****
Bella, Jasper, and I stand by a curb waiting patiently. I'd already washed and changed out of my funeral dress, into simple black ripped jeans, black converse, an oversized bleached black shirt, and a blue jean jacket. Suddenly Alice pulls up in an expensive yellow Porsche. Jazz rolls his eyes before he opens the door for me, with me sliding in, and him right behind me before he brings the seatback, Bella now sliding in.
"Where'd you get the car?" Bella asked.
"Hope you're not opposed to a little grand theft auto," Alice said with a wink.
"Not today," I mumbled, and with that Alice sped off.
Alice speeds down the road as Jasper and I gripped the sides of the car due to Alice's reckless driving which was somehow more unhinged than Jaspers. She somehow gets the car to go faster, just barely missing another car as she swerved down the road.
"How much time do we have?" Bella asked as she clutched the dashboard for dear life.
"He's waiting till noon when the sun's at its highest," Alice says. I roll my eyes.
"That's our Edward, dramatic as always," I say making Jasper chuckled as he clenched my hand, his cold temperature soothing me.
"...He's trying to make the Volturi change their mind," Alice said as she blinked rapidly.
'Of course, they wouldn't kill him with a power like that' Adrea added.
"It's almost noon now," Bella says as she checks her watch quickly.
As we near the castles, we see that the streets are getting crowded, with hundreds of people dressed in red cloaks.
"Why are they all wearing red?" Bella asked.
"San Marcos Day festival," I speak up. Jasper glances at me.
"Hey, I know things," I said making him let out a small laugh as he looked away from me.
"The perfect setting. Large crowds, the Volturi won't let him get far, and he's counting on that," Alice says.
'He'll be lucky if even gets down the stairs' Adrea huffed.
'And us?' I asked with a small chuckle.
'With our history, we'll be lucky if they even let us leave without Aro trying to court us with one of the witch twins' Adrea said letting out a loud laugh.
I shake my head with a small smirk on my face.
"We only have 5 minutes," Bella says right as Alice screeches to a stop making me lurch forward, but Jasper grabbed my waist in time.
"Where's the square?" Bella said as she steps out of the car.
"Follow that lane--" Alice says, but Bella is already running.
"He'll be under the clock tower!" Alice yells. I peer through the front window seeing a shadowy figure tracking Bella's movements. I growl a bit before I sit back next to Jasper.
"This should be fun," I say looking at Jasper.
"Audre, I believe you should stay here," Jasper says. I quirk an eyebrow before I sit back with a sigh. He gives me a look making me throw my hands up in defeat. He sighs, leaning forward, and kisses my forehead gently. Alice hands him a white cloak, which I have no clue how she got, which he puts on before stepping out of the car. They begin to make their way towards the castle both adorned in white cloaks.
'Wait are you really bout to listen?' Adrea asked.
I laughed out loud before I crack my neck and mask my scent.
'That's my girl' Adrea says with a laugh of my own.
I step out of the car, beginning to make my way to the castle, weaving through the sea of people as I watch my surroundings closely. I make my way to the steps opening the doors seeing it now empty. Well seemingly empty.
I could feel the stares on me from the shadows, more than likely presuming I'm a human as I walk through the halls, well only if they didn't already recognize my face from the many times I'd already been here. I pull out a piece of paper from my back pocket, something I'd snagged from my dresser before we left that I'd gotten from the Volturi a few years back.
Instructions, which I only needed for small details. Reading it quickly, I shove it back in my back pocket following my nose down the narrow halls until I'm met with a brick wall. With a sigh, I walk, seeing the sewer drain before I hop down it and land on my feet with little effort.
I then continue down the sewer as I come across a modern elevator. I see no button on the outside making me groan before I lift my hands and push the metal doors to the side before I enter and press the only button there. I wait for a bit as the elevator moves before it opens with a ding. I exit seeing the same lobby that I'd seen so many times with my Aunt.
I walk briskly past the receptionist who I ignore wholeheartedly making my way down a long corridor, enjoying the decor.
"Kill me! Take me, just please stop," I hear Bella screech. I growl loudly, my brisk walking now turning into a full-on sprint as I then reach the grand hall, instantly releasing my scent as I enter the room.
Heads turn to face me, as I stand infuriated, looking at an obviously bruised Bella as she looking pleadingly at the Volturi before she looked to me. I glance at Jasper briefly, him fighting the guards that hold him even harder, managing to fling one away before he speeds towards me, taking a protective stance in front of me.
"Ah, Audre, my dear, it is so nice to see you again, it's been so long," Aro says turning his attention away from Bella immediately as he strides towards me.
I sigh as I place a hand on Jaspers shoulder before moving around him.
"Hello Aro," I said walking towards him making him scoff.
"Now what have I told you about that," he says with a wide smile as he places his hands on my shoulders, rubbing them softly.
"Uncle Aro," I correct myself as I then hold my hand out, which he looks at me a bit with a quirked eyebrow before I nod in confirmation.
He shrugs just a bit before he takes my hand, breathing in as he looks up, using his gift on me.
"You are young Bella's cousin, and this is your," he says looking back at Jasper which I didn't even have to, to feel the confusion through the bond.
"Yes so, please, be nice," I ask him with a small bow of my head.
"Oh my apologies, please, release them," Aro says, and like clockwork, Alice is released, and Edward is now allowed to get up. Aro moves to the side, hooking his arm with mine leading me to the other 2 kings, who stand as I walk towards them.
"Ca-" I start but he cuts me off with a stern look. I clear my throat and smile a bit.
"Uncle Caius, Uncle Marcus," I say bowing a bit.
"Oh it is no need for that my dear," Marcus says, and I nod a bit at them.
"I was so sorry my dear to hear about your family," Caius said, a playful smirk on his face and I nodded with a small smile.
"Don't be, though I appreciate your condolences, and I trust my Aunt sent you my letter," I said with a nod.
"Yes! We received it, it was so lovely to hear from you, we've missed you, my dear," Aro said, with his arm still hooked in mine.
"My apologies, I'll be sure to visit more often, Aunt Lydia was planning a trip this summer, her sons are growing up to be quite the warriors," I said with a nod.
"Ah, but not quite like you," Caius says again making me smile lightly at him.
"But my dear, your cousin here, is human, so you must understand that this isn't something we can exactly let go of," Aro said and I nod to him.
"Of course, though Bella and Edward are mated, so I believed that she would be changed rather soon," I said and Aro nodded at me understandingly.
"Actually, I've already seen it," Alice speaks up. I let out a small breath as Alice comes forward.
"Alice," Edward warns.
"It is genuinely not the time for this Edward," I said glaring at him a bit.
"Ah, the clairvoyant. I'd seen your gift in Edward's thoughts. What is it, you've seen?" Aro says.
"... do-" Edward tried but didn't even get to get a word out before I let out a low growl. He growled right back at me making me glare even harder.
"Audre what are you doing?" he asked gesturing towards Bella.
"You know you're really lucky that Felix got to you before I did. I'm not so nice, well, not at the moment anyway," I said, Adrea's voice coming through my own as my eyes glowed pale green.
'That shut him up' Adrea cackles.
Aro laughs as he pats my cheek softly with a grin.
"Oh, that's our Audre," he says.
I smirk a bit, as I stand next to Aro calmly, but I am then gently nudged, looking up quickly to see Caius in front of me. I smile at him as he hooks arms with me guiding me over to Marcus, who takes my hand softly, and rubs it gently.
"It is always so nice to see you, my dear," Marcus says.
"It's always a pleasure Uncle, even under such circumstances," I said with a wink, to which he chuckles lightly.
"I change her myself," Alice says making me turn to her, a bit surprised.
"Well please, be my guest," Aro says gesturing to Bella.
"Not here. Her father is law enforcement so if she goes missing there will be questions," Alice explains.
"He is easily dealt with," Caius says making my breathing stop momentarily.
"Ah, ah, you forget that Bella is our dear Audre's cousin, so that is her Uncle," Aro says gesturing to me, making my breathing continue.
"Oh forgive me, my dear," Caius says rubbing my arm and I nod with a smile.
"It is alright Uncle," I told him with a wide smile, to which he returns.
"Nevertheless, it will happen, see for yourself," Alice says as she thrusts her hand forward for Aro. He takes it, breathing in deeply as he sees her vision.
"Oh, mesmerizing! To see the things you have, that haven't happened yet," Aro says cheerily.
"I am so sorry," Alice says to Edward who scoffs just a bit making me roll my eyes.
"Your gifts will make for an intriguing immortal. Now, go make your preparations," Aro said. Caius, the stricter one of the brothers is put out with this as he walks forward with my arm still in his.
"We will make sure she follows through. Though, I would not delay, for the Volturi do not offer second chances," Caius says.
"Now let us be done with this, Heidi will be arriving shortly," Marcus says. I smile at Caius once more before I walk down the steps gingerly towards Jasper.
"Oh my dear Audre, do write and visit more often, we miss your bright smile," Aro says taking my hands making me turn to him with a light smile.
"My apologies, I'll make sure to write you at least once a week from now on, you just make sure to write back," I told him with a slight head bow.
"Oh of course my dear, you know we love you. Though it is such a shame, we really hoped for your marriage to Alec," he says. I look to the twins and smile lightly at them, to which they returned.
"I know, but I am sure that both the twins will find someone who they most certainly love, and I am always a call away, I made sure to put my number and my email address on the letter I wrote," I said with a smile before he released me.
We begin to leave the hall, my hand finding Jaspers, which I squeeze for comfort.
"Oh, and Audre," called Aro, making me and the Cullens stop as I turned back to him.
"Yes, Uncle?" I asked.
"Do not forget, that you will always have a place in the Volturi, just like your mother did," he says with a smile to which I return.
"Of course, Uncle Aro," I said with a smile before we exited the hall.
****
"I've known the Volturi since I was a kid, my mom and my Aunt Lydia were actually apart of the Volturi, they'd saved the Kings lives a long, long time ago, so when my mother spiraled and I was born, they stayed pretty present in my life," I began.
The Cullens sat in front of me, looking at me intrigued as we sat in their now refurbished house.
"My Aunt and her husband had to actually stop them once from killing my Father and his family," I explained with a small chuckle.
"They, um, positioned themselves in my life as Uncles, and the guard was kind of like my family. My old pack and I visited them once a year in Italy, and they actually helped train me, which is why I'm so good at killing I guess," I said as I rubbed my face a bit harshly before forcing myself to not think of of my own wide spread potential, one of the few things that actually scares me.
"I stopped going about 2 years ago because things got busy and my Dad began to not let me go since he thought it was a waste, but he probably just didn't like to see me happy, so make that 2 times the Volturi had to be stopped from killing my family," I said with a shrug.
"The Kings wanted me to marry Alec when I got older, which I guess since I'd known him all my life I didn't really question it, but you know," I said gesturing to my hand in Jaspers.
"So... you are, a Volturi princess," Emmett summarized.
"How did you manage to get that, out of that," I said shaking my head but he just laughed.
"How old exactly do your kind live, because I was once apart of the Volturi and I don't think I've seen your Aunt or your Mother," Carslise questioned. I shrugged.
"Honestly, nobody really knows, it's thought that we're not immortal, but we do live at least a couple hundred years. That's kind of why it's so hard to kill us, but you know we can die of age, I think?" I said with another shrug.
Bella and Edward soon enter the house, and we soon gather that Bella wanted to talk about something.
"You all know what Edward wants. And you know what I want, but I won't force myself on you," Bella starts. I scooch closer to Jasper as she speaks, him wrapping an arm around me.
I could feel the anger he felt towards Edward, an emotion that grew in him ever since we'd left Italy. I could only rub his hand softly though as we sat listening to Bella.
"So I think the only fair way to handle this is by vote--" Bella says but she's cut off my Edward.
"You can't be serious," he says as he sits up.
"This is my meeting Edward," she says firmly, and I couldn't help the small laugh I let out making Bella smile at me. I smiled back, nodding in encouragement.
"However this turns out, I won't let the Volturi hurt you. I'll go to Italy alone-" she says but then she's cut off by Emmett.
"The hell you are, I'm not missing another fight," he says.
"Honestly Em, it wasn't too much of a fight," I said with a shrug, and he laughs at me as Edward rolls his eyes.
"That's not up for a vote, Emmett. I don't want you involved," Bella says.
"We've always been involved, honey, and we're not going to stop--" Esme tried but is cut off by Bella.
"No, please-- I want you to seriously think about this. If I join you, you'll be stuck with me for a very long time - forever. It's a huge decision, and I want-- need your honesty here," she says. My eyes soften as I looked at her.
"Then let's take a vote," Bella said.
"Alice?" Bella asked.
"Like you're not already my sister. Of course, yes!" Alice says jumping and hugging her. Tywin rises, taking Alice's hand.
"Yes, because your kind of the only one Edward listens to," he says ruffling her hair.
Jasper stands, and I stand next to him.
"I vote yes, it'll be a relief not to want to kill you," Jasper says making me laugh a bit, feeling his anger decrease before it went right back up again as we move to the side.
"Um, thanks? Okay, Rosalie?" she asked.
"Edward, I'm sorry for what I did, I really am. And I know you're not ready to forgive me..." Rosalie starts before she turns to Bella.
"But this isn't the life I'd have chosen for myself. I wish there'd been someone to vote no for me... So, no," she said shaking her head a bit making me look over
Bella takes this stoically, but this quickly changed when Emmett bounds over.
"I say hell yeah, we can pick a fight with the Volturi another day," he says as he pulls Bella into a bear hug before setting her down.
Esme comes forward and embraces Bella warmly.
"I already think of you as part of the family. Yes," she said making me smile a bit.
"Edward--" Carlisle starts as he walks towards him.
"You can't go along with this, Carlisle, you know what it means," he pleads.
"You've chosen not to live without her, which leaves me no choice. I won't lose my son," Carlisle says firmly.
"But Alice has never turned anyone. It'd be safer if--" but Carlisle is cut off by Edward once again.
"Audre, please, Bella is your cousin, tell me you don't support this..." he started, but I just looked to Jasper in worry as I feel this anger flare. It bubbled sort off, and was slowly pouring into me, making me shiver a bit before I hold his hand a little tighter.
"Audre, Audre! Are you even listening to me, do you even care about what happens to her, for God's sake she's your cousin!" Edward said again, his tone rising even more, but I was unable to care about neither his anger, nor the small part of me that wanted to let Adrea have her own conversation with him.
Even though I paid no real attention to him as he spoke, Jasper did, his eyes watched Edward closely, his hand squeezing mine. Had I been human I'm certain my hand would be broken, but I simply squeezed his hand back before I felt his anger unravel through our bond.
"And I'm your brother," Jasper finally snaps, him glaring intensely at Edward.
"What does that have to do with anything Jasper?" Edward questioned, his eyes darting back and forth between us.
"Why'd you switch the letters, Edward?" Jasper asked taking a small step forward. I furrow my eyebrows at Jasper before I step up with him, trying to soothe him, or his anger a bit. I felt it work a bit, his grip on my hand loosening, but still, his anger was still high.
"I-" Edward says before he sighs. His facial features show guilt, before he scowled a bit at the ground.
"I was trying to save-" he tried but then Jasper cut him off again.
"Wait, let me just take a wild guess. You were trying to save not me, not Audre, but yourself because you knew that if Audre knew I was coming back, that eventually all of us would, so you switched them because you didn't even there to be a possibility of you having to come back and facing Bella," Jasper, his anger burning even hotter.
"Is this what all those empty threats were about?" Edward said turning to me. A snarl forms in my throat and my eyes burn green, but I simply take a breath, closing my eyes tightly before I looked back Edward.
"I'm sure if you use your gift on either of us, you'll see that those threats were far from empty," Jasper growled out taking another step but I stopped him this time by putting my hand on his chest.
"Edward, you're with my cousin, and I'm with your brother so that makes us family. I'm also pretty sure in the next couple of years that this will all be a big inside joke amongst huh?" I said with a nice smile on my face as I placed a hand on his shoulder.
"But if you ever pull some shit like that again, with the letters, or with my cousin here, you won't have to worry about the Volturi because I'll be one taking you out of your misery," I told him, as I squeezed his shoulder, a loud crack ringing through the house before I dropped my hand from his shoulder.
Jasper took my hand, and we turned around before we exited through the back.
It didn't take long for Jasper to lift me up and begin running to the meadow, our meadow, where he stopped and sat down with me in between his legs, looking up at him with a small smile.
He raised his hand, caressing my face softly as he stared at me. My eyes shifted to his neck, a creeping crack there making me sigh before I raised my hand moving his shirt collar a bit to get a better look at it, but he shifts away from me making me look at him. I shut my eyes tightly letting out a shaky breath.
"Take off your shirt," I said.
"What, why?" he asked.
"Just do it, please," I said. He sighed, clutching his eyes closed for a bit before he reached his hand down and began to pull his shirt off, revealing a series of cracks on his body making me cover my mouth with my hand as I took in a sharp breath.
Like a tree pattern from a lightning strike, the cracks ran up his stomach, to his chest, to his neck and upper arms.
'Touch his chest' Adrea instructed.
'Huh?' I asked
'You've been away too long, touch his chest,' Adrea said again.
I bit my lip in anxiety, before taking a small breath and placing my hand on his chest. He let out a grunt, his body flinching a bit, making my eyes shoot up to him in worry, but come right back down to his chest as the cracks began to close. Within a few seconds, he was back to normal.
"Well, I'll be," he snickered, making me chuckle a bit.
"Adrea says, it's because we were away for too long. That's why you had those cracks, and why I...," I trailed off as I looked to the ground.
"Why you what?" he asked as he pulled his shirt back on and sat up straighter.
"My body would convulse, it was like these intense strains in my body, randomly. I could hardly move most of the time, and when they went away, they never really did," I told him.
"Darling, I am so sorry," he said, his hands clutching my shoulders, making me look up at him. His hands traveled up, touching my neck, my face, his fingers touching me lovingly.
"I'll never forgive myself," I heard him mumble, probably to himself but I'd heard it.
"You don't have to, because I already have..." I said looking up at him, holding his hand next to my cheek, as my eyes welled, just a bit, and before I knew it I'd launched myself into him, my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.
"Just don't leave me again," I mumbled into this shoulder. I felt him beam almost before his arms wrapped around me twisting us a bit so that I sat in his lap as we hugged.
"You couldn't get me to leave if you tried darling,"
hellloooooo !!
im in bed now son i figured i'd give you 2 more chapters. the next one should be up momentarily, it's just some editing that needs to be down.
Iid also like to apologize if there are any spelling or grammatical mistakes, the toggle i use has been acting weird but i'm sure i'll get it fixed up.
some intense trust needs to be built between Audre and the Cullens, but don't worry, i plan to get that all out the way before moving on to eclipse. until then, please, leave some comments to let me know if there's anything you guys want to see happen, or if you have any tips on how i should portray how characters should behave realistically when it comes to emotions
but like always, love you guys, eat something please if you haven't and please drink some water.