Chapter 16: Transitions

Alice walked through the large mahogany doors, dragged her duffel bag across the floor of the entrance hallway and collapsed on the nearest couch, staring up at the glass ceiling, able to see the branches of a nearby tree and focusing on a single bird that was crawling up and down a thin branch. She sighed to herself; it was all she could do to keep from crying. Cairo was a mistake. No, that wasn't a mistake. Going to Volterra to look for Jane was a mistake. No, no, the mistake didn't start there, she thought lazily to herself. It started with going to Volterra to escape Jasper, in the very beginning. That was a mistake. The whole Jane situation was a mistake.

"Hey..."

It was Rosalie. Alice let out a deep breathe that she had held in. She knew she wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone but she didn't have the heart to shun her away. It was all just a fucked up situation but there was nothing that Alice could do about it, anymore. It was over. It was done. She let out a great sigh.

"Hey, Rosalie," Alice said as she sat up on the couch and patted the seat, motioning for Rosalie to sit aside her.

"Are you okay?" Rosalie asked, her worried look was almost unbearable for Alice to look at. She really needed to tell her. It wasn't right to keep her in the dark like that.

"No, I'm not…"Alice began, toying with her hands and she felt Rosalie's hand fall on her shoulder. It was a soothing touch and it prompted Alice to continue on, "I've… I….."

Tears began to stream down Alice's face as she struggled to find the words, " My….my heart hurts…." Alice said as she pounded on her chest, she was sobbing now. Her heart was hurting, it was the truth. It was shattered in to a million pieces and she heaved in breathes. She felt Rosalie wrap her arm around her back, rubbing gently and soothingly.

"It's okay Alice! Whatever it is, it will be okay."

The statement had more meaning for Alice than Rosalie could have realized. She was completely right; it was going to be okay. Everything was going to be alright, in the end. But the journey to becoming alright was going to be rough, Alice knew this. She looked up to Rosalie, took a deep breathe in, exhaled, and let it out: "I…sort of…well… okay. I'm a lesbian and I had a relationship with Jane."

The gasp that came out of Rosalie's mouth was one that could be mirrored by any woman who loved gossip more than anything else in the world and the utterance that came after that proved that to be true, "Shut the fuck up!.....was it good?"

Alice half laughed. She knew that Rosalie was referring to sex. "Well…we didn't really …do anything. I guess it wasn't a relationship really….I suppose we were dating…"
Thinking about it now made Alice feel even more stupid, especially recalling the reaction that she had displayed in Cairo. She felt like a total and complete idiot. Rosalie rubbed the smalls of her back.

"It's okay, Alice. You can tell me. You're my sister! I love you, and support you, however you are."

Alice looked up at Rosalie, whose smile was completely sincere and she reached out to hug her, holding her tightly.

"I….have….hurt feelings....." Alice cried in to Rosalie's shoulders.

Rosalie grasped her tightly, rubbing her back at hearing the statement, "It's okay, hun, let it out…"

And Alice did. She let it all out.

Edward stumbled in through the back door of the house. His clothes were completely torn apart and he had to hold torn pieces around his waist to ensure that no one saw his private parts. He was heaving up the stairs and then he heard Alice's and Rosalie's thoughts. He looked from the top of the stairs down in to the living room and saw them embracing each other. He knew from Alice's thoughts that she had finally told Rosalie about her sexuality and relationship with Jane. He smiled at her courage but didn't have long enough leisure time to really pride himself for down the hall, Esme exited her room and gasped at the state that Edward was in.

"Edward!" Why is he half Naked?!

She heard his thoughts but he quickly dashed to his room. His vampire speed ensured he was there quickly and within a matter of seconds, he was back in the hall fully dressed and ready for explaining. Esme still stood there, half shocked, and he simply stated: "We need a family meeting, right now."

Within minutes, all of the Cullens, minus Carlisle who was still in Volterra, were sitting in the dining room table. Esme brought Edward a glass of deer blood and handing it to him, she uttered, "It's fresh. We caught it this morning."

He thanked her and began drinking it's contents before looking around at the eager faces of his family. He took a deep breathe and began to tell them the events of what happened with Jacob Black. He left out the details of why he was there, to protect Bella against a potential werewolf but he was more than a mere werewolf. He had transformed in to a Beast unlike anything that they had ever encountered in their immortal existence.

"He must be a Lycan…" Edward concluded.

The Cullens looked around at each other with quizzical looks. How was it possible that Jacob would all of a sudden become a Lycan? It didn't make any sense. He was part of the Quilette tribe, destined to become a large wolf and not a beastly being.

"What does it….what does it all mean?" Esme asked, speaking up for all the confused Cullens.

"I don't know…" Edward answered. He didn't know. He didn't know what it meant that these werewolves that they had known and encountered in their long years had suddenly transitioned in to large beastly beings, resembling the descriptions of the Lycans that they had heard from Carlisle and Aro. These Lycans were what Viktor and his night vampires were at war with. They continually hunted these beasts down and now that they knew about the existence of vampires who could survive within the sun, Viktor wanted our assistance to hunt them in the sun. But they were in Europe. These beasts, Viktor claimed, resided within Europe. Why were they appearing, now of all times, here? And amongst the Quilette werewolves?

"It means the war is coming here…." Alice piped up. She had been quiet the whole time, not showing any surprise at the news that Edward had just given. "We have to tell Carlisle."

Esme nodded and stood up to go grab the house telephone. Edward couldn't believe it. They had lived in relative peace for years! Since he had turned in to a Vampire, he had never known War. Sure, vampires had occasional differences that may lead to physical fights, but not a war like what Viktor had described. Nothing on that scale. The realization of what was soon to pass began to flood Edward and a thought occurred to him.

"Alice…" Edward looked at his sister in the corner, "have you received any visions? Anything about all of this?..."

Alice shook her head no. That's right, Edward reminded himself, she was emotionally distraught over Jane. Great time too, cause visions of the future would be real helpful right now.

Esme brought the phone, dialed a set of numbers and place it on speaker phone. Within moments, Carlisle picked up and Edward explained the whole story to him as he had told the Cullens moments ago. Carlisle paused at hearing the grave news and it took several moments before he finally uttered something…"Very well, I will be there shortly."

The Cullens sat on the dining room table. They had to wait; they had to be patient, because it was out of their hands now.

Kahn maneuvered the jet over a set of Mountains. They would arrive soon and Selene could not wait to get off and begin hunting for these Lycans. These day vampires had caught sight of one within their home town. The beasts were breeding outside of Europe, the thought made her sick to her stomach. What was worst is that these worthless day vampires had not done anything about it. Instead of hunting him, they merely called Viktor. They were pathetic and worthless. Selene recalled what Viktor had said moments before her departure:

"You are to train them…"

Selene looked at Viktor in complete horror. He couldn't be serious. "Train them? I'm a death eater, not a school teacher."

Viktor glared at her disobedience, "You will be loyal and do as I ask." He said the words slowly and Selene nodded in agreement that she would, be she wouldn't enjoy the job.

"And how do you want me to do this, my Lord?"

Viktor cocked his head up and glared at all the technological machinery they kept within the chamber. Selene got the hint.

Selene sighed to herself and moved up to the cockpit, sitting aside Kahn while he maneuvered the Jet. "We are to train them upon our arrival."

Kahn laughed, "Viktor said you are to train them." He looked up at Selene who gave him a vile glare; clearly she didn't think it was as funny.

"There's just too much…" Selene began, looking out at the view, "too much and too little time."

Kahn smiled. He knew exactly what she meant. There was just simply too much to teach them. Too much history about the War, too much protocol regarding how to use the machinery, too much second nature information that to teach them would be close to impossible. Especially in such a short amount of time. After all, they needed to begin hunting the beast before it bite more humans, thus repopulating the species within the area. Kahn began to descend the jet down. "We're here…"

Selene looked down and saw a large clearing and pointed to it, "There's a good spot."

Kahn nodded and within ten minutes, the jet was safely landed in to a large clearing that appeared to be several miles away from the Cullens' house. Not that that was much of a problem, they could get there in bullet speed. As the cargo door opened, the dark night sky gleamed with a thousand stars. The view was beautiful but Selene had no time to enjoy it. She walked out in to the field and froze in her place. She turned her head quickly in all directions. A scent that she had not smelt in so long, for centuries, suddenly overwhelmed her.

She looked back at Kahn and Rigel, who by the expressions on their face seemed to have smelt it too.

"Lucian's here…."