Sacrificial Lamb Chapter 41
EPOV
It was only one day later that my cell phone rang with Tanya’s name on the caller ID. We’d tried to get in touch with her constantly since Alice had her vision but she had turned off her phone and hadn’t checked her messages. We’d debated trying to chase her down in Greece but Alice saw that we wouldn’t get there in time.
“Tanya,” my voice was flat. I wasn’t exactly angry, since she hadn’t done it on purpose, but I was hardly happy with her. Bella slid her hand in mine and gave me a reassuring squeeze.
“Edward, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know! I should have listened to your messages but I assumed you were calling to apologize and I just didn’t want to hear it. I never, ever meant to tell them!”
“Never?” That was a lie and she knew it. She’d thought about going to Aro herself several times according to Alice.
Tanya sighed loudly on the other end of the phone. “Alice…of course. Yes, I thought about it a time or two but I never would have told them. You are my family and I’d never hurt you like that, no matter what.”
“Why did you feel the need to mention it to a man you just met and knew nothing about?” I couldn’t understand her motivation.
“I…I don’t really know, Edward. I haven’t felt like me since Bella made me chop my hair off and I guess I just felt sort of pretty for the first time in ages and then when he mentioned the scarves it just came out. He was so very handsome and I thought he’d feel sorry for me and that maybe we’d…”
I cut her off there, not interested in hearing about Tanya wanting to add another conquest to her very long history of them. “It was irresponsible and reckless, Tanya.”
“So was Bella! Maybe she didn’t mean to do it but she did, who’s to say she won’t do something worse next time? Maybe she should go to the Volturi, they could help her harness her power.”
Now I was getting angry. “Don’t go trying to justify your actions. She doesn’t need to go to the Volturi for that, she has plenty of people to learn from right here. Which you might actually know if you’d bothered to answer any of our calls. We would hardly have wasted our time calling you over and over again if it weren’t important.”
“I know that, Edward, but I wasn’t exactly thinking rationally at the time.”
“You weren’t thinking at all, Tanya.” Jasper nodded his head approvingly and Emmett let out a little chuckle.
“Well excuse me! I can’t help it if I’m the only one alone and I finally had a gorgeous man paying attention to me. Are you the only one entitled to find someone to spend your life with? Do I have to stay single for all eternity?”
I groaned. “Did I say that, Tanya? You blurted out Bella’s power to a complete stranger within minutes of meeting him. I hardly think that’s a normal way to get to know someone new.” No wonder she was alone, she didn’t know how to communicate well with people.
“I said I was sorry, Edward, what more can I say? I can’t fix it, he’s already left. I heard him talking on his cell phone to someone…”
“Aro,” I supplied acidly.
She sighed again. “Yes, Aro. I don’t know what to do. I can try to find Demetri but it’s already too late.”
“Yes it is,” my voice was resigned. It wasn’t like we’d been blindsided by this information. All we could do now was wait and see what Aro planned to do.
“Tell me what I can do to make it better, Edward,” her voice was desperate now, asking for forgiveness that I didn’t know if I was capable of giving. I looked at my wife, sitting calmly at my side, watching me with interest. Jasper took the phone from me.
“What you can do is find a way to get in touch with Eleazar and let him know what you’ve inadvertently done. He knows Aro very well and may have some insight to offer us. We’ve been trying to call him as well.”
“They were supposed to go on a long hunt in the Alaskan countryside.”
“I know. Just keep trying until you get him. We have other things to concentrate on right now,” his tone was clipped, final.
“Jasper, I really am sorry.” She sounded contrite, I’d give her that much.
“We know, Tanya,” he glanced at me and smiled softly. “And we’ll forgive you, in time. Right now, that’s not our priority. I’m sure you can understand that.”
“I can. Just…let me know if there’s anything I can do. The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt you all. You’re my family.”
“And family forgives one another. Hopefully we’ll all remember that. Goodbye, Tanya. Have Eleazar call us as soon as possible.”
“I will. Goodbye Jasper, everyone.” Jasper shut my phone and tossed it back to me.
“Well, now it’s done. Hopefully Alice will see something soon.” As soon as Jasper mentioned her, she danced down the stairs.
“I just got a flash. Demetri has a lead on that Haides guy. He said something like, I’ve found him, and then the vision cut off. I have no idea why, I guess maybe because he hasn’t convinced him to join up yet.”
“I’m not overly worried about what he’s doing with the new acquisition. I’m more interested in what Aro’s planning,” Jasper informed her.
“I can’t see that yet. All I know is that he’s thrilled to know about her power. We all know he wants it. I’m sure he’ll come up with something soon and I’ll see and we can work around it.”
Jasper nodded. “Jenks has six men watching out for Renee and Phil in Jacksonville.”
Carlisle came into the living room. “Billy informed the wolves and they’re running patrols again at night. Embry is going to work with Charlie under the guise of learning to be a policeman. Charlie seems to enjoy having him around and doesn’t have any idea anything’s going on.”
Bella breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. Thank you for making sure that my family is looked after,” her voice broke a little.
Esme sat next to her and pulled her into a hug. “Of course, Bella. They’re our family now too.”
Emmett growled softly. “I hate waiting; I wish they’d just do something so we could take them on. With Bella on our side we’ll wipe the floor with them!”
“I’d rather not fight at all,” Carlisle said, ever the peacemaker. “Perhaps I should try to call Aro, reassure him that we have no interest in usurping his power.”
Jasper snorted. “Men like Aro can’t conceive of people with power not wanting to use it for their own gain. You’re welcome to try but I know his type. I saw it every day in both my human and early vampire life. Aro had many newborn vampires destroyed when I was in Texas and Maria liked to acquire vampires with talent as well, you know. But on the rare occasions that she came across someone that had more than she thought she could handle, she had them destroyed. She had me destroy them.” His voice broke a little. “I can only wonder what kind of vampires they’d be now. Of course, they’d probably be Volturi so maybe I should be glad we only have Jane and Alec to contend with.”
“Aro is definitely ambitious but he knows me, he knows that I am not. Maybe I can make him see…”
“What? That Bella’s power wouldn’t be useful to him? I don’t see how you think you can do that,” Jasper argued. “He’s going to see all the potential in her that I do, maybe even more.”
“It doesn’t hurt to try, though, does it?” Carlisle asked. We all looked at one another and then glanced at Alice.
“He’s not going to take your call. I don’t know if he’s not there or just avoiding you, but when you call you’ll get nowhere.” I could see that she spoke the truth. Heidi would not patch Carlisle through to Aro for some reason.
“He’s avoiding you while he figures out what he wants to do. He has no plans to leave us alone, that I can assure you.”
“So what do we do? Should we go to Volterra and see him in person? Would that make a difference?” Rose demanded.
“The only difference that makes is it gets Bella right where he wants her,” Jasper responded with a rueful shake of his head.
“Why can’t he just leave us alone?” Rose wondered. He’s not going to tear this family apart. If Bella ends up having to go to Volterra, then we’re all going to go. Edward can’t live without her and we can’t live without either of them. It would destroy all of us to be ripped apart.
I nearly smiled at Rose’s thoughts. A few weeks ago she would have suggested having Bella go, or maybe the two of us. At the very least she would have tried to get Emmett to leave with her. They could live their lives in peace, Aro had no reason to go after the two of them, but it wasn’t even a consideration for her now. She was finally on the same page as the rest of us.
“Would it be so terrible if I went there? Maybe I could go and use my power to make him forget all of us, just like I did in the psych class,” Bella suggested tentatively. My fingers tightened reflexively on hers at the mental image I had of her facing the Volturi all alone. Regardless of her power, that could not happen.
Jasper shook his head. “You’re not ready for that yet. Controlling a few hundred humans that don’t know what you’re doing and facing a room full of ancient and powerful vampires that do know what you’re capable of are two very different things. I’m proud of you for wanting to do it and someday in the not too distant future you may be ready. We can’t take that chance until your sure and by the way my brother is freaking out over there, I think he might have the first ever vampire heart attack if we tried.” I would have laughed along with the rest of them but I couldn’t breathe at all at the moment and I felt a clutching in my chest as if I were indeed having a heart attack. I’d experienced that through countless human minds before and I knew my body’s reaction wasn’t all that different from theirs.
“Breathe, Edward,” Bella took my face in both her hands and stroked my cheeks gently. I stared into her eyes and took one breath and then another. The ache in my chest slowly subsided and I felt decidedly inhuman again. I far preferred that to the all too real pain I’d been experiencing at the thought of Bella taking on Aro alone. I was confident in her abilities but Aro was ruthless when he wanted to be. I’d nearly lost her to him once; I would not do it again.
“Bella, I can’t…you can’t,” I couldn’t form the words.
“Shhh, we’re fine, Edward. I was just throwing the idea out there. I don’t really plan on going there.” Calm down, sweetheart. I just can’t stand the thought of risking our family while we wait to see what Aro is going to do. I’d rather force a confrontation soon so that we can put this all behind us. You do believe in me, don’t you? She looked into my eyes as if she could read my thoughts. Perhaps in time she’d learn to do even that. She was amazing.
“Of course I believe in you, Bella. I have complete faith in you and your abilities. It’s Aro I don’t trust.”
“That’s why I think, ultimately, we have to face him. If we give him time, he may figure out how to neutralize my ability. Isn’t that what you’d do, Jasper?”
She’s a bright one, Edward. She would have made a heck of a general back in the day. “Yes, it is. But we can’t go in there without knowing everything there is to know. It’s about taking a controlled risk. Finding out as much as possible as quickly as we can and choosing the moment of attack when the army doesn’t know quite as much as we do. We need to pick Eleazar’s brain, see if he can give us any kind of advantage. Alice needs to give us some conclusive visions as to what will happen if we go confront Aro. And we need to determine what we’d do if and when he refuses to listen to us. Would erasing their minds be enough to make sure we were all safe, or would we always be looking over our shoulder?”
“I don’t want to always be waiting for the other shoe to drop. I say we deal with it now. Bring on the Volturi!” Emmett said decisively.
“I agree,” Rose said with a nod. “The last thing we want to do is live in fear. That’s not living the lives we want to live either.”
Jasper turned to Alice with a raised eyebrow. “I don’t see anything yet but once we make a solid decision, hopefully I will. With that being said, I’m in, vision or no vision.”
It was like having déjà vu all over again. I felt like I’d been transported back in time to another vote that would put the love of my life in danger. It was surreal.
Esme cleared her throat. “Nothing is more important than this family. They can’t separate us. If we have to fight to ensure that they don’t, then I’m on board with that.” Her gaze rested on Carlisle. She knew that he was resistant to the idea of a potential fight with the Volturi. “You have to fight in order to achieve freedom, Carlisle. That’s all I want for us and for our children. Freedom.”
He looked at her steadily as his mind flipped through potential solutions to the problem. That was Carlisle for you, ever the diplomat. He sighed and looked at each of us, taking Esme’s hand in his own and giving it a squeeze. “I think we don’t have any other choice. I don’t think we should act rashly, however. I want us to have every contingency planned for before we even consider confronting Aro. I hate the thought of going up against my old friend but like you all, I don’t think he’ll leave us alone unless we do something to make it so. All the same, I’d like to avoid any kind of violence whatsoever.”
Emmett let out a huff of frustration and crossed his arms. “Well if you’re going to take the fun out of it all, maybe I’ll change my vote!” The rest of the family laughed. I wasn’t quite in the mood to join in though.
Jasper’s eyes met mine. Well, brother?
I looked at Bella, who was watching me with trust shining in her eyes. She thought I’d do the right thing, though it didn’t really matter what I voted now did it? They were all in agreement and I was on the outside looking in again. Although, if I were being honest with myself, if it was anyone other than Bella in the direct line of fire, I probably would be completely behind going after Aro. That meant that I was being overprotective when it came to the love of my life again. But how can you be too protective of the one you love above and beyond anything?
“I don’t like this; I’m not going to lie. Like Carlisle said, I want every single thing that could go wrong planned for and neutralized before we even think of taking the risk of putting Bella in harm’s way.” I caressed her cheek. “I have the utmost faith that you can handle anything they throw at you; I just want you to be completely prepared. And you will not be going in alone. I will not ever agree to that.”
She smiled. “I never would have considered going alone, Edward. We’re never going to face a challenge alone again, remember?” Of course I did, every time I tried to protect her she fought me on it. At least now we’d be together.
“So, I guess we’re unanimous.” I turned to Jasper. “What do we do now?”
BPOV
Several weeks passed without a word from Aro. Alice couldn’t see anything coming from the Volturi at all and though we were initially on edge, the inactivity coupled with our own planning made us more confident each passing day. Jasper was plotting and strategizing every minute of the day that he wasn’t running me through various training drills or doing God knows what with Alice.
Edward and Carlisle had finally reached Eleazar, who was horrified that Tanya had inadvertently clued the Volturi into my power and promised any help he could give us. He concurred with Jasper that Aro would stop at nothing to attain my gift and felt that going after my family was the easiest way to go after me. Everybody knew that I’d sacrifice anything for the ones I loved. I didn’t consider that to be a weakness, I was just being human. And I knew every member of my family felt the same way.
Esme and Alice threw themselves into planning our eventual move to London. Carlisle had put in his notice, giving the hospital two months notice to give them enough time to find a replacement. Rose and Emmett had taken it upon themselves to spar with me daily, saying I had to be physically ready for combat just in case my brain failed me. Well, Rose didn’t say that but Emmett did of course. “Jane may get a shot in on you and fry your brain. You need to be ready to fight hand to hand if that happens.” While I didn’t think it was likely, having more skills could only be a good thing.
Carlisle talked to Billy daily, getting updates on Charlie’s safety. It almost felt like I was still in contact with my father. I felt a pang every time I thought of him but Alice’s news about Sue made me feel slightly better. I was thrilled that Charlie was being taken care of even though a very small part of me still felt like I was being replaced. I knew that was irrational and wrong to feel that way and that I wanted my parents to move on with their lives, but I worried about being forgotten which was ridiculous. Edward told me that my feelings were natural and I shouldn’t feel guilty but I couldn’t help myself. Jealousy and feelings of insignificance weren’t going to get me anywhere, or so Jasper told me. I was doing my best to let it go. My parent’s safety and happiness were the most important things and it was up to me to make sure they got a chance at the happier futures that Alice saw for them.
Alice threw herself down on the couch, frustration marring her lovely face. “What’s wrong?”
“Why can’t I see, Bella?” she demanded.
“I don’t know, Alice.” I knew she felt frustrated; she’d been trying for weeks now to see what Aro had planned but thus far nothing. Either he didn’t know what he wanted to do yet or he’d found a way to thwart her. Carlisle still kept trying to call and kept getting stonewalled. Aro wasn’t going to give us a chance to ask to be left alone.
“You know you can’t push yourself, Alice. The vision will come when it comes,” Jasper reassured her.
“You’re the one who thinks Bella has unlimited potential. Can’t she tap into my power and make me see?” Alice asked peevishly. What?
Jasper eyed me speculatively and then shook his head. “I don’t think so. Your power is dependent upon the choices other people make. It can’t be turned on that way. She could probably make it so you never had visions,” Alice interrupted with a loud gasp. “Besides it’s good for you to learn to live in the moment like the rest of us.”
“Stop saying that!” Alice crossed her arms and scowled at me. “Well what good are you then?”
“Hey, what did I do?” Was she serious?
“It’s not what you did; it’s what you can’t do!”
“Yeah, that’s right, it’s my fault.”
“Ladies, can we keep the sniping to a minimum? I know we’re all tense but turning against one another is not part of the plan. This is about staying united, is it not?” Jasper looked down at both of us like we were naughty school kids. I didn’t know why I was getting lectured; I hadn’t done anything at all.
“Sorry Jasper. Sorry Bella. I’m just not used to going this long without seeing something. It’s very annoying.”
Edward walked into the room and any lingering irritation I felt with Alice went away at the sight of him. He was just so beautiful. He gave me my special smile and sat on the arm of the couch next to me. I leaned against him and he kissed the top of my head. “Everything alright, love?” I nodded and just absorbed the electricity that flowed between the two of us. He kept me grounded.
“What did Carlisle have to say?”
“Nothing new. Eleazar still can’t find anyone who’s heard of Haides. We did find out that his name means unseen in Greek, which could be a clue or could be nothing.”
“Maybe his parents were Satan worshippers,” Emmett pointed out as he and Rose came in from the garage. They were both covered with entirely too much motor oil but that didn’t stop Emmett from dropping into the recliner and pulling Rose into his lap.
Jasper rolled his eyes but otherwise ignored Emmett. “Anything else?”
“He’s thinking about reaching out to some of the other talented vampires he’s met over the years. Siobhan’s coven in Ireland, in particular. There’s a girl there, Maggie, who knows when people are lying. It couldn’t hurt to have someone else that can see through people on our side.”
Jasper shook his head. “Kind of superfluous but it couldn’t hurt either.”
“Carlisle’s hoping for strength in numbers. He thinks maybe if we show up en masse and demand that we all be left alone, maybe the Volturi will back down.” Edward played with the ends of my hair, curling them around his beautiful long fingers.
Jasper laughed bitterly. “Right.”
Edward shrugged. “More vampires on our side couldn’t hurt.”
Emmett nodded. “The more the merrier! They can all be there when Bella fries the Volturi and I take my rightful place as King of the Vampires. Then we’ll throw a big party, so it’d be nice if they were already there.”
Rose smacked him upside the head. “And why, exactly, would you be the king?”
“Well, Carlisle doesn’t want to do it, even though he makes the most sense. Edward is too emo to be king. Jasper would be swayed by too many overemotional sorts, so I’m all that’s left, obviously.” He looked very proud and grinned at us. “Don’t worry; I will always remember the little people.”
“Little people? You mean the ones that would actually be doing the work to overthrow the Volturi?” Jasper asked with a laugh. “While you sit back and wait?”
“Isn’t that what royalty does?” Emmett asked with a grin. The room exploded with laughter then because really, it was true. They let others fight the battles after all.
“Emmett, you never fail to make me laugh,” I told him.
“That’s what I’m here for, Little Sis.”
“You’re the king of something alright, Emmett, but it sure isn’t vampires,” Rose told him.
“Well, Rosie, I’m the king of lots of things but those are best not discussed with company,” he gave her a lascivious grin. “Besides, if I’m King, you get to be Queen. Tell me you wouldn’t enjoy that?”
Rose preened and moved her hand in the back and forth motion that the Queen of England seemed to use. Speaking of England…
“When is Esme getting back? She was only supposed to pick out some curtains for the London house,” I pointed out.
“Bella, not everyone runs into and out of a store in two minutes like you do. Picking out the right fabric is important, not to mention she has to see if they have enough panels and the colors must go with…”
“Never mind, Alice, I get it. It’s a process.” The last thing I wanted was a lecture on interior decorating.
Edward’s cell phone rang then and Edward smiled as he answered. “We were just talking about you. Bella was wondering what was taking you so long and Alice had to explain that picking out curtains was akin to invading a small country. Will you be home soon?”
“That depends what you mean by home, I suppose,” an all too familiar voice intoned.
Every single one of us gasped as Edward’s hand tightened on the phone. “Aro, what are you doing with Esme’s phone?” Jasper was on his feet in a flash, prepared to take off as soon as we had more information. I felt my body tense and venom well as the urge to hunt down Aro overtook me.
“Well that should be obvious, dear boy! I’m calling you. I’d heard that you wanted to speak with me but I’m afraid I’ve been indisposed recently. I hear you have some delightful news about your dear wife?”
“Let me ask you one last time, what are you doing with Esme’s phone?” Edward’s teeth were clenched. Alice’s face was screwed up in concentration but she shook her head sadly. She couldn’t see anything.
“Edward, my friend, I thought you were smart enough to figure that out.”
“You have her,” Edward choked out, anger vibrating through his body as his hand squeezed my shoulder.
“Very good! Do you know why I have your beloved mother figure?”
Emmett peered out the window, hoping to see Aro I guess while Rose glared at the phone. “Because you want Bella.”
“Well, that is a rather crude way of putting it, but I suppose I shouldn’t expect more from someone as young as you.” Aro’s smooth voice rang through the line, he sounded confident. I had felt that way once but not now. Terror was coursing through me at the thought of him having Esme. “Do you have any further questions that you already know the answer to? I don’t like having my time wasted.”
“Don’t hurt her,” Edward barked; his voice still confident despite what was transpiring.
“Really, Edward, do you think that I’m that uncouth? Your dear mother is going to be treated with all the dignity and respect I give to everyone who steps foot in my home. Of course not everyone steps back out when they visit, but time will tell on that front, won’t it?” Aro’s voice was menacing and sent chills down my spine.
“When?”
“Finally, a pertinent question. I expect your lovely wife to arrive within the week. Surely you don’t want to keep Esme from Carlisle for very long anyway?”
“How could you do this to Carlisle? He’s been nothing but loyal to you,” Edward demanded.
“So loyal that he created a coven of highly skilled vampires? Even if I believed in coincidences, which I don’t, it’s a stretch of the imagination to think he could just stumble upon you all the way he claims.”
“What bull,” Rose muttered. Jasper cursed and Emmett threw open the front door as if he was going to head to Volterra right that minute. Aro chuckled as he heard their muted responses.
“It’s not a claim, it’s the truth,” Edward snarled through gritted teeth. I put my hand over his on my shoulder, trying to calm him. Arguing wouldn’t do any good at this point.
“My truth differs from yours. You have one week, I suggest you get to Volterra soon. I’d hate to have a lonely houseguest.” Before Edward could say another word the phone went dead.
“What are we going to do?” Alice asked; her eyes wide and full of pain.
This was because of me and there was only one thing I could do at this point. “We fight,” I answered.
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