Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer is the creator of these intriguing characters. She and the filmmakers have made a fascinating and beautiful trilogy. I wish to borrow her background and add a plot twist of my own. I also made use of the site ' wiki/Volturi' a fantastic site if I may say and well worth a read for twilight fans.

Chapter 38 – How did everything get so complicated?

Caius's POV

"Listen Caius, as soon as we found out that she had gone I sent my son Emmett and our tracker Riley to go after her" Carlisle said.

"Although Bella may have left of her own accord I have found out that she didn't plan on staying away. She just wanted to meet up with an old friend before she left for Italy" he explained.

"Who?" I asked suspicious about this new information. After all Carlisle would do anything to save his family.

"One of her childhood friends that accidently found out she was still alive wanted to say goodbye to her" he clarified and he then went on to say "Anyway, she never showed up so her friend called me and thanks to him we found out she did not leave but was kidnapped" he reported.

"Kidnappers, why would anyone want to abduct Isabella?" I demanded

"I'm sorry, I don't know. All I know is that she has been taken and by the evidence we have found; it was against her will" he reported.

"How many kidnappers are there?" I inquired

"They think there are two" he said "At least up to now".

"Have your men continue their search" I said and after a moment's hesitation I added "Call me on this line if there if any further news".

"Edward," I said "can you please come here with Alexia? It seems that the situation has become more complicated than we thought."

"What's wrong?" he asked as he came towards me.

"It appears that, although Bella left of her own accord, she has been kidnapped" I stated.

I saw Marcus raise an eyebrow

"What happened?" Edward probed as he and Alexia sat down in the chairs facing Marcus and I.

"It seems" I announced "that an old friend had found out that she hadn't died and wanted to say goodbye".

"Jacob" He whispered more to himself than to anyone else.

"Is that the shape shifter that helped her with Victoria?" I enquired

"Yes, he overheard a conversation between Rose and me and found out that Bella had not died. I was wondering what could have possessed her to leave but now I understand. You see she was with him when Alice took her to Volterra and he never forgave us for leaving her there. Knowing Bella, she feels it is her duty as a friend to tell him in person before she goes back to Italy".

"She and that damn loyalty of hers. So she didn´t leave me?" I enquired trying not to show the relief that flooded through me. My Isabella had not betrayed my faith in her, she had not left me.

"No, as a matter of fact when she came back from Greece with you, she told me that she had accepted you as her mate".

Athenodora said "you see, it is as I have said she is yours, neither of the covens have plans to steal her away from you".

"But who has taken her?" I asked trying hard to understand the situation

Edward looked at Marcus and me asking "Has Jane been in the throne room the last few days?"

"What has tha…?" I said and then remembered an earlier conversation. All of a sudden I understood the insinuation and looked at Marcus expectantly.

Marcus was puzzled as he looked from Edward to me and said "Aro gave her some free time; she has been gone for almost 5 days now" He then looked from my face to that of Caius inquiring "What has that got to do with the fact that Isabella has been taken?" he asked.

"We must call Carlisle" Edward said "he has to know that one of the kidnappers may be Jane and if that's true it could become even more dangerous than we thought".

Marcus was awake and his eyes were full of questions! I tried to explain that we had been watching Jane the last few weeks as we were afraid of she was envious of Aro's attention towards Isabella. I couldn't let him in on the truth, at least not until I knew more.

Alec's POV

I remember the day that Aro had insisted that all the guards take flying lessons; it was just after the plane had become a commercial thing and both Jane and I hated those lessons. I must say I am now grateful that I had done it as it increased my mobility and allowed me to go on missions like these.

Only now, being here about five days, checking the instruments and going over the information Aro gave me for the umpteenth time I was becoming bored by my wait. I wanted this part of the mission to be done with as soon as possible. The short days, long nights and my confinement in the plane were beginning to suppress me.

Another night had come and I had been looking at yet another blizzard, a common site here were a simple thing like that was a way to pass the tedious wait. It began to snow lightly but it became intense in a matter of minutes; after that it was like looking into a wall of snow. I began to think of my mission and my appointment as guardian to Isabella and I must admit I was looking forward to it.

A telephone call broke my thoughts and I looked up to see that the blizzard had ceased and the weather was calm. I hadn't realized how fast the time had gone by. I went to pick up the phone and looked to see Aro's number on the display.

"Alec here!"

"With Aro. The deliverer says he has the package and will soon be there to deliver it. Please prepare!"

"O.k. I will be ready for delivery." I said as I seized the large flask of ointment that I had brought with me. It was a concoction that I had made of the Frangipani flower; a very potent flower. With this smell constantly surrounding me she could never recognize my scent now or in the future.

Not fifteen minutes later I heard a banging on the door and opened to see the vampire called Nikolai. I was dressed in my disguise and said nothing but opened the case with money. He recognized the seal and I took it out giving him the suitcase. We then went to his van and I stepped into the back to take a look. There was a large coffin inside holding Isabella.

"She was constantly moving around trying to get the lid of the bloody coffin" Nikolai said "I had to tie her up she was quite a handful".

I chuckled to myself, yes this would be Isabella.

I slowly slid the top part of the coffin aside leaving the lower part of her body immobile I then took off the black bag covering her face. She immediately hissed her expression the picture of rage and I blew a large dose of 'Devils Breath' in her face to pacify her. She instantly gave up the fight and I was able to use the elixir on her eyes.

I ran the palm of my hand across her cheek and saw her eyes close to my touch. Now that she was compliant we removed the rest of the lid and I cradled her in my arms. The door of the plane was already opened so I walked to her chair, set her down and buckled her in; she was now ready for transport to Anchorage. In the meanwhile I heard Nikolai slam the back doors of his van and mumble something in a strange language. Before I had closed the door of my plane, I heard his car take off.

The gas tank had been filled the day I arrived so I made all the necessary preparations for take-off. The motors began to purr and after I received permission to take off we were in the air.

Jane's POV

When we first arrived we began discussing our mission and the three of us tried to understand what all the hush-hush was about but after a while we gave up speculating and tried to stop the boredom by reading and listening to the weather rapports on the radio.

I was halfway through my ninth book when we received a call.

"Hello Jane, how are you all doing?" Aro asked

"Other than boredom we are all right" I said as I looked out the window. "We just had another blizzard but it finally receded about a couple of hours ago".

"Well it seems that the situation has gotten out of hand, as I had predicted it would and I want you to go forward with your mission". Aro replied.

He then went on to say "There is a small box in the closet of the blue room with a rose on the lid, can you please go there and look for it?"

"Yes Master" I said as I walked with the phone to said room and looked "I found it Master"

"Very good my child" Aro complimented me and then went further to explain "The piece of clothing inside carries the scent of the vampire you seek. Give this to Demitri, he will recognize the vampire involved as he has met him in the past. Once he knows who it is he will latch onto the vampire's thoughts so that he will be able to track him. You must leave there without evidence of your presence. If you can: destroy the evidence so that they cannot find him and link his death to a vampire kill. Once you have completed your mission you are to go back to the airport you came in by and come back home."

I was glad we could finally do the work our master sent us to do. All of us had been bored out of our minds and I was sick and tired of constantly listening to Demitri and Felix discussing the ways in which they wished to enjoy the human that was waiting in Volterra. I think, if given the choice, she would rather have my methods of torture than theirs.

We locked up the house and left; Demitri soon found the scent and we were on our way. It took us an hour to find him and much to our surprise he wasn't alone as we noticed the smell of dog in the area. We kept ourselves hidden and saw a huge wolf come out of the forest. Nicolai turned and seeing his adversary he looked around for an escape route. While he searched he saw us but before he could run the wolf attacked. While they fought I realized that this would make my role simple. At the moment Nikolai was winning and he held the wolf in a squeeze, the wolf was trying everything to get out of his grasp and was in a bit of a panic so I helped even out the score. I looked at Nikolai and focused my power; he immediately let the wolf go and it automatically turned and ripped off his head.

It was over in a flash and as the wolf tried to catch his breath we turned and ran. We did not have to kill only maim and the wolf had done the rest. We would now go back to the small airport and leave this frozen wasteland our mission a success.

When we arrived Felix got everything ready for takeoff and I sat back in my seat looking out upon the landscape, I wouldn't miss this place one bit. I enjoyed living in the Volturi coven with all its luxuries, it had been my home for almost two centuries and my bond with its rulers was strong.

Jacobs POV

What had I done? I had only meant to immobilize him but all of a sudden everything got out of control and before I knew it I had ripped his head off.

Now our lead was gone maybe by leaving the body it would give them a face that they would recognize and therefore give them a lead. The only thing I could do now was follow the trail he had left behind in hopes of finding Bella at the end. Hoping the weather would stay calm I sniffed the tracks and followed them to the road leaving my footprints for the others to follow. It took me about another hour to find the van and as I smelled the area I realized that this had been the vampire's lair.

I transformed in my human form and decided to look inside in a desperate hope of finding Bella. The van was empty but it did have a coffin and chains convincing me that Bella had been there. I decided to take it and follow the road. Before I knew it I was at the edge of a small airport and looking up I saw a small private jet leave; this must be where they had taken her.

While I looked I heard and felt someone closing in on me and I turned ready to faze if necessary. But then I recognized Riley and Emmett.

"He Jacob, what the hell happened back there?" Emmett inquired as his thump pointed over his shoulder.

I answered with a question of my own "Do you know him?"

"No, not yet. Maybe Carlisle or Caius might when they see him. As soon as the others arrived we decided to follow your tracks before the weather changed. What happened back there?" Emmett repeated.

I explained what had happened and how sorry I was and they understood but Emmett said "It would be better for you to leave; if Caius finds you but not Bella he will kill you".

I looked at him and Riley and said "I want to go to that airport and get some more information on the Airplane that just left, and then I will go".

"OK but it's your ass in the sling" Emmett replied

All three of us followed the van tracks to the area where the van had parked and they saw the prints and scuffmarks that confirmed the fact that the van had delivered Bella to a waiting plane.

"God, it's too late" Riley said.

I looked up and gaped at Riley "You didn't think you'd find her did you? No, this wasn't just a random thing; it was a carefully planned set up and unknowingly I helped them take her. I just saw a plane take off and I'll bet ten to one that Bella was inside it".

Emmett took the phone out of his pocket and punched in a number "Hi Carlisle, Emmett here, have you found out who the stiff is?"

"I just wanted to say that we were able to find Jacob and all tracks lead to the airport. It looks like they put Bella on a plane. We want to investigate the airport traffic logbooks but before we do I thought we could use some advice. Should we go ahead or do you want to do this yourself?"

After a pause he asked "Do you know the name of this place?" and a second later he said "Yeah that's it!"

"OK, we'll wait". He said and then hung up.

He looked up to us and said "Carlisle is waiting for Caius to arrive so he can't get away. He will however send Jasper to us so that he can help us acquire the information".

I looked at him puzzled by this information and he laughed "You see Jasper can sense the feelings of others and alter them according to his will. If the airport authorities try to thwart our investigation, he can manipulate them into helping us".

I was blown away with this answer and he just shrugged his shoulder as he snickered "It can be handy in a tight spot"