The Other Edward
Edward was of two minds on the issue. The smart, aging vampire Edward knew better than to underestimate Aro and his crowd. They had been around for just a few centuries too long. Edward supposed that if there was something he envisioned them capable of, they had probably already done it or were going to do it. What has Aro seen in Mary’s visions?
The Vulturi hadn’t lasted over six centuries in that same city for being unconscious of danger or failing to exploit vulnerability of an enemy. Edward had sense a huge arrogance, a perfect command of total confidence that only his actions had ruffled. Edward could still see the brusque disinterest on Caius’ face, even as they had gone through the final negotiations for Bella’s survival.
And letting Bella go, even under a pledge to be transformed, must have had a sinister motive. This was the thought that haunted Edward, even as he watched Bella go through the motions of her “normal” life. He wondered if he was being fair, simply by staying in Forks and not letting her get some perspective. But Cullen had persuaded him that to leave again would alienate all of Bella’s family and friends, this strange network of people she had gathered about her.
Secretly, although there was a Vulturi-driven impetus to transform her into one of them, Edward had even then, back in Italy, sensed a different agenda. Only Cullen could understand how great the temptation had been, once Bella was known to be alive, to simply remain with the and learn some of the mysteries his heart had grasped but not understood. Conversely, Aro’s threatening behavior toward Bella had both convinced Edward to protect her in person at all costs, but to get away from that seeping evil , that twisted coven of dissipated ancient ones.
That day in St. Marks, his heart and mind, his whole palette of the senses, had been full of Bella, eclipsed by the change from intending to end it all, to a great new beginning. He had been almost immediately suffused with terror of the Vulturi having her in their power, and struck with a desperate sense of dread that they would (ironically) never see the light of day again. Edward was capable of killing, but there was no telling how many he would be able to dispatch before numbers simply made escape impossible.
Edward of the same mind that he had been of that day in St. Mark’s Square watched tenderly over Bella, imagining a day when they might never have to leave each other’s side. He wondered as well what would happen to their relationship when their thoughts were one. Edward never doubted that if he was the one who transformed Bella, he would be linked with her by thought. In fact, Bella claimed that this was already the case.
But it was the dark Edward, the Edward Bella never saw, that told him what he had been suspecting all along. By neutralizing Bella’s insensitivity to the vampire world and their thoughts, she would lose her impermeable barrier to the damage ones like Jane could inflict. Worse, she might inherit his gifts, and become an individual Aro sought to control or manipulate. In many ways, after the transformation, Bella would be more in Aro’s power than ever. And so would he be, if they ever captured Bella or hid her from him.
It was these thoughts that Edward hid from Bella. And he hoped that she would wake some day from the dream that when they were together, it would be any more easy to be together than it was now. For he sensed with all his instincts that somehow, it would not be made as easy as that.
Edward felt that too many obstacles needed to be overcome. Too many different factions were trying to keep them apart. They would never be free from the threats they faced now. But Bella needed to believe that. She did believe it, as she looked for colleges with a winter’s chill to recommend them.
Both Edwards knew Bella and he were only buying time. Cullen had hinted things would not be so easy next time around. The threat of Jane and her pulsing evil was like a haunting lullaby that never quite left Edward’s memory. The evil glimmer that had danced in Aro’s eyes had hardly been a paternalistic empathy. When the dark Edward spoke, Edward listened reluctantly.
The Vulturi would never let them be together.
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