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They came with pageantry, with a kind of beauty. They came in a rigid, formal formation. They moved together, but it was not a march; they flowed in perfect synchronicity from the trees a dark, unbroken shape that seemed to hover a few inches above the white snow, so smooth was the advance.
The outer perimeter was gray; the color darkened with each line of bodies until the heart of the formation was deepest black. Every face was cowled, shadowed.
The faint brushing sound of their feet was so regular it was like music, a complicated beat that never faltered. At some sign I did not see- or perhaps there was no sign, only millennia of practice- the configuration folded outward. The motion was too stiff, too square to resemble the opening of a flower, though the color suggested that; it was the opening of a fan, graceful but very angular. The gray-cloaked figures spread to the flanks while the darker forms surged precisely forward in the center, each movement closely controlled. Their progress was slow but deliberate, with no hurry, no tension, no anxiety.
It was the pace of the invincible.
This was almost my old nightmare. The only thing lacking was the gloating desire I'd seen on the faces in my dream the smiles of vindictive joy. Thus far, the Volturi were too disciplined to show any emotion at all. They also showed no surprise or dismay at the collection of vampires that waited for them here-a collection that looked suddenly disorganized and unprepared in comparison. They showed no surprise at the giant wolf that stood in our midst.
I couldn't help counting. There were thirty-two of them. Even if you did not count the two drifting, waifish black-cloaked figures in the very back, who I took to be the wives-their protected position suggesting that they would not be involved in the attack--we were still outnumbered. There were just nineteen of us who would fight, and then seven more to watch as we were destroyed. Even counting the ten wolves, they had us.
"The redcoats are coming, the redcoats are coming," Eunwoo muttered mysteriously to himself and then chuckled once. He slid one step closer to Hwasa.
"They did come," Psy whispered to JYP.
"The wives," JYP hissed back. "The entire guard. All of them together. It's well we didn't try Volterra."
And then, as if their numbers were not enough, while the Volturi slowly and majestically advanced, more vampires began entering the clearing behind them.
The faces in this seemingly endless influx of vampires were the antithesis to the Volturi's expressionless discipline- they wore a kaleidoscope of emotions. At first there was the shock and even some anxiety as they saw the unexpected force awaiting them. But that concern passed quickly; they were secure in their overwhelming numbers, secure in their position behind the unstoppable Volturi force. Their features returned to the expression they'd worn before we'd surprised them.
It was easy enough to understand their mindset-the faces were that explicit. This was an angry mob, whipped to a frenzy and slavering for justice. I did not fully realize the vampire world's feeling toward the immortal children before I read these faces. It was clear that this motley, disorganized horde more than forty vampires altogether -was the Volturi's own kind of witness. When we were dead, they would spread the word that the criminals had been eradicated, that the Volturi had acted with nothing but impartiality.
