Hi everyone!
It's been a while! I just wanted to apologize once again for this extremely late update and for my inactivity on the site, I've been super busy - I think last quarter has probably been the heaviest course load I've taken so far and then during break I got super sick and honestly still feel like I'm recovering lol (I'm feeling tons better now though :)). I've also been trying to catch up on writing my other stories - originals and fanfics alike! - which I'm having a lot of fun with. I'll try my best to update at least semi-regularly on here, but I can't promise anything as of right now (1/22/2023) as this quarter is also shaping up to be quite a busy one for me as well. Don't worry though, I'm still absolutely set on seeing this story through! Thank you so much for your patience and support, you guys are amazing. I hope you enjoy, and wishing you all a wonderful (and safe!) new year!
41. CONTROL
My blood iced over in my veins and all I could feel was cold.
"What do you mean? How could they have found out?" Carine interjected, touching Arch's shoulder.
"I don't know, they were set on going back to Forks, I'd seen that much. But now they've changed course. Maybe they sensed her presence at the brothers' old place or caught her scent somewhere; maybe Sulpicia saw that someone had seen her in the village. It must have been a last-minute thing, before I could even think to see it – I know they'd gone through the village Adelaide works in on the way to the airport." Then Arch took a breath, regretful. "And… Ivan is with them, in every version."
"Our brother is with them?" Kirill asked, his voice getting quieter and quieter until it faded away to nothing and the rest of the Denali clan were looking at us with wide eyes.
Arch nodded, slow; solemn. "He is their informant, after all."
"Did they hurt my friend Eliza?" Adelaide quickly interjected.
Arch closed his eyes, shaking his head after a minute. "No, she's fine. I can still see her future; she'll just be greeting some guests from the United Kingdom today – they're friends of hers, she'll be thrilled to see them."
"Thank goodness." Adelaide exhaled, relieved.
"Yeah, she might be but we're screwed." Royal's voice came out low; grievous.
"We cannot think like that, Roy." Carine shook her head, Earnest backing her.
"What are we going to do?" Edythe's voice cracked and her hands flew to her stomach again. I helped her into a chair, she was working herself up.
"Edythe, calm down." But what right did I have to tell my wife that? This was the worst news we could have gotten, and we had no real, solid way to turn it around; no way out.
"Beau is right, Edythe. We must think this through rationally." Carine emphasized.
"Rationally? There's nothing rational about this, they are going to kill us all." Edythe jumped up, pangs of desperation echoing in her voice. Earnest was already hugging her tight before I had the chance to and she buried her face in his chest.
I felt that devastating hopelessness crushing in around us again. Everyone was silent, no one knew what to say. Was this how it was going to end? Would we all be dead come tomorrow morning?
"Arch, tell me: what do you see?" He didn't answer me for a long time, only closing his eyes and letting out a shaky breath.
"It's not looking good. I'm so sorry." He swallowed, moving his head very slowly from side to side. Jessamine came up to him and he pulled her close, kissing the top of her head.
Thinking about that punched a hole through my chest - Edythe, Jules, our family - and our child who didn't even get a chance to live. Was that all he could see for us? Certain death?
But I had to remember something: though that's what Arch saw, it didn't mean that it was set in stone. Not yet.
There had to be another way. We'll come up with something. We have to. Think… think… think…
The Volturi were tracking us. It took us fifteen hours to get here so it should take them at least a couple hours to turn around and come back if they'd already made the choice to leave first - even if they had their own double-speed private jets, air travel was air travel. But, if they hadn't made it very far… they could be here in far less time than that. I didn't know which it was.
"Arch? Can you give us a timeframe?" I asked, sprinting to where we'd left that paper pad with all the battle tactics in it on the glass table in the living room. I didn't know what happened to the pen though and frantically, I went and searched for another one, knocking things over on the bookshelf in the living room– I'd fix them later. I finally found one to use and clicking it open, I readied myself to write.
"I can't say for certain, but it'll be when the snow sticks to the ground." He looked out the window. The flakes had stopped coming down – for now. How long was that going to last, though?
"Do you know where we'll be meeting them?"
"I can't tell, it's constantly changing. In some visions it's here in Croatia and in others it's somewhere in Volterra. And in yet another vision we somehow make it back home, and we still meet them in that baseball field. They are tracking us. Have they been tracking us this whole time, though? Was it all a ruse? Subterfuge so we might unwittingly give ourselves up?" he asked himself, his voice getting quieter and quieter with each word.
So, every step we took we were being watched. If they were tracking us this whole time though, why haven't they made a move on us yet? Did they really not know where we were? If that were the case, it'd be our only advantage. Maybe it still is, since Arch's visions kept changing. Was there something else we could do with that?
And then it hit me.
"Why don't we make the job harder for them?"
"Harder? You mean…" Arch snapped his fingers, "we split up?"
"Exactly. We can confuse them; buy ourselves some more time to figure something else out."
"I think… that can work." Arch whispered then left the room in a blur. He came back two seconds later with a map of the world, one he'd taken from that storage box Nisa was carrying earlier and laid it open on the kitchen counter, smoothing it down flat. After sweeping all the glass away and mopping up the water on the kitchen floor – something that took five seconds tops combined – he moved back to the counter and let his finger drift over every continent, land mass and body of water on the worn, browning map, skimming over the little rips forming on the fold lines and motioning for me to hand him the pen I was using, making some marks with it here and there in quick bursts like he was a cop mapping out the details of a developing criminal case. Then he put the pen down and his head shot up. Without a word he streaked up the banister leading to the upstairs floor of the cottage, the short-looking one. And then everyone else zipped up the stairs after him and I followed them, being the last one to get there right behind Jules.
The room looked a lot bigger than I was expecting based on my impression of it earlier, there was still a good seven inches between the roof and the top of my head standing up. By the looks of it, it was some type of attic space. The planks that made up the unpainted walls were a dark brown, and that little circular window I saw from outside earlier centered the wall which faced out into the front yard. Stacks of old, dusty boxes lined either side of the room and formed a pathway in-between, down the middle of the space. Arch disappeared around the corner one of the stacks made. About a minute later he popped out from behind the stuff on the left side of the room, walking back over to us.
"Did you need something in here, Arch?" Edythe asked when he passed her by. He nodded and twirled a small gel pen around with his fingers like it was a baton.
"Just needed another pen, the other one's out of ink." He shrugged. "Come on."
He started back downstairs, motioning for us to follow after him. Just as I was about to turn into the kitchen again where Arch was doing all his detective work, there was a small Thud behind me. Arch must've accidentally loosened something when he was looking for that pen. It was only me in the main hall and feeling some of my OCD with tidiness bubbling up – I'd always done the dusting and the laundry and the picking things up at both my parents' places – I went back upstairs to see what had fallen. The floor creaked underfoot as I made my way to the left side of the room where Arch had popped out from earlier and rounding the corner, I saw a large, antique bookcase with three shelves and a small drawer at the bottom, intricate flower designs carved into it. The shelves were only half full and the worn, colorful spines of the books were all leaned over to one side, like the whole thing was tilted. On the floor there was an old, pale-green book whose edges were blunt and fraying – I'd found my culprit. I got to it in two long strides, kneeling down to pick it up and reading the title – The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. I've read it twice before, once at my old school in Phoenix and again in Forks for my senior year English class. Scanning the shelves, I figured it came from the middle one because there was a conspicuous gap between two of the books in the row and I slid it right in before heading back downstairs. Launching myself round the banister and into the kitchen, I stood beside Edythe and listened in on the rest of what Arch had to say.
"…so that's the plan."
Okay, so I guess I maybe-sorta-kind of missed out on the whole entire thing. Great.
I raised my hand. "Can you repeat that, Arch?"
"Sure." He nodded. Taking up the pad of paper and the other gel pen on the counter, I started jotting down some more notes for myself.
But I couldn't pay attention to what Arch was saying for long.
Arch talks with his hands a lot, he's super expressive. It's just something I've noticed about him these past few years. But today, I noticed something else, too.
He was writing down some more stuff on the map at the same time I was jotting things down on the yellow paper pad, which in and of itself wouldn't have been so weird until you factor in what Arch said about the dying pen he wanted to swap out earlier, that it had no more ink in it - that meant that either me or him was writing with a pen that technically shouldn't be working.
And then I thought, why in the world would he lie about something like that? Why would he go through all the trouble of finding an entirely new pen, upstairs in the attic to boot, when this one worked just fine?
I looked down at the one I was writing with – the inkwell was full; I could tell that much even from behind the gray-tinted barrel. And then I looked to Arch's hand – the inkwell of his pen was still full, too. So why did he say that earlier when it was so easy to tell both pens still had some juice in them?
His eyes snapped up and narrowed as they met mine, a knowing look like he could see right through me deep in them. His eyebrows flicked up very slightly, and his head moved in a way that made me think he was nodding. Nobody else seemed to notice though, or didn't seem to think much of it at all. But I knew that look meant something.
And then I remembered the book.
There had to be something in the book.
My mouth fell open and I turned to look at the staircase.
"We're going to go with Beau's idea." Arch started up in a loud voice. He was shaking his head very slightly at me, like he was telling me not to go yet.
"So, we're splitting up, then?" Edythe asked, looking all around at everyone in the room. "Who's going with who?"
"It doesn't matter who goes with who for the most part, though there is one major exception to that rule: Adelaide has got to come with me, and we cannot travel with you and her in the same party, Edythe. That is absolutely critical."
"Why?" Edythe asked, blinking.
"I can't answer that right now. Please, I just need you to trust me on this." Arch took her shoulders and his voice had fallen to a low, serious pitch. Edythe was trying hard to read him, but judging by the confused look on her face he wasn't giving her anything. And that was kind of scary. Just what did he have in mind for us all? I thought it was probably just a precaution; like a "don't put all your eggs in one basket" sort of deal because if Edythe and Adelaide were together in that one theoretical group and they happened to run into the Volturi, then it was game over for all of us – the Volturi would have everything they wanted and we'd be out of luck. But then, what with the way Arch said it, I felt there was still a little more to it than that.
Adelaide stepped forward like she had an answer to my unspoken observation. "I have an idea."
She turned into a blurry streak and came back to us in two seconds holding that box Nisa was carrying the other day when we first met her and dug around in it, searching for something else. She yanked out a flash of glinting metal, holding it first up to the light like she was checking for something then bringing it back down and angling it in my wife's direction – it was that old antique baby rattle that was balanced precariously on the mountain of maps we saw the other day. "They want me, I know it. You promise them as much-" she gave the rattle to Edythe and wrapped her hand over it, "and they will not attack you, not immediately at least. It will buy you some time if you happen to meet them first. This has been in my possession since the day I was born, a gift from my aunt made especially for me. For you today, it can serve as something of a bargaining chip."
"But how, exactly? I'm sure there were tons out there just like it, right?" Jules indicated it with the point of her chin, crossing her arms doubtfully over her chest.
"I don't think so. Look here-" she had Edythe hold the rattle out on the palm of her hand and turned it over. On the smooth, flat circular part there was a signet of raised metal – a giant V and a coat of arms with two hawks and two trees engraved inside it – and I immediately recognized it as the Volturi's crest from when I was in Italy: it was a common emblem on all their coven rings and necklaces, on the doors and tapestries on the walls though the red ruby I noticed didn't make an appearance.
"What are you saying? Do you want us to present this to them and agree to hand you over if they let us go?" I asked, shaking my head. I didn't like that – it'd be like throwing her under the bus. After everything she's been through, how much she's helped us… I couldn't do it. Not another body; not another life on our hands. Because chances are, they will finish what they started – Adelaide was going to die. But then, weighed against the possibility of my entire family dying complicated things so much more. Sacrifice one for the greater good? It felt cruel to even think that. The entire situation made me panic – again, how can we all win in this situation? My family, Adelaide – I wasn't sure if it was possible. Her or us – is that really what it came down to?
"We don't have a lot of time." Arch's voice, severe, scattered away the thoughts running wild in my head. "Adelaide and Nisa will go with me. Our cousins can make one group, Jess, Eleanor, Royal and Earnest can make another and Beau, Edythe, Carine, and Julie will round us off." And then we all assembled into the groups Arch picked out for us. "For the time being, go anywhere you can think of but home and Volterra until I tell you otherwise, so keep an eye on your phones and just spread out; maybe try to find some of Carine's friends if possible. I love you guys. Please, be safe." Arch swallowed hard then ushered Adelaide and Nisa out the door with him and the second their feet touched the first cobblestone step on the path, they all turned into a white blur, disappearing into the fading light of the sun.
"I don't know where they're going," Edythe whispered in a scared voice, "he wouldn't let me see."
I didn't know either, but I had an idea of where I could find it. I was about to tell Edythe about it too, but then I remembered something: that Arch was making a huge effort to keep that information from everyone else.
Well, everyone else but me, that is.
He'd cut me off earlier when I was going to ask about it in front of the rest of the family and our hosts, didn't he? And he lied about the whole pen thing. But I'm sure he also knew, too, that I figured it out. I was supposed to.
"We'll run in the other direction. They have our brother, I'm sure they'd like to hear our testimonies as well, but they'll have to come find us first." Kirill explained, motioning to his family. "Let's go." He called over his shoulder, indicating for them to follow after him and they too disappeared in a blur of white. When they'd gone, El circled round the house, probably thinking about where she, Jess, Earnest and Royal should go next.
"Hey, look here!" El called from the left flank of the house.
"What is it?" Edythe clamored in behind her sister, who was pointing at something; a slender shape hidden under a gray outdoor tarp. Royal was there in half a second and yanked it off – it was a small silver Ford Focus.
"Looks like they left it for us. That's perfect – one group can take this, the other can take the van. I didn't even know there were any roads around here. But I wonder where they're going – are they seriously just going to run there, wherever it is? Is it that close?" he muttered, confused.
"Maybe they're going to the airport. It's not too far from here." El suggested with a shrug then turned her eyes back on the Ford, putting her hands on her hips. "Now, where are the keys?"
At that exact moment, El's phone pinged. Yanking it out from her jean pocket, she looked at the screen and laughed.
"Dang, he's good. It's in a drawer in the kitchen." Everyone else followed behind her and while they were distracted by that, I started backing away slowly until I was pressed against the wall at the bottom of the banister and, making my footsteps as quiet as possible, I launched myself up the stairs - I had to get that book. Standing in front of the shelves, my hand hovered over the spines of the old books. I grabbed the pale-green one – The Merchant of Venice – again, cracking it open. On the first title page, there was a note written in a hasty hand, though it was still entirely legible – Arch's message to me. And then I began to read:
Finding witnesses of our own. I saw something, in Brazil. That's where we're going. Adelaide knows too, but she doesn't know that she knows – yet. We'll meet you guys halfway. Destroy this.
Meet us halfway? What's that even supposed to mean?
"Beau?" Edythe called from outside, I'd heard her voice through the window. I had no time to ponder what Arch meant any longer and launched myself down the stairs with the book in hand, careening into the living room. My eyes locked on the fireplace and I got to it in two long strides – even if I still didn't understand what Arch had written, I did know that I was the one person left whose mind Edythe couldn't read – whose mind Sulpicia couldn't read, either. So, Arch must've wanted to keep them in the dark for our protection. I got that. And the Volturi could not know where Arch had taken their long-lost princess, for all our sakes. She – Adelaide; her existence – was the one thing that could buy us some time, because they'd wait for her; they'd wait to get her back in their custody, right? Before going for us, I think. Tearing the page from the book, I tossed it into the fire, feeding it to the flames. The well-invigored rush of dancing orange-gold reached out to me with licks of heat, consuming the page with a sizzling crackle and I watched as it crumpled in on itself like a flower closing up for the winter.
"Beau? What are you doing?" Edythe came up to me and looked into the fire. The page was already ash.
"Just… thinking. You know, being scholarly and all that."
She chuckled. "Well, we'll be leaving soon, Mr. Scholar. Come on. We're taking the van." She started walking, pointing out the door.
"I'll be right behind you." I threw one final glance at the fire and followed after her.
…
"So, what's the plan?" Jules asked from behind me and Edythe in the van, which we'd all run back to – well, at least everyone else did. I'd hitched a ride with my wife instead.
"First, I want us all to go hunting; have something to eat – we must be at our strongest if we are to even stand a chance against the Volturi." Carine answered, eyeing Jules from the rearview mirror.
"What about Edythe?" I quickly interjected. Edythe… would have to hunt a human. She swallowed, hard, and her face twisted with an expression of pain. She knew what she needed to do – that didn't make it any easier for her though now, did it? I thought about that; about how much it would hurt – mentally, at least – and I just wanted to protect her; to make her not hate herself. After all, it was sort of my fault, too, that she had to do this. I took her hand and gave it a squeeze.
"There are plenty of villages around." Carine turned around and showed Edythe an apologetic look, giving her knee a comforting squeeze. "Remember, honey – this does not define you. You are simply doing the best you can in a very difficult situation. There is no shame in that, Edythe."
Edythe's head snapped up and she shook it, hard. "No. I want to try… something else. I'll hunt with you, Carine. Maybe… it'll work this time."
"Edythe, I don't think -"
"I have to at least try, Carine."
Carine looked at Edythe for a long minute, not saying a word. Finally, she sighed; relented. If there was one thing I knew about my wife, it was that she's stubborn. When she's made up her mind, there was no use in trying to persuade her otherwise.
"Very well, then. But if this does not work, Edythe, we need to get you human blood. For your sake, and for your child's sake, I am begging it of you. You have my permission."
I knew that was hard for Carine to do; to condone the killing of a human being even if Edythe could read their mind; even if that human was an evil person. I think Edythe knew it too, and she nodded once, grave.
The car started with a gentle lurch.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"Mosor. The Dinaric Alps. It's quite out of the way of any place the Volturi will be expecting us."
"And afterwards?" Edythe asked.
"I don't know." Carine's voice was solemn. "I don't know."
I could tell it was going to be a long day.
…
On the road, we were silent the whole time. The uncertainty of our situation hung like a plague over us, but I tried to sleep it off, hoping I'd have a clearer head afterwards and spent most of the ride dozing off with my head on Edythe's shoulder.
"We're here." A little while later, Edythe shook me awake and pointed out the car window. Swirls of white cloud marbled against a brilliant blue sky, the mist hanging low around us. There were patches of white amidst all the green which dotted the landscape before us, dustings of snow leftover probably from earlier this week. It was way colder up here than in the Ucka mountain range, I thought for sure it would start snowing again any minute but it didn't. It was actually a really beautiful day, the sun shining beam upon beam down on us. The rain and the snow had stopped sometime on the drive but the air was so wet it almost felt muggy. I didn't even think it was possible, to be honest. I heard the term "humid cold" before, but I wasn't sure if that could be applied here. Still, all I knew was that it was super cold. And I don't like the cold. Going around to the back of the van, I threw the trunk open and dug through my suitcase, trying to find another sweater of mine to layer over my long-sleeve thermal shirt. Afterwards, I shrugged on my windbreaker again and stepped outside with Edythe, who was still wearing my other sweater over her gray dress and leggings. I pulled her peacoat tighter around her. She still looked too cold for my liking – though, I guess I wasn't worried so much for her as I was for the baby, I don't think the cold would have bothered Edythe at all. Remembering I'd brought a gray knit scarf and hat with me for this exact situation, I went around back to the trunk again and sifted through my carry-on, unzipping the small front pouch. I looped the scarf around her neck and pulled the fabric up to cover her chin, letting the long, thick edges fall over her stomach. Then, I tugged the edges of my wool cap down over her ears so deeply it almost covered her eyes. It made me laugh; she was literally so adorable. I did get a little growl for that though, but I didn't care – so long as she was all bundled up.
"There we go." I sighed, contented with my handiwork.
"You know I can't wear these to hunt." She pouted and her tone added the duh. "They'd probably get torn to shreds. They won't be of much use then, will they?"
"Fine. But just wear 'em for now, okay? Until we get to wherever it is Carine has in mind for us to go. I'll watch them while you guys go hunting and then you come right back and put them on. Deal?"
"Deal." She rolled her eyes, but I could tell a smile was playing up at the edges of her lips.
"Good. And, one last thing – be careful, alright? You've got a baby in there." I chuckled.
"Don't worry about us – we'll be just fine, won't we, love?" she cooed, a hand on top of and below her stomach. She showed me a smile then offered her hand to me as we started on the grassy path before us. It was a pretty long hike – we were going up this craggy hillside which spindly roots of trees hung from, under the flourishing shade of tall oaks which stretched towards the sky. In the distance, white snow-covered peaks rose up from the vast green and white landscape. Carine was leading the way - Jules and I would take shelter in one of the natural caves up here while she took Edythe hunting. What we'd do afterwards depended on whether the hunting trip was successful or not, successful meaning it wouldn't make Edythe sick. If it did… well, then we were just going to have to do some crime-watch in the nearby village. Of course, that was the absolute last resort. I bit my lip, trying hard to come up with any other alternative.
"We're here." Carine announced, interrupting my thoughts.
We were standing at the mouth of this giant cave, its entrance looked the shape of a badly-carved Texas, crags of stone dipping into the black like an uncut diamond. Some small green plants were flowering on the floor, tall blades of grassy ferns brushing our ankles as we entered the darkness. The cavern's rocks were the color of gray night, its texture smooth some places and rough and gritty in others following no pattern, rhyme or reason. A natural landscape. The wind winnowed in from the other end of the cave, the sound coming back to us in cool, uneven whistles that were a low murmur. It felt like an arctic breeze to me and I shivered, pulling my windbreaker tighter around me. We made camp a little deeper in, using our phones for light.
"Cheerful, isn't it?" Jules began in a low, sarcastic voice, first moving her eyes all around the immediate area then pulling her backpack tighter over her shoulders.
"You'll be safe in here. There shouldn't be anyone else around, it's an off-season. We'll be back very soon." Carine leaned her own backpack up against the cave wall behind us. She and Edythe masterfully built us a giant fire with just two sticks split in half with some dead leaves and branches they found scattered around and they were already off before I could thank them. It took a minute for our eyes to adjust again, and then me and Jules dumped the contents of our backpacks out, laying out all the snacks we'd brought and prepared to have our own little feast.
"Just like old times." I remarked, placing a giant pack of double-stuffed Oreos in front of me, totally ignoring our healthy sandwiches and granola bars. I remember we made picnics of this as often as we could last year.
"Too bad it's below freezing." Jules snorted. I knew the cold didn't bother her, though. She took off her jacket and put it on my shoulders - it was like wearing a heated blanket. Sliding in beside me, we started on dessert right away.
"Best lunch ever, am I right?" I laughed, sinking my teeth into an Oreo with a satisfying crunch.
"Oh, totally." Jules agreed wholeheartedly. A second later though, she flinched.
"What's wrong?"
She sighed. "We're not the only ones having lunch right now. I can hear them from here sucking the poor things dry." She shivered, a look of disgust flashing across her face.
I was quiet a minute, cupping a hand round my ear and leaning in the direction of the cave entrance we'd come through out of morbid curiosity. I didn't hear anything. Though, I guess that was actually for the best because I probably would have run away, most likely screaming, if I saw – or heard – whatever it was that went down on those "hunting trips". And if animal blood didn't work for Edythe, then she'd have to…
"Promise me that you won't ever become like that, Beau." Jules whispered, nestling her head against my chest.
Oh. That question again. To become like Edythe, and Carine, and everyone else in their family… I thought, for the longest time, that was what I wanted. Edythe is all I want, I'm certain of that but immortality… it was a different story, at least in the sense that maybe I didn't want that anymore, at least not right away, not right now. I just wanted some more time to grow with our child – that was the main thing. I knew Edythe was going to be the best mom ever, if not a teeny bit overprotective - but moms tend to be that way anyways vampire or not - but I also knew that someday soon our child was going to have to start calling her "sister" instead of Mom; was going to have to wonder why they grew and changed every day but Edythe didn't. I didn't want our child to have to do that with me too, it would've been too much. Then when they were all grown up, maybe, just maybe…
I couldn't answer my best friend.
I looked at her face and the expression on it was like something from a tragedy; like I'd dealt her a blow with my silence being rendered the unwitting weapon.
Yes. It would be a tragedy to her of the greatest kind, and I was the principal actor.
I turned away, looking down into the fire as it burned through the kindling.
…
I paced around the cave, nervous anticipation making my palms all sweaty. I hoped with everything in me that the animal blood worked. I couldn't imagine what it would do to Edythe mentally if she really did have to hunt a human, she would be devastated; full of wrenching guilt. But I also knew she had to be at her strongest for the meeting, which was coming up soon – way too soon. And if Arch was meeting us "halfway", how much time did our little plan actually buy us, then? Were we still doomed to meet the Volturi before we were ready? Not that anything could actually prepare us for the meeting. But we still had to sort so many things out – do we run? Fight? Maybe they'll let us go, and I tried pinning all my hopes on that.
"Here comes your vampires." Jules pointed past me and I lifted my eyes to see the familiar outlines of my wife and mother-in-law coming towards us.
"Welcome back." I half-jogged towards them. After wrapping the scarf round Edythe's neck again, I took her hands in mine, pulling her closer to me and stroking her arms.
"How are you feeling, Edythe? Did it work?"
"Yes, it did." She nodded.
"Really? That's amazing!"
"You didn't let me finish." she whispered in a thick voice, looking down at our entwined fingers.
"What do you-?" I blinked, unable to finish my question.
"I'm saying it worked – for all but five minutes." And then she yanked her hands away, bringing one of them up to cover her mouth and the other twisting in the folds of the fabric covering her stomach. Another painful-sounding cough echoed out loud in the cave, making a horde of birds scatter out of one of the crags in the ceiling. The next thing I know, she was throwing up again, crumpling into the floor by the backpack and holding a fistful of napkins from it to her lips. I dove in beside her and my panicked eyes darted to Carine – was there anything she could do to make my wife feel better? Carine shook her head in silence, holding her palms up and out to either side of her, helpless as I was. She took a breath and came to kneel beside me, patting Edythe's back to help her get it all out. Even Jules was looking at Edythe with pitying eyes, and she came around in front of us holding some more napkins from our lunch bag out for my wife to take.
"Thank you." Edythe responded between two hitching breaths, patting her lips dry with it. It seemed like her body and our baby were done rejecting the animal blood now and she sat back with her knees under her, resting her hands on her stomach. Seeing her like that, something in me twisted in my chest, rekindling that strange fire in me anew - I wanted to take her pain; absorb it. So she wouldn't have to suffer. "Oh, Edythe." I said into her hair and took her shoulders. Gently, I leaned her back up against me, letting her sit between my legs and she rested her head on my shoulder. Combing her curls away from her face, I dropped a kiss on her forehead, wrapping my arms tighter around her and letting my hands meet above her chest. Why did she seem so exhausted? So weak? Did that hunting trip actually make her even worse? Because she'd probably lost some of the human blood from the blood banks she'd been having on the trip, too. All because she couldn't bear to do something so… monstrous, in her opinion, even if it was for our family's sake. To not feel that horrible guilt resurface like the last time she actually hunted a human. I swallowed hard, forcing a lump down my throat. "I hate seeing you like this. Is there anything I can do?" I took her shoulders again, massaging them - not that anything I could do could actually help, but I needed to try something; anything at all to ease her.
"Just hold me here like this, and tell me it's okay. That's all." She showed me a little smile and brushed the back of her cool hand against my cheek.
"Done and done." I kissed her again. "Don't worry, Edythe. We'll figure something out. I promise."
"There should be a hospital nearby; I think that may be our best course of action." Carine offered. "I'm sure I'll be able to find some more blood bags for you there, honey. I tell them I'm a doctor, explain there's been an accident, and we can perhaps even stage a situation…"
"Too conspicuous. The Volturi will know it's us." Edythe shook her head.
"So… we're just going to have to stalk some poor little village?" Jules asked, her voice terse as it left her lips. Her fists clenched then unclenched. Looking at my wife though, I knew Jules wasn't the only one who detested the idea. Edythe nodded very slightly, not saying a word as she turned and buried her face in my chest, gripping hard at the fabric of my windbreaker. Yes – it was going to torture her. I felt that crippling sense of helplessness again weighing me down. Was there anything – anything at all – that I could do?
Then, an idea struck me.
"Wait. I think I have something." I whispered, tightening my arms around my wife. I looked to my mother-in-law. "Carine, do you remember what happened that day at the ballet studio? When Joss… bit me? Edythe saved me then – she was able to suck out all the venom without turning me, too."
Everyone stared at me in silence. Edythe's eyes tripled in size and even in the dim glow of the fire, her crimson eyes burned bright; horror, anger, and fear all at once felt at an equilibrium with each other. She knew what I was suggesting.
"No." She threw my arms off her and pushed me away so hard I'd fallen backwards and had to brace myself with my palms out behind me, getting to her feet in an invisible movement. "How could you even suggest such a thing? Do you want to die so much? You'll kill me too, if that happened. Is that what you want? You know it; you know that I couldn't – that I couldn't live with myself if I – if I -" her voice quivered into nothing and her head shook hard; hands calibrating furiously as the came up to cover her trembling lips. Her whole body shook and she backed away from me slowly like I was a monster for even suggesting it, her back hitting the cave wall. "I won't do it. Don't you ever say something like that to me again, Beau. Don't you ever say that!" Her voice echoed back to us in waves and made the whole cave shudder.
"But Edythe!" I cried out, jumping up. I was angry now - angry that she was so stubborn; angry that she wouldn't let me help her. Angry that she felt she had to do this alone. I reached for her, but she knocked my hand away.
"You stay away from me. Don't touch me, because I don't want to hurt you." she hissed in a threatening growl.
I could feel my face heating up, my jaw and fists clenching so I took a long, slow breath trying to cool myself down, silently counting down from ten. It worked. I knew where my wife was coming from; knew that she was coming at me from a place of pain, and all I wanted to do was to make her feel better. I took her hand again, and she didn't push it away this time. "Edythe, this is something only I can do for you. Please, I am begging you. For your sake, and for the baby's. Just… have some of my blood. I promise I've got lots to spare." I tried in a soft voice, hoping what I'd said would make her smile; make her more willing to accept my help.
She took a hitching breath and shook her head. "Don't make me, Beau. I can't; I can't do it. I almost… I almost couldn't stop, that day. I'll lose control, I just know it. And then… and then…"
"Hey, hey, hey." I took her shoulders. "You said that you believed in me, that I could protect you and our baby. Remember that?" I squeezed her hands tighter in mine. She was looking away, her throat bobbing with invisible tears. Gently, I took her chin in my hand and turned her head to look at me again. Her eyes were huge; shimmering with a million words she couldn't say right this minute. That's alright - I knew exactly what I wanted to say to her. I showed her another smile. "Well, guess what? I believe in you, too. With everything in me. You are so strong, Edythe, and you can do this. Just let me help you." My voice didn't even shake. "I mean, it's my baby too in there, right?" I added with a chuckle, resting my hands on her stomach.
Edythe's shimmering eyes found mine again. She swallowed hard and pressed her lips tight together, bringing her hand up to stroke my face. For a long minute she said nothing, but then she nodded very slowly. I flashed her a huge grin, thrilled I'd won that argument.
"Fine. I'll do it." she conceded in a voice as quiet as a breath. "But!" Her eyes moved over me then Carine then Jules. "If it so much as even looks like I'm about to lose control for one split second, get me away from him as fast as you can. I don't care what you have to do, just make sure I don't hurt Beau, and make sure that you don't hurt my baby." Then she turned to look right at Jules. "Jules? Can you phase? So it'll be easier to knock me away if I – if I-" she couldn't finish her sentence, the words coming out a choked whisper instead.
"Way ahead of you, sister." Jules answered right away, throwing her undershirt off and phasing in midair not a second later. Edythe turned back to look at me again, kissing me for a long minute.
"I'm so sorry, Beau. I'm so, so sorry." she reiterated. "I'm sorry you have to do this for me; I'm sorry for hurting you, for putting you in danger all the time like this because of what I am-"
I put a finger to her lips. "Stop it, Edythe. I'd do this a million times over you know, if it meant that I could help keep the both of you safe." I kissed her this time, pulling her into my chest. She hugged me back, arms tight around me.
"Alright, then. Are you ready, Beau?" Carine asked, touching my shoulder. She looked at me, then Edythe with sad, pained eyes. I didn't want her to look at us like that, because I was afraid Edythe would see; afraid it would hurt her to see that look on her mother's face. Was Carine feeling guilty? Guilty that she made Edythe a vampire; guilty that Edythe had to go through all of this? I couldn't blame her – it was my fault, too.
I nodded. Carine left the cave in a blur of white but was back at my side a minute later, that duffel bag she'd packed all her doctor stuff in now in hand. Unzipping it, she rummaged through the various gear; a stethoscope, a blood pressure cuff, rolls of gauze, bandages, alcohol wipes and a hundred other things to get to a small, zippered gray pouch at the bottom which she pulled out in one burst. In that pouch was a row of sharp objects – small pairs of scissors and different sized scalpels – and Carine took out the shortest one. I swallowed hard at the sight, it finally sinking in what we were going to do. I remembered who I was doing this for, though, and instantly reclaimed my courage; felt my own strength pulse through me like a wave. Carine put on a pair of blue latex gloves and tore open one of those alcohol wipes packs. After rolling up my sleeve she took my hand, scrubbing the top of it off hard before doing a quick, light sweep up the rest of my arm. Just sterilizing the skin, I reminded myself as I eyed the glint of the blade in the zip pouch. Then she wiped the blade of the small scalpel off with another alcohol wipe and told me to look away.
"This will only sting for a second, Beau." Carine said. I could feel the cool of her skin through the gloves, but I was looking in Edythe's direction. She held my other hand tight in hers, brushing a kiss on my forehead.
"One, two, three." Carine counted off. I felt the cold of the blade first, then the pain hit me at once, shooting up my arm like an electric shock in a split second.
"Ouch." I inhaled a sharp breath through my teeth, clenching my jaw. In the dim glow of the firelight, I saw Edythe's back go ramrod straight and she turned in the direction of where the cut had been made. She made a face like she was in pain, jaw going stiff and eyes growing big, filling with what I thought could only have been horror – and, just maybe, the stirrings of thirst.
"Edythe? Are you okay?" I touched her face with my other hand, the one that wasn't bleeding. She shook her head hard, then her free hand flew to her stomach.
"He can smell the blood, too." she whispered. "Between reading his thoughts and my own… desire…" she swallowed; took another breath through her mouth, "I can't do this, Beau. It's too much." Then she moved her hand up to her face to block the scent out and hurried to get away, curling her body in toward the cave wall behind us, her back completely to me now in the darkness. I started after her.
Jules growled a little.
"It's okay, Jules." I assured my best friend, reaching for Edythe who was beside her.
"I know you won't hurt me, Edythe. You know it, too. Come on, for you and the baby. Please." I held my hand out to her. After a long, aching moment, she finally took it, still holding her breath, and I led her back to where Carine was by the warm glow of the fire. Jules followed behind us with slow, cautious treads. Carine took Edythe from me and sat us all down. I pulled my knees to my chest and gave my wife the hand with the cut on it – the red was now pooling in the crease where the skin had been broken, and we all looked on in silence as Edythe took another hesitating breath and brought it up to her face.
And then the cool of her lips pressed gently against my wound, covering it.
She started to drink, careful not to press her teeth against my skin. It was the strangest sensation, and I don't mean that in a bad way. It was… soft. Like she was kissing me. Carine was holding Edythe by the shoulders and Jules moved in to cover our flanks. Edythe rose to her knees then and her body curved inwards a little. I could feel her lips exerting more pressure on my skin – it hurt some, like I could expect to find a bruise there any second after it was done. And then both of her hands were on me now, gripping tight to my wrist as her eyes fluttered shut. It was all happening so fast. She took a deep, rapturous breath and in the firelight, her body strained then relaxed then strained again, and I knew that was her trying her hardest to maintain every semblance of self-control her body was capable of. Her drinking increased in fervency; her fingers curled against the flesh on my arm and for a split second, I was scared because my head started feeling lighter and lighter and the cave was getting darker and darker with every passing second, flashes of light playing at the outer edges of my field of vision before blacking out and sparking back to life with a sizzle. I was brought down by a wave of dizziness and I couldn't sit up anymore, it was too hard to keep my body upright. Edythe's other arm was under me now, she'd caught me before my head could hit the floor but her other hand was still tight on my wrist, her lips pressed against the cut. I woke myself up a little, trying to get my eyes to focus again on her beautiful face which was right over me. It worked. I reached my free hand up towards her and brushed the back of it against her cheek. Her body stiffened again, and she pressed a shaking hand on top of it, keeping me there. I trust you. I tried to say without the words and I think she got it, because she nodded very slightly, the pressure from her lips on my cut letting up a little. She was all I could see then, everything in my universe and all I could think of was how glad I was that I could protect her – in every sense of the word because I knew that I was also protecting her from feeling the guilt of a life on her hands – and our child like that with something only I could do to ensure their best chance of survival. Charlie's words from last Christmas flashed through my mind, about what it meant to be a parent – that I had something to fight for, that I'll protect my child at all costs or die trying. And, for the first time, I felt confident I could actually deliver on it now. And I was really happy for that.
"Edythe!" Carine said her name. She tightened her grip on Edythe's shoulders, but Edythe broke from her grasp a moment later, and I could feel my wrist getting crushed again by two hands. But just when I felt that level of pain rising above what I thought I could handle, her hands loosened their grip on me and both her arms started calibrating with resistance instead. Her lips, though, were still on the cut.
"Edythe, that's enough!" Carine's voice echoed out in my head, sounding much farther away than it should have been. There was no pain anymore, but my vision was fading. Still, if this was what it took to protect them, to make sure they'll have the best chance, then all I really wanted to know was whether it would be enough for them both – it was the only thing that mattered to me.
"Find the will to stop, Edythe. Right now." That faraway voice warped, the words familiar to me from what felt like forever ago. All I could see now were the blurry outlines of two shadows, but the shadows were connected – somewhere deep inside I knew that meant Carine had a grip on Edythe. Still, she wasn't letting go.
And then a russet wolf lurched, knocking the shadows to the ground by the edge of their shoulders. The final thought that played through my mind was, Will they be alright? Edythe and the baby; Carine and Jules?
Then all the lights went out, and my vision faded to black.
…
I awoke with a start to a splitting headache and a fog of dizziness hanging over my head. I winced as I got up, pinching the space between my eyes and flinched a little when I realized my entire hand was wrapped in thick layers of gauze – for a second there, I'd forgotten why I needed it.
"Whoa. Easy there, Beau." It was Jules, my head had been in her lap.
"What… happened? Where's Edythe?" I tried getting up again but Jules stopped me. "Slow down, let me help you. You were out for a while there thanks to that brilliant idea of yours." She chuckled, her tone joking even when I also heard the hint of something like admonition in it. Putting her hand behind my head, she helped me to sit up beside her.
"Thanks." I gave her knee a squeeze with my unbandaged hand.
"Don't mention it." She laughed a little. "Your vampire bride is over there with your mother-in-law. Guys? He's up!" She motioned then called in the opposite direction of the cave entrance. It was too dark for me to see them, though.
"Is Edythe… okay? She's not hurt, is she?" I remembered the shadows getting knocked away and started to my feet, but almost fell down as a wave of dizziness hit me again. Jules was beside me the next instant, steadying me.
"She's fine – physically, at least. She and the baby. It worked." Jules encouraged.
"But…?" I knew there was more she was wanting to say.
Jules sighed. "She's beating herself up real bad for it – you know, what happened. About… almost losing control, and hurting you."
"Oh." That was exactly what I didn't want her to do.
"Carine's been talking to her, trying to make her feel better, I guess. It's not working, though. I was going to chew her out you know, but she was already way deep in the throes of self-castigation by then, and I didn't want to make her feel even worse about it." Jules added with another sigh like it was a missed opportunity. "Super considerate of me, right?"
"Thank you." I said on behalf of both Edythe and I.
"Beau? How are you feeling?" Carine appeared then. Clinging behind her to the lightweight fabric of her long green coat was my wife, head down, like she was scared to see me. And it hurt to see her like that.
"I feel just fine." I said extra loudly. "Healthy as a horse."
"That's wonderful to hear. Eat something, Beau. It'll help you regain your strength." Carine motioned to the backpack sitting next to Jules, who yanked a granola bar out from it plus a bottle of water. I thanked her and took them, taking a couple bites and three giant gulps of water before handing them back to her.
"Edythe?" I said her name, holding both my arms out to her. In the soft glow of the firelight, Edythe took a shaking breath, finally stepping out from behind Carine. She was restlessly pulling at her fingers in front of her, eyes looking down at the floor with shame. Then she turned a quick glance on Carine, who nodded gently.
And then her eyes found mine, and she ran straight into my waiting arms.
"Beau." she whispered into my chest, her hands gripping tight to my jacket. I circled my arms around her, resting my head on hers, kissing the top of her curls over and over again.
"You did it, Edythe. I'm so proud of you. How are you feeling?" I tilted her face up towards mine.
"Better now that I know you're alright. I couldn't – I couldn't even look. I couldn't be near you; I was so scared to hurt you again, I -"
"You didn't hurt me, Edythe. I knew you wouldn't. This was my idea, remember? I'm just happy I could help keep the both of you safe."
"Like you haven't been doing that all along."
"Well, so have you."
And we kissed on it.
…
We decided to spend the night in the cave while we waited for Arch's next update. Good thing we'd packed sleeping bags - well, we didn't but apparently someone else did, probably Arch - which were hiding in a little compartment in the car trunk and none of us remembered putting them there. I was still exhausted from earlier and even after helping to finish off all the food we packed for dinner I turned in before Jules. My head hit the spare pillow and it was lights out for me.
The next morning I was shaken awake with two small, cold hands. I startled, finding the outline of my wife's panicked body over me, shoulders heaving in terror.
"Beau, we have to go. Right now." she whipped out low and quick, her eyes wide on me, suffuse with panic. Focusing my eyes, I looked around and saw Carine douse the campfire with a splash of bottled water and Jules was packing another one of our bags up. When her words finally sunk in, I leapt to my feet and rolled the sleeping bag up with the pillow inside, hastily stuffing it into my open backpack.
"What happened?" I asked, my voice hoarse with fear.
"They found us." Edythe's voice sounded like the inside of a grave. I looked around with frantic eyes but didn't see nor hear anything.
"Are you sure?" I whispered.
"Yes. I can hear all their thoughts – Sulpicia, Athenodora, Marcus, the entire Volturi guard - it's roaring out inside my head. They're close. I think something must have happened to Arch, he never warned us about any of this. We need to get as far away from here as possible. We'll try and slip through the other entrance; they're checking out the one we came through first. Get on my back. Right now."
I didn't argue this time.
Jules phased too, and then it felt like we were flying through the cave as the shriek of the wind exploded in my ears and stung my face, running and running and running like our lives depended on it – because it did. And it changed everything. Ten seconds later, I thought I could see the literal light at the end of the tunnel; our escape. I was so happy I thought I could cry. We were finally out in the sun which reflected off the layer of new-fallen snow that'd gathered in the night, crunching under our feet. Up here in the crisp mountain air, I felt I could breathe again.
We sprinted through the field, but then the wind picked up, and there was an intense flurry of movement behind us. Edythe gasped and looked behind her; over my shoulder. I looked, too.
And then my heart dipped into the pit of my stomach.
It was them.
The black shadow stopped moving, splitting off into three groups. Just as we were about to launch ourselves into the safety of the cluster of trees, one of the groups blocked our path, and we skidded to a stop with a sound like the squeal of tire breaks. The whiplash made my neck ache. But that was nothing compared to the horror we experienced next.
We turned around, realizing the impossibility of our situation - the four of us up against an entire battalion. Sulpicia, Athenodora, and Marcus stepped forward, the entire Volturi guard and their witnesses in sweeping black robes like horsemen of the Apocalypse surrounding us on all sides. They had found us. My feet found the ground again and I took my wife's hand in mine, stepping back with her while our eyes swept over the leaders of our enemies.
But it's not just them looking back at us now.
In the ginormous, burly hands of the two strongest looking guards of all right beside them were Archie's thin arms; his struggling frame dragging along one tripping step behind.
"No." The whisper of a horrified breath rolled off Carine's tongue and all we could do was look on in terror.
What happened?
It was the question we all wanted - needed - the answer to. How did he get caught? Where's Adelaide? Nisa? Did he let them go? Or did they escape? Was this how it was going to end for us? I searched his face for an answer as if I were willing him to read my mind. His eyebrows flicked up then down and he took one deep, steady breath, nodding very slightly. Then his lips trembled in quick, quivering movements, though he didn't utter a sound. He was trying to communicate; to tell us something without the words.
Trust me.
I wasn't good at reading lips, but I think that's what Arch said. Or, maybe I was just hoping. Hoping with everything in me. I think… he had a plan.
"Well, look what we have here." Sulpicia chuckled low and deep; menacing. I felt Edythe's hand tighten around my own, but her eyes were locked steadfastly on Sulpicia, who showed us a smile that made my skin crawl.
"How lovely it is to see you all again."