A/N: I have so far tried to stick (well as best as I can remember) to the way things happened in the books. But things are about to change a tiny bit (ok a huge bit, but I could not find another way to do it.)
15 - The guardians
The last week of December, possibly the last week of my life was exceptionally cold. All the weathermen were predicting snow soon, Christmas came and went. It was muddy and brown, not that we really felt like celebrating. It had rained and frozen over a couple of times, but the little amount of the white stuff that had fallen did not stay around for very long. Instead it melted and refroze into even more ice. Usually my father would grumble and groan while he dragged out the decorations, and Seth and I would be in charge of setting up the year we did not bother with a tree, my mother put out a couple of cards relatives had sent us this year and that was the extent of our holiday spirit..
Maybe I would get to see the world blanketed with snow before I died. That would be nice to see for one last time. Patrols had become my life now, I did nothing else.
My brother caught up with me and butted my side with his huge head. Cheer up Leah, we still could win this.
Seth and his ever present optimism could be grating at times. I mean, how happy could you be when you were looking at imminent death? Maybe he did get dropped on his head a lot.
Look on the bright side, if things really go wrong we get to kill as many vampires as we want. Embry added, already thinking of pitting his strength against skilled vampires. He had thought the fight versus the newborns this spring had been too easy but I guess he was not the one that practically broke every bone on one side of his body.
Why did you have to join Jake's pack? Could you not have stayed with Sam? I grumbled for the millionth time in my mind.
Yeah let's all go back to Sam's pack cause I really miss Paul, Quil interrupted.
Anytime you wanna see him just come by my house. Jake thought about the fact that Paul had practically moved in. I guess we were so busy arguing I did not hear him phasing.
JAKE! Now the entire gang is here. Seth thought loudly. He even jumped up and down with little excited yips. I did not think a wolf the size of Seth could possibly make a noise that high but unfortunately I was wrong. Seth was doing a really good chihuahua impression.
Time for the games to begin, Embry added excitedly.
I could hear Jake's mental sigh, even though these guys were his best buds I think they still irritated him half the time. The problem was that tempers were running short as we approached what Embry liked to call V-day.
Yeah well we irritate you all the time, Embry thought helpfully in my direction.
Congratulations, you want a cookie? I asked him.
Jake, Quil, and I were the only members of this pack who seemed to have any grasp of the current situation. For Jake and Quil they had the added worry of their mates, both were being driven nearly insane at the thought of what could happen if we failed at stopping the Volturi.
We were practicing again today, it had become a routine thing to do before our patrols. Incase it came down to a fight we would need to maximize the damage we would inflict so learning to work as a team was important.
We ran through drills, it was the first time all day that Embry got serious.
Maybe next time we could get the big guy, Emmett to come practice with us. Embry suggested hopefully as our practice wound down. You know just so we can get used to fighting vampires.
This is not a game, Jake was getting a little more than frustrated. The weeks of worry were starting to put a major strain on him. Not to mention the fact that he did not get to see Nessie as often as he wished. He pulled himself together, and pushed the thought of how best to murder Embry out of his mind.
There is no way you would take me. But you are welcome to try. Embry thought hopping up and down.
I will help you hold him down. I started thinking of various strategies to pin him down.
That offer is very tempting Leah. I will have to decline for now. Jake considered the possibility of a tussle, but as nervous as we were things might get out of hand and someone might get hurt.
Time to start our patrols, I suggested.
Hey what was your mom cooking for dinner? Quil asked. It was barely six in the morning but he was already thinking about dinner.
Brussels sprouts and artichokes. Memories of eating artichokes flooded my mind, along with the man who had introduced me to them. I quickly pushed them back. He was gone, I had said my goodbyes even if they were not really all that eloquent.
Maybe you should call him, you have his cell phone number right? Seth suggested. At least you can say merry christmas or something.
Oh and tell him to bring food. If his cooking is half as good as your memories I want some. Embry was reflecting back my own memories of dinners with Phil. I have to admit I did miss the food, but not as much as I missed the man.
I think Embry here is trying to compete with Paul for the most annoying wolf award. Quil was the quietest of our bunch, but when he did say something it was usually worth listening to. Unlike Embry.
Hey I heard that, Embry complained trying to bite me. But I twisted out of the way and ran towards the underbrush. There was one good thing about being one of the smaller wolves. I could run past places that none of the bigger guys could fit through. Embry finally gave up trying to catch up with me. Slowpoke.
He only responded with a mental growl.
All right, time to go do our jobs. Stay safe guys, don't do anything stupid. Jake started dividing up the territory we were responsible for watching over.
I don't think Embry is able to follow that rule. I was a good mile away from him now, so broadcasting such thoughts was completely safe.
Leah! You are supposed to be one of the more mature ones here. Jake was getting really exasperated.
I am only pointing out the truth. There was only a slight snicker to my thoughts.
It was late afternoon before we were relieved by some members of Sam's pack. They were mostly the newly changed younger ones, I considered staying around just in case something happened but I was too exhausted. At this point I was so tired it would not bother me if an entire coven of vampires tore through the rez and killed everyone, so long as they did not wake me up. Seth had gone to do another circuit with Jake and so he was further out, I would beat him home.
Get some sleep, Jake commanded knowing that this was one of the few times I would actually obey a command without making a fuss.
Will do, oh great and glorious leader. I had perfected sarcasm in my thoughts a while back. I hoped Jake and the rest of the pack truly appreciated my expertise level.
Yeah we do, I could practically see Jake roll his eyes.
As I approached the back door of the house I noticed something strange in the front yard. I did not get a good look at it at first, since the house blocked most of my view. It was not until I moved around the house a little that I figured out what it was. A strange car.
It was a beat up looking VW bug, one of the ones that was so popular in the 70s or something. My tired mind could not recall the specifics, but it was easy to surmise that this car was probably around to see those times. There were several rusty spots, the driver door was a grey color while the frame seemed to be a beige. The hood was a faded red.
I did not know who this car belonged to and I did not want to find out. I was not in the mood for company. The other problem was I had no clothes, so my options were to enter the house naked or as a big wolf. I could not see either option working out well, so I reluctantly turned around and started to run back to the tree line.
"Leah, wait." I heard my mother call from the back door. Only my wolf hearing allowed me to make out what she had said.
I turned back and phased to human behind some bushes. "I am just leaving, I might go crash at Jake's place." I thought of that plan but then changed my mind. Paul was there and at this point I was grumpy enough to do the world a huge favor and take him out.
"Why are you leaving Leah?" My mother was walking a little closer to me a curious look on her face.
"Shh they will hear you." I scolded.
"Who will hear me?" She looked utterly confused. "You know the neighbors are too far away."
"The person whose car is in the front drive." I pointed out the obvious.
That is when my mother laughed, a real genuine hold your stomach and cry laugh. I had not heard her laugh this hard since before my father had died.
I just stood there, my tired mind not understanding what was so funny, maybe the stress of our current situation had finally gotten to her and she had finally snapped.
It took her a while to calm down long enough to explain to me who the owner of the car was. Me. It was a belated christmas present combined with and early college present.
"Mom, I don't think I will make it long enough to go to college." I said quietly. Only now when there was no possibility of a future did I start realizing that I had rebuilt my castle. This time there was no prince involved, it was made of my dreams, only my dreams. I tried not to think of everything I would miss. I was nineteen, I was not ready to die yet, I had only now started to live again.
"There is always hope Leah." My mother said in almost as quiet a voice. She got a funny look on her face.
"What is it now mom?" I asked worried.
"Maybe you can just gather up your stuff and head to Seattle. Today, right now. It is a big enough town, they would probably not find you there." I could hear the desperation in her voice. "Just take off and never come back."
I looked at her speechless for a minute.
"Umm.. your papers are here, Phil dropped them off for you before he headed out." Her speech was start to sound a little more frantic now. She was half babbling. "You did not tell me you had a scholarship, I have all the information. I even have the information about finding a dorm. You also have an appointment on January 5th with an advisor."
I listened for minute and imagined what it would be like to just take off. Throw some clothes in that car and head to Seattle and to a future. I could go to college, I could go travel and see the places I had only read about or seen on TV. "I wish I could mom and it is very tempting but I have a job to do."
"According to whom?" My mother demanded. "That teenager Sam? Or the stories which have been passed down and distorted for god only know how many generations?"
"Mom, we have the power to possibly make a difference, no one else can do that. Anyway what would happen if I left, if I managed not to get caught, how would I live? Always on the run? More importantly how could I live with the fact that I left my family behind." That would not be a life, merely a half existence. I would be worse than the life the vampires lived.
I could see the tears in my mother's eyes. "You and Seth are the only ones I have left, now that your father is gone. I am a mother, there is nothing I would not do to protect the two of you. In this situation all I can do is sit back and watch you go to your possible death." Her sigh sounded suspiciously like a sob. "How about an Alaskan Cruise? We could all go together?" Her laugh sounded utterly fake even to my tired senses.
"Alaska is all frozen over right now, think more Caribbean Cruise, plus it would be on the other side of the continent." I modified the plan a bit. While we were dreaming, might as well go for it.
"And sunny, vampires don't really like the sun." My mother pointed out with a watery smile.
We went to look at my new car, the one that I would not be using as my method of escape. We drove around the neighborhood once. The car sounded terrible but it ran, I figured it would probably behove me to convince Jake to take a look at it. He seemed to know a great deal more than I did about cars. That would all have to come after, if there was an after.
I finally woke up enough to realized that I had not actually thanked my mother for the car. "Thanks for the car mom." I said giving her a hug.
We both knew I was thanking her for more than just the car. I was really thanking her for trying to protect me.
The first morning of the new year dawned bright with a great deal of promise. I had woken up early to see the sunrise, there were very few clouds today to block the sun's rays. For the first time in weeks we were going to have a day filled with sunshine. Mother nature was messing with me, she did not seem to realize what was just over the horizon.
There was fresh snow on the ground, it had completely blanketed my little piece of the world - this small portion that I might have to give my life to defend on this day. If Alice's predictions were true the Volturi would be here today.
Seth found me on a rock staring at the sky trying my best not to be consumed by my fears.
Come on let's go. He was hopping around me, his enthusiasm was out of place.
Geez are you this excited to go meet your death? I asked him. I seriously needed some of the crack he was on.
Seth just wagged his tail and attempted to do a doggie back flip. He landed on his rump, and then whined because he hurt it.
Jake is already there, probably getting the good seats too. Embry chimed in as soon as he phased.
Quil phased right after him, he was even more quiet than usual this morning. He was thinking of what would happen to his Claire if things went wrong. This one time I was glad that I had not found my mate, I had enough reasons to worry without adding another person to the bunch.
Jake had spent the night near the clearing, we were supposed to meet up with him there. It did not take us long to get near the place, even with trying to stay downwind of everyone. It would kind of ruin the surprise if they smelt us before we wanted to announce our presence.
So there we were sulking in the bushes, I was glad I had not eaten anything for breakfast because my stomach was doing summersaults.
Jake and Sam had been talking furiously all morning, making and adjusting plans. It was kind of strange to hear them talk because we only heard Jake's side of the conversation. But it was pretty obvious that Sam was being his usual bossy self, trying to make everyone line up just the way he wanted them.
Sam kept shifting the group so we could stay downwind of the clearing. The vampires from our side were all already there. The stench of that many of them was overwhelming, I could see some of the younger wolves from Sam's pack were getting a little antsy. Those of us who had fought against the newborns were a little better at hiding our jittery feeling, but I pitied the younger kids. They must be scared out of their minds, not that I was any different.
I don't know why Sam brought them, they would be of little help in a fight.
By showing up here we reveal our existence to the vampires. If things go badly leaving them behind would have not helped. This way we can bolster the numbers and make us look stronger than we really are. I had not heard Jake string together this many words in a while.
Wow you have really given this a lot of thought. Seth sounded as impressed as I was.
We are putting all our eggs in one basket. Embry added helpfully.
Even though I knew the reason for it, the constant jostling and moving about to stay downwind was driving me insane.
The worst part was that Paul for some reason had decided his furry ass had to be right in front of my nose. I butted him a few time with my head to get him to freaking move, but that only seemed to encourage him. For a moment I considered bitting him in the ass.
Ewww. No way was I going to put any part of Paul into my mouth. Hey Jake tell Sam he is about to lose a pack member if he does not get his ass out of my face.
Jake chuckled for a moment, but much to my relief he send the message along. Paul stopped trying to rub his ass in my nose. Personal hygiene was not one of his strong suits.
Jake stayed with us off and on but he was getting fidgety too. He was too far away from Nessie, he would never make it if someone tried to attack her.
I am going to go stand up front with the vampires. He said seconds before he loped off to stand next to Bella who was holding Nessie, not that it lasted long. Edward pointed out that he was out in the open. Jake finally found the closest bush to his mate and tried to make himself as small as possible.
There was one major benefit to Jake standing with the vampires. Our view of what was going on got a lot better. Not that there was anything to see, just a bunch of vampires waiting for their death.
All of a sudden Edward looked to the north. Jake could not see anything in that direction when he tried. But maybe Edward was only hearing their thoughts, according to Jake he could hear thoughts of people before he could necessarily see them.
A few moments later Jake saw them, flowing out of the trees into the clearing. The Volturi. The big mass of them had dark cloaks and hoods covering their pale faces. The smoothness with which they moved was extremely disconcerting.
For a moment I tried comparing this to my memories of how the newborn army had moved. They had come like a mob, plowing through the trees with only a primitive goal. Kill. These guys had the same goal, kill, but they were going to play some games first. They moved like one entity, a river of darkness that was drowning out the white of the snow. It also felt like they were somehow displacing all the sunlight that had been streaming down onto the clearing. Even my usually optimistic brother could not think of anything good about their appearance.
Jake heard some muttering from the vampires that had chosen to stand with the Cullens. A general theme of pessimism seemed to blanket their words.
"The wives," one of our leeches said.
The leeches have wives? Embry was as surprised as I was. Maybe that would be a weakness, someplace we could hit them.
"The entire guard," the same vampire commented. I should have learned the names of the vampires who were technically our allies. But all I needed to know was their scents, those were the asses I was not supposed to take chunks out of. From the looks of it I would have plenty to choose from that were not our allies.
As the mass advanced forward some of the center ones with even darker cloaks moved out and started for the front of the procession.
That was when we noticed the rest of them. Even more vampires were moving out of the woods. We stood absolutely no chance, I swallowed the small whimper that almost escaped my throat. These new ones were not cloaked, they seemed curious and expectant. They almost looked like spectators.
Like they are waiting to watch the show. Quil observed, bitterness overtaking his thoughts.
"Alistair was right," Edward murmured.
What the fuck was Alistair right about? Embry was getting pissed. I heartily agreed with the sentiment. Jake was too distracted by the horde of vampires in front of him to pay attention to us.
"They - Caius and Aro - come to destroy and acquire." Edward went on further to explain how they planned to take us down. I twitched, itching to rip a throat out. Maybe I should have found a blowtorch somewhere. Even if I could rip these guys apart their buddies would just piece them together.
A blowtorch would have been cool. Seth's unexpected thoughts egged on my fantasies.
Everyone move out into the clearing on the count of three. Jake ordered.
One, two, move up.
En masse the werewolves make their presence known. I could almost see the entire vampire crowd on the other side of the field take a mental step back.
Yeah baby we are badass, you want some of this. Embry gave his best wolfy grin to the crowd.
Hey Embry cut it out or I might ask Sam to trade you for Paul. I tried to shove him a little to get him to take this seriously. Fortunately for us he looked more menacing than happy when smiling in wolf form so maybe the guys on the other side would think he was growling.
I was tempted to take a bite out of his flank as he shoved me back with a playful yip. Surely it could not be as nasty as Paul's?
"They have never been outnumbered before. That is what stopped them." Edward murmured quietly.
Outnumbered? They considered this outnumbered. One of the vampires standing next to Edward echoed my sentiment.
The fact that they had paused was a good thing, that had been a crucial factor of the plan. Getting the window of opportunity to plead our case.
Carlisle began to speak in a welcoming voice. I don't know how he did it, how could he possibly his tone sound so cordial, I would have been telling them to go fuck themselves.
The word games began, the Volturi sounded so perfectly amiable. Like they were just meeting for tea, Carlisle's british accent came out more strongly adding to the illusion of afternoon tea in a small garden. I had never heard him use that accent before, it might have been because of the stress of the situation.
The accusations begin to fly, I could see through Jake's eyes how greedy and curious one of them looked. The other two of the trio that appeared to be in charge looked utterly bored, but I could see their blood red eyes shifting around. The boredom was just a facade, they were searching around for a weakness in our armor. I guess they did not like the fact that this was not going to be as easy a battle as they had originally anticipated.
I stood there trying to look as menacing as possible when it hit me. They want what Carlisle had, they wanted Edward for his ability to read thoughts.
They also wanted Alice for her ability to see the future. Seth added, they would probably want Jasper too but not as much as Alice. Did you see them searching the crowd for her? They are stupid, they do not understand where the true strength of the Cullens lie.
The fact that they are a family. It had taken me a while but I realized that is what made them work. They were part of a family and even though they had disagreements they always stuck together. I got the impression that while the three leaders stuck together it was because of their mutual powers, if things got bad they would not hesitate to betray each other.
Kind of makes you wonder about Alice leaving, she probably has some rescue mission up her tiny sleeves. Seth observed.
Bella is her best friend, it was kind of strange for her to just up and leave. Jake added, finally paying attention to our mental conversation.
I felt a bubble of hope, maybe this thing was not as bad as I imagined it to be. Then I looked up at the sea of vampires facing our much smaller gorup. Actually it was much, much worse.
"Where is the informer? Let her come forward." one of the leeches, Caius I think is what Carlisle had called him, searched around.
I saw a leech hiding behind the others. Her eyes were not the blood red like the rest of them. They were the golden color of the abstaining vampires. This must have been the woman who started all this, Irina. The one whose boyfriend the pack had killed last spring.
We were totally justified in that, he was trying to kill Bella. I guess Irina had not seen it that way. Thanks to that bitch and her boy that was not able to keep his fangs to himself we now had to face a huge hoard of vampires.
Caius just walked over to her and slapped her. I must say we were all shocked at the casual and unprovoked violence. Her two sisters, Tanya and Kate, the ones standing next to Bella hissed. I could not blame them, even Jake who had every reason for hating this woman was taken aback.
Caius was not pleased with her for some reason. I guess she was not speaking fast enough?
She is not certain about Nessie being the child she saw. Jake made the connection for us.
That made sense, if Nessie had been an immortal child she should not have changed and Irina would have been able to easily identify her. However with her accelerated growth rate Nessie had gotten much bigger.
There was a small discussion, and one of the leaders called Edward forward - his hand extended waiting for Edward to touch him. The expression on his face was one of pure unadulterated greed.
That must be the leech that can read all the thoughts you have ever had simply by touching you. Jake informed us. Holy shit that was freaky, talk about the ultimate mind rape. I would take Edwards ability any day, at least you could hide your thoughts from him.
Edward leaned down, quickly kissing Bella and Nessie before he started striding across the field, his movements were slow and measured.
He had not taken half a dozen steps when we heard a strange sound.
Was that horses?
I don't know Quil, maybe. Seth was as confused as the rest of us.
Edward stopped in the middle of a step, and went utterly still. He was staring at the western portion of the clearing, we all were since that is where the noises had come from.
The crowd of spectators the Volturi had brought let out a murmur in surprise, they were starting to get a little nervous. The wanted the show they had been promised, the theater of watching this family get torn apart.
Three figures emerged out of the woods. They were covered from head to toe with a thick grayish cloth. There was not an inch of skin visible, they had long baggy grey pants, with a loose tunic over their torsos, and thick grey boots and gloves. They also wore the obligatory cloak that was required to attend this party, it too was grey.
Their faces was what made the hair really stand up on my back. Their faces were not visible, their heads underneath the hood of their cloaks were covered with bands of the same cloth that made up their clothing. It was wrapped around their eyes, mouth, and nose; they almost looked like the mummies you see in horror films. The only break in the grey motif of their clothing was the dark bands of leather crisscrossing their chests, these held the large swords strapped to their backs.
The memory of the swords hanging in the study at the cabin came to mind. But these were nothing like those delicate weapons. These things were huge, more like clubs than swords. I wondered how much strength it took to swing those things around, I did not think a human would be strong enough.
I don't think they are human, Seth pointed out quietly as his thoughts ran parallel to mine.
Their movements were somewhat jerky, a startling contrast to the graceful pageantry of the vampires. They were not all the same size either, two were about the same height, the one in the middle was a head or so taller.
All of a sudden they came to a jerky stop, and just froze. That was when the wind shifted and we smelled them. The putrid smell of death and decay that was emanating from those things was awful.
Holy shit, what is that? Embry thought.
I don't know but I sure as heck don't want to see them use those swords. Seth added, his thoughts seemed to reflect the confusion of the rest of us. Maybe they will use it on the Volturi. My ever optimistic brother would always see the best of things.
I could not seem to take my eyes off of those things but Jake spent a fraction of a moment to quickly glance at the Volturi, to see what they thought of the newest guests.
The two in the back had lost the placid and almost bored looks, instead there was stark fear in their eyes. The one in the front was still staring at Edward with avarice in his eyes.
Whose side are they on? And what are they? Jake was getting the right idea, we needed to know their allegiance.
I was starting to get really freaked out, who the fuck was bad ass enough to make the Volturi look like they were about to pee in their pants.
"The guardians," I heard Edward whisper.
What are the guardians? I had certainly never heard of them.
That was when we heard the horses again, this time much closer. From the confused look of the rest of the Cullens they did not know what these things were. Edward must have figured out their names from reading the Volturi's minds.
The underbrush parted again and something bigger came out. It was two figures on horseback.
It seemed that the entire pack saw them at the same time because we all started cursing at the same time.
What the hell!
Holy Shit!
Mother Fucker!
Yeah as a group we were certainly an eloquent bunch, but I would challenge anyone to come up with a coherent sentence just after seeing these things. I had thought the three head vampires of the Volturi were bad, with the falling apart rocky look, but they were nothing compared to these things.
I had never seen anything that old, they were wearing dresses so I assumed they were female. It was like seeing the human skeleton with a loose glob of skin poured on it. To say they looked old was an understatement, they looked like they should have been in the grave a good fifty years ago. Chunks of skin on top of their head were showing on account of the fact that patches of their hair was missing, but the other parts were flowing down their backs almost to the hem of their dresses.
The dresses were old looking, medieval, not that I knew much about the fashion of those times. One was wearing an elaborate deep blue dress, with silver trim, the other one was in green with gold trim. Both had on matching purple cloaks.
Wow that kind of clashes, maybe someone ought to go give them some fashion advice.
I felt Jake mentally roll his eyes at me.
The three hooded ones started to move again until they were standing about a yard away from Edward, in the middle of the field. I had to hand it to Edward, he did not flinch or step back as they approached - unlike the spectators who I noticed had started to disappear from the crowd behind the Volturi.
The two horses continued their journey, the old women riding them looked like they were going to fall off at any moment. There were several times where one or the other teetered precariously, fortunately they seemed to right themselves before they could plunge out of the side saddle. From the looks of things that small fall would have probably killed them.
One of the creatures, the one in the blue dress, made a weak sound of displeasure as it surveyed the Volturi army. It did not even bother looking our way, I guess we did not rate as important enough to notice. I was cool with that, don't mind us just go on about your business as usual - hopefully that involved thinning the Volturi numbers.
"Salve," blue dress greeted the Volturi crowd in a barely audible voice.
"Greetings Berenike, Metrodora" Only the one in the front spoke but all three Volturi bowed deferentially. "Such pleasure that we meet again." His tone sounded like he actually meant it.
I somehow doubted that.
"Ah you are using this new language," the one in the blue dress said. Was she the one in charge? Was that why she was doing the talking? "It is too hard to keep up with these new languages, they change before you can learn them properly." Her voice was as weak as her body looked.
There was more noise coming from where they had entered. Another horse came crashing through, this one only carried an empty saddle.
Green dress gave a hiss of displeasure, and flicked out her hand. Almost instantly one of the grey hooded things disappeared. The freakiest part is that it did not move at vampire speed, we would have been able to see that. It was almost like it just vanished into thin air, a moment later it reappeared with a large bundle in his arms, this one was wearing a red dress and of course the purple cloak.
"Get your stinking hands off of me," a new voice commanded, this one was stronger than those of the other woman. We all seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when the grey one flipped her over and set her on her feet, the newest addition was not one of the walking dead. We could not see her face on the account of the fact that her long dark hair was covering it but based on the shape of her body she looked young.
She is young, you can tell by the fact that all her skin is still attached to her body. Embry suggested helpfully.
The new one pushed her long dark locks of hair away from her face and looked around with large emerald green eyes. Upon seeing the green eyes I was reminded of the woman from my dreams, but no they were not the same. Those eyes had been a lighter color and had given the impression of camaraderie.
The dress she was wearing was a little too big for her and she kept fidgeting with it, pulling it back up before something vital could pop out.
I would not mind seeing that.
The rest of the pack all pulled back in disgust. Embry, you too must have gotten dropped on the head a lot as a kid. Did you have had the same babysitter as Seth?
What? She is hot! He protested vehemently, still thinking she looked sexy.
I could not think of anything to explain to him how disgusting he was so instead I paid attention to the scene in front of me.
"And who might this be?" one of Volturi leeches asked. The curious one, he had finally looked away from Edward. The creep was now assessing the newest addition to this party, it was obvious he was trying to figure out if he wanted to add her to his collection or not.
"I am Melissa and who is asking?" She grabbed her dress and made her way over to the leech that had asked the question. She tried her best to look down at the vampire assessing her, but she was too short and it also did not help that she tripped twice on the short walk over to him.
"She is in training, you must forgive her poor manners Aro," blue dress said.
"Berenike, I did not realize you had picked up an apprentice," Aro replied curiosity in his voice, his words identifying blue dress as Berenike.
"It is not working out as well as anticipated." she replied with clear displeasure. "But speaking of poor manners, you came all the way from Italy bringing all your family and guard. Yet you did not bother to contact us about your upcoming visit." The voice sounded weak but the underlying threat was hard to miss. They did not like the fact that the Volturi were here.
Sounds like the evil fairy godmother is pissed about not getting an invitation to the party. Seth added.
"We did not have time for the niceties, this is an emergency and time was short." Aro explained politely.
"Time is the only thing that we have an abundance of. And there is always time for good manners." Metrodora spoke. I did not think it possible but her voice sounded weaker than the other one's.
"Indeed, so you came all this way without sending a note and to make things worse you brought an army. May I ask what is the meaning of this?" Berenike continued.
"We are just taking care of a problem. Simply fulfilling the duty that you assigned to us." Aro said in an ingratiating tone.
There was a harrumph of disbelief from Berenike but it was Metrodora who spoke. "We helped you overthrow those fools over there," she pointed at a couple of vampires glaring at them from the edge, "so that you may bring a little more civility to your kind. We also asked you to help maintain the secret of the vampire world. Which one of those are you fulfilling here?"
"The most important one of course, keeping our existence a secret." Aro said with great authority.
"How is your secret in danger here?" Metrodora asked, she sounded genuinely confused. Yeah right. "Other than the glaringly obvious issue. Such a large group of your kind will surely draw notice."
"This group of vampires have created an immortal child." Caius pointed in our general direction.
"If I may speak..." Carlisle asked quietly.
"You will speak only when spoken to," Berenike cut him off harshly before he could mount any sort of defense. "Now I wish to know why an army is in my territory."
"We heard rumors of an immortal child, a witness came to us with evidence of such an egregious disregard for the rules. Step forward witness." Caius added trying to regain the ground they had been swiftly losing.
Cauis took a step towards Irina, she cringed for a fraction of a second before she went to stand in front of the horses.
"Well speak," Berenike prodded, her voice sounding impatient.
"I thought I saw an immortal child but I am not certain anymore." Irina said in a quiet voice trying to look as small as possible.
Metrodora made a noise, it sounded like she was choking but it might have been a laugh. "This is your witness? This is a reason you decided to invade us with no warning?"
"Carlisle you have broken the one rule of our kind. I must admit I am surprised at this, out of all the vampires you are the last one we expected to do this." Caius spoke trying to change the conversation away from the fact that they had annoyed the guardians.
"If you would listen I have not broken any rules." Carlisle pleaded quietly.
"What rule has he broken?" Metrodora asked cutting off anything that Carlisle could have possibly said.
"We have already explained, he created a immortal child." Aro pointed out the obvious.
"Really what makes you say that? Your witness seemed not to be so sure. Has anyone else seen this immortal child?" Metrodora looked around expectantly.
"Why there she is." Aro said pointing to where Bella was holding Nessie. I could almost detect a note of frustration in his expression but it was quickly erased.
"What? That young child? Are you getting stupid or are you just this incompetent. Anyone can tell that child is not an immortal, she is a hybrid." Metrodora said with a scoff and a wave of her skeletal hands.
Oh shit did she just put Aro in his place, this is freaking awesome. Embry was getting excited, but so were the rest of us. It looked like the guardians were going to make the arguments on behalf of Carlisle.
Aro's eyes narrowed at the insult but he perked up when he heard the last word. "Hybrid?"
"You surely know about the hybrids? One of you kind has been playing with them for centuries." Berenike looked down at Aro with a sneer.
Woaw you mean there are more Nessies out there in the world? Seth thought loudly.
"It is trickery," one of the other leeches said. "They are trying to fool us."
"So you have not heard of hybrids. How do you expect to be a good ruler when you don't even know what your people are doing?" Metrodora tisked.
"There is a, what is it that he calls himself...?" Berenike asked.
"A scientist, he resides in South America. He goes around impregnating human woman with his seed. A month or so later if she survives long enough the hybrid child rips through it's mother's abdomen and goes on its merry way." Metrodora finished with a smile, the rest of her body might be decaying but her teeth were perfect and white.
That psycho smile is kind of freaking me out here, Seth thought with a shudder.
The Volturi leeches tried to back off now, and started to blame Irina for their swift invasion instead of admitting their greed. The guardians, as Edward had called them did not seem to take very well to this idea.
I am not sure how it happened but all of a sudden the leeches came to the conclusion that the only way to fix the problem was to execute Irina. They were throwing words like "bearing false witness" around. Irina's sister had gotten to the point where all they could do was hiss.
"One moment, if you are going to dispose of her anyway we would like to keep her instead. We have not had the ability to play with one who abstains from human blood. We would like the opportunity to do this, the human drinkers tend to be a little too aggressive when captured." Berenike interrupted before the execution of Irina could take place.
"Of course, she could be a gift, if you would just forgive your most humble friends for our intrusion." Aro said with a calculated smile.
"You may proceed with the rest of your trial then," Berenike graciously allowed. Irina was bid to sit down at the feet of the grey cloaked ones, so that she could be taken away by the guardians when this was all over. I could tell her sisters were itching to run over there and grab her. The vampires on our side were using both words and their strength to prevent them from doing that.
I don't know, it might have been merciful to let die at the hands of the Volturi, Quil observed. The rest of us agreed with him, we did not want to know what they were going to do to her, but we knew it would not be pretty.
"We had not heard of this scientist, but we will investigate," Aro spoke too slowly for a vampire, he must be trying to get some time to think. He was still trying to figure out how to get a foothold, how to get his edge back - he wanted Edward to join his guard. The spectators in the back were getting a little worried as well, this had not turned out as they expected.
Aro looked over at us and I could almost see the lightbulb go off in his head. He turned away from the guardians and looked at Carlisle.
"Carlisle my friend you really do break our hearts associating with our enemy?" Aro pointed out, sounding almost forlorn. The shift in topics was somewhat abrupt, but he must be getting desperate and was not his usual smooth talking self.
"What enemy would that be?" Carlisle asked in a curious voice, though he surely knew the answer.
"The werewolves of course." Caius clarified waving his hand in our general direction a look hatred on his face. "Though it makes me wonder what they are doing shifted during the day."
It was Berenike that answered before Carlisle could actually say anything. "Are you really this ignorant? First you mistake a hybrid for an immortal child next, you mistake a shapeshifter for a werewolf."
"We are starting to question whether we made the right choice when giving you the responsibility of keeping the vampires' existence a secret." Metrodora added, her voice thick with disgust.
Aro's eyes flashed away from us and back to the prize he wanted, he was looking at Edward the way a child looks at a toy their parents refuse to buy - in this case I think Edward was the toy he wanted but he could see that mommy dearest was determined to say no to him. "My darlings it looks like our friend may have become our enemy. We are outnumbered..." Aro looked back at the group behind him.
The guard answered almost as one voice, "we will die to protect you master as well as protect the rules."
"Do you know the old saying Aro. The one about the snake?" Berenike asked in a friendly manner interrupting the pep session Aro was trying to give to his army.
"There are many sayings about a snake." Caius pointed out in a bored tone.
"When fighting a snake there is no need to keep poking him all over, you just cut off its head to kill it." Metrodora said with a small smile, showing off her freakishly perfect teeth.
The grey ones disappeared once again, only to appear right behind the three heads of the Volturi. Their swords were out, poised over the heads of the leeches, one swing and they would lose their heads.
And my wolf pack, myself included, went through another round of cursing. Holy shit if those things ever decided to attack us we did not stand a chance.
I wonder if those swords could cut though a vampire's skin? Jake wondered as we watched the power play in front of us.
You would think the guardians knew what they were doing, I suggested in response to his question. Plus it also helped that the three Volturi leaders looked like they were about to shit their pants.
"Now are we going to talk about this like civilized individuals or do we have to degrade ourselves and use brute force?" Berenike's tone was one of anticipation.
"Oh I like that plan," Melissa finally added. She had been alternating between trying to catch her horse and the bust line of her dress. But now she walked to stand in between the two old women's horses. We looked at her and watched in abject horror as all of a sudden her right hand burst into flame. She started throwing a little glob of fire up and down like she was playing with a small ball. Her smile was not friendly by any means.
Dang it why can't we have such powers. Embry thought. And I don't care what you say, she is so hot she is on fire. Embry felt proud of his little joke.
It would come in mighty handy, Quil added.
"Now let me see, they did not create an immortal child, and they did not associate with werewolves. So what did they do?" Metrodora asked, she pretended to be completely oblivious to the fact that her minions were getting ready to do some heavy duty chopping and burning. "Oh yes now I remember, they took care of that little newborn army problem for you."
"A few months ago a vampire decided to create a newborn army to seek revenge for her mate's death. You did a very good job of sending members of your guard to Seattle to asses the situation. But what did they do? Did they eliminate the problem? They talked to the woman who was creating the army and then they simply let her go back to making more newborns. The army proceeded to this place where someone else took care of the problem for you." Berenike was a little out of breath at the end of this speech, but the implications were obvious.
These things were not lost on the vampires the Volturi had brought with them, there were instant murmurs among the crowd. They had not know about that little part had they?
Oh noes, someone is in trouble. I could hear the glee in Embry's thoughts.
"We told you that the only duty you have is to keep the humans from finding out and yet you are the one who is being the most conspicuous." Metrodora added.
"This Carlisle is capable of taking down a newborn army, he is capable of moving through the human world without drawing attention to what he is, and he also seems good at gathering followers. If you are not careful we may have to replace you with him." Berenike added, the threat was not subtle this time.
There was a murmur through the crowd of spectators, some were of approval. I was going to hazard a guess that they did not know all this was accomplished without killing humans. That was the major strength as well as weakness of the Cullen family.
"How he lives is unnatural," Caius said with disgust.
"Well your natural ways have just caused a great deal of trouble for you. This incompetence is astonishing. Do you not know?" Berenike asked in a shocked tone.
"Apparently he does not read the newspaper." Metrodora answered the question. "You may want to head home and deal with the fact that the leftovers from your meals were just found by the humans."
"There is a lot of media involved. Something to do with a body being identified as a French diplomat's daughter. You might be a little more careful in picking your snacks." Berenike continued before the leeches could say.
Another murmur went through the crowd. This time it had a little more worried tone. Avoiding exposure was almost ingrained in the vampire psyche and to know that their leaders were flaunting their own rules was disconcerting.
"Let us make our expectations clear, go home clean up the mess you have created. I will make the kind suggestion, you do not want us to have to go clean up after your incompetence. As for this group behind me - they are the future of your kind. They can live amongst the humans without detection. You with this indiscriminate butchering are starting to be a thing of the past." Berenike continued her speech.
"We give our protection to these golden eyed ones, we are curious as to see how they will turn out." Metrodora added.
"But the child is still an unknown, she could betray our kind." Caius added, but even I could see how rattled he was. They were grasping at straws.
We could actually make it out of this alive. My future was a possibility, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Where the hell had I put the papers with my dorm information?
"We are starting to be a little tired of this constant display of ignorance. We have encountered other children like her, they age quickly until they reach their peak, they eat food or drink blood. They are no more likely to betray vampires than another one of your kind. In fact they are less likely to do so since they have many human traits you do not." Berenike's voice was starting to be a little condescending, not that I blamed her. If you did not know that this was all for show, in order to acquire some talented vampires, then the Volturi's actions seem foolish.
Before we knew it the Volturi and the guardians went through some less than gracious goodbyes. The gray cloaked ones finally were ordered to back down from the Volturi and instead stood behind the guardians.
My elation at seeing the Volturi leave was dampened by the fact that the guardians were still here.
"Let us go home," Berenike said quietly, steering her horse back towards the woods.
One of the grey hooded ones grabbed Irina by the arm and started dragging her behind them. The vampire looked too much in shock to fight back, I would have been scared shitless as well.
"Wait, please." Carlisle said, interrupting their departure.
"What is it that you want? Just because we did not let those Volturi fools kill you does not mean we will not do so." Berenike did not look pleased at being stopped.
What the fuck is Carlisle doing, they were leaving. That is a good thing. Quil thought, and I had to agree with him.
He is trying to save her. Seth explained to us, he was much better at this unselfish thing than we were. Carlisle was pleading for the woman who had endangered his entire family. I knew sure as heck I could never have done anything that altruistic.
"Is there any way to save her life, she just made a mistake. There is no reason for her to die." Carlisle was trying to negotiate for Irina's life.
"We do not do favors for nothing, what will you give us in return for this things's life?" Metrodora asked in a cool voice.
"What is it that I have that I could give you in return?" Carlisle said looking around. Even I knew that was a foolish question to ask. It was too open ended, they could ask for anything.
"You have your life." Berenike pointed out in a detached tone.
"No," Esme hissed, but her husband put a hand on her arm to stop her from jumping at Berenike.
We all watched Carlisle, it did not take him a second to decide. "All right, my life for hers."
"Do not concern yourself too much, we will return him to you eventually." Berenike said as Carlisle followed them away.
A/N: Am I putting these chapters out too quickly? I promise there will be another one and then it will stop for a while. I don't like the order of things so I am doing a major rewrite of the next few chapters. Next up will be Carlisle's view of things.
Ms Animegoddess: I promise that that this update speed is totally out of character for me, I woke up too early so I drank to much caffeine. So hyper, and so excited about getting to the next part. We will see how well that part works out. :D. You gotta know Phil does not give up so easily, he will not let his Princess push him away.
Toshii519: Soon, soon all will be revealed. In a couple of chapters we might meet her stalkers. Insert evil laugh here.
Coonect2jtb: About that epiphany or discovering love, Leah is still a little gun shy about relationships. I want her to find herself, to be her own person.