I'll be home for Christmas

Chapter 28

Chapter 28 - I'll be home for Christmas

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe [ruadh sidhe] and Feebes86 for betaing and pre-reading.

Meanwhile in Volterra.

The early morning sun streamed in the long narrow window slits of the round castle turret room. The three enormous wooden thrones were occupied, but the rest of the room was devoid of the usual immortal attendants and acolytes. Two of the seated men had long flowing black hair and the third had a head of snow white hair that fell to his shoulders. It almost matched the lightness of his face. They were all very old vampires and the hard marble of their skin had taken on a paper thin quality.

The Volturi council was in session.

Marcus retained his almost permanent expression of utter boredom. Caius, the lighter haired one, looked sour and annoyed.

Aro, who usually found amusement in everything, was not amused by the hunt for Bella Swan. "I was going to send the lovely Bella this necklace." He waved an enormous thick-chained gold necklace with a diamond the size of an egg as the central ornament.

"We know… you told us," Marcus intoned dryly.

"No wedding, no present," Aro piped.

"No vampire," Marcus pointed out. "No chance to insist on their tribute."

Aro made a fluttering gesture with his hand. "And no contact since that rude letter from our old friend Carlisle to say the wedding was canceled."

"They have probably moved on from Forks. We do tend to insist on frequent changes of locale," Marcus said.

"Except for us," Caius pointed out. His eyes were held half closed and he looked like a lizard basking in the sunlight.

"Of course," Aro said. The Volturi had resided in Volterra since medieval times. "Still no word from Demetri?"

Nobody answered him which was answer enough.

Aro was a little concerned, Demetri had to be convinced to join the Volturi, but that was a long time ago. He was a member of the Egyptian coven run by Amun. They were bonded and had worked extensively on improving his tracking ability. Amun should have known better than to have a tracker more skilled than Aro's. Aro declared war on the Egyptian coven and he used the Guard member Chelsea (whose skills were in breaking and re-forming emotional bonds) to break Amun and Demetri's link. When he had defeated them, he left only Amun and Kebe alive. You always have to have survivors to spread the story of your overwhelming defeat.

Chelsea was Aro's most powerful and useful asset and had been with him many years. Most vampires had no idea what she did or how Aro used it to his advantage. She was the power that kept the guard unified and the coven functional.

Distance from Chelsea meant Aro could not know if Demetri's loyalty wavered and he could not use one of his other favorites, Corin to make him feel contentment at staying with them. Like most drugs, Corin's power had a side effect; when people were not exposed to it for a long period of time they went through withdrawal and felt physically uncomfortable. Demetri had been away and alone for too long.

He should send someone else to Forks to investigate. Someone he could afford to lose. "Send Santiago to Forks," he announced.

"Why?" Caius growled.