Sacrificial Lamb Chapter 43
BPOV
Carlisle’s question was met with a near immediate flurry of activity. I didn’t really know what I could do to help at this point so I just sat and held onto him. It felt like he needed the contact with one of us. I knew I could help him to forget or at least to function but I know if I was in his place I wouldn’t want anyone taking my grief and fear away from me. I’d want to use it. Hopefully Carlisle could use his. He looked pretty lost and held on to me like I was a lifeline.
“Alice, call and charter the jet for sometime tomorrow afternoon,” Jasper ordered. She nodded and started dialing. “Edward, call and get us another plane to leave ASAP, that’s the one we’ll actually be on. If they’re watching us, I want them to think we’re a day behind. Use one of the hidden accounts, odds are they don’t know about them or aren’t watching us that closely. If they are, there’s nothing that can be done about it but let’s do what we can to disguise our real moves.” Edward ran over to the computer while also using his phone to make a call. “Em, Rose,” he broke off and watched Carlisle carefully. “Get together some blankets and clothes, just in case we need them.” What he didn’t say, but what we all heard, was that Esme might not be in great shape when we found her. Carlisle winced and gripped me tighter, letting out a soft moan but not saying a word. Emmett and Rosalie hurried upstairs.
Jasper was every bit the military man in that moment, guiding us with strategic words and confidence in his orders. He took out his cell phone and dialed a number. “Eleazar, we need your advice,” he announced in a clipped, hurried tone.
“What is it, Jasper?” there was concern in Eleazar’s voice.
“Aro took Esme.” There was an audible gasp over the line. “Alice couldn’t see him. We think he found a vampire that is capable of blocking our abilities, all of our abilities.”
Eleazar sighed. “I’m so sorry for Tanya’s part in this. I didn’t think he’d come directly after your family. It’s more his style to go after Bella’s parents.”
“He did,” Jasper said, glancing at Carlisle, whose hands were gripping mine almost painfully now.
“Yes, yes of course Esme is a parent as well. I meant her human parents. They’re far more susceptible to harm and well…I assumed he wouldn’t do something like that to Carlisle. I don’t know why. Aro rarely puts friendship before his own desires.”
“So, have you ever heard of a vampire with a talent like that, the ability to block?”
“Certainly, that power would fall under the classification of a shield. I’ve never seen one that could physically block all powers but there have always been rumors that such a vampire existed. Aro has searched the world over for years for someone like that and I imagine he only redoubled his efforts when he learned of the talents in your family. Even before Bella’s power manifested, he desired Alice and Edward to join him. After he found out Bella’s power…nothing would deter him from wanting her.”
“I figured as much,” Jasper responded dryly. “Alice can see us arriving in Volterra, so we assume that Aro breaks off from Haides, or at least that Haides is not in Volterra.”
“Haides?” Eleazar’s voice was filled with disbelief. “He is real, then.”
“What do you mean?” Jasper asked sharply.
“For years, even before I left the Volturi, Aro has spoken of one who cancels out every ability. He ran across a vampire who had encountered Haides in the late 1800’s. This vampire, Jonas, had an offensive ability pretty similar to Kate’s I believe. He attempted to show Haides his talent but was unable to shock him. His wife, Ellen, was a mind reader and she was unable to get anything as well. They stayed with him briefly but parted ways. When Aro saw Haides through Jonas’ memories, he was incredibly excited but worried at the same time. Such a gift would render him useless as well. He made it a quest to find Haides but he never located him. Eventually it was chalked up to a rumor or an exaggeration for most of the Volturi, though Aro never forgot, I’m sure. It seems he finally found him.”
“Just our luck,” Jasper muttered. “So, do you think it makes sense that Aro would part ways with Haides once he arrived back in Volterra?”
“Without a doubt,” Eleazar answered confidently. “He wouldn’t want to be powerless, especially knowing that you are all going to be arriving soon.”
“So you don’t think he’d keep him around to neutralize Bella?” I bit my lip, for I had been worried about that as well.
Eleazar laughed sardonically. “One thing you should know about Aro is that the man is overconfident to the point of being reckless sometimes. He thinks he’s invincible and he’s never had much of a challenge. He’s underestimated people before and he will again. Aro knows that a talent like Bella’s would require a lot of cultivation. In fact, I’m sure that’s one of the things he’ll promise her when he speaks with her again. That he can guide her to her full potential. He won’t begin to imagine that you are capable of that on your own. He will be guarded, rest assured, but I don’t think he’d want Haides there to counteract him. He’ll figure having Esme is enough.”
“That’s my other question; will he keep Esme in Volterra?”
“No. He will have her nearby but he won’t keep her within the walls of Volterra. If he holds to form, she’ll be guarded out of the city, close enough to bring in quickly if you comply but far enough away that you won’t find her easily.”
Carlisle whispered “Esme” so softly I almost didn’t hear it. I wrapped my arms around him and he rested his head on my shoulder.
“How do we find her then?” Jasper demanded.
“Look for the holes in Alice’s vision? When Edward can’t hear thoughts, you’re close? I can’t say for sure. I was the one who told Aro a person’s power, who helped him add to his collection. He didn’t include me in his persuasion methods,” there was an edge to Eleazar’s voice. Guilt, maybe. “I don’t like remembering that part of my life and I feel terrible that I helped Aro further his quest for power, especially now. Is there anything my family and I can do to help?”
“I don’t think so,” Jasper shook his head even though Eleazar couldn’t see him. “If I think of anything, I’ll call. All I can ask you to do is try to remember anything that might be of use to us. We’ll be out of communication while we travel but leave us a message if you come up with anything.”
“I will. And once again, I’m so sorry that this has happened…”
“It’s not your fault,” Jasper cut him off. “We’ll talk about it further after we have Esme back. You’ll hear from us soon.” With that he shut the phone and went over to talk to Edward.
I sat there holding onto Carlisle as the word “fault” echoed through my mind. It wasn’t Tanya’s fault that the Volturi knew about me, it wasn’t my fault that I had used my power on Tanya, it wasn’t Edward’s fault that he changed me…it had to be someone’s fault and no matter what they said, I knew it was mine.
“Stop,” Carlisle said, looking directly at me for the first time in awhile. “I know what you’re doing and you can’t blame yourself. I don’t blame you, Bella.” And he didn’t, which was a miracle in and of itself. I didn’t know I could be that kind if the situation were reversed. Would he be able to go right on not blaming me if something even worse happened to Esme? If Aro hurt or even ki…I wouldn’t finish that thought. I knew if they harmed Esme that things would get out of control, quickly. And it was up to me to make sure that we maintained control at all times. Could I be cool when it mattered? It was one thing to play with minds when I was having fun or just practicing, it was entirely another to put it into practice when lives were on the line. And I had no doubt that was the case here. If I couldn’t do my part, people I loved would die. I could not fail. I would not fail.
I repeated the words over and over to myself as everyone converged back in the living room. “Our plane is set to take off tomorrow at two PM,” Alice announced. I told them to take off even though we won’t be there and head toward Italy.”
“We’re leaving in an hour out of Lebanon Municipal Airport. I booked a Gulfstream 200 that’s coming in from Boston. It should be there in about thirty minutes,” Edward said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “We need to hit the road in about fifteen minutes.”
“I’m driving,” Rose grinned.
“The car?” I asked, apparently foolishly as several of my family members stifled laughs.
“The plane,” Rose corrected me.
“It’s easier that way, no pilot to explain anything to. I already hacked into the FAA database and filed our flight plan under the name Jenkins. They think we’re going to Madrid.” I started at my husband in wonder, would he ever fail to surprise me? Was there nothing he couldn’t do?
Jasper nodded his approval. “Good, we shouldn’t raise any red flags with the Volturi then.”
Edward nodded. “Flight time is around seven and a half hours and we’ll land in Pisa, about 30 miles out of Volterra. We can get there on foot in about twenty five minutes.” Nearly nine hours until we were in Volterra. That seemed an interminable amount of time.
“The car’s loaded,” Emmett told us. “We packed clothes for everyone since we didn’t know how long we’d be there.” Hopefully not long at all, but who could say?
“Let’s go,” Carlisle said, finally releasing me and standing. He pulled me to my feet and gave my hand a grateful squeeze. “It’s time to bring Esme home.”
The ride to the airport was a blur but the plane was an experience. I’d never flown on a private plane before but of course the rest of my family preferred to travel that way, no humans around to tempt them. Rosalie got us in the air quickly while I sank back in my cushy leather seat and enjoyed the luxury around us. There were a couple of TV screens, although none of us were really in the mood to watch anything.
I longed for the escape of sleep, if only to shut off my mind for a few hours. I didn’t miss much about being a human, but sleep was definitely on the list. It wasn’t like I got tired, per se, I just sometimes wanted to shut out the world and it was impossible now. Instead I was forced to sit and do nothing but think for seven hours. To wonder what we were going to face in Volterra and to worry that I would fail and my family would suffer for it.
Alice plopped in the seat next to me and wound her arm through mine. “How are you doing?” she asked me in a solemn tone. How was I doing? I didn’t really know how to answer that. I was…waiting.
“I’m alright, I guess. I wish I knew what was coming but…” her little face fell and I immediately regretted my words. “Alice, I’m not blaming you for not being able to see. It’s just hard to plan ahead. You know that more than anybody.”
“I feel like such a failure,” she whispered. Jasper sent her a sharp glance from where he was engaged in conversation with Edward on strategy when we were on the ground and looked like he was about to get up. I shook my head at him and he stayed put.
“Every time you’ve failed to see something; we’ve come out alright, haven’t we? I mean, here we are, despite bloody birthday parties and elusive nomadic vampires and shape shifters.”
Alice let out a tinkling laugh. “It’s nice of you to comfort me for failing by pointing out my many other failures, Bella.”
I grinned at her. “You’re only human, right?” She giggled again. “Seriously, Alice, I was beating myself up back at the house for causing all this and like Carlisle said, it’s not my fault either. We’re just in one of those impossible situations. We have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully you’ll see something pretty soon; Aro should be back in Volterra sometime in the near future. You’ll feel better once you know what’s going on again.”
She breathed a sigh of relief and put her head on my shoulder. “You’re right, I will. I just need to see something. Aro, Esme, the guard…it doesn’t matter what as long as it’s helpful.”
“And you will. Just wait for it to happen.”
She lifted her head and looked me in the eye. “Even though I can’t see, Bella, I do know that you can do this. You can get this family through whole. I’d like the comfort of knowing but I feel that we’ll be alright. I always knew you’d be important to this family, I just didn’t realize how much. It seems like we were always waiting for you without realizing it.”
Alice’s words warmed me in a way that my own thoughts couldn’t. They all had such faith in me that it was impossible for me to let them down. Of course with all their confidence, I only felt more pressure. Failing wasn’t an option though so I had to remain calm and hope for the best.
I felt a jolt as Edward’s hand traced over the curve of my cheek. Would he always make me feel as if each touch was the first one? Alice chuckled and went over to join Carlisle, who hadn’t uttered a word since we got into the plane. He just looked at the window, seeing something I couldn’t begin to comprehend.
Edward slid into Alice’s seat and wrapped his arm around me. “Hello, love.” He pressed his lips to mine and sat next to me in companionable silence, much to my surprise. Didn’t he want to reassure me? Didn’t he want to know how I was feeling?
After several minutes of nothing but the pleasant hum of energy between the two of us, I had to ask. “Why aren’t you asking how I am?”
He smiled that half smirk that never failed to send my silent heart into overdrive. I swear I could feel it pumping again when he looked at me like that. “I don’t need to ask, I already know.” What? Had I let him into my mind without knowing? This wasn’t good, what if Aro could read me? I started to panic and Edward put a finger to my lips. “I’m not reading your mind, Bella.”
“What then?”
“You think I haven’t learned how to read you pretty well by now? Even though your face is smooth I can tell your mind is racing. I know you, Bella. I can feel you the same way you can feel me.” I breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn’t inadvertently opened my mind. I didn’t mind so much with Edward but if I did that with Aro it probably wouldn’t end well.
“You scared me!” I told him, elbowing him in his immobile chest and smiling when I got an “oof” out of him. “Didn’t see that coming; did you?”
He chuckled and nuzzled my cheek with his lips. “No, I didn’t. Are you annoyed that I know you well enough to know what you’re feeling?”
He sounded a little hurt by that fact and I hastened to assure him that was not the case. “No, of course not. I guess you should know me pretty well by now, after all. But I can’t lie; I kind of miss the days when I could keep my thoughts from you.”
“I don’t!” he grinned, though his smile faded quickly. “I do like that I can’t read all of your thoughts, it makes it more special when you do let me in. But I don’t need to be in your mind to know that you’re nervous right now. I feel the same way.” And I could see that it was true, there was a tightness to his features that was only there in times of stress.
I took his free hand in mine and played with his fingers. “I don’t want to let anybody down.”
“You couldn’t, Bella.” I opened my mouth to protest but he shook his head. “No, I’m not saying you couldn’t fail, although I really don’t believe you will. I’m saying that as long as you try, that’s all that we could ask of you. This is a lot to put on your shoulders and every one of us is aware of it even if we don’t seem to acknowledge it. No matter what happens, you and I will be together. That’s the one thing in all of this that I am sure of.”
I kissed him then, glad that he wasn’t just giving me platitudes to calm me. He admitted that things might not go well. I did believe that, win or lose; Edward would remain at my side. If I somehow had to join Aro, though it was nearly inconceivable to think about, Edward would stay with me. He was what I truly needed in my life. I would do my best for him and for my family but if I was defeated I would not be alone.
He cupped my face when he broke our kiss. “I’ll be right there with you and if we lose, we lose together. Being joined with your mind, doing what we did for Rose…I’ve never felt closer to you. I didn’t think it was possible for us to get any closer,” he broke off at a guffaw issuing from the cockpit, where Emmett was co-piloting next to Rose. “I didn’t mean it like that,” Edward smiled. “It was like we were one mind in that moment, not me reading you or vice versa. It was beautiful.”
I kissed him again, partly because of what he said and partly because he was just so stunning when he spoke of it. It was like he was lit from within and I knew his words were a reflection of my thoughts. “Yes, it was like being one mind, one body….maybe even one soul.” I wished I could find better words. “I was aware of you and of myself but we didn’t feel like separate people in that moment.”
He smiled. “I want to do it again, if we can.”
I laughed. “We will be doing it again, hopefully in Volterra.”
Edward laughed. “I mean when we’re alone.” Emmett made a gagging noise but Edward ignored him. “The thought of being joined like that, when we’re making love…I’m not going to lie, it’s entered my head more than once since we did it.”
I laughed and squeezed his hand. “You’re not alone.” I definitely wanted to explore that in detail once this was all behind us.
He raised my hand to his lips and kissed it. “A woman after my own heart.”
“I already have your heart.” How long it had taken for me to accept that! I didn’t doubt it anymore though.
Edward’s eyes darkened and he flashed me a smile. “Yes, you do.”
“Enough, lovebirds!” Jasper sat down across from me and gave us both a mock scowl. I could tell he was faking it because his lips twitched a little. I glanced over and saw Carlisle still staring out the window and felt sadness envelop me again. It seemed wrong to be fantasizing about making love with my husband while Carlisle was worrying about never seeing his wife again.
“How is he?” I asked Edward. I had a feeling Carlisle wouldn’t respond if I asked him.
Edward frowned. “His thoughts are only of Esme. He isn’t really even aware of what’s going on around him. He’s just waiting until he sees her again.” I could understand that.
“He’s numb,” Jasper informed us. “It’s like he’s not feeling anything right now, or maybe I would say he’s feeling everything and ignoring it.” My heart went out to him.
“Is there anything we can do?”
Jasper thought about it for a minute and then shook his head. “I could send him some emotions but really I think it’s better that he’s like that. If he was drowning in sorrow I don’t think we could even take him with us to Volterra. I’d rather he be shut down.” It sounded horrible but it made sense.
We sat and chatted for awhile, passing the long flight as best we could. It was hardest on Alice, of course. She was a bundle of energy and she had nowhere to expend it. Jasper laughingly told me of a time when she nearly caused the plane to crash because she was whirling about the cabin too quickly.
“Oh, shut up! So we fell a few hundred feet, it was hardly a crash!” she huffed, plopping down on Jasper’s lap as we all laughed at her. “I can’t help it if I don’t like being confined for long periods of time,” she pointed out.
“That’s not what I heard,” Emmett bellowed from the front of the plane. A resounding smacking noise followed that comment so Alice refrained from getting up to give Emmett payback right then. It felt wrong, laughing at a time like this, but at the same time it was nice to let our minds wander from the task awaiting us for awhile.
“Someday soon we’ll travel for fun, Bella. There’s so much I want to show you! We can go to our island off the coast of Brazil, and of course we need to go to Paris!”
“I’ve been to Paris,” I pointed out, smiling at the memory of my honeymoon with Edward.
“Yes, but you hardly saw Paris. You did very little shopping. There are so many fabulous designers we’ll have to visit! And then we could have a fashion week maybe and we’ll hit Milan as well! Plus we really should go to Spain and then there…” she broke off and her eyes unfocused.
Edward leaned forward eagerly and took in Alice’s vision. He looked pretty happy with what he was seeing which I took to be a good thing. Jasper and I exchanged glances, both a bit annoyed to be left out of the loop but pleased that Edward didn’t seem too upset by whatever they saw.
Alice jerked out of the vision and stared at Edward for a moment with wide eyes. “Oh! That’s good!”
Jasper rolled his eyes at me as they had their silent communication. “Look, you two, let us in or Bella will force you to and I’ll make you feel terrible while you do it.”
Edward smiled. “Sorry. Alice saw Aro speaking with Caius. He had Haides take Esme somewhere outside of Volterra. They don’t say where. Caius was displeased because he had Haides there alone and he’s decided to go guard Esme as well.”
“I don’t understand; why are you happy?” I asked, completely unsure what was good about us not knowing where Esme was for sure and knowing that she had more than one guard.
“Because that means your powers will not be interfered with. I expected Aro to send Haides away but now we know he will. You and Edward can handle the Volturi while we track down Esme,” Jasper informed me.
“But how will you find her?” I asked. I knew they thought holes in Alice’s vision would help but that seemed like such a crapshoot to me.
“We don’t have to search!” Alice announced with a big smile. “We’re going to wait and follow Felix; he’ll lead us right to her! At least I assume so. The vision cuts off eventually; probably when we get close to Haides.”
“That seems pretty easy, why would Felix do that without noticing you?” I really felt like I was living in an alternate dimension from the rest of them right now.
“You’ll make him, Bella,” Edward told me softly. Oh! That seemed almost too simple, what with the other more daunting tasks ahead of me. I could definitely do that.
“So why are we splitting up then? Why don’t we all get Esme first and then face Aro?” I didn’t really like the thought of going in with just Edward. If something went wrong they could hurt Edward to get to me. I would do anything for him; even bend to Aro’s will.
“Because Aro is focused on you and we need to keep it that way while we go after Esme. If he decides to send the guard after us, you can make sure they don’t follow his orders. You’ll be keeping us safe as well as distracting Aro,” Jasper informed me. No pressure there. I bit back a groan and Edward tightened his grip on my shoulder.
“You can do this, Bella. The only hard part comes when we have to erase his memory. Aro’s history is quite vast and it’ll take us awhile to weed through everything,” Edward told me.
“That’s why you have to wait until we’re back before you attempt it. If Bella loses control of the rest of them, we need to be there to protect you,” Jasper said. Great. There were so many things that could go wrong and apparently they were all on my shoulders. There was nothing I could do about it, though. Hopefully we’d all get out alive.
“Alice, can you see how it’s all going to turn out?” If she could see them following Felix, surely she could see what happened with Aro.
Her eyes unfocused again and Edward leaned forward eagerly. Jasper and I waited impatiently, yet again. Alice shook her head and Edward looked slightly perturbed. That wasn’t a good sign. “Well?” I demanded, hating being out of the loop any longer than I had to.
“I can only see up to a certain point, just you guys talking to Aro. That seems to go fine. Edward gives you a signal or two, I’m guessing to use your power in some way but I don’t know what exactly for since I’m not the mind reader. Eventually it goes blank.”
Blank? I didn’t like the sound of blank. “Why would that happen?”
Jasper looked happy, which I thought odd under the circumstances. “Because we’ll rejoin you, I imagine. Or Haides does, but then Alice would have seen something from wherever we were. She can’t see Esme right now because Haides has her. So, Alice not seeing probably means we’re successful in bringing Esme back.”
Those words were the final trigger to get Carlisle back to the land of the living; or the undead…whatever we were classified as. His head snapped away from the window and he seemed to notice us for the first time. “Esme? She’s going to be alright?” he asked eagerly, his voice hoarse with emotion.
“Well,” Jasper said hesitantly, clearly not wanting to give Carlisle too much hope but loathe to dispel the emotion either. “Like I said, it could mean that Haides gets away from us and returns to Volterra. There’s also the fact that Alice can’t really see Bella’s power at work. I’m leaning toward Esme being alright, of course, but…”
“She will be,” Carlisle announced firmly, turning his head back to the window. We all exchanged helpless glances but nobody bothered to argue with him. We all wanted that as well. I had to believe she was going to be okay or I wouldn’t be able to go through with it all. I was doing this for my family, the family I had chosen that had fully embraced me. Esme loved me from the day she met me, before when it came down to it. Edward told me that the instant she found out he loved me she welcomed me with open arms. I would be there to do the same for her, to bring her back where she belonged. No matter what, Esme must come back to us. Carlisle needed her. He was broken already without her. I’d been there myself when Edward left me and at least then I’d known he was alive. When I thought he might die…no, I couldn’t go there. That was not going to happen. I would make sure of it.
“This is your captain speaking,” came a booming voice over the intercom. Why Emmett felt the need to use it when we could all hear him perfectly well was beyond me, but then again, this was Emmett we were talking about.
“I’m the captain, you idiot,” Rose hissed and then we heard the telltale sound of her smacking Emmett again.
“Ow! Fine! This is your co-captain speaking, then. Please fasten your seatbelts; we will begin making our decent into Pisa in approximately three minutes. Please put all tray tables into their upright position and refrain from anymore inappropriate displays of affection. That means you get off Jasper’s lap, Alice!” She snorted and shook her head. “Don’t make me come back there,” he warned, as if he’d seen her negative response. She sighed and sat in her own chair but none of us obeyed the seatbelt rule. It wasn’t like we would die if we had a bad landing.
Rose set us down gently, as if she flew planes every single day of her life. I wondered how often she actually did fly and if I could ever learn. Carlisle was out of his seat before the plane even stopped moving. Alice stood and caught his arm before he could rip the door off in his impatience to get to Esme. “Carlisle, we’ll be with her very soon, I promise.” He stilled but didn’t really look at Alice, his thoughts were clearly with Esme.
We got out quickly and Alice pointed the direction we needed to go. We all took off running without a word. It felt like I hadn’t run in eons but I was unable to enjoy it this time. My mind was filled with possibilities of what we could face in Volterra. I knew the most important person to seize control of was Jane. Her ability still wouldn’t work on me, unless I opened my mind, but she could go after Edward. I would not allow her to hurt him ever again. I still remembered him collapsing on the floor in complete agony. I wished I could use her own power against her but I didn’t know if that was possible. Too bad.
Aro couldn’t touch Edward or he would know everything. I’d just have to make sure that he didn’t want to touch him. Hopefully he wouldn’t notice that it wasn’t his idea. There were so many things that could go wrong, though, trying to plan around them seemed impossible. I hated the thought of playing it by ear but that seemed the way it had to go. Edward and I must distract Aro long enough for the others to get to Esme.
Within less than half an hour we were outside the familiar walls of Volterra. I was surprised at how well I remembered it, but then I nearly lost my life here. I guess it was bound to stick with me. All my near death experiences were pretty clear, despite my having been human at the time. It was evening, thankfully, so we were able to move into the city rather unobtrusively. As we neared the entrance to Aro’s chambers, Alice reminded us all not to speak. She led the way down an alley that appeared to dead end but I knew that below that brick wall were the tunnels into Aro’s lair. We lined up on either side of the hole and looked at her expectantly.
“How long?” Emmett asked impatiently.
Alice screwed up her face. She held up seven fingers then put her finger to her lips to remind him not to speak. Seven minutes, we could handle that. Edward wrapped both his arms around my waist and pulled me flush against him. I leaned into his shoulder and inhaled his sunshine and honey scent. Nothing could soothe me like he could. He would always be all that I needed. He was my air and I breathed him in reverently. I hated being back here where we’d almost lost it all. I hated Aro for making me come back. I vowed never to return again.
Edward tensed and I knew he was picking up Felix’s thoughts. He gestured us and we moved further into the shadows as Felix neared. I could hear his heavy footsteps now. There was a sound and then his hands appeared as he pulled himself out of the hole. He turned instantly toward where we were standing, having caught our scents no doubt, but I wasn’t about to let him sound the alarm. Be silent and stand still. He froze, looking very much like one of the marble statues gracing the fountain within the square. He was wearing one of the daunting gray cloaks the Volturi wore, the rest of him obscured beneath it. His massive shoulders spoke of his strength but right now I had the power and I was going to use it.
If you know where Esme is, nod your head. His giant head bobbed slowly up and down. You are going to go there now. You will ignore the scents and sounds behind you, just go straight to Esme. He started to walk quickly to the north and Carlisle immediately fell into step behind him, Rose and Emmett flanking him. Jasper and Alice glanced at us for a moment and gave us a smile and a nod. Please let them all return safe and sound, I prayed.
Edward and I watched our family walk quickly into the night before turning to one another. He cupped my chin in his hand and pressed his lips gently to mine. “I love you,” he murmured, not breaking the kiss.
I pulled back and took his hand in mine. “I love you, too,” I said clearly. “Let’s go.” Together we dropped into the hole, ready to face our enemy, hopefully for the last time.
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