Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.
Previously: Edward arrived at the institution and found that Bella was still alive. Edward removed Bella from her cell and they were reunited. Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper searched Forks for survivors and told the wolves that Bella was dead. Bella received the awful news of the pandemic. After a day of traveling, the Cullen's temporary camp was attacked when Edward and Carlisle were out hunting, and Bella was cornered by a very thirsty vampire. Edward rescued Bella and Carlisle arranged a truce with the opposing coven's leader who told him that the Volturi had outlawed the changing of humans.
Chapter 7 (Bella's POV)
No one has audibly spoken since we took off, nor has anyone stopped. My heart has hardly slowed either. I am dying to ask Edward questions. Was that vampire telling the truth? If so, what exactly does that mean for us? I am neither an idiot nor deaf, and it doesn't take a doctorate degree to realize what he was saying. As the government of the vampires, the Volturi had to take action before everyone rebelled, and taking action means rounding up as many humans as possible. Unfortunately, I fit into that desolate category.
Either Jasper isn't trying, or he is unable to diffuse the tension among us. I can't bear to look at Edward's face. Though I know it's irrational, I feel ashamed that I am causing them so much grief. The Cullen's anger is tangible, and it scares me. I suppose I'm not one to talk though; my emotions are all over the place as well. I can tell that we are getting closer to our destination in Alaska; the wind is becoming chiller. Perhaps being near familiar friends would calm them down a little bit.
After what feels like several weeks in the asylum, a promising house comes into view. I break from my reverie and notice that Emmett is no longer with our group; he probably went ahead to tell the Denali we were coming. The house is large and mostly made of wood. Like the Cullen's home in Forks, a large percent of the walls are made of glass. As we get closer, I notice several pale figures standing outside as if to greet us. Getting even closer, I recognize one of them to be Emmett.
The figures disappear inside before we get to them. One by one, the Cullens shoot him after them, Edward carrying me in last. He does not stop to ask permission before taking me straight into their well-lit living room. He sits stiffly down on their lime green couch, pulling me close to his chest still and burying his face in my hair. I reach up to place my hand on his hair comfortingly. He pulls back to look at me, and I smile at him weakly. His returning smile is even more pathetic than mine.
A noise directs my attention to the center of the living room. Five new, stunningly gorgeous vampires are standing there. Self consciousness floods me again at the sight of them with their perfect features and clean hair. I really need a shower…
"Hello, Bella," a woman with strawberry blond hair greets me, "I don't believe we've met before. I'm Tanya. Surely Edward over here has told you everything about me."
I blush, all the social rules I've ever learned telling me to simply smile and nod. Truthfully, however, Edward has never even mentioned this woman by name. "Oh, yeah," I lie hesitantly, nodding.
Tanya rolls her eyes. "Oh, stop," she scoffs, "I know Edward hasn't said a word about me, have you?"
Edward sighs exasperatedly. "No, Tanya. The subject never came up."
Tanya huffs, stepping back. I get the impression that Tanya does not like me very much.
"I'm Kate," another blond woman introduces herself quickly, shooting her sister a scolding side glance, "It's a pleasure to meet you."
I take her outstretched hand eagerly, glad to have moved on from Tanya. "The pleasure is mine."
"And I am Irina," the next blond one says, stretching her hand out as well. I nod, moving on to shake her hand.
"I am Eleazer, and this is Carmen," a man of apparent Spanish descent introduces himself and the woman next him whom, by the way he wraps his arm around her shoulders, I assume is his mate.
"It's nice to meet you, Eleazer, Carmen," I say, shaking both of their hands in turn.
The room is not silent for long once the introductions are finished. Carlisle begins speaking almost immediately. "So I assume Emmett told you what has happened."
"Yes," Eleazer sighs, "We heard the news also. Jane and several other guards came by yesterday and relayed their message to us. The Volturi are indeed rounding up humans. You see, they need to…"
"No!" Edward snarls fiercely, pouncing angrily to his feet. The hair stands up on my skin and I jump, searching instinctively for the danger, though I know it is Eleazer's thoughts that bother him. "No! I won't let that happen! We'll have to run, escape, do something…"
"Edward," Alice snaps desperately, "You can't do that. They'd kill us, all of us! You know that. Just see what I see."
Edward visibly flinches, his golden eyes frantic. "But we have to do something. We can't just sit down and wait for them to take her away!"
"We'd have a chance then," Alice insists, "Everything else ends, er, badly. Very, very badly."
"But…"
"Would somebody please tell those of us without special freaky powers what Eddie boy is ranting about now?" Emmett demands angrily, crossing his arms across his chest.
"Just calm down, boy," Eleazer exclaims in frustration, "Would you just be quiet for a minute and let me explain my theory?"
Edward's eyes flit around the room again, staring imploringly at each of his family members before finally sitting back/ down beside me. "Proceed," he mumbles unhappily, wrapping his cold arm protectively around my shoulders.
"Thank you," Eleazer sighs, "I know this is hard for you."
"Just get on with it," my beloved mumbles, looking emptily off into the distance. Fear strikes me like glass shattering within my chest; I know that look.
"As I was saying," Eleazer explains, "I think we have an idea of what the Volturi must want. With the human population basically vanished overnight, it would only be sensible of them to take immediate action to preserve their main food source. To do so, they must ensure that the human race continues, and, for that to happen, they must gather up every survivor they can find into one place so that the repopulation of Earth may commence." I blush fearfully at the indications of his explanation.
"We'll just have to run then! To somewhere they won't find us. I won't let them have Bella, I just won't!" Edward rants, holding me closer to him, "We'll go hide in a cave somewhere, flee from house to house. I don't care what we do, but I'm not letting them have Bella!"
"No, son," Carlisle sighs, shaking his head solemnly, "You know we can't outrun them; they're too powerful, and they have practically the entire vampire race on their side. Even if they don't find us, some other thirst nomads will smell Bella and come after us. We can't live that way."
"Well, what do you suppose we do then? Just let them come in and take her? We have to do something!" Edward shouts.
"Dude, just change her," Emmett proclaims as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Change her and they won't have any reason to take her."
"You heard what they said, Emmett," Alice snaps, "I've seen what would happen if we tried that, and it isn't pretty. You heard what they said; the Volturi will kill us if we're found with a newborn, no questions asked!"
"But if we hid for a year or two, they wouldn't be able to tell," Emmett suggests.
Alice shakes her head again, placing her hands on her hips. "Aro would come to seek out Carlisle sooner rather than later for advice, and as soon as he read his thoughts…we'd all be goners."
This doesn't settle Edward down even slightly. "But we can't just…"
"What do you think we should do, Bella?" Esme asks me softly, interrupting her oldest son's raging, "This is your future, after all."
Her sudden question startles me. Up until this point, I'd been anxious enough listening in on the conversation. It has been so long since someone asked for my opinion that I'm not quite sure what to say. I glance around the room quickly, noticing that everyone's eyes are zoned unblinkingly on me. My blush deepens at all of the sudden attention.
"Well, uh, I'm not really sure what to think exactly. I mean, I-I don't know much about these Volturi people, but they don't seem like a group to be trifled with," I observe nervously, trying to buy myself time to think before I have to put in much serious input.
Edward seems to be pushed even farther over the edge by my observation. He grabs my shoulders and turns me to face him, his golden orbs staring into mine with an intensity that knocks my breath away. "So you think we should just go to them, then? Hand you over and let you join their little breeding village?"
"Would you stop and listen to me for just once, Edward, before jumping straight to conclusions?!" I shriek indignantly, surprising even myself with my audacity. I feel my already heated cheeks redden more, and tears threaten to poke out from around my eyes, stinging my dry skin like a mild acid. Looking around wildly at his shocked family members, I am driven to defend my statement. "Seriously! You almost never consult me in anything, even when it involves me! You just assume that you know everything I'd want to do just because I'm human, and you're older and bigger and stronger, but I just…I have thoughts too, you know?" My voice cracks a little bit at the end of my statement.
Edward's eyes soften at my harsh rebuttal, and I regret my accusation the instant I see his expression change from a scowl to a frown. He has been doing well since his return, I suppose. We had officially made up, but that doesn't mean that all of my negative emotions about his departure are gone.
After a moment of silence I bury my face in my hands and mutter, "Just forget I said anything…" The dreaded tears make their appearance, and I will them to dry up in their ducts and never show themselves again; everyone must think I'm enough of an emotional wreck without me crying all over the place.
"Oh, Bella!" Edward laments sorrowfully, embracing me comfortingly, "I'm sorry. You're right; I shouldn't have jumped to a conclusion like that. Please, don't cry."
I melt into his embrace automatically, shaking my head as I will myself to be stronger. "No," I say shakily, "I'm sorry. We're all very emotional right now, and I…I guess I shouldn't have said that. Just go back to ignoring me or something."
Thankfully, he doesn't listen to my request. He strokes my hair lovingly, and I almost completely forget about his family's presence and the looming threat of the Volturi; it's as if nothing can be wrong in my world while Edward is here.
I jump slightly when Emmett breaks the silence. "So…What do we do now?"
"We can't do anything but wait, I suppose. Running won't give us points with Aro. If we just explain to him the situation…" Carlisle begins hopefully.
"Don't get your hopes up, my friend," Eleazer warns him sullenly, "You've always tried to see the best in people, but even you must know that that isn't going to be enough for Aro this time. A healthy human turned to another thirsty mouth to feed wouldn't be in the best interest of their cause, remember. He's not going to let a commodity as hot as this slip through his depraved fingers."
Edward tightens his arms around me, kissing my hair gently. "They won't touch her," he whispers determinedly, "I won't let them." He pauses for a second, contemplating something. "Alice, you must see something. Isn't there any way we could escape them?"
Alice is silent for several minutes, and, as soon as I hear Edward's sigh of frustration, I know that her search has yielded nothing rewarding. "I don't see anything worth trying. There's something that's just…consolidating my vision of the Volturi coming here to find us."
"Here?" Tanya asks, "Why would they come here? Jane and her bunch already dropped by. Pleasant houseguests they were! Why would they be coming back so soon?"
"I don't know," Alice replies truthfully, "I can't see what it is…I just see them coming. It's as if they somehow know there's a human here. Honestly, I'm not sure what to make of it."
"Well, what do we do now?" Esme asks worriedly, glancing fretfully at me.
"We wait, I suppose," Alice sighs, "There's nothing we really can do…They're coming, and we can't stop them and we can't hide…I just don't see any other option other than to wait to see what happens and deal with it from there."
"But that just won't do!" Edward roars, making me jump again.
"Edward, you know I..." Alice begins sorrowfully.
"Well, my brilliant brother," Rosalie interrupts her scathingly, "I just can't wait to see what amazing plan you've come up with that Alice hasn't already seen get us all—your little girlfriend included—killed. Go on. Don't be shy."
Edward is silent, his mouth stretched into a grim line. My heart picks up its pace in worry.
"Rosalie," Carlisle chastises his adopted daughter sternly, "Don't be so rude to your brother. We're all under a lot of emotional strain right now, as Bella correctly pointed out, and we're all struggling. Don't tell me you wouldn't be doing the same thing in his situation."
"But she's right," Emmett points out, apparently feeling the need to defend his wife, "There really is no solution."
"So are you saying that you'd just sit here and surrender Rosalie to the Volturi to become the equivalent of cattle, Emmett? Is that what you're saying?" Edward hisses.
"Of course not!" Emmett exclaims, "I'm just trying to say that…"
"Stop!" Alice orders authoritatively, glaring around the room in a circular motion, "This isn't getting us anywhere! I swear, Edward, I will keep watching for anything we could do to prevent this, but as things stand now it would be best if we all just stayed polite and put." Quiet follows her rant for several seconds before Alice whirls around to face Edward. "Don't you say anything!"
My beloved shuts his mouth sullenly, looking downcast.
After several minutes of tension filled silence and statue-like vampires, Tanya breaks the silence. "Would you like to shower, Bella?" she offers innocently, "You look a little worn down."
The insinuation of her offer sends a rush of shame through me. With all of the fighting, I'd nearly forgotten about my tattered condition. Suddenly very aware of my greasy hair, bad breath, and grimy skin, I eagerly accept her offer. "Oh, yes, thank you," I reply quietly, moving to get up. After a few seconds, Edward releases his hold on me to allow me to stand; I fight off the irrational disappointment.
Once I am only a few feet from Tanya, she wrinkles her perfect nose slightly and suggests, "We have toothbrushes too; you can wash up."
"Thanks," I mutter, shuffling my feet nervously.
The strawberry blond vampire waves me forward, strutting down a richly decorated hall. Panic rises in my throats once they are out of sight. What if they leave me again? Of course, the more rational side of me shoots that idea down almost immediately. They'd never do that. I remember what Edward said; he was so desperate to protect me. They'll never leave me gain. No matter who tries to kill me.
Author's note: I'm sorry for not updating sooner. I'll try to be more prudent in the future. If I were to blame something other than my own laziness, I'd have only the other wonderful writers on this website to point fingers at. Thank you for still reading. We got five reviews last chapter; let's shoot for at least that much this time. I'd like to give an eternal thank you to everyone who has reviewed, added this story to favorites, followed, or just even read this story.
Review prompt(s): Why do you think Alice's visions of the Volturi coming are so solid? What do you think everyone is going to do next?