Chapter Forty Nine

Alice

Felix brought over a sheet of vellum and a pen and Renee wrote out the words of our agreement then shook it to dry the fresh ink before passing it over for me to read. The wording was very precise and I liked that, checking for loop holes and struggling to see the future but everything was still foggy. It covered me from retribution by Jasper or Bella for my past actions. Guaranteed my safety from them while in Volterra and anywhere else I chose to travel to. So as long as I didn't upset either of them again they couldn't touch me and in order to do that I would make sure I stayed well clear of both of them.

"It looks OK"

She offered me the pen but I shook my head,

"Let them sign first"

"Don't you trust us Alice?"

I looked at Caius who sat smiling,

"Not really, no."

I passed the agreement to Bella and Jasper who read it through then Bella held out her hand for the pen. She looked unhappy which made me feel even more secure followed by Jazz who then threw it on the table in disgust for me to retrieve. They'd both signed it clearly,

Jasper Whitlock and Bella Swan.

I added my name and passed it back to Renee who also put her name to it followed by Caius and Marcus as witnesses.

"Well Alice, you have your safety guaranteed. Now we'd like you to keep your side of the bargain.

I hesitated then,

"Carlisle's successor is Sebastian, he came to me because he used to pass information to Carlisle quietly and wondered if the Volturi would be interested in some kind of deal. But he's also been approached by another party, a party who are keen to have the information. A party who are very unhappy at Aro's treatment of them."

"Amun! I told Aro not to make an enemy of him with that stupid attempt to recruit Benjamin."

Alice nodded at Caius outburst.

"Yes I think Amun would deal with the devil to destroy the Volturi from what he said to me".

"But Amun doesn't have a power base any more than the Romanians do."

Marcus pointed out.

Caius leaned back before answering,

"True Marcus but if the two were to join forces then they would have enough to become a threat. There are some vampires who disliked the Volturi's actions, especially Aro's, enough that they would stand with Amun, Vladimir, and Stefan. We knew that Aro's games had alienated a lot of vampires and the Romanians would be a rallying point for them especially if someone like Amun backed them. A few new gifted vampires could give them enough power to be a nuisance if not an outright danger to the Volturi.

Amun has his followers in other covens who are very suspicious of us these days and might well join him if he found a few more vampires with powerful talents.

Renee

So we knew who we should be watching out for, I'd heard about the Romanians from Felix but Amun had been an unknown quantity until I'd contacted him to see if we couldn't build bridges now Aro was dead.

"Did Sebastian ask for your opinion as to who he would get the best deal from?"

"He did."

"And did you give your opinion?"

Alice hesitated before answering and I knew she was busy trying to see the future dependant on her answer but there was no way this little minx was going to get any special help here.

"Alice?"

"I told him that now Aro was gone I had no idea how strong the Volturi would be and he would have to decide for himself."

"Did you carry his message to Amun before you came here?"

Her eyes fixed mine, she knew that I knew the answer to this question so there was no point in lying,

"Yes."

"And what was his answer?"

"As I told you, Amun is cautious but he was interested"

"Interested enough to offer you certain inducements to help him?"

"Yes, but I did tell you about them"

"Yes you did Alice. A very wise move, one of your better ones. In fact possible the best one you made in regard to this business."

"You offered Bella to Amun didn't you?"

Alice looked petrified,

"Who told you that. They lied."

"I don't think so Alice. I think you wanted the Volturi out of the way, Aro wanted you but you didn't want to be one of his novelties. Amun also wanted you and he wanted the Volturi's downfall for their greedy actions trying to poach Benjamin. He offered you a place in the new ruling body if you helped him and you knew about Bella. You offered her to him but Aro got there first so you had to come up with something in case we found out. Well...we did."

Caius and Marcus were both smiling at Alice's reaction while Bella looked shocked at her old friends betrayal and Jasper even more deadly, if that were possible.

You know what the punishment is for treason Alice?"

She shook her head violently,

"I didn't. If he said that he's a liar."

"Oh he had quite a bit to say to me when we spoke. He claims it was you who came up with the idea of attacking the Volturi, that you told him he couldn't lose of he had control of Bella. Its a shame Aro got to her first... a shame for you, that is. You see Alice, what you started led to Aro's downfall, my transformation, Bella almost losing her father too. The Swan family owes you a rather large debt, the Whitlock's too and we always pay our debts."

Alice

I was in big trouble and I had idea how to get out of it, I had no allies in this room, I'd alienated them all. But they wouldn't kill me, I still had my gift to offer. I'd stay here in Italy and work for the Volturi, that was my ace in the hole. I hadn't wanted to use it but I could see no other way out.

"I made a mistake, I admit that. I'd like to offer my gift to the Volturi, you always wanted me in the guard."

I looked beseechingly at Caius and Marcus but their faces were stony and I knew the decision was Renee's and it had already been made., I wondered how much she knew before she started this farce of a trial.

"I'm sorry Alice. Although the Volturi would love to have control of your gift you are just too treacherous for us to be happy dealing with. There is only one way to deal with a traitor. Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention, I appointed Jasper Whitlock the Volturi executioner this morning and you will be his first task. Jasper"

I closed my eyes knowing there was no where to run and no one to help me as I felt his strong hands around my throat. Many times I had felt them on my body as we made love but now I felt the full force of his anger and disgust projected into my mind as he ripped my head from my shoulders and I saw his smile of revenge as the flame caught my hair. It was over...