Carlisle's hand. "Let's go, Dad."
I shook my head. In a bare hour, it was evident that Alice never did anything with less than her whole being. She was going to be part of our family and she literally threw herself into it. I wrapped my arms around Bella again. "She scare you?" It wasn't fear, but trepidation I felt from Bella.
"No ... Just ... I want her to like me. Is that crazy?"
I laughed. "Well, I don't think you'll have any trouble with her liking you. I'm a little worried she likes you too much." The lust coming from Alice in Bella's presence was only a little shy of what Felix had been pumping out.
"Oh," she blushed. She felt awkward more than embarrassed. "Yeah. I ... uh ... got that. I've never ... well I only just," she stopped blushing even more deeply. I swallowed the resulting venom and fought the urge to bite into the beautiful creature at my side. "She's cute," she said finally, covering her face with her hands. "Did I just say that?"
I laughed again. "Yes and I'm not letting you take it back. I just hope you think I'm as cute as Alice." I teased, taking her hand and leading her through the house. "Otherwise I might get jealous."
Thanks as always to Sharebear who went over my revisions when I discovered I needed more guards than just Felix and Demitri.