CHAPTER 15
I Knew You Were Trouble When You Walked In – Taylor Swift
Leah arrived separately from the Cullens. She had an 11-hour stopover in Frankfurt, where she hooked up with a guy from London named Kavi. He was cute, and she might die soon, so why not?
Her plane landed at the airport in Florence. She had flown first class. Both the Cullens and the Volturi offered private planes, but there was little more horrifying than the idea of being stuck on a plane thousands of miles in the air over the ocean with a bunch of vampires and their smell.
She walked leisurely off the plane. Made a stop at a bar, and asked the bartender to fill her flask with whiskey. She put on a nervous tourist act, and he winked at her. She ordered a cocktail, then a glass of red wine. They chatted casually about Italian wines and cuisine. She was considering a second hookup, when a familiar smell assailed her. Sure enough, moving at human pace, that tracker sat on the barstool next to her.
"Miss Clearwater," he nodded politely to her. She had hoped that choosing a flight that arrives during the sunlight hours would deter any vamp escort. Instead, the vamp wore a fedora with a wide brim. And gloves. Foundation, too, by the looks of it. Along with contact lenses and sunglasses. He looked ridiculous, and somehow also fashionable.
It rankled her. Well, yeah, she annoyed them first. Her plane landed an hour ago, and she was purposefully being childish, but still. I mean, they can't expect her to look forward to this.
She said goodbye to the bartender, who looked disappointed. She was pulling her credit card, when Demetri flashed what looked like a badge, and the man just nodded solemnly at it, then refused the card that Leah held out.
"Shall we?" Demetri said, fake smile on his face.
He walked two or three steps behind her. She knew that this is how it will be for the rest of this trip. It was annoying. He was annoying. She wanted to snap at him, tell him to walk somewhere else, preferably into a volcano.
He knew it, too. Knew how annoying she found him. Every time she would glance behind her, he would paste a wide smile on his face. Ugh.
They walked in silence, except for a few times when he would tell her where to go. Outside they went into a car with tinted windows. The driver, a human male with a French accent and an impeccable suit, reached for her backpack. She ignored him and got in the car.
"Pardon her, Julien. She is quite the character, you see," Demetri said to him in French.
"Yes, quite rude and full of herself," Julien replied, unaware that Leah can understand them.
"She is a guest of the Volturi," Demetri replied with a firm tone. The human apologized profusely then smiled welcomingly at Leah. She glared at him.
The car ride was quiet (thankfully). Leah cracked her window open, and cut off any attempts at conversation with headphones. There was no music coming out of them. She didn't want to risk becoming distracted or be unable to hear an attack coming. Demetri would know, but the overly pleasing human wouldn't. As long as neither were speaking to her, Leah was content. She and Demetri sat in awkward silence in the backseat, as the city of Florence disappeared behind them, giving way to the Tuscan countryside.
An hour or so, and Leah can see Volterra from afar. The green hillside scarred with the yellowish stone that made up the structures. It was ancient, one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in Italy. It existed before Rome was an empire. Another time, she may have appreciated the history and beauty of it.
The car takes a climb, circuiting the side of a mountain. They stop when the vehicle reached as high as it could on the hill town. Leah jumped out, not waiting for Julien to open her door. She walked straight past him. She followed Demetri to where the others were waiting. Leah was dismayed to see Seth, even though she knew he was going to be there. There was nothing she could say to convince him not to come on this damned suicide trip. She did notice that the rest of the Cullens were already there. The Denali coven were not, but all eight vampires plus Renesmee and Jacob were standing with Seth.
She can't see them, but Leah can sense the other Volturi Guards nearby.
"Finally!" Rosalie huffed.
"Yeah, sorry I'm late. I didn't want to be here," Leah replied, sounding bored.
"Shall we proceed?" Demetri asked. "Carlisle, Edward, Miss Renesmee, Jacob Black, Miss Clearwater, and Seth Clearwater, if you will please follow…"
"Wait, what? NO!" Leah reacted, hearing her brother's name.
"It's been settled before you arrived here… late," Demetri replied.
"Settled with whom? Not with me," Leah shot back.
"If you'd gotten here on time, you would have had a say," Rosalie interjected. Leah ignored her.
"Carlisle and Jacob Black have given their permission," Demetri replied calmly. Leah wanted to punch him.
"Leah, it's OK, I already agreed…" Seth said.
"The Cullens don't speak for me. Jacob isn't my alpha anymore. Seth wasn't included on the original list that your Masters wanted to meet. He's not coming!" Leah said firmly.
"Leah, please don't make a scene," Carlisle asked, beseechingly. Leah ignored him, too. She will damn well make a scene if she felt like it.
"Perhaps you should stay behind, if you find this so objectionable," Demetri said.
"How would you like to be the next viral sensation on Tiktok?" Leah asked, aware that locals and tourists alike were nearby.
Demetri narrowed his eyes and made calculations. He had expected the she-wolf to be difficult.
"Leah, please, don't make this any more difficult…" Jacob was asking this time.
"Jacob, put her on a leash…" Edward chimed in.
Demetri broke his gaze from Leah's face, shooting a sideways glance at Edward.
"Very well," Demetri said. "Seth Clearwater does not need to come along."
Leah turned to her brother.
"Leah, honestly, you don't have to…" Seth started.
"You are always asking me for information on where I go and stuff I do. I'm asking you to listen to me now," Leah cut him off. "For once, listen to me and not the Cullens or Jacob."
That shut up her brother.
She took off her backpack, and slung it over him.
"Don't lose this. There's stuff in there that can help you if shit goes sideways," Leah whispered. Then she took off a bracelet with a pull-on lock. It looked like a regular red string. But she was always wearing pendants and bracelets. And she always had multiple rings.
She put the bracelet through Seth's wrist. "Do not take this off. It won't come off even if you phase, so don't worry. And the straps on the bag will extend, if you have to."
She looked at him squarely before turning to where Demetri and the others waited.
Leah wasn't an idiot. She knew why the Volturi wanted Seth with them.
She knew all along that the Cullens had her watched. She took extra precautions to avoid letting them know where she traveled. Easy enough, since they hired humans. Practical, since she would have detected a vampire that was following her and killed it no questions asked. Not hard to shake off a human.
She glanced at the tracker. Demetri. She knew that he had managed to tail her all the way to the rez at least once. How much he knew of her comings and goings, she had no idea.
What the Cullens know about her, the Head Vamp can pick through the Cullens' minds. That was why she had been unwilling to share secrets with anyone whose mind can be read, including her brother. She was the only member of this Suicide Squad that was an enigma. They probably wanted to check her out through the others' thoughts of her. They wanted to sift through Seth's thoughts of her to know what she may have shared with him.
That and also to use him as a way to control her. Because if they knew nothing else about her, they would know that she loved her brother dearly. She would never do anything to put Seth in danger. She would second guess and hesitate if he were there with them, than if he was not.
Easier to control. Easier to kill.
XXXXX
Seth was mad at Leah for still trying to play big sister. She left. She's never around. He has to beg for scraps of her time, just to see her. Those times when she was rude or unreasonable, he brushed off because he didn't want to be cut off from her entirely. She had no right to continue acting like she's protecting him when he was an adult, one, and when she left him behind, two.
He looked at the backpack he had nearby.
There were still Volturi nearby watching them.
Alice can't see because he and Jacob were involved. Rosalie and Bella are anxious because of Renesmee. Their collective anxiety was rubbing off on Seth.
He felt a calmness come over him, and shot a grateful look to Jasper. These were his friends and they cared about him, no matter what Leah may think.
There's stuff in there that can help you if shit goes sideways, Leah had told him.
Normally, he wouldn't pry…
Seth unzipped the backpack to look inside.
"What she got?" Emmett asked. The others were looking at him, too.
Inside was Leah's passport, a change of clothes, a toothbrush, a toothpaste, deodorant, a flask, and a reusable water bottle. Nothing else.
"Nothing, apparently," he answered.
"She was bluffing?" Alice asked, distracted.
"No, she wasn't," Jasper answered her, causing Seth to look for secret pockets.
Sure enough, there was one. Filled with a second passport for him under the name Stephen Waterson, and two thick wads of euros and US dollars.
"Holy crap… there must be thousands in here!" he exclaimed.
"Where'd she get the money?" Rosalie asked.
"Maybe she stole it," Emmett replied. "Maybe she moonlights as a cat burglar." Rosalie made a face at his joke. The others ignored him.
But Seth dug in and found something else. A piece of paper with three words.
Cappadocia. Hargeisa. Henan.
"Place names," Jasper said. None of them knew what they meant.