Chapter Twenty

Jasper

"Why do they want Bella? And more importantly why do they want you to believe she's dead?"

I couldn't answer his questions for the simple reason I didn't know the answers, it was all a mystery.

"Come on Jasper think, they want Bella but they don't want you to know they have her, why?"

"Because they know I'll go looking for her."

"OK, so they don't want to lose her, she's valuable, why?"

"I have no idea, if they took her to use as a lever against me or to get me to do something I could understand but they don't. It seems to be Bella they want and that doesn't make sense."

"Does she have anything that might interest them?"

"Not as far as I know. The only strange thing was that Edward couldn't read her mind, but I could read her emotions so..."

"Well if that's it, Aro might want her but why not just take the two of you? Get her to work for them by threatening you? Now that would make sense. There is another puzzle too, The Authorities won't just take it for granted that its Bella's body even if they get a positive I.D on Charlie. They'll try to match Dental Records or do a DNA analysis. Either way they're going to discover that body isn't Bella's and you'll soon hear about it. It seems to me that was a short-term solution. They only need you to believe its Bella for a short while, at most about six weeks. It could be so the trail gets cold, make it harder to locate her, but if they're that scared of you, why not just kill you and be done with it?"

"We're missing a piece of the puzzle Sam, but I also think we're not asking some of the most basic questions."

"OK, go on."

"As Harry pointed out, they had prior knowledge of events happening in Forks. So how? When was the barbecue organised and whose idea was it?"

"That's not going to help you much, it was a joint decision between Charlie, Billy, and Harry and it was only made two days before it happened."

"So someone could have had time to pass on the information, to get a body and be ready?"

"Its tight though and I can't see any of the Quileutes passing information to a vampire."

"It's all we have Sam"

"Yeah, unless the Volturi had a crystal ball"

His words hit me like a rock slide,

"Alice"

"Alice? Alice Cullen? The one you were involved with?"

"Alice sees the future. She would have known what they had planned."

"But why would she want to kill Charlie and steal Bella? If it was a woman scorned she'd want you to know wouldn't she?"

"I never understood Alice's thought processes Sam but if she is involved I'll find her"

" It still doesn't explain why the vampires don't want you to know"

"I'll remember to ask her that before I set her on fire,"

My phone went off then and I snatched it up.

"Major, we're here. What's the plan? I don't think the wolves would take kindly to us invading en masse."

"I'm on my way"

I looked at Sam,

"Thank you"

And held out my hand, he shook it briefly.

"If you need help Jasper...if not I'd still like to know how this pans out."

"I'll keep you in the loop and thank you for the support. I owe you,"

"Now that idea I like. Good luck."

Peter

"I fucking knew it, the bitch"

When The Major told us what he'd discovered I was all for getting our hands on Alice Cullen and breaking her into tiny pieces, feeding each one into a blast furnace while she watched.

"We can't hurt Alice until Bella is safe. If she is involved she's sure to use Bella as a shield, besides we have no idea where she is."

"So what do you suggest Major? Send her a nice polite note on scented fucking paper asking if we could possibly have Bella back?"

Char hit me and as always I subsided muttering to myself. All I wanted to do was hit something, I hated sitting around waiting for the action to start. It just wasn't my strong point, but I bit my tongue and listened.

"If the Volturi have Bella somewhere secretly there's a reason behind it. It's not their usual mode of operation. So Alice must have told them something that made them want her short term with no complications like you looking for her Jasper"

"Unless Alice is intent on torturing him Char"

I couldn't help myself, honest!

"Peter shut up"

God, now even Rose was pissed off with me. Why couldn't they see it? Alice wanted to torture The Major. Cut him loose and wait until he hooks up with Bella then BAM! Snatch her from under his nose, it was that fucking simple.

Charlotte

I knew what Peter was thinking and he had a point, there was however a huge BUT, if it were Alice doing this I'd go along with his train of thought, but it wasn't. Alice hadn't taken Bella, that was down to the Volturi and they were no ones henchmen for hire, No, they were getting something out of the deal, Aro would have his hand outstretched and the payment would be high. How was Alice paying for his services?

"Do you think Alice told Aro about Edwards inability to read her mind? Would that interest him?"

"It wasn't a conscious thing Char she can't switch it on and off, at least not that any of us knew."

"But Aro didn't need to know that did he? Maybe he has something going down and needs Bella's assistance."

"Only if there were a mind reader on the other side and as far as I'm aware Aro and Edward are the only ones. No, there's something else going on, something time related."

"An alliance maybe?"

"Same argument Rose. What use would Bella be, unless there was a mind reader involved?"

"So what do we do?"

I looked at The Major waiting for his decision.

"I'm going to confront Aro, claim Bella as my mate. I don't have any choice."

"Which is exactly what he was trying to avoid for some reason. Can you though, claim her as your mate?"

I knew as soon as I asked, he didn't need to answer,

"Then we'll go with you,"

"Aro would see that as a threat, I have to confront him alone."

"No fucking way. Where you go, I go. It's always been that way."

The Major looked at Peter's indignant face and nodded,

"OK, Peter and I. The rest of you come to Italy with us and find somewhere as a base, we'll call if we need backup"

"Fuck Major, we'll already be dead if we need back up"

The others laughed but I knew the truth of his words. If they needed back up it would already be too late.

Jasper

While Charlotte made the travel arrangements and Rose rang to rent a Villa close to Pisa I contacted Sam as promised, to keep him up to date.

"Do you think this Aro will admit he's got her?"

"He may try to deny it but I know Alec was involved, and once there I'll be able to feel her. I'll know if she's in Volterra."

"Good luck then Jasper."

We left the next evening on a half empty plane which gave us room to spread out but meant the cabin crew were more of a pest than usual. I always tried to be courteous, after all they had a job to do, but worry was making me short-tempered so Rose ran interference for me. Peter sat alone, unusual for him and I wondered what was going on inside that cunning brain. Charlotte joined him after a while but other than taking her hand he ignored her presence. Emmett was flirting with one of the cabin crew while Rose looked on in amusement. I wished Bella were here with me, at my side where she belonged. She must be terrified in Volterra, surrounded by red eyed vampires, and confused, unless of course Aro had told her why she was there. In that case she'd know more than us. He had no right to take my mate, that was the law and he'd broken it. I felt my rage building and without Bella to calm me I struggled.