Blood Moon [a Twilight Saga FanFiction]

Secrets to the Dead Part 2

"IS UNCLE CARLISLE IN ANY DANGER?" Verity asked as we watched the castle.
     I couldn't answer. Would he be? Aro was afraid of me, of what I knew... would he go so far as to hurt Carlisle because he wouldn't hurt me? I mean, this man killed his sister for power, what would he do to someone else's sibling?
     "Mum? Dad?" she whimpered, making me look at her, her blue eyes glittering in the Italian moonlight. "Am I in danger?"
     "They won't hurt you," Igor stated.
     "Well, well, well," a familiar voice said behind us. I hadn't heard them approach, how had I not heard them approach. "Now, what are you three doing here?"
     Felix and Demetri stood shoulder to shoulder, both grinning at us. Like a smiling wall.
     "Felix, Demetri," Igor cheered like he was greeting an old friend. "We were simply meeting up with my mate's brother, Carlisle. Also, I'm sure Aro is curious to know how our daughter has been over the years."
     My eyes shot from Demetri to Verity, as she worked hard to look confident, even with her eyes glittering. Her heart, naturally fast, gave away nothing.
     "Follow us," Demetri stated. "Before Felix starts flirting."
     Felix chuckled and winked at Verity.
     Demetri walked ahead of us, Felix behind, as they escorted us to the Castle.
     "It's been a long time since you've been to Volterra, Igor," Demetri muttered.
     "Last time I was here, you weren't," Igor stated.
     "I was," Felix grinned. "So we got a man who trained for centuries how to bring down the Volturi-"
     "I was trained to fight, not trained to bring you down."
     "And the one woman in the world Aro cannot stand," Felix continued as if Igor hadn't spoken.
     Felix's laugh faded out slowly.
     Verity took our hands firmly.
     "We're going to be okay," she whispered. "This is going to work."
     I looked past her to Igor, who suddenly looked more confident. I didn't feel it, I tried to portray it though. I was terrified, Aro feared what I knew and there I was, walking into his castle with Igor, a man who had been trained to kill every existing member of the Volturi, and...
     I tripped down the stairs when the realisation hit. Something that wasn't normal for vampires to do and Igor was suddenly very worried.
     He was in front of me, even Verity had stopped and was looking back at us.
     Aro wasn't just afraid of me and what I knew, he was afraid of Igor and what he could do.
     Killing me would put Igor on the path Stefan and Vladimir had always been hoping for, he was their star soldier... Killing me would put Igor on a killing spree... hadn't he nearly done that already? I knew his past, I knew he had been the one who planned to kill the mortals who destroyed Nanaimo Hospital, nearly killing me. I knew that he had been helping Peter and Fantine with the killing and draining the blood of humans to feed me while I was pregnant with Verity because he was afraid of my death.
     He never did those killing himself, he only stood with Fantine and Peter to make sure they didn't lose control.
     Igor was raised and trained like a monster, he developed a heart and a conscience with his friends Marius and Rachelle, but when it came to me and my existence... I was the spark that could set off the bomb.
     And here we were walking into the fire to light the fuse.
     "Sorry, um..." I chuckled, the breeze moved their scents into me, Demetri's, Verity's, Igors... "Pasts, sometimes they still take me by surprise."
     "See something scary?" Demetri grinned.
     "Surprising," I lied. "But that's for me to know, isn't it? Shall we? Aro doesn't like to be kept waiting."
     I gave Igor my best reassuring gaze and gave Verity's hand a reassuring squeeze, which she returned.
     "We'll be okay," Verity repeated.
     Felix chuckled behind us.
     After a bit further of a run, we were there in the main room of Aro's castle.
     Aro stood from his chair, Caius and Marcus by his sides. I tried to focus on why we were here. Carlisle was nowhere in sight.
     "Igor! You have brought your bride and child!" Aro grinned stupidly. "And oh my, has she grown!" Aro began to slowly approach us. "Young Verity, you look absolutely stunning."
     "Thank you, Aro," Verity said sounding more confident than I felt.
     Taking after her father in that sense.
     "And you can say your 'r's now. Brilliant."
     "We were expecting Elizabeth's brother here, but I cannot see him," Igor stated.
     "Carlisle Cullen, of course, of course," Aro turned immediately and went back to his chair. "He is currently studying in one of our libraries, I will send Heidi and Felix to fetch him for you."
     "Thank you. In the meantime," Igor looked at me cautiously. "My bride would like to speak with you."
     Aro raised a brow to me.
     I wished I could borrow some of their confidence, instead, I acted.
     "Alone, if you don't mind, Aro," I muttered. "Unless you would rather mental?"
     I held my hand out, gambling. He needed words, not what my clouded, protected mind couldn't tell him. His eyes were eying my hand suspiciously so I dropped it.
     "This is a matter of life and death, Aro." He took a step towards me, following by three members of the guard and his wife. I felt Igor tense behind me. "Aro, believe me when I say that you'll want to be alone for us to talk."
     He raised his brows and gave a hand a small wave, the guard retreated but his wife stayed close. Aro's lips gave a small smirk.
     "Perhaps, just one will be acceptable?" Aro asked. "My bride has been rather clingy this century."
     "If you're comfortable with that." I looked behind me to Igor, watching me cautiously. "Wait here for Carlisle." I looked at Verity who took her fathers hand quickly.
     "Shall we?" Aro said with a smile and walked out of the room. Sulpicia closely by his ankles.
     I gave Igor a quick kiss before following them.
     Aro and Sulpicia lead me quite far from the main room, probably so no one would overhear. It was almost like a storage cupboard, but the shelves were empty of anything except some dust and small cobwebs, and the only thing in there were a few seats that none of us took.
     His bride was beautiful, as vampires got. Her hair was nearly as dark as Aro's, though it framed her nearly perfectly symmetrical face, rather well. Her red eyes showing only worry for her husband.
     "I suppose I am lucky that we visited during a day the wives are out of their ivory tower," I stated with a chuckle.
     "You wished to speak with me about the arrangements of how we protect our wives?"
     I shook my head and looked at his bride quickly.
     "Does she know?" I asked. "The wind in this room is annoying still." Which is probably intentional.
     Aro smirked.
     "She does."
     "Nobody else?"
     Aro nodded.
     "Aro?" Sulipcia whimpered. Her voice, even pained with worry, was absolutely beautiful. Almost mesmerising.
     "Before I show you my guarded past, Aro, there's something I have to explain. In London, there was a vampire called Alfred, he ran so we don't know where he is. Alfred, he has a gift, and it's nothing like you've ever imagined. He sends people's consciousness back in time to the younger selves and only does so when it is absolutely necessary. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
     "Sends people back in time?" Aro asked, showing no signs of any emotions, and that worried me.
     "Just their consciousness. But understand that this is why Igor wouldn't touch your hand in London. Why I'd gamble that my brother didn't when he arrived, either." Though that could also have been to protect Esme in the future. "Carlisle, Igor, myself, and my brother's future bride... we've all lived to the twenty-first century, to be sent back after a horrific battle."
     "I would like to meet this Alfred."
     "I'm not helping Demetri track him," I smirked. "Just in case we need him in the future."
     I held out my hand once more.
     "My past is protected with my gift, so you probably won't be able to hear every single thought I've had in my life, but I will fill in any blanks for you. If you want to know."
     "What was this, horrific battle?"
     I looked briefly at my hand. Snarling, softly, he took my hand and I waited, watching him.
     He chuckled after a moment and let go.
     "It seems you must tell me about this horrific battle, as I cannot hear your thoughts from your past timeline, however, I do believe you. Your gift shows you everybody's past in the other timeline as well. Though it hides the battle from me, and other aspects that I see... unimportant," Aro stated.
     "It was a horrific fight between all of vampire kind," I stated. Sulpicia reaction was audible. "It killed all but seventeen of us. Alfred knows, or sees, instances of the past, so knew that there were four events that individually put vampires onto the path that caused the end of our kind. The first was the London coven."
     "Have you found any other of these events?" Aro asked, tense... concerned?
     "We think so. Aro, did my thoughts show you what your secret did the last time we lived?" I asked.
     Aro didn't respond, he didn't even show a sign of reaction. His wife, however, was getting more and more anxious as the conversation went on.
     But I took that as a yes.
     "The longer you keep your secret from them, Aro, the more dangerous it becomes to your coven. We think you need to be honest about what you did, and after you confess, let Marcus die. Aro..."
     I saw as he slowly reached behind him to his bride.
     "Help us stop it from happening again, Aro. Help us save vampires. Please."
     Aro's first response during all of it was turning to his bride and taking her hand, kissing it softly. Her panicked eyes shot straight to me.
     "I am going to need your help, my love," Aro said to her. "They need to know."
     "Marcus will try to kill you, and none of them will stop him," Sulpicia warned.
     "We will," I said softly. "We won't let Marcus touch you."
     "You would save my life?" Aro asked, turning back to me. "Even if I was the cause of the beginning of that battle?"
     "I thought you couldn't see it."
     "I saw that."
     "Yes, Aro. We will protect you from Marcus."
     Aro nodded slowly, and he was the first to walk out of the empty storage room.
     I followed them back out to the main room, I immediately ran back to Igor and Verity as Aro and Sulpicia returned to their seats.
     Carlisle wasn't back yet.
     "Aro," I turned back to them. "Where is Carlisle?"
     "I remember that feeling," Aro muttered, still holding on to Sulipcia. It made me think that he saw more to the fight than just his causing it. "Siblings. Protective of the other. That feeling as if they owned half your soul and you theirs."
     Caius looked up to Aro, confused. Aro turned to Marcus with a gentle look.
     "You've suffered too long, brother."
     "Where is he?" I asked ago, Igor took my wrist firmly.
     Aro turned to a member of the guard, Demetri, and gave a brief nod. Demetri disappeared down a corridor.
     "Jane, Alec, will you please retrieve the guard? All of them."
     "Yes, master," Jane stated before the two of them left as well.
     "Hm... brother and sister," Aro muttered as he watched after the twins. "Siblings... I do believe it is a closer relationship to our kind than that of a mate if we are lucky to keep them."
     "I disagree," Verity muttered calmly, catching everyone's attention. "Don't get me wrong, I've seen how much Mum loves my Uncle, but I'm more than one-hundred per cent sure that if she had to choose between the two men in her life, she'd pick my father. And I'm not just saying that because I'm their daughter. You can survive without a brother or sister if you keep reminding yourself of the harsh times and choose to forget the good. Losing your other half... it's a fate worse than death."
     "You sound as if you speak from experience?" Aro asked.
     "I've just heard stories." Verity's eyes skipped from me to Marcus, then back to Aro. "And have seen what losing a mate does to a vampire. We can't live without our other half."
     At that moment, Felix, Heidi, and Demetri returned with a very dark-eyed Carlisle in tow.
     "Carlisle," I gasped and ran up to my brother. He met me halfway with an embrace.
     It made me easily pick up his scent and I learnt the truth about what Aro had been doing to my brother. He hadn't been behaving as sophisticatedly as last time Carlisle introduced himself to the Volturi. They had been torturing him... testing him, as they put it, of his dedication to his diet. By letting humans bleed to death in the same room as him. I was amazed at my brothers' strength.
     If I hadn't already given my word that we'd protect Aro from Marcus, I'd let him die.
     I walked Carlisle back over to Igor and Verity as Alec and Jane returned with the remainder of the guard.
     "I suppose you are correct, Verity," Aro muttered, watching Carlisle and me. "But I expect, if either Carlisle or your mother ever did have to choose, and they chose their mate. They would keep such guilt with them for the rest of eternity, it would break them one day."
     Marcus finally looked up to Aro with an expression other than bored, now he looked concerned.
     "Thank you," Aro addressed his guard now. "For attending my summonings. This family before us have been through much, to warn me of a time ahead that is dark for all of us. Not many of you survive. But this family has made it their mission to stop that future, to save our lives and more importantly, our kind."