17. WHITE
In the emptiness beyond life, there was no pain. I was capable of no thought or feeling. It was a blessing, I would realize later. All I knew was nothing, and I knew not that I knew it. All I knew was blindness, and I had no eyes with which to see. All I knew was white.
When at long last I felt something, it did not matter. The first notion of consciousness came as feelings, disembodied and mindless. They had no reason or memory to give them meaning. It was anger that reached me first—cold fury, with no one to feel its chill. Afterward came confusion—a frenzy of letters arranged into patterns I knew must be names or places. They meant nothing and left no impression. Finally, I felt sorrow. It was not melancholia, that lingers and keeps you up at night. It was not simple sadness, and there were no tears to shed. The sorrow was immeasurable, endless and perfect, rendering me as useless as mist.
Through the mist, as if scrawled in angry red letters, came a name. It was not Jacob, I would later recall, nor was it Brady or Alice, both of whom were likely dead.
It was my own.
Seth, came the voice, for it was somehow a voice.
Seth, it came again, willful and angry in crimson hues, shattered shards of light that were all I had ever known.
The first thing I realized was that it was no mere name, but a demand. The voice was recognizable as my own, and just like that, I was aware of my own existence. That was when I saw him.
Like an angel, winged and colored in endless shades of red, covered in blood. He appeared naked and beautiful beyond comprehension, standing before me. We were alone in this shapeless existence. Then he was gone, and I had no memory of him or his face, his eyes that loved me more than anything else.
Then, my astral body, formless and eternal, felt the shock of cold water. Submerged in ice and cloud, the eyes of my mind opened into the empty world around me. Above me, somewhere far above the surface of this darkness lay the world of the living, and I could reach it if I wished.
I made my first decision, the only one I knew I could make.
Without warning, the fog ascended, and I felt pain again.
It was beyond excruciating, but I forced myself upward into the single pinpoint of white light above me.
It felt like flying, and I forgot my sorrow.
When my eyes flew open, I saw neither white nor dark, and my head ached as if it had forced its way through the eye of a needle. My ears rang as if the world were tearing to pieces all around me.
A hand was on my shoulder, and a pale face beneath a shock of black hair was above me.
"Alice," I choked out, lifting my hands and grasping for anything to pull me up.
She held me down with the strength of a bear while invisible hands took mine and held them. I knew whose they were without a thought. My stomach twisted into a tight knot, and a taste like salt slid onto my tongue from the back of my throat.
"Jacob," I said, pushing without hope against Alice's hands. "Please..."
A voice I did not recognize spoke, sounding close and far away all at once.
"It is finished," he said, because it was a boy, young and tired. Erin, I realized, Caius's little prince on the throne. "Alec, with me."
Two pairs of feet moved away from me with the swiftness of wind, light enough that any mortal ear would never hear it.
"Jacob," I heard myself say, choking against my own breath while attempting to plead. "Let me up..."
"I can carry him," I heard him say. Jacob was next to me then, and my hands were my own again. I reached for him, although I could not see him yet. He was there all the same. Alice's hands left my shoulders. With a gentleness that startled me, she hoisted me into a sitting position from under my arms.
Jacob was in front of me, crouched on his knees, unclothed but for his shorts. I had no time to make sure he was real because I was in his arms in an instant. He cradled me like a baby, and I put my arms around his neck. He could have carried me to the ends of the earth like this, but I protested when I felt him start to walk.
"Let me down," I said, and started to swing myself out of his arms. My body was my own again, and I needed to stand. Jacob let me down, although he was wary. I felt warm and alive, although I could see fresh blood all over my arms and when I touched the back of my head, my hand came away sticky and crimson.
Jacob took my shoulder in hand and urged me toward the door with the rest of the moving group. The room was emptying in haste. Alec and Erin were nowhere in sight, and Edward had disappeared as well. Golden-haired Tanya was carrying Brady, who was conscious but delirious. His eyes were free of the green glow, his mind his own again. Even the Jade Circles wound through the cavernous room had lost their hue for a dull gray. The scout party had left, all but Esmé and Rosalie, standing behind the concentrating Alice and Jasper.
"Where are the Volturi?" I asked Jacob as we strode out of the room into the antechamber where the shades of James, Victoria and Irina had left us.
"Outside, fighting each other," he replied, his long strides outpacing my own, though we were almost of a height. "When Alice knocked the Wendy girl out of her green circle, the vampire girl attacked Caius herself. Every hypnotized leech on this island is back in their right mind, and all the clones just vanished."
"Hurry, boys," Alice said, rushing past us at a speed that likely seemed snail-like to her. "We've got Josh back, and most of our people are already back at the submarine. Aro is going to try to execute Caius, and we need to get out of here in case it takes a turn for the worst."
I glimpsed the look on her face before she turned to face the hallway as she jogged. She was afraid, and that made me afraid.
We reached the double doors in the entryway, and found that they had burst wide open to reveal the courtyard beyond. We strode into a gallery of statues. Every vampire in the courtyard was as still as stone, a great unmoving crowd enjoying a calamitous argument. I heard it well enough.
"You are no brother to me," came the voice of Caius, in a snarl both inhuman and frail.
"I chose you," the answer came, Aro in all his fury. "I chose you over my sister. My sweet Didyme. I chose to rule with you instead of my own blood. You have repaid me with betrayal after all these years!"
A scream and a sound like a branches snapping, and then silence again.
"Release me! I command it!"
Caius's pleas met a thick and heavy silence. Then a sound like a rush of wind came from the center of the crowd, and the silence became deafening. Carlisle was beside me then, and spoke.
"Let me pass," he said to the vampire throng before us. "I would have words with the brothers."
The crowd parted like tall grass, moving aside. The ground heaped with ashes, and dead body parts clothed in black were everywhere. The Volturi had suffered heavy losses. The remaining members of the guard stood behind Aro, only ten in number. Only seven of Caius's gifted vampires stood across from them, their faces fearful and cautious. The boy Erin was absent. In front of the door stood our allies. The Cullens, Denali, and Seattle covens all remained, with Benjamin as well. The only remaining Quileutes were Jacob, Sam, Leah, Brady and myself. In the center of the circle stood Aro, his body tense, his eyes sharp and angry. He was terrifying in his wroth. Caius was on the ground before him. Behind him stood the girl Wendy. Her eyes and Caius' glowed green as one, and her hands stretched over his head. He was unmoving, and although he did not resist, members of the Volturi guard were holding him by each of his limbs. Marcus and Carlisle strode together to face Aro, who did not look away from Caius.
"Aro," Carlisle said, and the black-haired vampire turned to look at him as if they were strangers. "What will you do with him?" Aro did not answer, and his face did not change. "He waged an unlawful war upon my family and upon our kind with neither provocation nor reason. He deceived you and usurped your power for his own purposes. He is too dangerous alive."
"You are cold, Carlisle," replied Aro, his face turning dark in a curious half-smile. "You have the right of it." He turned to face his white-haired brother, and although I could not see his face, his voice betrayed his fury. "We must handle him immediately. It is strange, and humorous, almost. He was the most lawful of us all, or so it seemed. I make the law, Marcus nods his head, and Caius puts it into action. Or so it was until now..." He turned again to Carlisle. "Join with me, like I wished you to before. It is not too late. It can be the three of us, as it should have been." Turning to Marcus, he seemed ready to beg. "I have loved you, always. Blood we may not have shared in life, but we have shared all in blood in our life after death. Our true lives. Destiny calls us to be brothers, Marcus."
"I was as blind as you, Aro," Marcus said, his eyes as hard as stone. "But not so blind that I have not seen what you are. Caius was a viper, but you believe yourself a god. I will live my life elsewhere, if you permit. I submit my life to the laws and customs of the Volturi, but I will not call you brother. For the love we bore your dear sister, my wife, I implore you to let me go free."
Aro's hopeful smile turned cold.
"And you, friend Carlisle? Have you nothing to say?"
"My answer remains no, Aro," Carlisle said. "You have known this."
"Then I must do what needs doing." Aro snapped his fingers, and with a sound like a house collapsing, the six Volturi members holding Caius down tore him apart. I never saw Aro light the match, or where it came from, but when he dropped it onto Caius's remains, they burned like all the rest of them.
Purple smoke rose into the morning air like a pillar of stone.
Carlisle turned away from the fire, his eyes closed in what seemed to be a quiet prayer.
Jacob took my hand, and said, "We need to leave. This isn't our fight anymore."
I nodded, not looking away from the three vampires in the center of the crowd. We turned to walk away, and our allies who remained followed us, all but Carlisle and Edward.
Aro spoke to stop us then, breaking the silence with his high clear voice.
"Are you leaving us so soon, friends of Carlisle?" We stopped and turned to face him, wary. The crowd parted where we had halted to give him the view of us. "It is my understanding that you came to destroy me and mine, is that not so?"
Edward spoke from next to Carlisle. "We came to rescue a boy who Caius had kidnapped. A vampire from Seattle named Josh, who had done you no harm. Caius threatened to have him killed to lure us here, but he underestimated our numbers and skill."
"We have no wish to destroy you, Aro," said Carlisle, raising his hands in a sign of peace.
Aro lifted one hand, and the Volturi guard dispersed, forming a larger half-circle behind him. They were not poised to attack, but to watch. Aro spoke, his face curious in its distrust.
"I have read this from the mind of your dear wife Esmé, and your sweet Renesmee, and know it to be true. But I must be cautious to protect myself and mine."
I realized then that something seemed out of place, and I looked up. Perched on the roof just above Aro appeared the Romanians, Stefan and Vladimir.
Aro stopped speaking, and seeming to sense them before they lunged, he tucked and rolled toward Carlisle. The crowd moved backward. Caius's newborns scattered and headed for the cliff—all but Wendy, who stood as still as stone.
Stefan and Vladimir landed as light as a feather and strode toward Aro. Carlisle stepped between them, and put a hand up to stop them.
"He has surrendered, and took no part in the plot against my family," he pleaded. "You will not harm him."
The Romanians stopped in front of Carlisle and smiled.
"Dear Carlisle," said Stefan, his words a low growl for his musical voice. "Your family is the least of our worries. Consider our family. Dead these hundreds of years thanks to these Italian scum."
Aro began to laugh and pushed Carlisle aside.
"You are all fools," he said. "You think I have not wished for your death all these years, friend Carlisle?" The falseness of the 'friend' set my teeth on edge and Jacob tensed beside me.
"Stay calm, Seth," he said, his hand tight on my shoulder.
Aro was laughing again. "Twice you have defied me now, insulting me and now plotting at my ruin? You will not fool me! You brought these Romanians here to destroy me, I know it."
Carlisle had his hands between them again, and the Romanians made no move. Aro seemed to be going mad.
"No!" Carlisle said, "They offered their help, and I accepted, for the life of a young vampire who needed us. Caius is the only one here who plotted against you, and he is gone! Allow us to leave in peace."
The Volturi guard closed in, and I moved away from Jacob's side. With a terrible tremble up my spinal cord, I phased. Jacob phased as well, and we stepped closer toward the arguing vampires.
"You have brought wolves and enemies old and new to face me," Aro said, his face twisting in fury. "You will not have Volterra, and you will not have me!"
He lunged at Carlisle, and a smaller shape knocked him out of the air: Alice. Jasper yelled in shock as she struggled with the black-haired Volturi. He jumped in and pulled them apart, but Aro had no sooner escaped Alice's grasp that he had his hand around Carlisle's throat.
Then it was chaos.
I lunged at the violet-eyed Heidi as she dived at the fleeing Renesmee and Nahuel. For a moment, she almost used her gift of seduction to stop me, but Bella was next to me then, and Heidi was as ugly as the rest of them. Then her head was between my jaws.
I stepped between the half-vampires and the rest of the fray, snapping at any Volturi that came near. Jacob tore Afton in half in front of me. Edward was struggling with his mate Chelsea when Emmett helped him separate her head from her body.
Renesmee and Nahuel made it to the cliff with most of the Seattle coven as I defended them from attack. A vampire in black jumped and grabbed hold of my fur, and the great russet form of Jacob Black took his head off a few seconds too late. I flew through the air and collided with Jasper and Rosalie, who both put me back on my paws and steadied me with their hands. Screams and smoke were filling the air. I saw Benjamin and Jennie hovering above the carnage, with Ben burning Volturi as Jennie lifted them up to him.
Emmett Cullen vaulted over our heads to rip the torso off of Renata and throw it over the cliffside as my teeth sunk into one of the last remaining Volturi. I tasted bitter venom seeping between my teeth, and spat the lifeless leech into the air to taste the flame of Benjamin's inferno.
It was over almost as soon as it had begun, and it ended with a horrible scream.
The Volturi were in pieces all around us, all but four.
Aro was on his knees, his mouth open in a scream that went silent as his eyes rolled back into his head. Before him stood Jane, whose outreached hand told all that needed telling. Behind her, as still as stone, stood Wendy and Marcus, and they made no move to stop her. The younger vampire was clinging to the old one in fear. She had never seen battle, I realized, not in person. Vladimir's bodiless head was sitting at Carlisle's feet as he and Edward restrained Stefan. The jet black wolf form of Sam Uley stood to keep him from escaping.
Jane spoke then, in her clear childlike voice, imploring Carlisle, "Kill him. Do it now. Aro will not see reason."
"Jane," Edward said. "Why turn on him? After all he's done for you? What do you gain?"
"My freedom, little one," she said, smiling at him through her concentration. "He would kill us all if it meant he could live. So if none of you will end him, I will."
With a sharp jab, Jane plunged her fist through Aro's chest. The hole she made wept venom as she flipped over his head, grabbed it with both hands and twisted, hard.
We all stood in silence for a few horrible seconds before Benjamin flicked his wrist and engulfed Aro's remains in smoke.
Jane closed her eyes, breathed a deep strange breath, and exhaled as if she had been underwater for centuries.
"Allow the rest of us to go free," she said to Carlisle. "Marcus, Alec, and I—it matters not to me what you do with Wendy and Erin. They were pawns in a game just like I was, but this pawn values its own life."
Carlisle nodded. "You are free to go. But you must promise never to threaten our family again, or anyone here."
She turned her eyes toward the wolves, at Leah who stood beside me, and Sam who crouched low before Stefan. She nodded.
"As long as you help me get off this godforsaken island—"
Stefan twisted in Carlisle and Edward's grasp, flipped in the air and kicked them both in the face. They fell back onto the ground. I had no time to register what had happened before he had pushed Sam so hard that it seemed at first that he had gone through him. Sam leapt upright and closed his teeth around Stefan's leg. That gave Jane enough time to immobilize him in pain, and Bella and Emmett tore his head from his body and flung him into the air. Benjamin's fire engulfed him, and he died.
Carlisle fell to his knees in despair. Esmé and Rosalie made him stand and walk with them to the rest of their family.
All the wolves, me included, became human with a tremble. Sam clutched at his side, which had turned a dark purple, but he seemed alright.
Jennie of the Seattle coven beckoned to us all.
"This way," she said. "It's time we left this place."
Once we were all huddled around her, Jennie's hands pushed down toward the ground around us. With a low crack and a shattering sound deep as a lion's roar, the ground around us was cloven away from the rest of the cliff. Some of the vampires made startled sounds, but the great rock floated away from the cliff-side regardless. Marcus and Wendy crouched next to me as I reached for Leah and Jacob's hands.
Only Benjamin remained above us, standing in a patch of air that swirled around his feet as he threw fire down onto the courtyard. The inferno became as bright as sunfire as he set the Citadel ablaze as well. I turned my eyes upward away from the light.
Purple smoke rose into the morning air like a pillar of stone.