Chapter Forty Six

Aro

Another call from Edward Cullen was worrying, I was hoping he would keep a low profile after giving up his sire and "family" but it seemed not. Luckily Felix had picked up the call and routed it to me after warning me first. Well it would be interesting to hear what he wanted now, perhaps to withdraw his accusation.

"Edward, two calls in the space of a few months, what can I do for you this time?"

"I need…...I mean I wanted to know if I could come to Volterra, to stay, for a while."

Now this was certainly an unexpected twist!

"You want to come and live in Volterra for a while? I see, are you offering your gift to us?"

"Yes, while I'm there, I don't want to stay permanently, just for a while."

"I see, can I ask why the change of heart? You were always dead set against moving here, even on a temporary basis. Has something happened I should know about?"

There was a deathly silence and I understood that Carlisle had been in contact with Edward, he was running scared and he thought the safest place would be here in Italy. Who did he think had told Carlisle about his accusations regarding the family and Bella Swan?

"Well?"

"Carlisle knows I…"

"And he's unhappy I take it? Did you really expect anything else Edward?"

"It's not just that…..there are other problems that I can't go into right now."

"Like trying to steal your sire's money perhaps? Did you really think I wouldn't be watching Edward? It seems you might not be a good influence here in Volterra so I suggest you find somewhere else to hide, safe from Carlisle…... If such a place exists that is."

Edward

I put the phone down staggered by Aro's refusal to offer me protection. I should have known that he would protect Carlisle but I thought equally that he would understand why I had chosen him. Well if he wasn't prepared to act and help me then I would need to find someone who could. I had toyed with the idea of telling him about Alice too but he would think I was lying to get him to help me.

Well, I had to look out for number one now and that meant feeding Carlisle to the lions. I needed to speak to Caius or Marcus, either of whom were more likely to act against Carlisle and therefore keep me safe. It wouldn't be easy getting through to either of the others but it wasn't impossible, not for someone as intelligent as me. Finding a safe spot could wait a few days while I found a way to contact the other brothers.

Eventually it came to me and I went out to find an antiquarian shop, the best and most expensive one in the city. I wanted a rare work and it took a few weeks for the owner to come across with what I wanted. It cost me a pretty penny too but it was worth every dollar. I wrapped the precious manuscript well and addressed it to Marcus Volturi then put it in the post and waited.

Marcus

I was used to getting parcels and packages from around the world but I had no warning of the one I received from New York this morning. My usual contact over there hadn't rung to warn me he'd found something new he thought I might be interested in so what was this and who was it from? Felix who had brought it along to the archives was hanging around as if intrigued to see what I had purchased. Well I had nothing to hide so I opened it in front of him and on top of the well packaged book was the card of a book dealer I had heard of before. I offered the package to Felix,

"Would you like to do the honors?"

He took it from me and unwrapped the manuscript carefully looking at it before handing it to me,

"An early scientific treatise, not really my scene Marcus."

Then he left and I turned the manuscript over in my hands, it was rare and in good condition but why had it been sent to me by someone I didn't even know? Opening it on the desk I started to check it, well it was original which meant it was worth thousands of dollars so how had it ended up here?

It wasn't until I reached the center that I was able to answer my questions. A simple sketch lay between the center pages and I recognized it immediately. The manuscript was an early translation of works by Polybius and the sketch was a message in his code. All I had to do was to decrypt it so I put the manuscript on a shelf to look at properly later then took some blank sheets of paper and a pen from my desk and set to. It took a while as the variants were numerous but by the end of the day I had a letter in front of me, a very interesting letter indeed. One that told me my dear brother had been up to no good with regard to Carlisle.

To hear the rest of the story I needed to ring a number that had been with the cipher so locking myself in my study with my music on loud enough to drown out any conversation I rang the number and found myself speaking to Edward Cullen. What he told me was shocking and once I had satisfied myself that he was indeed telling the truth I had to decide what to do. He wanted a sanctuary here in Volterra with me in payment though as he had already told all he knew I could have refused, he was certainly no negotiator. As it was I asked him to wait until I rang him back, I needed time to think.

My problem was that I couldn't act directly against Aro, Chelsea made sure of that, but I had worked around her gift over the years in small ways, enough that I could start the ball rolling by contacting Caius. It was a shame that Carlisle was the one giving us the opportunity to bring Aro down but that couldn't be helped, he had broken the law along with his family and not only that, he and his friend had lied to Aro. Well, lets see what Caius made of all this. I knew he would be on his way back from visiting Athena and Chelsea so I intercepted him and asked him to join me in the archives. I could see he was about to make some excuse but seeing my expression he changed his mind and followed me down into the lower archive, an area where conversations could not be overheard, even by vampire ears.

He sat himself in one of the large wooden chairs and crossed his legs looking around a little dismissively, Caius was a man of action not books.

"Well Marcus? I happen to know Heidi will be back soon with dinner so please make this quick."

As I started to speak he leaned further forward, first shock and then delight spreading across his face. He didn't make a sound until I finished talking but then he clapped his hands in delight,

"At last. So not only has Carlisle Cullen guilty of breaking our laws along with his family by bringing this girl into our world as a human but he and Eleazar lied to Aro about the girl Alice's gift. Well, well, who would have thought it of Carlisle, there is indeed a wolf in that sheep's clothing. So now what do we do brother? I am sure if we confront Aro he will find a way to talk his way out of this. I think perhaps we should act first and tell him later."