Red Room ₪ Breaking Dawn Fanfiction

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐈𝐬 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐔𝐬 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐬

Chapter Thirteen — 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐈𝐬 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐔𝐬 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐬

I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naïve or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman.
—Anaïs Nin

"She did what?" I shouted before I could stop myself. My entire body trembled as fury surged through my chest like a lightning strike.

Eleazar was beside me in an instant, gripping my shoulders as if he could physically contain the energy building inside me. "Althea, please—calm down."

"Jasper, a little help," he called over his shoulder.

I barely heard him. The blood was roaring in my ears.

Alice's voice cut through the haze. "She decided to go to them," she said quietly. "Irina went to the Volturi. And now... they'll decide. It's as if they were just waiting. Like they already knew what they were going to do. Irina was just the final piece."

A heavy silence fell over the room. The Cullens and their guests stood frozen, the air saturated with tension and dread. I could feel the chill settle deep in my bones.

Irina... going to them. My stomach churned with disgust and disbelief. I couldn't wrap my head around it. I couldn't stop shaking.

My voice cracked. "All of this... because the boys killed her boyfriend? Because he tried to kill my cousin?"

No one answered. There wasn't much to say, not when the truth was that brutal.

Edward spoke up, his voice low and grim. "Aro has seen Irina's proof in her thoughts. They're not coming to listen. They're coming to destroy."

The room fell into another stunned silence.

I clenched my fists. My nails dug into my palms, grounding me just enough not to scream.

"What can we do?" I asked, although I didn't expect an answer. It was rhetorical. Desperate.

But Emmett answered anyway. "We fight," he said simply, as if we were talking about a pickup game of football, not a battle with the most dangerous coven in existence.

"We can't win," Jasper snapped. His arms were crossed, jaw tense.

Emmett scoffed. "We can't run. Not with Demetri around."

That name made my spine crawl. The Volturi tracker. Unrelenting. Unbeatable.

Emmett continued, "And I don't know that we can't win. We've got some options. We don't have to fight alone."

That made me look up.

"No," I said sharply. "We are not sentencing the Quileutes to death, Emmett."

He lifted his hands in mock surrender. "Chill, Althea. I didn't mean the pack."

He had that same look in his eyes I'd seen before he jumped into a nest of newborns like it was a bar brawl, excited. Invincible. Even now, staring down death, Emmett was thrilled by the challenge. I wanted to slap him.

"Be realistic," he went on. "Do you really think Jacob or Sam is going to ignore an invasion? Even if it wasn't about Bella?"

That shut me up. Because he was right. They'd come. Even if I begged them not to. They'd show up for Bella. They'd show up for me. For all of us.

"And now Aro knows about our alliance with the pack," Emmett said with a bitter edge. "Thanks to Irina."

He turned back to the group. "But I was thinking of our other friends. Nomads. Old allies."

Carlisle whispered the words before I could. "Other friends we don't have to sentence to death."

Emmett nodded. "Let them choose. I'm not saying they have to fight. If they just stand with us, if we can make the Volturi hesitate, even for a second that might be all it takes. Just long enough for them to listen."

His voice was calm, his eyes sharp. And suddenly, I understood. He wasn't chasing a fight. He was chasing time.

Esme's voice was soft and hopeful. "That makes sense, Emmett. All we need is for the Volturi to pause. Just long enough."

"We'd need a lot of witnesses," Rosalie said coldly. Her voice was as brittle as glass.

Esme, as always, didn't rise to the hostility. "We can ask that much. Just to witness."

"We'd do it for them," Emmett said.

"They'll have to be shown carefully," Alice murmured, her voice distant again. Her eyes had gone dark.

"Shown?" Jasper echoed.

Alice didn't answer right away. She stared through the room like she was already gone.

"Siobhan's coven," she whispered. "Amun's. Garrett and Mary. Maybe Alistair."

Jasper stiffened beside her. "Peter and Charlotte?"

"Maybe."

Carlisle stepped forward. "The Amazons? Zafrina, Senna, and Kachiri?"

Alice shuddered and looked away. "I can't see."

Edward was on edge now. "What do you mean?"

Alice didn't look at him. "That part of the jungle... it's clouded. I can't see it."

Edward's frown deepened, and silence settled again. Tension was thick in the air like fog.

"We'll have to split up," he said finally. "We need to get to them now, before the snow sticks. Bring them here. Make them see."

Alice blinked, then again, her eyes clearing but still distant. "There's so much. We have to hurry."

"Alice?" Edward's voice was tight with concern. "That was too fast—what did you see?"

"I need to speak to the pack," I said abruptly.

Everyone looked at me.

"Althea, you're not seriously thinking of fighting, are you?" Carmen asked, her brows drawn in concern.

"Yes. I am," I said.

"But you're in no condition—"

"I'm an elder," I snapped. "There's no way in hell I'm letting the pack face the Volturi alone. No offense to any of you, but that's not happening."

"Althea, I don't think that's a wise decision," Carlisle said gently.

I turned slowly to face him. Something cold and sharp twisted inside me.

"I'm not taking advice from the man who allowed his vampire son to pursue a human girl, knowing damn well it would lead to this. You knew what the Volturi would do. And now Bella doesn't even want this life. She doesn't want to be one of you anymore."

I took a deep breath and stared him down. "And you will respect that decision. Because if the Volturi don't destroy you—I will."

Dead silence.

One by one, I met their eyes. Cullen by Cullen. No one spoke.

And then I turned and walked out of that house.

"She's not bluffing," Kate said softly behind me. "Althea is capable of anything she sets her mind to."

The air outside was cold and sharp, and it slapped my cheeks like truth. My heart was thundering, but my steps were sure. There was no more room for fear.

We had hours. Maybe days.

And I would spend every one of them preparing to fight.