Sacrificial Lamb Chapter 42
EPOV
The cacophony of voices and thoughts that assaulted my ears at Bella’s words was almost too much to bear. Everybody was speaking at once, trying to talk over one another plus their minds were whirling with pain and confusion over Aro having taken Esme. I glanced at Jasper who looked physically ill as he absorbed all the emotion. “Quiet! Everyone just calm down for a minute before Jasper and I go insane!” I shouted. Thankfully my words registered and their physical voices silenced. I could hear myself think now.
“Seriously, rein it in guys,” Jasper spoke through gritted teeth. “You’re not doing Esme any good by panicking right now and you’re making it impossible for me to focus on anything other than what you’re all feeling. I feel the same way, but please try to calm down. There’s no good to come from overreacting.”
“But Jasper, what are we going to tell Carlisle?” Alice’s voice was even more high-pitched than usual.
“When will he be home?” Jasper asked her.
She closed her eyes for a second. “Twenty seven minutes.”
“Sure, she can tell that but she can’t even tell us that Esme’s going to be kidnapped,” Rose snapped, crossing her arms and glaring at our tiny sister.
“I couldn’t see! I don’t know why, I still can’t see her or Aro at all. He found a way to get around me! What could I do, Rose? If I saw something, I would have told you,” Alice sniped back, incensed at being blamed. Jasper was glaring at Rose while Emmett put a hand on her shoulder.
“Rosie, it’s not Alice’s fault.”
“No, it’s not anyone’s fault, right? It’s certainly not all powerful Bella’s, who of course Aro wants so badly that he’s willing to kill us all to get to her. Don’t think that he isn’t considering that. I don’t need Alice’s visions to know what kind of manipulative fiend he is!” Rose raged. Don’t you even start, Edward. We wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for Bella and you know it.
“Don’t tell me not to start, Rose!” I shouted right back at her as if she’d spoken the words. “This is not Bella’s fault. If it’s anyone’s, it’s mine. I’m the one who made her a vampire, right? So I’m the one who caused her power to manifest. Blame me!” I would take it. Bella wouldn’t be a vampire if it weren’t for me so I was the one to blame.
Oh, naturally, Edward is ready to take all the blame for everything in the world. What a shocker. Rose’s thoughts were accompanied with an eye roll and I growled at her.
“Just stop it, right now,” Bella ordered softly, her words sounding strong despite her soft voice. She wasn’t using her power but everyone turned to her anyway. She took a deep breath. “Edward, I know you want to take all of this on yourself but you know as well as I do that you’re not at fault for this. I asked for this life. The choice is on me, not on you. If you weren’t a vampire, you wouldn’t have been alive for me to meet and fall in love with. So stop hating what you are. What you are brought you to me and we both know that is right for both of us.” Her hand reached for mine and I automatically twined our fingers. She was right, of course, but I wished things were different. If only I’d been born in another time.
“Rose, you can blame me if you want. I blame myself as well.” I opened my mouth to interrupt but Bella put her other hand over my lips to silence me. “I can’t help what my power is and frankly I don’t want to. I like it. But it is my fault that I lost control and hurt Tanya the way I did. I take the blame completely.”
“Bella, you didn’t know you even had a power at that time,” Jasper pointed out, still frowning over at Rose.
“No, I didn’t but I still lost control and for that I’m sorry. I can’t help that I have a power and that Aro wants it, Rose. All I can do is make sure that he never gets his hands on it. You, of all people, should know just what kind of abuse could happen in the hands of someone like Aro.” Rose flinched at her words. “Blaming me for having it, blaming Edward for turning me, Alice for not seeing; none of that is going to do us any good. We could point the accusatory finger all the way down the line at Carlisle, for making Edward, Esme, you and Emmett; or we could blame the vampire who turned Carlisle. What good does it do?”
Rosalie sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I don’t like when anyone messes with my family.”
“Then don’t turn on the rest of them. We all feel the same way, Rosie,” Emmett pointed out, tightening his arms around her. “Aro is the one at fault. He’s the one we have to fight, not each other.”
“How are we going to tell Carlisle?” Alice asked again, her voice more mournful than panicked like it was earlier. She could already see, of course, but seeing it and physically dealing with in person was beyond comprehension.
“We just do. I don’t know that there’s any way to cushion the blow,” Jasper said, sinking back onto the couch. “I can do what I can to help but we all know that in his position, we’d lose it completely. I don’t know how much I can do but I’ll try. I need you all to remain as calm as you can though. I can’t deal with all of you and him at the same time.”
There were murmurs of ascent from all of us. “We have to start planning. Alice, can you see anything about our trip to Volterra?” I asked. We needed something practical to focus on instead of our worry about Esme.
She scrunched up her face. “I see us arriving. Carlisle looks awful.” He truly did, like he’d aged about a hundred years since when he left this morning. “That’s all I see, until we decide on what we’re going to do. Going to Italy is a done deal.” Well of course it was; Italy was where Esme was. There was no option other than to go and get her.
“So we need a plan then.”
“Yeah but I couldn’t see them take her, so how will I see if our plan works?”
Jasper tugged Alice onto his lap. “I think we’re just going to have to have a little faith on this one, Alice.”
She frowned. “I don’t like it.” Nor did any of us but what choice did we have.
“Alright, let’s focus. Why do we think that Alice can’t see?” I asked.
“Well, I doubt they’re using werewolves, seeing as they hate them. So, maybe they found someone with a power that blocks hers,” Emmett suggested.
Jasper snapped his fingers. “Haides…unseen. That’s why Aro didn’t drop everything immediately to come after Bella. He wanted Demetri to find Haides so we wouldn’t know what he was planning.”
“Do you think so? There’s someone out there with the power to block me?” Alice was not happy to hear that news at all.
“There are all kinds of powers, Alice. Bella can block certain powers after all and she’s not a shield. Aro has that one girl, Renata, who can physically keep people away from him, right?” I nodded confirmation at Jasper. “So, say this Haides guy is immune to powers. It would explain why you haven’t seen Demetri since he said something about finding him.”
“But if he can block me, can he block all of us? Even Bella?” Alice asked, her voice rising again.
Jasper didn’t look happy but nodded. “It’s possible. Carlisle will know more about it than I do. Eleazar would be even better to ask. We need to get a hold of him.”
Alice smiled. “Now him I can see! He’s home.” We knew that he was back in range, of course. He’d called us after listening to his messages and speaking with Tanya. He knew what she’d inadvertently done and he was as unhappy about it as the rest of us.
“Good,” I said. I didn’t like the idea of anyone being able to block us, but if he could stop all of us then…”If this guy can block any power, then he can block Aro and Jane and Alec as well.” Jasper’s eyes narrowed and he smiled.
“Aro’s not going to face us without his gift and his toys. So they’ll probably send Haides away as soon as they know we’re hitting town. This is good,” Jasper said with satisfaction.
“Good? How can you call it good?” Rose demanded.
“He won’t let his powers be neutralized which means ours won’t be either. Alice will be able to see as soon as Aro splits off from Haides. Edward will hear their thoughts, I’ll be able to control mood and most importantly, Bella can control their minds. Alice, can you see us actually in Volterra?”
“Yes,” she said decisively. I got a flash of the clock tower where I’d nearly ended my life almost a year ago and my hand tightened on Bella’s.
“Then either he’s not there or his power is very localized,” Jasper said with satisfaction. “And as long as Haides is around, Aro won’t be able to read Esme either. He won’t know just how powerful Bella is.”
“Does that matter?” Emmett asked. “He knows she can control minds.”
“Yes, but right now all he knows is that she lost control and Tanya got an unwanted hair cut. He doesn’t know that she can turn her power on as easily as I can now. I’m not saying he will underestimate her, but he could. Especially if Bella plays that card when she meets with him.”
Wait a minute. “What do you mean, when she meets with him? Where do you think the rest of us are going to be?” I’d be damned if I was going to let my wife walk into the lion’s den alone.
“Calm down, Edward. Bella is more than capable of taking control of the entire Volturi without any of us. I’m not saying she will, just spit balling ideas.”
“Well I don’t like that idea,” I muttered. Bella’s hand caressed my cheek and I leaned into her calming touch.
“She’s stronger than all of us combined, man. Don’t forget that.” I knew she wasn’t my fragile human anymore but she was still my Bella. I still couldn’t wrap my mind around her being that powerful and it didn’t matter if she was, I wasn’t leaving her side as long as Aro was set on having her join him.
Jasper looked around the room and took each of us in his gaze. “We need to face the fact that as long as Aro is alive, he is going to come after our family. I think we need to prepare for the possibility that we’re going to have to kill him.” My body froze at his words as my mind whirled at the implication. I knew he was right about Aro not giving up but I also knew Carlisle would be very much against it.
“Carlisle won’t like that,” Alice whispered. I could see Alice’s vision of Carlisle’s reaction to Jasper’s plan of killing Aro. Even knowing that he’d taken Esme, Carlisle’s natural compassion rebelled against his desire to protect his family. His long standing friendship with Aro also warred with the idea of killing him.
“They took his wife, Alice! Surely he can see that death is the only answer,” Emmett’s normally jovial face was eerily similar to Jasper’s in that moment. They were warriors, willing to lay down their lives to preserve our family unit.
Before Alice could respond, my Bella spoke up. “What if it’s not the only answer?”
I turned to her and looked into those confident, lovely eyes. How I wished she’d let me into her head at this moment but she was keeping her own counsel for now. A part of me feared that she was formulating some self-sacrificing plan that she didn’t want me to know about. We’d be talking about that in private and soon. I was going to nip any insanity she might be planning in the bud. “What do you mean, love?”
She smiled and squeezed my hand, still so calm and composed despite everything happening around her. “Well, what if I can do what Jasper suggested? What if I can erase us all from their memories?”
Jasper frowned. “It’s not something you’ve really tried…”
“But I have! I erased us from the minds of the humans in that classroom.”
“True, but that was just one glimpse of us. You’re talking about a lifetime full of memories, especially in Aro’s case. He’s been in Edward’s and Alice’s minds, along with all the time he spent with Carlisle. It’s not just one sighting you’d have to remove.”
Bella looked at him beseechingly. “But it’s worth a try, right? We’re not killers.” Maybe not all of us, Jasper thought with a flash of limbs on a battlefield. I had my own reaction to Bella’s words as well. I had been a killer and I could be one again; if it meant protecting my family I would do anything. She turned to me. “Not anymore anyway,” she said with a smile, as if she’d read my thoughts. “I’m not saying we rule it out completely but it’s worth a try, right? If I can get in and take us out of their minds, we can finally live without looking over our shoulders.” She was right about that, the Volturi had been hanging over us since my ill-advised trip to Italy. Yet another plague I’d brought down on the ones I loved.
“Yes, I suppose it is but you haven’t had any practice at going in and finding old memories and taking them out of someone’s head. And it’s not like we have time to find someone to do it to,” Jasper pointed out.
“You don’t have to find someone,” Rose’s voice was shaky and quiet, very unlike her. We all turned to focus on her as she took a deep breath and turned to Bella. “You can try it on me.”
“What?” Bella’s disbelief echoed the rest of the room as we all said or thought the words simultaneously. Even Emmett was gaping at Rose as if he didn’t know who she was.
Rose squared her shoulders and tugged herself out of Emmett’s grasp, walking over to sit beside Bella. She turned to her and put a hand on her forearm. “Out of all of us, I’m the one who has memories they most want to lose.”
“Rosie,” Emmett breathed, coming to the couch and crouching down in front of her. “Are you sure about this? You hate the thought of letting anyone control you.”
She released Bella and grasped both of Emmett’s hands in her own. “I let it control me for a long time, Emmett. And I’ve let it affect us even when I didn’t realize it. I’ve resented everything I lost because of that incident and I’m tired of it. I have the family I want, the life I want now. Yes, I’ve lost some things but I’ve gained a lot more.” She put her hand on his cheek. “I want to do this, for us and for Esme.”
Emmett’s eyes swam with emotion as he looked at her. “You’re the most amazing woman in the world and you’re mine. I love you, Rosie.” He kissed her ever so gently despite the passion and love in his words, as if she was made of glass and he would break her with too much force.
“I love you too, Emmett,” she smiled at him after they broke their kiss. She turned back to Bella and her back stiffened again. “I’m ready,” her posture belied her words but her eyes and voice were confident.
Bella watched her warily, looking for any flicker of unease but seeing none. “Are you really sure?” she asked hesitantly. I knew she was frightened of doing something wrong and having Rosalie hate her forever. They’d come so far but their connection remained rather tenuous even now.
“Yes, Bella. Please, take what happened to me away. I don’t want to remember Royce King and what he did to me. I don’t want that memory to control me anymore.” She squared her shoulders and her face was fearless but her voice cracked as she spoke the name of the man who still had power over her to this day. Still, she nodded her head decisively.
Bella glanced at Jasper. “How do I even do it? It’s not like I can read minds.”
“You can’t read thoughts but you read minds all the time. Just focus, the same way you did when you were locating our power centers. Find the memories and read them just like you read your favorite novels. They’re not active thoughts, they buried parts of the brain and you can get to them.” Jasper’s voice was confident and Bella took comfort from his words. She leaned into me and I tightened my arms around her waist. I’d give her anything I could. In fact, maybe…
“Jasper, is it possible that I could help?” I could read minds, after all. Maybe there was a way to share that with her.
He looked at me and his face lit up like the sun after a moment. “You’ve always had a weird connection beyond anything I’ve ever seen. If she opens her mind to you and you open your mind to her, I don’t think it could hurt anyway.” We all looked to Alice who was bouncing up and down on Jasper’s lap. He grunted and stilled her.
“It’s going to work!” I felt excitement flowing through me at the thought of combining power with Bella. “The two of you…wow. It’s just amazing.” She showed me and I fought off a shudder at the feeling that coursed through me. We were connected in a way I’d never known possible. I wanted to experience it more than I wanted anything in the world.
Bella beamed up at me, her eyes shining with joy. “Are you ready, then?” I nodded mutely and laced my fingers with her own. Edward, I love you. I smiled and pressed a kiss to her cheek as she let me in. I opened my mind to hers, letting her consume my every thought for a moment. I could almost feel her moving through my head, finding my power and tapping into it. I felt strength like I’d never known flowing through me.
Focus on Rose, Bella’s voice filled my mind and instantly I was within Rosalie’s head. It was a completely new sensation for me, like I could actually see Rose’s brain and navigate through it with Bella. I saw flashes as we got to the part of Rose’s brain that held her memories. I wove through them, so many were of her and Emmett, our family, school after boring school. I dug deeper and started to see hazier images of a golden haired child playing with an equally lovely blond doll, two younger brothers pestering her as she attempted to make herself beautiful for a date with…and there he was. Royce King, smug bastard. Rose’s memory of him was not remotely hazy, unlike the rest of her human thoughts. These were the memories she had nursed and used for years to keep herself fueled with anger and hatred. Would those emotions be gone? Would she still be the Rosalie we all knew and loved, although sometimes that love was begrudging?
I saw a dark street and Rosalie hurrying home as some dark shadows approached her from behind. I grasped that image and squeezed Bella’s hand, letting her know we had it if she didn’t know already. I see it, Edward. Let’s try to take it away, okay? I squeezed again, not wanting to verbally respond for fear that I would lose the memory.
Forget him, Bella’s lovely voice echoed in Rose’s head. I saw the memory curl in upon itself and mentally pulled it from her head like a string. I searched quickly and it was gone, that night that had ended Rosalie’s life and colored her whole future. I quickly found each image of Royce in her memory and pulled them out for Bella and she kept repeating Forget him, and I took the thought away.
Finally, after what may have only been minutes but felt like hours, I didn’t see him anymore. I stroked Bella’s hand lightly. No more? I squeezed in response and felt her, us, edging out of Rose’s mind. I was loath to let go of the connection I felt to Bella. It was new and even beyond our physical and mental connection while making love. Sharing power…I started to wonder vaguely if we could do that while making love and decided to explore that as soon as we were out of the Volturi’s crosshairs.
I felt Bella slip out of our connection and opened my eyes. She was looking up at me as if I was the only person in the entire world. “That was…”
“Amazing,” I finished for her, my lips meeting hers hungrily. I wanted to explore the connection even more but Emmett’s irritated voice broke through our passion.
“Well did it work?” he demanded.
Bella nodded. “I think so; I guess we just need to ask her.” Rose appeared to be completely relaxed and she opened her eyes. Odd, I hadn’t noticed that she’d closed them but then I’d only seen her mind and felt Bella during our exploration.
“Rosie?” Emmett sounded fearful. What if they messed up and took everything? What if she doesn’t remember me? I knew all too well what he was feeling, having been there myself during Bella’s transformation.
Rose frowned up at him. “Why are you looking at me as if you think I’ll faint dead away?”she asked him in an irritated voice. Clearly we hadn’t altered her personality. “Really, Emmett, what’s wrong?”
“Do you remember?” he asked fearfully, his hands gripping her knees. He knew that Alice said it worked but he couldn’t be positive until she told him.
“Remember what?” she asked, looking thoroughly annoyed at all of us staring at her.
“You told Bella she could go into your mind and take some memories away,” Emmett told her warily, afraid that she wouldn’t remember that much and she’d bite all our heads off for letting Bella invade her mind.
“Well of course I remember, I’m not an idiot, Emmett. I told her she could take…” she broke off, a frown on her lovely face. “What did I tell her she could take?” she asked him, confusion in her tone.
“It’s not important, Rosie. Something you didn’t want to remember. Clearly it worked,” Emmett said hastily.
What did I ask her to take? Rose’s thoughts were completely mystified. I guess it worked, since I can’t remember what it was.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Jasper asked eagerly, looking like he’d won the lottery he was so excited.
Rose frowned and tossed her long blond hair back off her shoulders. “I remember telling Bella she could take something and then Edward said maybe they could combine powers and then that’s it.”
“Fantastic,” Jasper murmured, awe in his tone. “And you two? What was it like?”
I didn’t know if I could put it into words. “It was like being one,” Bella answered for me and that was as good an explanation as any.
“I felt her inside my head for the first time; it was like she took her power and magnified mine. When I was in Rose’s head…I guess it was like what happens for Aro. I could see all her memories and thoughts. When I found,” I broke off, not wanting to slip and say his name. “When I found what she asked for, I pulled it out of her mind, like I was picking a flower or pulling on string.” I looked down at Bella. “Did you feel that?”
“I did. I don’t know how but I could see the memories right along with you. It was intense.” That was as good a word as any for it.
Jasper’s smile was a mile wide. “This is incredible. I wonder if she can do it with me, with Alice. Elevating each one of us…who knows what we could do!”
Bella laughed and shook her head. “All in good time, Jasper. We’ll explore it all when we have Esme back.” Her voice hardened as she spoke of our mother. “Right now, I think connecting with Edward is all I need. We can combine to erase us all from their heads, particularly Aro’s.”
“So no fight?” Emmett asked in a sour tone, disappointment on his normally jovial face.
Jasper shook his head. “We have to be prepared for anything and that includes a physical confrontation. We’ll avoid it if we can, but I’m not ruling anything out.” He glanced at Rose and took a deep breath. “Maybe we should call Royce and run it by him.”
We were all silent as we waited to see her reaction. It was a good idea, to see if we really had gotten everything. Just because she couldn’t remember what we were looking for didn’t mean that we’d actually erased the memory.
Her face remained serene but confusion flashed in her eyes. “Who is Royce and why would we call him?” she asked.
Emmett’s smile was almost blinding as he threw his arms around me and Bella. “Thank you,” he said reverently, his words soft while his arms were nearly crushing us.
“What the hell, Emmett? Why are you attacking them? What’s going on around here? Who is Royce?” Rose demanded.
“Nobody important, just an evil being who used to be with the Volturi,” Jasper answered, a smile ghosting over his lips.
“I don’t think we need to bring anybody else into this,” Rose pointed out and Emmett released us and wrapped his arms around her still beaming.
“You’re right, Rosie. We’ll never think of him again,” his voice was positively gleeful.
Alice sighed and we all froze as we heard a car approaching. Carlisle was home and it was time to tell him what had transpired with Esme. None of us was looking forward to this and the tension that had seeped out of the room since Bella’s and my combining of powers returned tenfold.
“This sucks,” Emmett moaned.
“Maybe I should tell him,” Bella spoke quietly. “It’s because of me and…”
“Stop that! It’s not because of you, it’s because of Aro,” I corrected.
She leaned against me and sighed. “I know, but it’s the result of something I did. I feel like I should be the one to tell him.” I looked into her eyes and saw the resolution there and caressed her cheek.
“I can see that you’re sure,” I told her quietly.
“I am.” She sat up straighter as the car came to a stop and the door shut. Tension vibrated through her body as the front door opened and Carlisle came unerringly into the living room. He took us all in and the happiness in his thoughts faded as he saw our expressions. This doesn’t look good.
“What is it?” he asked calmly, his features solidifying into his physician’s mask as he prepared for whatever we had to say.
Bella took a deep breath and got off the couch. He watched her steadily as she walked toward him and reached a hand out to his. He took hers in his own and arranged his lips into a kind smile. “What is it, Bella?” He could sense her nerves and wanted to be soothing for her. And soon she would shatter him. I braced like I was about to receive a blow and only wished I could take it for him.
“Carlisle, I have something to tell you and it’s going to be very upsetting but I want you to know that we can make it right. Together, we can handle anything, right?” Bella asked.
“Yes, sweetheart, we can. This family is united and whole, finally. We can face anything. I don’t want you to worry about the Volturi. Eleazar and I have been talking and we think together we can appeal to Aro. We’ll make sure your family is safe, I promise.”
Bella made a slight choking sound and his eyes narrowed in concern. “Are you alright? Bella, we won’t let anything happen to them, you have my word.” I felt like I’d been stabbed in the chest and I could tell from the reactions of my brother’s and sister’s that they did as well. There Carlisle was, being compassionate and worrying over Bella’s other family when it was this one, his, that had been ripped apart.
“Carlisle,” Bella heaved a sigh and bit her lip. “It’s not my family that’s in danger. It’s ours.”
His eyes flew around the room. “You’re all here. Esme said she was going shopping and she should be home at anytime. We’ll be fine, Bella. Nobody can get to us without us knowing about it. Alice is our built in warning system.” Alice gasped and buried her head in Jasper’s shoulder, shaking with sobs.
Carlisle finally seemed to register that something was very wrong and Bella’s fears were not that something would happen but that something did happen. No, please no. “Where…where is Esme?” he asked, fear in his tone. His hands tightened on Bella’s as he willed her to tell him that Esme was right where she was supposed to be, buying more furnishings for the London house.
Bella closed her eyes for a second before opening them and looking at him with pure sorrow. “Aro has her. He called just a bit ago. Somehow they took her without us seeing.” Carlisle’s knees buckled and Bella caught him as he started to fall to the floor. Emmett, Jasper and I hopped to our feet and ran to help instinctively, even though Bella was more than capable of supporting his weight.
“It’s not possible,” he whispered, shaking his head in denial even though he knew Bella’s words were true. His grip tightened on Bella’s and she let out a small gasp of pain but didn’t pull away. “We would have known, wouldn’t we? Alice?” he implored, looking to her as though she had all the answers, like she could change Bella’s words and make them untrue.
The four of us led Carlisle over to the couch as Alice answered Carlisle. “I didn’t see, I still can’t. Somehow Aro found a way around me. I’m so sorry, Carlisle. This is my fault. I should have known. I felt like something was going to happen but I never saw it and now she’s gone,” her voice broke and Jasper ran to her and pulled her into his arms.
“It’s not your fault. It’s Aro’s. Nobody but Aro’s” he said, running his hands gently over her back as he cradled her in his arms.
Aro wouldn’t do this to me. “How could he do this to me?” Carlisle asked hollowly. “We just want to be left alone. Why can’t we be?”
Bella implored him to look at her. “Carlisle, we will be. We’re going to go to Italy and take her back. We will get her back, I promise you.”
He looked at Bella but seemed unable to focus on her. Esme, my sweet Esme. How could anybody take you from me? What would I do without you?
“Carlisle?” Bella asked gently and got no response. His mind was filled with images of Esme and their lives together. I shook my head at her. She nodded her understanding. “Carlisle, listen to me.” His eyes flew to hers then and he was able to focus.
“We’re going to get her. We’re already making plans. Aro wants us to be there within the week.”
He started to stand but she tightened her hold on his hands. “We need to go now,” he pointed out, thoughts of getting to Esme the only thing in his mind.
“We need to make a plan,” Jasper said, still holding Alice as she shook with unshed tears. “We can’t just go to Italy without a strategy.”
“Plan? Strategy?” Carlisle’s voice was filled with rage. “I won’t have her sitting around waiting for me while we make a plan, Jasper! He has my wife!” He yanked one hand out of Bella’s grasp and hit the back of the couch, sending a loud cracking sound through the room as the baseboard beneath split in two. The couch held together but barely. It felt strange to see Carlisle coming apart at the seams but any of us would be the same way if it was our spouse.
Jasper sent a wave of calm at Carlisle and he scowled but stopped attempting to pull away from Bella. “Don’t you try to sway me, Jasper. I know what you’re doing and it doesn’t change the fact that Aro has my wife!” But his voice was calmer, despite his words.
Jasper nodded. “I know what you’re feeling, I can feel it too. Don’t think that all of us aren’t just as worried as you are. But we can’t go face the Volturi without being prepared for every scenario.”
Carlisle’s shoulders slumped and he leaned against Bella. “I know. Logically I know that but she’s my wife, Jasper. I want to believe Aro won’t harm her but the fact that he took her…” he pulled back and looked at Bella.
“Tell me everything.” So she did, from the phone call right through our experiment on Rose, though she skimmed over what we took, he understood. There was a ghost of pride in his eyes but it went away quickly as Esme filled his thoughts. “So you think this Haides has some kind of power to deflect other powers?”
Jasper shrugged. “It makes sense and explains why Alice didn’t see it happening and hasn’t seen Aro since he called us. We assume he’s traveling with him and we won’t see him until they separate.”
Carlisle was trying his hardest to focus. I won’t do her any good if I panic. I just need to get to her. “There have always been rumors about vampires that were able to cancel out powers. I’ve never heard of them finding one but it makes sense that Aro would be after someone with that ability, especially now.” Why couldn’t he just leave us alone? He said I would be free to live my life in peace. I’m trying. My family is what brings me joy. Esme…his mental voice was filled with anguish and I put a bolstering hand on his shoulder and gave him a supportive squeeze.
“I can see us in Volterra, so we know that Haides must not be there when we arrive,” Alice said softly, having finally stopped sobbing. “I’m so sorry Carlisle.” He opened his arms and she raced into them.
“It’s not your fault, Alice.” His words were reassuring, despite the turmoil in his mind. He amazed me all the time but even more so now, when he could put aside his grief to comfort Alice. He looked over at Bella and correctly read the guilt on her face. “It’s not yours either. You can’t help who you are, Bella, or that he wants you for his collection. I don’t blame either one of you. I blame him.”
I breathed a sigh of relief at his words. If he’d blamed Bella, it would have killed her. I knew that he wouldn’t but we’d all lashed out and started blaming one another when we first heard the news. Carlisle was better than the rest of us, but then that had always been the case.
She looked up at him, relief shining in her eyes. “I swear to you, we will get her back, safe and sound. And we’ll make sure they never come after us again.”
Carlisle looked pale but resigned. “You want to kill him? I…I don’t know if I can do that, despite everything. He was my friend before all this and I just…but I don’t want him to come after us either. I don’t know how to make him stop.” How could he? He knows what she means to me. He’s seen it in Edward’s and even in my own thoughts. If he does harm her, how can I let him live? Could I kill him to stop him from coming after my family? I would do anything for them but it feels so wrong.
“I think,” Bella began and then she shook her head. “No, I know; that we can do it without killing Aro. That’s why Rose let me practice on her. I’m going to go into their minds and erase us all from their memory. It’s the only way we can be sure they’ll leave us alone for good.”
“You can do that?” Carlisle stared at her, surprise and a hint of hope coloring his tone.
“I took some memories from Rose. Well, Edward and I did,” she smiled at me. “Together, I’m sure we can do it.” The possibilities are endless. How can I think of this now, when Esme isn’t here? Thank God Bella’s part of my family. Thank God they both are. Esme…I wanted to shout with joy that there wasn’t a hint of regret in his mind over Bella being with us, despite Aro’s actions.
“Thank you for volunteering for that.” He looked over at Rose. “I know it can’t have been easy for you.”
Rosalie cleared her throat and smiled. “I don’t know what she took from me but I know it was worth it if we can get Esme back unharmed. I’d do anything for this family.” Carlisle glanced at me and asked Royce? I nodded. That’s good then, that’s she’s free of that burden. That he could be a father to us all now, when his life had been cruelly yanked from him, astounded me.
“I know you would,” Carlisle’s face softened. “I’m so proud of you. All of you.” He glanced around the room and took a deep breath, steeling himself. “So what do we do?”
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