This Time Of Year
Written by: wizardtho
Story dedicated to: Bella MacLeod
Chapter 03:
BPOV
“Carlisle Cullen, your coven has been brought here to account for several acts of exposing yourselves to humans. Not only exposing yourselves, but also bringing said humans into your private lives before ultimately leaving them to their own devices as your coven fled the area. You left a trail of exposure risks behind, seemingly without a care of what the consequences would be.”
I listened silently as Aro spoke. Though the 3 other girls were blubbering messes needing to be held in place by guards, I stood quiet and stoic with Demetri next to me -not touching me at all. I was thankful that Demetri saw fit to tell me not only were the Cullens going to be there, but also that there were other girls involved. I was the oldest of the 4, but what surprised me the most was that the youngest couldn’t have been more than 14.
It seemed that Edward was quite the schemer, and the trail of females was him searching for the ‘perfect mate.’ Who’d have thought he would have found perfection in the 14-year-old, chosen her as his mate, and she wanted nothing to do with him when he confessed his vampiric nature. The thought made me want to laugh, so I hurried to squash the feeling as I focused back on the trial.
“Isabella, as you are the oldest, would you do me the honor?” Aro asked while holding his hand out to me. I gave a small nod as I placed my hand in his. His eyebrows furrowed a bit, then he chuckled, “A shield! How wonderful, Isabella. I will return to you in just a few moments.”
With another small nod, I stepped back to my place next to Demetri, watching as Aro had to forcibly take the next girl’s hand; she was kicking and screaming up a storm. Aro finally released her hand before shaking his head, “You have, as of now, 4 human deaths on your hands connected to this case. It seems Helena exposed you to 3 of her sorority sisters… before you even departed New Hampshire.”
With a gasp from Carlisle, a sharp outcry from Esme, and a wince from Edward, Aro quickly snapped the girl’s neck before moving to the next. The guard actually had to flick the back of the girl’s head just to knock her out and shut her up. Aro gave a slight nod of appreciation while grabbing her suddenly motionless hand, “Thank you, Felix. She was becoming quite annoying.”
A sigh was the only sound he made over the next minute and a half, then Aro sighed again angrily, “We can now add 3 more human lives to your reckless abandonment total, Dr. Cullen. When Edward left young Emily, it seems that he also forgot to erase his tracks, which allowed her parents to see him fleeing from their home at an inhuman speed. They then confronted their grieving daughter with the security footage, who confessed to them his vampiric nature.” I knew what was coming, but closing my eyes didn’t block out the sound of the girl’s neck breaking.
When Aro finally approached the whimpering 14-year-old, though she was hesitant, she willingly gave him her hand. Aro’s eyes slipped closed after he offered, “Thank you, my dear.”
His eyes reopened only a minute later, with him saying, “Though you chose this young one for a mate, Edward, I find it curious that Sarah wants nothing to do with you. It looks like your forced affections and constant badgering did not endear her to you, and your angry admission of vampirism nearly scared the life out of the poor child. Feeding mercilessly less than 100 feet into the woods to the rear of her home… literally minutes after you revealed the existence of vampires to her? For shame! Did Carlisle not teach you manners? It is truly sad to see that your potential mate would rather die than be turned to spend eternity with you.”
Here, I knew there were two options. Either Aro forced the girl to live with mating to a vampire she loathed, or he spared her by snapping her neck, which would cause Edward to go insane and attack.
I slyly peered toward Edward. At seeing his slightly unhinged look and pitch-black eyes, I swallowed back my gasp and knew I was right. First, the singer lure was affecting Edward hard after being away from me for so long. Second, I was without a doubt the weakest being in the room, if Aro killed the girl. Both of those facts all but ensured I would be the first of Edward’s targets, should he snap. Though I didn’t want to draw attention to myself, all my muscles seemed to coil, ready to hide behind the towering form of Demetri next to me.
Suddenly several things happened at once. Edward screamed out, “Nooo!” just as Aro quickly snapped the young girl’s neck, causing my nearly non-existent preservation instinct to kick in. Edward shoved one guard in the chest hard enough to knock him back 30 feet, then punched another in the face as he focused on me with a loud roar. I didn’t have time to think… I was behind Demetri -clinging to his tailored button-down shirt- before I could see if Edward made it through that guard.
In the next second, I was spun one way then the other, only to hear Aro quickly call, “Renatta,” before a slight female was touching both the hem of my shirt and Aro’s robe. I looked up in time to see Demetri fighting Edward. I only know that’s who it was, because of the blurs slowing enough for me to catch facial features before they were blurs again.
Seconds turned to minutes, and my heart rate sped as more damage was done to the previously pristine marble in the room. I don’t know what made me do it, but I just knew I didn’t want Demetri to lose. Edward had to be stopped. I quickly turned my eyes to Aro and whispered in a rush, “His gift. He doesn’t need touch like you. He’s using it against Demetri, Sir. You have to stop this, please.”
Aro quirked his eyebrow at me, I guess contemplating, then offered, “My dear, Demetri is one of my most accomplished fighters. His victory over this young one is all but written. If you still wish to have a say in this fight, on the other hand, call out to him. Tell him yourself.”
Before I could even wrap my head around the thought, I heard an ear-piercing metallic screeching sound. I gasped as I turned toward the noise. The sight of Demetri tearing Edward’s head from his body may have had the rest of the Cullens crying out in horror, but it oddly left me feeling relief and a sense of closure. I let out a heavy breath, causing Aro to quirk that same eyebrow at me, “As I said, Isabella. Demetri is one of my most accomplished fighters. He can handle himself against just about anyone… gifted or not.”
Aro patted my hand, then moved away enough to demand everyone’s attention. “Now that Young Edward has been dealt with, and his chosen mate has been given her wish, let us move on.”
He walked over to a weeping Esme, causing Carlisle to growl and hold her more tightly. Aro scowled, “Do you think so low of me, truly? I only wish to fill in all the pieces from everyone’s perspective. How am I to make a fair ruling with my brothers otherwise?”
Emmett grumbled just loud enough for me to hear as he held tightly to Rosalie, “How was provoking my brother to attack by killing his mate fair?”
Aro was in front of him in a nanosecond, eyes pitch black and a deadly seriousness in his voice, “I gave the youngling what none of you would… a permanent way to erase your coven from her mind. Your brother all but threatened to kidnap her away, should she not come to terms with being his mate soon. He was planning to force her into a nonconsensual mating. In her mind, death was preferable to spending an eternity with someone who literally scared the wits out of her.”
Aro backed up when Emmett dropped his head, then continued, “How none of you could see that your coven mate’s sanity was deteriorating is beyond me. Leaving Isabella as he did was the beginning of the end, for young Edward.”
He stepped back up to Emmett, eyes now merlot in color, then held his hand out in silent order. Emmett didn’t look happy, though he knew he had no choice but to comply. It only took seconds for Aro to gain the information needed.
Rosalie was next, and once Aro let her hand go, he took several steps back before turning toward his brothers. When he reached them, they all seemed to speak too low for even the Cullens to hear them. They quickly agreed on something, then Aro turned and spoke, “As you both truly believed Isabella was young Edward’s chosen mate, neither abided leaving Forks without her, and subsequently despised his actions since leaving the state of Washington, it has been deemed that the mated pair of Emmett McCarty and Rosalie Hale be allowed to leave the Cullen coven. The sire bond will be broken, and the two of you will be free to live out your lives, understanding that you are to have as little contact with humans as possible. Daily interaction is not permitted.”
They both sagged visibly in relief, though Carlisle seemed outraged that his sire bond to both would be broken somehow once the trial was concluded. Caius slammed his hand on the arm of his throne, then growled, “Enough, Cullen. If you keep insulting your kings and making demands, I promise your sentence will be tripled, if only for the fact you are pissing me off. Our rulings are final, and your arrogance will not be tolerated.”
Carlisle’s voice suddenly died out in his throat as Aro made his way past him without a look, heading straight for Alice and Jasper. His eyes seemed to gleam as he nearly smirked, “The Southern Major.”
Jasper stuck his hand out in invitation before Aro had the chance, offering with a shake of his head, “Major no more. That life is long behind me, Sir.” Aro gave Jasper an appreciative nod before taking his hand. Though it took longer for him to release Jasper’s hand, his eyes shone with something I couldn’t identify before he looked at Alice, who offered her hand without a word.
Sadness and confusion were prominent on her face… had been since I first saw her in this room. It seemed Aro was about to clue everyone in as to the reasons. He let go of Alice’s hand, patted it, then stepped back to offer, “Your gift has not failed or deserted you, Mary Alice. It has its downfalls, as does every vampire gift. Your mistake was reading too much into certain visions, and not realizing young Edward was manipulating the loopholes in your gift. Where you deduced that Bella was his chosen mate, since you saw her changed and them running through the forest together, I saw just that… them running through the forest, both as vampires. It was a possible future until Edward sucked the venom from Isabella’s wound in Phoenix.”
Again, Aro turned to walk toward the other two kings waiting on their thrones. They seemed to debate only for a short while before Aro stepped back down onto the main floor. “You willingly left your sire, Jasper Whitlock, and I understand that bond has been severed completely. As you have not returned to your old ways even once, and tried numerous times during this situation to get your mate to leave with you, even for a while, this is our ruling for the two of you as a mated pair. Jasper Whitlock, for a term of 25 years, you will come to the castle once a month to spend 72 hours teaching our lower guard class tips on effectively fighting newborns. How you split up that 72 hours of teaching is left to your discretion at this time, but all of it will be logged. Understand that your previous teaching methods while with your sire will not be used here. Castle rules will be made clear in your contract.”
Jasper actually looked relieved as Aro continued, “Mary Alice Brandon, my brothers and I believe you need to learn from your mistakes, where your gift is concerned. While your mate is attending his duties, you will be learning from one of the Gift Teachers here in the castle. Our hope is that you will come to clearly see ALL of the benefits and backfalls of your gift, and understand that constantly using your visions to determine your next step could ultimately lead to the death of you or your mate. Use them as enhancements, as guides, but never as the end all be all. Your progress will be monitored and your term of learning adjusted accordingly.”
Now Aro stood in front of Carlisle again. He took his time gaining information, then without a word, gently grasped Esme’s hand, which held the crook of Carlisle’s arm. Again, he took his time, then turned with a mixture of sadness and what looked like anger on his face.
It was time for another deliberation.
BPOV
“Carlisle Cullen, your coven has been brought here to account for several acts of exposing yourselves to humans. Not only exposing yourselves, but also bringing said humans into your private lives before ultimately leaving them to their own devices as your coven fled the area. You left a trail of exposure risks behind, seemingly without a care of what the consequences would be.”
I listened silently as Aro spoke. Though the 3 other girls were blubbering messes needing to be held in place by guards, I stood quiet and stoic with Demetri next to me -not touching me at all. I was thankful that Demetri saw fit to tell me not only were the Cullens going to be there, but also that there were other girls involved. I was the oldest of the 4, but what surprised me the most was that the youngest couldn’t have been more than 14.
It seemed that Edward was quite the schemer, and the trail of females was him searching for the ‘perfect mate.’ Who’d have thought he would have found perfection in the 14-year-old, chosen her as his mate, and she wanted nothing to do with him when he confessed his vampiric nature. The thought made me want to laugh, so I hurried to squash the feeling as I focused back on the trial.
“Isabella, as you are the oldest, would you do me the honor?” Aro asked while holding his hand out to me. I gave a small nod as I placed my hand in his. His eyebrows furrowed a bit, then he chuckled, “A shield! How wonderful, Isabella. I will return to you in just a few moments.”
With another small nod, I stepped back to my place next to Demetri, watching as Aro had to forcibly take the next girl’s hand; she was kicking and screaming up a storm. Aro finally released her hand before shaking his head, “You have, as of now, 4 human deaths on your hands connected to this case. It seems Helena exposed you to 3 of her sorority sisters… before you even departed New Hampshire.”
With a gasp from Carlisle, a sharp outcry from Esme, and a wince from Edward, Aro quickly snapped the girl’s neck before moving to the next. The guard actually had to flick the back of the girl’s head just to knock her out and shut her up. Aro gave a slight nod of appreciation while grabbing her suddenly motionless hand, “Thank you, Felix. She was becoming quite annoying.”
A sigh was the only sound he made over the next minute and a half, then Aro sighed again angrily, “We can now add 3 more human lives to your reckless abandonment total, Dr. Cullen. When Edward left young Emily, it seems that he also forgot to erase his tracks, which allowed her parents to see him fleeing from their home at an inhuman speed. They then confronted their grieving daughter with the security footage, who confessed to them his vampiric nature.” I knew what was coming, but closing my eyes didn’t block out the sound of the girl’s neck breaking.
When Aro finally approached the whimpering 14-year-old, though she was hesitant, she willingly gave him her hand. Aro’s eyes slipped closed after he offered, “Thank you, my dear.”
His eyes reopened only a minute later, with him saying, “Though you chose this young one for a mate, Edward, I find it curious that Sarah wants nothing to do with you. It looks like your forced affections and constant badgering did not endear her to you, and your angry admission of vampirism nearly scared the life out of the poor child. Feeding mercilessly less than 100 feet into the woods to the rear of her home… literally minutes after you revealed the existence of vampires to her? For shame! Did Carlisle not teach you manners? It is truly sad to see that your potential mate would rather die than be turned to spend eternity with you.”
Here, I knew there were two options. Either Aro forced the girl to live with mating to a vampire she loathed, or he spared her by snapping her neck, which would cause Edward to go insane and attack.
I slyly peered toward Edward. At seeing his slightly unhinged look and pitch-black eyes, I swallowed back my gasp and knew I was right. First, the singer lure was affecting Edward hard after being away from me for so long. Second, I was without a doubt the weakest being in the room, if Aro killed the girl. Both of those facts all but ensured I would be the first of Edward’s targets, should he snap. Though I didn’t want to draw attention to myself, all my muscles seemed to coil, ready to hide behind the towering form of Demetri next to me.
Suddenly several things happened at once. Edward screamed out, “Nooo!” just as Aro quickly snapped the young girl’s neck, causing my nearly non-existent preservation instinct to kick in. Edward shoved one guard in the chest hard enough to knock him back 30 feet, then punched another in the face as he focused on me with a loud roar. I didn’t have time to think… I was behind Demetri -clinging to his tailored button-down shirt- before I could see if Edward made it through that guard.
In the next second, I was spun one way then the other, only to hear Aro quickly call, “Renatta,” before a slight female was touching both the hem of my shirt and Aro’s robe. I looked up in time to see Demetri fighting Edward. I only know that’s who it was, because of the blurs slowing enough for me to catch facial features before they were blurs again.
Seconds turned to minutes, and my heart rate sped as more damage was done to the previously pristine marble in the room. I don’t know what made me do it, but I just knew I didn’t want Demetri to lose. Edward had to be stopped. I quickly turned my eyes to Aro and whispered in a rush, “His gift. He doesn’t need touch like you. He’s using it against Demetri, Sir. You have to stop this, please.”
Aro quirked his eyebrow at me, I guess contemplating, then offered, “My dear, Demetri is one of my most accomplished fighters. His victory over this young one is all but written. If you still wish to have a say in this fight, on the other hand, call out to him. Tell him yourself.”
Before I could even wrap my head around the thought, I heard an ear-piercing metallic screeching sound. I gasped as I turned toward the noise. The sight of Demetri tearing Edward’s head from his body may have had the rest of the Cullens crying out in horror, but it oddly left me feeling relief and a sense of closure. I let out a heavy breath, causing Aro to quirk that same eyebrow at me, “As I said, Isabella. Demetri is one of my most accomplished fighters. He can handle himself against just about anyone… gifted or not.”
Aro patted my hand, then moved away enough to demand everyone’s attention. “Now that Young Edward has been dealt with, and his chosen mate has been given her wish, let us move on.”
He walked over to a weeping Esme, causing Carlisle to growl and hold her more tightly. Aro scowled, “Do you think so low of me, truly? I only wish to fill in all the pieces from everyone’s perspective. How am I to make a fair ruling with my brothers otherwise?”
Emmett grumbled just loud enough for me to hear as he held tightly to Rosalie, “How was provoking my brother to attack by killing his mate fair?”
Aro was in front of him in a nanosecond, eyes pitch black and a deadly seriousness in his voice, “I gave the youngling what none of you would… a permanent way to erase your coven from her mind. Your brother all but threatened to kidnap her away, should she not come to terms with being his mate soon. He was planning to force her into a nonconsensual mating. In her mind, death was preferable to spending an eternity with someone who literally scared the wits out of her.”
Aro backed up when Emmett dropped his head, then continued, “How none of you could see that your coven mate’s sanity was deteriorating is beyond me. Leaving Isabella as he did was the beginning of the end, for young Edward.”
He stepped back up to Emmett, eyes now merlot in color, then held his hand out in silent order. Emmett didn’t look happy, though he knew he had no choice but to comply. It only took seconds for Aro to gain the information needed.
Rosalie was next, and once Aro let her hand go, he took several steps back before turning toward his brothers. When he reached them, they all seemed to speak too low for even the Cullens to hear them. They quickly agreed on something, then Aro turned and spoke, “As you both truly believed Isabella was young Edward’s chosen mate, neither abided leaving Forks without her, and subsequently despised his actions since leaving the state of Washington, it has been deemed that the mated pair of Emmett McCarty and Rosalie Hale be allowed to leave the Cullen coven. The sire bond will be broken, and the two of you will be free to live out your lives, understanding that you are to have as little contact with humans as possible. Daily interaction is not permitted.”
They both sagged visibly in relief, though Carlisle seemed outraged that his sire bond to both would be broken somehow once the trial was concluded. Caius slammed his hand on the arm of his throne, then growled, “Enough, Cullen. If you keep insulting your kings and making demands, I promise your sentence will be tripled, if only for the fact you are pissing me off. Our rulings are final, and your arrogance will not be tolerated.”
Carlisle’s voice suddenly died out in his throat as Aro made his way past him without a look, heading straight for Alice and Jasper. His eyes seemed to gleam as he nearly smirked, “The Southern Major.”
Jasper stuck his hand out in invitation before Aro had the chance, offering with a shake of his head, “Major no more. That life is long behind me, Sir.” Aro gave Jasper an appreciative nod before taking his hand. Though it took longer for him to release Jasper’s hand, his eyes shone with something I couldn’t identify before he looked at Alice, who offered her hand without a word.
Sadness and confusion were prominent on her face… had been since I first saw her in this room. It seemed Aro was about to clue everyone in as to the reasons. He let go of Alice’s hand, patted it, then stepped back to offer, “Your gift has not failed or deserted you, Mary Alice. It has its downfalls, as does every vampire gift. Your mistake was reading too much into certain visions, and not realizing young Edward was manipulating the loopholes in your gift. Where you deduced that Bella was his chosen mate, since you saw her changed and them running through the forest together, I saw just that… them running through the forest, both as vampires. It was a possible future until Edward sucked the venom from Isabella’s wound in Phoenix.”
Again, Aro turned to walk toward the other two kings waiting on their thrones. They seemed to debate only for a short while before Aro stepped back down onto the main floor. “You willingly left your sire, Jasper Whitlock, and I understand that bond has been severed completely. As you have not returned to your old ways even once, and tried numerous times during this situation to get your mate to leave with you, even for a while, this is our ruling for the two of you as a mated pair. Jasper Whitlock, for a term of 25 years, you will come to the castle once a month to spend 72 hours teaching our lower guard class tips on effectively fighting newborns. How you split up that 72 hours of teaching is left to your discretion at this time, but all of it will be logged. Understand that your previous teaching methods while with your sire will not be used here. Castle rules will be made clear in your contract.”
Jasper actually looked relieved as Aro continued, “Mary Alice Brandon, my brothers and I believe you need to learn from your mistakes, where your gift is concerned. While your mate is attending his duties, you will be learning from one of the Gift Teachers here in the castle. Our hope is that you will come to clearly see ALL of the benefits and backfalls of your gift, and understand that constantly using your visions to determine your next step could ultimately lead to the death of you or your mate. Use them as enhancements, as guides, but never as the end all be all. Your progress will be monitored and your term of learning adjusted accordingly.”
Now Aro stood in front of Carlisle again. He took his time gaining information, then without a word, gently grasped Esme’s hand, which held the crook of Carlisle’s arm. Again, he took his time, then turned with a mixture of sadness and what looked like anger on his face.
It was time for another deliberation.