17- One Last Surprise
We watched the procession leave the same way it had come, the old women on the horses left first. Melissa looked like she got lucky and she finally caught her horse long enough to get on. Based on her already precarious hold she would probably not be able to stay on long. Carlisle walked right next to her, you could see him getting ready to catch her in case she fell.
He is going to face god only knows what and he is still looking out for his enemy. Typical Carlisle. Jake's thoughts echoed our own.
Unlike Edward I could not read minds, but it was obvious from the looks on the faces of the vampires surrounding us that they too were stunned by the newest development. My entire pack was still reeling from the fact that we had lost Carlisle.
The mummies or zombies or whatever the heck they were followed slowly behind Carlisle - their jerky movements even more noticeable next to the smooth stride of the vampire.
Look how freaking tall they are, Embry commented in his mind. Next to the mummies, Carlisle looked almost short. I would not want to pick a fight with them.
As they all finally disappeared into the woods, we looked around at a loss. Irina, the vampire who Carlisle had just sacrificed himself for had not moved from where the guardians had left her. Her "sisters" swiftly ran over and picked her up off the ground. She had just been sitting there in the snow, with a blank expression on her face. I had not realized that vampires could go into shock.
All the vampires left in the small field started fidgeting, probably anxious to get away. They had come to see the Volturi but they had not counted on the Guardians, whoever the hell they may be. They wanted to go away before those walking corpses came back, I did not blame them. I wanted to leave too, but I had obligations. We had come too far to abandon our duties.
"You may leave at any time." Edward said in a cool voice. "Thank you for your aid and support." It did not take a mindreader at this point to guess what they were thinking, but Edward seemed to be the only one of the Cullen family who was not otherwise occupied.
Rosalie and Bella had their arms wrapped around Esme trying to comfort her, I did not think they were being very successful. Emmett was trying to awkwardly pat her on the back while looking around for anyone to help him. If there was ever a need for what a picture of absolute devastation looks like, Esme would have been a perfect candidate. Jake was considering phasing and taking Nessie away from her father, who was holding the little half-vampire.
There were a few subdued murmurs from the group of vampires that had come to stand with the Cullens as they tried to decide what to do. They did not linger for long, after a moment of hesitation they too disappeared at full vampire speed. A human would not have been able to see their escape.
Notice they are going the opposite direction of the zombies. Embry noted.
Yeah the cowards, but do you really blame them? Quil added. Just the smell alone is scary.
The vampire allies were gone now, there was only the Cullen family and the werewolves. We turned back to Edward who was concentrating.
He must be listening to the thoughts of Carlisle as he is taken away. Seth moved over to Edward and nudged his hand as an offer of comfort and support.
"What do you hear?" Esme asked in the quietest voice possible. Bella and Rosalie held her closer murmuring false reassurances. But what could you really say in a situation like this?
"He was following them through the wood, worrying about us. And then absolutely nothing." Edward reported in a frustrated voice.
"They..." Esme was unable to finish the sentence, but we all knew what she was afraid of - that they killed him.
Not Carlisle, he was the best. Seth thought with a great deal of sadness.
Yeah I could almost tolerate that leech. Embry agreed.
"No... " Edward was quick to reassure everyone. "I do not think they hurt him, the Melissa girl said something before touching him and it was like a block went up. Sort of like Bella's shield." The vexation was evident in Edward's tone.
Yeah that would be a good plan, get them out of here. Jake was talking to Sam, telling him to get the young wolves back home. We will stay with the Cullens to see what happens.
Sam quickly took his pack away, the younger ones were getting confused, they had been all keyed up for a fight that did not happen.
The fight had happened but it had all been word games, something the younger ones were having a hard time understanding. Needless to say Sam was having trouble controlling them now that the crisis was over.
"She said something strange, the Melissa girl. Her words were, some conversations are meant to be private - and then she said my name." Edwards was starting to look confused.
"Like she was talking to you? Like she knew you were listening?" Emmet finally said something.
"She used the word conversation, that means talking not harming." Bella added, her voice was filled with hope.
"Yes... talking is good." Edward agreed.
People's definition of conversation can differ. Some preferred to talk with their fists, I added in my mind.
I saw Edward flinch, I guess he had heard my thoughts.
"We could try following them." Emmet suggested.
Yeah, let us just follow the trail. It is really hard to miss that stench. Embry jumped around, ready to do something. The inactivity was driving him insane, he had not been able to fight and now he had a great deal of nervous energy that needed an outlet.
Edward looked up all of a sudden. "Wait." He almost had a smile on his face, I had not seen that in almost a month. Not since we found out the Volturi were coming. "Alice."
Alice had come back, a murmur of happiness went through the Cullen family, but they were still very subdued.
I told you she would not abandon the others, they are a family. My brother reminded us. I was surprised at the smugness of his tone, he really liked being able to say I told you so.
A few hours later we were all sitting around the living room in the Cullens' house exchanging stories. Alice and Jasper had gone on a wild goose chase to try to find another vampire hybrid like Nessie, they had not known where to look. The only clue they had was the wholes in Alice's vision, it turned out she could not see anyone that was not human or vampire.
They had located what they were looking for somewhere in South America. Alice and Jasper had brought with them another vampire human hybrid, it turned out he was over one hundred years old. It is hard to describe how relieved Jake had been to learn that Nessie would eventually stop aging. The reason for their abrupt departure was so that Aro could not read the plan from Edwards mind.
"That had been somewhat pointless, Aro never got to touch me." Edward pointed out.
"I did not get to see that, the guardians must not be human." Alice said with a great deal of displeasure. It must really bother her being rendered blind.
"They are definitely other." Emmett said with a laugh, he was the only one who could possibly laugh in a situation like this.
We had tried to see which way the Guardians had taken Carlisle. Embry had gone with Emmett and Jasper follow the trail. They came back with no new information.
"It is strange, how they just up and disappeared in one spot." Jasper pointed out. "Almost like they vanished into thin air. I would understand if we lost them when they crossed a stream or river, but they disappeared in the middle of the woods."
"The strange part is even the tracks of the horses stopped." Embry added. We were all human now, it made communication easier between us and the vampires. Plus the less sensitive human nose made it easier to tolerate being in a confined place with all these vampires.
"That was the place where I was cut off from seeing Carlisle's thoughts." Edward had a puzzled expression on his face. He did not like mysteries.
"Maybe they are aliens and went back to the mothership," Emmett suggested with a loud laugh. We all ignored his comment, it would be best not to encourage him.
"So what are these Guardians?" Alice asked. She was sitting next to Esme, trying to console her. She had taken over Rosalie's spot for the moment in trying to comfort Esme.
"The Volturi don't exactly know. A few millennia ago they met a much younger version of the two. It was the Guardian's patronage that allowed the Volturi to take power." Edward explained with a frown on his face.
"Wait, these women gave the Volturi their power?" Jake asked with absolute disgust. I was going to agree on this one, who in their right mind would give those creeps power?
"More like they supported their campaign." Edward said after a pause. "Things were a lot less civilized at that time, I think it was the Guardians who actually made up the rule of don't expose yourself to humans. They bid the Volturi to be the ones to enforce the rule." Edward continued. "I could not get a read on the Guardians' minds and the Volturi's minds did not offer much information. All I could learn is thatthe Voluri are afraid of them."
"What is their power? They looked pretty pathetic to me." Quil said when Edward paused.
"It is those things in grey that follow them around, the Volturi think they are former humans." Edward was having a hard time explaining.
"Cool I was right, they are zombies." Embry interrupted, Edward gave him a dirty look before continuing.
"Something like that, it seems that they reanimate them. The Guardians have the ability to manipulate their movements, sort of like puppeteers. They also are able to resist Jane's mental abilities and mine as well. I could not hear anything from the grey things or the woman. Even that scatterbrained Melissa's mind was completely silent." Edward added, this not being able to read people was really getting to him.
"Well I cannot see them either, and neither can I see Carlisle's future, it is a big blank." Alice complained rubbing her forehead like she was getting a headache.
"We should grab something to eat," Jake added as the conversation waned.
I got up and hauled my sorry carcass to the kitchen in order to make myself a sandwich, my stomach grumbled to remind me that I had not eaten in over twenty four hours. I started to yawn while stacking the sliced meat and cheese on my bread. I dragged my sandwich back to the living room.
The half-breed vampire that Alice had brought back along with his aunt had decided to stay with the Cullen family to see if anything could be done. During our dinner preparations Bella managed to convince them to go stay in her cottage. The half-breed still needed sleep and was happy to call it a day. Alice offered to escort them there, Jasper and Emmett went with her.
"That is a few less stinky leeches to ruin my dinner," Embry muttered under his breath.
There were not enough chairs and I sure as hell was not going to sit next to a vamp so I took my plate and sat down with the wall at my back. I heaved a large sigh of relief, my body was both sore and tired beyond comprehension. The month of worry, stress, and just general lack of sleep was finally starting to catch up with me. I had pretty much survived on adrenaline for the past few weeks and now that the danger had passed I was going to crash - big time. My only hope was that I would make it long enough to be able to go home, but no decision had been made as to what we were going to do about Carlisle. Jake wanted to have some sort of plan before this party broke up. I did not care so long as I could sleep uninterrupted for the next week or so.
I had just taken the first big bite of my sandwich when there was a knock at the door. What now? I am so not in the mood for anything else today.
"There is one set of heartbeats out there," Edward muttered under his breath. I could barely hear him even with my wolf hearing. "But I cannot hear their minds." The fact that there was someone at the door would have been enough to raise the alarm, since the Cullen house was so far off the road they did not get many random salespeople. The other more glaring concern was the fact that no one had heard this person approach the house, neither had there been a car. It was like they appeared on the front porch and knocked - so we were slightly nervous. Call me paranoid but with the way the day had gone, I would not be surprised to see a martian on the other side of the door.
It was Rosalie who finally got up to answer the knock, I started to take quick bites of my sandwich while staring at the door. If this was going to come down to a fight, it might be a while before we could eat again. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that Embry had managed to swallow his entire sandwich in two bites. We really were going to have to work on his table manners, but that fight might have to wait.
In retrospect it probably looked really suspicious that we all were standing around stuffing our faces and staring at the door with great concentration, but with the way the day had gone we did not need any more surprises.
A woman stood on the other side of the door, her hand raised in a fist as she prepared to knock on the door again. Noticing that someone had finally answered, she lowered her hand and made a quick sweep of the room. Because of the open floor plan of the Cullen house she had a view of everyone in the house.
We stared at her, trying to asses her level of danger. She was almost the same height as Rosalie, maybe a little bit taller; that is where the similarities ended. She had brown hair with a variety of blonde highlights, it was currently in a thick braid that swung past her knees - a few curls had escaped and framed her soft round face. Her eyes were not visible because she was wearing sunglasses, this was completely inappropriate for this time of the day. Between the clouds that had moved in and the fact that it was winter, it was already completely dark outside.
There was something faintly familiar about her, but the more I thought about it the further it escaped me. I put down my sandwich and stood up, my mind was screaming at me to figure this out. Maybe getting a little closer to her might help me determine who she was. So I stalked over to stand next to Rosalie, who by the way she was glaring at me was not happy to have company in welcoming our newest guest.
The woman was wearing a pale green form fitting cashmere sweater with a golden belt that highlighted her narrow waist and her really big curves. Her cream colored pants were so baggy at the bottom they could have been mistaken for a skirt. High heeled black boots covered her small dainty feet. Her jacket matched her boots and the dark gloves she was wearing. She did not have the pale skin of a vampire, I finally understood what a peaches and cream complexion was. Rosy cheeks and pale pink lips, she was bursting with life. Her vitality was further enhanced by the fact that she was standing next to Rosalie, who while was a perfect looking goddess made of marble, could not compare to cheeks made pink by the cooler temperatures.
I narrowed my eyes at this perfectly dressed paragon, and standing there in my tattered jeans and tshirt decided that I did not like this woman - whoever she might be.
"Who the fuck are you?" I asked, so I was not in my most polite moods. Good thing my mother was not here or I would have earned a smack upside the head. Seriously, I needed to get some sleep as soon as possible.
"Hmmm, are you always this polite? or am I just getting the special treatment today?" She looked at me with a slight smile on her lips. Of course her voice was low and sexy. Another reason to hate her.
"You must excuse her, she is not housebroken yet. I am Rosalie and you are?" Rosalie moved over to stand next to me ignoring my glare. She put out her hand in a friendly greeting.
The stranger pulled off her gloves and shook hands with Rosalie. "I am ...well can I plead the fifth for now?" She was one of those people that spoke with their entire bodies. She flung out her hand and showed off her perfectly manicured nails, I was tempted to hide my own in the pockets of my jeans. Running around on all fours made it impossible to maintain good nails, they would constantly be broken and dirty.
Rosalie's eyes narrowed as she assessed the woman in front of her, she did not seem pleased with what she saw. While Rosalie was more perfect she did not exude the same energy as the woman.
"Nice boots, Italian?" Rosalie finally said after a moment of intense perusal.
"Thanks, actually they are Brazilian. A small cobbler in the south. A pain to get to using conventional methods but he is worth it," she looked down to admire her boots.
"Love the pants as well, that fabric is great. Looks almost like linen." Rosalie continued and I was wondering if she was smoking the vampire crack pipe. Why would she wasting time when we could be figuring out what is going on?
"She is trying to buy enough time for the rest to get back here." The woman looked at me when she spoke.
That made sense, it would be best to have everyone here to decide what to do or to fight if necessary. Then something occurred to me. "Wait a minute, did you just answer my thoughts?"
"I would not worry about waiting for your allies, if we really wanted to take you out we would have done so a while back." the woman told us in a cool voice, not answering my question. "Especially Leah over here," her lips lifting up in an amused smile.
"What?" I was getting a little angry, this little thing in her Brazilian boots and pretty pants could not compete with my wolf strength and speed. We would see how amused she would be after an ass kicking. I even took a menacing step in her direction, ready to jump her.
She heaved a sigh and lifted her sunglasses from her eyes, placing them at the fashionable spot at the top of her head. Pale green eyes stared at me, one eyebrow was lifted and I finally caught that elusive memory.
"You were the one in the woods that day, you killed those vampires." I stepped back as soon as I made this observation. If she could take down several vampires maybe she could kick my ass.
"Actually it was my partner that killed them," she gave a small shrug like it was an everyday occurrence to take down leeches. "They must have royally pissed him off because he had them all in pieces by the time I got there. My only job was to get your clothes back on."
My thoughts were flying a thousand miles a second which was pretty impressive considering how tired I was. "How did you do that? Get my clothes back together, I am pretty sure I had already phased." I wanted to ask more important questions like what the fuck she was and what the hell she wanted from me. But for a few more moments I wanted to ask mundane things, maybe I could give the others enough time to get ready to fight.
"Yes you did tear your clothes apart and my partner needed to piece them together." She was quick to answer my question but it was interesting to note that she never spoke her partner's name.
"So your partner killed the vampires and he also got my clothes back together again, what did you do?" I know I should not try to provoke an unknown ...well whatever she was. But her smile was starting to piss me off.
"Put your clothes back on for you, by the way the state of your underwear is utterly deplorable." She made disapproving noises while shaking her head.
"I will make sure next time I am wearing my good underwear for you." I told her, torn between embarrassment and anger. The little voice in the back of my head encouraged the anger, as it was far superior to shame. I was saved from whatever further comment I could have made by the arrival of Alice, Jasper and Emmett.
I could hear them approaching at vampire speed but they slowed down before they hit the tree line, probably noticing the stranger standing on the front porch.
"Who the hell are you?" Jasper asked in his calm voice, I could see him assessing the woman. Looking to for any sort of weakness, or sign of aggression. I was glad he was here, that way he could take over the interrogation.
The woman ignored his question and simply strolled into the room before sitting down daintily on the side of one couch. "Were the woods around here cleared of guests?" She looked at Jasper for verification, he did not say anything but she nodded her head like he had answered. Maybe she had read his thoughts.
"Please just what do you want? Do you know where my husband is?" Esme pulled out of her misery long enough to ask her question.
"Your husband is fine, he should be here very soon."
Several people spoke at once, but it was Jasper who acted. Instantly he was within inches of her face, growling at her.
The woman was not disturbed by the deadly vampire being so close to her, instead she titled her head to the side while she considered him, "do you really want to pick a fight with me?"
Jasper's answer was interrupted by the opening of the door, and a "Jasper please let us not fight." The new voice belonged to Carlisle. I never thought I would be that happy to see a vampire.
"Carlisle, but how?" Esme was hugging him before the words were completely out of her mouth. The questions were flowing from her mouth almost faster than I could comprehend. They all seemed to center around Carlisle's well being, at least the bits I could understand. It was kind of strange to see them acting so human even if it was at vampire speed, Esme the concerned wife and Carlisle trying to reassure her that he was unharmed.
He seemed to understand her dilemma and simply murmured consoling words into her hair. "Everything is fine, nothing is wrong. No I was not harmed."
"What happened?" Jasper had moved away from the woman and instead pulled his wife close, despite the fact that she wanted to escape him and go over to Carlisle.
I watched as Carlisle looked up from the tight embrace of his wife and looked at the stranger still comfortably seated on the couch.
She shrugged with nonchalance. "He wants to know how we saved you from the evil zombies."
This mind reading thing was not any cuter on this girl than it was on Edward.
"No, no they did not save me from the guardians. They are the guardians." Carlisle quickly corrected our false assumption.
We all took a large step back and started to examine her face more closely, expecting it to start falling apart at any moment. Nothing happened and almost in unison we heaved a sigh of relief.
That was when I heard the familiar sound, the excitement of Carlisle's return meant that I had not been paying attention to all the sounds. But suddenly my mind registered something, the strange little heartbeat with the funny skip - Phil?
Running out to the front porch at full speed I slammed into a body standing right outside the door. My mind registered a large male body, whose hands immediately came up to my forearms to steady me but that did not matter. I smelled the outdoors, sweat, soap and Phil. I only stopped to pause for a second before wrapping my arms around his narrow waist.
Rubbing my face into the thick sweater that covered his broad shoulders I inhaled deeply, he smelled of citrus and sage - I loved that smell. Strong arms came around my back as he returned my embrace rubbing up and down in a soothing gesture. I could feel the tension of the past month receding from my muscles.
"How have you been Princess?" he asked in his rumbly voice and I was ready to cry with relief. He would know what to do, he would help me make sense of this awful day. Maybe he could offer me a sanctuary away from all this madness and I could finally figure out what the hell was going on.
"It has been hell on earth," I told him honestly, sucking in big gulps of air in an attempt to prevent the tears from falling but also because I could not seem to get enough of his smell. Only now when I had my arms around him once again did I realize how much I had missed the man. He offered me food, and shelter and comfort without asking anything in return; the only demands he had ever made were regarding my future, he wanted me to succeed in whatever I chose to do when I finally grew up. I did not know what I had done to deserve a man like Phil but I sure as hell was not going to push him away again.
"I am sorry to hear that Princess," his voice sounded sad. "Look on the bright side, you have survived the invasion of the Volturi, but not only that - you helped undermine their authority to the point that in a century or so they will no longer have any power."
For a moment I did not register his words, I was too happy to notice what he was saying. Phil was back and he was not pissed off at me, and he did not sound disappointed like he had last time we had spoken; in fact he had sounded kind of proud. Alert, alter, mayday, mayday - my mind was trying to signal something.
I looked up at his face, the dimples were out in full force as he gave me a smile. For the first time in a month I was able to give someone a genuine smile. The happy feeling did not last long, I immediately jumped away from him. My wolf strength allowing me to move to the other side of the porch in one jump. I was horrified to notice that Phil normally brown eyes were green, the same pale green as the woman sitting on the couch inside.
A/N: Should I hide in a bulletproof bunker for ending it like that?
Twilighter: Are you caught up with reading again? I promise I won't do that level of updates for a long while.
ABarbieStory: I had to laugh out loud at your antics. And I am sure you are ready to come get me now that I have not fully explained what is going on. Sorry to disturb your dog and your roommate. Looking forward to your reaction to this next chapter.
Ms animegoddess: Glad you liked it, I know most people would not think that Phil had anything to do with the half dead zombies.
Connect2tjb: Sorry about the confusion, I will remember to number the updates if I ever go that insane again.