Chapter 16 – The Spy

.

A/N: I'm well over the 500 reviews! Thank you all.

.

Bella was sleeping in my arms. With my nose buried in her hair, I inhaled her sweet scent, replicating with my own chest the gentle rhythm of her breath. This was wrong, all wrong, but I couldn't help myself. The morning after our reciprocal revelations, she had been silent, meditative. I was silent too, angry at myself. In the effort of denying what had started between us, I had said too much and revealed my ultimate goal, nipping in the bud any hope she might have.

But, hope for what? Was it possible that in another existence she could be my mate? Antony Volturi didn't deserve to find his mate, however. As for Edward Masen, he walked this earth only to give some security to the survivors of his last mission - and change enough in the process so that he could choose his perfect human momentand earn his death.

In silence we took the car I had booked, got to Newark, flew to Washington and reached the Olympic Peninsula with the car I had rented, a BMW Sedan. Alice had booked a cabin for Bella and me and another one for herself and Jasper. It was in a resort between Port Angeles and La Push. It wouldn't do for us to go to the Rez, she told us, because the supposed spy had arrived already and he shouldn't see vampires there, especially not Alice herself - Demetri's target.

Jasper wasn't with his wife when she welcomed us, but would meet us the following morning. In her mind I saw that he dreaded seeing Bella, as he was still feeling very guilty.

This time Alice's shielding was entrusted to Seth, Leah's "little" brother, who was taller than me. I expected mistrust and even hate from him, but I detected only curiosity. He hugged Bella, and an easy banter developed between them. Well, the boy wasn't exactly a boy, and he was too young for her, but here I could see how Bella's life should be and could have been, had it not been for the Volturi.

When Alice and her companion left, Bella was dog-tired and chose to eat just the few snacks the mini-bar and kitchenette offered. Then she crashed down into the sheets. However, before closing her eyes, she patted the bed at her side. I stood frozen, but then desire overpowered me. Even if I couldn't make her mine, even if there was no future for us, I could have at least this. So I lay down near her, staying over the bedcover. Later, she shifted and searched for me in her sleep and so she ended like this: wrapped in the comforter but in my arms.

When Bella awoke, her breath caught. Gently I helped her to disentangle herself. She stretched like a kitten… not looking at me and suddenly blushing. I couldn't read her, but I realized that the stretching was a little exaggerated for my benefit.

Vampire females, if interested in a male, are bold, even aggressive: they take what they want, or try to. Some mortal women could be bold too, at least so I had found since I had started to pay attention to humans and what was in their mind. Others used coquetry, but my Bella had no wiles. Still, she wanted to attract me and was succeeding, despite her shyness. God, I wanted her and she was mine for the taking. For a moment I thought to obey my screaming body. I could have her, I just needed a step forward…then we were saved by a knock on the door. I had been too distracted to listen, but Alice and her mate were here, their eyes a luminous butterscotch. A passing memory told me that, after hunting, they had had their reunion… in the sea: it was the only way they could be together without the presence of a wolf. Oh well, if this was going to be their only possibility right now, I wouldn't be the only one frustrated among us.

Alice's blond husband was tall and lean. A fighter, obviously, if the scars crisscrossing his handsome face and wiry forearms meant anything. A guy to be wary of, particularly because he didn't bother to disguise the hatred he felt for me. Maybe when we were done here, he would accept what his wife had refused and terminate me.

"No he will not," Alice said preemptively –something in my expression having given me away, "I won't allow it. I had a vision in the water and Saw what you're planning, but it won't happen."

"What is Edward planning?" Bella started asking, but then Jasper's compelling presence in the room distracted her. Here was the vampire she hadn't seen since the day he had tried to kill her. Suppressing his murderous thoughts about me, he watched us, completely immobile. There was remorse in his mind but also - I realized - there was love.

"Oh Jazz," Bella cried and embraced him tightly. He relaxed in her arms.

"Darling," Jasper said softly, "I promise you it will never happen again. I tested myself to the utmost and now I'm in much better control of my thirst."

"All right, you two," Alice chimed in, "I know you're glad to see each other, but time is running out. We have to make a plan: the spy is in La Push."

.

Eventually we decided that the best thing was to know what the spy was planning and what he was thinking. Even though he hadn't seen the man face to face, Jasper had already felt his emotions: fear, anguish and, surprisingly, guilt. There was little doubt that he was indeed the spy planted by Demetri, but he wasn't happy about it. Therefore I should spend the rest of the day and the night in La Push, near the house the tribe had given him to use – it was Billy Black's home, where he lived alone after the death of his son Jacob. One of his daughters lived in La Push too and helped him, confined in a wheelchair, but shared home with her boyfriend, Paul Lahote, a member of the wolf pack who had imprinted on her. The Quileute chef was being temporarily hosted by an old friend's widow: Sue Clearwater, Leah and Seth's mother.

In the late afternoon I was taken secretly to the rez. Jasper and Alice would stay not too far, in the sea probably and, as Bella shouldn't remain alone and unprotected in the resort, she went to visit Emily, Sam's wife, an old friend of hers.

Very conveniently there was a tool shed adjacent to the Blacks' little house. It had been where Jacob - a skilled mechanic despite his young age - had tinkered with car parts while hoping to open his own repair shop one day. But it was vacant now, obviously.

The spy wasn't home yet. I was told he was doing a round of the village's homes, to introduce himself to the elders, ask about the tribal legends and listen to what he could understand of their ancient language and so make the comparisons he was supposed to work on.

Finally the guy returned and ate something. My task was easy: memories were haunting his mind….

.

It all had started with field research in Brazil. He recalled how it had taken him a week to reach the tribe he was meant to study. In his head, I saw how he'd travelled by Jeep from Manaus till there were roads, then he took a motor boat, and finally he went by canoe on an affluent of the Solimões river. His memories shifted to the permits and introduction papers he'd obtained from FUNAI, the NationalIndian Foundation of Brazil. It hadn't been easy, because that particular village was relatively untouched by civilization and meant to remain so, according to the elders' wishes.

Now he was whispering some words to himself, like testing a foreign language. A name stood out:

Tawẽmake Chatù.

Oh, if only the tribe's elders weren't so fascinating. What they had to say overtook the semantics. The Tawẽmake Chatù's legend – the Moon Man, that is - threw me. Handsome, pale and cold, the stranger came when the moon was high to seduce the prettiest virgins of the tribe. Tragedy ensued, because the seducer was a Sukoyan, a monster who fed on human blood, no less, and ended up killing the girls. However, if the victim didn't die, she could get pregnant, and the terrible result was a devil's spawn who opened his mother's belly with his sharp teeth and went immediately looking for blood. Therefore these creatures were not allowed to survive, but they had to be killed with fire just after their birth.

The story wasn't new for me, even if I hadn't been involved, at the time. But the Volturi had known of it and finally intervened. I focused even more on the spy's thoughts, trying to understand how he'd discovered so much. He remembered how some of the elders claimed to have spoken with eyewitnesses, and all the stories were consistent. Once he'd gotten back home, he'd done additional research on similar legends.

I was such an idiot. Since other natives in other parts of the Americas had comparable stories, I decided to publish a paper on it: 'The Moon Man and other legends of the Tikuna,' by Kevin Lowell. A proud title that was my downfall.

The mail from Italy seemed above board. It said that somebody from the University of Pisa was very interested in my paper and asked permission to translate and republish it. Since the writer was coming to Canada, could we meet? He added he had further information to share about those particular legends.

Oh how I waited for his visit, fool that I was! Logically I would have expected another letter or phone call, but one night he came unannounced while I was at home working late. He opened my door and let himself in.

The spy's thoughts shifted abruptly. Images blurred in his mind, as if he was now reliving a nightmare, terrified to face it once again, even if just in his memories.

The visitor hadn't been alone, when he came: he had a corpse with him. It was Ramon, the caretaker of the building. His throat had been ripped open, but there was no blood that he could see. Paralyzed by shock, the researcher could only watch, realizing the guy was carrying the body like it was weightless: despite his relatively slight build his strength must have been incredible.

Letting his burden fall on the floor with a thud, he advanced toward me. He didn't walk, he glided, and was exceedingly fast.

"I'll remove him from the premises when we are done," he said. "I believe it makes me more convincing. Plus, he had the key of your apartment and, of course, I was thirsty."

"Who are you?" I rasped.

"Well, I come from Italy, but let's say that the professor from Pisa was an alias. My real name is Demetri of the Volturi."

I finally realized that Ramon was dead. A nice, friendly guy who went out of his way to help whenever needed. As he was from Peru, we often chatted in Spanish. The visitor stood between me and the door, there was no way I could reach a phone…

"Why did you kill him?" I whispered. "He never hurt a fly."

Then this Demetri grabbed me by the neck with his cold hand and kept me up a few inches from the floor. His eyes were ruby red, not black as I had thought. It was all I could do not to piss my pants.

"I was thirsty, I told you already," he repeated, annoyed. "Plus, he was expendable. Nobody will ask too many questions when he doesn't report for work. What should concern you is that in a few minutes you could be exactly like him. You know," he added, "the right question would have been not who I am, but what I am. Look, I'll tell you, because this is becoming boring. I'm the European version of your Sukoyan. In other words, I'm a vampire."

"Vampires don't exist," I claimed, disbelieving my own words.

"Oh yes we do, and we get mightily pissed off if the secret of our existence is divulged. You see, my dear Kevin, your paper was too accurate for comfort."

Finally he lowered me down and told me to sit on the sofa. I knew I was fucked, but at the same time an eerie calm had descended on me. If he truly was a vampire he could have killed me already, but he hadn't, so maybe, maybe… he wanted something. Maybe I could survive.

So Kevin learned that – long before his arrival - a Moon Man had indeed been creating havoc in the area he had subsequently visited. Despite it being a very secluded place, what he had been doing had attracted attention, eventually. A detachment of warriors from Volterra had therefore been sent to terminate the Sukoyan's existence. Time passed, legends and facts mixed but, thanks to his work, the "accident" wasn't closed and loose threads had to be cut.

"Now," Demetri told me, "since you know about us, you can't continue to live as a human…" I should have pointed out that until this visit, I had been happily unaware that vampires even existed and his logic was warped, but I was too scared to speak.

"However," he continued, "you could do something for us, and we would be grateful. Instead of certain death we can give you the greatest gift: immortality."

He then proceeded to tell me what I had to do for them, disclosing that other supernatural being existed: werewolves, or, better, shape shifters who were sworn enemies of vampires and very dangerous, as they could fight and prevail over them.

He added that I had a few hours to make my choice. Then he took off to dispose of poor Ramon's body.

"Don't even think that you can escape me," he hissed, "I'm a tracker and I'll find you wherever you go. Then you'll die a painful and slow death."

I don't want to die, but I don't want to become a vampire either, – Kevin's anguished thoughts still stumbled over the two impossible alternatives which had confronted him. Frankly, the very idea gives me the creeps, but I can't find a way out. Plus, the bastard knows I have a sister, who lives in Montreal with her husband and kids. He knows exactly where she lives. He didn't add anything else, but the threat was evident.

So when he came back I accepted his offer and sold him my soul.

Kevin believed that the plan Demetri had concocted had worked like a dream. The Quileute Elders accepted his request and his credentials after some debate, and so here I am, in the Tribe's rez, to betray them and their friends.

Unaware that his plans had been discovered, the spy had proceeded with the program. While visiting the elders, he'd planted a number of micro recorders in their homes.

Nothing but the best technology for vampires. The devices are extremely small and can disappear unnoticed under armchairs or cabinets. Piece of cake. They'realready registering, I suppose, and I just have to listen to them. Fortunately the old language is no longer commonly used; even the old people mostly speak English…

I wonder if I could get some help instead. The shape shifters can kill the bloodsuckers, apparently. The big guy, Sam, must be the head wolf, I think. In fact some of the young people I have seen strolling around are much bigger than the average tribesmen. If I told them who sent me… Nah, they would kill me with no qualms, I'm sure. And yet….

.

Kevin's thoughts shifted from reminiscing to practicalities. He wanted to open the big case where the playback machines were stored so he could listen to what had been recorded. However, the lock was stuck. He thought he needed a particular screwdriver and, not finding one in the house, he decided to go to the tool shed and look for it there.

Shit.

.

Notes

For the few details on the Tikuna Indians I am indebted to Jmolly, who did extensive research on them for her wonderful story I Hunger For Your Touch. Go read it, if you haven't. Sukoyan is not Tikuna, as they don't have a word for 'vampire'. It comes from Haiti, originally, but it's a legend known also in the Amazon.

Last week Raum completed her wonderful AU story "Snare". If you have missed it, I warmly suggest that you give it a try.