❝...❞, Jacob Black

22

"My imprint is the victim of attempted murder," Jacob said with a smirk. When Edward opened his mouth once more, he added, "alleged attempted murder."

"Edward, move along," Carlisle whispered into his son's ear, grabbing the vampire's arm and dragging him to where they'd be standing. Jacob let out a short laugh and looked down at his imprint, who was still looking around to see who had arrived.

Aro was the last person to enter, looking his best and having his hair done back in an overly gothic way. Caius and Marcus came soon before, the latter looking slightly less disheveled than on any other given day. It was clear who ran the show. Aro grabbed a pen and began writing down what Jacob could only assume was the names of everyone present in the room. 

"Does anyone have anything they'd like to say," Aro said with a short, high-pitched sigh.

"What?"

"Edward, please. In a trial," Aro attempted to explain, "people can say something before the evidence is brought out. It is standard procedure. Did your father not tell you this?"

He didn't get a response.

"I would like to say something, Aro," Carlisle interjected into the silent room. Aro nodded, allowing the man to continue, "Since Bella was going to be turned by us, I believe the charge of willingly sharing the secret should be dropped."

"Does the evidence say otherwise?" Marcus asked, looking over his shoulder at Caius, who groaned.

"Did you read the evidence, Marcus?" Caius questioned.

"Aro said I only had to read the evidence for the attempted murder," Marcus answered back, leaning back in his throne and sighing. "Can you answer my question, please?"

"The evidence puts into question your motives and your intentions to turn Isabella Swan, so we are going forward with that charge, Carlisle. Does anyone else have something to say before we bring out the evidence?" Aro beckons the crowd with a hand.

"I didn't try and murder anyone-" Bella tried to say before Aro put a hand up.

"Again, the evidence suggests otherwise. Since we seem to have nothing much more of import to say, I will say something." Aro sighed deeply before turning to Carlisle. "I am very disappointed in you."

"Can we please move on, brother," Caius begged.

"Yes, yes, we can." Aro beckoned Felix and Demetri. "Bring the evidence forward, guards. I apologize for the amount of paper we used. We are still trying to... how do the humans phrase it... go 'digital'."

Jacob's eyes widened as he saw the small stack of paper in the hands of both guards. They must have gotten evidence from somewhere, in a short period of time. The shifter would have been impressed if he wasn't horrified by how quick the vampires acted.

"As you can see, we have the written statements from the majority of the Shifters in La Push here on top.... then the statements from Jacob Black, Andromeda Volturi, and Windy Volturi." Aro turned to face Windy. "Next time, Windy, dear, please use less profanity. I understand you were upset, but some of the insults will have to be redacted."

"Understood, my king."

Aro passed along the papers to Caius and Marcus, who were still both sitting on their large gold thrones. "These are for you."

"Do we get to see the evidence?" Bella asked.

"We are trying to conserve paper here, Ms. Swan. It is only recently that copies have been made possible." Aro went back to his place, holding onto a single piece of paper. "This is the account of one Billy Black on the relationship between Edward Cullen and Isabella Swan. His account goes into detail about the things many teenagers have said about it. I would think it unreliable if not for the three main dates matching up, as well as certain details being near identical."