Carlisle and I each carried Bella's weight in bags and boxes. I didn't know how the Volturi paid for such things, but Alice must have put a dent in even their accounts. I couldn't see, but heard Jane.
"There you are. The Masters want you, Alice." She was seething. I wondered what had gotten her back up.
"Really? Odd. Well let me just walk Bella back to her room..."
"Now, Alice," Jane hissed.
"Fine, fine. I'll see you all soon. How formal is this? Should I get my robe?" I heard Alice ask as they sped away.
"Um... I don't know where our rooms are," Bella answered slowly.
I stepped around her, following my nose.
"Hello, what's this?" I heard from in front of me. I knew that voice. I dropped the boxes.
"Kate!" I smiled. "We knew Eleazar was coming; what brings you?"
"Italy," she answered with a smile as though this were obvious. "I mean Alaska has fine enough men, I suppose, but Rome? Venice? Napoli? Well, I couldn't pass up the chance. Neither could Tanya. She's around here somewhere." Kate looked over her shoulder, tossing pale blonde hair at me.
Bella stepped to my side cautiously, half-peeping.
"Oh, Bella, this is Kate. She lives in Denali. Carlisle told you about her and her sisters, right?" I was positive it had come up.
"Yes. Hello." She smiled shyly and I felt her trepidation.
"Human?" Kate looked at me quirking an eyebrow. Then she smiled broadly at Bella. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Bella. I am thrilled to meet a human who has befriended our Jasper."
"A human and Jasper?" I heard from the end of another corridor. I groaned quietly and Carlisle and Kate both chuckled at me.
Tanya swept up beside Kate, her hair tinged with red, but otherwise mirroring Kate's. "Carlisle! How are you? Eleazar didn't mention you would be here." She hugged Carlisle and I felt Bella relax a little.
"No? Well I don't imagine Aro told him everything when he summoned him. Tanya, I'd like to introduce you to Bella. She's part of our family now."
Bella positively beamed at Carlisle. I was a little jealous. She hadn't taken my assurance the previous day as well. Then she smiled at Tanya and offered her hand to both her and her sister. Each took it.
Tanya turned wide eyes to me. "Really?"
What was it? A woman's sixth sense? I was positive Bella didn't smell of me anymore. "What?"
"She's practically hanging on you, Jasper. You were never so close to a human in Alaska," she answered as though it were obvious.
I supposed it was. They hadn't seen me in months, but then again, even if they had, I hadn't been as close to any human as I was to Bella now. Shaking hands was the most I was usually willing to do. I smiled thinking how much easier resisting the thirst had become.
"Bella is very special," I tried to explain.
"Obviously," Kate rolled her eyes, "otherwise Eleazar wouldn't have been summoned here."
"Jasper Cullen? Bella Swan?"
Bella jumped, turning to face the voice. I recognized it, Demitri. "The Masters request your presence. Eleazar and Carmen are with them. If you'll follow me?"
"We'll see you later, Jasper. Carlisle, please, stay, we have much to catch up on." Tanya grabbed Carlisle's hand and I felt his indecision. He wanted to come with us, but he didn't want to offend Tanya.
"We'll be fine," I told him, taking Bella's arm. I followed Demitri back to the throne room. Bella was all nerves. "Eleazar is just going to talk to you. He doesn't need to touch you or anything. Don't worry, all right?"
"Why did they summon Alice?" she asked, still frightened.
"I don't know," I murmured. She had me a little worried now too.
Demitri opened one of the doors for us. "Jasper Cullen and Bella Swan," he announced. I looked at him with a quirked eyebrow. "You're guests," he said as though this were obvious.
I shook my head and strode forward, Bella stumbled and I stopped. "Everything all right?"
"Yeah, just my stupid feet," she muttered, surging forward.
Alice stood beside Aro, dressed in a dark grey robe. Jane stood on his opposite side. Eleazar and Carmen were next to Caius, chatting quietly with him. Caius was asking after a vampire they had met in the past, someone with a gift for growing things. Not beneficial to the Volturi, but a very strange gift for a vampire. They fell silent as we were announced and I saw Eleazar's eyes turn to us. I felt his confusion, focused on Bella I was sure. She must have sensed all the eyes turning to her because she slowed, stumbled again, and tightened her hold on me. Her fear also spiked.
I sent her reassurance and half lifted her so she wouldn't embarrass herself by falling.
A whiff of anger had me put her down again. Apparently she didn't want to be carried. The anger helped tame her fear too. She held her head higher.
"Bella!" Aro stood again. "Welcome back. Allow me to introduce you to an old friend of ours, Eleazar."
Bella turned to face the dark haired, olive skinned, Eleazar. "Hello," she said.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Bella. I presume you know why we are being introduced?" His Spanish accent evident in his voice.
"Yes. You are supposed to be able to tell them what I can do." She didn't take her eyes from Eleazar, but I felt her directing anger and hatred somewhere else. Aro, unless I missed my guess.
"Something like that. Unfortunately, your gift blocks me as well. It is most definitely a shield," he mused. "I have never seen such a strong latent gift."
"Is it not amazing, Eleazar?" Aro gushed. He took Alice's hand. "Alice here has some idea of how malleable it will be when she is one of us." Alice looked down at the floor, it seemed this was something she hadn't wanted to share.
My anger bubbled and I took care not to spread that through the room. The last thing we needed was to bring the Volturi down on us.
Jane was grinning. "Can I test her?" she asked.
I growled stepping between her and Bella.
Aro dropped Alice's hand to pat Jane's now. "I think not. Let's have Alec try first, shall we? A little less frightening for Bella."
Bella's anger hardened. If Aro wanted to try to talk her into the guard he was off to a bad start. She was forging it into something stronger.
"Alec?" Aro called. "Would you please use your gift on Bella?"
"Wait," she demanded. "I thought I was a guest. Am I a guest or a guinea pig?" Her voice held the edge of her anger.
"Bella," Alice murmured in warning; she wouldn't hear her, but I did. I felt her concern.
"You are a guest, of course," Aro argued. "But aren't you curious? Don't you want to know what you are capable of? Alec here will only blind you for a moment, make you feel as though you had walked into a dark closet, nothing to see or hear. You aren't afraid of that, are you?"
Bella ground her teeth. "I'm not afraid, no, but I don't appreciate being prodded like a lab rat."
"I will ask you to keep a civil tone, Miss Swan. I think you might not realize your place here," Caius spat.
"And what is her place here?" I asked loudly. I should be calming Bella down, but I agreed with her completely. "We come at your command; we stay at your behest; we are summoned to you. Are we guests or prisoners?"
"You," Caius' fury was rising. "You may have some claim to freedom, but this ... this mortal," he spat the word as though still searching for worse, "can uncover us. She is a risk to the safety of all of our kind. If she is gifted then change her, here and now, but, Aro, you can't think to let her leave here human!"
Now Bella was afraid. Her anger was still sharp and hard, but she could sense Caius would kill her himself if that was what it took. I tightened my hold on her hip.
"I have known about your kind for months and told no one. Alice has seen that I will be one of you soon. Why would I endanger you? But I will not be held here. I will not let you hold my friends."
"Bella," Alice moaned, gripping her hair under the cowl she had pulled up. She was shaking her head violently, trying to shake whatever vision was scaring her so badly.
"Enough!" Aro shouted. "I never claimed to hold you here, Bella. I requested you wait for Eleazar and you have. I thank you for that."
Jane's eyes narrowed on the sliver of Bella she could see around me, and then her eyes went wide. I almost chuckled. Her gift hadn't worked. I was certain she had used it; it would explain her shock and disbelief.
"Alec," Aro called again.
Everything went black. I could see nothing, hear nothing. My arm was still out to the side, but I couldn't feel Bella anymore. Then I couldn't feel my arm anymore. I tried to tick off seconds in my head; there had to be some way to know how long I was held like this. I wondered how many Alec had shielded. He could have the whole room under his spell, or just me. He would have covered Bella as well, of course. But would it work? If Jane's gift hadn't...
It had been ten minutes at least. He had kept James like this for hours. I wondered if this was worse torture than Jane's attention. What was happening? I wanted to cry. Both my women were out there and I could do nothing for either. I couldn't even feel them to know they were alive. Each minute seemed to pull my mind further apart, make me imagine worse and worse possibilities. Would I wake to find Bella screaming, in the middle of the transformation? A pile of ashes that was once Alice? Would I wake at all?
I gave myself a mental shake. I had to stop that, I would destroy myself and they might need me. Bella had been spitfire when I went blind, but without me at her side she might have given over to the fear, backed down in her arguments. I prayed she had. Alice seemed to be warning her to do so. Alice should be fine. She knew how this group worked. If she wasn't in the same condition I was, she would watch out for herself. Unless she tried to protect Bella. She could easily get herself destroyed to save her. She had obviously seen something dire. I wished I knew what it was.
The veil lifted and I could see again.
"My apologies, Jasper," Aro said slowly. I was still in the throne room but it was nearly empty now. Carlisle stood at Aro's side, Alec just behind him. "I wanted to diffuse the situation and sometimes removing elements is the simplest way. Caius will not forgive me quickly, I'm afraid. Regardless, I asked Alec to hold you longer so that we might speak." He nodded to Carlisle who came to my side.
"They want me to do it, Jasper. They aren't saying they'll kill her, but I don't want to take the chance, do you?"
I closed my eyes and ground my teeth. It was a compromise of sorts. Bella wouldn't leave human, but Carlisle would still be the one to change her. "What did Bella say?"
"She ... she hasn't agreed yet."
I shook my head and looked to the ceiling. "You're asking us to do this against her will?" I asked Aro.
He looked at his feet. "No. I'm not."
"Caius is."
"He has a fair argument. She is a liability to us," Aro said in his brother's defence.
"And you can't simply accept her word? She's accepted yours when we arrived." I was nearly snarling.
Aro held up his hands. "I know. Convince her. You can. She doesn't block your gift, does she?"
"You are suggesting I make her open to suggestion? Make her trust me so I can betray her? What kind of person are you?"
"The kind that has hard choices to make every day, Jasper." Aro was angry too. Apparently I had insulted him. Good, he had insulted me. "The kind that has an entire world on his head. I will ask you to remember that. I don't answer only to you."
"I can't believe Alice stayed here all these years," I muttered.
"That is another problem Caius has. He seems to think the Cullen family are taking from us. First Eleazar and now Alice. How many more will you steal?"
"Aro, you know that isn't what I do," Carlisle said lowly. "You allowed me to offer my way to your court before. You weren't afraid of the few that would choose to follow it. Two guard members over two centuries? That is hardly a trend."
Aro acquiesced. "You're right, old friend. And I know you didn't come here to take either Eleazar or Alice from us. They chose your way on their own. I was only voicing Caius' concerns. I do worry you might start a trend though." Aro smiled slightly and Carlisle chuckled. Both were slightly amused. Aro, no doubt, at the unlikelihood of such an event; Carlisle with the thought that it might be possible.
"Speaking of Alice?" I asked.
"Safe in our suite," Carlisle answered. "She arrived while I was still chatting with Tanya and told me Aro wished to speak with me."
"And Bella?"
"She should be there now," Aro answered. "She left a few moments ago, accompanied by Felix." I ground my teeth, Felix. "If you like, you may go to them."
I looked to Carlisle again. "Let's go," he said. "We can discuss this amongst ourselves."
I sighed and nodded. There had to be a way of getting all of us out of here. The sooner, the better.
So, who wants to know what happened while Jasper was out? Who doesn't! Hate me. Hate me and review! LOL Thanks to Sharebear for editing.