Chapter 20: Sacrifice

Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight.

James POV

I leaned back in my chair and stared at the untouched beer in front of me as Laurent rose from the table and turned to exit the pub. I began going back over the plan in my head to reassure myself that we had all our bases covered. Laurent would go to the Bollai's house. He would convince them that he was there to do them a kindness, warn them of my intentions and convince them to unwittingly play along with our game. The Cullen's unexpected arrival did complicate things, but we had quickly improvised a new plan and Laurent would ensure the Cullens did not get an opportunity to interfere.

Then there was Edward Cullen. I had quickly ruled out the possibility that he would leave Isabella's side. After the Cullen's arrival, it became apparent, their son had become attached to her. The boy seemed to be enamored. I couldn't say I blamed him. I had been intoxicated by her as well.

Isabella seemed to be a beacon to our kind, humans as well. First myself, then her parents, followed by this boy. She was like a magnet and all of us were the iron filings bristling against one another, frightening for our position within her orbit. But I would win out over all of them. Even over Caius, who mistakenly believed I would simply hand her over to him.

It would have been so much easier to take her when she was surrounded by nothing more than weak humans. Messier, but definitely easier. I knew though, to do that would ensure that Heidi and Demetri would hunt me for the remainder of my existence. They were older than me, stronger. That was not a fight I could take on by myself. I needed an alliance to help me with putting an end to their entire family.

When I first showed up in Volterra last year, my plan had been much simpler. I was going to inform them of Heidi and Demetri's reveal of our kind to a human. Once the Volturi had dispatched of them, I would take Isabella for myself. Finally fulfilling my destiny that had been set in motion sixteen years ago in that small Canadian farmhouse.

When I arrived to witness against the Bollais, Aros read my thoughts and recognized the talents in Isabella. He asked me to continue to watch and report back to him instead of taking immediate action. Having experienced her through my thoughts, he was drawn to her as well and wanted her for himself. He wanted me to learn more about her powers before he would agree to action. I was furious at having had my plan thwarted. Of course, I would never agree to handing her over to him, she belonged to me. I was desperately trying to figure a way out of the mess I had caused when Caius approached me.

Caius paid me a visit shortly after that initial meeting and said he would give me what I wanted but in exchange, he wanted my help in overthrowing the Volturi so he could gain sole control of our world. Apparently, he had been recruiting others in his plan for years and Isabella would be the final key to his success. Once he had used her abilities to overthrow Aros and Marcus, he would gladly give her over to me to destroy as I saw fit. I asked why he had no interest in keeping her for himself to which he explained he would not chance someone else coming for her and using her against him. He proved to be much smarter than I initially gave him credit for.

It made no difference to me who the fuck called themselves ruler of course. The only matter I cared about was that he was promising me what I wanted so I quickly agreed. It had not been hard to convince Laurent and Victoria to play along. Caius promised them prominent positions within his new world order. It was simply a matter of waiting for the most opportune moment. That moment had finally arrived.

Aros left Volterra to attend to a situation in the Far East, taking with him, his most loyal guard members. Without Aros around to read her mind, Victoria would go to Volterra and witness to the remaining Volturi against the Bollais. Cauis would summon them to the castle where they would be quickly dealt with. Laurent would stay behind with the Cullens and Jasper. Felix and several other members of the Guard who had pledged their allegiance to Caius would join him to dispatch of the Cullens. That would leave only Edward who I would be more than willing to destroy myself.

I glanced down at my phone checking the time. Noon. Only a few more short hours before my ultimate game reached its climax. Feelings of anxiousness, impatience and excitement were beginning to creep in. I drew in a deep breath to scan the outside world before leaving the pub. That's when the sweetest of all scents, the scent I had come to know over the last sixteen years, hit me like a ton of bricks. It was the smell of sundrenched grass pastures and wild flowers. The smell filled my nostrils and drifted into my core. I closed my eyes, my mouth watered and my dick hardened. I reached into my pocket and pulled out all the money I had and tossed onto the table. I made my way out the front door of the establishment as the bar keep called out his enthusiastic thanks from behind.

Her scent became much stronger once I was outside. She was here and very close. I began looking around desperately trying to locate her when I saw her sitting at the table across the street with him. I made my way to stand at the curb. As her companion spoke, her eyes begin to scan the diners around them and then the street. Suddenly her eyes fell upon me. She stared at me blankly at first then I saw realization, determination, and finally resignation creep into her eyes. The boy stood and spoke to her. If I had been able to break from her gaze, my vampire hearing would have picked up on his words but I could not take my eyes off of her. I thought about the Volturi plan and it occurred to me that I should turn and run. I needed to bide my time, be patient and allow the events planned for this evening to unfold. But I couldn't make my body move. I was frozen in place as I stared into her eyes.

She broke our gaze for a brief moment when her companion stood and kneeled to kiss her. My already tightened muscles twitched as I tried to contain my fury in seeing him touch what belonged to me. I watched as he left the table and she returned her focus back to me. She pushed her chair back from the table and stood. She walked to the sidewalk and stood directly in front of me on the opposite side of the street. The look on her face told me she knew who I was. I wanted her now. I knew taking her before the events were set in motion would incur the wrath of my coconspirators but I didn't care. Seeing her now, in front of me, so very close, caused me to lose all reason and I quickly decided to abandon my previous plans.

I held my empty hand out to her, beaconing, inviting her to come to me. She nodded and crossed the street towards me never glancing in either direction for the possibility of oncoming cars. I took a few steps back towards the shadows cast by the buildings. She reached the sidewalk. Our eyes always locked, never breaking our stares at one another. She was now only a few feet away from me. I turned and walked around the corner of the nearest building, towards the alleyway, making my way out of the sight of onlookers. I could hear her footsteps following behind. Once I was sure we were out of sight of other pedestrians, I turned to face her.

She gasped an almost inaudible gasp, "Hello, James," she whispered.

"Finally," I groaned as I snarled and lunged.

BPOV

I had never given much thought to how I would die until now. Up until now my existence was lived and experienced in the moment, a single day at a time. But over the last twenty-four hours, my axis was shifted. I was no longer that girl who often thought selfishly only of herself. Instead I discovered the kind of person I wanted to be and I knew that dying in the place of those I loved seemed my destiny.

The moment my eyes fell upon the menacing figure standing across the street from the café, I knew who he was even having never laid eyes on him before. Leaving the table and walking towards him, preparing myself to surrender should have been more difficult. But it wasn't. I called upon my memories, the precious images of the times I spent with those I loved, to hold me up, to steel my nerves, and to propel me forward towards my inevitable fate.

Jasper, my brother, providing comfort and words of encouragement as he held me in his arms rocking me back and forth when I was twelve. I couldn't remember what trivial happenstance had upset me, it was quickly forgotten that day as his embrace provided me protection from the world and a promise that he would always be by my side no matter what.

My father, lifting me up and seating me into a horse saddle for the first time when I was six years old. His strong hand held firmly against my back to prevent a loss of balance. His beautiful face smiling proudly up at me as he spoke words of encouragement and made that promise he so often did, "I will never let go. Don't be afraid, il mio amore".

My mother, curled in bed next to me, stroking my hair as she sang softly. Providing comfort while I shivered with fever when I was eight years old. She weaved together her melodic words conveying the depths of her love and devotion for me. Gently kissing my clammy forehead before uttering her promise to me, "You, above all others".

Then there were my recently created memories with Edward. But I quickly put those out of my head because those thoughts, those memories were promises of a future, visions of a perfect happiness awaiting me. Those beautiful images would not serve my purpose or provide me with the will I needed in that moment as I hurtled towards my own death.

We had been driving for about an hour. I watched in silence out of the passenger side window as my familiar Italian countryside, my home, disappeared behind us. As we made our way through unrecognizable towns and down unfamiliar streets, James never shut up. As he spewed his perversions, described what my future held in store, fixated and verbalized the acts he planned to commit against me, I tuned him out. I studied the hypnotic passing of the trees lining the roads. I would not give him the satisfaction of a reaction which is clearly what he had hoped to elicit from me. With all he planned to take from me when we reached our destination, I was resolved that I would not hand him over my fear. I quieted my mind and eventually shut my eyes and allowed the sanctuary of sleep to wash over me.

Sometime later, I found myself awakening. My eyes blinked in protest to the sunlight that was shining on my face. I slowly lifted my head from where it had been resting against the windshield. For the briefest and fleeting of moments, I forgot where I was. I gazed out the window to see we were still traveling and the sun was beginning its slow decent behind the horizon. The clear bright blue of the day was being replaced by soft purples, oranges, and pinks. Elongated shadows began eerily, menacingly reaching out for me from underneath the passing trees.

As my brain adjusted to the reality of my awakened state, a sense of panic began welling inside of me as the details of my circumstances returned to focus. I took in a ragged, deep breath trying to calm myself, trying to push the fear back down. The smell of the monster beside me filled my nose. It was a sickly sweet, putrid smell, the smell of rotting flesh. This was not the same smell of musk and calming florals of my beautiful Edward. Fresh tears began to well in my eyes as I my pulse quickened.

"Good, I was wondering when you would start showing a healthy dose of fear. Mmmm…" he purred as he inhaled deeply. A wicked smile played on his lips as he reached between his legs and adjusted his manhood.

He turned his head towards me and met my eyes. I quickly averted my eyes and began to turn my head away from him to continue gazing out of the window. He reached out with his hand and grabbed my chin forcing me to continue looking at him.

"If you promise to play nice, perhaps I'll grant you an easy death after I've had my fun. You never know, you may even enjoy yourself during these final hours", he said.

As I stared into the eyes of the beast, a plan began to take shape in my mind. I swallowed hard and winced slightly at the dryness of my throat, readying myself to speak.

"Perhaps," I managed to croak out, "I will give myself to you to do as you please if you can promise no one else should die because of me. I'm yours now to do with as you choose," I replied.

"You would sacrifice yourself for all of them, those soulless monsters?" he inquires sounding quite astounded and laughing incredulously.

"Yes. But there is something else," I stated.

He dropped his hand from my chin. I continued to stare into his eyes. A look of uncertainty and curiosity seemed to soften his demeanor slightly.

"You have a final request?" he inquired sarcastically.

I nodded and replied "Would you consider turning me instead of killing me? I could be a powerful ally for you," I paused to try to force out the coming words, "a companion."

His mouth fell open as he stared at me incredulously. He turned his head and turned his attention back to the road that laid out before us. He took a moment to compose his thoughts before replying.

"No, I have no interest in keep you around," he said flatly.

I noticed there was very little conviction in those words though. He was considering my request. And in his consideration of my request, I knew I had a chance of staying alive long enough for my family to become safe. Perhaps I could play upon his apparent infatuation, obsession with me and convince him to call off his plans to attack my family. Perhaps there was a small sliver of hope to be had where they were concerned. I just wondered if I would be strong enough to endure what James had planned for me. I only had to hold on to my sanity and my life just long enough. Then if he wouldn't end my suffering, I would end my own.

Just I was beginning to contemplate ways in which I could play upon his affections, figure out how to choke down and hide my disgust, James reached over and roughly grabbed my thigh, forcibly pushing my clamped legs apart. He gripped handfuls of my flesh roughly as his hand began making its way to the top of my thigh. He squeezed tightly. I grimaced and closed my eyes. I began drifting, removing myself from my body, detaching from my being just as my tears began splashing onto his cold hand. I shut off my mind and began to grow numb, steeling myself for what's to come, not wanting to give him the pleasure of my fear and pain.

"We're almost there," he gleefully informed me, his words pierced the silence and snapped me back to the physical world.

He let go of my thigh and slowed the car, pulling down a gravel drive hidden amongst the trees. Night had fallen and darkness was all around by the time we came to the end of the drive. In front of us sat a dilapidated, abandoned house. Twisted vines and overgrown brambles wound their way over and under the remaining boards that clad the home. The glass windows were shattered and the roof sagged inwards surrendering to its long fight with gravity.

James quickly exited the car and appeared almost immediately on my side, flinging open the passenger door. I looked up at him. He smiled wickedly and extended his hand for me to take. I drew in a ragged breath and placed my hand in his as I climbed out of the car.

Sacrifice.

We're in the EndGame now peeps. I'm hoping to edit and fine tune the remaining chapters and get them posted as quickly I can. I won't keep you waiting and will post a chapter as soon as it's done vs. making you wait for all of them at once. Please review and let me know how you like it or how I can make it better. Thanks for reading!