“Caius…” Aro warned, seeing the expressions on the faces of Alice, Edward and I.

Caius grinned wickedly and replied, “I noticed Brother, don’t worry.” How does the new one know what I’m thinking? Does she have the same power as Edward or…something different?

He was still touching Aro, who knew of my power through Alice’s ‘wonderful tale,’ but I convinced Caius to say the truth about me out loud anyways.

“Bella has a different power than Edward, and yet she can still read my mind,” Caius remarked, and Jane’s normally coolly apathetic eyes snapped wide open. Marcus even glided over to see what was going on.

Not only can she read them, she can control them. I forced this thought into Caius’ head fast enough so that Aro withdrew his hand in shock and so Caius would know what I’d done. He then proceeded to yell, “I just thought a thought involuntarily! How on Earth…” He turned his eyes on me and asked, “Is it true? Is that really what you can do?”

“Yes, I can do what I just did and I’ll gladly do it again if that’s what it takes to get my family out of here,” I responded sweetly. Now that I knew I could perform it on someone as powerful as Caius, I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.

“Caius, they have done no wrong here, let them be,” Marcus urged quietly from behind Aro’s left shoulder. I was surprised to hear him speak positively on our behalf, but then again, I supposed he thought our relationships and bonds too strong to break.

“How about we speak to the ringleaders of this little kidnapping, shall we?” Aro suggested with his usual sickeningly sweet demeanor. “Heidi, Chris, over here if you please! And perhaps Felix and Demetri too… But where is Demetri?”

“If you would be so kind as to permit me to leave Master, I will fetch him for you,” Chris bowed deeply before retreating out of the room, and Caius scowled deeply. He obviously didn’t hold the vampire in that high a regard.

Chris returned quickly with Demetri, who was cursing the former under his breath repeatedly.

“Well Aro, are you going to kill those scumbags or what?” He remarked as he came to stand beside me. “I’ve got your back Bella,” he winked and I smiled up at him from the shelter of Edward’s arms.