Amnesia

Chapter Twenty-Two

Irina's Fate
Aro did not rejoin his anxious guard waiting on the north side of the clearing; instead, he waved them forward. Edward started backing up immediately, pulling Bella's arm and Emmett's. They hurried backward, keeping their eyes on the advancing threat. Jacob retreated slowest, the fur on his shoulders standing straight up as he bared his fangs at Aro. Renesmee grabbed the end of his tail as they retreated; she held it like a leash, forcing him to stay with them. Soon, everyone arrived at their side of the field again, leaving only fifty yards between them - a distance any of the vampires could leap in just a fraction of a second.
Caius began arguing with Aro at once. "How can you abide this infamy? Why do we stand here impotently in the face of such an outrageous crime, covered by such a ridiculous deception?" He held his arms rigidly at his sides, his hands curled into claws. Maeryn felt the same. Why not just attack already? The Cullens have been a trouble ever since Bella and Edward met. And now they think they are invincible due her shield. Maeryn swore that she would break that little shield of hers and let Jane have a go at her. Fury was burning through her newborn body, the hope for a fight was growing fast, making the newborn more eager by the minute.
Alec, who had noticed his mate's behavior, grabbed her hand once more and stroked it with his thumb, trying to calm her down. She needed to keep her head straight and remember the strategy they had discussed. However, Alec didn't feel soothed at all. Never had he cared for an outcome of a battle, until now. The large group of vampires in front of him worried him. They, ofcourse, would first go for the three of them, and especially Maeryn was an interesting target, seeing as her gift can tamper with Bella's shield and destroy many vampires within seconds. She may even be a greater threat than his sister and him.
"Because it's all true," Aro told him calmly. His voice brought the two vampires back to their attention. "Every word of it. See how many witnesses stand ready to give evidence that they have seen this miraculous child grow and mature in just the short time they've known her. That they have felt the warmth of the blood that pulses in her veins." Aro's gesture swept from Amun on one side across to Siobhan on the other. Caius reacted oddly to Aro's soothing words, starting ever so slightly at the mention of witnesses. The anger drained from his features, replaced by a cold calculation. He glanced at the Volturi witnesses with an expression that looked vaguely... nervous. Maeryn glanced at the angry mob, too, and saw immediately that the description no longer applied. The frenzy for action had turned to confusion. Whispered conversations seethed through the crowd as they tried to make sense of what had happened. Maeryn quickly returned her attention back to the foes, anger rising up again. Cowards.
Caius was frowning, deep in thought. Maeryn saw Bella getting anxious and she inspected her shield, flexing it into a low, wide dome that arced over their company. Maeryn knew she could try and break her shield now, but decided against it. Maybe if Bella would get overconfident, she would eventually lower her shield a little, causing weak spots that Maeryn could break through. Maeryn followed every movement the shield made.
First, Bella pulled the elastic armor very carefully closer. Carlisle was the farthest forward; she sucked the shield back inch by inch, trying to wrap it as exactly to his body as she could. Her shield seemed to want to cooperate. It hugged his shape; when Carlisle shifted to the side to stand nearer to Tanya, the elastic stretched with him, drawn to his spark. Maeryn had to admit, she was quite fascinated by the shield, which made her even more angry. It seemed like hours, yet it had only been seconds. Caius was still deliberating. "The werewolves," he murmured at last. Bella seemed frightened for a moment, realizing that her shield did no longer cover the shape shifters, and drew the shield tighter in, until Amun and Kebi - the farthest edge of our group - were outside with the wolves. She edged outward again, but she only covered the Alpha. Their minds must have been interconnected, protecting all the wolves.
"Ah, brother...," Aro answered Caius's statement with a pained look. "Will you defend that alliance, too, Aro?" Caius demanded. "The Children of the Moon have been our bitter enemies from the dawn of time. We have hunted them to near extinction in Europe and Asia. Yet Carlisle encourages a familiar relationship with this enormous infestation - no doubt in an attempt to overthrow us. The better to protect his warped lifestyle."
Edward cleared his throat loudly and Caius glared at him. Aro placed one thin, delicate hand over his own face as if he was embarrassed for the other ancient. "Caius, it's the middle of the day," Edward pointed out. He gestured to Jacob. "These are not Children of the Moon, clearly. They bear no relation to your enemies on the other side of the world." "You breed mutants here," Caius spit back at him. Edward's jaw clenched and unclenched, then he answered evenly, "They aren't even werewolves. Aro can tell you all about it if you don't believe me." Maeryn could see the confusion on Bella's face as she shot a mystified look at Jacob. He lifted his huge shoulders and let them drop - a shrug. He didn't know what Edward was talking about, either. Poor things. They don't even know what they are themselves.
"Dear Caius, I would have warned you not to press this point if you had told me your thoughts," Aro murmured. "Though the creatures think of themselves as werewolves, they are not. The more accurate name for them would be shape-shifters. The choice of a wolf form was purely chance. It could have been a bear or a hawk or a panther when the first change was made. These creatures truly have nothing to do with the Children of the Moon. They have merely inherited this skill from their fathers. It's genetic - they do not continue their species by infecting others the way true werewolves do." Caius glared at Aro with irritation and something more - an accusation of betrayal, maybe.
"They know our secret," he said flatly. Edward looked about to answer this accusation, but Aro spoke faster. "They are creatures of our supernatural world, brother. Perhaps even more dependent upon secrecy than we are; they can hardly expose us. Carefully, Caius. Specious allegations get us nowhere." Caius took a deep breath and nodded. They exchanged a long, significant glance. Maeryn knew the instruction behind Aro's careful wording. False charges weren't helping convince the watching witnesses on either side; Aro was cautioning Caius to move on to the next strategy. Yes, Maeryn knew. Yet she wished something would occur that would start off the fight. Maeryn, however, wondered if the reason behind the apparent strain between the two ancients - Caius's unwillingness to share his thoughts with a touch - was that Caius didn't care about the show as much as Aro did. If the coming slaughter was so much more essential to Caius than an untarnished reputation.
"I want to talk to the informant," Caius announced abruptly, and turned his glare on Irina. Irina wasn't paying attention to Caius and Aro's conversation; her face was twisted in agony, her eyes locked on her sisters, lined up to die. It was clear on her face that she knew now her accusation had been totally false. Maeryn smiled, knowing very well that this was the moment where everything could turn around and the battle could start.
"Irina," Caius barked, unhappy to have to address her. She looked up, startled and instantly afraid. Caius snapped his fingers. Hesitantly, she moved from the fringes of the Volturi formation to stand in front of Caius again. "So you appear to have been quite mistaken in your allegations," Caius began. Tanya and Kate leaned forward anxiously. "I'm sorry," Irina whispered. "I should have made sure of what I was seeing. But I had no idea___" She gestured helplessly in the foe's direction.
"Dear Caius, could you expect her to have guessed in an instant something so strange and impossible?" Aro asked. "Any of us would have made the same assumption." Caius flicked his fingers at Aro to silence him. "We all know you made a mistake," he said brusquely. "I meant to speak of your motivations." Irina waited nervously for him to continue, and then repeated, "My motivations?" "Yes, for coming to spy on them in the first place." Irina flinched at the word spy. "You were unhappy with the Cullens, were you not?" She turned her miserable eyes to Carlisle's face. "I was," she admitted. "Because... ?" Caius prompted. "Because the werewolves killed my friend," she whispered. "And the Cullens wouldn't stand aside to let me avenge him." "The shape-shifters," Aro corrected quietly. "So the Cullens sided with the shape-shifters against our own kind - against the friend of a friend, even," Caius summarized. Maeryn felt a small smirk forming on her lips. She heard Edward make a disgusted sound under his breath.
Caius was ticking down his list, looking for an accusation that would stick. Irina's shoulders stiffened. "That's how I saw it." Caius waited again and then prompted, "If you'd like to make a formal complaint against the shape-shifters - and the Cullens for supporting their actions - now would be the time." He smiled a tiny cruel smile, waiting for Irina to give him his next excuse.
Irina's jaw jerked up, her shoulders squared. "No, I have no complaint against the wolves, or the Cullens. You came here today to destroy an immortal child. No immortal child exists. This was my mistake, and I take full responsibility for it. But the Cullens are innocent, and you have no reason to still be here. I'm so sorry," she said to the Cullens, and then she turned her face toward the Volturi witnesses. "There was no crime. There's no valid reason for you to continue here."
Caius raised his hand as she spoke, and in it was a strange metal object, carved and ornate. This was a signal. Maeryn smirk grew wider as she watched Irina with much interest. Alec gently wrapped an arm around Maeryn's waist, holding her back from her enthusiastic behavior. Though he felt the same excitement, years of training taught him to keep his emotions in line. Alec gently kissed the back of her head, calming her down almost immediately.
The response was so fast that we all stared in stunned disbelief while it happened. Before there was time to react, it was over. Three of the Volturi soldiers leaped forward, and Irina was completely obscured by their gray cloaks. In the same instant, a horrible metallic screeching ripped through the clearing. Caius slithered into the center of the gray melee, and the shocking squealing sound exploded into a startling upward shower of sparks and tongues of flame. The soldiers leaped back from the sudden inferno, immediately retaking their places in the guard's perfectly straight line. Caius stood alone beside the blazing remains of Irina, the metal object in his hand still throwing a thick jet of flame into the pyre.
With a small clicking sound, the fire shooting from Caius's hand disappeared. A gasp rippled through the mass of witnesses behind the Volturi. The foes were too aghast to make any noise at all. It was one thing to know that death was coming with fierce, unstoppable speed; it was another thing to watch it happen. Maeryn smile grew even further if possible. The foes knew what will happen and how easily their side would soon turn into ashes. The Volturi would once again win, no challenge was great enough.
Caius smiled coldly. "Now she has taken full responsibility for her actions." His eyes flashed to the foes front line, touching swiftly on Tanya's and Kate's frozen forms. Caius had never underestimated the ties of a true family. This was the ploy. He had not wanted Irina's complaint; he had wanted her defiance. His excuse to destroy her, to ignite the violence that filled the air like a thick, combustible mist. He had thrown a match. The strained peace of this summit already teetered more precariously than an elephant on a tightrope. Once the fight began, there would be no way to stop it. It would only escalate until one side was entirely extinct. Their side. Caius knew this. So did Edward. And so did Maeryn. She felt Alec releasing her waist, yet he still stood closely next her. He crouched down slightly, ready to attack as did Jane. Maeryn followed their movement and also crouched down, her hands infront of her, her energy ready to pulse out of her hands. Ready to take down that pathetic shield Bella created. Thinking her little family had a chance due it.
"Stop them!" Edward cried out, jumping to grab Tanya's arm as she lurched forward toward the smiling Caius with a maddened cry of pure rage. She couldn't shake Edward off before Carlisle had his arms locked around her waist. "It's too late to help her," he reasoned urgently as she struggled. "Don't give him what he wants!"
Kate was harder to contain. Shrieking wordlessly like Tanya, she broke into the first stride of the attack that would end with everyone's death. Rosalie was closest to her, but before Rosalie could clinch her in a headlock, Kate shocked her so violently that Rosalie crumpled to the ground. Emmett caught Kate's arm and threw her down, then staggered back, his knees giving out. Kate rolled to her feet, and it looked like no one could stop her.
Garrett flung himself at her, knocking her to the ground again. He bound his arms around hers, locking his hands around his own wrists. Maeryn saw his body spasm as she shocked him. Maeryn felt quite intrigued by Kate's gift, and knew she was someone Maeryn had to watch out for. Maeryn would need all her concentration on breaking Bella's shield, and needed no distraction by being attacked.
Garrett's eyes rolled back in his head, but his hold did not break. "Zafrina," Edward shouted. Kate's eyes went blank and her screams turned to moans. Tanya stopped struggling. "Give me my sight back," Tanya hissed. Desperately, but with all the delicacy I could manage, I pulled my shield even tighter against the sparks of my friends, peeling it back carefully from Kate while trying to keep it around Garrett, making it a thin skin between them. And then Garrett was in command of himself again, holding Kate to the snow.
"If I let you up, will you knock me down again, Katie?" he whispered. She snarled in response, still thrashing blindly. "Listen to me, Tanya, Kate," Carlisle said in a low but intense whisper. "Vengeance doesn't help her now. Irina wouldn't want you to waste your lives this way. Think about what you're doing. If you attack them, we all die." Tanya's shoulders hunched with grief, and she leaned into Carlisle for support. Kate was finally still. Carlisle and Garrett continued to console the sisters with words too urgent to sound like comfort.
However, Edward and everyone else besides Carlisle and Garrett were on their guard again. The heaviest glare came from Caius, staring with enraged disbelief at Kate and Garrett in the snow. Aro was watching the same two, incredulity the strongest emotion on his face.
He knew what Kate could do. He had felt her potency through Edward's memories. The Volturi guard no longer stood at disciplined attention - they were crouched forward, waiting to spring the counterstrike the moment the foes attacked. Behind them, forty-three witnesses watched with very different expressions than the ones they'd worn entering the clearing. Confusion had turned to suspicion. The lightning-fast destruction of Irina had shaken them all.
Without the immediate attack that Caius had counted on to distract from his rash act, the Volturi witnesses were left questioning exactly what was going on here. Aro glanced back swiftly, his face betraying him with one flash of vexation. His need for an audience had backfired badly. Maeryn heard the two Romanian vampires, Stefan and Vladimir murmur to each other in quiet glee at Aro's discomfort. Maeryn growled slightly. The witnesses where cowards, and once the Volturi had put an end to the Cullens, they would also put an end to the betrayers. Demetri would hunt them until they were extinct, too.
Aro was obviously concerned with keeping his white hat, as the Romanians had put it. Aro touched Caius's shoulder lightly. "Irina has been punished for bearing false witness against this child. Perhaps we should return to the matter at hand?" Caius straightened, and his expression hardened into unreadability. He stared forward, seeing nothing. His face reminded Maeryn, oddly, of a person who'd just learned he'd been demoted.
Aro drifted forward, Renata, Felix, and Demetri automatically moving with him. "Just to be thorough," he said, "I'd like to speak with a few of your witnesses. Procedure, you know." He waved a hand dismissively. And when those words had been spoken, Maeryn smirked. Knowing very well that the battle everyone had been longing for, would occur shortly.