Benjamin POV
In shock, everyone was silent after Esme explained. "Are you sure?" I asked.
"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Esme replied with a small smile.
We were quiet for a moment. "Is it true?" Tia asked her, almost in a whisper. I smiled. My shy mate wasn't ever the bravest one, but she was willing to try new things. That was why I loved her.
Stephenie gave a little nod. "Not to scare you, but I do know things about you that you wouldn't expect me to know."
"Like?" I said, raising an eyebrow.
She took a deep breath. "You have the power to control the elements. Amun found you when you were a street performer for your uncle. Then Kebi joined, and you left and went back for Tia. After that, you both returned to Amun."
I could feel myself rendered speechless. In all my years of being a vampire, I had never met anyone like this.
"What if what she told you isn't true, but that's her power?" Amun said.
Jasper, who was leaning against the wall, rolled his eyes. "She's not a vampire, Amun. That's obvious."
"Yes, but look at the details. She arrived out of nowhere, somehow knowing everything about us. She has almost no smell. She doesn't feel uncomfortable around our kind like other humans. What do you think this means?"
Stephenie shook her head. "That's just what I would expect from Amun," she said with a small smile.
Amun's eyes flared up, and he looked dangerous. "Excuse me? You are acting as if you know all of us better than we know ourselves."
She showed no emotion, not even flinching as Amun crouched down so he was ready to spring at her. "I do," was all she said.
Amun growled, and launched himself at her. Everything was confusion. Jasper was frantically trying to calm him down, and Emmett had come and thrown himself in front of Stephenie and Esme, while pushing back on Amun's shoulders as he tried to escape, his jaws snapping dangerously close to Emmett's face. Tia and I grabbed Amun, trying to restrain him.
After a while, Amun fell limp in our arms, surrendering to Jasper's talent and our strength. He snapped his head back up. "That," he said with a growl, "Is the most annoying human I have ever met."
Stephenie wasn't scared before, but she was now. Her face was pale, all the color drained out of it.
" cannot help you in protecting the human," Amun said, still growling.
"Tia and I will help," I cut in, taking my mate's hand.
"We will," she agreed quietly.
Amun turned to us. "No, you will not."
I sighed. "Amun, I'm not a child. I can handle myself."
"And if the Volturi take you?" he said. "What will you do then?"
"They won't," I said. "Amun, I promise you, I will return to you right after all this is over. Just let me do this." I knew he would leave me here rather than stay and protect me from the Volturi, being the coward he was.
"You better return," he spat, before turning around and walking out the door, Kebi right behind him.