Redshift by Ashlynn Chantrea (love books to read txt) đ
- Author: Ashlynn Chantrea
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âI havenât met your associate. Another of the upper echelon of the Volturi?â I said to Jane. Then I looked at the mysterious vampire, âAnd what do you do for Aro?â
âI have a talent forâŠfinding things.â A smug smile pulled at the corners of his mouth, âI know where youâre hiding them.â
A tracker. Worse, a supernatural tracker. He didnât need their scent to find them. He used an extra sense to locate those he was seeking.
âIt doesnât matter.â I lied. âTheyâre being protected.â
They snickered softly.
âYou have no idea what youâre up against.â I said, trying my hand at bluffing.
âI know exactly what we will be up against.â Jane corrected me.
âYou only think you do. And that was your problem, Jane. Your arrogance. Youâre a soldier, not a teacher. Theyâre learning, growing more powerful every second. You donât stand a chance against them. Now that they know they can beat you.â As I said each word, it began to feel like the truth. They would survive, I could feel it.
I felt Jane try to use her power on me.
I shook my head, âSo pathetic.â
She bared her teeth at me, a shriek of rage erupting from her throat. I could feel her trying harder. It wasnât changing anything, I still wasnât affected, but I could sense the increase in intensity.
âWould it make you feel better if I said, âow, ow. Oh, the pain?ââ I said without inflection.
âFelix!â She snapped. âDemetri! Finish this.â
Two at once. This would test my focus and speed. They moved in opposite directions, trying to attack from opposite sides. They moved together, each springing at me at the exact same moment. I anticipated Felixâs strength and eagerness for revenge. His leap was much higher and faster than Demetriâs. I moved quickly, sinking low to the ground and ducking under Felix. He landed with his back to me. I didnât hesitate. I jumped at him, pulling his head to the side with both hands and biting down on his neck. His head ripped free with a quick metallic screech.
I threw his head as hard as I could into the trees. Theyâd have to search for it later. His body went limp and fell at my feet.
Demetri hadnât been fazed by his associate being decapitated. He was already coming at me. I couldnât avoid his grasp. I did, reach for him as well. Jane joined him, coming from behind. She was on my back, lips at my ear.
âIâll enjoy watching you burn.â She murmured.
I braced, waiting for the end.
It surprised me when she let go. She crumpled to the ground, along with Demetri. They had their hands clamped down on their ears.
I looked up. Zephyr was standing at the edge of clearing, glaring at the two soldier lying on the ground.
Rain and Meadow quickly ran to my side.
âAre you okay? Rain asked.
âWe have a problem.â I said, looking down at Demetri.
âWhat is it?â Asked Meadow.
I didnât waste time explaining. I bent down and decapitated Demetri. I slung his body over my shoulder and carried his head in my hand.
âKeeping a souvenir?â Rain asked. She looked a little disturbed.
âWe need to get back.â I told her flatly.
We sprinted over to Zephyr and then we appeared on the Cullenâs doorstep. Rain, Zephyr and Meadow didnât inquire about the body I was carrying, but they looked nervous. They walked into the house ahead of me.
In an instant, everyone was there.
âWhere should I put him?â I asked Carlisle. I dropped him on the floor, careful to keep his head far from his body.
âWhy did you bring him here?â He asked.
âHe can find our families. He already knows where they are although I donât think he told the others. They were expecting him to lead them there.â I answered.
âHow does he know?â Laney asked.
âTracking is his gift. He can sense others purely in his mind and follow them to wherever theyâre hiding.â Edward told them.
âIt was too risky to leave him there.â
âWe need to destroy him.â Jasper said.
âWait!â Carlisle said with a tone of urgency.
âWe donât have a choice, Carlisle.â Edward agreed with his brother.
âWe do.â I interjected, âWe can keep him incapacitated like this until we know that we canât avoid a fight. If this can be negotiated peacefully, weâll return him. If not, we burn him. One less to worry about.â
âNo!â Bianca protested, âWe should destroy him now.â
âHeâs a risk to our families. They canât defend themselves. We have to protect them.â Laney agreed.
âIt will be a declaration of war. There will be no way around it, if we do this.â
âThey declared war the second they started building an army to destroy us.â Jasper snapped.
âYou think youâve got it bad?â Pim raised his voice. I was mildly shocked by the anger in his tone, âThey consider us traitors!â
âYeah!â Hector snarled, âThis isnât just about you anymore!â
âWe didnât ask for this!â Bianca joined in, her tone just as biting as the others.
I was angry too. Livid, in fact. But it didnât feel right. It didnât make sense. Jasperâs anger was justified. We were a part of an army meant to kill him and those he loved. Sure, we had been dragged into the middle of it but the Cullens hadnât asked for this either. I focused the reasonable part of my brain before joining the increasingly heated discussion.
âStop!â I yelled. Every quieted. âWe all have a right to be angry and we are all involved now. It doesnât matter how it started, weâre in this together.â
âYou donât know what heâs capable of.â Edward said to me.
âThis is our fight.â Jasper said. âWe know them. Weâve faced them before. This is our decision.â
âI wonât stop you, if you choose to burn him. But I donât want to be a part of it. Not if thereâs another way.â
âAdam is right.â Carlisle said firmly, âWe do not kill needlessly.â
His family reluctantly agreed to wait. We moved his body to one side of the room, out of the way, and his head was moved to Carlisleâs study. I followed him there. He had an impressive collection of books and art. I saw his likeness painted in one of the pictures.
âNice use of color.â I murmured as I examined the painting more closely.
âThose three are the head of the Volturi.â He replied. âAro, Caius and Marcus.â
Our enemy.
He told me of his history with them. He was explicit in his details. Two out of three of the top Volturi were gifted. Poor Caius. It had to anger him to be less powerful than the others. Aro was at the top of the pyramid, the mastermind. No one did anything without consulting him first.
Aro sounded like an intellectual. He was cold and calculating but didnât want to appear so. He was very fond of his reputation. He had spent centuries building this empire, policing the vampire world. His laws were simple, and justice was swift. He didnât show mercy unless it suited him. He had collected his gifted army over the centuries, taking a few every couple hundred years. And he needed everyone to see him as fair when he passed judgment. That made this army I had been drafted into completely out of character for him. It violated his own rules. I wouldnât put it past him, based on what Iâd heard, to build an army of gifted soldiers using Pim to create new loyal vampires. But he would have been inconspicuous about it. He would have done it slowly, over hundreds of years. This move was far too fast to be his. But who else could orchestrate this?
Marcus sounded unmotivated. Carlisle told me of Didyme, Marcusâs mate. He hadnât been the same since her death. He had apparently become bored with this life. He did nothing unless pushed to by Aro or Caius. He wasnât the one pulling the strings here or anywhere else for that matter.
Caius, on the other hand, was impulsive and rash. He had pushed to send a battalion to check on Bella before she had been changed only months after first meeting her. According to Edward, he disliked Aro using his ability to read his mind and refused to touch him. He resented Aro for taking control of the Volturi instead of allowing all three to have an equal share of authority.
To me, that last piece of information was the most telling. Caius was most likely the one who had started this, given Felix the idea of building an army using Pim. It fit. He couldnât start taking vampires that already existed because that kind of news would make it to Aroâs ears. And Aro would most likely investigate something like that. But changing humans you knew would become gifted vampires could be done inconspicuously; what did vampires care if a bunch of humans went missing? So, he plans to build his own army, all with supernatural abilities; but why? Was it just a matter of revenge? Did he see their last encounter as an embarrassment? Or was there more to it? Could he actually be staging a coup dâĂ©tat? And if he was, what would Aro do with this information?
âI might have found a way to end this peacefully.â I announced. Everyone was gathered in the living room. My family looked at me with hope in their eyes. They really trusted my judgment. The Cullens looked doubtful. To be expected, I suppose.
I explained my theory, my reasoning. No one really argued. Edward and Carlisle stared at each other with pensive expressions. They were looking for flaws in my logic. I didnât wait for them to find any.
âI plan to go to Aro, present him with this information in exchange for the freedom of the drafted Volturi soldiers and a truce with the Cullen family. We all walk away, no war and no plans for any future aggression.â I said, keeping my eyes mostly on Carlisle and his family.
âHe only pretends to be a pillar of justice and peace.â Alice said. âHe wonât give up what he wants. Heâs just going to wait for another opportunity and declare war then.â
âAnd he wonât tell you as much. Heâll speak eloquently of his desire for peace and never meaning to be the villain. But itâs all a lie. Heâs far more interested in acquisition than peace.â Edward added.
âBut not at the risk of his reputation.â I qualified, âLook, we havenât broken any of his rules. He doesnât have cause to come after us. His own guards, his own brother has violated his law. With the possibility of Caius being a traitor, and an army being built by his guards, right under his nose, I think he might be too distracted to be calculating at that moment. I move quickly, I give him all the information at once and make my demands right then. Heâll be so caught up in the drama of the ones he trusts betraying him that he might slip up. He might even be grateful, especially if Caius is the one behind all this. Can you imagine if he reads Caiusâs plans to overthrow him right from his head? I see things getting pretty
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