AN: S. Meyer owns twilight

CHAPTER 8

JPOV

Bella dragged her feet behind Pete. The guard had been entertained by his actions and the mood lightened substantially. A few of the lower guard had warmed up to us after Peter 'accidently' knocked Edward against walls and doors.

I sent out a wave of calm. The Masters were seething with rage. Whatever they'd seen in Edward's mind was bad. A cold shudder ran up my back. I felt gratitude from Aro and Caius as their emotions leveled out.

Aro shook his head, his creepy, cheerful facade was back in place. "You're dismissed my dears. Have a pleasant evening!" They filed out of the room. When the door closed behind the last of the guard I approached the Masters. "Will Marcus be all right?" I asked. Aro's face returned to normal, "the loss of Didyme still affects him, but the Healer is with him now. I'm going to head up to the see the other Healers, would you two like to join me?" He asked.

Char and I followed him to his quarters. I felt ashamed that I had once been a part of the Cullen family. Dora met us in the hall. "You and your mate did an excellent job in not interfering. I thought Bella was going to turn Edward to ash as soon as he approached Marcus." She said to me. Aro's eyes darkened, his emotions were fluctuating widely. "I would have let her. Carlisle and Edward have a lot to answer for." He said, trying to compose himself.

I sent him some more calm. He patted my shoulder "prepare for fireworks. I plan on putting on a pyrotechnic display. Carlisle will face judgment." He said. I shivered, but agreed completely with his sentiments. "Come now you two, I want to show you what Rose and Emmett are working on, hopefully they have good news." Aro said, I could feel his struggle to stay calm.

The lower level of Aro's wing was set up like a lab. Rose and Em were surrounded by books, a lap top and bottles of dried leaves. They were making phone calls and writing as fast as they could. When they finished their calls they headed over and hugged me. "We heard what happened, we were in the Laird's lug with Charlie. I can't believe just how stupid Edward has become. Charlie's with Marcus at the moment. He's performing a healing in one of the sound proof rooms." She said.

"I showed Marcus what I learnt of the binding Charlie performed on you, I apologize if I betrayed your trust" Aro said. I shook my head "there's nothing to forgive. I hope Charlie can help."
"He is invaluable. He, Rose and Emmett have been working on creating a tasteless, scentless formula that we can add to the blood to feed prisoners. We want to be able to render their gifts useless. The Healers have been working on it since they arrived."

He turned to Rose and Em. "How goes it?" He asked. Em began to report "we've isolated the ingredients with help from the Reservation in Texas, but it smells terrible. We're working on extracting the active ingredients in the hope that it'll remove the taste and smell."

Rose took over "we're having difficulties because the active ingredients are protein strands, altering the components too much will make them inert." Aro nodded happily "I may be able to help you there! One of our human scientists devised a way to extract proteins and replicate them." He wrote down a phone number and gave it to Rose. "Hopefully this will help or Bella will have to guard Edward and shield us until we finish our dealings with the Cullens."

The ceiling rumbled above us and I felt a painful stab of grief. I doubled over and gritted my teeth. Aro looked at me worriedly. "Marcus" I whispered, my voice was strained. He ran at full speed towards the exit. The pain let up after a minute, there was a wave of relief. I looked to Em and Rose and smiled weakly, the emotions had drained me. "Charlie did it" I said. They smiled and rushed to continue their work.

I headed back to Caius's wing. Char was sitting with Dora and Sulpicia. I removed my cloak and mask and sat with them "Aro just dragged Caius to see Marcus." Dora said to me. "I know, I felt Charlie's effect on Marcus's emotions. I think he succeeded, all I can feel now is relief." They smiled, but the wives were still very angry. I leant over to them and whispered "if it helps, Aro's planning fireworks for when Carlisle arrives."
"Good" Sulpicia said, a bitter edge to her voice. Dora smiled viciously, her excitement grew. It always struck me as odd how Carlisle had irritated the people he called friends only to back stab them. We talked lightly, decompressing from the stress of the day.

We heard footsteps approach; Aro and Caius came in with Rose and Em. Caius grinned "Charlie is incredible. Marcus isn't fully healed, but he is on his way." He announced relieved. We smiled. Aro gestured to Em and Rose, "our dear Healers had their break through. They were able to extract the right ingredients and create a liquid we can add to blood which will disable the gifts of any who drink it." I looked at the clock, it had been two hours since I'd left them. "That's fantastic news. Congratulations." I said, smiling widely at them.

Rose began to report "the contact Aro gave us was very helpful. We will actually be able to help him too, they've managed to synthesize a very small amount of human blood, but it doesn't seem to have the nutrients needed to replenish our bodies. We can teach him a fair bit about enriching blood, Charlie's a master at it. Between us and the scientists we should be able to speed up the process of creating synthetic blood that tastes good and doesn't involve hunting." She said. Aro was almost vibrating with excitement.

Charlie came to see us a few hours later, the wives hugged him, thanking him for his help. He sat in the armchair next to me and patted my arm "how's my favorite son in law?" He asked. I shrugged "I suppose you saw Edward's verbal diarrhea in the throne room?" I asked. He grimaced "I hate that kid."
"Me too, I feel so ashamed that I was in that coven-"
"Quit that J, you have nothing to feel ashamed about. You, Em and Rose are good people. Bells talked about all of you after you left. She kept your secret, but when she found out I knew about vampires and had time to think she really let a lot go. As far as I'm concerned that coven brought you into Bells' life. That's not to say I won't clock Edward if I get the chance, I'm just saying there's a reason why it happened."

"You sound like Pete" I smirked, "well, he is a smart man" Charlie said, grinning.

PPOV

Eddie boy was safely tucked away in his Volturi hidey hole. Solid three feet of concrete mixed with vampire ash kept him in place. From the outside the building looked like a bomb shelter, but inside had been decorated with the usual Volturi flare; rich tapestries, a collection of old books, movies and a piano. It was a gilded cage, there was nothing connecting it to the outside world; no TV antenna, no cell phone reception and no internet. The walls had been fitted with gizmos to prevent any signal getting through.

The soft notes of piano music were faintly audible. Bella and I looked at each other, I rolled my eyes. "You have the patience of a saint my dear Death."
"I really do." She said. She looked at the heavily reinforced door with distain and whispered "I hate that song." I nodded, it echoed the music I'd heard in the 1900s. It was bland, just like the time period.

I don't know how long we were there, standing vigil for a 109 year old emo, it felt like hours. My niece was good company, quiet and comfortable to be around. I spoke so softly "I'm proud of you." Bella looked at me "I mean it, we tried everything to heal War-"She cut me off. "You did, you gave him a safe place to be himself, all of himselves" She said. I heard her laugh lowly and raised an eye brow in question, she started to explain "I just remembered our drive together, the vampiric side was charming and bold. His human side was getting irritated and slapped his face. I'd been too shocked to laugh, so I scolded him for hitting himself." She giggled.

I smiled. "I'd bet the vampire side deserved it." I said. "The vampiric side did the same thing when we were driving up to see you, the human part was so worried you wouldn't want anything to do with him." I added. She shook her head "he's my mate, I didn't know that at the time, but I knew he was a good man." She turned serious and nodded her head to the door "he can't hear us, can he?" I shook my head, "we're talking quietly enough to be safe. He probably couldn't hear us if we were talking normally, the walls are too thick."

"What's preventing him from bursting through the door?" She asked me. "Concrete and metal fused with vampire ash. He couldn't make a dent in it if he wanted." I smirked. "How can we hear the music?" She asked, I rolled my eyes "he's still in the midst of his tantrum. He's really pounding those keys, not to mention the sound is echoing off the room's solid walls. It must be deafening in there." I sighed, this guy was headed for a steep learning curve.

The sky had darkened. I looked at Bella. "Are you getting thirsty?"
"A little. I have to keep both of us and the castle under my shield"
"You're doing well, Death. Using your gift takes a lot of emotional control."
"It's not too hard, this shield is easier to control." I was so proud of her.

The music stopped, thank god. We stayed silent for a while longer. Hopefully we wouldn't have to babysit him till his mommy and daddy arrived. Surely another member of the guard could watch over him, few knew who we were. Their thoughts wouldn't give anything away.

Light footsteps came towards us, Jane. That meant she wouldn't be able to relieve Bella from guard duty. She knew too much and could slip information to Edward accidently. Maybe she brought some blood. She came closer and I saw she had a thermos. Thank fuck. She walked up to us looking cheerful as hell "time to feed our guest" she sang. DAMNIT! She winked at me "the healers prepared this to fit with his diet." Maybe it'd knock him out for a bit.

Jane cleared her face of expression, her eyes looked hard and cold as I opened the door and let her in. "Your meal." She announced and set the thermos on a table. She came straight out and I locked the door again. "You'll be relieved soon" she smiled "Alec and I will take over" she winked and jogged back to the castle.

We fidgeted for a couple of hours until Jane and Alec returned. My niece's eyes were getting dark. "Is it safe?" I asked them, they nodded. Alec spoke to Bella, "remove your shield from me and open the door. I'll do a test run." Bella nodded at him and watched as he walked into the room. He came back with an empty thermos and a wide grin. I locked the door behind him. "It's safe." Alec announced. He came closer and whispered as low as he could "his gift is blocked" and handed me the empty thermos. "You guys can head back now, I'm on guard duty with Jane."

We ran as fast as we could back to the castle. A clock on the wall made me realize we'd been standing guard for five hours. Charlie was in Caius' sitting room with two large cups of blood. "Emmett's delivery of bear blood arrived, I made up a batch for you both." He said.

We drank quickly, Charlie handed us a glass of human blood mixed with vile herbs; the scent change concoction. We gagged that shit down. I didn't think I'd be able to hunt humans after this, the altered animal blood felt better in my body.

Charlie refilled our glasses with more human blood and told us about the dinner that had been arranged for the next night. "The wives have offered to cook for us. They were thrilled when they found out herbs could be added to the blood and they want to make both human food and blood based meals." He chuckled "it's taking some getting used to I have to admit. I've never been around royalty before, now two Queens are cooking for us."
"They're grateful, plus we're awesome." I joked.

"How's Marcus?" I asked, becoming serious. Charlie sighed and sat down "he wasn't good. Not being able to sleep is an awful side effect of vampirism. He hasn't had a chance to rest his mind since Didyme passed. To him the last thousand years have been one long, excruciating day. The world kept on spinning and he never had respite. I modified a sleeping draught the Quileutes use, I made it stronger and added it to human blood. He's not asleep, but he's 'switched off' for a few hours. The emotional weight has been draining him, some time in stasis will relieve some of the pressure." He said.

Charlie looked me straight in the eye "I released his darkness." Whoa. "A millennium of grief festered in him, if Chelsea hadn't strengthened his bonds to Aro and Caius it would have consumed him. With the help of the coven of witches nearby I was able to store the darkness for later use against the Romanians."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" I asked. He shrugged "we'll wait and see how he is when he wakes up." My gift nudged me get Jasper to show him the emotions attached to the bonds he sees I grinned. J will help him.

Bella stood up and hugged Charlie "thanks Dad, I really needed that." He patted her shoulder "I'm here for you Bells. Now go find J, he's probably pining for his fiancé" she smiled goofily and sped out the room "he's with Sulpicia and Dora" he called out to her.

Aro and Caius joined us, Charlie poured a couple of steaming mugs of the enriched bear blood and handed them to the Masters. Aro's eyes lit up "I've been looking forward to trying this!" He drank slowly and hummed happily, savoring the taste. "I can't believe it's not human" he said. "Thank you Charlie, the memories I picked up didn't do it justice."

Charlie smiled. "I hear our tonic worked in blocking Edward's telepathy."
"It's a wonderful security measure." Aro said. "Emmett and Rosalie are now working with our scientists to create synthetic blood. We can't keep feeding from humans, they've evolved. You know better than most how forensics has made it almost impossible to hide dead bodies." Aro said, he continued. "Thanks to your guidance we'll be able to create a substitute that surpasses regular blood, in taste and effect. With your help we could change the world." Aro's voice trailed off.

There was something Aro wasn't saying, he caught my look and put his hands up "I cannot give you all the details at the moment, there are pressing issues we need to resolve first. I'll just say our dream, the reason we fought for control over the Romanians, will come to fruition."

I had seen the paths of fate and saw how they wove together, unity and peace. I realized that was what Aro was alluding to "you want unity amongst the species" I commented, Aro's eyes widened "your gift is remarkable. Do you see it happening?" He asked. "Yes, it's the same future I fight for. It's getting closer every day." I said.

Caius exhaled in relief. "That is good news, there's a lot of history that you'll hear from us when there is time. For the moment we must concentrate on the problems at hand." His voice became a low growl towards the end. "The Wars" I said. Aro agreed, "Yes, but there is also the matter of the Cullen coven. They've hid behind piety and self-righteousness and caused a lot of pain."

"How?" Charlie asked. I answered "Alice in particular has been problematic. Fate is currently taking restitution." The two masters looked shocked, Aro replied "I have a feeling you're wrong Peter. Edward and Carlisle are the ones behind the problems. They've become cruel, you saw what they did to Jasper." Aro paused, I nodded for him to continue. "They have done a lot of harm, both of them have to take responsibility. This goes further than mere slander against us. As leaders we will always be speculated about, but now there is distrust and suspicion. They have taken advantage of innocents and must be stopped." The shit was going to hit the fan with that Coven, I wondered if there was something wrong with my gift. Alice had been the cause of many deviations and had to be stopped.

Charlie changed the subject, they spoke about Marcus' healing. I had good news to impart. "My gift just gave me a message a few minutes ago. Jasper will be able to help Marcus."
"Really?" Aro asked, he and Caius were instantly alert. I nodded, "Charlie has gotten the metaphorical monkey off his back, but he'll still need time to heal. At dinner-" I glanced at my watch "-later today, we'll get him to concentrate on the bonds he sees leading towards himself, J will send him our emotions. It'll progress him towards healing."

"Will he ever fully recover?" Caius asked. "I don't know-" my gift pinged me again there is someone out there for him, a new mate. "Holy shit! He has a mate out there!" I blurted out in surprise. "How is that possible?" Aro asked "Vampires are only supposed to have one true mate, Didyme was his everything."

I thought about it for a bit "has anyone survived as long after the death of a true mate?" I asked. They were quiet for a while. Aro shook his head "I suppose not, when a true mate dies we grant the remaining mate death, it's a mercy killing. This changes everything, Peter. We'll need to rewrite the laws sooner than expected. How can we factor this in?" He asked us. Charlie shrugged and said; "there's no guarantee that everyone has a second mate. I think full disclosure is the only option. Let people make an informed decision."

"I'll leave you to think" I said as I stood up "I should see Char."