Chapter Twenty Seven
Emmett
My phone rang so I grabbed it and threw it to Rose,
"Be careful, don't give anything away if you can avoid it,"
She nodded and I heard her answer it brightly,
"Carlisle hi"
"Aro would like to know where Bella is."
"Oh, why?"
"Lets say she is invited to Volterra, immediately"
"But she's unconscious Carlisle, did you tell him that?"
"Yes but he still wants you to bring her back. Did you hear me Rose? The line is really bad, you're fading"
"Carlisle, what was that? Just a minute"
She put her hand over the receiver,
"What do I do?"
"Lose the signal Rose"
She nodded and spoke again,
"Carlisle? Are you there? I'm losing you. The signal is fading, I think it must be the weather"
Her voice went from loud to almost inaudible and back a few times as she spoke,
"Rose? Where are you?"
"Carlisle...Carll...sig...wea...Ca..."
She snapped the phone shut and looked at me anxiously,
"I guess Demetri will be following us now."
"So we keep moving until Bella wakes up or Jazz gets in touch."
Carlisle
Rose had caught on quickly but whether Demetri and Alec believed her was another matter. I looked at Demetri and shook my head,
"I've lost her"
"How convenient."
He took his phone from me and dialled Aro back,
"Well?"
"They lost the signal, I'm going after them. What about this group?"
"Carlisle and Esme can go. They know better than to do anything to thwart me. As for the others, kill Peter and Charlotte and send The Major back with Alec."
I shook my head pleading for the Whitlocks but as Demetri turned to order their deaths Aro spoke again.
"Wait Demetri. Send Charlotte Whitlock and The Major back with Alec and one of Peter Whitlock's hands. Ask Alec to free just him and I'll speak to him, we'll use him to find their little runaway."
I watched as one of the guards pulled Peter Whitlock away from the others and as Alec withdrew his gift from the Captain the guard twisted his hand, ripping it from the arm and wrapping it in his cloak came back to stand with Demetri.
Peter
Suddenly I could see and hear again and at that point a terrible pain in my arm brought me back to full awareness. I grabbed my arm to find the left hand missing, venom dripping to the ground as I cradled it. Demetri threw his phone to me and I caught it with my remaining hand looking round to see The Major and Charlotte still under Alec's spell.
"Captain Whitlock, I'm sure you are aware that your mate and friend are under my power. I want you to find Bella Swan and deliver her to me in Volterra. In return I'll give you back your mate and your hand. I think that's a fair swap don't you?"
"Fuck you Aro"
"Words Captain. Just do as I ask unless you want your mate to be dismembered and burned a small piece at a time. The choice is yours and you have three days, starting now."
I dropped the phone clutching my arm again as the venom slowed, the stump healing over slowly. What the hell had happened? How had Bella escaped Alec's gift? The guards drifted away with Char and The Major followed by Alec, and Demetri smiled,
"Well its your turn to track Captain. See you in Italy in three days...I hope for your mates sake."
Carlisle
I daren't ring Rose and Emmett again, they probably wouldn't answer in any case but I told Peter what I'd done and he promised to let us know when he found them, if he found them in time. For now Esme and I would go back to Forks to wait and hope. We drove back waiting anxiously for a call, some information on what was happening. Esme worried about Jasper and Bella mostly,
"Is there nothing we can do Carlisle? No way of preventing Aro from killing Jasper if Peter doesn't find Bella?"
"Even if he does I doubt Aro will release Charlotte and Jasper, they are too valuable to him and with Chelsea's help their loyalty will be to him, not their mates."
"So what can we do?"
"Very little Esme, we can't fight the Volturi."
"We just let Aro take them and rip the mates apart?"
"He won't do that if Peter finds Bella, the mates will be reunited in Volterra"
"But never free again?"
"I doubt it"
"Bella at least, deserves better than that Carlisle."
"I know Esme but there's nothing we can do now."
Emmett
Rose and I both heard the deafening silence in the room at the same time. We'd run as far as we could, after the gas ran out, for now, Bella was very restless so we rented a motel room and waited.
"Her heart has stopped Em"
"Yeah she'll be waking up any time now and then we have to tell her about the others."
We watched and my phone rang, I looked at the screen apprehensively but it was Peter so I answered,
"Peter what's going on? We had a call from Carlisle about bringing Bella back."
"Yeah, the Volturi took The Major and Charlotte back to Italy and left me to find Bella and take her back."
"You?"
"Yeah with a little incentive. If I want to see my mate or my left hand again, Aro will happily swap Bella for them. Is she awake yet?"
"No but its imminent, her heart stopped a few minutes ago."
"I need to speak to her Em as soon as she wakes up. In the meantime give me some way of finding you."
"I don't think so Peter. Bella's not going to Volterra even for the others."
"I thought you'd see it that way but I still need to speak to her."
"I'll ring you back once she wakes up but its her decision what she does."
Bella
I heard the voices more clearly now, Em was talking to Peter and I tried hard to think where I was and what had happened, then it all flooded back. Jasper changing me, the feel of panic that flooded me when the Volturi guard turned up and the sudden hole where Jasper had been. Something had happened and in order to find him again I had to survive, free to act. Breaking through the pain to speak had been so hard but I got my message across and felt myself moving. The further away we got from Jasper the worse the pain got, not the boiling heat but a freezing ache in my soul, I had to find Jasper and save him. Now I was free of the terrible heat of transformation I could think again. I'd heard Peters words, Charlotte and his hand were in Volterra hostages for my delivery but what about Jazz? Where was he? I sniffed the air, Emmett and Rose were with me and there were no other vampires or humans too close by. My throat burned fiercely, I was thirsty but my need to find Jazz tortured me more. I waited without moving until Em rang off then opened my eyes to look at the world with a strange clarity I had never experienced before.