Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Fallen Angels

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 04:

Bella

This sucks.

He tried to kill me! Or his friend did but he was obviously into it. Sure maybe he tried to tell him to stop but how about a hey, get out of this bar, humans want to kill you and know how.

Notta. Not hey Bella, I have something to tell you. We should leave quickly because my friends might not listen to me and try to blow your head off. Seriously? I was going to give him the ride of his life, maybe his last admittedly, but he would have died happy.

I can’t believe I let him pull my skirt up in a New Orleans back alley. I really needed to stay away from back alleys, especially when my intent is to have sex.

I was going to kill him when he woke up. I’m not even sure why he was still alive. Aro had told all the vampires present about the suspicions of humans killing our kind, and now the definite proof, the weapon in Caius’s hands. Mr. Connolly, if that was his real name, was passed out on the floor surrounded by over a hundred pissed off vampires. Thankfully our bodies didn’t sweat because the body odor of this place would have been horrible. Before, everyone had been somewhat spread out among the various parts of the house. Now we were all crowded in one of the second floor lobbies and it was beginning to get a bit claustrophobic. The scents of the vampires were overwhelming me and I could swear I smelt the breath of the animal feeders over everything else.

Okay, probably not. I bet up close they had horrible breath though. Probably smells like a bear who just shit in the woods.

Nicki, my source of calm in the middle of any storm was not calm right now.

She looked murderous. I had never seen her look so angry. When she killed the nomads, we came across in our travels she looked a bit humored. Now she was pacing in front of my human, practically snarling.

Oh shit, she was going to kill my human.

Nicki grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground. She was going to drain him.

I closed my eyes, every vampire in the place eerily silent.

I didn’t hear the sound of blood being drank or a neck snapping.

Peeking my eyes open I saw her teeth so close to his neck, nearly touching him but she was completely unmoving.

Then she gently put him back on the floor and turned on Aro.

“You compelled me!” she yelled, causing both of us to flinch. This wasn’t going to be good. I had a strong feeling if Nicki wanted to, she would be powerful enough to break Aro’s hold. Aro must have thought the same because for a vampire with a stone face, he couldn’t hide his worry.

“I’m sorry Nicolette, but I cannot let you kill him. It isn’t worth the risk. We don’t know what will happen to her if you do.”

“He nearly got her killed! We had no way of knowing if our gift would have deflected those bullets. If it hadn’t, she would be dead! I am protecting her! Don’t try to stop me again or you will regret it. I will slaughter all threats to her.”

Oh… the last statement gave me a chill. Aro may have been hiding it better now but I could tell he was a bit afraid as well. Maybe after this he won’t want her as a Queen. That would be awesome and solve so many problems. What wouldn’t be solved is the shit storm this was about to become. The Volturi Guard were nervous and ready to attack. Marcus was walking toward my human, and Caius was still going over every inch of the damn rifle and the bullets. The idiot was actually smiling. If this turned into a fight, I would be with Nicki of course and we couldn’t lose, but we would most likely kill half the vampires in the house. There were humans already trying to kill us. We were going to do their jobs for them and most likely destroy this Mansion. The only good thing about being here was getting to hang out inside this house!

And Bourbon Street.

“He is her damn Mate and you know this! Is it worth the risk to her sanity just because you are angry?!” Aro asked her quite loudly.

“You ever compel me again I will break it, then I am coming after…”

“You left me with no choice!”

“Aro, he is human! Vampires do not mate with humans! If he was her Mate, he would not have put her in danger! She could have been killed!”

“Whoa!” Mate? What poor chick got mated? Talk about a buzzkill. I needed to change this conversation before Nicki lost it.

“What poor bitch got mated?” I asked, hoping to change the topic a bit and defuse my great grandmother before she literally brought Armageddon to the Earth. “C’mon, speak up. Which one of you idiots mated with the human?”

Oh shit.

Every vampire in the room was looking at me.

This can’t be good.

Oh fuck, the animal terrorists were grinning. I don’t like them happy.

Someone say something, anything. Please? Someone tell me who is stuck with the same guy for the rest of eternity.

“ Nicki, what the fuck is going on?”

Nicki at least relaxed and stepped away from my human, who was moments ago in danger of becoming a Happy Meal. She still didn’t look happy herself but she also didn’t look like she was going to open the gates of Hell, or whatever was at the bottom of the Abyss. Or the top. When you are surrounded by darkness with no gravity it can be hard to tell what’s up from down. I should ask Jasper his opinion since he was recently there.

Focus Bella. Nicki is about to tell you which of these unfortunate bitches is mated to one guy for eternity.

“ I’m sorry Bella.”

“ For almost killing my human vibrator? No big. I uh… so who is he hooked up with?”

“ You know. You are only 20 years old. It isn’t fair, but Aro is right. He is your mate or could be. I think I can kill him now and you will be fine but I’m not sure.”

“ Don’t kill him, please!” I mentally shouted . She couldn’t kill him. I mean, she could but that would suck. Yeah, he almost got me killed, but he did tell the guy to stop. Unless he wanted to fuck me first before killing me.

Nicki shook her head.

“It was too late for her the minute she saw him my dear.” Marcus told her, standing over Connolly and looking from him to me.

“She is a baby.” Nicki told him sadly. Thanks Great Granny. Call me a baby in front of a hundred or so vampires. That isn’t embarrassing at all. “Can Chelsea break it?” she asked.

“Not mating bonds.” Marcus told her.

That’s a relief… right? No, it isn’t! This is like marriage or something but with no divorce! I thought we were getting tied down in Volterra? This was so much worse. No, no way, this was not happening.

Of course if she turned him, wow, the things I could do to him, especially his first year… what if I turned him? I could make him do anything. No, that would be wrong of me. Still it would bring the spiked collar back into play.

This was not happening. We are the most powerful vampires in history. Okay she is, but I am not far behind. We could break this. What if he tries to kill me again? I would have to kill him anyway. What if one of these bastards surrounding us tries to kill him just to fuck with me?

“Nicki? I mean Mistress… no, fuck it. Nicki? We can break this, right? There is a spell for everything. Tell me there is a spell for everything?”

I could tell by her face though, there was not a spell for everything.

Fuck it. At least he was hot, even if he wanted my kind dead… deader.

“I would suggest we all stay inside the house until daylight then leave.” Caius told the class. “Regardless of his mating status, we need to interrogate him. The humans will not attack us in a historic district with so many human residences surrounding us. We can all separate and those who wish to have a part in defending our race may join us in Volterra until we sort the matter out.”

“That will be the first place they look.” Nicki argued. “If they knew about this gathering, they obviously know about Volterra. They will attack there as well. I cannot guarantee everyone’s safety.”

She made a good point.

Aro shook his head, looking more relaxed now that Nicki had calmed down.

“If they could have attacked us on Italian soil, they would have already done so. I would guess this is an American venture.”

“There is an ignition source inside the bullet.” Caius said, still smiling while he stroked the gun. “If a bullet strikes on of us, we will be no more. This metal and technology cannot be widespread. If the Americans discovered it, they would not share it with the world. We can defend ourselves from an attack in Volterra if they are reckless enough to try it. No matter the weapons we are stronger, faster and will be prepared. They will learn their place on the food chain.”

Wow. What a fucked up situation. I mated? I just came to Bourbon Street for a good time! I was going the opposite direction from that damn bar before the animal feeders started… of course. This is their fault! I should put a sleeping curse on all of them!

I wonder why Connolly hasn’t woke up yet? How hard did Nicki hit him?

Those concerns went away when we all heard it.

Helicopters. A lot of them and something told me they weren’t of the Traffic Watch variety.

“I can’t believe they are stupid enough to attack us here.” Nicki whispered. “The human must know everything and they hope to kill him or rescue him.”

Caius quickly reassembled the rifle. “Let’s say hello. Wouldn’t want the humans to think we are poor hosts.”

Nicki shook her head. “We know the bullets won’t work on Bella or me. We have this. Once we slaughter them all, we leave immediately. The Volturi still has the fleet of private jets at the airport, correct? Get these vampires on them and we go to Italy.”

“They could follow us and attack as soon as we are in the air.” Aro pointed out.

“There won’t be any left alive to follow us. Take the human and protect him, I guess. Bella and I can protect the jets in the air. We will cloak them after takeoff. Bella? Ready?”

Carlisle stepped forward. “Perhaps my son Jasper can calm them and we can talk about this rationally.” he suggested.

Then Nicki raised her hand, Carlisle hovered in the air across the room and was flung back through a wall. She was such a showoff. I did that once with a rock. Went straight through the Corvette’s front windshield, even though I was aiming in the opposite direction.

“Do as I say if you all want to live. Go to the first floor.”

In a blink of the eye, the lobby was empty except for us and the three kings.

“This is why I want you as a Queen, dear. You have such a way with people. We will take Bella’s mate downstairs.” Aro told her with a slight bow.

“You compel me again and I end you old man.” Nicki growled. A snap of her fingers and her skirt ensemble was gone, replaced by her black leather pants and favorite riding jacket.

Two could play at that game.

A snap of my fingers and I was ready, brown torn pants, hiking boots, a white tank top covered by a blue tank top with a bit of blood on the left side abdomen, jade necklace, messy pony tail, a rock climbing hammer on my belt and a bow on my back, the string between my breasts.

“Seriously?”

“I couldn’t be Emma Swan. You got a problem with Lara Croft now?”

Nicki at least smiled. “You look ready for battle kid. Follow my lead. We are going to the middle of the street and fucking these blood bags up.”

When we reached the street, I admit it was an awesome sight. Seven helicopters of the black, mean looking variety were overhead with spot lights on us. From both sides of the street, men in black with rifles raised, moved towards us. This was almost cool enough to take my mind of this mate crap.

Gunfire rained down on us from the men and the helicopters above.

At least it tried. Every weapon fired blew the head off the men firing it.

God that blood smelt good.

Seventeen dead men on the streets and we had only been here for a few seconds.

One of the choppers tried to take us out with some cute mini guns on cute wings. I saw this type once in Metal Gear.

The chopper’s cockpit shattered, its pilot dead and the craft spinning out of control.

I caught it with my mind in mid crash and guided it onto the street. Nicki glanced at me questioningly.

“I like the old houses.” I explained. “No reason for them to be destroyed.”

The six remaining choppers with the dead gunmen hovered high above us, probably deciding what to do since their special guns were only killing themselves.

“Let’s take them down. You have the three on the left.” My Sire ordered.

I conjured hellfire and six flaming streaks from Nicki and I hit the choppers nearly at the same time.

Six choppers exploded, ruined metal fireballs hitting the historic houses below. Guess I couldn’t save them.

“Let the Government cover that one up.” Nicki mumbled.

Poor houses.

Humans were running from their houses, screaming, some half naked or in bathrobes. It was kinda funny to see.

More gunfire. More dead bodies. More soldiers, this time with gleaming metal in their hands.

“Isn’t that cute?” Nicki told me. “They are going to overrun us with knives. Time for a late night snack.”

Yes! That blood fountain just wasn’t the same as fresh from the corpse human blood.

I moved faster than I ever had before, ripping bodies to pieces, losing myself in the fight and bloodlust. I tore three throats out without drinking, snapped ten necks and appeared in front of the last one on my side of the street.

“Hi there. You look yummy.”

He swung the blade at me, probably from the same metal those bullets were made of. Caius was right though, without the element of surprise they were still very slow mortals. I crushed his wrist, dropping the knife and brought him close, sinking my teeth into his neck.

Oh, that was so good. The smell of these bodies, the fear of the humans, not feeding from a fresh source for days, he gave out in seconds.

I turned to a gentleman across the street who had stopped running for his life to watch me.

He was next up. I finished him and then saw a soldier running away from us but the poor man didn’t get far before my teeth sank into his throat.

I haven’t fed like this since I was a newborn. It was an all you can eat buffet and the humans delivered themselves!

Then there was silence. I found Nicki standing not far from me, her face covered in blood, holding a soldier by his severely broken neck. She looked like a joyful demon, her red eyes lit up in a blood lust.

I knew mine looked the same. I was on fire. I could drain the entire city right now. If only my Mate could see me. Hey honey, I just ate your friends who tried to kill me. How was your day?

Nicki must have communicated with Aro through their link because the door opened and all of the vampires came out. They looked at the burning houses, the bloody and ruined bodies on the street and mine and Nicki’s blood spattered bodies. The animal feeders looked sick.

Now who wants to laugh at the vampire with the human mate?

Speaking of, my human mate was slung over Marcus’s shoulder.

“Time to leave.” Nicki told them.

Since no one mentioned anything I guess we all had no idea where the vampire valets parked the cars. They must have run when they heard the approaching army.

It’s a shame. I really liked these houses. At least the Mayfair house still stood.

Our Lambo was nowhere in sight either. Screw it, we were going to Italy. We could always pick up a couple more.

Connolly

“I know you are awake. Open your eyes. We need to have a talk.”

That wasn’t Bella’s voice. Shit, Bella! That asshole shot her. Maybe she got out of the way. I should have guessed he would come around back, but I was kind of lost in the moment. That damn girl did that to me. I hadn’t made a smart decision since I first saw her.

“Is Bella okay?” I asked, opening my eyes. I had been slumped over a seat… a seat in a private jet? How the hell did I get onto a private jet?

For that matter why was I alive, because I knew the woman sitting across from me was a vampire. A vampire who was definitely not happy.

“You tried to have her killed. Why the hell do you care?”

I took the woman in and noted her facial features were very similar to Bella, even her build.

“I suppose you are Bella’s model sister?”

“Oh worse. I’m her great grandmother. You tried to have my baby girl killed. She almost lost her human life because of a man. Now another human took a shot at her. Do you have any family… Mr. Connolly, right?”

I nodded. “Yeah that’s my name and I don’t have any family.”

“What about your foster father? I mean your last one. You stayed with him for quite a while. He has three sons and they all have wives, correct?”

Damn it. I had to play this cool. How the hell did she know about them? My records were wiped when I joined this monster hunting team.

Instead of reacting, since I couldn’t do anything at the moment I shrugged.

“He was a foster father. Not much else to say. I’m sure you know I had a lot if you know about him.”

The woman nodded.

“Draining a human, snapping a human’s neck, tearing them apart is so easy. What would I have done to your family, your friends, if Bella had died? I would have literally put them through hell while they lived. I did it to my husband. He nearly beat me to death. I returned years later and quite literally drove him insane. He died an old raving lunatic, haunted by the worst demons I could conjure. They tortured him for years, while no one believed him. A Medicine Man from a nearby tribe attempted to banish my demons and I did the same to him. Dying is easy. Living while being tortured for years, haunted by the dead, burned yet having no marks your friends could see, all of them thinking you are mad, it truly is a living hell. That’s what would have happened to all your loved ones. You have an ex-wife, a woman named Jessica Ryan? I would love to meet her in person. Sad your marriage didn’t last more than two years. Did you try to have her killed as well?”

Shit, she knew about Jess? Who the hell was this woman?

“Look, I didn’t try to get Bella killed. I looked her up at an internet cafe the morning after I met her. I found out who she was, what her Mom’s boyfriend did to them both. I didn’t use my Wi-Fi because I did not want to be tracked and I never told anyone her name. I was seen with her that night and my bosses wanted me to lead her to a hotel, have her executed. I talked them into letting me use her as a source of intel. I would meet her that night and plant a bug on her. Of course it wouldn’t have worked but my bosses are dumbasses. I planned to warn her, tell her to go to Forks maybe, hide out with her Dad, get the hell out of New Orleans. Before I could warn her one of my bastard teammates stepped out, got a little trigger happy and fired.”

“Warn her?”

The one time I tell the truth to an enemy and she doesn’t believe me. Great.

“Yeah, warn her. I didn’t want her hurt. I don’t know why, I just didn’t.”

“Then why did I find you pressing her against a wall with her skirt up? Didn’t seem like you were warning her to me. Of course I’m only over a hundred years old. What do I know?”

Damn it. She made a good point. I was going to warn her. I figured we had time, that they would follow my fake plan and not attack her. Why did I have her pressed against a wall? Because I can’t keep my damn mind or hands off her. I’ve killed three vampires personally. Not one of them ever affected me. She did. She does.

“That a question? You either believe me or you don’t. You know they won’t let me go, right? The people I work for, I know too much. They will either try to kill me or rescue me. My guess is kill me. I would imagine if Bella is okay, and somehow I know she is, the guy who tried to shoot her is dead. I’m gone. They are going to assume I turned on them. They won’t let this go.”

“Fifty two. That’s how many human bodies I counted after it was over including the humans in the helicopters. It took us less than five minutes because Bella and I were toying with them. So fifty two dead humans and you are correct, they wanted you dead as well as us.” she confirmed.

Shit. Those idiots risked a full scale assault on a house in a historic district in New Orleans? Not only that but it sounds like they got slaughtered by two vampires.

“There are more.” I told her. I wasn’t really sure there were many more. We had nearly our whole operation in New Orleans.

I was very glad Ty had gone on vacation to see his Mom or he would have been the fifty third dead body.

Fuck this. Time to get some answers.

“What is your name? We may as well get to know each other. For some reason I am alone with you on a very nice private plane, still alive. You obviously aren’t going to kill me or I would already be dead. So cut the crap and tell me what you want? You expect more information? Why the hell would I tell you anything? You would kill me as soon as you learned what I know.”

I sat up a bit and leaned back into the very comfortable chair, hands behind my head and feet kicked out. Her face was unmoving but those eyes wouldn’t look away from mine and that was not happiness in them.

“I’m waiting. Why am I still alive?”

The chick shook her head and grinned. That was one evil grin she had. Kinda gave me a shiver.

“Are you brave or stupid?”

That was a good question. One I tended not to think of often.

“I’ll answer that question if you have a beer on board this fancy jet of yours.”

She stood up and for a second, I was hopeful she was going to get me one. Anything alcoholic would be good right now.

I wonder if Bella inherited her Great Granny’s fetish for black leather?

Instead of grabbing me a beer she crossed her arms and watched me closely. I stared back at her. Then I winked. Then I licked my lips and blew her a kiss.

“Goddess, you are perfect for her.” the woman mumbled. She didn’t sound happy about it. Not sure what all that perfect stuff is. Perfect as in Bella and I can finally finish what we haven’t even started yet since we first met? Or perfect, like she was planning to feed me to a friend.

“Do you know why your Government wants to hunt us? Because we are more powerful than they are. Vampires have lived among humans for thousands of years, never once attempting to bring the human race to its knees. Yes, we kill humans. We do it to feed. Humans kill humans for hundreds of reasons. Religion, power, drugs, money, sadism to name just a few. Humans have killed far more humans than vampires ever have. But that wasn’t good enough, was it? As usual with your kind, you aren’t content unless you have all the power. Your kind declared war tonight. Do you know what that means?”

“The News will be worth watching for once?” A human vampire war beat watching pieces about the National debt or rising interest rates.

She shook her head and smiled. Maybe I was winning her over with my charming personality. Maybe she would tell me how she knew about my ex-wife and foster family.

Doubtful.

“It means the gloves are off. There are other vampires on this plane, vampires who have kept a central government for over one thousand years, protecting humans from being overran by our kind but knowing one day, humans would come for us. You want to know why you are still alive? Bella needs you alive. I nearly killed you tonight because you placed her in danger. My Sire stopped me and I admit now it was probably a rash decision on my part. There are others where we are going who will try to kill you, simply to get to Bella. I am going to tell you everything you want to know about the link between the two of you and you will understand why it is important that you stay alive. When we reach the destination it will fall to me to keep you safe. If it were simply the heads of our government, I would not worry but there will be many covens present. Play ball, do as I say and we can all get out of this alive and sane. Fuck with me and I go for your family first.”

“I’m listening.” I told her. “Think I could see Bella after this? I would really like to make sure she is okay with my own eyes.”

She nodded her head thankfully. I knew Bella was on this plane, probably on the other side of the door to our little meeting room.

Bella

“Why are you sitting next to me?” I asked the female head of the Cullens. There weren’t many seats open despite the size of this plane but there was one right by her husband.

“I thought we could talk, get to know each other a bit.” she offered with a pleasant smile.

“Just because we aren’t in a graveyard doesn’t mean there aren’t other things I can do to you.” I told her with my own pleasant smile.

She didn’t say anything nor did she move. What was with these assholes?

“I don’t see how you can live with yourself.” I finally told her. That took the smile off her face.

“Pardon?”

“I don’t see how you can live with yourself, killing animals. Animals don’t beat their spouses, kill their own kind, cheat on their mates, abandon their kids or any of the other horrible stuff humans do to each other. Animals walked this Earth before humans and some have been driven to extinction by humans. Yet you feed off them, despite humans over populating and polluting the planet. I don’t see how you can live with yourself. What you are doing is ethically and morally wrong.”

“And I suppose what you did in New Orleans, the slaughter, the blood, that was ethically and morally right?” the bitch asked.

“Maybe you don’t approve of the Swan Girls’ methods, but yet here you are with the rest, taking advantage of the protection we provided.” I pointed out. “If your doctor was killed you wouldn’t have sought retribution?”

“Violence is not an answer.”

“It is when a lot of soldiers and helicopters are attacking you. Violence seemed to be the correct answer last night. You may be disgusted by what you saw but as I have pointed out, here you are.”

Emma… or Ellen… no Esme… what a dumb fucking name… stayed silent for a few minutes while I listened to Nicki in the back of the plane. She was behind a closed door, one that was sound proof due to Aro and his boys hanging in there often, but I slipped into her mind. She probably knew I was there…

“ Yes, I know you are there. Stick around and listen.”

As I said, she probably knows I am there.

“I know your father. He is the Chief of Police in Forks where we live.”

The fuck?

“You should probably keep that on the down low. I’m obviously her favorite but Nicki takes her human bloodline seriously. Talking about her grandson could be bad for your soul and I do mean that literally.”

“Do you think your Sire would let us live near him if we fed from humans?” she asked, as if she were making some sort of point that only she probably got.

“Nicki can be a bit crazy about certain things. Even if you fed from humans she wouldn’t care because you, like everyone else on this plane are too frightened of her to ever touch her family, human and vampire. If you want to swap stories about the man, I am afraid you are out of luck. I don’t remember him. I don’t remember his face, only photos Nicki has shown me. I don’t remember anything about my human life except a human sticking a knife in my chest before Nicki pulled it out and saved me.”

“He is a good man.” Esme said kindly as if that would make me give a damn.

“From what I understand even if I remembered my human life, I wouldn’t have many memories of him. He wasn’t really there. I’m going to ask you one more time to sit by the good doctor. If you don’t, I will make you.”

The bitch stared at me for a few seconds but got up and left. She left quickly. That must mean…

Yep, Nicki just sat by me. I’m the one who had ghosts haunt them to the point they couldn’t move and placed their blonde male into a dark abyss yet they are afraid of her. I swear I get no respect.

“ Don’t bother speaking to vampires for the rest of this trip. Only use your link with me.”

“ Yes Sire. I can’t believe you called me a child in front of everyone.”

“ You are a child. You are 20 years old. You have been a vampire for barely three years. We are in a very bad situation so for once in your life I need you to follow directions, okay?”

That was a bit offending. I always follow her directions.

Most of the time.

I admit I tend to do what I want often but she never minded before.

“ Did you kill him?”

She shook her head slightly.

“ I can’t. As angry as I am at Aro tonight, he did stop me from making a mistake. I thought if I killed him as a human you would not be affected. I was wrong. Unfortunately we have a huge problem now.”

“ Yeah, I hoped to fuck a few different guys before I settled down, or maybe just never settle down. Still he is house trained so he’s better than a puppy, right?”

“ This is serious! Look around this jet. There are twenty vampires in here, over twenty in the other five jets. We are going to an Italian stronghold. I wasn’t worried because I know we have no weakness. Now we do and do not think for one minute that some of these covens will take a shot at us. They can’t defeat me, they can’t defeat you, but if they kill this mate of yours you very well could go mad. That means I go mad, make mistakes, give openings to our enemies. I have no doubt Covens following us are already planning on taking the Volturi out despite the danger to our kind from humans. I doubt they can but if they take him and use him for leverage, they know I will do as told because I can’t risk you.”

Ouch. Damn, vampires can be almost as devious as humans.

“ So, you are a queen now, right? Can’t you just put a royal guard on him? “

“ I am not a Queen. I plan on turning them down. You would never be happy there and now him… I can’t turn him right now. Handling a newborn takes work. We have a threat to deal with first. That means for now, he stays human. It also means he stays vulnerable.”

“ So let me turn him. We can head to the house in Greece. I’ll teach him the ropes and you can look out for us.” I suggested. I wouldn’t mind being his mommy. No, actually I would. That’s a disturbing thought.

“ You have no idea how hard it is to compel a newborn. You aren’t strong enough yet mentally. I barely kept you from mass slaughter. You actually gave me a headache at times. I didn’t know it was possible for vampires to get headaches. Until this human threat is over you are going to have to take him into hiding. He not only has humans who will no doubt send assassins after him but also vampires wanting to use him as leverage over us. Once we reach Volterra you two are going to disappear. Only the Kings will know you haven’t run but they won’t know your location. They cannot risk another coven gaining control over either of us and understand. I will come to you as soon as possible. Keep your charm bracelet on so I can locate you.”

That seemed cool. It would suck to be separated from my bestie but alone time with the human vibrator sounded good.

“ My choice on location?”

“ No. Your physical combat skills are horrible and there are vampires in the wild who are dangerous. You aren’t untouchable yet. I need you to have back up. There is only one Coven that will not want to kill your mate or take him hostage to gain power. You will be with them. Aro is preparing to talk to their head in a moment.”

One Coven? One Coven that would not want to kill a human nor take power… no… no fucking way. I would rather… anything…

“ Stop it. This is serious and you promised to do as you are told .”

“ I didn’t mean it! Seriously? You expect me to stay low with animal feeders? They hate us by the way. We hate them. This isn’t going to work!”

“ It will work. If you want to keep your mate safe, you two are slipping away a soon as we touch down. Aro will convince Carlisle easily enough. Carlisle would never turn down a request from him. It won’t be for long. Give me a week to see who is thinking of doing what and we will be back together. Then we will deal with these human hunters. Please Bella, do as I ask. Stay low and use them as protection for him. It’s the only way right now. Swear to me you will do as you are told.”

Damn it. Honestly Nicki never asked me to swear to anything. I could admit to myself that she spoiled the hell out of me.

I had never seen her this tense.

I really had no choice. What she said about Connolly made sense. He was a weakness now and had to be protected. He was the only way other vampires could get to us.

“ I swear.”

Hiding with the Cullens. This would suck, but at least things couldn’t get worse… right?

Ty

Unbelievable. I can’t believe these idiots. First, they stage an all-out assault in New Orleans and second, they get their ass slaughtered. I told Connolly this team was a bad idea. Does he listen?

We need some excitement Ty. We need to get out of the desert. This could be fun, biggest challenge we will ever have in our lives.

Now my boy was in the clutches of vampires who flew out in big ass private jets and disappeared from radar. This dumbass General thinks I’m willing to keep fighting on this so called team?

Fuck that and fuck him. This was a voluntary assignment. I ain’t under no obligation to do shit. I can walk now if I want to.

That’s exactly what I am going to do.

“You think I am going to kill my best friend? You out of your mind. I’m out my man. Peace and all.”

“Damn it Gavin! These two vampires on the street were like nothing we have ever seen before! Until we can figure out a way to stop them, we are in serious danger of a counterattack. We need to find Connolly and kill him before he tells them everything. You want to walk? He may be dead already and will be the second he spills everything he knows. We can’t attack on foreign soil and I guarantee you they are overseas. As soon as we find him, we need to take him out. You are the best now and you want to walk?”

I shook my head. Walk? Hell no I wasn’t walking. Least not on Connolly. These dumb bitches can go fuck themselves.

“Yeah, what you did was stupid, General sir. You attacked a gathering of vampires in a large city surrounded by very large, very expensive historical houses. The Government is going to have a hell of a time covering your mistake and most of your men are dead. I want no part of this anymore. You have fun covering your own ass. If you are lucky, they won’t send someone like me to take you out.”

I walked out the building calm like but my mind was working overtime. Yeah, they took him overseas. Where else would vamps take him? He is probably in Transylvania right now hanging with Count Chocula.

I drove for a few hours, getting the hell away from New Orleans and stopped at a crack shack motel. I took the green phone we always kept with us, the phone just for us that nobody else could listen in on.

Man, thank God. The find a Redneck app is still working. Unless they were carrying a dead body for some reason, he was moving over the ocean, headed for Southern Europe, maybe Italy where these kings were from.

I guess the chips we had placed under our skin years ago were finally coming in handy. I could track him anywhere. The problem was rescuing him. How the hell could I get him out of an underground compound filled with vampires? I still had my weapons and had no plans on turning them back in, but the ammo didn’t work on those two chicks.

I can’t believe I saw Lara Croft take down a helicopter with a fireball before that cam went up in smoke.

I was going to need help. Time to get the band back together.

“Ty?”

“Jack. You think you can get away from your business for a while and join me in Houston?”

“What happened?’

“Connolly got taken by vampires.”

Silence. I let it ride, give him a few moments to take that in.

“You wanna fucking repeat that?”

For a guy with a mind reading ass kicking wife, I can’t believe he didn’t take what I said at face value.

“I’ll explain everything when you get to Houston. I need Hawk and Dante and you gonna have to find a babysitter for your girl. We gonna need Sasha big time on this.”

“Fuck.” Jack whispered. That pretty much summed it up.

“You know he is still alive?”

“Turn on your tracker.”

“We aren’t coming to Houston. Sasha may not be searched for anymore but that doesn’t mean someone might see her and take a renewed interest if they are watching you. I’ll call the guys and we can meet up in a small town called Dyson, just outside of Buffalo. Ten o clock tonight. This is going to be a clusterfuck, isn’t it Ty?”

“Man, you got no idea.”