Chapter 132

Darius

I was relieved when I heard Bella give The Major permission to break his oath and I was hoping Peter would also turn up because apart from Felix and myself they were the only two decent fighters we had. I had a strange feeling that there was someone on the inside willing to help them out. Someone who had told them Charlie was absent and probably about the promise The Major had made to his mate, my problem was weeding the Judas out without alerting the Romanians.

Then I thought of Edward, who better to monitor the thoughts of those in the citadel and warn me who was giving help to our enemies. When I explained what I needed to him he was only too happy to offer his help, anything to improve his image here in Volterra. Of course that wasn't my only problem, I now had to tell the rest of the council what I had done and hope they agreed, not that it made much difference, it was done and that's exactly why I was going to present my actions as a fait accompli.

The other council members were waiting expectantly when I joined them and called them to order.

"What's this all about Darius? Are you still shying from shadows? I've heard nothing to worry me. No one has seen the Romanians or any of the other large rebel covens for that matter."

"And that doesn't bother you, Carlisle? The fact that they all suddenly seemed to have disappeared?"

"Disappeared? I hardly think that's true, the Romanians are hardly ever seen outside their castle under normal circumstances. Eleazar asked his friends in Eastern Europe to keep an eye out and he's heard nothing to alarm him."

"Have you heard anything at all from them Eleazar?"

"No but I don't expect to unless there is anything to report."

"Like the fact that Stefan and Vladimir left their castle a month ago, met up with Savannah and Alexa and they are headed in this general direction?"

There was a long silence, everyone looking at Eleazar and waiting for a reply.

"Are you sure about this? Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

"Would you have listened? No doubt someone would have had a good reason for their movements. I understand you don't want trouble, a fight, but that doesn't mean that others feel the same way. I warned you at our first meeting there was going to be trouble sooner or later. Well it's turned out to be sooner, they are coming here and I can assure you it's not for tea and fucking cake."

"Darius please, there are ladies present, curb your profanities."

I couldn't help laughing at this. The rebels were ready to storm the gates of the citadel and Carlisle was more concerned with the odd cuss word!

I stood up and bowed deeply,

"Please forgive me, ladies, I meant no offense. Or at least no offense then. Perhaps my next statement will give more offense to everyone. I have spoken to The Major and asked for his help, he is coming to Volterra along with the captain who contacted me just before I came here."

Athenadora stood up livid,

"How dare you act unilaterally. This is a council and as such all decisions should be taken in a meeting by all of us together."

I glared at her and she slowly retook her seat as the others mumbled their agreement.

"Right let's get this out into the open. The Volturi voted me onto this council as the leader because they expected trouble sooner or later and they knew it would take too long for you to decide to do anything. I saw trouble coming, you didn't, I acted on what I saw, you would have spent weeks discussing what if any response to make. Hell is coming to Volterra and we have to be ready for it. I know the fighters the Romanians are bringing with them, what they are capable of and trust me..."

I looked around the table,

"You wouldn't stand an earthly chance without The Major and his Captain, myself, and Felix. So for the duration of this emergency I am declaring martial law and taking control of Volterra."

"You can't do that Darius, this is a democracy."

"To hell with your democracy Carlisle, I'm going to keep us all from burning. Once this is over you can shove your leadership but until then you will obey orders or be given the choice, leave Volterra or spend a few weeks imprisoned in the catacombs. Have I made myself clear?"

I could see from their expressions that I had and waited, but no one argued with me or my decisions.

"Good, then I guess we should plan for the defense of the citadel."

"What about the humans in town? We have to warn them."

"Warn them Esme? You want to tell the humans who live here that they are about to be invaded by a group of bloodthirsty vampires hell-bent on world domination. I'd love to see you try. I thought perhaps we should just send them all out of town so I'm arranging a plane crash, a plane carrying a rather large warhead that needs specialist disarming. As a precaution, the inhabitants of the town will be evacuated to the village at the base of the hill and paid compensation for their trouble so long as they keep the incident a secret."

The others nodded, well at least I got their agreement on this point.

"Two of the guard will keep sentry duty at the town gates to ensure no one comes back to see what's happening."

"And the rest of us?"

"The rest of us Emmett will be split into four parties, each one headed by one of the seasoned warriors. You will do exactly as you are told by your leader if you have any desire to live. If anyone doesn't want to fight then fine, but get out of the way and stay there until it's all over."

"What about Chief Swan? Shouldn't we get him back? With his shield, it wouldn't come to as fight."

"Do you know how to contact him Athenadora?"

She shook her head,

"No, and he didn't leave a forwarding address so let's just hope he hears about what's happening and gets back in time but I'm not holding my breath as they say."

It took a while to split the council up between the four leaders, no one should have to put up with Carlisle and Eleazar so I got the former and Peter the latter which could be interesting as Peter wasn't the most even tempered of men and if his orders were questioned he was as likely to smack his own as the opposition's men. Athenadora who wasn't about to hide away elected to go with Felix's group but if she thought she would be taking over from him she had another think coming, he knew how to organize a group and she would soon find that out. The meeting was almost over when Edward came knocking and asked to speak to me. He had found our mole, a certain Michael, a guard who had joined the Volturi a few years ago after leaving the Romanians. He'd been watched at the time but never did anything that could be called suspicious. In fact he was the ideal sleeper, put in the Volturi guard for just such an opportunity as this.

"What did you learn and does he suspect you know about him?"

"No, I wasn't even in the same room. He just happened to be sent down to the archives with some boxes that just arrived. I was in one of the other chambers and he thought the place was empty so he took some time just nosing around. While he did that he was thinking about his last email from Stefan. He's been using one of the internet cafes in the square to send messages. They expect to be in position three nights from now, one group will make a frontal assault, they know the humans will be gone so there's no need for stealth, one group will use the old tunnel that comes out in the courtyard beside the wives tower."

"And the third?"

"I don't know because he didn't, sorry. Oh yes, I got a message from Alice and Graeson. She saw trouble, Graeson is on his way, but he's not sure he'll be in time, they're in Australia at the moment, in the outback, and she's going to try contacting Charlie and fill him in. She couldn't see any more, obviously there are decisions still to be made. If she does, she'll let us know."