Dangerous Woman ▷ Paul Lahote

TWELVE

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TWELVE; DISCOVERY

"THIS CAR IS to die for!" Amelia exclaimed, stroking the leather interior of the bright yellow Porsche. Alice rolled her eyes from beside her.

"Can't you possibly think of anything else? Like our brother possibly breaking a law in front of the Volturi and ending his life?"

"Trying to focus on the positive, Alice. Trying to focus on the positive," Amelia repeated as they pulled up to Bella, who was pacing on the side of the street. Amelia could detect that every human on the sidewalk was staring at the bright car, but she didn't care what they thought.

"Hurry, Bella!" Alice exclaimed.

Bella quickly clambered inside of the car and she was forced to sit on Amelia's lap due to the lack of seating in the fast car. "Sheesh, Alice," Bella complained. "Could you pick a more conspicuous car to steal?"

Alice, frankly, didn't care about Bella's opinion as she zoomed through the city. "The important question," she corrected. "Is whether I could have stolen a faster car, and I don't think so. I got lucky."

"I'm sure that will be very comforting at the roadblock."

Alice laughed. "Trust me, Bella. If anyone sets up a roadblock, it will be behind us."

Amelia tried to focus on the positive as Bella examined the surroundings. The vampire could feel the human's anxiety from Alice's driving, which made her chuckle a little bit. She still had not witnessed Alice at her full speed.

"Do you see anything more?" Bella asked.

"There's something going on," Alice muttered in response. "Some kind of festival. The streets are full of people and red flags. What's the date today?"

"I believe it's the nineteenth," Amelia recalled. Then, she released a breathy laugh. "Truly ironic. It's Saint Marcus Day."

"Which means?"

Alice chuckled dryly. "The city holds a celebration every year. As the legend goes, a Christian missionary, a Father Marcus — Marcus of the Volturi, in fact — drove all the vampires from Volterra fifteen hundred years ago. The story claims he was martyred in Romania, still trying to drive away the vampire scourge. Of course that's nonsense — he's never left the city. But that's where some of the superstitions about things like crosses and garlic come from. Father Marcus used them so successfully. And vampires don't trouble Volterra, so they must work. It's become more of a celebration of the city, and recognition for the police force — after all, Volterra is an amazingly safe city. The police get the credit."

Bella was realizing why Amelia referred to the event as ironic. "They're not going to be very happy if Edward messes things up for them on Saint Marcus Day, are they?"

She shook her head, her expression grim. "No. They'll act very quickly."

Amelia closed her eyes, trying to focus on the positive. She could tell Bella was doing the opposite, scenarios running through her mind pertaining to Edward's fate. "He's still planning on noon?" Bella questioned.