Honeybee

Chapter Thirty-One~Vote

Chapter Thirty-One: End of New Moon
Vote
Elizabeth Cullen
Forks, Washington. March, 2006.

"Well." Bella paused, swallowing nervously now that she was in the spotlight. "I'm hoping that Alice and Elizabeth have already told you all everything that happened in Volterra?"

"Everything." Alice assured her.

"And on the way?" Bella stressed, referring to Alice's near-promise to change Bella herself.

"That, too." Alice nodded.

"Good." Bella sighed heavily in relief. "Then we're all on the same page."

"Oh? I doubt that very much." I giggled lightly, observing Edwards' obvious displeasure over the coming argument. "We're certainly all informed of the situation, yes."

"So, then I have a problem." Bella began again. "Alice, Elizabeth, and Carlisle all promised the Volturi that I would become one of you. They're going to send someone to check, and I'm sure that's a bad thing, something to avoid. So, now, this involves you all. I'm really sorry about that." She paused, glancing around the room with such a meaningful expression on her face that I was suddenly desperate to know what she was thinking. "But, if you don't want me, then I'm not going to force myself on you, whether some are willing to or not."

"Bella-"

"Please, let me finish." She cut me off quickly. "You all know what I want. And I'm sure you know what Edward thinks, too. I think the only fair way to decide is for everyone to have a vote. If you decide you don't want me, then I guess I'll go back to Italy alone. I can't have them coming here." Bella somehow ignored the rude growl from Edwards chest at that statement and continued on. "Taking into account, then, that I won't put any of you in danger either way, I want you to vote yes or no on the issue of me becoming a vampire." She smiled lithely before turning to my husband.

"Just a minute." Edward intercepted her efforts. "I have something to add before we vote."

Edythe and I both sighed at Edward, eliciting a soft giggle from the both of us. It thrilled me to no end that we seemed to be learning each other so quickly.

"About the danger Bella's referring to," Edward continued on. "I don't think we need to be overly anxious. You see," he explained, looking around the table while he spoke, "there was more than one reason why I didn't want to shake Aro's hand there at the end. There's something they didn't think of, and I didn't want to clue them in." He grinned mischievously.

"That grin is the very same one I knew meant trouble when you were a boy!" I interjected. "Nothing good comes from that look."

"Funny, I've got a smile quite like it that means the exact same thing." Edythe smirked. "What's your genius reckoning, brother?" She toyed with him playfully.

"The Volturi are overconfident, and with good reason. When they decide to find someone, it's not really a problem. Do you remember Demetri?" Edward glanced down at Bella. "He finds people, that's his talent, why they keep him." He explained after she had nodded. "Now, the whole time we were with any of them, I was picking their brains for anything that might save us, getting as much information as possible. I'm sure you were doing the same thing, Mom. So, I saw how Demetri's talent works. He's a tracker, a tracker a thousand times more gifted than James was. His ability is loosely related to what Mom and I do, or what Aro does. He catches the...flavor? I don't know how to describe it."

"The tenor, their mental tone of voice." I chimed in.

"Yes, that works well, the tenor, of someone's mind, and then he follows that. It works over immense distances. But, after Aro's little experiments, well..." Edward shrugged.