Witches prefer twilight | Seth Clearwater

Chapter 22 "Volterra"

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I closed my eyes, leaning back against the soft back of the seat as the scenery outside the window kept changing—from tall snow-capped mountains to vast green fields.
After five hours alone with my thoughts, I seemed to finally grasp the full importance of this visit. The new aspects of the peace treaty had long been discussed with Alessandra and Franco. But how would it all actually unfold? They would see me and... then what? Capture me and lock me up in the castle again? No. That was nonsense. First of all, I was traveling on a diplomatic mission, and the Volturi—cruel as they were—respected the law. They would come up with an explanation for why they had kept me there; most likely, they already had. In any case, I wasn't interested in what they would say. Everything was long in the past, and I was a completely different person now. Let them fear how I would react when I saw their pale vampire faces. I smiled faintly.

Behind the lowered partition of the business-class cabin, I could be completely certain that neither attendants nor other passengers would disturb me. A two-hour layover awaited me in Naples, and then another train to the city of Syracuse. I was dressed in black jeans and a dark-blue hooded cloak—a travel version of the more formal ceremonial mantle of the North. I carried only a small leather bag with me, inside which I had hidden a dagger; I clearly wouldn't need many belongings in this heat.

I had already informed Victor that I would be visiting him, and he had reacted with genuine delight. I couldn't wait to look into his onyx eyes again. Of course, I hadn't expected him to be lenient toward me for no reason, but a blow like that... That was low even for him. I forced myself to relax for a moment.

Something happened.

A flash. A sharp headache. The crystal on my chest nearly burned through my skin. I reflexively reached for it and squeezed my eyes shut even tighter, not understanding what was happening. I couldn't open my eyes—I was blinded by bright light and a rapid succession of shifting images. I had experienced visions before, but only during training with Morgana—not the future, but the past. Now it was different. I wasn't controlling it. I had simply been plugged in, made a spectator, an uninvited guest inside someone else's mind.

Alice.

For the first time in a long while, I spoke her name in my thoughts.

Another flash. I clenched the armrest. Bella's image appeared before me. A cliff. A jump. Darkness. Cold washed over me. Then Edward in some kind of favela. Rosalie. Then Edward again, under bright sunlight—and darkness once more. I knew what it meant. The crystal had somehow linked my mind with Alice's. I was seeing what she was seeing right now.

Bella was dead. And Edward was close to it.

"No, no, no," I whispered, rubbing the bridge of my nose. "Idiot, you can't do this."

But I knew he could. Everything around me now—everything I had done over the past six months, everything that had led me to the life I was living—pointed to one thing. He could. And he would. Soon.

The feeling was impossible to put into words. As if, for the first time, I felt real fear—not a shadow of it, not a premonition, but genuine, pure terror. I let out a quiet growl. I had left, erased every trace of my existence, convinced myself that without me they were safe, that I was nothing to them now—so why did I care? Why couldn't I treat them with the same cold indifference I had lived with all this time?

But there was no point in useless questions anymore. Only facts remained. Edward was going to Volterra. Edward would die. Most likely, Alice was already on her way after him. My plans changed instantly. It seemed I would have to skip the stop in Sicily. I would go straight to Volterra.