Where in the World is Carlisle Cullen?

Carlisle Cullen hadn't felt this uneasy and unsettled since his initial transition to this undead life. He was as uncertain of his future then, as he was now. His eyes were taking in everyone around him, wary of being followed. His ears twitching for any mention of his name. The airport was noisy, numerous languages assaulting his ears and keeping him from truly catching any one conversation. He worried about being followed, understandably. International airports were always difficult for vampires, it's why they always flew private. So they could avoid the terminal. Edward found airports in general, unbearable. International airports were too much for Edward. Vampires couldn't get tinnitus, but Edward had described it feeling that way once. He had spent the rest of the week once they arrived at their new home, underwater.

Aro taking the slightest provocation to come for the members of his coven, disturbed Carlisle. It had spurned him into action and without thinking he had boarded a flight. He had the passing thought all those years ago, that Aro and Caius were thinking rather irrationally after so many years in power. Caius with his vendetta against werewolves, and Aro with his vendetta against everyone else.

Marcus, he believed, would have thrown himself on his mate's funeral pyre had he been allowed to attend. He cared less for this life than Edward. Carlisle could have stayed with the Volturi for more than the scant decades he had spent with them, if it wasn't for one fact. Aro was proud. If the sin Pride had a face, it would be Aro's. He wouldn't let any slight go unpunished, real or perceived and he couldn't fathom not punishing anyone who slighted him in the most minuscule way. With a touch, Aro could read every thought you ever had. Carlisle couldn't live under that kind of scrutiny. He headed straight through security and past baggage claim. This was an impromptu trip and traveling light was essential. Carlisle did not intend to stay longer than necessary. He had taken off his sweater and left it on the plane, he wouldn't need it for the human illusion here.

When Alice had told him the Volturi were going to come knocking on his door to accuse him of keeping a human pet, something that most vampires who had met Carlisle would never believe, he knew any kinship he had with Aro Volturi had disintegrated. When it was Demetri and Felix who confronted him, he knew his days were numbered. He had felt enough guilt that he had let Isabella Swan into this world, knowing all the trouble it had caused he never would have allowed it. He had indulged Edward too often over the years and to what end? They left Bella for her safety, and she ended up a vampire anyway. Some destinies can't be averted, he supposed.

Aro had heard of Edward and Alice from someone else, not Carlisle. He took that as a slight against Carlisle, assuming he was hiding them from him on purpose. He was a jealous, covetous man. And he coveted Alice and Edward. He probably would have wanted Jasper too, if he had any real idea about him. Aro would have needed an army and Chelsea for that. He didn't need Alice's gift to foresee that possible future. It was one Carlisle hoped would never happen.

Carlisle had just stepped between the automatic doors into the gust of humid night air, when he was stopped in his tracks. His body going completely rigid with fear. The icy cold grip of it creeping up his spine and making him unable to act, though his mind was whirling a mile a minute on what he could do to get out of this new situation he had found himself in. He had worried about being followed, but he thought he was just being overly paranoid. He had done a good job of staying under the radar. Taking multiple flights to avert suspicion to his final destination. Running between airports to lose anyone following him.

When Carlisle Cullen had gotten off that plane in Cairo, Egypt, he had come with the hopes of meeting Amun. To see guidance from a man who had escaped the Volturi once before. To speak to a vampire over five thousand years old and gain any wisdom he had to offer the young vegetarian. What he hadn't come looking for, was Demetri Volturi. Standing with the other men in black suits in front of waiting town cars. His sign clearly read, 'Cullen'. He had an immense relief then, that he had left Esme in Denali. They stared at each other for a long moment, people bumping into Carlisle from behind and finding him immobile. Demetri put his sign under his arm and waited patiently for Carlisle to make his decision, fight, flight or fold.

.o.O.o.

A loud growl echoed through the trees around the three vampires walking through the backyard of the Ithaca Cullen mansion, pausing them in their ascent to the house.

"Was that..." Garrett asked, bewildered. His eyes looking up at the trees and the birds that had taken flight.

"Sure was." Peter said confidently. He had heard enough of Jasper's war cries to know what he sounded like. He had the stray thought that they were pretty darn similar. No wonder he hadn't gotten close to anyone during their time with Maria. He couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. He had spent a long time arguing with Jasper about how he hadn't killed his mate, and that he did deserve eternal love. Peter enjoyed being right.

"That sounded like it was miles away." Garrett said, awed. His time spent with Jasper had never involved anything but hunting humans and visiting museums and old battlegrounds. In fact, Garrett hadn't spent much time fighting vampires since 1776. Unless they were British. Carlisle being an exception, of course.

"Not everyone roars like a lion, Garrett." Charlotte could see the wheels spinning in his mind and could bet he thought they all did that. Peter had never made such a display before, not even when they mated for the first time. Mated vampires were extremely rare in the vampire world. Finding your other half is nearly impossible, especially when over 99 percent of the world were humans.

"Some of us are much more subtle." Peter wouldn't say he felt emasculated, he just wasn't as boisterous as a vampire as Jasper. He had also had a lot more unrestrained sex with newborns when they were with the Mexico Coven.

Jasper, if he recalled, had none.

"You think he'll be that loud every time?" Garrett asked, causing the two mated vampires to share a look. That would be terrible, especially if they were going to stick together throughout Bella's newborn year. They all started to settle around on the lawn furniture outside.

"Christ almighty, I hope not." Peter said, "They're gonna have to spend her newborn year by them damn selves." Charlotte laughed, knowing he wouldn't leave Jasper hanging when he needed him. They weren't blood brothers in the traditional sense. It was Jasper's venom coursed through Peter's veins, and it was Peter's blood that Jasper had drank. But it was their friendship that really made them brothers.

"This place is ridiculous." Garrett commented, kicking his feet up on the circular fire pit the chairs were all centered around.

"The Cullens definitely live like movie vampires." Peter said, having watched just about every vampire adjacent TV show or movie.

"Shouldn't living like this count towards exposure laws?" Charlotte asked, starting a small fire in the fire bit for ambiance, causing Garrett to shuffle his feet back a little.

"It probably helps Carlisle and Aro are pen pals. Or were?" Garrett corrected himself, he couldn't imagine either one remaining cordial with each other after this. It was basically Aro declaring war on the Cullen Coven.

"They're pen pals?!" Peter was in disbelief. He knew that Carlisle had spent time with the Volturi not too long after he changed, but not that him and Aro regularly corresponded.

"What, Jasper never mentioned it?" He had talked about the Volturi with Jasper and Carlisle before, numerous times. It usually ended with Garrett going on a rant about foreign bodies of government having no business in America.

"No..." Peter said, deep in thought. He knew that Carlisle hadn't ratted Jasper out, or the Volturi would have known where to find Carlisle and would have come with a lot bigger group than four. He just couldn't fathom being friends with someone like Aro.

"Have you ever seen him walk around so...?" Charlotte asked them, waving her arms around for emphasis.

"Who, Jasper?" Garrett asked, not understanding what she meant.

"Yes, Jasper. Normally he's wound up, tight like a clock. On edge. You know, just not relaxed." To Garrett, that's just how Jasper was. That was how everyone knew Jasper. Jasper had spent his entire vampire existence waiting for an attack.

"He does seem to have a little jaunt in his step these days. She's been a vampire for what, five days now?" He wasn't really asking, so he continued. "I'd say he was a bit more chipper after he came to Odessa. Before we introduced them." He was thinking seriously about it now, wondering if it was the proximity to his mate or just being free of a vegetarian lifestyle. He was always on edge when they were with the Mexico Coven, that was understandable. They were at war 24/7 until they left.

"Could be, he just never had a chance to relax." Peter concluded. Jasper had been at war, then living with vegetarians and trying not to kill humans, the very thing he had spent almost 100 years doing.

"Don't really think he'll get much time to relax at the moment." Garrett commented, staring off into the woods. Peter wasn't sure if he meant because of newborn Bella or because something bigger was coming. His thoughts were interrupted when his phone rang with an unknown number.

"Now who do you think this could be?" He asked no one in particular before he answered the phone and brought it to his ear.

"Hello?"

.o.O.o.

"We should tell Jasper." Rosalie said, her and Emmett standing on the edge of the desert gazing out at the smoldering rubble of what remained of Peter and Charlotte's ranch in Odessa, Texas. The barn had burned, with the horses inside. They had just come from town, where Bella's apartment building had suffered the same fate. It was too coincidental. It was a message, but what kind of a message and from who, Rosalie had no idea.

"This wasn't the Volturi." Emmett wasn't guessing, he knew. They wouldn't make this big of a scene without covering it up with the local news and authorities. Without making it perfectly clear who the message was for and why.

"Jasper told me he had enemies, once. When I told him about Royce." Emmett froze then, a cold rage over coming his entire being. Rosalie didn't often mention his name, but when she did it was usually in anger or distressing depression. Rosalie noticed but kept talking.

"He said he admired my conviction, determination and willpower in being able to kill those who had wronged me and never taking a single drop of their blood. That Carlisle and I were the only vampires he had ever met who had never had human blood." Rosalie wasn't trying to boast though it was starting to come out that way.

"He told me he wished he could have the same resolution as I... But his demons were vampires." Emmett had no idea about any of this. He felt like he was being told a secret he wasn't supposed to know. He knew his mate and Jasper were close, in a way that had Edward trying to convince him there were nefarious intentions on Jasper's end. He had never felt that jealousy or possessive rage. At least, not towards Jasper. Plenty of times he felt rage towards Edward. His eyes always leering at Rosalie when she too involved to notice him.

"I think maybe, Jasper's demon's have finally caught up with him." She said quietly, reaching for Emmett's hand in reassurance. Rosalie wasn't a fighter, but she would be if Jasper needed her to be. She felt it with her entire being, that the vampire world she had been introduced to was going to change.

"We should definitely call Jasper." Emmett agreed, pulling out his phone and calling Peter. The number Emmett had for Jasper had been disconnected long ago.

.o.O.o.

Alice had tried all sorts of things to trigger her visions over her years as a vampire. She had come to the conclusion that there were just too many decisions that had to be made to force a vision. Some things were easier to focus on, more mundane things like what the weather would be like tomorrow, or if there going to be a pop quiz in Calculus on Friday. Most of the things she saw were useless to her, so she didn't pay them any mind. Now she was going over some of the more boring visions to see if there was something she had missed, some key moment that would have led them all down a different path. Some clue that she had missed.

She had never had a vision of this sort of future for herself, or for anyone else for that matter. The idea that vampires like this existed had always been too theatrical for Alice. Something for the movies, and not real life. Jasper had tried to explain it to her, but she had never wanted to listen to him. Something she had come to regret, it could have prepared her better for today.

"Alice."

She clenched her eyes shut tighter, as if that would keep the reality at bay.

"Alice."

The voice said louder, and more demanding. She knew what would happen to her if she didn't open her eyes then, the vision playing across her eyelids. It took her eyes milliseconds to adjust to the brightness coming in from the open doorway. She had thought it was silly, that they kept her in a dark room when she had vampire sight. She was used to being locked in a room from her human life, it was more comforting than it was terrifying. She was sure the latter was the original intention. Sitting in the dark was boring with or without vampire sight, she had concluded.

"Alice Cullen."

The looming figure in front of the doorway stepped aside, "Come."

All of the vampires she had met since she was run off the road in rural Ohio, have been brusque. Saying far more with their actions and expressions than they were with their words. She stood up then, and made an elaborate display of daintily brushing herself off. As if she had merely been waiting for them and had grown impatient. She had learned long ago from Rosalie, to wear haughty superiority as armor. She cloaked herself in it then, as she exited the door and followed the larger male vampire down a long corridor.

Doors on either side with numbers and letters. She wondered if she was in an apartment building or an office building. It didn't look particularly run down, like most places vampires chose to squat. The carpet could use a vacuum, but the walls were freshly painted. He stopped abruptly in front of a door, at the end of the hall. No numbers on this one. The door was opened and she was shoved inside, just as quickly the door shut again. There wasn't a lock on it, but she imagined it would be pointless to escape. There were a lot of vampires in this building. A lot more than Alice had ever felt or seen in one place before. She turned then to look around the room and see where they had brought her now and was completely shocked and horrified at what she saw.

"Edward!" She cried rushing forward a few steps, her hands covering her mouth. She had never fathomed, never imagined...

"Isn't that sweet?" A voice asked out of the darkness beyond Edward, the latter refusing to meet Alice's eyes.

"She still cares for you, even after all you've done." A woman emerged from the shadows then, her long, black curly hair carelessly strewn about her shoulders. She was wearing a sleek black fitted business suit and ridiculously high, high heels. Alice was surprised she was dressed so elegantly when everyone else she had encountered had been dressed casual in shirts and jeans. She came forward slowly, her hand reaching up to grip the top of the hammock Edward was resting on. Twisting her wrist, she sent the hammock spinning. He lurched to the side, unable to stop himself from falling over with his arms still missing.

"Does she know all you've done niño?" She asked Edward, abruptly stopping his spin and sending him toppling to the other side. She leaned in lifting his chin with one of her manicured red nails. "With her visions, did she see all of your betrayal?" Her red eyes slid from Edward to Alice, her back straightening as she took in Alice.

"He tried to run, you know." The woman explained, her Spanish accent barely noticeable even to vampire ears. "He was ready to leave you behind, if it meant he could escape." Edward had slowed his spin and was now traveling slowly in the reverse. Alice tried to look away, but she couldn't. Where his eyes refused to look anywhere but at her, hers couldn't look anywhere but the stumps on where his legs used to be. They had propped him up on a swing hammock with pillows, to keep him from moving around too much. It looks like they had taken them at the thigh, and she wondered how the venom wasn't flowing anymore.

"He's been a very bad boy." She continued, ruffling Edward's hair like he was a disobedient child and not a vampire with limbs missing. "Of course, he was helpful at first. Giving me information about mi amor." Alice realized then, that this was Maria. Jasper's Maria. Edward had told her plenty about Maria, a lot which she assumed was made up. Edward's hate for Jasper started at his scars and ended with what he had pried from the privacy of Jasper's mind and memories. If Edward considered himself a soulless monster, he considered Jasper the worst of us all. Alice wondered then, where Maria ranked on this list.

"When he told me Isabella Swan would no longer be a problem, I was relieved." Her hand on Edward's shoulder, gently rubbing it as if to ease a phantom ache.

"When he told me her young human life was cut short by my Major, I was... ecstatic. What better revenge on mi amor, than for him to kill his mate? It had been a concern of his, you know." Her eyes were shining with mirth and Alice felt sick. She hadn't seen anything like that. She had never even seen Edward with this woman. Maria had been watching Jasper this whole time? Before they moved to Forks? She walked towards Alice then, smiling when she saw Alice stiffen as she got closer. Maria had always enjoyed instilling fear in other vampires. It was far too easy with humans. Toying with humans was beneath Maria, and Maria missed her favorite toy.

"Can you imagine my surprise, Alice?" She leaned in, her crimson eyes swirling with her recent kill. The stench of it on her breath. Alice tried to take a step back. Maria's hand quickly clenched around Alice's upper arm like a manacle.

"When Isabella Swan turned up in Odessa, Texas, in the very town Peter Whitlock lived in." The guilt and remorse that overcame Alice then, her mind going back to the way she manipulated Bella into ending up in Odessa, would have brought her to her knees if it weren't for Maria's hand on her arm keeping her upright. She thought she had done something good, bringing two people who belonged together, together. She kept her mouth shut, not knowing if Maria knew she was responsible. How did she know about Bella before she moved to Forks?

"Peter Whitlock should have known better to settle anywhere in the south, where I would be watching. It is humorous. They both thought I would just let them go." Were they in the south now? Alice had no idea where she was, she had never been good with directions even with her vampire senses. She tried not to touch the Cullen crest at her throat, wondering if Edward's was still in Ithaca or if it was left in the trunk of the rental car. Her eyes went past Maria to Edward, as she wondered just how much he had betrayed his Coven.

"Not the coven Alice, Jasper." Edward corrected, still refusing to meet her gaze. He was too ashamed at all that he had done, and all that she had yet to know that he had done.

"He speaks!" Maria makes a big show of clapping and being shocked. Alice couldn't focus on her mocking Edward, she was wondering if this was all her fault. She had seen a vision of Bella as a vampire with the whole family, laughing while playing baseball. She assumed it was because she would be with Edward. He had seen her first, had the problem with her blood. It had all seemed so romantic. It had never occurred to her that it could be the other unmated vampire in their coven and maybe a little sexist of Alice, but it could have just been because she was meant to be a vampire. If Jasper had changed her, all those months ago... Would this be happening now?

Her eyes widened then, with the realization that she had made too many assumptions about her visions in the past. She knew now, with a great heavy sadness, that the future she had seen then had been irrevocably changed. That snapshot of a happy family, a whole family, was gone forever. A glimpse into an alternative reality. One that she and Edward had changed forever. She felt like a fortune telling rube.

"Edward has told me how much you love fashion." Maria began conversationally. Circling Alice where she stood frozen with fear and trepidation. Still staring at Edward, who was still unable to look anywhere but down. Alice felt like she was being judged then.

"Lots of people like fashion." Alice tried to sound like she was unbothered by her proximity and her situation and failed.

"How often you thought Jasper's scars ruined a perfectly good outfit." Maria continued, dragging a finger along Alice's shoulder to her neck.

"How glad you were that you only had the one scar." Maria's finger slid along Alice's neck then, along the scar her maker had left her with before James killed him. Alice involuntarily shuddered, cold icy fingers crawled up Alice's spine as fear truly enveloped her. She wasn't in the world of the Cullens anymore, this was Jasper's world. The world where disobedience got you bit, or a limb removed. You might not even get the limb back.

"She understands, Maria." Edward said, his voice sounding tired and dejected. Alice hadn't seen what had happened to him and she was glad for that. It must have been unbearable. Was he working for her now? What did it take to earn his submission?

"Edward has agreed to be my little song bird. He will sing to me all of the thoughts that fly through everyone's little heads." She stroked Alice's jawline. "You will be my oracle." Alice reached up then and held the Cullen Crest between her fingers, her thumb firmly pushing the cameo in.