章 44: Chapter 44 - War
BPOV
Our timeline for visiting the Volturi was moved up dramatically and in three days we were packed and in a private jet on our way to Volterra. Our girls were excited to be travelling, having heard all about their extended family. Likewise, the Volturi couldn't wait to see their newest princesses.
If we hadn't had the threat of the Romanians hanging over our heads this would have been an uninhibited and enthusiastic flight. As it was we tried to stay positive and happy for the girls, while at the back of our mind analysing all the information Alice had managed to see about the Romanians.
The girls and I had been fine through the airport- my throat had burned horribly, but I had managed to remain in control. Jasper helped by sending me waves of calm and I only had to look into Edward's eyes to relax and completely forget about everyone else. Human blood just couldn't compete with my husband. The girls had barely noticed the scent of human blood and hadn't been bothered in the least. The whole family was proud of us.
Rosalie flew the plane, with me switching on and off with Emmett as co-pilot when I wasn't spending time with my girls. They seemed to love being on the plane and were curious about everything. When their curiosity about the plane had finally waned Alice kept them occupied with European shopping destination plans- she didn't see why we couldn't mix a bit of pleasure with our business. I had some shopping plans as well- a surprise for Edward.
When we finally reached Rome I brought the jet down for a smooth landing at the airport, having had plenty of experience landing in Rome before. I eagerly led the girls outside and to the waiting cars, happily anticipating seeing my extended family and introducing them the Carlie and Jenna. I knew the rest of my family was going to dote on them- nobody could resist my girls.
The castle quickly arrived in view and my girls' eyes sparkled with eagerness. "Mommy, it's so pretty, is this where you are a princess?" Jemma's young voice asked.
"It is darling, and you and Carlie are my daughters, which makes you both princesses as well."
Their eyes widened with delight. I smiled at their expressions. "That's right baby girls; you're not just daddy's princesses- you're Volturi princesses too." They chattered away in delight as when drove into the castle.
When we arrived it was amusing to watch them try to get to me first. Naturally the front runners were Felix and Demetri, but Felix managed to throw Demetri into the wall before speeding towards me. He didn't get very far before Jane froze him in his tracks and he collapsed on the ground in agony while she ran past him. Unfortunately for her Alec unleashed his gift on her, stopping her from moving as he overtook her and reached me first. He hugged me hard, no longer having to be careful since I was now a durable vampire rather than a fragile human. It felt wonderful to be back.
I hugged him back as I watched the others over his shoulder. Felix was back on his feet and annoyed at Jane. 'Was that really necessary?" he demanded.
She shrugged, "You were in my way."
"Well you didn't have to give me such a high dose of pain!"
"That was only a tiny love tap," she protested.
Sulpicia rolled her eyes as she glided past them, "Children," she muttered scornfully before sweeping me out of Alec's arms and into her own. "Bella welcome back honey. Being a vampire suits you, but then, we always knew it would. Cullens, it is good to see you all again." Then she turned to look at my daughters, who were watching the squabbling vampires with interest. "And now, perhaps you could introduce us to our new princesses."
The squabbling stopped then, and the rest piled around, delighted to be welcoming me back, and eager to meet my baby girls. Said girls watched on with eager and curious eyes as they were introduced. As predicted, my Volturi family was immediately enthralled by our little princesses. For the rest of that day and all of the next the fierce Volturi dropped everything to spend time with Carlie and Jenna, who soaked up all the attention with delight.
The first thing Aro, Marcus and Caius did was present both girls with a charm bracelet. There were already three charms on it- a Volturi crest, a Cullen crest, and an amethyst encrusted "J" for Jenna/sapphire encrusted "C" for Carlie. The very next day Edward added to their bracelets- a small diamond heart each. They were perfect miniatures of my own diamond heart that I wore around my neck. "Now all three of you have a piece of my heart," he murmured and my heart melted. Edward was the perfect father, and my girls and I adored him.
As a mother I was determined that despite the upcoming threat my children would enjoy their childhood- especially as they only had seven years until they were fully grown. Didyme was delighted to find that both liked music, although Carlie had more interest than Jenna. While they had liked both Edward's piano and my harp, they soon found under Didyme's encouraging influence that they each had their own favourite instrument. Jenna liked the clarinet, and Carlie found the violin to be her favourite.
They also loved playing videogames with Felix, Demetri and Emmett, with my guards making sure to show them every trick in the book to win- beating Emmett had become a hobby of theirs, and as their mother I couldn't be prouder. Whenever they had separated to do different things, upon returning they would hold hands and show each other what the other had missed.
Us females took the twins shopping, since they knew I wanted to maintain a semblance of normality for my girls. Meanwhile the males would be making plans to overthrow the Romanians. Luckily my girls had far more stamina than I had when I was four. On those shopping trips I had often been carried home after falling asleep in one of the shops- it had been tiring to try and keep up with the limitless energy of shopping vampires when I was only a human child. But thankfully my girls stayed energised and excited all day- happy to be spending the family money. I let Suplicia, Heidi, Didyme, Esme and Renata take the girls into a toy store while I ducked into a lingerie store and bought my surprises for Edward. That night, after we had put our girls to bed, I modelled each set for him, delighted when he ripped each one off and ravished me thoroughly at the top of my tower. In the early hours of the morning I lay atop Edward as he soothingly stroked my back and I opened my mind to him and allowed him to soothe away all my fears for the coming weeks.
The men kept us updated on any plans they made. They had already contacted the Romanians so that they would not mistakenly head for Forks. Tanya and Irena had told the Romanians about Alice so they were not surprised when the Volturi called. They agreed to a time and place far away from humans in the Dinaric Alps, Croatia- a midway point between Italy and Romania. We had three weeks to prepare and we had already called on all the outlying Volturi members.
It did not take long for them all to start arriving. All the outlying Volturi members poured in from all over the world- Egypt, Ireland, Amazon, Africa, Russia, Asia... There were vampires from all over the world gathering at the castle. Charlize and Jemma loved all the attention they got, for nobody could resist their charms. They were shocked upon first meeting Charlize and Jemma- their minds immediately thinking of immortal Children, but once they stopped and we explained, allowing them to hear their heartbeats and the blood running through their veins they all relaxed. Most had not heard of hybrids before, although there were a few who came from South America that had.
Zafrina was one of the most interesting South American Volturi members. She had the gift of illusions, and was a little put out that her gift would not work on me unless I allowed it. I did allow it once, curious about the extent of her gift. She showed me a beautiful underwater reef that looked and felt incredibly real. She was quite motherly and quickly grew attached to the girls, as did everyone who showed up.
Perhaps the most surprising arrivals were Kate, Eleazer and Carmen. They came to how us where their allegiance lay despite Tanya and Irena's betrayal, although Edward and Aro later mentioned that in reality they were siding with the group they thought was most likely to win. One of the nomadic Volturi members, Garret- a good friend of Santiago's, took one look at Kate and fell in love. She was a little harder to convince after having been a succubus for thousands of years, but one electric touch was all the confirmation she needed. I was happy for them, but it made me thankful that I hadn't had to wait millennia to find Edward, though if need be I would have.
The week passed quickly, with us planning out our attack using Alice's visions. We were astounded by the sheer size of the army the Romanians had been building. They had secretly been making vampires for years, and many of them were likely to have talents. They also had many newborns, which were each paired with an older vampire to keep them in line. But we had our battle plans worked out. Although Alice couldn't see what gifts the Romanians had, nor how the fight would go- there were far too many decisions still to be made for that, we were fairly confident that we would win.
The Volturi had a small weapon that looked like a crucifix. It turned vampires to ashes in seconds. When it touched a vampire and a button on the top was pressed it would shoot and extremely flammable gel created by Sulpicia onto the vampire along with a spark that would ignite it. In seconds the vampire was no more. The crucifix had been designed by Santiago, who just loved the irony of a cross shaped weapon that killed vampires. It had been the reason for the myths about vampires not going near crosses. A Volturi holding a cross was something to be avoided. These weapons were handed out to those that wanted one. Some of us preferred to use our gifts, or our own strength.
One of the highlights of our week was when I equipped my two little girls with large bottles of diet Coke and some Mentos. They snuck up on Emmett, who was engrossed in a video game and couldn't hear their heartbeats over the speakers. Placing the Mentos in the Coke, they shook it up and aimed for Emmett. The Coke exploded out of the bottles and all over Emmett. He leaped into the air in fright, while we all laughed at him. I made sure to video the whole thing and later I put some photos of the event in the girls' scrapbooks. I was so proud that they were taking after me.
A few days before the battle everyone had arrived. In total we had about 50 members, many of which had talents. The Egyptian vampire Ben could control elements. Maggie and Siobhan from Ireland could detect lies and will the right outcome of situations respectively. There were many others that also had unique gifts. There were also those that, while not gifted, were very talented fighters. Garrett, was one of those, as was Randall- another American nomad. Emmett had a great time wrestling with them during the week.
The most interesting additions to Edward and I were the hybrid Nahuel and his aunt Huilen. They had been recruited many years ago, and Aro had managed to get into contact with them, knowing that now would be a good time for us to meet him, in case there was anything else we wished to know about hybrids, and what we might expects as our girls grew. We spent a lot of time talking to both of them, and letting them meet Charlize and Jemma. Nahuel seemed fascinated with them, and I was a little worried about what might happen in the future, but Edward reassured me and corrected my assumption. "It wasn't the girls he was looking at love, it was you." I cocked an eyebrow at him in surprise. "You are alive, even after giving birth to hybrids. It has changed his whole perspective. He always blamed himself for his mother's death, but now he can see that it was not his fault, that his father had the choice to save her, but didn't care enough to do it. It has relieved him greatly to know that he was not born inherently evil because his mother died at his birth." After that I still felt awkward around Nahuel, but I pushed it aside, feeling sorry for him.
The day before we were to leave for the fight Alice saw the final figures for the battle. All told the Romanians had over eighty vampires, half of which were strong newborns. She had been puzzling over something for the last week, and she had finally figured it out thanks to her visions. "There's a female vampire with them, small, with black hair. They call her Chelsea. She's the one helping control the newborns by binding them to an older vampire. She also has the whole army bound to Stefan and Vladmir."
At this news Aro, Caius and Marcus hissed. "Chelsea is one of our members. We had wondered where she and Afton had gotten to when they did not answer their summons. Now we see why- the traitor. No doubt they plan to have her try and break our bonds and disintegrate all connections within our group," Aro explained. At this news everyone growled. Nobody liked a traitor.
In an effort to lighten up the crowd of vampires, and my little girls, who had sensed the upcoming battle, I went shopping for some specific items. Edward and I had told our little girls that there was to be an upcoming battle, but that they were not to worry. They would be staying behind at the castle with Didyme, Sulpicia, Esme, Carlisle, Renata and Alec. We wouldn't be sure that the Romanians wouldn't send forces to take the castle while most of us were away. Both Tanya and Irena were well aware of how Alice's talents worked and how to get around it, and I would not leave my babies unprotected. Neither would I subject them to the horrors of war unnecessarily. Renata was staying behind because her shielding ability could be extended to anyone she touched, and she had promised to faithfully protect my children. Alec was staying because his ability could be used to incapacitate an entire army if the need arose, and, after me, he was the best choice for protecting my girls. Didyme, Sulpicia, Esme and Carlisle were far too peaceful to go to war if they were not needed. For while they would do anything to protect their family, they knew they weren't needed in the fight, and had therefore elected to stay and provide protection and distraction for our daughters.
I came back from my shopping trip with all the garlic juice the city held, and a massive amount of supersoaker water guns. Enlisting the help of my wonderful husband, who wrinkled his nose in disgust, but bravely helped fill the bottles for the guns with the garlic juice, I soon had them all ready and placed in the main hall. Alice had seen what was going on and came to help, bouncing excitedly and towing my enthusiastic daughters. They grinned with delight when I told them my plan and ran off to lure all the vampires into the main hall. My uncles, aunts, Esme and Carlisle had been told and they stayed up on the doorway of the balcony to watch, with a shield surrounding them to protect them from any wayward sprays of garlic juice. Other than the guns Edward, Alice, my daughters and I held, the rest had been hidden around the hall, in which we had placed cheep tables, lounges and other furnishing in to provide cover. I shielded all of us separately, not really wanting to smell like garlic for the next few days and we waited.
My daughters had done a good job. Emmett and Jasper were the first through the door. Emmett had been talking to Jasper, and I took aim just as his mouth opened. "Bullseye!" I screamed as the garlic juice was squirted right in his mouth and I jumped up from my hiding spot. Emmett was desperately trying to spit the foul tasting juice out of his mouth when he was bombarded with juice from the others, quickly soaking him to the skin. Jasper ran to hide, but soon popped up again when he found his own weapon stashed away. He started taking shots too, military trailing coming in handy as he shot at us.
The rest of the vampires soon arrived, and were ambushed by us as well, most finding their own weapons quickly and retaliating immediately. It was exhilarating to run around shooting people. I was feeling especially smug that my shield allowed any juice I was hit with to simply slide off.
We kept the play in the main hall- my uncles would have been most displeased to have the entire castle smelling like garlic. It soon turned into an every person for themselves fight, with Charlize and Jemma turning to Edward and I with mischievous grins before spraying us. We had to reload a few times. One time while I was quickly refilling my gun Emmett jumped on top of me, pinned me down and poured the entire 5 litre can of juice all over me. I got up and shook, sending the liquid flying around the room as it flew off my shield. "You cheat!" Emmett exclaimed as he realised that my shield was in place. I simply laughed and shot my reloaded gun at him in point blank range, right into his open mouth. He choked as it went down and I ran before he could retaliate, shooting at Garret and Randall as I passed them by and took cover behind a piece of furniture.
We eventually ran out of juice, but everyone was relaxed and laughing, which had been my main goal in the first place. Everyone pitched in with the cleaning, burning the cheap furniture, and washing down the room. I remained nice and clean, as did Edward, Renata, Charlize, Jemma and Alice. The rest of them stunk of garlic, even after a vigorous wash. I snickered as we all regrouped, my nose wrinkling at the smell. Uncle Caius groaned at the assault on his sense of smell. 'Well at the very least, you'll probably be able to scare of the Romanians with your scent," we laughed.
"All part of my plan uncle," I winked at him.
...
Edward and I reluctantly said goodbye to our beautiful girls and left with the rest of the Volturi and our family. It was time to head for the Dinaric Mountains. We sped down the European roads in the many sports cars that sat in the Volterra Castle garage. My Bugatti was in the lead, being the fastest of all the cars. We quickly reached the end of the road, from which we would hike deep into the mountain range and far away from any humans.
Running was always exhilarating, but this time there was an edge of tenseness and anticipation surrounding us. Just before we reached the peak Alice froze and Edward froze with her, a furious growl escaping from his throat. I watched them anxiously. "What is it?"
"Just as we suspected, they have sent fifteen vampires into the castle to take it while we are away. They are moving in now."
I clutched his arm anxiously. "Will our girls be alright? I was ready to race back now in the hopes that I might reach them in time."
Alice had yet to come out of her vision, but a moment later she blinked and nodded, as I felt Edward relax. "They will be fine. Alec will be able to take care of them with no help," she reassured me. "Your daughters won't even seen or hear anything because Esme and Renata will keep them occupied." I sagged in relief, before anger flooded through my veins. I was ready to take down the entire Romanian army singlehandedly for their underhanded tricks. We had agreed to meet them here for the fight, and yet they had sent people to take our castle while we weren't there. My daughters had been threatened and I was out for revenge. "Stefan and Vladmir are mine," I growled. Nobody was stupid enough to challenge me in my enraged state.
I strode forward, my uncles on one side of me, and Edward on the other. My royal blue cloak loudly proclaimed my status as the princess to all who looked. It was time to show the world just how invincible I was.
We reached the edge of a large clearing in the heart of the ranges. On the other sides of the clearing there was already a large gathering of vampires, all watching us eagerly, their stances aggressive and eager. There were well over a hundred of them, while there were only fifty of us, but I wasn't worried. I let my rage infuse me, using it to strengthen my power. I had shields over every one of the Volturi members, layered to ensure that they stayed safe.
As we spread out on our side of the clearing Edward glanced quickly at Eleazer, while Aro touched him momentarily. Edward leaned down and whispered quietly in my ear. "They have a pair of changed twins like Jane and Alec, only one of the twins is a shield like you, while the other negates shields." I froze at that information. I had never come across a vampire that could counteract my gift. The idea of my shield not working was frightening. My shields were our greatest defence, for we were only half the size. Without it we would still be able to win, but there was the chance of casualties. I did not want there to be so much as a scratch on any of us. I was determined. "Where are they?"
"Two middle aged women to the side. The one of the left has the shield- though it is only a single physical layer- no mental protection and no multiple shields, and the one on the right negates shields."
"Jane, when this starts, I want you to take down the one on the left. I will deal with the shielded one myself." She smiled angelically.
Slightly ahead of us, my uncles progressed until we neared them in the middle. "Vladmir, Stefan. Is it really necessary for you to challenge us?" Aro asked futility. We already knew the answer.
"Aro, we will no longer remain under your laws. It is time for vampires to rule the world, not lurk in shadows. Your princess has violated your own laws by creating immortal children, and that served to show that you are hypocrites that cannot rule properly. You are weak now, and it is our turn to rule."
"Ah, but your informants only saw the children for a second, and therefore did not register the children's heartbeats, nor blood. They were not immortal children that Tanya and Irena saw, but hybrids, much like Nahuel," he said, indicating the hybrid behind him. The eyes of many Romanians widened as they registered his fluttering heartbeat and heard the rush of blood through his veins.
It only made them pause for a few seconds though. "Even if what you say is true, it is too late. Right now we have vampires taking over your castle, and we will rule the world. Nothing you do can stop us."
Aro's jaw clenched. "So be it."
Immediately I felt my shields being torn down, but thanks to the many layers, I simply replaced them. I kept one part of my mind on replenishing my shields, finding that I could put up shields faster than the vampire at the other end of the clearing could take them down. She was only targeting me, and could only remove them one at a time. "Jane." Beside me Jane focussed on her and she collapsed to the ground, screaming and convulsing. Moments later she was dead.
Her twin turned to glare at me as I felt out with another shield. She had a large bubble over the vampires- a single shield. None of the Romanians had moved yet, apparently wishing to stay under the protection for the shield for as long as possible. I spread my shield out to encompass hers, pressing against it. I smiled as I saw her frown. She had felt my shield slowly compressing hers. She was still quite a new vampire from the looks of things, and she may have had a shield, but I was far more powerful. I constricted my shield, and hers lost ground. Pressing even further, her shield snapped back, no longer protecting the army, only providing her with protection. I allowed my shield to advance on her, encompassing her shielded body. She screamed as my shield pressed into hers and caused it to slowly crush her. All of a sudden I slammed it down, her body crumbling into pieces.
With the Romanian's shield down, they burst into battle. We retaliated immediately. Ben's elemental control extended to lightning, and the sky was flashing as bolts felled the Romanian vampires. Emmett, had thrown himself into the battle with gusto, and Edward was fighting with finesse- always one move ahead of his combatants. I stood in the middle, keeping my shields safely around my family, unwilling to sacrifice any in today's battle. As a monitored my shields I scanned the Romanians, searching for the leaders. They were near the back, having dropped back to be protected by their minions, when I spotted them. Vladimir and Stefan. It felt creepy just looking at them. It wasn't the red eyes- I had grown up with a whole family of red-eyed vampires- no; it was simply the menace that seemed to emanate from them. I felt sick just looking at them. I felt the inexplicable urge to crush their throats in my bare hands. These creatures had dared threaten my family, and had wanted to destroy my daughters. Never before had I felt such hatred. Moving forward I used my shield to part the vampires in my path that were making a futile attempt to stop my progress towards their masters. I pushed them aside with contempt. My family was well shielded, and I was invincible as I headed for them.
The evil smirk on Stefan and Vladimir's faces slid off as they watch my easy progress through the ranks of their army. I walked slowly, confidently, knowing that there was nothing that could stop me. Their deaths were assured. My face remained stony, royal blue cloak flying out behind me as I advanced on my prey. Vladimir attempted to smile, glaring at Chelsea. "Princess, you are welcome to join us. You could be our queen, and rule the world," his sinister smile did nothing to calm my anger, and I could feel Chelsea's increased attacks against my shield as she tried to break my bonds to my family and tie me to the Romanians. I didn't even bother to glance her way as I crushed her into pieces with a shield. The Romanian's eyes widened at the sight.
"I am invincible to attacks- you didn't really think she would be able to sway me did you?" I glared at them. They gulped as I stepped the last few feet towards them. "You threatened my family, and for that you have earned you death. They tried to run at the last minute, desperately searching for a way out as they turned to flee. I grabbed each one by the throat and brought their heads close to me as they struggled franticly. "Goodbye," I whispered before using a wrist flick Felix and Demetri had shown me to neatly behead them. With that done I quickly crushed the rest of their bodies and set them alight.
I turned and found that the battle had all but stopped. With their leaders gone, and Chelsea no longer there to maintain their bonds the Romanian army did not know what to do. Most stopped, and those that continued to fight were quickly taken care of.
I looked around, searching for a pair of familiar faces. Irena was already gone, most of her body disintegrated by one of Ben's lighting strikes. Tanya though was at Edward's feet, begging his forgiveness, while he stood there looking down at her in disgust. I stalked towards her and Edward shifted his gaze, eyeing me with lust. Apparently my little power trip had been a major turn on. I returned his look before refocussing on Tanya, still on her knees in front of my Edward. Angry, I viciously pushed out the shield surrounding Edward. Tanya flew back. Uncle Caius caught her. Holding her by her long strawberry blonde hair he brought his mouth to her ear. "You shouldn't have betrayed our Princess," his whisper was heard by the entire collection of vampires. Tanya didn't even have time to screech before Caius brought down his crucifix and she burst into flames. In a matter of seconds all that was left of the vindictive succubus was ashes. With Tanya's death, all the remaining Romanians swore allegiance to the Volturi. All in all we had recruited more than twenty vampires.
I couldn't be bothered staying around while my uncles sorted out the new recruits. I ran for Edward. He caught me up in his arms and we shared an explosive kiss, pouring in all the amped up feelings that were raging through us thanks to the battle, and all of our lust for each other. I felt like I was on fire, warmth and heat shooting through my body. However, despite desperately wanting to drag Edward off into the forest and take him against a tree, we needed to see our little girls.
We headed back to Volterra, racing back across Europe. Alice's vision had worried us, despite her assurances that all was well. As a mother I still needed to have them in my arms, check anxiously over every inch of them and reassure myself that they were fine. Edward was the same, and so we made it back to Volterra in record time.
I rushed in and ran straight to my girls, gathering them up in my arms and kissing them. Edward joined me, wrapping his arms around all three of us. We simply held them for a while, grateful that they were safe and sound, as were the rest of our family.
A few days later we left and headed back to Forks. I fervently hoped that there would be no further adventures anytime soon. I had had enough action to last for at least the next century. Now I just wanted to settle down and spend time with my wonderful husband and daughters.
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