Chapter 112

Alice

The need to act quickly was reinforced when I saw Aro coming to visit the villa in the next couple of days now things had finally calmed down in Romania. Stefan had been taken by the guard while Vladimir fled back to their castle with his remaining men. We had been lucky to have been given so long to work on our relationship and plan. If Stefan had escaped Aro would have been back much sooner but he couldn't resist the opportunity to gloat over one of his old adversaries.

My problem was how to tell Graeson that we must act straight away without giving myself away. In the end, I decided to take the chance and took him into the courtyard passing him a note as the guards squabbled over who had won the last hand of cards. He read it and looked up slowly questioningly and I knew he was asking why I hadn't told him earlier. All I could do was apologize, but I think he understood because he pulled me close to whisper in my ear.

"So you are a little seer after all and you were too scared to tell me in case I was a Volturi spy. I understand Alice, I would have done the same in your place and perhaps I should have been more circumspect myself, but it's a relief to know we are on the same team. So when do we go?"

"How long will it take you to incapacitate the guards?"

"If they carry on playing cards I can get them all with one blast. I just feel sorry for them because it's the end of their lives. Aro can only have them executed."

"He would in any case if they allowed us to escape, besides they are hardly innocent."

"Very well what's the plan?"

"We wait until it's dark then you incapacitate the guards and we run. My friends have a place in Pisa we can go to. I sent Esme a message and told her we would be coming soon so she will have made arrangements to get out of Italy. Once we are back in the United States my friends will keep us safe. We just need to keep a low profile and make sure no one else finds out about your gift."

"How? Aro is going to see the guards, he's going to realize it must be me."

"Not if we overpower them or...could you confuse them enough to turn on each other?"

"Alice I have no idea what I can do and I'm not sure I want to find out."

"Please, Graeson."

"Well, if I can hit them with a lower intensity possibly but surely they will still know we did it somehow."

"Not necessarily, if we make a run for it and you hit them with your gift once we are away from the area then they will attack each other with luck and Aro will think they were chasing whoever helped us escape and were killed by them."

"You think it will work?"

"Its worth a try, anything that makes Aro wonder will help. It's a good job Eleazar doesn't work for Aro any longer, or at least not often. He might be asked to check you out once we are free."

"You know Eleazar? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't know if I could trust you Graeson."

"And now you do?"

I smiled and kissed him on the cheek,

"Yes now I do. So, as soon as it gets dark?"

"Why not but tell me one thing, Alice."

"Yes."

"Why have you suddenly decided you can trust me?"

"Because I understand my feelings for you now and at first I wasn't sure. It's been hard for me to trust people Graeson."

"Then I guess you know that I would do anything to keep you safe, even give up my life."

This time, the kiss was on the lips and he reciprocated, how come I couldn't meet my mate in an ordinary way? I guess because I wasn't an ordinary girl.

As soon as darkness fell and we went inside the guards relaxed, our usual routine was to watch films or play backgammon in the evening and they sat in the kitchen playing cards and arguing. Once everyone was settled we made our move, out through the patio doors, across the patio, and down the grounds. We heard the guards shout at us to stop, but we kept running until we were out of sight of the villa and the guards when we stopped.

Graeson kissed me again and motioned for me to keep going, he didn't want me caught in his gift. I continued on to the road praying we were right and he would stop the guard from following us. It wasn't long before I heard the sound of raised voices and then fighting. There were several flares as vampire flesh burned and then I heard footsteps coming my way. I tensed ready to attack if it were a guard but in the moonlight I saw Graeson and ran to him, relieved our plan had worked.

We continued running until we were close to the city when we slowed so as to blend in with the other people strolling the night-time streets of Pisa. I have to admit I was relieved when we made it to the apartment building without any sign of pursuit and found Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett waiting inside. They welcomed us warmly although I could tell Emmett and Graeson were wary of each other. I introduced Graeson and explained how we had escaped noting that all three of my family were now a little uncomfortable.

"Its OK I promise my gift is only active if I need it to be and as you are Alice's family I wouldn't dream of hurting you."

"Right, well you'll understand our being a little apprehensive Graeson."

"Of course Emmett but perhaps you will feel more comfortable when I tell you that Alice and I are mates."

I beamed as he said that and, of course, it made all the difference. Esme rushed to congratulate us followed by Rose and even Emmett shook hands with Graeson.

"I don't want to appear pushy but wouldn't it be a good idea to leave Italy as quickly as possible?"

"Don't worry Graeson, our friend has arranged a boat to take us back to Spain and a flight from there to the United States. Both have been standing by for a week now so if you are ready?"

We left the apartment and made our way cautiously to the boat, relaxing only when we were out of sight of Italy.

The rest of the journey was less tense, once airborne we knew we were safe from the Volturi, at least in the short term.

"How are Carlisle and Charlie?"

"Well you know about Charlie, I put it in one of my letters to you. As for my dear mate I have no idea. He seems to have forgotten all about us in his desire to hunt Edward and The Major down. Or at least he was but things changed suddenly yesterday. I got a garbled message about Bella and The Major being safely off the mountain and Edward pardoned. I did remind him about you, but we will be having words about communication when I see him. Maybe you know more than I do, you were the one who informed us Bella was alive and they were in danger up there."

"I saw Bella and The Major together, he saved her life, but I didn't see Edward escaping justice. What happened?"

"It would appear he also knew the Volturi were planning something on the mountain and warned Carlisle. So I guess Carlisle and Charlie decided he had learned his lesson. Personally I'm shocked, I expected Carlisle to hunt him down and exterminate him after putting us in danger, but then he's always been soft on Edward, as for Charlie's reason in letting Edward live, well that's a total mystery but no doubt we'll hear the story once we land."The