Starless Night (A Twilight/Stranger Things Fan Fiction)

Chapter 14: Volterra

When we arrive in Volterra, the city is bright and hot and empty.

The clouds rimming the horizon are lined in the red of the angry setting sun. They're not clouds, not really—they're smoke from the little fires raging, unkempt, all over the world. Nothing is kept in check in this world anymore, at least not by humans. We haven't crossed paths with a single scent that smelled human, and so far, we haven't crossed another vampire, either, with the exception of Demetri's scent, which disappeared once we'd followed it to the edge of the East coast. It took us only a day and a half, and once we were sure we couldn't follow the scent instead, we hunted down a plane (which Alice finagled with until it suited her wishes) and flew to Italy.

And now we are here.

I'd noticed, since I arrived in this alternate world, that the creatures seem to have no interest in us. It's the same here—they snoop in doorways, lie in fountains, but they slink lazily away when they catch our scents, as if they were as disgusted with our scent as werewolves are.

None of us speaks as we move through the streets toward the building where we know the Volturi to be hidden. It's only when we reach it that Alice makes a small, strangled sound in her throat.

As I gaze at it, I feel a hollow sinking feeling in my stomach. The balm of Jasper's false calm slips away.

The building in front of us—obviously, it was grand once, but not anymore. Because now, it is nothing but rubble—collapsed pillars and sunken, smoldering walls.

For a long moment, all of us are still. Then, not sure how it happened, I find myself on my knees.

"Bella's not here," I say, hollowly.

"No," Alice repeats, and in her thoughts, I hear the question I know all the rest of us want to ask. If not here, where?

Where are the Volturi?

In the silence, broken only by the faint crackle of embers deep in the heap of ash that used to be the Volturi's home, I turn around. Alice meets my eyes. She looks like, if she could, she would cry.

Jasper takes a few steps toward her, like he wants to comfort her, but she holds up her hand. "I have to think, Jazz," she says.

I feel my hands curl into fists. "If we cannot find the Volturi," I begin, "how are we supposed to find Bella?"

Alice holds my gaze unblinkingly. If we're going to find Bella, she thinks, I have to be able to see.

I shake my head. "We can't waste time on that, Alice. We have to act."

"She's not going to die," Alice argues. "They won't kill her—they need a constant blood supply. So they have to keep her alive."

"Along with however many other dispensable humans they've been drinking from since the seventies," I growl. "You can't know—you can't see, Alice."

Exactly. I can't see. And if I could, we wouldn't be having this problem.

"How are you supposed to re-learn your sight, Alice? What are we supposed to do while you figure it out? Wait?"

Jasper shoots me a warning look, but I will not back down now. Not when Bella is what's at stake.

How had this happened? I scrambled for a moment, in my mind, for purchase. How had luck so bad befallen Bella? Why did she have to be a victim of the cracks between our world and this one? Mistake after mistake. I never should have taken her out to the forest. I never should have tried to leave her.

I would give my life to hold her in my arms and know she was safe again. I would give up the whole damn world, the good version of it, to those creatures, just to know where she was right now.

"If you want to chase something so futile, then by all means, do. But I can not wait for you to find her. I have to look for her. I do not care where I have to go or how long I have to search, and I do not care if you all make me do it on my own. I can't sit here and wait, not knowing if she's alive, not knowing how much pain she may be in—" my voice broke. "I have to look for her. So, are you coming with me or not?"

Everyone is silent—Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Esme, Rosalie.

Emmett steps forward first, to my surprise. His thoughts almost match mine in ferocity, though the emotions behind my fierceness, I can tell from Jasper's mind, are different. His reaction now is similar to his reaction to James when we hunted him last Fall. He sees Bella as a sister.

"I'll understand if you don't join us, Rosalie," Emmett says, "but I agree with Edward."

Esme steps forward too. Her brows are creased in sympathy.

"I want to help you, Edward," she says. "Because I know you love Bella."

I nod in gratitude.

Rosalie walks to Emmett's side, and I know it's only because of him—because of Emmett—that she joins us. I can see it in her thoughts—her only worry is for Emmett's safety.

Jasper moves to Alice's side. He will do whatever she does.

I know this is where we split up. I don't like it—I know that if Carlisle were here, he would urge us to reconsider. But I am not Carlisle. I don't have his level head—certainly not when the only thing I can think of is Bella.

"When I can see," Alice says—emphasizing the when—"I will join you, and I'll help you find Bella." She doesn't break my gaze. "This is the only thing I know that can help her. I love her too, Edward. I will do everything in my power to find her. Don't doubt I am just as driven as you in this."

I don't answer. Even knowing her thoughts, even seeing the depth of her conviction, I can't see how hers could be as powerful as mine.

"I suppose this is where we part," I say.

"I suppose it is," Alice says.

We don't give each other any more farewell than that. I watch Alice and Jasper walk away, presumably to find someplace in this broken city to stay until Alice can relearn her sight.

And as desperate as I am to find Bella, I hope that she succeeds.