Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bella and Jacob were pulling up to her house when she saw it in the glow of the headlights.

Carlisle’s car.

“Stop!” she cried, slamming her palms against the dashboard. “Jacob, stop the car!”

Jacob hit the brakes suddenly, jerking them both forwards painfully. Bella could feel the burn on her throat from the seatbelt but she didn’t care.

“What?” he said, alarmed. “Is it her, is it Victoria?”

Bella didn’t answer, she was too busy untangling herself from her seatbelt.

“Bella?” Jacob asked urgently, doing the same.

“It’s Carlisle’s car, it’s the Cullens! They’re here!”

Bella half threw herself out of the car in her haste, not even caring when she landed directly in a puddle, not caring as the muddy water soaked into her canvas trainers. She half-feared the car would vanish, like a fata morgana, that it was just some other trick her brain had come up with.

She hadn’t expected to see the Cullens again.

Ever.

Bella tried to keep her hopes in check, to not allow them to expand too far in her chest. She’d been far too hurt the last time to do that. But maybe Alice was there. Maybe Edward…

No.

The only person she could tell for certain was there was Carlisle, because it would only make sense that he would be the person who had brought his car, and even that was more than she had ever allowed herself to even hope for.

“Bella, wait!” Jacob called, making to get out of the car as well.

“No, Jacob, wait in the car!”

She needed to do this alone.

Jacob stared at her incredulously. He clearly didn’t have a particularly high opinion of her sanity, first with her cliff-jumping and now her insistence on entering a house that might well contain a certain flame-haired vampire out for her blood.

“You want to go in alone? There are vampires in your house, and you want to go in alone?”

“Yes!” Bella cried in exasperation, throwing her arms out wildly, fully aware it wasn’t doing anything to make her look more balanced or sane. “It’s not Victoria, it’s Carlisle. There’s no danger.”

Jacob snorted incredulously.

“Bella, I can’t let you go in there alone.”

“Just wait here Jake, I’ll call you in a few minutes to let you know everything is fine. Or you can call. But it’s just Carlisle!”

With that, she half ran, half walked towards her house, heart in her throat and eyes fixed on the Mercedes parked out front. Her soaked shoes squelched with every step. She was still trying to keep her hope in check. There were many Mercedes in the world, after all. Maybe it was just someone parking for a few minutes to check their phone, maybe it was a new friend of Charlie’s…

Bella’s hands were shaking as she unlocked the door.

It was pitch-black inside, the kind of darkness where she could have held her hand up in front of her face and not seen it at all.

Charlie usually left the porch light on at least. He rarely forgot.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Oh, God, maybe this was a trap after all. And she’d wandered straight into it like a fool.

Bella fumbled for the switch, fingers scrabbling on the wall for the smooth plastic. She couldn’t find it, and everything was so dark.

Her heart was pounding so hard that she was certain Jacob could hear it outside.

The switch flicked on suddenly as her fingers finally found it.

Bella blinked against the sudden bright light, almost painful to her eyes after the oppressive darkness that had greeted her when she had first entered the house.

Somone suddenly came out of the living room and into the hallway, someone taller than her, and for a second Bella wanted to scream for Jacob, still trying to blink clear her vision.

Then the figure came into focus, and she recognized Carlisle instantly.

Bella didn’t even think before she throwing herself into his arms. She’d forgotten how solid vampires were though, and the impact almost sent her flying to the ground but Carlisle caught her deftly before she could fall.

“Hello, Bella,” he said gently, steadying her and looking at her with deep concern in his pitch-black eyes.

He looked as perfect as ever, but also more disheveled than she’s come to expect from Edward’s usually immaculately dressed father. His wavy blonde hair was sticking out at strange angles, as though he’d been running his hands through it a lot, and the shadows under his darkened eyes were more purple than she’d seen them before.

Bella had never been so glad to see anyone in her life. She immediately pulled him into a hug.

Then she burst into tears.

“Oh, Bella,” Carlisle said sadly, wrapping his cold arms around her as well and holding her up as she cried. Bella could feel her tears soaking into Carlisle’s probably quite expensive navy sweater but didn’t dare pull away.

She couldn’t believe this was happening.

“Are you really here?” she sobbed into his now damp shoulder. “Please, tell me you’re real.”

“I’m here, Bella,” Carlisle said soothingly, rubbing comforting circles on her back with his cold hand. “And I never should have left.”

“I’m so happy you’re here,” Bella sobbed. “I thought I had lost all of you forever.”

“Everything is alright,” Carlisle said, before gently removing her from his arms and leading her to the kitchen. Bella allowed herself to be led without question, still too shaken to do anything else. Once there, Carlisle sat her down in a chair at the kitchen table and poured her a glass of cold water.

Then, slowly, he sat down opposite her, every inch the concerned doctor as he took in her bedraggled appearance and the tears still streaming down her flushed cheeks.

“Are you well, Bella?” he asked. “I ask because I was sent here under the impression that you were no longer with us.”

That finally stopped Bella’s tears in their tracks.

“What?” she managed to croak out. “What do you mean?”

Carlisle crossed his arms and looked at her cautiously across the table. Almost as though he couldn’t believe he was seeing her either. Suddenly, his harried appearance made slightly more sense. And his being at her house in the first place.

“Alice came to me this morning in a complete panic because she had seen you jumping off a cliff,” he explained, as gently as he could. “She waited, but she didn’t see you re-surface. She drew her conclusions.”

In that moment, Bella realized what must have happened.

“Oh God, she must have thought-“

Bella broke off and stared at Carlisle in horror.

He gave her a small, sad smile.

“She was very upset, as you can imagine. She told me I had to go to Forks, because someone had to confirm what had happened. And she wanted someone to be there for Charlie.”

He pushed the glass of water across the table towards her. Bella took a small sip, still not able to believe what she was hearing. The Cullens had all assumed she was dead. And Carlisle was here because he was expecting to find her dead and Charlie distraught at her loss. No wonder he was looking at her with so much concern.

“I left immediately, of course. The house was empty when I got here, but I could tell you’d been there recently. So, I told myself I would wait until Charlie returned home, and ask him myself. I was prepared to apologize, and maybe also to explain why it was we left the way we did.

So, you can imagine my surprise when you walked through the door, alive and well.”

Carlisle gazed at her thoughtfully.

“It still doesn’t explain why Alice saw you jumping from a cliff, however. Her visions can be fickle, but she’s never been entirely wrong before.”

Bella slowly put the glass back down on the table. Suddenly, her whole cliff diving adventure seemed incredibly ill-calculated and dangerous. And she was pretty certain Carlisle would not approve. He wasn’t exactly known for being a risk-taker, or someone who enjoyed adrenaline rushes. Especially if she mentioned the hallucinations of Edward that had led to her making the fateful leap in the first place.

“I, err,” she started awkwardly.

Carlisle looked at her expectantly.

“I was getting into cliff diving?” she offered weakly. “I saw Jacob and some of his friends doing it, and it looked sort of fun. So, I…gave it a go myself.”

Carlisle was staring at her with exactly the sort of horror she had expected. She definitely hadn’t won any points there.

Bella wondered if he also thought she had finally lost the plot.

“But Alice didn’t see you getting out of the water,” he told her, brow furrowed in confusion. “Hence the assumption you had perished.”

“Jacob pulled me out,” Bella explained. “I was very lucky that he was there.”

“You certainly were,” Carlisle agreed. “Is this new friend of yours by any chance Jacob Black?”

“Yes,” Bella said, surprised. “Do you know him?”

“Not personally, but I knew his grandfather.”

Carlisle looked at her closely. The dim light of the kitchen cast stark shadows on his youthful face, and made the deep shadows under his eyes all the more obvious. Clearly, she was looking at someone else she had inadvertently put through hell.

That was a group that seemed to grow by the day.

“Can I safely assume you’ve had your fill of extreme sports for the time being?”

“Yeah,” she said, quietly. Nothing would make her jump off a cliff again. Not even the off-chance of seeing a ghostly version of Edward.

“Good,” he said. “That’s certainly a relief.”

Then he rested his chin thoughtfully in his hand and gazed out of the window at the trees outside. The gentle sound of rain dripping from the leaves was the only audible noise for several seconds. Bella took another sip of water.

“What I am wondering is why Alice did not see Jacob in her vision of you. If he was there, it would have made sense that she would also have seen him rescuing you.”

Bella shrugged. Alice’s visions and how exactly they functioned wasn’t something she had ever claimed to know particularly well, and she wasn’t about to complain about any glitches in them if it meant she was now back with at least one Cullen.

Carlisle suddenly leaned forward and fixed her with a barely concealed expression of alarm. Something had clearly just occured to him.

“Bella,” he began uncertainly. “Bella, how much do you know about the Quileutes?”

Bella gave him a confused look.

“Do you mean the whole wolf thing?” she asked. Surely Carlisle wasn’t going to attempt to explain that her now.

“Good, you know,” he said. “I wasn’t quite sure if that was something I should spring on you right now. You’ve had quite the day, it would seem.”

He returned to gazing pensively out of the window.

“Maybe you should ask Alice about her visions, I have no idea why she couldn’t see Jake,” Bella said hesitantly.

Carlisle sighed. There was clearly something else on his mind, something else that was troubling him.

“How is Jacob’s control?” he asked carefully, looking down at his pale hands and not meeting her eyes.

Bella stared at him.

“Are you really going to lecture me about why werewolves are dangerous?” she asked him incredulously.

“No, I suppose not,” Carlisle said apologetically. “Forgive me for doubting him, I should be grateful he was there.”

“Yeah, you should be,” Bella said, irritation bleeding into her words. A sudden flare of protectiveness over Jacob had flared into existence in her chest and she didn't want to hear Carlisle doubt him. Not when he had done so much for her. 

“I apologize,” Carlisle said, sincerely.

Bella nodded.

“It’s not the only time one of the wolves has saved me,” she said. Something in her was determined to show Carlisle that the pack were not dangerous to her or anyone else. And that they had been there for her when the Cullens had abandoned her.

Carlisle’s eyes widened with alarm.

“I almost don’t want to ask.”

Bella sighed and ran a fingertip slowly along the rim of her glass.

“Laurent showed up in the meadow,” she told him.

Carlisle frowned.

“Laurent, as in the Laurent who we met whilst he was travelling with Victoria and James? Who has been staying with the Denali clan these past few months?”

Bella nodded.

“Tell me, quickly,” Carlisle implored her.

Bella quickly explained about the meadow, Laurent, and how he had wanted to harm her. How the wolves had destroyed him in front of her.

Carlisle listened intently, occasionally nodding as she explained certain points in more detail. His dark eyes narrowed when she mentioned that she had gone to the meadow alone, but he did not interrupt her at any point.

“Right,” he said slowly, when Bella was finished. “Alice didn’t see that either, at least not that I’m aware. You’ve certainly been through a challenging time, Bella, and I can only apologize to you for the part I played in it.”

He looked deeply upset at himself, and Bella could read on his pale features how much it troubled him that she had been so upset and alone. But the blame didn’t rest on him alone, and Bella was sure he had only acted because Edward had convinced him and the rest of the family they would have to.

“It’s not your fault,” Bella hurried to assure him.

“Well,” Carlisle said, pale features still drawn. “It seems I have been sent here on something of a fool’s errand. And I need to make several calls.”

He stood suddenly, and neatly slotted the chair back under the table. The sounds of water dripping outside suddenly seemed uncomfortably loud and intrusive. Carlisle looked out of place in the small kitchen, and from the way he was holding his hands awkwardly at his sides, Bella could tell he was uncomfortable.

Then, she suddenly realized what was happening.

“You’re leaving?” she asked in horror, the small flickers of hope she had been feeling seemed to die in her chest. He had only just gotten here. They had barely even spoken.

The panic set in. Bella felt as though her lungs were shrinking in her chest. This couldn’t be happening again. She wasn’t strong enough to do this for a second time in only a few months.

“Please, Carlisle, you can’t just leave,” she begged him, her voice shrill.

Carlisle shuffled his feet awkwardly and cast a quick glance at the door.

“Bella, I shouldn’t have come back in the first place, I shouldn’t have intruded into your life again, just as you were beginning to move on. It’s for the best if I leave now and you continue on.”

Bella could feel tears beginning to well up again, prickling uncomfortably in her eyes.

“But you only just got here,” she wailed. “Please, just one more day?”

Carlisle took two steps until he was standing in front of her. He surveyed her carefully.

“You don’t look well, Bella,” he said slowly, allowing his eyes to roam over her damp hair, her tear-stained cheeks, her wet shoes. Bella could feel that there was snot streaked across her cheek and she swiped at it angrily with her sleeve.

“Thanks,” she managed to choke out.

“Our leaving so abruptly hurt you more than I released,” he said, quietly and apologetically, more to himself than to her. “I can see that you have suffered. Emotionally.”

He looked at her carefully, weighing her up.

“I will remain in Forks tonight,” he finally said.

It suddenly struck Bella more obviously that Carlisle did not look well either. Of course, vampires always looked the same, but his pitch-black eyes spoke of weeks without feeding and his demeanor was downtrodden. And Bella could have sworn he hadn't looked so grey only a few months ago.

“Are you alright, Carlisle?” Bella asked croakily, wiping a damp sleeve across her eyes.

Carlisle smiled at her gently.

“I am fine,” he said, not convincing her in any way.

“You should hunt,” Bella suggested quietly. “While you’re here.”

His dark eyes were unsettling her. They made him look ill.

Carlisle opened his mouth to answer when the phone suddenly rang behind them, cutting rudely through the peace of the kitchen.

Bella pulled herself up and walked towards the phone. She tugged it roughly from the wall.

“Swan residence,” she said dully, watching Carlisle closely all the while. She didn’t trust him not to leave after all. The window was right there, after all. And Edward had never had any problems with entering or leaving through them. That said, she couldn’t really picture Carlisle engaging in such behavior.

“It’s me, Bella,” Jacob’s voice cut through with urgency.

Bella suddenly froze. She had completely forgotten her promise to call him, to let him know she was safe, and everything was alright. He was probably still anxiously sitting outside, waiting for her to confirm she was still alive.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine Jake, it’s only Carlisle here-“

“He’s there alone?” Jacob asked, his voice rough and tone insistent. Bella could practically see him in her mind, ready to jump to her defense. Ready to transform into that massive reddish-brown wolf, and tear Carlisle apart limb for limb.

“What? Yes, that’s what I just said.”

Jacob hung up on her.

Bella rolled her eyes.

“That’s going to be a problem,” she told Carlisle, who had come into the hallway.

“The wolves aren’t pleased that I’m here,” he said quietly. “Even if I’m alone.”

They stood in silence for a few moments before Bella suddenly remembered what they had been talking about.

“Where will you stay?” she asked suddenly. “I know you don’t sleep, but you still need to stay somewhere. I’m surely Charlie wouldn’t mind you staying on the couch or something.”

The image was ever so slightly comical, and she couldn’t help but picture Charlie and Carlisle having to make awkward small talk while setting up a sofa bed.

Perhaps not.

“I have a house,” Carlisle reminded her. “I can imagine I’m the last person Charlie would want to have camping in his living room at the moment.”

“But you can stay for a little longer?” Bella sked. “You haven’t told me about what you’ve been doing, or what the others have been up to. There's so many things I still need to ask you about.”

The name 'Edward' hung unspoken in the air between them.

“Alright,” Carlisle said quietly. “But not for much longer Bella, Charlie will be returning soon, and I don’t think this is a conversation anyone has the patience for this evening.”

“You’re probably right,” Bella said, with grudging acceptance. “I’ll tell him you’re in town though. You should come by and see him tomorrow.”

Carlisle’s eyes flickered up to the clock that hung in the kitchen.

“He always spoke so highly of you,” Bella told him quickly. “He’d want to hear how you were doing.”

“Alright,” Carlisle agreed, though Bella had the feeling he was only doing so to appease her.

He moved to the kitchen once again, more slowly this time.

“Have you eaten yet?” he asked her suddenly.

Bella shook her head, suddenly hit by a feeling of ravenousness. She hadn’t eaten for most of the day. In response to her thoughts, her stomach gave a loud grumble.

She made her way over to the fridge and pulled out a Tupperware with leftovers at random.

Behind her, Carlisle had resumed looking pensively out of the window. He hadn’t sat down.

Bella emptied the Tupperware of pasta onto a plate from the drying rack and shoved it in the microwave, then turned to him once again.

There was nothing for it. The elephant in the room simply needed to be addressed and Carlisle was clearly too concerned for her mental state to broach the subject himself.

The microwave hummed comfortingly behind her.

“How’s Edward?”

Carlisle froze. He turned to her slowly, uncertainty practically emanating from him.

“The last I heard from him, he was…coping,” Carlisle said hesitantly. His eyes darted to the door again.

Bella looked at him, the question clear enough in her eyes.

“He hasn’t been living with Esme and I,” Carlisle told her hesitantly. “He calls every now and then, to let us know he is still alive. Esme worries about him a great deal.”

From the state Carlisle was in, Bella doubted it was only Esme who was worried about Edward.

“Where is he?” she asked, needing to know something, anything about where Edward had been and what he had been doing since he had left Forks and broken her heart in the process. Even if it hurt to hear it.

“The last time he called, he was in South America,” Carlisle said. “I wish I could tell you more, Bella, but I don’t know very much about Edward’s day to day myself. I’m grateful he calls at all.”

Just then, Carlisle’s head jerked towards the street and he listened to something she couldn’t hear.

“Charlie will be here shortly,” he told her quickly, striding back into the hallway towards the front door.

Oh right.

The car.

Charlie wouldn’t recognize it the same way she had been able to, and would most likely conclude that there was an intruder in the house. Having him charging in with his gun out would definitely not help the situation.

“Please come back tomorrow,” she whispered, following him out onto the porch. “Like you promised.”

Carlisle turned back to her, the now switched on porch light casting deep shadows across his face. He looked ghost-like, like he would disappear if Bella blinked.

“I will, Bella.”

Then he got back into the Mercedes and down the road, turning the corner just as Charlie’s patrol car turned onto the street.

Chapter Text

When Bella awoke the next morning, the clouds outside her window had drawn closer together and it was a typical grey Forks day. It was still early, that much she could tell, but it was light enough that she could watch a particularly dark cloud meander slowly across the sky while the fogginess of sleep slowly left her brain.

She’d slept surprisingly well. It had been a while since she had slept through a night without nightmares.

Bella stretched lazily beneath the warm blankets, wincing slightly as her left shoulder clicked.

Then she froze, mid-stretch, suddenly recalling everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

Jacob. Jumping from the cliff. Maybe seeing Victoria in the cold water. Carlisle, waiting for her in the house. Carlisle promising he would come by in the morning.

Bella leapt out of bed and was just pulling on her ratty old dressing gown, shivering slightly from the chill, when the sounds of conversation drifted up from downstairs.

She slowly opened her bedroom door to hear better, and a grin grew on her face when she recognized the voice of the person conversing with Charlie.

Carlisle.

He’d kept his promise.

She slowly exhaled the breath she hadn’t been aware she had been holding.

Bella slowly made her way down the stairs, wincing when the sounds of the wooden stairs creaking and groaning beneath her bare feet made the conversation downstairs grind to a halt.

She slowly made her way into the kitchen.

It was fairly obvious that she had been the topic of conversation.

Charlie was sitting at the table with a stack of toast and eggs in front of him, drinking a large cup of black coffee. Opposite him, Carlisle had his hands cradled around an equally large mug of coffee that he hadn’t touched. Bella was relieved to see that he looked more put together than he had the previous night, and his eyes were noticeably lighter. He was wearing his usual button-up shirt and dress pants, blonde hair neatly brushed back from his face.

And he wasn’t meeting her eyes, instead looking intently into the depths of his coffee mug.

Yup, they had definitely been talking about her.

“Morning,” Bella said, suddenly wishing she had paused to get properly dressed and feeling awkward in her patched up dressing gown and old sweatpants.

“There’s some more eggs of you fancy some,” Charlie said gruffly, gesturing towards the stove. “Carlisle got here a few minutes ago. He told me he ran into you last night.”

“Yeah,” Bella said, nervously glancing at Carlisle. She wasn’t sure what story he had told Charlie.

“We didn’t manage to talk for long,” Carlisle said smoothly. “I had to drop by the hospital, pick up one or two things. It was nice to see it again. I was just telling Charlie about my new position in Ithaca, how the hospital there compares to Forks General.”

Ithaca.

Huh.

Not sunny California after all then.

Bella padded over to the stove and piled a small helping of fried eggs onto her plate and sat down at the table as well.

“You came alone then?” Charlie asked Carlisle.

The unspoken question: Was Edward here?

Carlisle nodded.

“Yes, it was quite a spontaneous decision. I drove up yesterday.”

The unspoken answer: No, and he won’t be joining me.

“You liking Ithaca?”

“It’s certainly a change of scenery,” Carlisle said cautiously.

He must have realized at some point that Charlie was born and bred in Forks. And that he would defend it to his dying breath. Telling Charlie outright that anywhere was better than his beloved Forks was asking for a lengthy discussion and possible removal from the property.

Charlie hummed in response, before gesturing to the empty plate sitting nest to Carlisle’s elbow.

“You sure you don’t want anything to eat?”

“No, thank you,” Carlisle said hastily. “I ate before coming by.”

Bella shoveled some eggs into her mouth, only to almost spit them back out at Charlie’s next question.

“How’s Edward?”

Carlisle looked suddenly nervous, and Bella felt a little bad for essentially inviting him over to be interrogated. But she did want to know. She needed to know. Had Edward been hurting, depressed, just as she had been? Had he resorted to increasingly extreme activities in hopes of hearing her voice? Had his grades slipped, had he been unable to feed because everything took too much effort?

“He’s adjusting to the new school,” Carlisle said slowly. “Though he hasn’t found any good friends. It’s been...a difficult transition for him.”

Bella knew Carlisle was lying, since he had told her the previous evening that Edward was rogue in South America, but she hoped there was a little truth behind the lies. The small, mean part of her that wanted Edward to have struggled after leaving her silently rejoiced at the implication.

She wanted Edward to have hurt.

Charlie didn’t look too pleased at the answer, for all that he had disapproved of Edward.

“You pulled your family out of here mighty quick,” he stated. “Can’t have been easy for any of them.”

“I regret that we couldn’t transition more slowly,” Carlisle said. “But the opportunity was simply too good to pass up. And Esme received confirmation for a house renovation only a few days after I accepted the position in Ithaca. So, everything fell into place rather quickly. It isn’t the first time we’ve moved without much warning.”

Bella knew Carlisle well enough to be able to tell he was lying through his teeth and hating it. But she knew that the truth was that it was Edward who had pushed for the move. Not Carlisle. And certainly not Esme, who would never intentionally have done anything to hurt her.

“Esme liking it then?” Charlie asked, taking a large gulp of coffee.

“Well enough, yes.”

Carlisle hesitated before continuing.

“We’ve both been very busy these past few months. I was lucky enough to get a few days off in a row to come to Forks, but Esme is working towards a deadline. She wasn’t able to join me.”

Was it just Bella’s imagination, or did he seem to be telling the truth? At least fragments of it? Between the lines, it sounded as though the Cullens had been going through more problems than she had first thought.

“Certainly a change of pace then,” Charlie said.

Carlisle nodded.

“You want some milk with that coffee?” Charlie asked suddenly, gesturing towards the untouched cup.

“No, thank you,” Carlisle said pleasantly.

Then he took a few sips, which made Bella wince in sympathy. She knew from Edward that vampires could no longer digest anything other than blood. Carlisle would have to regurgitate the coffee later.

To his credit, it wasn’t apparent that he was choking it down rather than enjoying it. Bella could only assume that being in contact with humans as much as he was meant this wasn’t his first time having to pretend to eat or drink to avoid suspicion.

Bella finished her eggs and rested her fork quietly on her plate.

“Are you staying long?”

Bella stared at Carlisle pleadingly. One more day, she tried to silently communicate to him, wishing he could read them out of her mind. What was one more day? Carlisle was immortal. It wasn’t as though time was an issue.

Carlisle’s golden eyes flickered to Bella briefly, before returning his attention to Charlie.

“I will need to return home tomorrow,” he said, after a few seconds of consideration. “We’ve been a little short-staffed, I can’t stay away too much longer.”

“You got somewhere to stay?” Charlie asked.

The fact he was being so polite to Carlisle was a relief to Bella. He clearly didn’t blame Carlisle anymore for what had happened. If he had even blamed him in the first place. Which was unlikely. Charlie had never been anything but complementary when it came to Carlisle. It was his son that was the problem in Charlie’s eyes.

“I’ve been staying at the house,” Carlisle said. “We haven’t had much luck with selling it yet, unfortunately.”

Charlie hummed in response, before downing the rest of his coffee in a single large gulp.

Then he stood up from the table.

“Well, I have to get going,” he stated. “I trust you’ll keep Carlisle company?”

This was said to Bella, who nodded enthusiastically. She had so many questions buzzing around her head, enough that a day didn’t seem enough.

Charlie hovered awkwardly in the sudden silence.

Then Carlisle stood up and reached to give Charlie a handshake.

“It was good to see you, Charlie,” Carlisle said sincerely. “And thank you for the coffee.”

“Good to see you too,” Charlie said. “Give my best to Esme and the family.”

Then he turned to Bella.

“I’ll see you tonight?” he asked. He had been asking more, Bella suddenly realized. He was always asking her where she was going to be and when she was going to come back. Like he wanted to make sure she would be.

The realization stung.

“Yeah.”

“Alright then.”

Then, with one last nod to Carlisle, he left the house.

They both listened to Charlie start his car and drive away, leaving behind the kind of peace Bella didn’t want to break.

But she needed answers.

“You’ve been in Ithaca?” she asked quietly.

Carlisle nodded, then finally gave her a brief summary of what the other Cullens had been up to since leaving Forks. Bella hardly dared to breathe, not wanting to miss a single word. She felt like a drowning man who had finally been flung a life vest.

Esme was indeed restoring a house, a seventeenth century wreak a few minutes outside of town. That hadn’t been a lie. And Carlisle was indeed working in a hospital in Ithaca, but only nights and primarily in the emergency room. By day, he was lecturing part-time at Cornell for an Epidemiology course. Rosalie and Emmett had only recently rejoined them, having spent the past few months on another honeymoon in Europe. Apparently, they had spent several weeks in Prague, falling in love with the city all over again. Jasper was also at Cornell, studying Philosophy. Carlisle had run into him a few times in the library. And Alice had been doing research on her family, on who she had been before she was turned. She had found out more about her human life, filling in those long empty gaps in her memory, and still had living relatives in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Right now, they were all together again, and the rest of the family had headed to Alaska to spend some time with the Denali coven. Carlisle would be joining them there.

He didn’t say anything about Edward.

He didn’t need to.

When Carlisle stopped talking, they sat in silence for a few minutes, Carlisle lost in thought and Bella considering everything she had been told. She was happy for Alice, that she had found out more about the family she had once had. All she wanted was to call her and have her tell Bella herself, in that fast, excited way of hers.

But Bella no longer had an in-service number for Alice. For any of the Cullens.

Carlisle’s schedule seemed a little punishing, even for a vampire, Bella thought, suspecting that he was trying to distract himself from Edward’s continued absence. But she was happy for the others. She missed them so badly that even if Rosalie turned up at her door and told her she had vacation snaps to show her, Bella would fall into her arms weeping with joy.

Carlisle suddenly made to stand up again but froze when Bella immediately grabbed his wrist.

Surely Carlisle wasn’t leaving now. He had just told Charlie it would be tomorrow. She was supposed to keep him company, he was supposed to tell her more about Alice and the others. Panic seized Bella in an iron grip and for a second she felt horribly light-headed even though she was sitting down.

“I will need to head to the hospital, Bella,” Carlisle told her apologetically, standing awkwardly halfway between sitting and standing because of the vice-like grip Bella had on his cold wrist. “I’ll come back after, but it would be odd if I did not do so now that Charlie thinks I have. I know he sees Dr. Gerandy fairly regularly, and it will probably come up. I don’t want to make him suspicious.”

“You will come back though?” Bella asked. She slowly let go of his wrist.

Carlisle nodded at her.

“Of course,” he reassured her. “I promise. I’ll only be an hour or two.”

Then he looked down at the half-drunk cup of coffee and his expression turned suddenly embarrassed.

“I don’t suppose I could use your bathroom sink?” he asked, a hint of a wry smile dancing around his lips.

“It’s upstairs,” Bella told him, still trying to get her breath back after the brief moment of panic. “Sorry about the coffee.”

Carlisle waved away her apologies, gave her shoulder a gently squeeze, then left the kitchen.

Bella had to admit, the need to cough up all normal foods and liquids like a cat with a hairball was a major downside when it came to vampirism.

After a few minutes she heard Carlisle come back down the stairs and make his way out their front door. Then she heard his car pulling out of the driveway.

Slowly, Bella began to pile the dishes and collect them in the sink to wash up later, moving mechanically and barely focusing on what she was doing.

Her mind was still on everything she had just been told. It felt like she had been given too much information in too short a time span and her mind was still reeling. She hadn’t expected to hear from any of the Cullens again, and now she knew where they were and what they were doing.

The information felt illegal. Like she could find them again if she wanted to now.

After finishing with putting everything by the sink and giving the table a quick wipe down, she made her way upstairs. She pulled on a grey sweatshirt and some jeans, before making her way to the bathroom to brush her teeth and sort out her hair.

She had just finished running a brush through her dark hair when the doorbell rang.

Bella slowly made her way downstairs, unsure of who to expect. Surely Carlisle wasn’t back already? It definitely took longer than that to even drive to the hospital.

She cautiously opened the door a crack.

To reveal an irate looking Jacob was standing on her doorstep, wearing only denim shorts and a dark T-shirt despite the chill in the air.

Bella opened the door and gestured for him to come in.

Jacob had barely crossed the threshold before he began. She could practically taste the annoyance rolling off him.

“It stinks of leeches,” he snarled at her, looking around rapidly as though trying to make sure Carlisle wasn’t hiding in the shoe rack or hanging off a ceiling lamp. “Didn’t he have anything better to do than hang around here?”

“He was here for about an hour last night and then this morning, Jake-“

“Don’t they have that huge house anymore?”

Bella exhaled in exasperation, shoving her hands into her pockets.

“Jake, Carlisle didn’t break any rules set out in the treaty. He was here, no one had been hurt, he hasn’t been on Quileute land, I don’t-“

“Where is he now?” Jacob asked, pushing past her to stare into the empty living room.

“Out,” Bella said, crossing her arms.

She understood that Jacob was worried. But it was Carlisle they were talking about. She was pretty certain he had never hurt so much as a fly.

“Are they moving back here?” he asked, fixing her with a hard stare.

Bella swallowed, suddenly feeling an ache in her chest. Turns out the truth really did hurt.

“No,” she said, quietly. “No, Carlisle is leaving again tomorrow.”

Jacob ignored her downtrodden expression.

“Good.”

He finally relaxed a little, shoulders loosening. He took one last sniff, wrinkled his nose, then turned back to Bella.

“Are you alright?”

Bella laughed humorlessly.

“Carlisle would never hurt me, or anyone else. He was a doctor, remember?”

“You know we never went to the hospital after he started working there,” Jacob reminded her.

Bella was about to respond when the phone suddenly rang.

They both froze for a second, gazing at one another like two rabbits caught in the headlights.

Then Jacob answered it, while Bella waited a few paces away, gnawing anxiously on a hangnail.

“Hello, Swan residence,” he said coolly.

Bella could make out a female voice on the other end, but not much more. She held out a hand to Jacob so he could give her the phone, but he turned away from her.

“He’s not here,” he said coldly.

Jacob listened for a few more seconds before abruptly hanging up.

“Who was that?” Bella asked hesitantly, taking in Jacob’s murderous expression.

“The short leech,” Jacob said. “The girl one that dresses funny.”

Bella froze.

“It was Alice?” she asked, unable to control her irritation. “Why didn’t you let me talk to her!? What did she want?”

“She wanted to know where the doctor was. She didn’t ask about you,” Jacob said, before turning and making his way back towards the door with long strides.

Bella couldn’t deny that that stung. Alice had to have known she was there. After all, she had called Bella’s house.

Bella rushed after him.

“Wait!”

“I have to go,” Jacob said, reaching for the door.

Which opened unexpectedly, almost hitting Jacob in the face. A harried looking Carlisle stopped short at the sight of Jacob. Jacob looked equally confused but recovered quickly.

They stared at once another, Jacob tense and ready to fight, Carlisle tense and looking ready to bolt, though Bella didn’t think Jacob was the cause of it.

“What do you want?” Jacob snarled, moving in front of Bella.

“Hello, Jacob,” Carlisle said, running a pale hand through his hair. "Good to finally meet you."

He looked frazzled, as though he had just had the most horrendous news. It was miles away from his put together appearance at breakfast. He looked alarmingly similar to how he had the previous evening.

Bella pushed past Jacob.

“What is it?” she asked urgently. “What’s happened?”

“Alice just called,” Carlisle said quickly. “It’s Edward.”

“What about him?” Bella asked, worried by the lines of concern that seemed to have been etched into Carlisle’s youthful face in the space of the last forty minutes.

“He thinks you’re dead,” Carlisle told her miserably. “Rosalie called him just before I got here. She told him Alice had seen you jump off a cliff.”

“So, call him!” Bella said, voice rising in pitch. She had a bad feeling about this.

“I haven’t been able to reach him, no one has.”

Carlisle placed a cold hand on Bella’s shoulder, and she looked into his golden eyes, ignoring Jacob’s growl from behind her at the contact.

“Do you remember, Bella, what Edward told you about the Volturi?” he asked hurriedly.

Bella nodded. She remembered that they were a sort of vampire council who made sure that everyone followed the laws. And that they executed those who broke them.

“Edward has gone to Italy,” Carlisle said urgently. “To see them.”

Bella felt as though her stomach had dropped out of her body. It suddenly felt as though her lungs had stopped working.

She stared at Carlisle in horror.

“I have to go,” he told her. “I just wanted you to know, Charlie was worried my re-appearance would upset you. I couldn’t just leave.”

He swallowed uselessly and took a step back, golden eyes flickering to Jacob then back to Bella.

“I fear I may already be too late.”

“Wait,” Bella said, grabbing his arm. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to go to Volterra, and hopefully reach Edward before any permanent decisions are made.”

Bella barely considered it before speaking. There was a spark in her chest, one she hadn’t felt in months. Not since Edward had left her on the damp forest floor.

Edward was in danger.

And she was going to save him.

“I’m coming,” she told him. “Let’s go.”

“Wait just a second,” Jacob suddenly broke in, pushing Bella behind him, further back from Carlisle. “She’s not going anywhere with you.”

He looked seconds away from tearing Carlisle apart on her doorstep.

“I agree,” Carlisle said.

“What?”

Carlisle turned to Bella, trying to make eye contact with her around Jacob’s broad shoulders.

“You can’t join me, Bella. It’s far too dangerous. You’re human, and you already know far too much. If I allow you to join me, you might not leave Volterra  alive.”

“I don’t care,” Bella said, trying to get past Jacob again but he was annoyingly solid.

“Move, Jake!” she shouted in exasperation, pushing hard against his muscular shoulder.

“I’m coming,” she told Carlisle. “We have to go, like, now.”

She motioned towards the door.

Carlisle hesitated.

Bella finally ran out of patience and stomped her foot, uncaring of how childish she probabably looked.

“If the Volturi will listen to anyone, it’s you! Edward told me you were with them for ages and parted on good terms. And Edward needs to see me. You know he won’t believe you without any proof. He knows you’ll tell him what he wants to hear if you thought it would save him.”

“Bella,” Jacob started anxiously behind her, but she ignored him, keeping all her attention on Carlisle, who was looking at her as though he was properly seeing her for the first time.

“I cannot guarantee your safety, Bella.”

“You heard the doctor,” Jacob snapped. “Let him go to Italy alone, and preferably stay there.”

“Carlisle,” Bella said. “I am coming with you. Either you take me with you now, or I’m getting to Italy on my own.”

Carlisle’s face suddenly hardened as he made his mind up.

“Alright,” he said. “I suppose it only makes sense, he won’t believe me. He’ll need to see you. Bella, you need to write a note for Charlie to tell him where you are. I don’t want him to worry. I’ll arrange a plane ticket for you.”

Bella nodded, and immediately made her way to the kitchen, leaving Carlisle to call the airlines in the hallway.

Jacob followed her, waves of anger rolling off him.

“I can’t let you do this,” he said to her through gritted teeth. His hands were bunched into fists and he was practically stomping.

“You can’t do anything to stop me,” Bella told him, snatching a pen and old bill from the counter.

“Please don’t do this,” Jacob said desperately, the anger melting from his tone to leave only pleading.  

“I have to,” she said. Her focus was on the note, on letting Charlie know she was safe, and would come back to him as soon as she could. “Edward’s in danger.”

Once she was finished writing, she left the note on the table, right in the middle, where Charlie would be sure to find it.

She made her way back to the hallway with Jacob hot on her heels, still begging her to stay.

Carlisle was waiting by the door, a backpack from Bella’s room in his hand.

“Do you have a passport?” he asked her hurriedly. “I packed you a change of clothes and something to read on the flight.”

Bella quickly fetched it and began to pull on her shoes while Carlisle stowed it onto the front pocket of the bag.

“You can’t take her with you,” Jacob said to Carlisle. “If anything happens to her…”

“I will do all I can,” Carlisle told Jacob calmly. “This goes against my better judgement as well.”

Bella jumped to her feet and gestured for Carlisle to lead on.

She turned one more time to Jacob.

“Look after Charlie,” she asked him, before pulling him into a hug. His warmth was a comfort, and she knew that he was just trying to look after her. He wasn’t doing anything from a place of malice.

“Please don’t do this,” he whispered into her hair, holding her so tightly it almost hurt.

“I have to,” she told him resolutely as she pulled back.

Then she followed Carlisle to the car.

As they drove away, Jacob was still standing by the front door, arms hanging uselessly by his sides.

Bella watched him shrink in the rearview mirror.

Chapter Text

Bella and Carlisle barely made their flight.

They were the last passengers to board, after having run through the airport at a human pace to ensure Bella would be able to keep up. It was one of the few times she’d seen Carlisle getting somewhat close to impatient. He had been less polite than usual to the staff at security when they had been asked to remove their shoes and had looked seconds away from snarling when he had been randomly selected for a pat down.

Bella, who was already stressed beyond belief, wasn’t sure how to take the fact that Carlisle’s patience apparently did have a limit and that they had found it in the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The plane to take forever to get into the air. While Bella focussed on not throwing up during take-off, Carlisle seemed ready to vibrate out of his seat with impatience.

It had been a long taxi. And then an even longer wait at the runway. The plane was running a few minutes behind schedule, though they had been reassured several times by pilot that they would make up the lost time.

Carlisle barely waited until the seatbelt signs above their heads had turned off before whipping out his phone and making a call, completely ignoring the disapproving looks being thrown his way by the blonde stewardess who had welcomed them on board.

The relief on his pale face when someone picked up was palpable.

He listened intently to whoever was on the line for a few seconds, shoulders tensed and eyes darting back and forth between the window and Bella.

“I can’t help but think we’re too late,” Carlisle interjected quietly. Bella stiffened at that admission. Carlisle was one of the most optimistic people she had ever encountered. If he was having doubts, what hope was there for her? For Edward?

Bella gnawed nervously at her nails.

Carlisle listened closely for a few more seconds.

Then he suddenly sat up straighter.

“Alice, you have to stay away,” Carlisle said firmly. “Stay in Alaska with the others. You have a gift that Aro would value highly, it’s simply not a risk I’m willing to take-“

He broke off and listened intently, golden eyes casting around the brightly lit plane.

“I know,” Carlisle said, and Bella wished she could hear both sides of the conversation. As it was, she was struggling to understand Carlisle. He was speaking quickly and quietly, so as not to draw any attention.

“Yes, please tell her that we are both as well as can be expected. I hope-“

Carlisle broke off again.

“I’ll do my best, Alice, I can’t do any more than that.”

Unexpectedly, and without any good-bye, Carlisle passed the phone to Bella. Then he settled stiffly back in his seat, and stared up at the ceiling, as though the answers to all the problems that had appeared in his family in the space of the last few hours might be hidden in the air vents. He was also ignoring the curious glances being thrown his way by the elderly man sitting beside him.

Bella pressed the phone to her ear and turned away slightly.

“Bella?”

“Alice!”

Bella couldn’t hold back her joy at hearing her best friend’s voice and greeted Alice rather more loudly than appropriate for the situation. Then she clapped a hand over her mouth as several passengers gave her disgruntled looks.

She mouthed a quick apology at them.

“I am so incredibly sorry, Bella,” Alice said quickly, “for everything. Edward forbade me from watching your future too closely. Truly, if I had known, if we had known, I swear-“

“Alice,” Bella interrupted. “I appreciate it and I forgive you. I forgave you long ago. Really.”

Then she exhaled.

“Can you see Edward?” Bella whispered, hardly daring to breathe into the silence following her question in case she missed an answer.

Beside her, Carlisle shifted in his seat, not attempting to hide that he was listening to their conversation.

“He’s changing his mind to quickly for me to see him properly,” Alice said, apologetically. “But he is alive. For now.”

“Thank God,” Bella exhaled. Then maybe they weren’t too late.

Maybe they still had a chance.

“Can you give me back to Carlisle, please?” Alice asked. “Not that I don’t want to talk to you, Bella, but I just saw something that might help.”

Bella hastily handed the phone back over.

She couldn’t make out what Alice said, but a flicker of an emotion she couldn’t identify passed over Carlisle’s features and he tensed noticeably. He looked almost…embarrassed. But it was gone as quickly as it had come, replaced by a carefully impassive expression. It was clear that Alice had confronted him with something quite unexpected.

“Right,” he said, contemplatively, and somewhat apologetically. “Well, this wasn’t how I would have wanted you to find out, but I suppose it doesn’t matter now. I’ll take anything that might keep Edward alive for a little longer.”

Alice said something else.

“This stays between us, Alice, all right?” Carlisle asked.

More rapid speech, then Alice hung up.

Carlisle lowered the phone slowly and hummed thoughtfully, turning the small device over and over in his hands.

Bella looked at him questioningly.

“What did Alice mean? What might keep Edward alive a little longer?”

Carlisle sighed and rubbed a hand across his face.

“This isn’t really the time, or the place, Bella,” he said softly. “Just know that we may have something on our side that will slow Aro’s decision, and, by doing so, prolong Edward’s life and as well as our likelihood of reaching him in time.”

“I suppose there’s no pushing for answers?” Bella asked, knowing even as she asked what the answer would be. While she wouldn’t go so far as to describe Carlisle as overly secretive, she knew he valued his privacy. Edward had told her before that Carlisle had gotten quite skilled at concealing certain thoughts from him. The rest of the Cullens could block him, to varying degrees of success, but Carlisle was the most skilled at it.

Carlisle gave her a gentle smile and shook his head.

“Not every truth needs to be in the world, if it is not needed there,” he told her cryptically.

“Right,” Bella said, shifting in her seat and trying to get comfortable. It was an impossible task. They had ended up flying with a cheap airline, and, while Bella was grateful that they were flying at all, the seats left a lot to be desired. It felt as though she was sitting on one of the cheap plastic chairs from the Forks High School canteen.

“Can you tell me about the Volturi, at least?” she asked, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them tightly.

Carlisle ran a hand through his pale hair and considered her carefully, as though mentally selecting the most appropriate version of the truth for her. Bella could almost see his thoughts whirling.

“Alright,” he agreed.

He thought for a second, considering where to start.

“My family and I,” he began. “We’re different to other vampires, beyond just our diet. For one, we are a fairly large coven. Most of our kind would struggle to live in such a big group. I have a theory that because we are not in competition with one another for human blood, it is easier for us to live together without conflict. Usually, our kind travels alone, in pairs at most. Anything larger is rather unusual.”

He ran his finger slowly over the phone’s camera and continued talking, voice so quiet that Bella had to strain to hear him.

“We are the largest coven we know of that is currently in existence. With one exception.”

“The Volturi,” Bella whispered.

Carlisle nodded.

“They were only three originally. Aro, Caius, and Marcus. I believe Edward showed you the painting in my office.”

Bella remembered the painting, the three haughty looking vampires at the balcony, dressed in elaborate finery and silks. And behind them, half-hidden behind a column, Carlisle. It was hardly something she could forget.

“Their numbers swelled after each member found their mate. Marcus’ wife died some time ago, but the other two, Sulpicia and Athenodora, remain. They are five, now.”

“That’s not so many,” Bella said.

“Five, not including the guard,” Carlisle added.

“That sounds…intense,” Bella said.

“To my knowledge, the permanent members of the guard bring their numbers up to fourteen. In addition to the permanent guard, there are also members that are more transitory. They will stay for some time, then leave, or disappear in other ways.”

“So quite a few more than you guys then,” Bella stated.

“There’s also the matter of gifts,” Carlisle went on. “Aro likes to collect vampires who have special abilities, like the gifts Alice or Edward have. There are an unusually high number of gifted individuals in their ranks. And of the three leaders, both Aro and Marcus have gifts of their own.”

Bella wondered if maybe it would have been better not to know just how terrible their odds were. It had been a little easier to imagine her and Carlisle having success with their mission when she didn’t have to imagine the two of them having to potentially go up against fourteen vampires. However much she admired and enjoyed spending time with Carlisle, he would not be her first pick if it were to come down to a fight.

“What do you know about the duties of the Volturi?” Carlisle asked her.

Bella considered for a few minutes.

“They’re a bit like the police, but for vampires?” she asked, trying to lighten the mood slightly.

Carlisle smiled, but there was little humour in it.

“Not quite. The Volturi are, I suppose, the closest thing to royalty our world has. They have assumed the position of rule enforcers. It’s a role they do well in, their coven size and gifted members ensures that they are rarely challenged.”

Carlisle paused.

“The key rules that our kind are required to follow is that we don’t make our existence obvious to humans, and we keep a low profile. This is the law that the Volturi primarily enforce. It doesn’t happen often, but every now and then someone will step out of line. They’ll kill too obviously, and then the Volturi step in before our secret is revealed. They’re very…efficient.”

Carlisle looked uncomfortable, eyes glazing ever so slightly, clearly recalling some unpleasant memories.

Bella, meanwhile, was only just realising the gravity of the situation. She had suspected, of course, that Edward was intending to put his life at risk. But she hadn’t considered that he might need to commit murder to do so.

“So, Edward,” she began hesitantly. Then stopped, unable to say the words out loud.

“Edward will most likely deliberately flaunt their rules in Volterra, to ensure a reaction, if his request for execution is denied. Hunting is not permitted within the walls of the city, and Edward is aware of that.”

Carlisle looked visibly upset at the thought of Edward committing such atrocities, so Bella quickly asked another question that had been on her mind.

“Does that happen often?” she asked.

“What?”

“Vampires…asking for death?”

Carlisle shook his head.

Bella suddenly felt a sob building in her throat. Now that she knew exactly what Edward was walking into, it felt so much more real than it had in the hallway in her house in Forks. Edward wanted to die. Because he thought she was dead. And he was getting some dangerous people involved. People that Bella was quickly realizing she and Carlisle had little chance of winning against. The odds seemed to be stacked against them so highly that Bella didn’t see how they could succeed.

Carlisle rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.

“We will do what we can, Bella,” he told her. “And regardless of the outcome, I will do whatever I can to get you home safe to Charlie.”

“Carlisle-“

“That isn’t up for debate,” Carlisle told her firmly.

Bella nodded, then turned to stare out of the window.

The next few hours passed in silence. Bella attempted to watch a film on the screens the airline offered but wasn’t able to concentrate on even the simplest plot. After several attempts she gave up and instead watched the slow progress of their plane on the digital map. It was dark outside her window now, and the plane cabin was filled with the gentle sounds of human rest and muted conversations.

A stewardess had offered her a blanket a few hours earlier, and Bella pulled it tighter around her shoulders.

The flight seemed to be taking forever. It was hard to imagine that right this second, Edward could be in Italy. Could be begging the Volturi for his execution.

All because he thought she was dead.

Carlisle had taken the opposite approach to earlier in the flight and seemed to have forgotten he was supposed to be at least attempting to appear human. He wasn’t taking the unnecessary breathes or blinking that Bella had grown accustomed to, and it was unsettling. Like travelling with a wax mannequin. If she hadn’t known any better, she would have thought he had died in his seat.

It was only when his mobile suddenly rang that he abruptly snapped out of it.

“Alice?” he said, clasping the phone to his ear.

Bella tried desperately to catch some of what Alice was saying but what little speech she could make out was simply too fast for her to follow.

“What is it?” she hissed urgently but Carlisle held up a finger for her to wait, still listening intently. Bella internally cursed her slow human hearing.

Then he suddenly sagged in his seat.

“Thank the Lord for that,” he breathed. “How long will they consider?”

Carlisle listened carefully to Alice.

“Thank you for letting me know,” he told Alice. “Do you see anything regarding mine and Bella’s chances of reaching Edward?”

He listened.

“Alright,” he sighed. “I suppose it could be worse. Let me know if anything changes.”

He hung up.

“The Volturi have denied Edward’s immediate request, they are discussing what best to do with him,” he summarised quickly for Bella.

“So, he’s still alive?” Bella asked.

Carlisle nodded.

“For now. Aro has long had an interest in Edward’s gift. He considers his death to be a waste.”

He sighed, looking at the map Bella had been staring at. They were still somewhere over the Atlantic.

“We will just have to hope that they consider his request long enough for us to reach him.”

“Alice couldn’t see anything about us?” she asked.

“Nothing certain,” Carlisle said grimly, crossing his arms tightly across his chest.

Bella sighed, and resumed staring at the map.

The next call from Alice came half an hour later.

Carlisle picked up quickly, forgetting to slow his actions to human speed in his haste.

“Yes?”

Alice’s quick voice once again could be heard, and from what Bella could make out she sounded alarmed.

“No,” Carlisle breathed suddenly. “Alice, please tell he won’t.”

Bella stared at him. It sounded like Edward was still alive. But it didn’t sound like Carlisle was particularly happy with what Alice had told him.

“Oh, Edward,” he said, sadly. “We will move as quickly as we can. Maybe we can still intercept him before he acts.”

More distorted speech.

“Watch him as closely as you can, Alice. But watch Aro as well. We have to hope for his forgiveness here. He doesn’t appreciate executing those he desires.”

Carlisle hung up again and lowered the phone slowly. Then he let his head fall back against the seat. He looked completely and utterly exhausted.

“What is it?” Bella pressed him urgently. “Is he still alive?”

“The Volturi have denied his request, and he has denied their offer to join their ranks. Edward has changed his mind about his plan again, but it is solidifying. Alice sees him forcing their hand, just as I feared he might. Our only hope now is that he is leaning towards the dramatic. He wants an audience. That gives us more time.”

Bella echoed Carlisle’s position, slumped back against her seat.

She looked across at him, taking in his equally disheartened expression and furrowed brow.

“I hate this,” she said quietly. “I feel so powerless.”

“We are doing all we can. I know it feels useless, but Alice hasn’t got a definite future yet. That means we still have a chance. Try to focus on that.”

Bella nodded, but wasn’t able to draw much comfort from Carlisle’s words. It didn’t help that he didn’t seem to be following his own advice. In an alarming contrast to earlier, when he had been still as a statue, he was now back to what could only be described as fidgety. His leg was jittering up and down, his pale fingers were pulling at his seat belt and his eyes were darting back and forth, as though he was thinking far too rapidly and couldn’t keep up with himself.

Bella reached across and squeezed his cold hand, trying to calm him down. She had never seen Carlisle so unsettled and it was upsetting to see.

Carlisle looked at her in surprise, and Bella was alarmed at the blatant pain and misery she could read in his ochre eyes before he turned away from her again. She could make out her reflection in his eyes, and her expression mirrored him.

She held Carlisle’s hand more tightly, more for herself now.

“It’s going to be alright,” she told him, as confidently as she could manage, which wasn’t very.

“We’re going to have to drive quickly,” Carlisle told her distractedly. “Very quickly.”

Outside the window, the sun was rising, casting an orange glow across both of them.

Chapter Text

Bella stared open-mouthed at the tiny, bright blue Smart currently crawling across the crowded parking lot towards her. It was miniscule, ridiculous looking, and did not look capable of reaching the kinds of speeds Carlisle had informed her they would need to save Edward from the Volturi. It barely looked capable of making it out of the airport.

This part of the rescue mission had looked very different in her head.

Carlisle pulled up beside her and Bella got into the tiny car gingerly, terrified to accidently break it by sitting down too hard or moving too much. She was pretty sure a washing machine would be more spacious. And Bella wasn’t exactly tall.

“It was all they had,” Carlisle said apologetically. He looked uncomfortable, his tall frame hunched over the wheel of the car. He’d picked up a pair of sunglasses somewhere and they looked far too big for his face. “Waiting for something else would have taken too long.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Bella muttered, trying to wrestle her seatbelt on. “Can we just go?”

Despite her initial doubts, the car was surprisingly quick, and she was pretty sure Carlisle did not dip below the speed limit once on their journey between Florence and Tuscany. That in itself was surprising, she had always assumed him to be the safest driver in the family. He certainly hadn’t flaunted speed limits around Forks to the extent Edward and Rosalie had.

But now his jaw was set, and all conversation had faded.

Alice called once, to tell Carlisle that Edward had solidified his plan. He would carry it out at midday. Punctually.

She didn’t need to tell them how essential it was for them to arrive on time.

Bella tried not to watch the clock, but it was hard not to, knowing every passing minute they were not in Volterra brought Edward a step closer to death. The innocuous orange digits on the display seemed to be screaming at her. She might as well have been looking at a countdown to Edward’s death.

The silence stretched between them, tense and uncertain. In any other situation Bella would have been trying her best to take in the views outside, it was her first time in Europe after all. But there might as well have been blank whiteness outside her window for all she cared.

Until they crested a sun-drenched hill and Carlisle pointed Bella’s attention towards a castle in the distance. He had rolled up his shirt sleeves and his forearms were sparkling in the bright sunlight coming in through the car window, throwing tiny rainbows around the interior of the car.

“Volterra,” he said quietly. “Home of the Volturi. Finally.”

Bella squinted at the barely visible castle, little more than a dark smudge in the distance, simultaneously relieved at how close they were and dismayed at the fact it was almost midday.

They were running out of time. 

By the time they finally pulled up to the city of Volterra, Bella was drenched in nervous sweat and Carlisle was gritting his teeth so hard that Bella was concerned they were going to crack out of his jaw.

To make matters worse, it became clear as soon as they attempted to drive into the city that some sort of festival was taking place. All around them tourists and city inhabitants milled around the quaint cobbled streets, dressed in gaudy red robes that covered them head to toe. The crowds were substantial enough that driving through was near impossible, and their pace slowed to a crawl.

Carlisle looked positively murderous as he leaned forward over the steering wheel, attempting to avoid running over any stray revellers. The streets were too narrow to swerve around anyone, even in their miniscule car, so they were forced to keep the pace dictated by the pedestrians. The buildings were packed close together, painted warm shades of orange and yellow. In any other situation, Bella would have been enchanted. But she was too keyed up to take any of it in, and Carlisle’s increasingly obvious anxiety wasn’t helping.

“Saint Marcus day,” he muttered grimly to himself as they were forced to pull to a stop behind a group of small children in matching red robes and bright blue sunhats. “Of course, how could I have forgotten?”

Bella was considering jumping out of the car and yelling at them to get out of the way when Carlisle turned to her. His golden eyes were desperate behind the sunglasses, locking onto her own anxious gaze.

“You’ll have to go on alone, Bella,” he told her quickly.

“What?” she gaped at him. She had never been to Volterra. Scratch that, she had never even been to Europe. She didn’t speak a word of Italian, and had once lost her way in the Cullen house. Finding a specific building in a foreign city was definitely not something she had the skills for.

Carlise had to be joking.

Unfortunately, he seemed deadly serious.

“It’s going to be at the Palazzo de Priori,” he told her. “There’s a clock tower, you can’t miss it. It’s the tallest building in the city.”

He unbuckled her seatbelt.

“Palazzo de Priori,” she repeated dumbly to him as she opened the car door.

Was this really happening?

Carlisle nodded.

“Go,” he told her, pushing her gently out of the car. “I’ll catch up, I promise. It’s essential he sees you before he sees me. Go, Bella!”

Bella quickly got out, stumbling slightly on the uneven cobbles. She turned to look at Carlisle, blinking in the sunlight, unsure where to go. He pointed her towards a street to the right.

Bella didn’t hesitate any longer.

She ran.

Bella had never claimed to be particularly athletically gifted. She had never claimed to be coordinated. In fact, she was usually described as the opposite. Her school reports had been full of comments about lacking coordination and poor performances.

But she could be damn fast when she wanted to be.

And she definitely had a reason now.

Her converse slapped against the cobbles as she sprinted, eyes fixed on the distant tower she could see above the picturesque houses all around her. That was where it was going to happen. Any minute now.

Bella could tell she was getting closer because the concentration of people in red started to increase even more. There were several vendors selling balloons in the shapes of Disney figures and they leered menacingly down at her as she flew past.

To her horror, she was forced to slow down after only a few minutes, no longer able to flat out sprint but forced to weave in and out of groups of tourists, trying desperately to keep her eyes fixed on the tower. The streets were narrow enough that the hot air seemed to be trapped between the rows of tightly packed houses, and Bella could feel beads of sweat running down her forehead. There was not even the barest hint of a breeze.

She was deeply regretting wearing jeans.

The tower was almost above her now. That had to be the Palazza de Priori. Carlisle hadn’t mentioned any other towers, and she could only hope against hope that she was currently heading towards the correct one.

Bella pushed a blonde middle-aged lady in a red sundress standing in the middle of a narrow street out of the way and didn’t even stop to apologise when the woman shouted after her in German.

Bella didn’t care.

Was it midday yet?

The sun certainly looked high enough for it to be.

Everywhere she looked was red, hundreds of people were milling around in matching hoods and capes. Their motions were beginning to make her dizzy, and the cacophony of different languages around her was bewildering.

Bella could feel sweat drenching her t-shirt, her damp hair stuck to her face. But she kept going.

“Edward!” she screamed as loud as dared, ignoring the curious stares being thrown her way by festival goers and tourists. “Edward!”

Where was the square?

Bella could still see the tower, but the crowds seemed denser close to it and she found herself resorting to bodily pushing people out of her way every few minutes with little care for injury to herself or others.

And then suddenly, just as she rounded a corner, she saw it.

The tower.

It rose high above the sandy coloured buildings gathered around the square, ornate windows carved into the stone along its entire impressive height. An elegant black and white clock face was affixed several stories above the square. Bella didn’t dare to look at it too closely, terrified of what it would show.

Her heart felt like it was going to explode out of her chest.

Barely even aware of what she was doing, Bella tore towards it as fast as she could through the crowd, eyes fixed on the tower, pausing only when she felt a sharp pain in her thighs.

She’d run right into an elaborately carved fountain.

Bella barely even paused, vaulting over the barrier into the pool without a second thought. The cold of the water seemed to force the air from her lungs and she grit her teeth as she kept moving.

Just as she had clambered out on the other side, cringing at the wet feeling of jeans on her legs, the bell tolled. Then again.

“No,” Bella breathed. “No, no, no.”

She pushed through with more urgency, ignoring the exclamations of pain and surprise all around her as she knocked tourists flying in every direction.

“Edward!” she screamed, staring around in panic. Where was he? Alice had said he would be here but hadn’t thought to tell them exactly where to look. Neither had Carlisle.

Bella whirled around and around, trying to catch a glimpse of russet hair or sparkling skin.

And then she saw him and time seemed to stop.

Edward stood just inside the entrance to the tower, still halfway hidden in the shadows.

She was too far away.

He couldn’t see her.

“Edward!” she screamed again, hands cupped around her mouth in a desperate attempt to increase the volume of her shouts.

He wasn’t wearing a shirt, just a pair of plain dark trousers, and his stance was relaxed. Edward looked breathtakingly beautiful, like an angel carved from a cathedral. Like he could make models weep without even blinking, because they would never measure up.

Her own personal Adonis.

Bella forced herself to run harder, pushing with no thought for anyone around her. Her wet converse squelched on the stones.

Edward took a step forward and Bella’s heart leapt into her throat.

“Edward! Look at me!”

His eyes were closed, lashes dark against his pale cheeks. His arms were held slightly away from his body, as though he was preparing to take flight.

Bella finally made it through the crowd and flung herself at Edward, colliding with his chest hard enough to knock the air from her lungs.

“Edward,” she choked out, wheezing and pushing uselessly against his granite chest. “Edward, it’s me.”

He gazed down at her with coal black eyes. Up close Edward looked exhausted, the shadows under his eyes deeper purple than she’s ever seen. He looked as though he had two black eyes, and his hair looked oddly dull. The usual sheen was missing.

“Amazing,” he muttered. “Carlisle was right.”

Bella stared up at him incredulously.

“Edward,” she panted, running a shaking, sweaty hand over his face. “Please, Edward, you have to move.”

Edward reverently ran a hand through her hair. He seemed to be in a sort of trance.

Bella attempted to push him, but it was like pushing a wall.

“So quick,” Edward breathed, fingers still in her hair. “I didn’t feel a thing.”

Realisation suddenly dawned.

He thought he was dead.

“I’m not dead, Edward,” she gasped, slapping at his temple as hard as she dared, trying desperately to get his attention. “I’m alive, Edward, you have to move. The Volturi-“

That seemed to finally snap him back to reality.

Bella was suddenly yanked almost off her feet as Edward suddenly grabbed her and pulled both of them halfway back into the cool air of the shadows behind them. He kept his arms around her protectively, his grip on her so tight that Bella was worried her ribs might actually crack under his fingers.

That was when Bella realised he was looking at something behind her, deeper in the shadows.

Bella attempted to peek around Edward’s arm and could just make out two dark shapes, barely indistinguishable from the gloom around them.

“Greetings,” Edward called out to them, his voice unexpectedly rough.  His grip on Bella remained vice-like. “I don’t believe I have any further need of your services. Please send my thanks to your masters.”

“Perhaps we should take this conversation to a more appropriate venue?” the figure on the right replied. His voice was smooth, and chillingly cold. Despite the heat, Bella felt a shiver go down her spine and the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

“That won’t be necessary,” Edward said, tightening his grip on her arms, the force now enough to bruise. “I haven’t broken any of your rules.”

“Felix was simply pointing out the proximity to the sun,” the other figure said. They were closer now, and Bella could make out that both were attired in charcoal grey cloaks, with the hoods drawn up.

There was something menacing about their posture. They looked posed to strike, like two twin cobras. Bella resisted the urge to cower, to make herself smaller. Not for the first time, she felt like prey.

“Let us seek better cover,” Felix said gesturing at the darkness behind him with a hand that looked shockingly white against the dark cloak he was wearing.

“I’ll be right behind you,” Edward said with forced lightness.

Then he addressed her.

“Go, enjoy the festival, Bella. I’ll join you as soon as I’ve cleared everything up here.”

The forced nonchalance in his voice wasn’t fooling anyone. Least of all her. There was fear written plain as day in his onyx eyes.

“Bring the girl,” the other figure commanded.

“No,” Edward said sharply.

“There is no threat,” the other said. “Aro merely wishes to speak with you again.”

“Bella can go then,” Edward hissed.

“That is no longer possible,” Felix said. “Rules are rules.”

“Then I do not accept your invitation, Demetri,” Edward hissed.

The figures took another step forward and Bella took a small step back in alarm. Felix was very large, larger even than Emmett. She hadn’t thought that there was anyone more imposing looking than Emmett.

“Aro will be very disappointed,” he breathed.

Beneath the shadow of his hood, Bella could just make out two glowing red eyes. She shivered again.

“I can live with that,” Edward ground out.

He was trying to surreptitiously move Bella further behind him, into the sunlight, but terror had rooted her to the spot. She didn’t think she would be able to move even if she wanted to.

Felix and Demetri spread out slightly, clearly moving to force Edward further inside. Their heavy cloaks and dark hoods would shield them from the sunlight. Bella couldn’t help but think of wolves splitting up to hunt their prey.

It was clear they were willing to do anything to force them further inside. Maybe even kill them.

Bella clutched helplessly at Edward’s arm.

So, this was it then.

This was how they both died.

“Can we not have a little more civility, please?” a familiar voice rang out behind from them.

Felix and Demetri whipped around, and Bella had never been so glad to see Carlisle in her life. He was standing partially in shadow himself, to prevent the sunlight from reaching his skin, and he was looking more ruffled than Bella had ever seen him look. He had an unfamiliar knee-length blue raincoat on, with the hood pulled up to shield him from the sun. The hood he lowered as soon as the shadows were deep enough, his golden hair gleaming even in the darkness as he made his way towards the four of them.

“Carlisle?” Edward exclaimed beside her in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

He was staring at his father like he had never expected to see him again. And Bella suddenly realised that he hadn’t.

Up until a few moments ago, Edward had not intended to walk out of Volterra alive.

Carlisle opened his mouth to answer but Demetri cut him off.

“Carlisle,” Demetri said, a strange grin on his face. “Aro will be very pleased to see you.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Carlisle replied evenly, smiling tightly back at Demetri.

He studiously ignored the confused looks being sent his way by both Bella and Edward. Bella didn’t think it was that odd, this wasn’t the first time it had been mentioned that Aro seemed to be unusually fond of Carlisle, but the shit-eating grin on Demetri’s face as he looked at Carlisle made her uncomfortable on his behalf. He looked like he had just been told there would be a new season of a beloved TV-show he had been under the impression would be cancelled.

“Now,” Demetri said, clapping his hands together, the sound sharp enough to make Bella jump. “Can we take this inside, please?”

“I would certainly do so quickly,” Carlisle said pleasantly. “We are still very much in company.”

Bella cast a quick glance outside and realised he was not wrong. They had caught the attention of a small family in red, the older girl especially had her eyes fixed on Edward. She was watching them with wide brown eyes, her attention darting between the shirtless Edward, still sparkling softly, the cloaked Volturi members, and Bella herself.

She tugged on Edward’s arm.

“I will not take her in there,” Edward snarled.

Carlisle sighed and rubbed a hand over his forehead.

“I cannot believe I’m saying this, but I think it would be best if we were to listen to Demetri for now.”

Edward glared at him and would most likely have retaliated had not a high clear voice like the ringing of a thousand tiny bells rung out from the gloom behind them.

The entryway was becoming rather crowded.

“For once, Carlisle is right.”

Carlisle turned at once, expression smoothing.

“Jane.”

He gave her a short nod in greeting, and immediately began to walk towards the small figure, leaving Edward and Bella no choice but to follow him deeper into the shadows.

Bella looked at the girl curiously as they got closer. Had Carlisle not greeted her by name, Bella would have been unsure if the child was male or female. What she had seen of her delicate features was completely androgynous, and she was as bundled up in a large cloak as Felix and Demetri were. Clearly the Volturi took not sparkling in the sunshine seriously.

What was obvious was that this girl held some power, evidenced by Carlisle immediately following her without any questions asked. And the fact he was remaining a consistent distance behind her.

Edward seemed unsettled by Jane’s presence as well.

“Why are you here, Carlisle?” Edward asked quietly as they walked, footsteps echoing off the stone walls. “Why not send Alice?”

“You know why I insisted she remain away,” Carlisle said shortly, keeping his eyes on Jane, who was walking just ahead of him. “And I am here because of you. Because I couldn’t bear to lose you.”

Edward didn’t have an answer to that.

“Why did you bring Bella?” he asked instead, a hint of accusation in his voice.

“Because she wouldn’t stay away,” Carlisle retorted. “And because she was the only person who could make you stay your course.”

Bella swallowed, not happy to be reminded just how close Edward had come to death. A few seconds and she would have been too late. She would have had to witness her beloved being executed right in front of her.

And it wasn’t over yet. Bella had never met him, but she did not for a second believe Aro had invited them just for a little chat over Earl Gray tea and strawberries.

They reached the end of the dark hallway, where a dilapidated elevator illuminated by a single naked lightbulb hanging from the ceiling awaited.

Jane and Carlisle barely paused to let the doors slide open before making their way inside, Jane stopping only for a moment to press a button beside the doors. Felix and Demetri ushered Bella and Edward in before them, and remined in front of them after the doors closed with a slight creak.

It was clear they weren’t taking any chances with Edward.

After the dark of the hallway, the harsh lighting in the elevator hurt Bella’s eyes. Her breathing sounded far too loud in the enclosed space, particularly because none of the others needed to breathe.

A few seconds later, the elevator ground to a halt and the doors screeched open ominously. Another dark hallway greeted them, at the end of which was what looked like a vast cavern. It was clear to Bella they were very far underground.

There would be no easy escape routes here.

She had a sudden rush of sympathy for lab rats trapped in mazes.

Felix and Demetri exited, and Edward and Bella followed them in silence. Carlisle and Jane walked just behind them. For all that Demetri and Felix were watching Edward closely, no one seemed particularly concerned that Carlisle would try anything.

When they entered the cavern, Bella examined the wide-open space curiously. The floors were covered by a thick emerald carpet, muffling their footsteps. The walls were panelled with dark, rich wood. It reminded Bella of a doctor’s office. There were no windows, but several large landscapes adorned the walls, each tastefully lit. It was so silent she could have heard a pin drop.

While she was looking around, the three Volturi discarded their dark hoods, and Bella got her first real look at their captors.

Felix looked, if possible, even scarier without the hood. His face was a chalky olive, his dark brows permanently narrowed, and his almost black hair closely cropped. Demetri shared Felix’s complexion but was noticeably shorter and lankier. His hair fell in soft waves to his shoulders.

Jane had pallid blonde hair that fell limply around her pale, round face. Her red eyes were large and doll like, her mouth small and pink. Bella was struck by her youth. She was little more than a child. She couldn’t understand why Carlisle and Edward had reacted to her the way they had.

Surely such a small child wouldn’t be able to overpower them?

Behind her, she could hear Carlisle removing his raincoat. Felix disappeared behind a narrow shelf to their right, only to re-appear with a bright red gown in his large hands, similar to the ones that the tourists in the square outside had been wearing. He thrust it roughly at Edward, who took it unenthusiastically.

It was while she was watching Carlisle hang his new coat on a comically small coat rack that she noticed the desk at the far side of the room for the first time. There was a bouquet of pale roses perched on one end, an ornate antique lamp on the other.

But that wasn’t what had caught Bella’s attention.

It was the woman sitting behind the desk.

She was slender, with luscious hair and smooth skin, pretty and elegant. Her cheeks were elegantly dusted with blush, her lashes unnaturally dark.

The woman was beautiful.

And undeniably human.

Bella blinked, not trusting her eyes.

What was a human doing here?

“Good afternoon, Jane, Demetri, Felix,” the women greeted them with a friendly smile.

“Gianna,” Jane replied in a bored tone, barely giving the woman a nod of acknowledgement. Felix winked at her, and Gianna giggled prettily, raising a ring-adorned hand to cover her mouth.  

Bella was suddenly aware that her mouth was hanging open. She closed it, and gave Edward a questioning look. But Edward was far too focussed on a new vampire that had just soundlessly joined them.

In stature and appearance, the newcomer looked very similar to Jane, and his eyes burned as red as hers.

“Jane.”

He stepped forward lightly to greet her, kissing her once on each cheek in the European fashion.

“Alec.”

Bella realised they must be siblings. Standing next to each other as they were, it was impossible to miss the similarities between them. They both looked so young. Bella guessed that they couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen when they had been turned.

She had never seen vampires so young before.

“You’ve brought more company than we were expecting,” he said to Jane as he let his scarlet gaze wander over the assembled group. He paused on Carlisle first and tilted his head in surprise.

“Carlisle,” Alec said, doing the closest thing to a double take that Bella suspected vampires were capable of. “We certainly weren’t expecting you to be joining us today.”

“I wasn’t expecting to be here either, Alec,” Carlisle responded drily, before gesturing towards Bella and Edward as though that explained everything. Bella was still having to get used to the fact that everyone they had met thus far had known Carlisle. And that he had greeted them all by name.

Alec’s attention landed on Bella for the first time, and his ruby eyes widened almost comically.

“Oh, this certainly is interesting,” he said, grinning so widely that Bella was concerned his pale face would split in two. “The Master is going to love this.”

Then he turned to Edward.

“And Edward, of course,” he smirked. “Welcome back.”

Edward glared at him.

Then his gaze returned to Bella. She pushed closer into Edward’s side, uncomfortable with the way he was looking at her as though she were a particularly juicy burger he had been served unexpectedly. Edward’s arm tightened around her shoulder.

“Let’s not keep Aro waiting,” Jane chimed in.

Edward nodded, then slowly made his way towards the ornate doors, Felix and Demetri close behind, with Carlisle bringing up the rear.

Alec held the door open for Jane before slipping inside himself.

Edward did the same for her.

Chapter Text

The room they entered was dark, frigid and had nothing next to nothing in common with the office outside. There were no fluffy green carpets here.

In fact, it was a space entirely devoid of comfort.

It was not a large room, though the high ceilings gave an impression of a much larger space. It was almost perfectly circular, and several stories above their heads thin rectangular windows cast narrow shafts of light into the room in which dust motes danced back and forth. There was no artificial lighting at all, and the only pieces of furniture present were three ornate thrones, on a slightly elevated platform on the opposite side of the circle. At the centre of the room Bella could see what, inexplicably, appeared to be a drain.

They were not alone.

Several groups were clustered around the curves of the space, whispering softly to one another. From what Bella could make out, they were all wearing light grey or red clothes, and they were all vampires. All-encompassing dark robes were the main outfit, though several figures were also clad in simple dark suits or elaborate silk dresses. As though they were all heading to a cocktail party at a later point in the day.

Bella was grateful to feel Edward’s cold arm wrapping around her shoulders again. She had never seen so many vampires in one place before. Especially not so many that bore the scarlet eyes typical for their kind.

Movement near the thrones caught her attention, and she saw three figures approaching from just behind the ornate chairs. Edward straightened beside her, and from the corner of her eye she could see Carlisle shifting his posture slightly on her other side.

The vampire on the right had shoulder length hair, the sort of white blonde that if he had been human, Bella would have suspected some bleach had been involved. He wore a similar robe to Jane and Alec, though his was jet black and of an elegant cut. His features were conventionally handsome but twisted into a scowl that marred them. When he settled himself on his throne it was with inhuman grace, languidly crossing his long legs.

On the left, an older looking vampire with dark brown hair was also settling down in his throne. He was shorter in stature than the blonde vampire, but not by much. His robes looked curiously dusty, as though he had been wearing them for a long time, and he looked more bored than Bella had ever seen anyone look.

But it was the vampire in the centre of the trio that really caught Bella’s attention.

He was tall, and slender, and his pale face had the same symmetrical perfection that all vampires shared. Luscious dark hair fell in loose waves almost to his waist. Jewels adorned his elegant neck, and his well-cut dark suit looked like it had cost more than Rosalie’s Cabrio. But it was his skin that Bella found her eyes drawn to. It looked translucent, like the skin of an onion. And his red eyes, though as intense as those of the others, looked strangely milky. Bella wondered briefly if he might be blind.

She could not decide if he was attractive or not. But he was certainly imposing. And there was something captivating about him, something that made you want to look at him a second time, and then a third.

Bella was certain this must be Aro. She assumed the blonde vampire was Caius and darker one Marcus.

Aro’s eyes swept quickly over the small group, and a wide smile graced his noble features. He looked delighted to see all of them, as though he had been waiting impatiently for the excitement to begin and someone had finally started to deliver.

“Dear Jane, you’ve returned at last! We were beginning to fear that you had gotten lost.”

His voice was higher than Bella had expected and had the same bell-like quality all vampire voices had.

Aro glided down the steps and took Jane’s small hands in his. His movements reminded Bella of a ballet dancers, each step graceful and measured.

“Apologies, master,” Jane smiled up at him angelically. “There were a few more present than I was told.”

Aro turned to them all.

“Edward,” he said, spreading his arms wide in an exaggerated gesture of welcome and bowing slightly. “Such a pleasure to see you again so soon.”

His ruby gaze lazily followed Edward’s arm and landed on Bella’s face.

“And young Bella as well, how wonderful,” he exclaimed with a warm smile.

He was peering at Bella as though she was a particularly bright jewel he wanted to add to his collection and Edward tightened his grip on her shoulder. The gesture caused Aro’s smile to widen, revealing perfectly even white teeth.

Bella wondered how it was that he even knew her name. How it was possible for him to look at her with such familiarity when they had never even met.

Then Aro’s eyes finally came to a rest on Carlisle.

“And Carlisle!” Aro exclaimed, gliding quickly down the remaining steps towards him. “My dear, dear friend, I most certainly was not expecting to see you here! My, my, what a day this is turning out to be.”

He looked delighted, grinning at Carlisle, who ducked his head shyly and gave a small, tight smile in return. Carlisle looked suddenly very out of place in the chamber of dark robes and gowns in his pale blue shirt, and Bella felt, for a brief moment, strangely protective.

“It’s good to see you too, Aro,” he said politely. “It’s certainly been a while.”

“Oh, it has,” Aro exclaimed, clapping his pale hands together in glee. “Far too long indeed.”

He looked so genuinely giddy with joy that for a few seconds Bella forgot she was supposed to be fearing for all of their lives and stared openly at the spectacle unfolding before her. She half expected Aro to start leaping up and down on the spot with excitement.

Aro gazed indulgently at Carlisle, as though trying to re-memorise everything about him, allowing his red eyes to wander languidly from his face to his clothes, then back up to his face. Carlisle squared his shoulders and evenly returned his gaze, not moving a muscle as the leader of the Volturi gave him an overly thorough and entirely unsubtle once over.

They looked at each other, Carlisle with a neutral expression, Aro with the appreciative look of someone admiring some great masterpiece in an art museum.

The moment lasted just a tad too long to be comfortable for anyone else in the chamber.

“Aro!” Caius hissed from his throne on the right, looking positively murderous.

Aro shook his dark head dramatically, as though emerging from a trance. Then he let out a delighted chuckle, not the slightest bit embarrassed at having been scolded.

Carlisle shifted a little where he stood, studiously looking anywhere but at the other thrones. It was clear that Caius was nowhere near as pleased to see him as Aro was. In fact, he looked as though he wanted nothing more than to decapitate Carlisle there and then, shortly followed by Edward, and then possibly also Bella, if he didn’t drink her blood first. Marcus, by contrast, didn’t look like he cared about anything occurring in front of him at all.

“Forgive me,” Aro said earnestly, before holding out a pale hand for Carlisle to take. “If I may?”

Carlisle took Aro’s proffered hand with no hesitation.

Beside her, Edward twitched at Carlisle’s familiarity with the gesture. Bella was increasingly confused by what was going on. She had not expected their interrogation to begin with what looked like the beginning of a formal dance.

Was Carlisle really about to waltz with Aro?

Was this what Alice had mentioned would help them save Edward?

The situation was becoming weirder by the second.

“What is he doing?” she asked Edward as quietly as she could, not wanting to draw too much attention.

Edward shook his head, narrowed eyes fixed on his father and Aro.

They stood like statues in the centre of the cold chamber, Aro holding Carlisle’s hand in both of his while gazing at the other with such rapture that Bella felt almost voyeuristic just looking at him. The moment lasted for almost a full minute, Aro clasping Carlisle’s hand, Carlisle watching him carefully.

Then Aro slowly let go of Carlisle’s hand and smiled at him once more.

The whole interaction struck Bella as extremely strange, and if the way Edward was looking at Aro was any indication, he found it deeply troubling as well. His gaze kept flickering between Carlisle and Aro in poorly concealed bewilderment.

Aro glided back over to Edward, and Bella instinctively took a step back.

Up close, with all his attention on her, he looked considerably more imposing than he had standing at the other end of the room. Bella was once again struck by the strange consistency of his skin. She had never seen another vampire who looked the way Aro did.

Aro held out his hand. Edward took it a lot more reluctantly than Carlisle had.

“Aro can read every thought you’ve ever had through touch,” Edward explained quietly, while Aro held his hand. “Our gifts are somewhat similar.”

Aro released Edward’s hand after a few moments and examined him closely.

“Of course, Edward has the advantage that he is able to read from a distance, he is not so limited as I.”

Aro beamed at him like a proud smile. Edward did not return the smile.

“My ability is limited to the present. I cannot see every thought a person has ever had.”

“Still,” Aro proclaimed. “It is a marvellous gift, one I would be grateful to be able to take advantage of.”

“Aro,” Carlisle interjected hastily as Edward opened his mouth to answer. “We are not here to discuss Edward’s gift. And we are not here on a social call.”

“My dear Carlisle, you are, tragically, right as ever,” he said, turning his fond gaze on him once again. “We shall return to the matter at hand.”

He turned swiftly in a swish of dark hair and glided back up to the thrones.

“Finally,” Caius muttered under his breath. He looked ready to murder the three of them there and then. Slowly.

Aro held his hand out to Marcus, who sighed wearily and took it. Bella was impressed by how completely uninterested in everything he seemed.

After a few moments Aro dropped his hand again and raised his dark brows in surprise. He then whirled around to look between Edward and Bella once more, carefully considering both of them, but more seriously this time. Like they had just been upgraded in his regard.

“Such fascinating tales are brought before me today,” he exclaimed giddily.

“Marcus sees relationships,” Edward told Bella quietly. “The intensity of ours has taken him, and Aro, by surprise.”

“And Marcus is not easy to surprise, not at all,” Aro chirped. He looked positively elated by the fact.

Bella squinted at Marcus. If that was his excited face…

“Edward, you are full of surprises,” Aro said, now standing just beside his throne and looking at Edward almost reverently. “I would never have expected such a turn of events.”

“It’s not easy,” Edward admitted reluctantly.

“She is la tua cantate,” Aro said, reverence lighting up his pale features.

Bella wished she had had time for some Italian lessons. The phrase meant nothing to her, though from the sudden flurry of vampires craning their necks to look at her, it was something meaningful.

“She is worth every effort,” Edward said heroically, taking Bella’s other hand in his. He ignored the vampires staring at them from every corner of the room.

“Such a waste,” Aro lamented.

“I prefer her alive,” Edward said coldly.

“Such control,” Aro said. “You remind me very much of Carlisle, though his temper is far more even…”

He considered Carlisle once again.

“You must be so proud,” Aro said, said wistfully.

“I am happy that Edward has found happiness,” Carlisle said diplomatically.

Aro sighed.

“It is so incredibly delightful to have you among us once more, Carlisle,” he said. “I have long hoped you would pay us another visit but, alas, you have not graced us with your presence for some time.”

He looked genuinely disappointed that Carlisle hadn’t dropped in once in the centuries since he’d departed from Volterra.

“I have been quite busy,” Carlisle said, hesitantly.

“Evidently,” Aro said, gesturing at Edward and Bella with a sweeping gesture. “You have expanded your coven tremendously, even convinced them to follow your strange diet. You have found success in your curious decision to work as a medical professional. I must confess that I find myself both surprised, and deeply filled with joy, that you have found such...success in your unorthodox path.”

Carlisle nodded in thanks.

“It would bring me great joy to have you among us once again, even only for a short while” Aro mused, shifting forwards on the throne to rest his elbows on his slender knees. “I would hear more of your time since you left us and spend some more time in your company. I have missed our walks, our…conversations.”

He smiled knowingly at Carlisle, whose ochre eyes flickered to Edward, then to Marcus, who was watching the proceedings with the air of someone forced to watch paint dry. He didn’t seem to know how to respond.

Thankfully, Caius saved him from having to, as he chose then to give an audibly irritated sigh.

“Can we please return to the matter at hand?” he grumbled, crossing his arms. “We all wish to move onto the main event of the day.”

There were slight murmurs and whispers of assent from the other vampires assembled in the chamber.

“But of course,” Aro said, not taking his eyes off Carlisle. “I believe it was the turn of young Bella to give her version of events.

He stood and glided over to Bella, who was once again standing as far behind Edward as she could manage. Aro stopped before the pair and gave her a polite nod, before holding out his hand.

Bella hesitated and looked across at Carlisle.

He gave her an encouraging nod.

Bella took Aro’s hand. She wasn’t sure what to expect. Aro’s hand was smooth and ice-cold as marble, and she fought the urge to pull her hand back, and to instead meet the vampire’s large red eyes. He had surprisingly long eyelashes, and there was an intensity to his gaze that made her want to look away.

He looked at her, his face revealing nothing of what he was seeing.

Then Aro dropped her hand, gently allowing her to drop it back to her side.

“How very fascinating,” he breathed. He turned slowly to look at the vampires assembled behind the thrones.

Beside her, Edward smiled victoriously and stood a little straighter.

“I wonder…” Aro said, continuing to look at the other vampires assembled. He reminded Bella suddenly of an actor on stage, revelling in the fact that he had his audience hanging onto every word.

“I wonder if she is as immune to other gifts as she is mine and Edward’s. Perhaps…”

He rubbed his pale hands together while he considered.

“Jane,” he called.

The small blonde girl from earlier stepped forward eagerly, clearly delighted to be singled out.

“If you would test your gift on Bella here?” Aro asked her, in a tone more suited to inquiring if they had any other ice cream flavours available.

“I do not think-“

Carlisle stepped forward quickly, hand already held out towards Jane as though to physically stop her from doing whatever it was that she was going to do to Bella. At the same time, Edward snarled at Aro, who looked positively delighted at the reaction.

“Carlisle, it is but an experiment,” Aro assured him with a tinkling laugh. “If her gift is as strong as I suspect it to be, surely she will not come to any not harm?”

Then he gave Carlisle another one of his knowing smiles.

“As I recall, you yourself were fond of experiments when we were last together. Surely this interests your curious mind as well? Surely you have wondered also, when you learned that she alone was immune to Edward’s gift?”

“Bella does not need to get hurt, there are other ways-“

“Jane,” Aro ordered lazily, cutting Carlisle off.

Jane turned her ruby gaze on Bella, face already alight with anticipation.

Bella squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and waited for whatever it was Jane’s gift would do. From the horrified reactions of Carlisle and Edward, she assumed it would not be pleasant. She squeezed her eyes shut.

A few seconds passed, and she was still waiting.

Bella opened her eyes cautiously. She looked around the room, taking in Edward’s panicked gaze, Carlisle’s upset one, before landing on Jane. It was almost comical, how quickly the smugness slid from Jane’s pale face and was replaced by burning rage.

The volume of the whispers from the assembled vampires increased exponentially and Bella hunched her shoulders. The weight of so many gazes upon her made her uncomfortable.

“Fascinating,” Aro breathed.

He drifted back towards Bella, but Carlisle took a protective few steps closer to her.

Aro stopped a few metres from them before turning his attention to Edward once again.

“I don’t suppose, Edward, that you’ve changed your mind regarding my offer?”

Edward pulled Bella further behind him, almost as though he was attempting, far too late, to hide her.

“I have not,” he said sharply.

“Pity, pity,” he said, shaking his head with sorrow. “Your little pet confounds us all; it does lead me to wonder…”

Aro trailed off contemplatively.

“Very well.”

Aro turned to Carlisle instead. He seemed utterly unable to stand still for longer than a few moments, and the assembled vampires followed his every movement with their eyes.

“How about you, my dear Carlisle?” he asked, and it was impossible to ignore the hope that had blossomed on his pale face. “Will you do us the honour of staying with us for a short while?”

Carlisle gave him a tight smile and shook his head slowly.

“I am very busy, Aro,” Carlisle said softly. “I hope you understand.”

“Not even for a few days?” Aro asked, pouting.

“Not this time, Aro,” Carlisle told him gently.

Edward shot him an incredulous look.

“This time?” he hissed at Carlisle, who ignored him.

Aro’s eyes flickered between them, and he suddenly burst into peals of laughter.

“You’ve kept him in the dark,” he said to Carlisle, voice alight with mirth. The joy had transformed Aro’s features and for a few seconds Bella felt as though she was looking upon a far younger vampire than first appearances had suggested.

Carlisle looked as though he wanted to die for a second time on the spot. Bella had never seen him look so uncomfortable and she had had to watch him drink coffee only a few short days ago.  

“About what?” Edward asked sharply, looking between them in confusion. His forehead was creased, in the way it often was when he was attempting to follow thoughts. It seemed both Aro and Carlisle were talented when it came to having a conversation and thinking about something else entirely.

“Aro, please,” Carlisle begged, fingers twitching anxiously at his sides. “Not here.”

Aro sighed dramatically and pushed his dark hair gracefully behind his ears.

“As you wish.”

He gave Edward a knowing grin, before drifting back towards his throne.

If looks could kill, Carlisle would be well on his way to the afterlife, pierced by the glares of pure hatred being thrown his way by Caius.

“What is he talking about?” Edward hissed at Carlisle, who was studying his shoes with intense concentration. Clearly, Carlisle had no intention of sharing.

Aro settled himself comfortably back on his throne.

“What about Alice?” he asked.

“Alice has not expressed any interest in joining the guard,” Carlisle said, forcefully.

Aro sighed theatrically.  

“All these gifted vampires you have managed to gather around you, Carlisle, and still you do not share.”

“Alice can make her own decisions.”

Carlisle’s statement had a tone of finality, and he was looking at Aro as though daring him to ask about anyone else.

Aro slumped back in his throne and threw his hands up in mock despair.

“What a pity,” he muttered.

Then he suddenly sat up and clapped his hands together once more.

“Well, I suppose I have been fair. I have given you all a chance. It is a waste, such a waste, but Bella, I am afraid you simply know too much. I cannot allow you to leave us.”

At his words, both Carlisle and Edward stepped forward, protests already leaving their mouths, while Bella felt her knees suddenly give out. She crashed to the floor in a daze, the pain as her body hit the cold stone barely registering.

She hadn’t thought it would actually happen. That it had been on the cards, yes, but not that it would really happen. She had been distracted by Jane, by Aro, by the strange way he was treating Carlisle.

She hadn’t thought that this would be how she would die.

“Unless he’s going to turn her?” a rough voice from the guard asked suddenly.

Everyone in the chamber turned to stare at Felix, who had voiced the suggestion.

Bella felt a sliver of hope as she looked at the rather unexpected source of her salvation.

Aro turned back to the three of them, head tilted questioningly.

“Do you intend to give her immortality?” he asked Edward curiously.

Beside her, Edward hesitated.

“What would happen if I do?” he asked nervously.

“Well,” Aro said, standing up from the throne. “It would mean I could let all three of you return to your home.”

His red eyes flickered once more to Carlisle.

Behind him, Caius scoffed and pushed his pale hair back from his face.

Edward did not respond, seemingly lost in thought.

“Please,” Bella begged him. “Edward, how bad can it be?”

Edward looked at her helplessly.

Aro had drifted back down from the throne to stand in front of them once more.

“I would, of course, require you to mean it.”

He held out his hand to Edward once again. The gesture had never looked more menacing.

“Please, Edward,” Bella begged him, clutching at the overly long sleeve of his scarlet robe. Her heart was pounding so hard it was sure to be deafening to the gathered vampires. “You have to mean it, Edward, please.”

Edward looked frozen on the spot. He looked at Bella with a look of pained helplessness. Then he turned to Carlisle, with a pleading expression.

Suddenly, Carlisle moved to stand so he was facing Aro.

“If Edward finds himself unable to turn her, I will do it.”

He held out his hand confidently to Aro.

“I have successfully turned several others. I will take responsibility for her. Bella will not be a problem.”

Edward stared at Carlisle in mute horror as Aro slowly took his proffered hand. Clearly, that had not been what he had been expecting his father to say or offer to do.

Aro looked deep into Carlisle’s golden eyes as he let his thoughts wash over him for a second time.

Then he dropped his hand.

“Very well,” Aro said quietly and with unexpected seriousness. “I trust you will follow through on our orders. You certainly know the consequences if you do not. And I accept your kind offer, my dear Carlisle.”

He gave Carlisle a pleased smile, which Carlisle returned, albeit weakly. He was still holding the hand Aro had let go of awkwardly in mid-air.

“You cannot be serious,” Caius exclaimed from behind them, seeming to have finally reached the end of his tether. “She knows far too much, there is no proof that has been brought before us of intent to turn her. Carlisle has no gift to see the future. There is no promise he can make that we can be certain he will keep.”

“He does not,” Aro agreed silkily. “But a member of his coven does. I have seen the future Alice showed to Carlisle here, and I see also that he spoke honestly when he offered to turn Bella himself should Edward fail. I have never known Carlisle to be dishonest. He also made me another offer, as insurance, should Bella’s transformation not take place in due time.”

He levelled his scarlet gaze at Carlisle.

“And I have accepted it.”

Carlisle held his gaze and jutted his chin forwards.

“What can he possibly offer you?” Caius shot back, standing up from his throne in his anger. His red eyes glinted with rage and his pale hair flew around his shoulders. “He has no useful talents, he has nothing of value to us at all!”

“Ah, but that is between myself and Carlisle,” Aro said mysteriously, rubbing his white hands together. “You will simply have to trust me, brother dear.”

Caius slumped back into his throne in defeat and resumed glaring daggers at Carlisle.

Aro rolled his red eyes comically and whirled around to face Caius.

“My dear Caius, you cannot deny that the girl shows incredible potential. Executing her now would be simply too much of a waste. And who’s to say she won’t change her mind in the future, and choose to join our ranks after all? Or Edward? Or even the ever elusive Alice?”

Bella recognised that now was not the moment to tell him she would rather resume ballet classes and perform Swan Lake in a pink tutu for the whole school than join the Volturi. And she suspected Edward’s thoughts were much the same.

“We will be visiting,” Caius hissed venomously at Carlisle. “To ensure you have held your word.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“And you know the consequences for you and your coven should you fail.”

“I’m very aware,” Carlisle said quietly, his own golden glare not faltering even in the face of the threat.

“Now,” Aro said, turning back to them and clapping his hands together once again. “Heidi will be returning shortly. I suggest you leave now. I fear it may be a tad…upsetting for Bella.”

“Thank you, Aro” Carlisle said, striding towards Aro, ignoring how the guard immediately moved closer to protect their master, low hisses echoing around the chamber.

As though Carlisle would dare to harm him here.

Aro raised a lazy hand to stop his guard moving any closer.

“We are most grateful for your graciousness, truly,” Carlisle said earnestly.

He held out his hand to Aro once more, clearly with the intention to relay that gratitude to him as fully as he could.

But to Bella’s utmost surprise, Aro’s next move was to pull Carlisle into a tight embrace. Carlisle did not look uncomfortable, much to Bella’s bewilderment. He did look a little confused when Aro pulled back slightly, keeping his hand around Carlisle’s waist, their faces close enough to touch.

For a moment they were frozen in the centre of the room, two statues locked in a tender embrace, a sharp contrast between Carlisle’s golden hair and Aro’s dark suit.

And then Aro suddenly had his lips pressed against Carlisle’s pale cheek. The kiss only lasted for a few seconds, but it was enough. Carlisle pulled back in surprise. Aro smiled warmly at him, hand lingering on Carlisle’s waist until the last possible second before whirling around once more and returning to his throne. He looked exceptionally pleased with himself.

Edward snarled and Bella felt as though her eyes were about to fall out of her head.

Caius was now doing a fairly passable impression of a volcano about to erupt. Bella could almost hear him grinding his teeth at the blatant display of affection before him.

Carlisle nodded at Aro once more, looking a little flabbergasted, before slowly returning to stand beside Bella and Edward.

Edward was glaring murder at Aro, but also at Carlisle. He looked almost as displeased with the situation as Caius did and Bella wondered once again what the hell Carlisle had offered Aro. And why it was that they were so comfortable around one another, comfortable enough for a parting kiss, when it had been centuries since Carlisle had been in Volterra. It wasn’t as though Aro was kissing them all in farewell. Only Carlisle.

“Demetri,” Aro commanded with a flick of his elegant hand. “If you will?”

Demetri came forward and finally led them from the chamber.