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Alice found herself standing in the middle of the street, her eyes darting around the area. So much carnage, so much heartache and destruction. Building had been damaged and there was a stack of bodies piled up in the middle of the street, only one of which was lost on their side of the battlefield. Though, she knew there would be no way of keeping them off the Volturi's radar now. Even they weren't that obtuse when it came to the western world.
Jacob Black was kneeling next to one of his pack, a young boy named Collin who couldn't have been much older than fifteen. He'd fought hard, yet had fallen to the way side when one of the many, many sentinels Bella and Edward had told them about caught the young wolf by surprise and squeezed the life out of him. It was the first, and only time, Alice had felt the full power of the pack, the loss they all felt when the young boy died.
"Hey," Jasper said, coming up behind her and slipping his arms around her waist. She could feel how tense, how emotional he was in that moment. "Are you hurt?"
"No," she whispered. "We only lost the one, so I suppose we call it a victory."
"No, we don't." Jasper pressed his lips against the top of her head before he unwound his arms around her. "He fought with us, for us. His loss will be felt by all of us, for a very long time."
Alice's eyes shifted to Eleazar, who was seated on the curb with his arms wrapped around his knees. He was glaring at the ground, his hands curled into tight fists. She wanted to trust him, to believe him when he said he was on their side, but it was difficult seeing how much of his life he had kept hidden from all of them. Though, she wasn't one to talk. She'd never told anyone about her first vision of Bella.
But it wasn't the same, was it? Her vision of Bella was just a glimpse of her, a plea for them to find her, to save her. Eleazar had kept his life, his work secret from them. They were family, they were should have been able to be open and honest with each other. Shouldn't they?
"Yes, it will." Alice turned and placed her hand on Jasper's face before she walked over to Eleazar, who snapped his head back and looked at her. "Touch my hand."
"I'm sorry?"
"I said touch my hand," she repeated and held her hand out palm up. "There's too much going on around us for me to see clearly right now. I need you to touch my hand, so I can see you, the real you."
Eleazar scoffed and ignored her hand as he stood up, folding his arms in front of him. "Why should I let you see anything about me, Alice? You dragged me down here to fight for a bunch of stinky, mutts against my will!"
Alice stepped up to him, grabbed the back of his head and forced the man onto his knees. The move startled him, though, but before he could fight her off, argue his case, she brought her other hand up to his face, placing her palm directly against cheek. She felt herself tense, her eyes roll backward, and her fingers shake as the vision hit her hard and quick.
Eleazar was standing in the middle of a meadow — the same meadow Bella had been standing during the first vision Alice ever had. Though, unlike that one, the ground was cold, barren, and harsh even. The trees were bare and the air stagnant, abrasive. Carmen and Irina was standing just a few inches behind him on his left. Tanya and Jacob were on his right. Garrett and Kate were behind him. Carlisle, Esme, Emmett and Rose were on the other side of Carmen while Edward, Jasper, Charlie, and Renee were gathered next to Alice. Only Bella appeared to be missing from their small family.
Eleazar opened his mouth and said, "You are not taking her from us. Not again."
"She is not yours to keep from me."
The voice sent chills down Alice's spine as from the other side of the clearing the Volturi stepped through the trees. Aro, Caius, and Marcus were first, followed by Jane and Alec, Demetri, Felix, and Heidi. Behind them were the rest of the guard along with a dozen Sentinels. Though, unlike the guard, they had heavy chains around their wrists and ankles. Prisoners of war, she thought.
"My dear brother, you know you cannot stop me from taking back what is mine."
"She does not belong to you," Eleazar quipped. "I told you once, and I will tell you again, you will never get your hands on her again. Not while I am here."
"That is easily remedied, my good man," Aro laughed and raised his hand with his palm upward, but curling it around as to beckon him toward him and clenching his fingers into a tight fist.
In an instant, Eleazar screamed, his hands coming up to the side of his head and he managed to look back, directly at Alice and say, "We must protect her. We must all protect her," before he fell forward, hitting the ground with a loud thud. His eyes were open and there wasn't a doubt in Alice's mind that he was dead.
Eleazar yanked himself out of Alice's grasp, ending the vision in an instant and he scrambled away, hitting the curb, and falling back onto his ass. "Do you see now why we must distance ourselves from her? She will bring about the end of all of us, Alice!"
"That is not what I saw," Alice argued, feeling Jasper, Charlie, and Renee gather around them. "You knew the true depth of his power, yet you've never told us. Why not?"
"It wasn't important," Eleazar gritted out through clenched teeth as he stood up. Carmen was immediately at his side, placing her hand on the side of his face. "You see now, though, why we can't let him find her? Don't you, Alice? You see it now?"
"No, what I see is a coward," she said, quietly. "Why did you leave the Volturi's Guard?"
"I told you."
"No, I want to know why you really left," she demanded.
"Because I knew what would happen to her if I didn't, and I couldn't let him get to her, not again!" Eleazar snarled, shrugging Carmen's touch off as he took a couple steps backward.
"Again?" Charlie asked, drawing everyone's attention to him. "What do you mean again?"
"I meant what I said. She was never just a human girl with a brain tumor. She's always been more. Time after time after time I felt her life begin and her life end."
"You say that like you're connected to her," Alice said, tilting her head to the side. "Who are you really, Eleazar?"
The man pressed his lips together, though, and shook his head.
"Tell them your name, brother." At the sound of the deep, sorrowful voice, everyone turned and looked back at Abel, who was standing just behind him with his hands clasped together. "Tell them how you fled instead of helping us, helping her. Tell them how you ran like the coward you have always been."
"I am not that man anymore, Abel. I haven't been in a long, long time."
"Lies," he screeched, and Alice screamed as she fell to her knees, her hands flying up to the side of her head. She felt Jasper wrap his arm around her, pulling her against him, and when she looked up, she found all of them, except Abel and Eleazar, on their knees. The two beings were staring at each other.
"Who are you, Eleazar?" Alice asked, slowly finding her way to her feet.
He shook his head.
"Who are you, Eleazar?" Jasper asked, also standing next to her.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, but shook his head.
"Who are you, my love?" Carmen questioned, standing and placing her hand on the side of his face. "Who are you really?"
"I'm not him anymore," he whimpered, his eyes closing. "I haven't been him in a millennia."
"Say your name," Renee demanded, and when everyone looked at her, she pulled herself away from Charlie, who tried to hold her back and walked right up to him, grabbing the front of his shirt. When he wrapped his fingers around her wrists, she snarled and said, "She's my daughter, so you will tell us who you are! You will tell us right fucking now, or so help me, I will rip your Goddamn head off!"
Eleazar shook his head again before he whispered, "They called me Judas."
—Stay—
Just after the sun set, Bella, Edward, and the Sentinel named Cain walked out of their motel room and started their trek toward the Cheyanne Mountains. They had to walk slower than normal, as not to draw attention from the crowd of people who were milling around Manitou Springs, the small tourist community in the middle of Colorado Springs. The streets were lined with shops that were designed to lure the tourist in with silly, cheap knickknacks and psychic readings.
It was odd, Bella thought. This had been the first time since her change just a few months ago that she'd spent time in the presence of humans. She hadn't realized how fragile they were compared to vampires, even to the Sentinel that walked beside them, drawing attention with every step he took. Of course, that had to do more with the thick, black cloak he wore. Humans didn't dress like that, she thought, but then again, humans weren't aware of just how dangerous the world around them was, either. It would have been easy for her to kill them. She could snap their necks before they even realized what she was doing. The only thing she knew she couldn't — or wouldn't — do was drink their blood. They smelled like rotten eggs. But why their blood didn't appeal to her was something she didn't understand. Something, she wasn't sure she wanted to understand if she were honest with herself.
"This way," Edward said, placing his hand on the small of her back before nudging her toward the highway.
They darted around traffic with ease and found themselves disappearing into the thick trees as they started climbing the Cheyenne Mountains, starting the seven mile hike northeast to Boehner Creek.
The terrain was easy enough to manage, especially given their ability to move faster now that humans weren't amongst them as heavily. Bella worried, though, about their loved ones. Had they made it back to Washington in time? Had Jasper been able to convince Eleazar to step up and help? Was it a mistake to help the Quileute in the first place? They had started this war, hadn't they? Billy Black, Harry Clearwater, and Quil Ateara Sr. — they had lit the match that started the fire, hadn't they?
"Do you think they made it in time?" Bella asked, causing Edward to look over at her. While they were able to move faster now that they were deeper into the woods, they weren't in a hurry to find the cave, unsure what they would find once they got there.
"I hope so," he said, frowning. "As much as I don't care for the Quileute, there are innocent women and children who don't deserve to pay the price for the mistakes of foolish, old men," he added, his eyes shifting to Cain. "If that's what happened."
"It is," Cain replied immediately. "You do not have to believe my brother, or myself, but the truth is the truth."
"The truth, huh?" Edward asked. "What about the story about you and your brother? According to the bible, you killed Abel out of spit and jealousy."
Cain stopped and turned toward Edward. "Your people made up those fables to keep their prey in line. Our people lived in peace with the humans until your kind came along, drove us underground. They started slowly, infecting one and then another with their poison. We fought for humans, fought for their freedom, their free will that your kind would take away to satiate their hunger, their thirst."
"My kind?" Edward asked. "My family and I aren't like the others. We value humanity."
"Yes, yes, you do. That's why you and only you could be the one to free her," Cain said, lifting a boney hand and pointing at Bella.
"Free me?" she asked. "What do you mean?"
Cain frowned, his hand dropping to his side. "Your human shell was not strong enough to contain your gifts. You were fading into the darkness. We were afraid you would not survive and we would have to wait until you were reborn — again."
"Again? How many times have you been waiting for me to ascend, or whatever you want to call it?"
"Too many," he replied. "Every time the power inside of you grew too strong, too fast, and your human body failed to protect you. Each time, you perished before you could be saved."
"Wait, you're saying that I've been reincarnated over and over?"
"Yes," he replied and turned and started walking again, so she and Edward shared a look before they followed. "As my brother and I said before, you were our leader, before the blood drinkers killed you. You were strong and powerful, but they broke you down, tore you apart until you were weak and fragile."
"How did they tear me apart?"
Cain frowned. "They stole your family, one by one making them one of theirs." He looked over at her. "You were our mother, Bella. You were named Eve and you created us to help the humans."
Bella put both of her hands up in front of her as she stopped walking. "Eve? Like as in Eve from the bible Eve? Created by God from one of Adam's ribs Eve?"
"The very same, though the story is not all that accurate," Cain said. "You were created first, then Adam was made from your rib. Adam, though, was not who he said he was. He turned against you, let the blood drinkers poison him. He became cruel and hardened by the poison. He thought he was the stronger of the two of you, the better. He tried to hold you down, keep you from protecting the humans we loved so dearly. In the end, you sacrificed yourself for them, for us. We've been waiting for you to return, Bella. This time stronger, wiser, braver."
"What happened to him?" Edward asked. "What happened to Adam?"
Cain tilted his head to the side. "He lives still. Though, he's not called Adam anymore."
"What's he called?" Bella questioned.
"They call him Aro."
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