[BamaFan121s]

Edward's teeth gnashed together audibly. He glared first at Chelsea, then at Carlisle. "No!" he hissed through clenched teeth. "That's not possible." He shook his head furiously in denial.

A feeling of dread began creeping its way into the pit of my stomach. My mind struggled to make sense of Carlisle's words. "Who Carlisle? Who did he find?" I asked, my voice flat and emotionless.

Carlisle's normally calm features twisted with distress as he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. "Que Imperium."

"Apparently, Vlad and Stefan weren't the only ones who survived when the Volturi went to destroy them," Edward said distastefully.

I snorted in disgust. This revelation should have shocked me, but it didn't. There wasn't enough left in me to allow an emotion such as shock.

"I'm not sure how Caius found out. They were not with Vlad and Stefan when Demetri found them," Chelsea offered quietly.

"I don't care." I stated simply and defiantly. "I don't care who the hell Caius found or what they're capable of! He has Jacob and that's all I need to know!"

Edward inhaled a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. "This...complicates things."

We all stood silent and motionless, contemplating this unforeseen twist - all except Jasper. Jasper had slowly begun pacing the length of the foyer, deep in thought. I silently followed him with my eyes. Always the militant, I could imagine his mind was reeling as he sorted through all the possible courses of action we could take and weighed our options. I knew that his expertise in this field would be crucial to any chance we had at success, just as it was when they'd fought the newborn army...and that concerned me. I knew that Jasper would go to almost any length to keep Alice from harm's way and I worried that if he accessed that the odds were stacked against us, he wouldn't be as willing to pledge his allegiance to trying to save Jacob.

Finally, never breaking his stride, he addressed Chelsea and spoke. "He'll be watching the city, expecting us." I smiled in realization that my momentary worry had been for nothing.

"Yes," Chelsea confirmed. "For you as well as any who stood behind you in the field."

"But that will reduce his numbers under the city."

"Yes...but he's not counting on you ever making it that far."

Again, Jasper was silent as he paced. His face was set and determined. Finally he stopped pacing and raised his head, resolve painting his features. "Then we won't come at him through the city. We'll come in directly through the tunnels that lay underneath. And we won't involve anyone else."

Edward cocked his head to the side as he eyed his brother, a slow, conspiratorial smile spreading across his face. "That...just may work."

Jasper's voice grew more confident as he continued his explanation. "Bella, do you remember from our class? The whole city - well actually, most of Europe - is built on top of an elaborate tunnel system utilized during the great wars. In all probability, they connect outside of the city. We'll enter them there while they're focused on the city itself."

It was Emmett who noticed the obvious flaw in the plan. "Yeah, well the only problem is that the Volturi know those tunnels backwards and forwards. We don't. We've all been there - it's like a maze. Even if we found the entrance, we'd never know which way to go once we got in."

I frowned. Emmett had a point. Jasper merely smiled surely and raised one eyebrow. "Unless," he began, slowly turning to face Esme, "you know someone with a keen knowledge of ancient architecture with a connection to those responsible for building the city...."

Esme gasped, instantly making the connection. "Amun! He'll have the plans!"

I caught up quickly. "That's right! The Egyptian coven helped build half the city!"

Jasper nodded once. With that, Esme disappeared leaving nothing but a slight breeze in her wake.

After that, my family became a flurry of movement as the details of Jasper's plan began to fall into place. I tried to keep up and tried to contribute any idea I thought might prove helpful, but was I was incredibly distracted and only heard snippets of the hurried conversation around me. "...not wise to fly into Italy...could use a distraction..."

Inevitably, my thoughts turned to Jacob. My emotions ranged from sorrow, to anger, to worry and determination. Once they'd run their full course and come full circle, they'd start the vicious cycle all over again. I wouldn't allow myself to even consider the very real possibility that no matter what we did, it may be too late-Jacob may already be....but no, I could not even think it.

As if from a lifetime ago rather than months, Edward's words haunted me. They'll probably pick us off one by one. Had I ever really thought for a minute that the Volturi wouldn't move on us again? No, not really. And, I thought of Aro. Although it was true that many of Aro's actions had been beyond reproach, he'd been honest with us. He'd been true to his word, and I couldn't help feel slightly guilty that we'd never really known the truth until it was too late-and now Aro , who'd truly been one of our biggest allies within the walls of Volterra - was dead.

I thought of our friends who'd willingly come to our aid months ago. Their faces flashed before my eyes and I hoped that they would remain safe, regardless to what our outcome would be.