Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.
A/N: Thanks to katmom and Angelinia, who beta this story.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Confrontation
It had been a week since Alice had her vision and they got a call from the Denali's that the Volturi were coming. It was five days since they knew that the Volturi were in the area, not exactly in the town but near enough so they could observe the Cullens. Everyone was tense about this, wishing that they would just come out and talk to them already but the Volturi seemed to be content to just wait.
"Why are they doing this?" Emmett hissed, his patience was running really thin now, and he was practically begging Carlisle (and Edward) to just let them go to the Volturi. "They have to know that we've realized they're here by now... Why don't they just come and talk to us already?"
"They're probably worried about being outnumbered," Jasper said thoughtfully.
"That certainly sounds like something the Volturi would think," Alice said, "but something tells me it's more than that."
"I hope they aren't curious about the wolf scent that's surrounding Forks and La Push," Esme fretted.
"I'm sure they're not," Edward said, but he couldn't really be sure. He didn't get anywhere near enough to be able to read their minds, not wanting to leave Bella for a second when such a danger was threatening them. "But it is a good thing that the wolves haven't been transforming for this last week..."
"That might be so, but Jacob's close call the other day shows that they won't be able to control themselves much longer if nothing happens soon," Bella said. "Jake said that Quil and Embry are especially having problems with this since they were so new and the Volturi presence is affecting everyone..."
"They must be able to sense the desire they have to hunt," Carlisle mused, he always wondered how the wolves' instinct worked, but even he wasn't in the mood to try to get excited about a theory right now. He was too worried about his family.
"I'm just worried what the Volturi's presence will do to the boys in La Push," Esme sighed, thinking about how Garrett's presence had affected Quil and Embry. Carlisle frowned at that too, knowing that his wife had a point and he hated that it was their fault that the wolves had to deal with this.
"And tell me again why we can't just hunt and kill the three Volturi that are here?" Emmett asked. "It wouldn't really be that much of a challenge."
"We do not want to start a war, Emmett," Carlisle said sternly. "It is not something that I would ever allow."
"You do know that by the end of this, we probably will be making an enemy of them anyway?" Jasper pointed out. "The sheer number of mature vampires in our family is enough to guarantee that."
"I know," Carlisle sighed. "But I still hope to avoid fighting if I can help it. I also don't think that Aro would be as interested in, and hopefully not as fearful, of our family as he was in the book. Tanya had said that they know about Alice's ability to see the future but that is it, they don't know about Jasper, Edward and especially not Bella."
"You know that Alice's ability was the one that he was looking forward to seeing the most, right?" Edward pointed out.
Of course I do, Carlisle thought and then said, "But we would still pose less of a threat to them when there is only one vampire with an ability as opposed to half our family with one."
"That's nice and all, but what if they already thought that we were a danger and decided to call the rest of the Volturi here and that's what they're waiting for?" Emmett questioned.
"I would have seen that," Alice rolled her eyes.
"Oh, right," Emmett sighed in defeat. I really can't stand this, what are they waiting for... why don't they just come already?
"Perhaps they are waiting for us to relax," Edward said thoughtfully. "They must have noticed that we're pretty much in a strong position..."
"Hm... you might have a point," Jasper agreed. "They probably were already wary about the fact that we outnumbered them, but add to it that we're on our land... they must be really nervous about that."
"Maybe we should send someone over to talk to them," Emmett suggested with a smirk.
"No," Edward and Esme said at the same time, neither one trusting the Volturi enough to risk the safety of anyone.
"Fine, then we'll just wait here like chumps," Emmett pouted.
O
"And why are we still watching them?" Felix asked for what felt like the millionth time.
"Because something isn't right here," Demetri answered.
"I swear, if you ask that one more time, you will be sorry," Jane said glaring at him in annoyance. She wasn't exactly pleased with just sitting here either, but she did see Demetri's point. There was just something strange about this town. For one thing, there was a scent present here that was quite offensive and made only more annoying because she couldn't figure out where it was coming from. The worst of it was that she couldn't really track the scent because there were so many different intercepting paths it made it difficult to know where it was coming from and because they were there because of the golden-eyed vampires she didn't pursue it. Still, that didn't stop her from coming up with the conclusion that it was some kind of animal that roamed around this town, perhaps this was why the strange vampires stayed here.
"It's been a week already, what more do you think you're going to find out by just watching them?" Felix was annoyed, but looking at Jane warily, hoping she wouldn't take offense to that.
"I just don't understand it," Demetri frowned. When they had first arrived, apart for the weird animal smell, they had discovered an exceptionally good human scent. This scent was almost always mixed with the scent of one of the vampires in particular, but sometimes there were the other vampire scents near it. The scent had faded after the first few days that they were here, though they could tell where it was now. "How could they actually have a human living with them?"
"You don't know the human is still alive," Felix pointed out.
"Yes I do," Demetri said, "whenever we get near the place the scent is still strong."
"I know," Felix said, licking his lips. "I really can't understand these golden-eyed freaks. The scent is driving me mad and I haven't even seen this human."
"Demetri, I don't think I can stand waiting much longer," Jane said impatiently. "We should just get going already."
Demetri sighed, "Fine, but I still don't like this... I feel as if we're missing something."
"Whatever," Felix said now smiling. "Do you think they'll let me take a bite out of the human..."
Demetri rolled his eyes and then started running towards the house they had been keeping an eye on for the last week.
O
"They're coming," Alice sighed looking worried. She hated that she couldn't see anything after the Volturi first arrived, knowing that no decisions had been made yet.
"Finally," Emmett said and Edward hissed at him.
"We're meeting them outside," Alice informed them, and no one argued as they all got up and went to the front yard to wait for the Volturi. Jasper, Alice (who Jasper insisted would be next to him) and Carlisle were standing in the front as Edward and Bella were behind them, Edward standing in front of her in a defensive stance. Esme was standing slightly behind Bella and Edward, looking wary as Emmett and Rosalie made up the rear.
It was only a few seconds after they got into place that the vampires could sense the Volturi and then quite suddenly they were standing a mere twenty feet from the Cullens.
"You look quite defensive," pointed out the biggest of the visiting vampires. He was smirking, his dark red eyes were fixed on Bella, who tried to stop herself from shivering with little success.
"Hmph," Emmett huffed, causing the big vampire to look at him, still smirking. Emmett hated that he was asked to stand in the back, but he agreed with Jasper that it was best to keep Bella surrounded.
"We have not come here to fight," the other man said, he wasn't quite as big as his friend but he was tough looking, obviously a seasoned fighter. He then turned to Carlisle and said, "It's nice to see you again, Aro sends his regards."
"It is nice to see you as well, Demetri," Carlisle said with a smile that looked natural, though of course he had forced it onto his face. "And I would like you to convey to Aro my regards as well."
Jane's sigh of annoyance prompted Demetri to get to the point.
"I'm sure you are aware of why we are here by now?" Demetri said, his eyes traveling unconsciously towards Bella. I just don't get it, her scent is even more intoxicating up close and yet it's clear that none of them have a desire to hurt her. These golden-eyes truly are strange creatures.
Edward had to force himself not to react to Demetri's thoughts, which wasn't so difficult. No, it was Felix's thoughts that had him balling his fist, clenching his teeth together.
She's rather good looking for a human, and I can smell her fear from here, Felix thought, his attention back on Bella completely. Mouthwatering, truly mouthwatering. I hope they try something so I can taste her...
Edward felt Bella grab his cold hand and he didn't shake her off. He was still in a defensive crouch, but he didn't want to act rashly and holding her hand would prevent him from doing that. The contact had also stopped the growl that was building in his chest as he listened to Felix's thoughts.
"We were informed it had something to do with James," Jasper answered Demetri in a cold voice not faking the disgust he felt when he said the name. "But I don't see why you have come here, we have done nothing wrong."
"Not with regard to James, anyway," Jane said, her eyes traveling to Bella. I really should punish them for this, but all in good time, she thought as Edward growled at both the thought and the look that Jane was giving Bella. Jane's lips twitched upward smirking at Edward. Pathetic, he thinks he'll be able to defend her, this should be fun.
Bella tensed as she looked at Jane's smirk, feeling fear fill her. She half expected Edward to fall down in pain, and felt relieved when he didn't. Still, she knew she couldn't count on the fact that something like that wouldn't happen at some point, and dread filled her even more than before. That horrible girl was going to hurt her Edward, she knew it, and there was nothing she could do. She didn't have any control over the ability that was inside her, that would protect her from Jane's wrath. She closed her eyes in frustration at herself, hating that she would be useless to help. However, it was then that Emmett's words during their many practice sessions to see if she could manifest her abilities as a human came back to her. 'You just have to let your anger take over, Bella,' Emmett had repeated over and over again.
So that's what she did, she tried to let her anger take over as she looked at the smirk on Jane and Felix's faces. She tried to tell herself that they wanted to hurt her family. She tried to think about protecting Edward so that he would be able to destroy the Volturi if they even tried to hurt them. And mostly, she pushed out the fear that this was a futile exercise, because she was human and weak, there was no room to let her doubts take other. She had to fill her mind with red hot anger.
"We will get to that later," Demetri said, breaking Jane out of her thoughts. She shrugged; she could wait until Demetri got his information before she played with the vampires and their pet human.
Edward was barely able to keep himself from growling again, or more dangerous for them, from attacking Jane as he heard her thoughts.
"It is not normal behavior for one of our kind to hunt another across three states," Demetri said to Jasper. Hm, this guy really does seem quite capable, not someone I would want to face in normal circumstances, but being outnumbered like this he must be even more dangerous. He's obviously the most experienced fighter here. Jane should incapacitate him first if things turn to a fight.
As Demetri made a signal to Jane to relay his thoughts, Edward was about to clear his throat to try to inform Jasper of this as well. However, before he could do anything, Edward saw the vision of Demetri attacking Jasper, who was kneeling in pain.
Alice thoughts were very angry and protective as she squeezed Jasper's hand in a way that made her point clear. Edward wondered, as he looked through Demetri's eyes, how Alice had the strength to not show her emotions after that vision, even with her decades of practice keeping her face straight while she had a vision.
"He once hunted my mate, I would hunt him across the world if I had to," Jasper said in a furious tone, his eyes showing his anger. Edward was actually rather pleased that this was completely true, for it made everything that Jasper said sound more believable.
"But she was human at the time," Felix said looking confused, his eyes again traveling to Bella, as if the two things were connected. "Wasn't his interference the reason why you two were able to meet in the first place?"
"He left her alone!" Jasper snapped and everyone looked at him, as his anger filled everyone else. Alice squeezed his hand, trying to make him control himself, the last thing they needed was for the Volturi to get angry, causing them to want to fight even more. Jasper took a deep breath, as he regained his sense of calm. As soon as he had, he started to send that emotion out, as he had been doing ever since the Volturi got there, but it was become difficult for him to do so.
"She had no memory of being human, no idea what she was," Jasper continued to speak; his voice was barely a whisper but his eyes conveyed the pain and fury he felt about this.
Esme sighed, she knew that he had taken this hard at the time, but she hadn't realized just how upset Jasper truly was about what had happened in Alice's past.
"She was alone and terrified," Jasper finished holding Alice closer to him as he kept his eyes on all of the Volturi. "It matters little that he hunted her as a human, or that he was part of the reason that I got to meet her! I cannot stand what she had to go through when she was a newborn because of him!"
"I see," Demetri said. Hm, when he puts it like that it does sound like a good reason to hunt someone down. Still, I don't really understand how they knew that James was the one that instigated the girl's transformation if she didn't remember anything.
"How did you even know it was him?" Felix blurted out what Demetri was thinking, causing the tracker to roll his eyes. He was going to ask that in a much more tactful way, but that's all ruined now.
"I was curious about my past," Alice was the one to answer that. "It was starting to annoy me that I didn't know anything, so I started trying to find out more about myself."
"And I bet your fortune telling skill came in handy then," Felix said and Demetri shot him a sharp look, obviously not pleased by the bigger vampire's comment.
"As a matter of a fact it did," Alice said. "I was able to find several things out, which eventually led me to James."
"And when you found him, you killed him," Demetri stated.
"We listened to what he had to say," Alice shrugged.
"We had already heard some of the things that had happened and were quite convinced that he would be better off dead," Jasper added coldly. "If you ask me, the world is a better place without him."
"You are right," Demetri agreed. "He was becoming much too aggressive for any of our good. He even had the audacity to kill one of our trackers, which Aro was quite displeased about upon hearing."
"Then why did you even come here if you're pleased that James was killed?" Emmett grumbled and Edward hissed. His brother really didn't have to ask every question that went through his head.
"We just wanted to talk to the people that did our job for us," Jane said in a sweet voice and Edward's eyes focused on her. He could tell that it was her turn to take over the conversation now. "It's not every day that we are made to feel useless."
"Well that was all that we have come here for," Demetri said, but contrary to what he was saying, his body seemed to tense. He too seemed to realize that Jane was going to take over and he was preparing himself for a confrontation.
"However, there is the small matter of the human that we need to discuss," Jane said coldly. "The fact that you chased a fellow vampire across the country may not have been illegal..."
"Though I would advise you not to do anything so dramatic again, for you aroused quite a lot of attention throughout our community," Demetri commented.
Jane looked at him coldly for interrupting her before she continued where she left off. "However, telling a human about us…is!"
"That's not strictly true," Carlisle said in a calm voice, not showing any of the fear he was feeling. "I believe there are a few humans in Volterra that know about vampires..."
"That is different," Jane said coldly. "They are under the belief that we will actually turn them into vampires. Not to mention they know what would happen to them if they even thought of breathing a word of this to anyone.
"I have heard plenty about you, Carlisle. You do not have the instincts necessary to deal with the problem if your human chose to tell your secret," Jane said, her voice was still cold, but her lips started to edge upward into a smile.
"She is my mate! I will not let anything happen to her!" Edward declared.
"You mated with a human!" Felix snorted, leering at Edward as he thought of just how mated they were. Edward had difficulty not glaring at Felix, or more likely attacking him for the filthy thoughts going through his head, but he couldn't take his eyes off Jane, she was the greater danger by far.
"That only proves my point more, you would not do anything to her if she were to tell anyone about vampires," Jane said smirking again.
Edward could feel Bella's grip on his hand shaking in fear as Jane's eyes focused on him. He heard Jane's thought a second before a burning sensation filled his insides, and he fell to the ground. He was in pain, that was for sure, but it wasn't nearly as bad as he had expected it to be. In fact he was sure that he would have been able to fight back if she were to draw nearer to him. He screamed though, keeping his intense pain filled eyes on Jane as her smirk grew.
That's right, scream like all the others, Jane's thoughts filled his head as he felt Bella kneel next to him.
"Edward!" she screamed, he could smell salt, knowing that she was crying now. "Stop it! Please!"
The rest of his family was thinking along the same lines, especially Esme, but they didn't say anything. They knew it would do little to sway Jane.
The pain stopped then as Jane looked at Bella again, you're right, little girl, you deserve to feel my wrath as well.
Edward squeezed Bella's hand painfully causing Bella to scream just at the right time to fool Jane to believe that she was the one causing the pain. Edward then wrapped Bella in his arms, she was still screaming, faking that she was in pain for the Volturi's benefit, as Edward muttered in a dread filled voice for Jane to stop, for her to at least torture him instead.
The rest of the Cullens growled in unison then as Felix and Demetri crouched.
"Bella doesn't pose any danger to us, stop this now!" Carlisle begged and Jane looked at him.
"You can't guarantee that," the sadistic vampire said.
"You have been here for the last week, you've checked out for yourself that none of the other humans around here know about vampires," Alice nearly growled.
"That doesn't mean that she won't tell in the future," Jane said. "This problem needs to be dealt with now."
"However, seeing as no real harm has been done, you could just transform her into a vampire now," Demetri said. "I don't understand why you haven't yet if she is your mate."
"Because we didn't want to cause a scene," Edward said, he was still on the ground holding Bella close to him, his eyes still on Jane. "It would have been suspicious if she just disappeared..."
"It happens all the time," Demetri said shrugging. "It's not like it would draw too much attention to you."
"Actually, that not entirely true," Carlisle said. "We live quite differently than you do, or I should say as most of our kind do. We are able to settle down in a home for several years without drawing attention to ourselves. If Bella would have disappeared, there was a chance that we might have been suspected, especially after all the time our family was seen around her."
"I see, you're not willing to transform her then," Demetri said. "That leaves us with only one thing to do..."
Again everyone tensed.
"Wait," Carlisle said hastily. "We didn't say that we weren't willing to transform her. We are just waiting for the best time to do so. Edward and Bella are planning on getting married soon, after which we are planning on making her a vampire."
"I still don't understand why you would wait," Felix said.
"Because this way the humans that Bella knows won't get suspicious, she will just simply faze them out of her life in a natural way," Carlisle said. "No one will know what has happened."
"That actually sounds reasonable," Demetri said.
"What?" Jane and Felix said.
Demetri's eyes flickered over to Jasper, and then to Edward and Emmett, I don't like the thought of having to face so many at once, even with Jane and Felix here to help. We can inform Aro of what we have learned here and if he wants to do something different we will, but for now it would be best to get out of here. "Seeing as the human is the mate of one of our kind and that they have plans to change her in the near future, I don't think we have anything else to say here."
"But..." Felix started to say, truly wanting to fight.
Jane looked around at the many vampires before her, she didn't like to admit this but she didn't like the odds against them that much herself. "Very well, but be warned that this is not over, we will want to hear that your human has been transformed, and if you cause any more trouble we will come back!"
"I understand," Carlisle nodded his head solemnly.
The Cullens all watched the Volturi go, looking relieved as soon as they were out of range, that this was over and nothing too terrible had happened.
"Well, that was a bit anticlimactic," Emmett was the first one to speak.
"Come on, you know the Volturi are a bunch of cowards when it comes down to something like this," Jasper smiled.
"Hmph," Alice huffed, she was keeping her focus on the Volturi in case they changed their minds and decided to come back. She was also thinking about the vision she had of them attacking Jasper, which made her very irritable.
"They were particularly afraid of you, Jazz," Edward said, feeling the relief that Jasper was feeling being pushed onto him, and he assumed everyone else. He, however, was with Alice, he wasn't about to relax yet. He then looked down at Bella, who was holding her hand that he had squeezed. "I'm sorry... did I hurt you?"
Bella bit her lip and looked into his eyes, knowing that she couldn't lie to him, she said, "a little."
"I'm sorry," Edward said pressing his cold lips against her hand. "I just didn't think it would be good if Jane, and Aro, knew that you are able to block her power."
"Why not?" Emmett pouted. "It would have been priceless to see her expression when nothing happened to Bella!"
"Be that as it may, it's safer for all of us that Jane doesn't know that," Esme said frowning at Emmett. "Though I must say that it gave me a fright seeing Bella in pain especially after watching..." she turn her head away then, she had reasoned that Bella was faking (though fearing that something had gone wrong and she hadn't been) but she knew Edward's pain was real.
"Actually it wasn't that painful," Edward announced. "I was expecting it to be a lot worse than it was."
"But you were screaming so much," Bella said looking at him, her lips trembling.
"Most if it was a show," Edward shrugged. "I hate giving the sadistic vampire what she wanted, but again I thought it was safer for all of us if Jane didn't know that. Did you have something to do with that?"
"Um... I don't know," Bella said thoughtfully. "I was trying to get really angry, remembering that that would help... and right before you collapsed, Jane's smirk really did push me over the edge... But I'm still human, I couldn't possible have shielded you."
"Bella, Bella, Bella, I thought you would have learned by now that there isn't anything you can't do," Edward smiled at her, kissing her briefly.
"So you weren't in that much pain," Esme said and Edward nodded his head causing her to sigh in relief. "You don't have to act so well next time, you really made me worry."
"Sorry," Edward smiled.
"It seems like they're really going," Alice said suddenly, having a vision of them catching a flight in Seattle, which they were already running towards.
"I do hope that's the last we'll hear from the Volturi," Esme sighed.
"As if," Rosalie said. "You heard Jane's warning..."
"Yes, I would say that we're now on the Volturi's list of potential threats," Jasper said. "And it really doesn't help that they know about Alice."
"Well, we'll just have to hope it will take them longer to form a grudge against us," Carlisle sighed heavily. "There is nothing we can do about it now."
"And there are still plenty of things we have to look forward to in the next few months," Esme said.
"That's true," Alice said, her eyes going wide, "and we've already lost a whole week of wedding preparation because of all of this! Bella, there is so much we have to discuss!"
"Edward, get me out of here," Bella said, gulping exaggeratedly as she looked at Alice's expression.
"Sorry little sister, there's no running from Shorty when she's like this," Emmett chuckled along with the rest of the family. Soon after that they returned to the house.
A/N: Well there's the Volturi conflict dealt with, sorry for all of you that hoped that this would come to a fight but first of all I honestly don't think the three Volturi would have started a fight against seven opponents (unless Alec was there, which he is not). Not to mention that if the Cullens had killed three of Aro's favorites, there would surely have been an even bigger fight and that would have messed with the time line of wedding and pregnancy and I didn't want to deal with that. I hope no one is disappointed about this outcome. Well anyway, the next chapter will have the wedding along with other things in it and if everything goes to plan there will only be a total of four more chapters.