Redshift by Ashlynn Chantrea (free ebook reader for ipad .txt) 📕

“They aren’t like the others. They don’t want to be a part of the Volturi.”

“They are evil,” Rain spit from between her clenched teeth, “Cruel,” Zephyr snapped, “Heartless.” Meadow whispered. Meadow seemed far more sad than angry. Her sisters felt only anger for the Volturi. Part of that was probably because Felix had tried to kill her. I wondered how that would have affected Rain and Zephyr. They functioned like a single organism, their thought and speech patterns were so connected. They were bonded, deeply bonded. The way only family can be. Would they survive with a third missing?

“That’s why we ran.” Laney said, “Some of the others found the idea of fighting exciting and fun. They embraced everything about their new life without question. We weren’t like that. It made life there unbearable.”

“You are right to be worried, Carlisle.” I said, “There are many still there that are equally if not more impressive than we are.”

“How did they find so many that have gifts?” Bella asked Carlisle, “I thought we were rare. That only one in a hundred turned out to be special.”

“They don’t hesitate to dispose of those that aren’t useful. They weed out the deadweight.” I replied. It was true but it was also a deception. I knew how they had found us, but I wasn’t sure the rest of my friends had made the connection yet. Don’t tell, I thought at Edward.

To my surprise, it was a needless thought.

“You can tell them the truth, Adam.” Pim said in a soft voice.

It didn’t really surprise me that he knew I knew. What did shocked me was that he wanted me to share what I knew. I didn’t want to do that to him.

I turned towards him, “I did tell them the truth.” I replied slowly. I was hoping he would read between the lines. Hear me telling him that he didn’t have to confess. And that I’d never tell.

“I mean that it’s my fault.” Pim said quietly. The guilt was weighing on him, we could hear it in his voice. He looked around at us, his only friends in the world now, “I found you, all of you. I’m the reason all of you were changed.”

“That doesn’t make it your fault.” I said.

“Yeah, what were you going to do? Tell Jane no?” Hector said and then shuddered.

Bianca gazed at him with a look of deep sympathy, “You did, didn’t you? That’s why she tortured you for so long.”

“I didn’t hold out very long.” Pim sighed.

“None of us would have lasted an hour before giving in to her.” Bianca replied fiercely, “Let alone four days.”

“That’s not true.” Pim snapped, “Adam would have.”

“That’s not a fair assessment, Pim.” I placed a hand on his shoulder, “If I couldn’t block her, I wouldn’t be strong enough to stand up to her. Bianca’s right, I wouldn’t last an hour.”

“Doesn’t change what I’ve done.”

“And what you’ve done doesn’t make us think any less of you.” Laney said.

“How did they find you?” I asked him.

“On accident. I was backpacking through Europe with a couple friends, taking advantage of my freedom before I started college. We had made it to the Italian countryside, Tuscany I think. There was no one around. We thought there was supposed to be a youth hostel nearby but we took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in no man’s land. We decided to just stop for the night, sleep under the stars. That’s when they appeared. Out of nowhere, they just suddenly were there.

“It was Felix, Heidi and Jane. They stood there for a minute, talking to each other but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Right away I knew there was something different about Jane and Heidi. I said it to my friends, I told them to be careful of the girls. There’s something about them that’s different. I wanted to run, I just had the feeling from the moment they appeared that they were dangerous. But I didn’t. I just stood there.

“They killed my friends. Then I tried to run but they caught me before I got ten feet away. Jane asked me what I thought was different about her. I told her the truth. I could tell that she and the other girl could do something the guy couldn’t. That she was magical in some way. My reply made her pause. They took me to this city called Voltura. I stayed in this weird office underground until Jane took me far away, I have no idea where. Then she bit me.

“They explained the rules: avoid discovery, kill inconspicuously. Jane worked with me to develop my talent. After a couple months I was put to work. I had been seeking out potentials for nearly a year before I found you, Bianca.”

“But there were only a handful of us.” Bianca said, confused.

“Jane found most of the first few batches worthless, not powerful enough. I found dozens before you, they burned them all. Some they accused of trying to escape or turning on them, to inspire fear in the others that actually thought of rebelling. I watched so many get destroyed, so many lives wasted, I couldn’t do it anymore. I refused to find anymore. Jane was relentless. I thought if I waited long enough she’d just destroy me. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I focused on trying to find more that were what they wanted. I tried to find the ones that showed up as the most powerful. But even then, I couldn’t identify what it was they did. Even some with incredible power, weren’t really useful as soldiers.”

“So they were thinning the herd.” I said, thinking of how Jane had separated us as we showed our talents. “That’s why everyone was so nervous. Some of them must have picked up that those with less impressive talents were conveniently rebelling and being destroyed.”

“Yeah, we all knew.” Bianca said, “I had been through the line up three times. The first time I didn’t really know what I could do, but that happened to a lot of us. I was pretty new, they let it slide. The second time I had some idea of what I could do but I didn’t have a good handle on it yet. By the third time I could show off for Jane.”

“It was our second time through when we escaped.” The triplets said together.

“At least they won’t do it anymore.” I said, feeling a little relieved. “Without Pim to replenish their numbers, you can bet they won’t be decreasing their army. They’ll work with what they’ve got.”

“That’s still sixteen vampires we’re up against.” Laney said.

“That’s okay, the Volturi have retreated. They’re counting us as lost, part of the enemy to fight. Now we need to come up with a plan.”

“Think we can take ‘em, bossman?” Bianca asked.

“Maybe with help.” Pim said. They all looked over at the other clan for the first time since Pim had declared his guilt.

“Wait,” I said. I needed to think. I didn’t want to ask the other clan to fight with us if I could help it.

My mind went through the variables, the endless possibilities, probable eventualities, searching for the solution that left us all alive. I didn’t have many parameters to work with. I had to consider all the possibilities no matter how outlandish or unlikely they might seem. My mind was working hard, running the scenarios at about a hundred thousand every eighth of a second. I had only made it about a million in when I heard Edward groan in pain.

My train of thought broke off, more concerned with what was happening around us.

His clan, especially his mate, Bella, were asking after him, trying to figure out what was wrong.

“It’s okay,” He said in a shaky voice, “I’m fine.”

“What happened?” Bella asked.

“Adam’s thoughts…give me a headache.” He admitted.

They all looked at me.

Feeling sheepish, I said, “Sorry. I need to do this, though.” I needed to find a plan that would work but I couldn’t think the way I needed to with Edward listening. Then I wondered if I could turn down the volume, so to speak, the way I had when Zephyr was screaming in my mind. Only way to know was to experiment. “Want to play the Verizon game?” I asked Edward.

He snickered.

“The Verizon game?” Bella asked.

I closed my eyes and concentrated, trying to locate the area that I had when I needed to block Zephyr. I moved things around a bit, but there was only one way to figure out if it had worked.

I opened my eyes, “Can you hear me know?”

His clan and Laney chuckled. Apparently the younger ones of my group didn’t get it. Again, I felt old.

“That will fade after a few decades. After a while you start to feel timeless.”

Okay, so he could still hear me.

“Adam?” Rain said. “I don’t get it.” Zephyr said. “What are you doing?” Meadow asked.

I continued to work in my mind while I answered them, “Edward is a telepath. Sort of like you, Zephyr, only in reverse. Where you can transmit signals to even the weakest of receivers, Edward can pick up signals, no matter how softly they’re being transmitted. Oh!” That gave me an idea. It took me a second to find the part of my brain transmitting and shut it off. “Can you hear me now?”

“Amazing.” He replied, “I can’t hear a thing.”

“Good,” Was all I said in response.

I was busy again, trying to find a plan of action that would keep us all alive. A small piece of my brain registered the conversation happening around me. Edward was trying to explain my talent with limited success. I didn’t have the focus or inclination to correct him, though.

I went down the line, scenario after scenario. The problem was I could go through billions of simulations in my head and still have an infinite amount leftover that I hadn’t thought through. More information was required. We needed to do some reconnaissance. We had to research the enemy. Hopefully this peaceful clan would help us with that part. The psychic would also be useful.

One thing was certain, if I could avoid a fight, that was the ultimate goal. A peace treaty would be the pipedream, but unlikely. Another thing to consider was the rest of my group. So many things to consider.

“I need information.” I said to Carlisle, “As much as you can give me about the Volturi. Everything you know.”

“We can do that much for them, Carlisle.” Esme said.

“Are you sure you want to get involved?” Jasper asked him.

“We’re already involved, Jasper.” Edward snapped at him. “Or did you forget about the last time?”

“We don’t know that this is related.”

“We knew they would come for us eventually.” Bella sighed.

“They didn’t like running away with their tails between their legs.” Emmett said.

“They’ve already formed an army, Jasper. What more proof do you want?” Rosalie added.

I noticed a change in the atmosphere, almost like when I had tried to protect the human from the other hungry vampires, except this feeling was tangible. I could feel myself becoming edgy, irritated. Maybe it was the idea of Jasper not liking us. I remembered what Pim had told me they could do. Edward, the mind reader; Alice, the psychic; Bella, the shield. There was only one ability left, the ability to cause pain. I figured it had to be Jasper that had that ability; they had been surprised by the information that Carlisle had a gift.

I noticed the rest of my group becoming visibly agitated as well. I had to get them to stop arguing.

“We don’t want to cause trouble,” I said, unable to shake off the edgy tone of my voice, “If you don’t want to help us, that’s all right. We can leave.”

“No!” Esme said, sounding concerned and motherly, “You don’t have to go.”

“We don’t want to be a burden.” Laney said in a small frightened voice.

Edward looked at us, then Jasper, then us again.

“Who told you Jasper had a gift like Jane’s?” Edward asked, shocked.

“What?!” The rest of the golden-eyed clan cried.

“They think Jasper’s gift is to cause pain.” Edward explained.

I turned towards my group. We all looked at Pim.

He lifted his hands and shrugged, “It’s just what I heard. They have one that