Something Darker (Book Three)

XXXVII. Jaunt

Once we stepped through the gates, the men immediately spit up, breaking off in different directions in order to scan the village. I stayed focused on Jane and followed her lead as she leisurely strolled though the village, heading straight for the castle.

"Are we not going to help them?" I asked, glancing around. Our surroundings were dank and ominous, as the village we were patrolling was both incredibly ill-kept and completely torn apart. Every now and again I would catch sight of a body or two, cold, motionless and completely drained of blood, and everything reeked of death.

"No." Jane said carelessly. "The men have it under control."

I heard the sound of snapping vampire limbs from the direction Felix originally headed.

"They're very efficient," she added.

Our footsteps crunched in the heavy layer of snow underneath our feet as we continued toward the castle. It was an ancient, gothic edifice that loomed over the village from the top of a steep, jagged hill.

"Is this how you guys have been cleaning up the other villages?" I asked.

"Essentially. There's much less to do at this one, though. This will most likely only a as a simple matter of destroying evidence."

"Evidence?"

"Getting rid of the bodies. Removing any potential indication of vampire's presence or existence. Foul play can't be erased, of course, due to the level of damage these vampires caused, but we can set this up in a way that humans will be willing brush it off as just another unsolved mystery."

"What about the humans that you've crossed in the past couple of days who weren't dead?" I asked. The emptiness of the villages I'd seen bothered me, and even though I already knew the answer I needed a solid confirmation.

"They knew too much," Jane said simply, "so we took care of them."

"All of them?"

"We only do what we must."

"But you enjoy your work."

"I'm good at finding silver linings," she smirked.

"Is that what you call it?" I asked sarcastically, raising my eyebrows at her.

"I catch a thrill and the job gets done. Everyone wins."

"Everyone except the growing pile of corpses."

I could hear more snapping limbs in the distance, but I noticed that there wasn't enough that correlated with the level of devastation and carnage the village had experienced.

I couldn't imagine how many vampires my covenmates had to clean up throughout the past couple of days.

I felt a twinge of guilt for wasting so much time, but then I reminded myself that Jane was the one who turned me so abruptly. Not only that, she was the one who incited all of the drama between Alec, Demetri, and me.

Well, perhaps she wasn't the only one responsible, but she certainly fanned the flames before dumping gasoline on the fire.

"Were you the one who sent both Demetri and Alec after me?" I demanded, making sure to mute our voices so the men wouldn't overhear our conversation. I wanted her to speak freely.

"Of course, I did. You were having a meltdown and, since you're a newborn, it wasn't safe to send only one person after you."

"You could've sent Felix, too."

"But where would the fun be in that?" she giggled.

Just as I suspected.

"You set me up!" I accused her as I stopped in my tracks and shoved her shoulder. She knew things would reach a boiling point between when she sent them after me.

"Set you up for what?" Jane asked, turning to me with a cold smile. "To cheat on my brother? There was no way for me to see that one coming. That's all on you."

"You knew something was going to go down."

"When are you going to grow up and stop blaming me for all of your problems? Your world is constantly falling apart because you keep conducting yourself like a fool."

"You've been manipulating the whole situation since day one!"

"No," she denied with a smug smile. "I warned you. I warned both of you. It's not my fault neither of you listened to me."

"Don't act like you did that out of the goodness of your heart. All you cared about was yourself and your own desires. You just got lucky that things worked out in your favor."

"You have no proof."

"What would Alec think if he knew you were manipulating him this whole time? How would he feel is he knew you encouraged me to cheat on him and treat him like shit before dumping him? Maybe I ought to tell him about that time you told me I should have Demetri's love child. I bet he would love to hear all about that," I threatened.

"Please. He'd never hear you out. And even if he did, he would never believe you," Jane sneered.

"Of course not. Why would he, when he knows you'd never lead him astray?" I mocked her. She was so phony, and Alec was a dunce for falling for it.

"And I didn't. I did everything in my power to protect him."

"Whatever," I huffed. Alec's ignorance wasn't my problem anymore.

Jane and I walked in silence for a while as the sound of snapping and groans echoed through the vacant streets.

"You know, it's such a shame Renesmee isn't here to see you in full bloom," Jane smirked. "She was so sure you were a sweet little angel like her."

I grimaced but didn't respond.

"I mean, my God, Violet! It's one thing to cheat on my brother, but in a church? That's bad," Jane exclaimed giddily.

"It's not good," I frowned.

"You dirty little skank! Cheater!" she jeered. Her eyes danced with glee as she let out a loud peal of laughter.

"For some reason I thought you'd be a little more concerned about your brother. His feelings are really hurt," I glared.

"His pain is only temporary. He'll come to understand this, now that he's come running back into my open arms."

"Jesus Christ, Jane."

"Alec is all mine again," she sneered. "As he should be."

"Do you have any shame?"

"What do I have to be ashamed of? I'm the only one around here who hasn't done anything utterly disgusting."

"Felix has managed to keep his nose pretty clean."

Jane rolled eyes as we continued to stroll along, past scattered corpses and ravaged homes, as if it were just another day in the park.

And for us, two members of the Volturi guard, maybe it was.