a/n: This chapter will again be told from a different character's POV. I will probably stop saying this now...

Chapter 6: Answers

The previous night had been invigorating. It had taken much longer than usual due to the circumstances, but I wasn't one to complain. And apparently our midnight snack run had taken a toll on the blonde as she left with the other blond as soon as we got back to chase after anything that moved on four legs.

We had retreated into the quarters arranged for us through the back entrance. The blonde did not want the traces of our hunt to tempt any other member of the coven.

The hunt was... different. I did not dislike it, but my assumption is that my lack of distaste had more to do with the instigator than the experience itself.

"You seemed rather accustomed to leaving food on your plate," I said.

"And you never seem to run out of questions," she said.

"Wasn't a question."

"I think we both know better, but I will oblige. What would you like to know?" She raised a brow.

"Why choose that as a lifestyle?"

"It did not start as a choice." She seated herself on the tall chest by the wall. "I lived amongst humans most of my life; I did not have the luxury to take any person to my liking. No body was disposable, so to speak. As you know there were not as many people roaming the realm back in the day." She looked up with what may have been the slightest hint of a grin.

"But what day?" I urged.

"Unrelated," she shrugged.

I should've known better by now to expect a straight answer. "So is it a choice now?"

"Excuse me?" An opening.

"Not finishing." I took a step forward.

"More of a habit, really. Like not wanting to step on cracks when walking."

"Is that a thing now?"

"Ever since paved sidewalks. Have you never done it as a child?" A hint of a smile.

"Now who has all of the questions?" I got even closer. Our faces were only a head away from each other.

"I believe you owe me more than a few answers."

"Do I now?" Unbelievable.

"How many of your questions have I answered since we departed?"

"None with any particular information. So far all I know about you is that you speak Russian." I seated myself on the corner of the bed near the chest. A truly impractical use of space.

"Not true. You know I am not Russian, that I have a sister and at one point we have come in contact with the Romanians."

"None of which you have told me directly."

"And what of yourself have you articulated to me?" She leaned in slightly.

"Have you ever asked?" I turned towards her until our knees hit. "What would you like to know about little old me?" I started leaning in.

I could see she was giving into my pull and leaning closer until she suddenly jolted back in her seat and pushed my face away with a finger shushing me at the same time.

"I need to concentrate," she said. I could kill the blonds for their timing.

"Aro will be pleased to hear that you have accommodated us well," I told Carlisle before our departure. "As you know he appreciates cooperation."

"More like coercion." The blonde was still very easy to hear with the muttering, but I'm sure that was her intention.

"Expect to see another visit in the future for the hybrid," I informed them.

"Should we expect you two again?" asked the mind-reader.

"Perhaps, perhaps not," she answered. By now her signature cryptic remarks had become known to even their coven.

"Only Aro will know once we deliver him our observations," I cleared. "It shouldn't be anytime soon."

Just as we turned around to leave we heard somebody yelling at us to wait. There he was: the other blond.

He had stepped in front of the rest to the bewilderment of the others. "I want to come with you."

That gained a large exclamation from everyone behind him. "Jasper, what is this all about?" asked his tiny mate.

"I think I have to do this. I love you Alice and everyone here, but honestly I really don't think I can fight myself on this anymore. I can't live this life."

"No, this isn't you. Yeah, you struggle, but you do it for a good cause."

"I do it for you, but I also don't want you to see me when I eventually fail."

"You will not. You can't."

"I will."

"You don't have to go with them." Her plea was getting weaker.

"It's better than just roaming aimlessly."

"You can't leave me."

"I have to. I just love you too much to let you see me like that."

"Love me enough to let me see you like that."

"I can't do that to everyone here."

The little pixie turned to the others who couldn't even open their mouths. "I'll come with you."

"Alice, no!" almost all of them shouted at her.

"You!" the original blonde pointed at Giselle and walked up to her. I quickly got in between as her mate held her back. "You did this somehow with your weird mind-bending."

"Compulsion," Eleazar corrected her, which she did not appreciate.

"Alice, you can't. This must have been their plan all along to get you to join them," she kept yelling.

"Rosalie, calm down. How could she have even done this?" the newborn tried to talk her down.

"I don't know. She made Edward and Alice stop using their abilities, she could've easily manipulated them."

"When the whole time everybody was under my shield?" she asked.

The blonde stopped struggling and stopped to think. "You compelled me. You compelled me last night to get Jasper out of the house and out of Bella's range. Just so you could mind trick him into joining the Volturi and taking Alice with. And now how is that going to work when I rip your throat out?" She attempted to jump towards Giselle, but again was held back.

"It would truly be a tragedy if you were to do that," she calmly answered. "My compulsion is only a seed; if you were to kill me that would not magically cleanse anybody from my ability's effects. The only antidote to my poison is more of my poison."

The blonde became even more aggressive as everyone else became even tenser.

"If you were to remove your shield from them I can undo the restriction on their abilities," she said. The newborn and Carlisle swapped glances and she received a nod from him. Just a few moments later she asked the pixie, "What do you see now?"

The pixie looked at the others and took her mate's hand. "We really have to go. It's for the best." She started to cry. "But I promise you we will be back someday."

They all bade their farewells.

END OF CHAPTER