You belong to me. [Alec Volturi love story]

22. Ospiti

I step away from Alec a little bit, but still feel his hand on my waist. The leaders and the other guards look bewildered, astonished and inimical. All of their golden eyes follow the flow of my voice and ram into my petite figure. I observe as Alice’s expression changes from concerned and scared to relieved and glad. She smiles widely, lets out a joyful sigh, quickly takes of her silky rose scarf and runs straight at me and Alec.

I step forward and catch her in my embrace as she gathers me in her arms and squeezes my petite body. A shaky laugh escapes her lips as the other four vampires: Carlisle, Edward, Emmet and Jasper, let out a relieved gasps.

“You’re alive! Thank god, you’re alive!” She smiles once more. I look at her taken aback.

“Well, as alive as a dead person can be.” I chuckle nervously. Alice is forced to let go of me. Alec grabs her arms, pushes her away and stands in front of me protectively. This earns him a slap on his arm from me. The lovely girl growls at my mate but, not wanting to cause trouble, takes a step back and sends me a gorgeous and loving smile.

“What is the meaning of this?” Caius finally regains his usual self, stands up from his throne angrily and glares menacingly at my newly arrived family members. The guards surround the guests and take a protective stance, ready to fight. Carlisle steps in front of his children trying to explain himself.

“I apologize for this unexpected and shocking visit.” He says calmly. “But we thought that we were going to be too late.”

“Too late? For what?” Caius spits venomously and gets interrupted by Aro.

“Carlisle, what a lovely surprise!” The leader laughs joyfully, stands up from his throne and climbs down one step after another. “Unexpected, rude, delightful yet frightening surprise! You are always welcome here.” He says precariously. You don’t need to think twice to realize that his words are a complete lie. His blood red eyes observe the members of the Olympic coven with slight disgust.

“Aro, my friend, we have brought horrible, frightening news and came here as soon as Alice witnessed the vision.” He tries to sound collected but I can see fear and nervousness through his armor of calmness. At the sound of a vision, all the attention from the members of the Volturi falls on a beautiful, pixie girl standing in front of me.

“What could possibly make you think that we would care?” Caius spits his venom out and eyes everyone with a conceited glimmer in his burgundy eyes. “This is not of our concern. How dare you intrude our chambers with no invitation? It seems like you are asking for an execution!” He keeps blabbering nonsense that no one seems to care about at this point. I only roll my eyes and notice a weary expression cover Aro’s countenance. A small feeling of sympathy appears as I realize that Aro had to deal with this annoying blonde for almost three thousand years.

“You have my sincerest apologizes, but this is no ordinary thing, Caius. It involves not only our coven but also yours. We could waste the time and explain, but it would be better to show you.” Carlisle’s words seem to shut the blonde’s chatter box and he looks angrily at his dark haired brother. Aro, on the other hand, listens to his old friend and outstretches a hand towards Alice.

“Come , my dear. You have made me very intrigued.” He casts a fake and gruesome smile as always and observes as Alice retreats from me, with a quick smile, and quickly walks to him.

Without a hesitation she takes of the bright silky glove and puts her small palm into his as Aro closes his eyes and concentrates. For a few moments the hall becomes silent as graveyard as a thick layer of anxiety and fear descends upon our heads. I can see the leader’s face expression change from a happy and childish to shocked and macabre.

I feel gentle hands wrap around my waist lovingly and a small kiss linger on the back of my head. It takes away the nervousness and replaces it with safety. I softly grab my mate’s hand in mine and give all of my attention to my leader. Aro looks into Alice’s eyes with fear and obscurity then quickly drops her arm and turns away from all of us. He steps a few meters closer to the thrones and seems to be in a deep thought.

“Well, brother? What is it?” The annoying voice that belongs to Caius rings through the hall and rips the silence into pieces. Aro keeps quiet and we listen to the last notes of the smug voice ring off of the pillars surrounding us. I wait patiently, but bite my lip out of nervousness. Suddenly, Aro lifts his head and turns to us. His expression is something I have never seen before. Serious, uneasy and even paler than usual.

“Guardiano, ci lasciano in una sola volta.” He whispers silently and all the guards, except Alec, Demetri and Jane, although they don’t want to, listen to their master and leave the hall without a word. As soon as the marble throne room becomes almost empty he eyes Alice. “Do you know who they are?” The leader’s voice brings coldness to my spine and I bite my lip even harder.

“No. This is all I saw.” Alice says weakly. “And I have to admit, I have never seen anything like it.” She takes an unneeded breath. “I had seen visions of shape shifters before. They were blurry, without an accurate sequence, I couldn’t clearly see anyone that was involved with the event. But this… This is.. Something else.”

“We have encountered a lot of visions of shape shifters and even visions of vampires, who have and ability to manipulate Alice’s gift, but we were able to distinguish the cause of a strange images. We could find a hint, a chink in the manipulation process so we were able to ascertain the attacker.” After a long period of staying quiet and observing, Edward steps forward with an uncertainty in his voice. “This time we can’t seem to find any mistakes.”

“Worse.” Emmet growls lowly. “The vision repeats.” I hold in a gasp as my eyes widen.

“I witnessed the vision about seven hours ago. As soon as I did we rushed to get here as soon as possible. During that time I saw the vision four more times.” Alice explains as her angelic voice reaches our ears. “The sequence of the vision is the same every time, nothing changes. This frightens me… As if.. “ The lovely girl stops herself painfully trying to find the corrects words “As if we won’t be able to change the future no matter what we do..” I feel Alec’s hands tighten around me as he pulls me closer into his safe and loving embrace.

Yet again a deadly silence fills the marble hall and surrounds the frightened vampires standing in the middle of it. A quick flash of blonde hair catches me from the corner of my eye as I see Caius gripping Aro’s hand tightly.

“Aro. Brother. Speak.” Caius says sternly and this time I agree with the fair haired leader. Aro glides his eyes to his brother and straightens his posture.

“An army.” He states coldly. “An army is coming for us.”  A wave of shock hits everyone as they finally grasp the true meaning of the words that have just been said and are still ringing of the marble pillars. A burning sensation flows through my chest as the unneeded air fills my lungs. “And if the fate takes the course of the vision, there will be only one ending for us..” Aro looks at his coven with sorrow and despair.

“Annihilation.”