BELLA

If waiting for Jamie had created an antsy atmosphere, waiting for the unknown visitor is outright stressful. Emmett drums his fingers until Rosalie slpas her hand on top of his. Alice suddenly sits up straight.

"No way!" she shouts in disbelief when her vision ends.

"I don't believe it," Edward adds his two cents worth as he reads his sister's mind.

"How about filling in those of us who don't see the future or read minds?" I ask.

"I know who is coming, and you are never going to believe me," Alice tells us all.

"Try us," Emmett responds.

"It's…" is as far as Alice gets before we hear a knock at the door.

I get up to answer it. Edward sticks to my side. I give him a questioning look and he just shrugs at me. So much for working on communication between us, I roll my eyes. The sight at the other side of the door renders me temporarily speechless.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for the team of Hunters after the Volturi," the vampire informs us.

"But…but… you are one of the leaders of the Volturi, Marcus," I stammer in disbelief. Alice was right. I would not have believed that Marcus would pay us a visit.

"I don't mean to be rude and correct you, but I am no longer attached to the Volturi in any way. When the Hunters took out Chelsea, her hold on my loyalty was broken," Marcus explains.

"I'm sorry. I'm the one being rude. Come in and make yourself at home. We each have questions that we want answered," I usher him into the sitting room as Eliot helps his wife into a chair. Jen takes the appearance of Marcus in stride, like I knew she would.

"Hello, my name is Jen," she greets our guest. Introductions of everyone else follow.

"Now, I think that I heard you ask a question. Would you mind repeating it?" Jen starts the conversation.

"Not at all. You see, I am looking for the team of Hunters that is taking care of the Volturi problem," he obliges.

"I'm sure you can see why we are a little confused by that desire," Carlisle states.

"You see, I was once a very voluntary member of the Volturi. Aro and I were rather close. I was his right hand man and most trusted advisor for a time. We lived like that for only a few years. Aro's desire for power is insatiable, was even then. It was one of the traits enhanced when he became a vampire. He felt that since he had a particular ability to see a person's, or vampire's, every thought they have ever had, that a blood relation might have the same power. He turned his sister, Didyme, into a vampire in order to use her power to make the Volturi stronger. As it turned out she did have a power, but not the same one that Aro had and hoped for in her. Didyme had the power to make others happy. It was like she carried around an aura of good that affected everyone lucky enough to enjoy her company. We fell in love and were married. One day I found her pieces burning in our room. Ever since then, it was only through Chelsea that I stayed with the Volturi at all," Marcus weaves his sad tale.

"That is awful," Sara says as she goes over to pat the mourning vampire's shoulder to comfort him.

"Well, you are in luck Marcus. We are the team that is going after the Volturi," Jen tells him. Her instincts must be telling her that we can trust Marcus. That's good enough for me.

"The question is, why did you want to find us?" I ask my own question.

"I want to know if you have any information about what happened to my beloved. Plus, I don't like being kept somewhere against my will so I want to help you if I can," Marcus says.

"I'm sorry, but that was before most of us were born. We don't have any information for our lives as vampires," Carlisle answers for the Cullens.

"That goes for everyone I think. Well, expect for Jen of course," I answer for the rest of the immortals.

"I was around for that, but I don't know if you really should hear what I know," Jen answers for herself.

"I want to know what happened to my wife. Please, tell me the truth," Marcus pleads. Jen sighs as she decides to tell him.

"Well, okay I will, but don't say that I didn't warn you. I was gathering information to take back to the Council on how the Volturi were doing when I heard Aro arguing with his sister. She was telling him that she was in love with you and you were in love with her. Aro seemed to at least tolerate that part. Then she told him that you both wanted out so that you could live together where you didn't have to worry about his power trips. Aro's lust for power overrode his brotherly instincts and he stuck her down. The aftermath was what you saw. Aro had to get rid of her, to keep you in line with him," Jen tries to tell Marcus gently.

"After her death, I was so distraught that I almost left anyway," Marcus interjects.

"So, what lead you here in your search?" Jen inquires.

"I was following this banshee…" he starts to explain.

"You know about the other immortals?" Carlisle sounds as surprised as the other vampires look.

"Well, yes. We had the Council erase every vampire's memory about other immortals except for the three of us, of course. Even their wives were wiped," Marcus answers the good doctor.

"The question that remains is, what you are going to do with the information I just gave you," Jen asks what I want to know the most.

"Well, I think it only right for me to avenge my love. I know Aro could not help himself, but that is no excuse for his actions. She was his sister for heaven's sake. I'm going after him myself," Marcus vents.

"Not by yourself you are not. We will go after Aro as a team, when the time is right. First we have to take out the two wives and then Caius so that Aro is completely alone at the end," I tell him firmly.

"What are your ideas for that?" Marcus reveals his curiosity in perhaps the first display of emotion that I have ever heard of him showing.