The Vultures Descend

The Volturi arrive en masse, making a show of power to the assembled vampires. The covens gathered in the yard are tense. After all, many of them came to support Carlisle in what they had suspected to be a possible war with the Volturi, pitting themselves against the ruling vampires who were now there to search for any with traitorous thoughts.

"Excellent job capturing the Romanians and their evil minions, Major and Captain Whitlock!" Aro exclaims, clapping his hands as the Volturi come to a halt. He eyes the pile of heads eagerly.

Jasper steps forward, stands at attention, and reports, "My apologies, Master Aro. It seems that in her eagerness to help, Tanya Denali has mistakenly burned the Romanians heads."

"What?!" Aro gasps, becoming angry and agitated. "I was counting on reading their thoughts to know their entire plan! Step forward, Tanya Denali. I shall see your motivations for myself."

His glare is menacing, as is Caius's, as they watch her trembling form move carefully toward them. Marcus is staring morosely at the giant pile of angry, animated severed heads. Scanning over the Volturi in their black and grey cloaks, you notice a disfigured vampire being carried by a bulky, muscle bound one. Whispering softly with Charlotte, you get her to name each member of the Volturi for you.

Aro drops Tanya's hand and mutters disdainfully, "Indeed, you were truly only thinking of preventing the Romanians from causing any further damage, though you also wished to end their suffering once and for all. I suppose I must forgive you for destroying the enemies before their thoughts and plans could be processed and analyzed, though I'll admit it would be easier to do if I still discover the things I need from one of the others. Perhaps Alice holds the answers I am seeking."

Aro glides over to the pile and Alec begins handing him heads one at a time. When he finishes reading their memories, he hands them off to Jane, who promptly tosses them in the fire. You notice the grimaces and distaste on his face when he is reading Maria. Leaving him to his task, you observe the Volturi, noticing the way the Guard is carefully watching the crowd. You see that Felix has set Max down on the ground, leaving the crippled vampire sitting uncomfortably in the grass.

Going over to talk to him, you join him on the ground. "Why aren't you wearing a cloak like the others?"

Max looks at you with resentment in his eyes and snorts. "Aro doesn't think it would be dignified for someone in my condition to wear a cloak identifying me as a Guard member. He thinks it would make the Guard appear weak."

"I see," you murmur, exchanging a look that spoke volumes with him. "You know, it may be a long shot, but we haven't burned James's limbs yet. Once his head is gone, it won't be calling to the missing limbs any longer. Do you think that if you drained the venom from his legs and hands and reopened the wounds on your body that you could fuse with them and make them your own? I know it would hurt like hell and would likely scar badly, but if his venom was gone and only yours remained, would your body and the donor limbs be able to work together, or would your venom destroy them beyond function?"

He is staring at you wide eyed, filled with hope and apprehension. "I know that our venom scars other vampires because of the reaction to the foreign venom, and I know others have tried to replace lost limbs, but I don't know if anyone thought to drain out the foreign venom first."

Contemplating it, you catch Carlisle's eye and gesture for him to join you. He does, sitting down on the ground like you did to make Max more comfortable. Upon hearing your question, he frowns and sadly admits, "I have tried it, and it still doesn't work. Every cell of a vampire's body carries the genetic information of its owner and is capable of producing venom. The foreign venom cannot communicate with the cells and slowly destroys them instead."

Max drops his head, appearing dejected. Biting your lip in disappointment, you move on to your next theory. "What about using human limbs then, and allowing the vampire's venom to change the cells and attach to the new body parts?"

Carlisle gives you a tight smile and shakes his head. "I'm sorry my dear, it's a great thought, but I've tried that also. The human limb cannot survive the change without the proper circulation and dies before the change can repair and attach it."

Furrowing your brows, you try again. "Have you tried keeping the human limb frozen, like they do for organs they are transporting for transplant? If you keep it on ice during the entire time to preserve the tissues long enough for the venom to take effect, does that make a difference? After all, the vampire won't mind the cold."

Carlisle stares at you in shock, a new light entering his eyes. "I never considered that option. We have found that severed fingers and toes can be kept 'alive' on ice for a surprising amount of time and still be successfully reattached to humans. The extreme cold has amazing preservation effects on live tissue."

Max gasps, lifting his head to stare hopefully at Carlisle.

Carlisle frowns and cautions, "It would likely be extremely painful. The attachment sight would need to be reinsured to stimulate the healing aspect of the vampire's body. Then, once the nerve endings successfully reattach, if they do, the vampire would not only have the normal pain of reattachment, but would also feel the pain of the change as it occurs in the new limb. Then, if it does work, there is no way of knowing how well the vampire's body would be able to accept the new flesh. It would still have different genetic material since it came from a different person, thus could still end up being rejected."

"Stem cell research and cloning?" you ask. "Aren't the humans using stem cells to grow body parts inside of pigs in hopes of creating organs that won't be rejected by the humans who need them?"

Carlisle grins at you. "I don't think you have a good grasp on that research, dear girl, but I do understand what you mean."

"So what if you took genetic material from the vampire's sperm cells and put it in the stem cells, then grew them into new limbs before changing them? Would that be a close enough match? Or what if you used that genetic material and introduced a virus specifically designed to replace DNA in cells into the donor limb prior to the change?" you suggest.

Carlisle nods thoughtfully. "You certainly have some interesting ideas. It's true that there have been great strides in human medical research since the last time I attempted to help someone replace lost limbs. I had come away from my studies believing it to be impossible, but you've opened my eyes to more possibilities. I am willing to pursue them if you're interested, Max, though I can't make any guarantee of success."

Max looks between you two and smiles grimly. "I am willing to try. It would be better than living like this."

"In the meantime, why don't you wear prosthetics?" you question. "I know human grade prosthetics wouldn't cut it for you, but what about custom vampire ones? Like ones made of metal instead of plastic? The weight wouldn't bother you and they'd be more durable."

Carlisle nods approvingly, and Max stares at you in wonder. "Why hasn't anybody else thought of that? I did try wooden limbs many years ago, but they were too flimsy for the type of wear and tear a vampire puts on his body."

"I'm sure my family could help you with something like that," Carlisle offers. "I can obtain human prototypes. My son Emmett is a whiz with technology, and my daughter Rose is an amazing metal worker. She crafts custom components for our vehicles, so she should be able to create the pieces you'd need, while Emmett could work on robotic hands. They would likely have a working solution relatively quickly whereas the medical option may take years to solve."

"Thank you, Carlisle!" Max enthuses gratefully. "It would mean the world to me to regain a measure of my independence."

"Of course, Max, our pleasure," Carlisle replies graciously.

All three of your heads snap in Aro's direction as he lets out a roar of frustration, just in time to see him toss Alice's head into the flames himself. Hers was the last of the heads littering the lawn, and apparently Aro did not get the information he wanted.