Chapter Seventy Eight

Caius

Of course Alice Cullen disappeared from view after Aro saw her, he was so soft when it came to females, I could have gotten the truth from her so much faster but he believed that sending her to the wives tower and letting Corin and Chelsea work their magic would be more "productive." I wondered if he would have thought the same about dear Edward.

Marcus had kept his arrival in Italy a secret so far and we both hoped we could continue to do so. Not that either of us gave a damn about what happened to him we just didn't want Aro handing him over to Carlisle like a wrapped and bowed bedecked gift. We wanted Edward free to become the prey, to be hunted to extinction by Carlisle. It would be a miracle if the soft, human loving Carlisle could actually track down and more to the point kill his treacherous first born. If he did then he was twice the man I took him for!

Deciding to see how our new "ally" was faring I went to see my dear wife only to find both Aro and Marcus had beaten me to it. There was however no sign of the pretty Alice Cullen, only the two wives and Chelsea. I checked the other sitting room where the bookshelves and theater system were but it was empty.

"So has Alice decided to leave already?"

"No Caius, I thought it might do her good to take a walk so Corin volunteered to show her the town."

I looked at Aro as of he had lost his senses,

"You did what? After all it took to get her here you just let her waltz out?"

"No Caius, I allowed her to take a walk around the town, accompanied by Corin but never fear Jane and Alec have also decided to get some air. If Alice sees the future then she will know they are there, if not then they are available should she decide to try escaping. I didn't realize I had to clear every decision I made with you personally. In the same way as you and Marcus decided against telling me that Edward Cullen is in Italy, or had it just slipped your mind?"

Aro

I waited for his response, did they really think they could do anything that I would not come to hear about sooner or later. As it turned out I was quite happy for them to keep him under wraps for now, we had the same end in sight, Carlisle killing Edward. It had been too long since Carlisle behaved like a vampire in my opinion and I was only too pleased that it was finally to happen.

The fact it had taken the treachery of his beloved Edward to bring out the vampire in him was just poetic justice. They thought I would hand Edward straight over to my old friend when in fact I would do all in my power to allow Edward to remain hidden until Carlisle was ready for the chase.

For now he was somewhat preoccupied with a newborn, a rather interesting newborn at that. The Police Chief father of the human girl who started all this, Edward's human sweetheart. Who would have thought that being jilted by a girl, and a human to boot, would turn Edward into not only a snitch but a thief too?

Sometimes I wondered what little treasures Carlisle had hidden away but then he had been alive a long time and in London during an interesting time in that city's history. The Black Death, the Great Fire, so many opportunities to acquire wealth and knowledge. Perhaps one day we could swap stories like we did many years ago when he lived here, before deciding to try a new way of life.

I knew he had told his "family and friends" that he had never killed a human but it wasn't entirely the truth. Carlisle had never killed a human to feed but he had killed humans and on occasion he had fed on a dying human, a slight bending of the truth but it showed he had a streak of the true beast in him somewhere.

Marcus

Well it was inevitable and I only wondered what had taken him so long to question us about it, if he wasn't making a move then it could only be because he was perfectly happy for Edward to cool his heels in relative safety.

"I wondered when you would broach the subject Aro, you seemed to be rather lax about it."

"Not at all dear brother. Edward had his chance to acquire our protection by joining the guard and if memory serves his reply to our invitation was short and succinct, "No." Yet suddenly he seems of the opinion that we will keep him safe from his sire, our old friend Carlisle Cullen. As if we would condone betrayal and attempted theft just like that."

"We would if it served us better Aro."

"True Caius but as we are all aware, Edwards remaining days are strictly limited. Once Carlisle feels he is ready I assume you were going to persuade Edward that to stay in Italy could be detrimental to his well being and set him adrift in the world."

"You have to admit it has a certain flair to it Aro."

"Oh yes I do, I just ask that you allow me to be the one who notifies Carlisle. I should enjoy that."

"And in return?"

"Oh yes, in return I will ignore the fact that the two of you were trying to destroy one of our oldest friends, his friends and assorted humans using our ultimate weapon and without informing me first. That sounds reasonable enough wouldn't you say?"

Aro

They could hardly refuse me but I gave them time to consider their reply, actually I was quite impressed at my brothers for taking the opportunity presented to them and procuring for us a seer. Whether she would be of any use remained to be seen but while she was here at least no one else would be able to take her. There were few vampires that would dare to face the might of the Volturi but even so, with a seer in their army there was always the faint possibility that the Romanians might wake from their idle slumber or another group, possibly from Russia might decide to take their chances.

"We do still have a slight problem brothers, The Major has disappeared, or at least he isn't in contact with us which is a worrying development. What are we to do?"

"I warned you Aro, I told you that he would become a danger to us in the future."

"Marcus please, The major isn't a threat to us. Unless you have heard otherwise of course?"

"You know I haven't. Caius spoke to him not me, I can't stand the savage."

"A savage who has performed excellently for us over the years Marcus, you should remember that too. Still I think it might be wise to request he makes contact with us for further orders. The Cullens and Denali's are off his list and if it is true that the girls father has been changed then I think that particular task is at an end but we could use his services to remove the current irritant in Paraguay."

They both assented although I could tell Marcus was still not happy, he was of the opinion that The Major might have gone "rogue" as they say. I on the other hand thought there was more to it than that. It seemed strange he had disappeared at the same time the problems with the Cullens appeared, not that I thought he was tied up with either Carlisle or Edward, neither were his scene but I felt it was all tied together in some way and I hated a mystery, especially if I was the one on the outside. Still there was plenty of time to figure it out, let us get Carlisle and Edward at each others throats first, that promised to be a battle worth watching, from a safe distance of course.