Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bella POV

I stared at it for a moment, unable to speak, to breathe, to do anything except relive the snapping of the bones in my leg and the pounding of my heart. She was calling him from my phone, my old one which we had assumed was lost in the desert somewhere. She must have taken it. I picked up the phone, every vibration sent more fear through me. My mind was swirling with paranoia, all of the fears I had been trying to keep at bay for the last month were coming to the surface. I whipped my head around frantically, scanning the woods, the buildings, and even the faces of the people around me. “She’s not here.” I whispered to myself, still failing to feel any sort of relief.

My legs decided to move on their own, meaning my bad leg nearly buckled under the sudden movement making me wince as pain shot up my leg. I gritted my teeth and took a breath after steadying myself.

“Edw-” I said with the next breath.

He was in front of me before I could finish his name.

I handed him the phone with a shaking hand and an even shakier voice. “It’s her.”

He looked around for a moment, his eyes were darting back and forth around us. He stared at me concernedly for just a moment before his eyes fell to the phone which he took in his hand.

“Victoria.” He hissed.

I knew I wasn’t in the desert, I was on campus just outside of the coffee shop standing next to Edward. But I couldn’t hear what he was saying, I couldn’t feel the spitting rain coming down on us, I couldn’t even smell the nearby pine trees. All I could do was relive it, as I had so many times in my dreams. The blood, the crack of my leg, staring up at the stars wondering if the next breath would be my last. But worst of all it was seeing Victoria’s arms wrapped around Edward’s neck waiting for a sickening snap.

Her angle seemed to be my personal destruction and that probably also meant Jess, Angela, Charlie, my Mom, Alice, the rest of the Cullens, even Jacob. And Edward? I didn’t even want to think what she would do to him. I could barely handle what little he had revealed to me about what she had already done to him when he was a newborn vampire.

“...you’re dellusional.You severed that bond the moment you took her, I feel nothing but hatred for you now for what you did to her…”

How long would it be until I could sleep at night? Would I be dead before that happened? Who else would be dead? She was deranged, a very sick person who just so happened to be a killing machine. She was still holding out hope that Edward would go back to her. When she finally realized that he wasn’t going to have him, who knew what she would do? Would she try to kill him? To kill a vampire you have to rip them apart and burn the pieces. It made my stomach turn to think about it.

“Bella.” I heard, feeling his cold hand squeezing my shoulder.

I feigned shaking myself out of my spiral, but my mind was still whirling, my heart still pounding, and my palms still sweating. “What did she say?”

“Nothing we didn’t already know.” He said somberly. “I think she likes it, this game that she’s playing, knowing that we all are looking over our shoulder. I’m sorry.”

“I-I…” I stuttered, trying to sort out my thoughts. I couldn’t breathe. She was out there, trying her hardest to get to me and the people who meant the most to me. Tears came before I could even try to stop them.

As the fear began to subside. It was replaced by something I couldn’t name. I didn’t want to be afraid anymore, she had already left so many scars on me, I didn’t want her to have control over my mind too. But it felt like I didn’t have a choice, I had already become beholden to her. It made me angry.

I took a deep breath. “We can’t let her get to us, that’s what she wants.” I looked into his black eyes, feeling a pang of guilt. He looked even paler than normal, somehow, he was neglecting his own needs because I had been such a wreck. Both of us were beholden to her and she probably wasn’t even on the same continent. “When was the last time you went hunting?”

His eyebrows knit together. “A few weeks. I’m okay though.”

I shook my head, entwining my hands in his. “You should go tonight.”

His face contorted .“I just get really worried.” He breathed. “And I know you have nightmares too.”

They were bad and getting worse, I would wake up 5 or 6 times per night feeling like I had just run a marathon, trying to convince myself that it wasn’t real. He was probably the only thing that could get me back to sleep even if we both knew I would just have another. “I’ll just stay up and get ahead on school work.” I forced my lips into a smile. “Charlie is convinced I should take a semester off.”

I was relieved that he smiled back. “We know you’re too stubborn for that.”

Charlie had been very concerned to the point of making sure that I called him everyday after getting back from school. I was honestly just glad that he finally figured out how to use his phone. If I had been a freshman I would have thought it was super annoying, but I honestly didn’t mind. My mother on the other hand was a different story. I was inexplicably annoyed with her during every call and text. I shouldn’t have been, but I was. Sometimes that made me feel like the worst daughter to ever exist.

“Can I get Emmett and Rosalie to keep watch at least?” He was playing with the hair tie around my wrist, making me feel a little better.

“What are you going to have to do for Emmett to convince him?” I let the warmth spread through me as his cold fingers brushed my skin.

“Rosalie is the one who I’m going to have to convince.” He said with a small frown.

Rosalie was definitely the most standoffish of all of them, well maybe it was a tie between her and Jas, though Jas had been missing for most of Fall semester. I tried not to take it personally, if I was an impossibly beautiful immortal being I wouldn’t take much interest in the life of some insignificant human either. I didn’t really know anything about her other than that she was completely devoted to Emmett and had a general distaste for Edward and by extension me.

“Good luck then.” I began to lean in for a quick kiss, but I noticed Edward’s eyes flicker, and then his expression went blank. There weren’t very many people around, just a few walking past, and an old man sitting on a nearby bench. My chest tightened in response. He was getting worse. Ever since that night, Carlisle called me and I found him catatonic.

His eyes flickered again. “Sorry.” He whispered, pulling me in for a kiss. “It’s almost 2. Can I walk you to class?”

I nodded, taking his hand in mine. As we walked I wondered how many classes he had been skipping. I knew it was worse than he let on, I was sure he was trying to keep it together for my sake, but it couldn’t have been easy to go to class and listen to all of their buzzing thoughts while trying to remain convincingly human. In the couple weeks since the semester started, there were a few occasions when he had met me at the door of my class with pine needles in his hair smelling like the woods.

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I tried my best to be engaged with my remaining class of the day, though part of my brain was busy convincing myself that Victoria would never risk exposing herself in front of a whole lecture hall of students just to kill me. I looked out the window more times than I would've liked to admit.

But I was still determined to not let my grades slip. If I just kept everything under control I could prove to my mom and Charlie that I was okay, that they didn’t need to worry about me. Even Edward had suggested once that should consider taking the semester off. At the moment it made me kind of angry, I didn’t want to take the semester off, I didn’t want her to take that away from me also.

I trained my eyes on the tree line which was visible from the lecture hall, slinking back and forth, patrolling. What would I have even done if she appeared there? I was hopeless against defending myself against her, against any vampire. My chest felt tight, my throat felt like it was going to close. I had to breathe deeply just to feel like I was getting enough oxygen in my lungs.

“Bella?” I heard a small voice say from next to me.

I snapped my eyes away from the window. “Sorry,” I muttered to the girl who said my name. Hailey or Hallie or something like that, she had sat next to me a few times after we were paired together the first day of class.

“Did you see something?” She whispered, not wanting to interrupt the class.

I shook my head feeling a wave of embarrassment, like she had caught me in something that I shouldn’t have been doing. “No, it was just-it was nothing.” For a moment I searched for a better excuse, a lie to tell her. But there was no way that she could know what was going through my mind. “I was just distracted.”

How could I have ever explained my situation to anyone? To my parents, Ang, Jess, Mike, and even this random girl in my statistics class, they would have thought I was crazy. Who knows, maybe statistics girl had a werewolf for a boyfriend.

I returned my focus to the lecture. Nothing that was on the board matched up with my notes. I spent the remaining few minutes of class trying to figure out what a student’s t test was, most of my math skills had promptly fallen out of my brain as soon as I graduated high school, not that it was ever my strong suit.

“Hey! Um-” I caught the attention of Hallie or Hailey. “Did you understand any of that? I was completely lost.”

She laughed, making her blonde ringlets bounce up and down. “Yeah, but I wasn’t staring out of the window for 45 minutes.”

“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “Just kind of a weird day.” I admitted, though “weird” didn't seem to encapsulate it.

“Well, if you don’t make a habit of having weird days I could walk you through it before class on Wednesday.”

She didn’t even know the tip of the iceberg.

Edward POV

I met Bella at the door of her lecture room, braving the sea of people and thoughts which was a stark contrast to the serenity of my hiding place in the forest. Bella was probably the only thing that could make me willingly put myself through what I could only describe as a pick axe to the brain, but I did so gladly if it meant Bella felt safe.

I tuned the buzz out to the best of my ability, disassociating myself from the part of my brain that was constantly inundated with worries about exams and papers and friend drama, even mundane things like {I forget to get my oil changed again, my Dad is going to kill me!} and {God, I shouldn’t have yelled at her like that.} and {Tonight can’t come fast enough.}

She looked flustered walking out of the classroom, a little frustrated maybe. Still, she was beautiful as ever, breathtaking really, leaving me a little bit in awe which happened every time I stopped to appreciate her. She easily slipped her hand into mine and subsequently leaned her head against my shoulder. “I don’t think I’m built for math.”

I planted a kiss against her temple. “Give it a little time. You're just about as smart as they come.” I said and began to steer her in the direction of the parking lot.
{...I can’t fucking do this! He’s fucking crazy…}

{...post-modernism is kinda of an oxymoron isn’t it…}

{...What if God isn’t actually real? Is it all a lie?...}

Flush came to her cheeks and her heart began to flutter at a slightly faster pace, a quality in her that I would never tire of. “Yeah well, not when it comes to statistics. It just doesn’t make any sense. I asked a girl to help me out, she seemed like she knew what she was doing. How was your class?”

“Good,” I answer quickly, feeling my less than airtight seal on the thoughts beginning to disintegrate.

“You didn’t go.” She accused even more quickly, tugging on my sleeve.

“No,” I admitted.

{...20 hours is way too long to be in a car…}

{...This is shit…}

“It’s just been overwhelming lately.” I continued. “I think I might just drop that class anyway.”

I watched her expression carefully, trying to gauge the shift of her brows, the curve of her mouth, all of the things I relied on to try to decipher her thoughts to no avail of course.

She sighed, looking a little sadder than I had expected her to. “You’ll tell me if it’s getting bad right?” She asked. Saying no to her was something I wasn’t capable of.

“Of course.” I pulled her closer. Fascinating, I wanted to say. This person who was the embodiment of everything good in life somehow cared so deeply about me, someone who only a few months ago thought of themselves as a monster. Warmth spread through my chest, proverbially of course. I promised myself and to her at that moment that if I had another episode coming, she would be the first to know. She deserved to know, even if it was difficult to take. “Let’s get out of here.”

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We stopped at Bella’s favorite coffee shop on the way back to her apartment. Lorenzo’s was a quaint little shop that used to be a hardware store but now served as a cafe/bookstore. It was never very busy except on the weekends, so it was one of the only public places where I could spend any amount of time. It was preferable to the library, which tended to be mind-numbing. Plus, I delighted in buying her a drink and pastry and watching from a table as she danced around the shelves, pulling out the ones that interested her and reading a few pages. I had mentally made a list of the ones she seemed particularly absorbed in, so I planned to gift a rather large stack to her as a part of her birthday present. When we first began coming here, I tried to buy her any book she seemed interested in reading, however, that seemed to upset her more, so I had to find ways to spoil her in a sort of secrecy, specifically sliding it into her shelf in her room when she’s not looking and feigning ignorance when she questioned me.

I was delighted to watch her, waiting for her matcha latte and blueberry muffin to arrive, when I received a call from Emmet.

“Alice says that we’re on Bella watch tonight.” He said without greeting me first. “I hope she likes Monopoly.”

The barista behind the counter had a particularly grating inner voice as she struggled to do her calculus homework. I tried to ignore her.

“Bella is insisting that I go hunting. And she’s right, it’s been a few weeks.” I offered as an explanation. “I was thinking more like you two would be watching from the woods. And I doubt that Rosalie would want to play Monopoly.”

“Rosalie is interested in any competition. At least let me say hi, it’s only polite.” He said, on the verge of laughter.

“Alright, but don’t scare her.” I relented. “Or do anything crazy okay?”

He made a noise halfway between a grumble and a chuckle. “Me? Never.” He said sarcastically. “How about this, I won’t charge you if you let me play Monopoly with her.”

“Charge me?” I said a little too loud, catching Bella’s attention, she smiled and began walking toward me. “And there is no ‘letting’ involved, you can ask her yourself.”

I handed the phone to Bella, who looked adorably alarmed.

“It's Emmet. He wants to ask you something.” I replied.

“Hey, Bella! I hope you are ready for Monopoly tonight while your boyfriend is out catching some tail. I mean that literally of course, he prefers mountain lion over bear for some odd reason.” Emmet said, more like shouting at her through the phone.

I immediately regretted my decision of ever associating with my strange sort-of family.

She looked over at me warily. “M-monopoly? Like the game?”

“Yeah, of course. I hope you’ve played before. Rosalie and I are not very good teachers.”

Bella suddenly steadied herself against the table. “Rosalie? I thought she didn’t- I mean- are you coming to my apartment?”

“If you don’t mind, we could host as well if you prefer.” Emmet laughed.

“Um- okay. Sure, maybe around 8?” Bella stammered, taking a seat across from me. “See you then.”

“Haha. Yes, we will. Be prepared to lose.” Emmet clicked the phone off.

I refrained from profusely apologizing to her, mostly because she had a slight smile gracing her lips. But eventually, the silence got to me. “You don’t have to play with them, I can't just tell them to-”

“No.” She interrupted. “It's okay, I don’t mind. I just didn’t think your family- I don’t know. Should I be worried?”

“How good are you at Monopoly."

Chapter Text

Bella POV:

I was embarrassingly nervous for Emmet and Rosalie to come to the apartment. For some reason, I didn’t mind when Edward was there and my room was a mess and I had sweaty unwashed clothes sitting in the hamper, and the carpet was unvacuumed and there was dust on the window sill. But the thought of other vampires, who could see and smell and feel all of the imperfections of my human life made me self-conscious. So I found myself compulsively cleaning like my mother always did before we had guests.

Inadequacy was bubbling through my body. Things needed to be perfect, I needed to be perfect. And everything began to feel claustrophobic and my clothes felt too tight, and suddenly it felt preferable to be in anyone else’s body except my own.

It was silly really, they were there for the main purpose of protecting me from an insane vampire out to kill me and I was worried if I was skinny enough to meet my boyfriend’s sort of family. I settled on the fact that I never would be ‘skinny enough’ because it wasn’t really about being skinny.

I decided sitting in my room alone was only making my anxiety worse so I tore myself from incessantly cleaning to join Jess and Mike in the living room. I had been vague to Jess and Ang about my guests, saying that they were coming to hang out and Edward would join us later.

Can I watch with you guys?” I asked, feeling a little awkward. They were on the couch watching a Survivor on the TV, curled up in a blanket.

Mike smiled and gestured to a seat on the couch and handed me the bowl of chips they had been sharing. I took a handful, nervously breaking off a corner of one.

“How’s your leg? Just got the cast off huh?” Mike asked.

“Yeah, it’s you know…not the best and it’s still kinda weak, but getting better.” I said, trying to conceal my hatred of the salt and vinegar flavor Jess insisted on buying.

“So you really don’t remember what happened?” He inquired.

“Mike!” Jess swatted his arm.

“No, it’s fine Jess.” I hadn’t actually spoken to Mike very much about it, just a few words over the phone when I called Jess when I was in the hospital. When I came back, like everyone else, he kind of walked on eggshells around me. I was a little relieved that he finally felt comfortable enough to ask. “I don’t remember very much. Just like the pain and some blurry images.”

It wasn’t entirely a lie, Edward had to remind me of some of the details I had forgotten. Something about the drugs they pumped into me at the hospital messed with my memory, but I would never forget the fear that Victoria had put into me. “What do the police think happened, like human traffickers or something?”

“They don’t really know. I mean, it could be, but I don’t think it will ever really be solved. I’m kinda glad I don’t remember it.” I wish I had remembered less.

“And they just found you in the middle of the desert?”

I nodded. Jess had clearly told him some things.

“That’s like beyond weird. I mean you could have…oh god.”

“Yeah…it was really disorientating waking up in the hospital, everyone was asking questions and I couldn’t give them an answer. I still think my parents are waiting for me to have a breakdown or something.”

He had completely abandoned Survivor, his eyes giving away how concerned he actually was. “And you’re like…okay now?”

“Yeah, I mean. I think so. I am still pretty anxious, especially when I’m alone.”

Jess turned her attention away from the TV. “Well, you always have us, and Ang too. I don't know about that Eric guy, he’s kinda eccentric isn’t he?”

“Yeah, kinda. But I think Ang will take him down a few pegs.” I said.

“He’s certainly a fixer-upper, but we don’t discriminate in this house,” Jess said, patting Mike’s back.

“Wait what?” He whipped his head in her direction. “Was I a fixer-upper?”

I couldn’t hold my laughter in anymore.

“You used to wear cowboy boots to class, baby,” Jess said, trying to keep her composure.

“They were comfortable.”

All of us burst into laughter.

It was nice to really laugh. It was normal and it sort of felt like how it used to be, before everything. We watched Survivor and teased Mike and he would pretend to be hurt.

“What time are they coming around? I don’t think we have any booze or anything.” Jess said once our attention had returned to Survivor.

I swallowed fumbling for a moment trying to come up with an excuse. “Oh d-don’t worry. I don’t think they drink.” I managed. Edward always just pretended, making it look like he was sipping on something when in reality it never passed his lips. He was very convincing, especially after being a few drinks deep.

“Who?” Mike asked, his eyes glued to the TV.

“Edward’s family is in town. I think he’s coming later.” Jess answered for me.

“Yeah, his cousin and his fiance,” I added, feeling like an incredibly bad liar.

I could feel Mike rolling his eyes.

I checked my phone, smiling to myself. I was grateful for a text from Edward.

‘I’ll have my phone on me, so call if you need anything. I’ll be done around 9, don’t let Emmet have too much fun. I love you.’

‘I won’t.’ I texted back. ‘I love you too.’

“Come on Mike, he's not that bad.” Jessica chided, tapping him on the shoulder.

“I didn’t say anything.” He said a little defensively. But with a smile. “I just, I don’t know…He gives me a bad vibe.”

I wondered what Mike would say if he had known everything. “He can be a little off-putting. I admitted. I guess Emmett and Rosalie want to play Monopoly.”

“Oh, they are so going down!” Mike exclaimed.

Jessica cringed a little bit. “You really don’t want to play Monopoly with him.” She whispered. “He always tries to make some crazy deal.”

I chuckled a little. “Honestly, I’ve never played before.”

“What?” They both said in unison.

Angela walked in through the door at that exact moment.

“Ang, Bella hasn’t ever played Monopoly before. Can you believe that?” Jess said. “How did I not know that about you?”

I shrugged.

“That’s honestly pretty impressive,” Angela said, setting down her bag on the counter.

“Let me explain the rules to you, so at least if I don’t win one of us had a chance,” Mike said, turning off Surivivor and making do only with gestures and the occasional Google image to explain.

A firm knock at the door pulled me out of trying to wrap my head around Mike's overly complicated strategy. My heart had barely enough time to race as I walked toward the door.

Emmett was a person who stuck out in any room, he had to be about a foot taller than me, his large frame accentuated his muscles which in comparison to TV and Instagram were impressive, but in real life, his physique was otherworldy. Rosalie was impossibly small and lean but still well-proportioned. Her beauty was impossible. I couldn’t help but take a moment to admire her golden hair falling over her shoulders in loose curls, large upturned eyes, full heart-shape lips, and her perfect nose. I could understand how men went to war over Helen of Troy if she was even half as beautiful as Rosalie was.

“Welcome!” I croaked, moving to the side to let them in.

“Thanks Bella,” Emmett said with a goofy smile.

I looked over to Mike, Ang, and Jess who were all balking at the pair. “Guys, these are Edward’s cousin, Emmett, and Emmett’s finance Rosalie,” I said trying to get them to snap out of their trance.

It seemed to half work and they all mumbled some pleasantries.

Rosalie wore a slight scowl on her mouth, so I decided to give her some space. I couldn’t even recall hearing her speak, let alone have a conversation with me. I decided to turn my efforts towards the much more approachable Emmett, who for some reason took a liking to me. According to Edward at least.

“They’ve been briefing me on how to play,” I said, leading them over to the coffee table in front of the TV. “You guys can have the couch.” I offered, taking a seat on the floor across from them.

“Thanks,” Emmett said, pulling the Monopoly box out from the tote Rosalie carried around her shoulder. “I’m glad you got the refresher.”

“She’s actually never played,” Ang said, still staring, but not so obviously.

I felt a flush of embarrassment. Jess, slumped down next to me and said, “Quite a gene pool,” under her breath at a volume she assumed was inaudible, but I knew the both of them could probably hear everything going on in the whole apartment complex crystal clear.

I averted my eyes to the coffee table in front of me.

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The game ramped up rather quickly, Jess was the first to lose after landing on Ang’s Park Place with 3 houses, though she didn’t seem particularly interested in actually playing, instead, she continually questioned Rosalie on her skincare routine, to which she only gave one-word answers. I assumed that vampires didn't have skin care routines, though Edward had never expressly said so.

“I’m gonna head out for more beers. 15 minutes tops. Ya’ll need anything?” Mike said popping up from his sitting spot.

“Can I tag along?” Emmett asked, eliciting a slightly disgusted look from Rosalie who had kept her arm tightly wrapped around his waist the whole night.

“Of course.” And the boys were quickly out of the door.

Ang and Jess had somehow escaped to the kitchen without me noticing leaving Rosalie and I awkwardly sitting opposite of each other.

“You’re winning I think,” I said, as a small peace offering.

She slowly looked down to the neatly oragnized money and properties in front of her and then up to me. “You never know until the end.” She said quietly in a slightly annoyed tone.

I searched the table in front of me with my eyes, searching for something to talk about. “Do you like living in Forks?”

She sighed. “No, I don’t. I loathe small talk as well.”

Her words cut me like a hot iron. I bowed my head, making me feel like a child resolutely deciding on never speaking again. I knew I should have just left it at that, poking the bear probably would have made things worse. But, for some reason, I opened my mouth to speak. Edward was right, there was no reason she should have hated me. “Why?”

“What?” She asked sharply.

“Why do you hate Forks?” I was surprised by my own boldness.

She chuckled a little bit. “Isn’t it obvious?”

I shook my head. Nothing any of the Cullens did was obvious to me, especially her.

“It isn’t in our nature to be stationary. I would much prefer to be traveling, that way I don’t get restless.”

Though her tone was cutting, I still felt that she was being genuine. “But you stay anyways, you must like something about Forks.”

Her golden eyes lasered through my pupils straight to the back of my brain. “Hm,” she pondered. “I’ve never thought about it. Emmett likes it there.”

Their relationship was much more than romantic, I could tell that just from looking at them.

“And of course.” She continued. “That lovely tether.” She said sarcastically.

“Teather?” I inquired, feeling as though it was sort of familiar.

She rolled her eyes. “Carlisle turned me. My venom is his venom, so I’m annoyingly bound to him be this invisible tether. It’s difficult to explain to a human such as yourself.”

Victoria was Edward’s creator. The tether certainly existed between them as well, maybe that was why Victoria felt so strongly about Edward. But it made me curious about how Edward really felt about Victoria. If it came down to it, would he be able to kill her? Did he even know himself?

“What do you mean by bound?” I asked, curiosity taking precedence over politeness.

She sighed again. “It’s impossible to describe, but it's just this connection. No matter how much I hate Carlisle for turning me, I still feel as though there is this pull towards him, he is a part of me”

My heart flipped. Carlisle was someone who was incredibly selfless, I mean, he became a doctor was his greatest desire was to drink people’s blood. But there were cracks in everyone, it was naive to think that he was perfect, living for as long as vampires did, you were bound to make some pretty egregious mistakes.

I was at a loss for words, feeling as though my problems were insignificant to what she was going through. “I- I’m sorry.”

“What.” She scoffed. “Edward hasn’t brain-washed you into worshipping the ground beneath Carlisle’s feet?”

“No,” I answered. “I don’t think anyone deserves to have their choice taken away. But it seems complicated.”

“That.” She paused. “Is the understatement of the century.”

Chapter Text

Edward POV:

{I can’t believe she fuckin’ did it}

{I wonder if she’s a natural blonde}

{I’m about to pass out, It’s only 10 pm}

{I’m glad she won if it wasn’t me.}

I rapped on the door with the back of my hand, smoothing back my wet freshly showered hair.

“I’ll get it.” I heard Bella say to the others. It only took a few seconds for her to open the door, but I was anxious to see her. It had realistically only been a few hours since I had last seen her, and I hadn’t worried about her safety, I truly just missed her. With the amount of time we had been spending together I expected her to get annoyed with me, but that never seemed to happen...yet. And now without her by my side, I felt like a part of me was missing.

“Hi.” She squeaked answering the door. I immediately wrapped my arms around her and rested my chin on her forehead.

“Hi.” I breathed, filling my lungs with her sweet, delectable scent. “Everything went okay?”
“Yeah.” She whispered. “It was really fun.”

{She won, dude, against me. That’s the first time this century.} Emmett’s smile was comically large.

{Thank god, now we can leave.} Rosalie thought, then began her mental games, this time translating the lyrics of the Star Spangled Banner into Hindi, to try to conceal her thoughts.

We walked over to the group hand in hand.

“Cos.” Emmett said, staying put in his seat. “Your girlfriend beat all of us. It was a bloodbath.” {Haha}

“I’ll be in the car.” Rosalie hissed, darting out of the apartment as quickly as possible for a human.

{God this is strange. I need to go to bed.} “It was nice to meet you.” Angela said, quickly retiring to her room.

“Us too,” Mike said, pulling Jessica along with him. “Good night.”

“Good night.” Bella chirped.

Her body heat soaked into my skin, making me feel at home. I looked down at the thin cotton t-shirt and leggings she was wearing, knowing that it wouldn’t be difficult to rip them off of her body.

{It was fun, been a while since I’ve hung out with a group of humans like that. Though Bella’s blood is all too tempting.}

“Be careful,” I said to Emmett, instinctively pulling Bella in a little closer to me. I knew very well Emmett’s control was watertight, but I still couldn’t help myself.

Bella looked up at me a little confused. I pressed a quick kiss to her pink lips. God, she was beautiful. I wondered for a moment if it was too rude to tell Emmett to leave.

{Shall we speak somewhere in privacy?}

I lead him to Bella’s room with her in toe.

“Thank you, Emmett.” Bella was the first to speak. “I hoped it wasn’t too boring.”

“Nah. It was great. Don’t worry, I think Rosalie had a good time too.” {Actually, she did. That’s why she left, she didn’t want you to know.}

I saw Bella’s cheeks flush out of the corner of my eye.

{Indearing.} He thought, as most of my coven did when she did so.

“That’s good.” She admitted. “I can never tell with her.”

“You’d know if she didn’t like you,” I added, feeling half bitter half grateful that Rosalie had at least been more cordial to Bella than she had to me.

“Any news on Victoria?” Emmett asked, hoping that Alice had a vision to reveal something about the situation.

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

{It’ll come.} He thought, trying to comfort me. He had been privy to my anxieties about Victoria, especially after what she did to Bella, I spent most of my free headspace trying to strategize.

“Well.” Emmett started opening the window. “Have a good night Bella. Sweet dreams.” {Isn’t that strange to say?}

“I think you should use the front door.” I interrupted.

“Ha, right. Human.” {Easy to forget.}

He was gone quickly, as soon as he was out of the front door of the apartment he was speeding full tilt towards Rosalie, who had taken refuge in the woods. I was grateful they had at least gone far enough to be out of range so I was spared the gory details of what happened next.

“Hi,” I said, turning my attention towards Bella. “How are you?”

“Good. Better now that you’re here.” Her eyes fluttered up at me, making my muscles lose their strength. “I actually talked to Rosalie a bit. Though it was sort of like pulling teeth.”

I wasn’t surprised, Rosalie’s grudge against me was difficult to get passed, but Bell had a way with people. It was easy to understand the charming, charismatic people, most of whom simply learned at a young age to ask questions and crack jokes and not take things too seriously. But Bella was more understated, slowly wrapping people around her finger with her genuine kindness. Rosalie was a hard nut to crack, but Bella seemed to be working at her.

“I don’t think she’s ever willingly given me any information,” I admitted, pulling us down onto the bed.

Her face twisted. “I think she feels like things are out of her control.” I brushed through her hair with my fingers. “She told me about the bond she has with Carlisle. It sounds really complicated.”

I nodded. “It’s a tangled mess. Carlisle never should have turned her, but he didn’t know, he had never met his creator so he was unaware of the bond they would share. She leaves for periods of time, not really since Emmett came into the picture, but before. Still, she would always come back after a few years. I don’t think she fully understands why.” Rosalie’s thoughts were even a little bit of a mystery to me, as she had gotten so good at concealing them, but she constantly wrestled with her relationship with Carlisle, the resentment, the pull, and of course, Emmett truly wanted to be a part of our “family” so she wanted to please him as well.

“I feel really bad for her. She seems so angry.”

I pressed a kiss to her forehead. Of course, she would have found a way to have empathy for the person in my life who ground my gears the most. “She’s not been dealt a very good hand. Things were worse before she met Emmett. I don’t think our kind are meant to be alone.”

Those early years with Rosalie were so tumultuous that everyone in the house simultaneously decided that we would rather forget it all. Rosalie was not the only one at fault, I didn’t help the situation that I was there to be privy to her deepest most terrible thoughts. And to make matters worse I confided in Carlisle. No wonder she still hates me nearly seventy years later.

We made our way to her bedroom. I loved watching the fascinating human routines of going to bed and waking up. Bella brushing her hair, packing her bag for the next day, taking off her mascara. Humanity is cyclical, with routines and habits and tasks that must be completed every day, Gods are created and destroyed to explain the cycle, wars are fought to change the cycle, and life is created to uphold the cycle. Immortal life is stagnant, we stay stones as the world changes around us, and the only things we must appease are our appetites, which is ironic because it is a vampire saying that “Even oceans of blood are never enough.” And I wonder at times, if that’s all I am, an appetite.

Yet still, Bella, my Persephone, takes me into her arms and kisses my icy skin and lets me absorb her heat. If an appetite is all I am, that seems to be enough for her.

We found ourselves where we ended up most nights, wrapped in a blanket, arms and legs tangled up. “Tired?” I asked.

“No.” She smiled.

As quickly as I was able I pulled the covers off of her and took her into my arms, tasting the sweetness of her skin.

She was so delicate and warm, I had to restrain myself just touching her, though she didn’t make it easy. “Edward.” She whispered like a prayer, and somehow even though demon had been used to describe my kind, nothing felt more holy than her love for me and my love for her.

I buried my face in her neck, inhaling deeply, the burn at the back of my throat intensifying, but it felt good because it reminded me of her humanness, her vibrancy, her life. Her hands quickly unbuttoned my shirt and pulled it off of my arms. Then she reached for her own shirt. I was completely preoccupied with the smell of her skin.

The trick wasn’t to try to keep the cravings at bay, because they never would be. I would always think about drinking her blood when we were this close. I had to let the thought in and let it pass and let it fuel my desire for her because the desire was not only sexual and emotional and intellectual, it was also carnal.

She guided my face up to hers, pressing a passionate kiss to my lips before removing her shirt. The feeling of her bare breasts, impossibly thin soft skin, pressed up against my chest would have been enough to finish me off if I let it. “Lay down,” I said.

She did so with a smile and I lightly traced a line down from her lips to her chin, down her neck and chest, and between her breasts with my fingertips. She giggled and wrapped her hand around my shoulder, grabbing at the muscles of my back as my fingers made their way. Touching her ribs, her stomach, her pelvis, then finally slipping into her leggings and finally inside of her. I knew she like it slow at first increasing in speed. It made me hard anticipating what her orgasm would be like. She was slick and silky so my fingers easily glided over her skin.

“That feels amazing.” She said, her hips pressing against me.

I stared down at her. She was like a painting, beautifully disheveled, her big brown eyes looking deeply into mine. “God, you’re gorgeous.”

“I love you.” she breathed.

“I love you,” I repeated.

Within a few seconds her back was arching, her fingers trying to dig into my skin, her breath hitching and then releasing like she had just finished a sprint. I liked to watch her, laying there for a moment, a smirk of satisfaction on her mouth as her fingers traversed the bare skin of my chest.

“It’s your turn.” She said rolling over on top of me, her thighs on either side of me.

I quickly tugged my boxers down, accidentally ripping them in the process, but I didn’t think she noticed. She flipped her hair back out of her face and then kissed my neck slowly, leaving me wanting more. She placed each of my hands on her upper thighs and made her way down my torso until-

It was heavenly if heaven really did exist.
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Even when I was there, laying with a blanket between us so that she didn’t get too cold, I could still see the dreams that plagued her. She claimed that she didn’t have bad dreams when I was there, but I suspected that she just didn’t remember them. She tossed and turned and her face twisted and her breathing was labored. It broke my heart that even in sleep she could not escape the horrors that Victoria inflicted upon her. But I took solace in the fact that there were still good times when she could just be normal, human. I hoped that the scars she had would fade with time.

I played with a piece of her hair, savoring her scent. There had been about 27 hours and 3 minutes when I believed her to be dead. Beyond the momentous amount of guilt I carried with me, the simple idea of existing in a world where she did not was unbearable. I wanted to notice everything, every strand of hair, every wrinkle in her skin, every freckle. Maybe that was why I had taken a hoodie out of her hamper and pulled it over my torso before she had settled against my chest for the night. I wanted to be as close to her as I could. Even still as I was as physically close to her as I could be, it felt like she was a world away. Would there be a time when she would be gone? Would there be a time when she no longer smelled of her blood? Those were the only options for the future. It didn’t matter what she chose or didn’t choose. I would follow her to the underworld and back.

I closed my eyes, hoping for her dreams to be as good as they could be. I couldn’t sleep, but closing my eyes always seemed to be the right thing to do and I waited for morning.
“Good morning,” I said as she buried her face into my chest.

She tried to go back to sleep for a moment, before giving up and mumbling. “Morning.”

“It’s almost 7, can I make you some breakfast?” I asked, knowing that making breakfast meant that I would expertly pour cereal into a bowl followed by some milk. I worried if I did any actual cooking it would be inedible to her.

But her grasp tightened, and though I could have easily broken it, I yielded and fell back onto the pillow.

“In a minute.” She protested and wrapped her legs around me under the blankets. I savored her warmth, soaking it up as much as I could like she was the sun. “I had a dream…”

My stomach twisted. She had detailed a few of her dreams to me in the past, they were horrifying and made her relive the trauma over and over again. “I’m sorry,” Was all I could say. I couldn’t make them go away no matter how much I wished for them to.

“No, it wasn’t bad. It was…” She paused, entwining her hands in mine. “It was about me and you. I was a vampire and it was really weird. I touched and you felt warm and soft and it was nice, but I kind of missed how you feel now.”

I smiled, glad that she had some respite from the nightmares. I was also glad that she dreamt about me, selfishly. “What did you think about being a vampire?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t really thought a whole lot about it. Forever is a long time to be alive.”

“Well, not forever.” I smiled. “We all die eventually, one way or another. But some vampires have lived for thousands of years, or at least they claim to be that old.”

She shook her head. “I can’t even begin to comprehend that amount of time. But, I also don’t want to start to age while you stay exactly the same. I’m already technically 3 years older than you.”

“Bella.” I laughed. “I was born two centuries ago.”

“Fair, but it would be weird for me to be 40 with someone who looks 19.” She stroked my fingers with her thumb.

“Harry Styles does it, right?” I quipped.

She laughed. “I didn’t even think you knew who Harry Styles was.”

“Of course I do. I can appreciate a beautiful man when I see one.” It was all becoming very silly, but I was happy that she was laughing, something I hadn’t seen her do in what felt like a long time.

“Do you have a crush on him?” She squeaked.

“Who doesn’t?”

“No but seriously.” She tried to compose herself. “How would you feel if I was a vampire?”

I thought about it for a moment. I suppose I had so much baggage with my own immortality that I hadn’t stopped to think about what it might be to choose. Even Esme hadn’t really had a choice, if it were up to her she wouldn’t have contracted influenza in the first place which forced Carlisle to turn her before she died. We all struggled with it every day, but if someone were to really choose, maybe it would be different, maybe she wouldn’t struggle like the rest of us. I knew she was strong enough to resist the temptation of human blood, but she would still have to contend with all the other things, having to distance herself from her loved ones because they would figure out she wasn’t aging, that was the most difficult one. “I like how you are and your age doesn’t matter to me and it won’t matter to me, even when you’re 105. But if you wanted to become a vampire, I’d want that as well and I would love you just the same.”

“I’d want you to do it.” She touched my cheek softly. “I’d want you to be there with me.”

I nodded. The bond between a vampire and their progeny was deep, and complicated. Selfishly I didn’t want our relationship to become more complicated. Though admittedly becoming a vampire would uncomplicate some things. Still, I wanted her to have a choice, and the bond in some ways rid us of choice. Rosalie was a testament to that.

But I was beyond grateful that she was able to see my humanity when I could barely see it myself. It was really remarkable that I was lying in her bed, her touching my cold flesh, telling me that she wanted me to be there with her to experience the turn. “It’s horrible, you know. The pain is indescribable, it makes you forget who you are, it makes you wish you were dead.”

Her face turned to a pained expression. “But I’ll have you at the end of it right?”

“Always.”

Chapter Text

Bella POV:

Spring seemed to go as quickly as it had come. The purple crocuses which littered the lawn on campus were quickly up, the birds had begun to sing again, and while the rain was ever present some dotted sun and blue sky seemed to make an appearance a few afternoons a week.

Classes were easy and hard. It was nice to have a distraction that consumed so much fo my time, something I could sink myself into and rarely come up for air. But I still wasn’t getting very good sleep so at times it was hard to concentrate.

Edward eventually admitted to me that the only class he was regularly attending was his piano lesson so he dropped to part-time. I tried not to make a big deal out of it, things didn’t seem to be getting any better which worried me. But he assured me that it would pass in time, it just take longer for someone who is immortal.

Soon, he was helping Jess, Ang, and I study for our finals by making us coffee, curating a study playlist, and picking up food from the Chinese place around the corner. I had been doing well; my anxieties about Victoria weren’t necessarily better, but I had developed coping mechanisms that relieved it temporarily. Jess was training for a half marathon in July, so Ang and I would accompany her, running for some of it and walking the rest. I had previously despised running as it brought up memories of running the mile in gym class and coming in dead last year after year, which gave 14-year-old boys the excuse to taunt me. But when it was with them, it wasn’t so bad, and it got out some the energy that seemed to always be trapped in my body. I still had to take it easy because of my leg, but it helped.

There were even times when I thought it was all over. Victoria lost interest or fell off a cliff or disappeared from the face of the earth. It felt like that, at least sometimes, where I could forget what had happened and feel normal, but then I would have a dream or the muscles in my leg would tense or I would see someone with the same red hair on campus and all the air would be sucked out of my lungs.

Sometimes, I called Alice as well, and I would ramble about my worst fears and vent to her about my worries of the bond between Edward and Victoria. She would help me with my statistics homework. Occasionally, she would show up to the apartment with a bag full of vintage pieces she had found for me to try on. I tried not to let it get me down when they didn’t fit or were comically tight, but sometimes, it caused me to spiral a little bit.

It helped to go home too and see Charlie and stock his fridge with food that wasn’t frozen pizza and Hungry Man microwave meals. He still looked at me like I was about to lose it, but I had gotten used to it. We even went to La Push beach a few times, like when I was a kid and combed the sand and the tide pools for things to look at. It was really nice actually.

I was back, in Forks grabbing an iced coffee after returning a stack of books I had just finished to the library when I saw him. He was unmistakable even with his change of appearance, Jacob Black, somehow taller and more muscled than he had been during Thanksgiving, his long black hair which was normally pulled into a braid was shaved, so short I could see his scalp.

His black eyes caught mine as he looked up from his phone and held my gaze for a moment. Then he was up from his table quickly, I could see the tension in his jaw from my place in line as though he was angry at the sight of me. The last time I had spoken to him, I told him that he wasn’t welcome in my house and that I didn’t want to speak to him for a while at least.

But seeing him so different made something in my chest twist; he hadn’t deserved my forgiveness by any means, but things had changed. What he did to me in high school didn’t seem so immediate anymore, it was far away, something stupid he did in his youth when he was probably dealing with his own shit anyways.

“Jake!” I yelled, shooting out the door after him. I felt that maybe I was ready to talk to him again.

He turned around, his grey hoodie pulled up over his head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you’d be there.” He muttered.

“No. I-” He really did look different, matured, a little more like an adult. His youthful glow was dissipating from his face. “I just wanted to talk.”

His eyebrows raised in surprise and then lowered in confusion. “You made it pretty clear you didn’t want anything to do with me.”

“I know,” I admitted, feeling ashamed about it for some reason. “But you just- you look so different.”

“Well.” He breathed in an annoyed tone. “A lot has changed since then.”

I hated how cryptic he was being. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing.” He muttered. “I just mean I dropped out. I’m back in Forks for a while, but I’ll stay away from you, don’t worry.”

I felt sad for him, obviously his pride had been hurt. “Are- are you okay.” Was all I seemed to manage. It seemed impossible, one minute he was playing D1 basketball and the next he was back in Forks.

“I’m fine.” He spat. “I just- I don’t know. I’ll see you around.”

I decided to let him go, but he seemed so off, I had the sinking feeling something more was going on.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

“I’m home!” I said, walking in the door of my childhood house. Charlie’s cruiser was parked out front, surprisingly at a normal hour to finish work.

“Hey, Bells.” He said from the La-Z-Boy parked in front of the TV.

The smell of the roast I had put in the morning filled the house, making my stomach grumble. “Hey Dad?” I asked, walking into the living room. “Have you talked to Billy recently?”

“A bit, I suppose. Why?” He asked, turning the volume down.

“Well.” I breathed. “I saw Jacob Black today.”

Charlie’s eyes flared with surprise.

“It was fine, he was fine. I mean, he- he just seemed off. Like…different, I don’t know. He told me that he dropped out.”

“Billy hasn’t mentioned anything.” He said, looking me up and down as though he was searching for any injuries. “You’re okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m good. Honestly he tried to leave and I followed him. His hair was buzzed, and he must have grown another 6 inches. I don’t know, I’m just worried.”

His brows knit together. “I’ll talk to Billy, see what’s up.”

“Thanks,” I said, feeling a little bit of relief.

I put the red potatoes and carrots into the crockpot, turned it to high, and set a timer on my phone before heading upstairs to my room and sinking myself into the last bit of studying before finals. Edward needed to help Carlisle with something, meaning I would be alone tonight. Which on any other day would have sent me into a spiral, but I could barely keep my eyes open to read my book.

My alarm roused me. I realized I had fallen asleep at my desk, but my sleep didn't seem to help my tiredness, so dinner was eaten in near silence. I tried and failed to return to studying, finding myself being woken up, this time on my bed with my textbook next to me, and a tapping coming from my window.

Edward POV:

I was required to help Carlisle with one of his patients. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence; he occasionally would have a patient who was non-verbal or in a state where they were unable to communicate very well, so I would help by standing outside of the hospital room while Calrisle asked the patient questions, and I would record the responses. Of course,e I was worried about Bella being alone, not because I thought that Victoria would do something, but because I knew she would be worried. So, as soon as I was finished, I ran to her house. Scaled the side and tapped on the window, perched on the side of the house.

{We’re not finished, Edward. Come back later.} Alice’s thoughts came to me even before I put my hand to the glass. {Bella is kind of a lightweight, isn’t she?} I should have known.

I watched as Bella, with a flushed face, stumbled to the window, opened it and immediately took me into an embrace. She was warmer than normal.

“You feel nice, it’s so hot in here.” She said, pressing my hand to her cheek. “How was it?”

“It was good.” I placed my hand onto her forehead; her heart rate was a little elevated, though I knew that my presence always made her flight or fight response activate. “Yep, you have a fever,” almost 100 degrees.

“Really?” Bella said, putting her hand to her own forehead. “I have been feeling kind of tired today.”

{Oh shit. I didn’t even think about it. Humans are so delicate.} “Why didn’t you say that you weren’t feeling well?” Alice whined.

“I-I guess I didn’t realize. I’ve been kind of preoccupied.” She laughed.

{Humans are so strange. Though I suppose drunk painting does take quite a bit of brain power, especially when you’re as much of a lightweight as Bella is} “Well, regardless, I had a great time.” Alice said, popping up from her seat on the floor with her canvas in hand. She was quite happy with how hers came out, it was a painting of Esme playing her cello through the window of the house. One of Alice’s favorite memories was when she showed up at the house unannounced, having already picked out which room she wanted to claim. She knew that we would get along even before we had met. “Feel better, Bella.” She said, quickly giving her a hug and kissing her cheek, but she stopped as she was halfway out the window. Her knee was already perched on the sill when she stopped dead in her tracks.

It was a vision, though it was unlike most of the visions she had, which were clouded by staticy flickers. This series of images was crystal clear. Victoria, with her fiery hair surrounded by red-eyed vampires, a few dozen at least. Their heads were pointed toward her, eager to strike at whatever they were looking at. It was an army; there was no mistaking it. they were all newborns, and she was their creator just as she was mine. Another image flashed into Alice’s mind, Carlisle’s severed head in Victoria’s white hand. In the next image, Bella was tied to a chair as Victoria cut into the flesh of her arm with her nails. Bella’s expression on her sweat-slicked face haunted me. The final image, I was by Victoria’s side, my expression blank, but my eyes were red.

As I tried to process the images, Alice was already beginning to loose it. Calrisle’s severed head, the eyes rolling back, his expression frozen on his face, my red eyes, Bella’s torture was too much for Alice to handle all at once. Her hands crushed the window pane, making the glass shatter onto the floor. Bella jumped and let out a little yelp.

Alice was still frozen, if she was human she would be hyperventilating, but as a vampire she was unable and was just sucking in breaths one after the other.

“Alice.” I was at her side, deciding the best course of action. Vampires in this state could be dangerous, so I needed to proceed with the utmost caution. “It was just a vision, it might not happen.” It was a lie, the vision was so clear it was almost certain.

{Carlisle, Bella, Edward} was all she could think.

“Alice. Calm down.” I said firmly, slowly placing a hand on her back, watching and listening for any signs.

“Did you see it?” Alice finally muttered in a small, terrifying voice.
“Yes, I saw all of it.” It was beginning to set in. Carlisle’s death was unfathomable, it couldn’t exist. But it would, unless we could change the future. It had been done before. And Bella, I couldn’t let her go through something like that again; we’d have to change the future. “We just…we need to…tell them and make a plan of what we are going to do.”

My eyes darted to Bella, who looked completely alarmed, so much so that she seemed to shake.

“It was so clear, like it was already happening right in front of me.” I managed to get her off of the window and onto the floor, though her black eyes still remained distant and glazed over. “We’re all going to die.”

“Alic,e please…” I saw Bella flinch at Alice’s remarks. I hoped that a vision was all it was, that she was overreacting, and that we would solve it. “She doesn’t know about you or Jas or your gifts. So she’s making decisions without knowing about your gifts. We have the upper hand.” I knew I was grasping at straws; no matter our gifts, we would easily be destroyed by an army of just a few newborns. A couple dozen was really overkill.

“We need to tell Carlisle.” She was beginning to regain her composure. “We need to tell all of them.” {This might be the end…of it all.}

“Yeah, we should.” Even if it was the slimmest chance, our decision made an impact on things.

{They all need to know right now.} And she was gone.

Chapter Text

Bella POV:

It was all because of me, wasn’t it? The thought settled over me as Edward explained what Alice had seen. My stomach twisted. Carlisle dead, most likely the others as well, Edward forced into Victoria’s subbmission, who knew what fate I awaited. The certainty that she was going to kill me and anyone that was near me crept over my mind.

“We’re going to figure this out.” He said, trying to be calm, but his eyes were wide and a deep shade of black. “She’s not going to hurt you.”

I couldn’t respond; I couldn’t do anything except let my stomach twist and turn and the anxiety fill me to the top.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered. “We need to go.”

I was shaking so much trying to zip up my winter jacket so Edward just did it for me.

“Will you be warm enough?” Edward asked quietly. He was mechanical in his movements, his eyes were glazed over. I could tell he was exploring all possibilities in his mind and additionally beating himself up for endangering my life, though it wasn’t his fault in the slightest. Even with all of the terror I was feeling. He was trapping himself in his own mind.

I nodded.

He exited the window first, somehow clinging to the side of the building and still able to offer a guiding hand. I peered out of the window, looking at the multistory drop and suddenly felt the wine gurgle in my stomach. At least I had gotten over my fear of Edward lifting me.

I took his hand and he quickly but gracefully pulled me against him. I wrapped my legs and arms around him, he cradled me with one of his hands. The air was cold and sharp and made my breath visible. “Will anyone see us?” I whispered, trying to distract myself from looking down.

We landed on the ground with a thump, I was sure he had somehow dampened the impact for me. He shook his head, I wondered when or if the glassy-eyed stare would go away. I couldn’t imagine anything or anyone overpowering Edward's coven, they were so indestructible, it seemed most of their efforts were put towards protecting me in my fragile human state. But Edward’s seriousness shattered my naivety, they weren’t indestructible, they wouldn’t live forever, and eventually something would come along to kill them.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got you.” He whispered to me. “Close your eyes if you want.”

I did as I was told. My stomach lurched back, and rushing filled my ears. The wind was cold and cut right through my jacket after just a matter of seconds. I clung to Edward and buried my face into his chest, trying to focus on keeping the contents of my stomach from coming up.

He was much faster than a car; after only a few minutes, the wind in my ears slowed to the hum of a breeze. He set me gently on my feet, but as soon as I touched the ground, I felt the contents of my stomach begin to come up. Luckily, I had found a tree to brace against and doubled over, everything coming up and then some. I felt his hand in the middle of my back, tracing circles.

“I’m sorry.” I heaved, waiting for more to come up. And of course, the tears had started as well. I just wanted her to leave us alone, I wanted her dead. I wanted to just be with him without any complications. I didn’t want to feel the guilt of endangering them. I wanted it all to be over.

“Don’t be sorry. Let’s get you to the house so you can lay down.” He lifted me effortlessly into his arms and carried me at a normal walking speed the remaining 100 feet to the house.

I hid my face in Edward’s chest again, knowing that everyone in that house was able to smell the sickness on me. I closed my eyes, trying to stave off the ensuing headache, and soon found myself being set on a soft, sweet smelling bed.

Esme. I thought, knowing that she was endlessly caring, having prepared this room just in the chance that I would need it.

“What can I get you?” He asked quietly but frantically.

I shook my head, daring to crack my eyes just a little. “You need to talk to them. I’ve already kept you long enough.”

“You’re the priority. I can hear them anyway.”

I ceded, not having the strength to fight him. “Some water, please.” He was only gone for a few seconds, but I could feel my hair stand on end in his absence.

He returned with a tray with a large glass of water, a plate of toast, and a small bowl with two pink pills in it. On the other hand, he had a trash can, and tucked against his side was a plush quilt. He took my shoes off, slipped my jacket over my head, coaxed a few sips of water along with the pills into me, and tucked me in with the quilt overtop of me. Even the water was precarious so the toast was out of the question.

I wanted him to crawl in bed next to me, but I knew that he would take the request seriously and never join his family out in the living room so I let him sit on the edge of the bed, clearly preoccupied with the happenings in the other room.

“How can you deal with it?” I croaked.

He gave me a puzzled look. “With what?”

“My, you know…my…it must be pretty disgusting.” I could imagine to him, with his heightened senses, that everything was grotesque

He shook his head. “It’s not disgusting. And I mean, it's been a few decades, but I remember what it’s like to be human.”

“You are human, though.” I reached out my hand from under the covers to grab his hand. It was stoney as ever. “Just different than I am.”

His face twisted into a smile and then back to serious. I knew that something was happening in the other room.

“You should go,” I said, sliding my hand out of his. “You need to be there.”

He hesitated.

“I should sleep anyways.”

He nodded and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’ll be back soon.”

As soon as the door clicked behind him, my stomach twisted, causing me to reach for the trash can on the floor. I prayed that he would ignore me as I threw up the pills and water. My heart pounded, and my headache returned. Maybe it was partially because my mind was swirling with what they were talking about. The future was so uncertain, or maybe it was certain, and I wasn’t ready to face it. Victoria was prepared to torture and kill me, imprison Edward, behead Carlisle, and probably more. I was utterly terrified.

I gingerly sipped the water, just taking enough to get the taste out of my mouth. Sleeping seemed impossible, but I suppose the fever and the headache won out and I drifted off to sleep, trying and failing to fight back tears.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
“Bella? Sweetheart?” I heard Carlisle’s strong but kind voice rousing me from restless sleep.

I blinked open my eyes, feeling even worse than when I had fallen asleep. It was still dark outside.

“Can you try and drink something for me?” He asked, handing me my glass of water.

I shook my head. “It’ll just come back up,” I admitted, already feeling another dry heaving session coming on.

“May I?” He asked, extending his hand. I nodded, and he pressed his freezing hand to my forehead.

It sent a shiver through my body, I was freezing.

“You weren’t able to keep the pills down, I assume.”

I shook my head. I felt a pang of guilt; this was a life-or-death situation, and my body decided it was the perfect time to get sick.

“I think we should start you on IV fluids and medication to bring your fever down.” He said with a sigh.

“I’m sorry for making you go through all of this trouble.” I felt a lump form in the back of my throat. “Especially right now.”

He placed a hand on my shoulder. “No need to apologize. Believe it or not, I have dedicated my life to doing this. It’s actually nice to think about something other than strategic planning. I’m not very good at it.”

“Well, thank you anyway.” I tried to force myself to smile.

“You’re very welcome. I will be back with the IV. Can I get you anything else?”

IV meant a needle, and I never did well with needles. If I didn’t feel like I was about to pass out, I would have spared Edward from being in the room as one pierced my skin, but I knew myself well enough to know that I needed him there with me. “Can you get Edward?”

Edward POV:

{She asked for you. I doubt that means she resents you.} Carlisle said as soon as my name left her lips.

I knew she would never resent me, she was all the best parts of humanity, forgiveness, and kindness, and humbleness. Maybe it was myself that I resented for not having the self-control to stay away from her. Again, I had put her life in danger.

{Poor girl} Esme thought quickly before averting her attention back to Alice, who was sitting on the couch in the same state of shock she had been in for hours. Her mind was eerily quiet, simply playing her vision over and over in her head; the details were already becoming blurry in her mind.

{Alice is sort of…scary like this. She’s always so…} Rosalie thought, feeling reality setting in. Everyone seemed to be still, except for Jas, of course, whose mind was abuzz with strategy. This was their wheelhouse.

I went into Bella’s room. Even before today, the guest room had been designated “Bella’s room” because everyone knew she was the only guest we would ever have.

She was pale and glassy-eyed, but she smiled as I strode over to her and knelt down to grasp her hand.

“Hi.” She said in a quiet voice.

“Hi.”

“Do you mind staying in the room while Carlisle…” She said, wincing at the thought of the needle going into her skin.

I shook my head. “Not at all. In fact, I prefer it. I know how much you hate needles.”

“They are not my favorite.” She admitted.

It was almost funny; she had nearly lost her life to Victoria, but the thought of a needle was causing her blood pressure to drop.

I slipped into bed next to her, over the quilt. Calrisle walked in gloves, towing an IV stand and a few alcohol wipes.

I heard her heart rate increase, and her grip on my hand tighten.

“Don’t look,” I whispered into her ear.

After Carlisle took her arm, she buried her face into the pillow, taking deep laboured breaths

“Okay, little pinch…and it’s done.”

I pressed a kiss to her other hand. “Okay?”

She gave me a minuscule nod.

{Make sure she sleeps. Maybe we can get some food in her tomorrow.} Carlisle left to clean up in the other room.

I was grateful that Carlisle took Bella’s health so seriously. Normally, he wouldn’t prescribe such a drastic measure for what he deemed to be a minor infection, but considering my attitude and the situation we were in, she needed to have as much strength as possible.

“Bella?”

She came out of her hiding place, but her eyes stayed clear of the arm which had the needle inserted into it.

“I’ll stay here if you want to sleep.”

She nodded her head. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Once she had fallen asleep, I peeled myself from her bed with as little movement as possible. I would have liked to stay next to her forever, feeling the warmth of her skin, though the medication seemed to be doing the trick because she was dropping in temperature incrementally. I wished to know her dreams, if they were good and if they gave her respite from our terrifying reality.

“Jas,” I breathed as I entered the room where everyone was gathered.

“We can fight if we must, but it doesn’t have to come to that. Victoria is reckless. From her thoughts, according to you, she is willing to do anything to torture and then eventually kill Bella, which could certainly include exposing herself. Then the Volturri has to step in, no matter how much they dislike our…lifestyle.” {Pause for questions.} Jas was not a person of many words, though in situations like these, they loved the flare of a strategic plan.

“But Victoria hasn’t exposed herself to the humans, even though she nearly killed Bella.” Emmet chimed in.

“No. not yet.” {Devise a trap.}

The arm of the chair I had sat down on turned to wood splinters in my hand. “We are not using Bella as bait.” I hissed at Jas, hoping I hadn’t woken Bella.

{I didn’t say anything about Bella.} “You’re the bait. You are what she really wants.”

Nearly everyone in the room flickered with hope. A plan, perfectly executed, could work, and by vampire law, she would have to be killed. Even if the Volturri were at best flighty, the only rule upheld with consistency was the one we were about to use to get Victoria out of our lives forever. The hope that Bella could live without fearing for her life was something I would do anything for.

“We need a witness then,” Carlisle said. “Unbiased, preferably.” {Callum. He’s one of the only vampires I’ve met who can stomach both human and animal blood.}

“We should ask our old friend,” Esme said. {Callum. He’s one of the only vampires I’ve met who can stomach both human and animal blood.}

Callum, I had met him on a few occasions. He was like most other vampires, enigmatic, even to me with a distaste for human interaction other than to suck them dry. Though Callum was unlike most vampires, his kills were strategic, he had a good enough head on his shoulders to be specific, which I could appreciate. He was one of those vampires who toed the line between human and monster, just in his own way.

Carlisle also thought of the good times he had with Callum all those years ago. They were sometimes even more than just good times shared between two friends. Though Carlisle could never reconcile Callum’s diet so he put some distance between them.

{Yes} Alice’s thoughts flickered. Static. The future was changing. {It could work…maybe}

“We enlist your friend,” Jas said to Carlisle, then turned back to us. “We lure Victoria to our bait.” They gestured to me. “And get her to step into the light in the presence of our witness and a group of humans.”

“We’ll have to go somewhere else.” {There isn’t exactly a lot of sun here.} Alice chimed in, springing up into a stride.

{She never fails to act completely strange.} Rosalie thought. “Phoenix would be…ironic, wouldn’t it?”

“Phoenix it is.” Jas said before I could protest. “I leave the witness to you, Carlisle and Esme.”

Calirsle and Esme nodded.

“Rosalie and Emmet will find our humans, I suggest some sort of hiking tour.”

{Of course.} Rosalie sighed. {I don’t even like the company of humans.}

“I will deal with our bait.” They said, looking back at me. {You better cooperate.}

“Alice will watch over Bella.”

{Jas and Edward better not get themselves killed.} Alice commented, only half joking.

It was a solid plan and, thankfully, one that did not involve Bella. The only hard part would be to leave her here. Even under Alice’s protection, my chest ached even thinking of being away from her.

Chapter Text

Edward POV

I crawled back into bed with Bella, who still looked sick, but was mending. I savoured every inch of her with my eyes, trying to save it for the future days or weeks I would be apart from her. I didn’t know what the future would bring, not even Alice really knew, I could be dead before the month was over. If death is what you could call it.

I lay there, feeling her warmth on my skin, not daring to close my eyes. I watched as her eyelids twitched and she let out small gasps and moans, only giving me the faintest guess of what was going on in her mind.

“Everything is going to be okay,” I whispered, even though I knew she wasn’t awake. “You’ll be safe soon.”

Even if the plan didn’t work, I was going to find a way to make her safe, even if it meant taking myself out of her life. She deserved so much more than I could ever offer her.

{You don’t want to tell her.} Alice opened the door nearly silently.

“I’m letting her sleep,” I whispered, only audible to Alice. “And yes, I may be putting it off.” I gently played with a piece of her hair, inhaling her scent as deeply as I could.

{She’s changed you so much. Before you met her, you were just a shadow of who you are now. Even if you are separated, you’ll always find a way back to each other.}

She was being completely sincere, but I couldn’t help but wince at her last thought. I didn’t want to keep endangering her.

Soon enough, the sun began to rise and filter light through the windows. She tossed and turned. I listened to Esme consult Carlisle at length about what she should make Bella for breakfast. She went to the grocery store as soon as it opened to supplement what she already had in the pantry. She didn’t mind keeping food in the house, mostly nonperishables in cans, flour, rice, crackers, which she would normally buy and donate to the local food pantry. But now she was keeping it at the house for a few weeks in the chance Bella would want something to eat.

Eventually, with closed eyes, Bella attempted to wrap her warm arms around my torso, pulling on the line that was still attached to the back of her hand, causing a small whimper to escape from her lips.

“Easy there,” I said, doing my best to steady her hand so the needle wasn’t tugging at her skin. Then I wrapped my arms around her. Her cheek settled against my chest. “How are you feeling?”

“Better.” She said. “I didn’t throw up all over you in the middle of the night?”

I laughed. “No. You slept very soundly. You needed it.” I said, admiring her beauty, the curls of her brown hair which messily draped over her shoulder. It gave me a little relief to know that she wasn’t feeling so miserable. “Hungry?”

“No.” She groaned. “I’m still pretty nauseous. Maybe later.”

{Esme will have to pivot to lunch.} Rosalie commented as she idly listened to our conversation.

“I wanna know what’s going on.” Bella insisted, looking into my eyes.

I took a breath. “We have a plan to get Victoria to expose herself to the humans. That way, the Volturri, the vampire council, will have to intervene and execute her. It’s the only rule they really care about.”

Her brows knit together. “The Volturri are they…like you?”

I shook my head. “They are like any normal vampire, except they are obsessed with the little power they have over the western covens. Though everyone knows the council of the east holds real power.”

“How are you going to get her to do that?”

I didn’t know some of the details. Jas was the real mastermind behind all of it. “Jas is devising a sort of trap for her with me as the proverbial bait.”

Her breath hitched, and for a moment I thought she was going to be sick again, but she simply stared in disbelief…almost in anger, which I didn’t think she was capable of. “That can’t be safe.”

“Alice will be staying here to protect you,” I assured her.

“No,” she protested. “For you. I don’t want you anywhere near her. Sh-she’s dangerous.”

I would have smiled because Bella’s concern for me was almost comical. But I knew that she had suffered so much at the hands of Victoria, and it was all bubbling to the surface. “I’m virtually indestructible. And I always have an upper hand if it comes to blows. Even if I couldn’t read her mind, she’s reckless.”

“Exactly,” she said breathlessly. “She’s…deranged. What if she…”

“Nothing is going to happen to me.” I tried to soften the grip of her hand on my forearm, her knuckles were turning white.

She didn’t look convinced.

“Everyone will be there except Alice. It’s 6 against 1, it will be almost too easy.”

Her heart was pounding. “I’ll still be worried.” She said quietly.

That was as close to acceptance of our plan as I would get with Bella. I was just grateful she wasn’t insistent on coming with.

Bella POV:

72 hours is what Edward promised me; that’s how long he would be gone. He was going to be leaving, going back to Phoenix, where it all went down just a few short months ago. Just the thought of it turned my bones to ice.

“It’s going to take all of my self-control to not text you every 15 minutes.” I joked, though, as the final hours before he had to leave were closing, nothing seemed very funny. Esme had coaxed some soup into me for lunch, which was seemingly sitting in my stomach without much protest. Everyone seemingly had dispersed, I assumed to prepare, making the house,e which was normally silent, eerily quiet.

He managed a smile. “I don’t mind, most of it will be waiting around anyway.”

My anxiety, especially after the incident with Victoria, was difficult to deal with, but somehow, as he did with everything,g he dealt with it so gracefully, telling me exactly what I needed to hear. I pressed a kiss to his shoulder and then rested my head against it.

I felt him kiss the crown of my head. “I won’t take any unnecessary risks, even though it will be a piece of cake.”

“You don’t even eat cake.” I chided.

He let out a chuckle. “I’ll miss you.” He said, lifting my chin.

I leaned in, and our lips met. His icy electricity transferred to my body, changing our gentle, tender kiss into something more passionate. I didn’t realize how ravenous I was for him until it was already too late to stop. His hands caressed my skin with welcome pressure, usually, but he used such a light hand when touching me. I managed to shimmy off my sweatpants and shirt before asking. “Is anyone here?” I was always painfully aware that everyone in the coven could hear much more than any human.

He shook his head so quickly I barely caught it.

“Good,” I said. Then I pressed a line of kisses to his perfect neck

He lifted me up from the bed, making my thighs straddle either side of him. “God, you’re perfect.” He breathed.

I fumbled for the clasp at the back of my bra, but he helped and quickly removed it from my body. He took the flesh into his mouth and circled my nipple with his tongue, causing my back to arch in pleasure and a moan to escape my mouth. “Edward.”

I had been so distracted I didn’t realize he had removed everything, including his boxers. I placed one of my hands on his bare back and gripped hard, the other went through his hair.

“Are you ready?” He asked.

I nodded.

He somehow removed my underwear with one hand, still supporting me with the other arm, and easily slipped two fingers inside of me, which easily glided over me rhythmically, frantically. My hips buckled against him, and I could already feel the wetness seeping onto my thighs. He laid me gently on the bed.

I spread my legs open, and he positioned himself over me, going in gently at first so I could stretch to fit around him. I grabbed at his back, through the back of his hair, and followed his movement with my body. His mouth was like a magnet to my neck. “You feel so good.” He whispered. I pressed my body against him. I wanted him to see and feel all of me, every inch, every roll, every imperfection. “My perfect Bella.”

The pulsing between my legs became more and more intense. He gripped either side of my ribs tightly, but then just as quickly retracted his hands. “I trust you,” I said, guiding his hands back to their original place. “I want all of you,” I said with the very last of my control, before the orgasm pushed through and I was left shuddering in pleasure.

He finished as well and fell onto the bed next to me, burying his face in the crook of my neck. I was trying to catch my breath, but he looked so peaceful, almost like he was sleeping, even though it was impossible. “Did I hurt you?” He finally asked.

“No.” I protested. “Not at all.”

“Good.” He breathed, his face relaxing even more.

My hand reached for the blanket at my side to cover myself, but then refrained. I liked being naked in front of him, even though at one time I felt incredibly uncomfortable with the thought. Now I wanted him to see me.

“I love you.” I twirled one of his curls with my finger.

“I love you, too.”

I didn’t even want to entertain the thought that this would be the last time. If somehow, which he was convinced ws impossible, that he was killed or captured by Victoria, I would be destroyed. I didn’t know how I could live like that.

“Bella.” He said, lifting his head. “You’re shaking.”

“Am I?” I asked breathlessly, lifting up my hand. It was trembling. “I’m such a wreck,” I said.

“No, you’re not.” He said, steadying my hand by taking it in his. “If I were in your position, I would be… much more of a wreck than you are.”

“I just want to…” Of course, there were things to contend with, his immortal vampirism, my mortal humanness, but those weren’t even issues in my mind. They were decisions to be made in 10 or 15 years. “I wish we could just cut to the part where all of this is resolved.”

His brows knit together. “I’m sorry, but we have to deal with this.”

“I know.” I pressed a kiss to his shadowy lips. “It’s not your fault. I mean, I’d rather deal with all of this than not be with you.” I admitted.

“Wouldn’t it be easier if you had ever met me, then you could have a normal life.” He said matter-of-factly.

My stomach went to my throat. I knew that he tended to think negatively, but when he said it out loud, it made me wince. “No, I’d take any life with you.”

He pondered what I had said for a moment. “Well, if Victoria kills me tomorrow, we should make our last day good.” He said with a raised brow.

I smiled, even if he was speaking about his death. “I’m kinda tired,” I said sarcastically.

He believed me for a split second, but soon his lips came crashing into mine, and his hands were on me again. His thumb danced over my nipple. My head tilted back, and I pressed into him. His mouth traced my collarbone, down between my breasts, down my ribcage and stomach, and finally in between my legs, which were still pulsing. I knew as soon as his tongue began to press against me that I would be finished in just a few seconds. His hands moved to my thighs, pulling me into him, and his tongue massaged me. I was correct in my assumption, and after mere seconds, I climaxed again, moaning his name over and over as the pleasure washed over me in waves.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

We pulled up to my apartment sooner than I could believe. “E-Edward I, I know that things will most likely go to plan. But I just, I want you to promise me that you will be careful.”

He wiped a tear from my cheek that I hadn’t even noticed. “I promise. I wouldn’t be going unless I knew I could come back to you.”

We pulled into a parking spot, and I was in his arms before he put the car into park. I breathed in his scent. I made my hands remember what he felt like. “I love you,” I said.

“I love you, too. I’ll call you as soon as I land, okay?”

I nodded against him. He pressed a kiss to my forehead and then to my lips. I got out of the car, he pulled away, and he was gone.

Chapter Text

Edward POV:

I didn’t want to leave Bella, it felt like leaving a piece of me behind, and I felt her absence immediately. As soon as I was at the airport, the buzz began. Even with Emmet, Rosalie, and Jas there to guide me through the airport I still felt as though I was going to cause an international incident as I needed to have the airport security guard repeat herself three times when she was asking me where I was going. Even in a place like this, if I had Bella to stroke my back and to check in with me every so often, it would have been much easier. Pleasurable at images even.

But I got on that horrible plane, sandwiched between Emmett and a middle-aged woman in a suit who clearly had an unhealthy relationship with work. As we began to descend, we slowly began taking measures to shield ourselves from the sunset, hoodies and baseball caps, and sunglasses. As soon as the wheels touched the tarmac, I was called Bella. I hated that she was in so much distress over me leaving, but I needed to make her safe.

“Hi.” She said breathlessly.

“Hi, we made it.”

“Good.” She said meekly.

“You weren’t afraid that our plane had crashed.” I teased.

She laughed nervously. “I mean, you are indestructible, aren’t you?”

“Virtually,” I added. “Plus, I have survived a few crashes in my time, there was-”

“I don’t want to know.” She interrupted me. I could clearly imagine the look on her face. “How are you? Was the airport…okay?”

“It was a lot, but I got through it. I’m considering walking home.”

“You’re insane.” She chided.

We talked for as long as possible about nothing and everything. Soon, Jas was tapping on my shoulder, furiously going over the plan in his head, requiring me to hang up.

I was to call Victoria, who still presumably had Bella’s old cell phone, and tell her to meet me in Phoenix. Alice’s visions had changed to be more static, revealing that our plan had the potential to work. Victoria was certainly desperate enough to fall for it, though we still had to be cautious. I had known her long enough to understand her volatility. Anything could happen. I would give her the exact location of where to meet at midday when the sun is at its highest. Supposedly, the timing would work out perfectly so that Calrisle’s witness and the “hiking tour” would converge, and then with a witness, we could invoke the Volturi. I knew they would work quickly to do damage control, probably sending an executioner within hours to track her down and find her.

It was precarious, but it was the best plan we had.

“You’re loving this, aren’t you?” I asked Jas as we headed out of the city and towards the wilderness, it wasn’t exactly safe yet to start running full speed, as we were still in a residential area and the chance of seeing humans was quite high.

{Morbid.} They commented. “Love is a strong word.” {It’s more of a compulsion; it’s been a while since we’ve had any excitement.}

I was relieved by their optimism; they had always been sort of reckless in a semi-sadistic way, but still, I took it as a good sign, maybe we would all make it out of this alive.

{You better call her.} Jas said, having received a text from Emmet and Rosalie that they were beginning their tour, it would be about 3 hours before they would reach the summit, where he had planned.

“Hello.” She said picking up immediately. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

It took me a fraction of a second to compose myself; everything in me was screaming in anger at her. “It’s my pleasure,” I said after taking a breath.

“Edward, my goodness,” she said in a thin, icy tone. “I was expecting to hear an earful from you.”

“No, Victoria. I’ve realized something.” I was attempting to control my voice.

“Oh?”

“I think that we should speak in person…as soon as possible. I’ve been thinking quite a bit about us.” I was doing everything not to crush the phone in my hand.

“Hm. You’ve finally come around, love. Where should I meet you?”

“Phoenix, you’ll catch my scent at the start of the Tumbled Rocks trail. I'll be at the summit in 3 hours.”

“What will you be wearing? So I know it’s you.” She commented sarcastically. “Nothing, I hope.” She said with a cackle, she really was losing it.

“I’ll see you soon.”

Jas looked at me blankly for a moment. {And I thought my ex was crazy.}

Jas and I quickly made the summit on the back side, then I went down the other side, meeting up with the Tumbled Rocks trail and doing my best to leave my scent behind.

{It might just work.} Jas thought as soon as I returned, things were looking up.

Rosalie and Emmett were ahead of schedule and less than half a mile away from where we were with the unsuspecting humans who were just about to witness a vampire fight. Carlisle, Esme, Callum, our witness, and Jas were further away, but they could get to me much faster so they might as well have been hiding in a nearby bush. It was just me until I heard the rambling, mad thoughts of Victoria.

{He’s finally come to his senses, hasn’t he? It took him long enough. Though I don’t understand why he had to be so cryptic. Hopefully, he did away with that silly girl; it's honestly cruel to keep her in such a fragile state. Better to put the thing out of their misery Edward} She thought my scent was getting stronger.

“Over here,” I said, luring her. “I’m here.”

She appeared, she was even more disheveled than she had been before, her t-shirt was ripped and her jean shorts were nothing but shreds, her eyes, of course, were bright red, meaning she had been feeding. I could smell the blood on her, too.

She closed the distance between us, pulling me against her. “Why do you still have your clothes on, darling?” She was savoring every part of me. It made my skin crawl. I wanted to push her away, but I couldn’t yet. I would have to wait, no matter how sick it made me.

“Can we talk, Victoria?” I said, using every ounce of restraint I had to not push her away. The only person I wanted to touch me like that was Bella. “Just wait.”

She abided…at least for a moment and let go of me. She was certainly stronger than I with all of that blood in her system.

“You’re right.” She spat. “You have some explaining to do. I can’t just take you back so easily.” {No matter how delicious you are.}

“Thank you for coming.” I swallowed, gagging at her reaction. She had no idea of a plan. “I wanted to say that Carlisle was wrong. I was just having a hard time coming to terms with my own vampirism, so I tried to deny it and be as close to human as I could. But I realize now that was so base.” I was admitting to her what she had believed her entire immortal existence. She was elated. “I can’t deny what I am, so I should embrace it, right?”

Her smile was wild. “You have to feed darling. I can’t imagine how weak you feel after decades without.” {He’s tortured himself.}

He hand took mine and was pulling. They were close I could tell, just a bit longer. I needed to keep her in my grasp so that she couldn’t run away. “One more thing,” I said, pulling her hand to my chest. The sun was shining down onto us, the hoodie and cap that I was wearing, I hoped would conceal me, but if they had to execute me as well, at least I would know Bella was safe.

Rainbows refracted onto the ground, her white skin was shimmering like the scales of a fish in the sun. She was so distracted that she didn’t even notice the group of humans emerging lead by Emmet and Rosalie as well as Callum, Esme and Calrisle emerging from the other direction. It was perfect, exactly as we had planned. Alice must have known that it would work so well.

“You lied.” She said, finally looking around and putting the pieces together. {You lied!} She thought, but it was already too late. The humans had seen the impossible prisms being cast by the light bouncing off her skin; they were all trying to rationalize it, but it was irrational. Our world didn’t make sense in their world. They were terrified.

I held her as she tried to run, making sure the humans were getting a good look. But soon she broke from me, nearly ripping my arm off in the process. We got her.

Carlisle contacted the Volturi as soon as she was gone. We waited there for only an hour or so before a line of figures in black appeared, with Victoria in hand. I recognized a few of them from the brief interactions that I have had with them, though there were a few new recruits, clearly still newborns, twitching with strength.

Victoria’s thoughts were a hum of expletives and half-formed escape plans. Though she quickly ruled out most of the mouth because of the girl, Jane, who was walking a step behind her.

Jane. It was easy to feel bad for her, clearly she had been barely a teenager when she was turned, her thoughts still moved in the same way an adolescent’s does. Her brother Alec was curiously absent. I had never seen them apart, though I was somewhat relieved because he was equally as terrified.

Everyone stood, everyone’s mind was relatively blank except Jas, who was still strategizing somehow. Callum was simply eager to see some metaphorical blood, even though vampires didn’t have blood of their own.

{Edward, please, they’ll kill me.} Victoria pleaded. {Aren’t I worth more than this death? I created you. I made you what you are.}

The words stung. She had made me what I am, she had taken everything from me, which wouldn’t have been worth her death. But when she had nearly taken everything from Bella, that was unforgivable.

{They’re hurting me.} She screamed, as the two on either side of her forced her to her knees before us. {I love you so much, isn’t that worth something to you?}

One of them, George, I had only met once, but was Aro's most recent addition to his “collection,” as he called them. Vampires, which had more often than not been hand-selected by the Volturi as humans and then turned into vampires so that their gifts could reach their full potential. Aro sometimes used them to uphold our vampire laws as he did with George, who could make humans forget things, most importantly sightings of vampires. But often Aro turned people out of his own curiosity.

{Ah him, Aro would have been thrilled to see him.} George thought, his strong face never wavering with any emotion. He was essentially a stone.

The man on the other side of Victoria was unfamiliar to me. He was striking, tall and lanky, with deep brown skin casting prisms onto every surface around him. I tried to focus on finding his voice but it was unknown to me, lost in the hum of everything else.

“Hello.” Jane finally spoke. “You have informed us that this vampire is responsible for exposing the vampire kind to humans. Is this true?”

“Yes,” Carlisle said. {Where are they?}

Rosalie and Emmet had not yet come back.

{They fed here, didn’t they?} Carlisle added

The scent of blood was unmistakable on them, making my throat tighten and venom fill my mouth. The guilt was weighing on Carlisle, knowing that in some way we had caused the deaths of an unknown number of people in the area.

“And do you have a witness?” Jane continued. {I hate how compliant they are. I would rather torture the truth out of them, watch them writhe on the ground.}

“Yes,” Callum said. {What I do for love.} He thought bitterly. “I saw her. Not only did she fail to conceal herself in the sun, but she also showed feats of unnatural speed.” {Why can I not ever say no to this man?}

“Very well,” Jane said. “Yema? George?” She asked the man I didn’t recognize. His red eyes looked to us and then down to Victoria, who was trying to squirm out of his grasp. {Their eyes.} I finally caught him thinking. But his grasp clamped down, the newborn rage getting the best of him and cracking Victoria’s flesh with a sickening snap.

“Edward! Please!” Vitoria wailed, but all I could do was watch as George raised his hand and, with a final crack, her head rolled on the ground.

I felt relief spread around my chest. That was it. It was over. Bella would be safe from her. The plan had worked.

That was until I felt my knees being forced to the ground and my arms being wrenched behind my back.

Chapter Text

Bella POV:

“No answer again,” Alice said, I could sense the edge in her voice. She was getting nervous. “I should have seen something.”

There was nothing I could say to make it better. My feeble attempts at trying not to spiral were not working. Rationalizing their hours of silence was beginning to seem like blind optimism. I looked at my phone, 5 texts sent from me unread, but delivered. What had she done to him? What was she doing to him? Edward always insisted he was indestructible, but vampires were still able to be tortured, killed, and Victoria would find ways. “Should we go then? Try to find them?”

Alice looked over at me with wide eyes.

Even though I was just a human, flesh and blood and bones, I couldn’t sit in my apartment and wait while he was...I didn't know.

“You’re not going anywhere.” She said calmly with a tone that I did not expect. “I’ll go. I’m not as fast as Edward, but I can get there faster than I could get a plane ticket. I can’t take you.”

“I’ll get on a plane. I’ll meet you there.” I protested. My body was reacting before I could think. She was right, I would just slow her down, but I didn’t want to be away from Alice. No matter how unreliable, she was a view into the future, into what was happening or could happen to Edward and the rest of the Cullens.

“I’m sorry.” She said, pulling me into a quick embrace and slipping something into my pocket.

It was all crumbling. I was crumbling. “Alice wait! Please! Can we just talk-”

She was gone. They were all gone. He was gone. Non-existent, intangible. Nothing.

Before my body turned completely to sand, I pulled out the envelope from my pocket, pulling out the letter, ripping the envelope which said “Bella” on the on the front in Edwards perfect cursive script.

“Bella, I hope you never see this letter. I hope that I come back and tell Alice to burn it. But, in the case that doesn’t happen. Please do not come looking for me. That is all I ask of you. I love you Bella, more than I ever thought possible.

Always yours,

Edward”

May.

June.

“Hello?” I croaked, not really understanding why I had answered the call from an unknown phone number.

“Bella. It’s Jake.” His voice was stiff.

I didn’t have the energy to tell him I didn’t want to talk to him. I didn’t seem to have the energy to do anything except sit in my quiet, dark room with all the shades drawn. “Hi,” was all I could manage.

“How are you?” He asked hesitantly.

How could I have possibly answered him? “Um. I don’t- How are you?”

He breathed out. “About as good as you.” He laughed. “Charlie told my Dad- I don’t really know- I’m sorry, it must be hard.”

I choked back the knot forming in my throat. My chest tightened, even though I couldn’t stop thinking, dreaming, wanting Edward to be there with me, somehow the mention of him sent pain through the back of my head. I didn’t have any tears left in me.“Yeah.” I whispered.

“You want to go see a movie?” He asked, sounding as though he surprised himself

But what surprised him even more was my response.

“Sure.”

******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

“Do you want some popcorn or something?” Jacob asked as soon as we got through the ticket line.

“No, thank you,” I said, already feeling the anxiety rising in me, my stomach was about to growl.

An uncomfortable silence settled over us, but I hardly had the energy to care. But I knew that my previous self probably would have cared about the alarm in his face, the way he looked my body up and down, his uncomfortable expression.

He kept asking me if I was alright, and I couldn't answer him. Whatever I said would feel like a lie.

It was easier to think about the calories I wasn’t eating. 500 for the popcorn in his hands. He’d gotten a slushie too, 430. A pack of M&Ms, 200. It was Jake, though, he was one of those people who could eat anything, literally. I had seen him on more than a few occasions eat multiple plates of BBQ or seafood boil, of course, he was just as toned as ever.

“You sure you want to see Face Punch? The guys said it was pretty intense.”

“The guys?” I asked, attempting to be normal.

He swallowed a mouthful of popcorn seemingly without chewing. “Yeah, Embry and Paul and them. They might as well be family. They probably are if you go back far enough.”

“You’ve been hanging out with them?” I remembered them from high school. Paul was a grade below us, Embry was on the basketball team with Jacob.

“Yeah, ever since I came back from California.”

I felt a little bit bad as we took our seats in the theatre. It clearly had been a sore subject for him, especially before, but the next few minutes seemed more bareable if I could hear about Jacob’s problems instead of… “Why did you come back?”

His eyes shifted frantically, and I could see them even in the dim lighting. “I don’t know. I just…needed to be here.”

Cryptic. I almost said. I shifted away, realizing I could feel the warmth coming off of him from the seat next to me. But I suppose he was allowed to keep secrets, I certainly had my fair share of them. “I don’t think I’m going back to school.”

“What?” He exclaimed a little too loudly for a movie theatre. “You’re joking.”

I shook my head. “I just can’t anymore.” Finals had been a disaster; I showed up, somehow. I think my professors only passed me because my grades up until that point had been nearly perfect.

“But you’re like- I just- what does Charlie think?”

“I haven’t told him,” I admitted.

Silence for a moment. “Well, if he is going to react like my Dad did, then there’ll be hell to pay.”

“Bring it on,” I said without thinking. Hell seemed like child’s play.

The movie started. I couldn’t pay attention, not really. My body reacted to a few timely jump scares, but I was disconnected, thinking about the only two things that my mind could think about: food and Edward. Had it ever been any different? It was easy to think about food, to let the thoughts and restrictions take over. I leaned into it, restricting more and more every day, and I let it have what was left of me. There wasn’t much.

Edward was difficult to think about. Was he dead? Were they all dead? Was it worse? Was she keeping him somewhere, torturing him, stopping him from hunting, making him do things I didn’t want to think about? No one had come for me, no one had emailed or called, no one had shown up to tell me anything. Sometimes I wish Victoria would show and finish what she had started. What were his final moments like? Had he known that I drove to Phoenix 2 weeks ago looking for answers that weren’t there? I hoped not.

“Does it hurt?” The protagonist said, in all of his muscled, oily glory. I had never learned his name.

“Not much,” the girl said, Georgie or Gina or something. Her blonde hair was billowing behind her, a large cut on her leg dripping blood onto the sand. “Just stings.”

The protagonist's brows furrowed. “I don’t like to see you in pain.” He growled. “He’ll pay for this.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” G says, ripping the hem of her t-shirt off with her teeth and tying it around the wound. She was perfect, probably 115 pounds, a flat stomach, ripped jean shorts seemed to be made for her.

I closed my eyes, praying that when I opened them, everything would be okay. I wouldn’t feel the knot in my throat, I wouldn’t feel the tears welling up, I wouldn't feel the urge to hack up the contents of my stomach, which was empty, I wouldn’t feel guilty and lonely and anxious. And I wouldn’t feel his absence, but it was so big that it was the only thing I could feel.

So I ran out of the theatre, outside to puke up some white mucusy stuff into the mulch near the sidewalk.

“Bella, let me take you home.”

He surprised me, I hadn’t even heard him running behind me. “I’m sorry.” I blubbered. It was pathetic.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Charlie soon realized that the only thing that would get me to come out of my room was if Jake came over for dinner. So twice a week, he would grill up some steaks, or burgers, or salmon from the freezer. I would brush my hair and shower, put on a pair of my loosening jeans, and I would eat a few bites on my plate and push around the rest of the food until everyone else was done.

“You gotta tell Charlie,” Jacob said.

We were on the porch in the back, our normal place, looking out into the blackness of the forest. “I just- I don’t know. I don’t want to disappoint him.”

“Well, I know a thing or two about being a disappointment.” Jacob smiled. “And trust Charlie is not disappointed with you.”

I was confused for a moment. I knew Jacob had dropped out, but Billy didn’t seem to be proud of Jacob if anything. His only son. “What do you mean?”

“No- I mean.” He was fumbling, searching for a lie. “I just- after he found out what happened in high school, I got the silent treatment for a while. I deserved it too.”

There was something he was hiding. I knew him well enough to know it was something big. “Why do you keep lying like that?”

“I’m not lying.” He smoothed his hand through his nonexistent hair, something he did as a kid when his hair was long and constantly in his face.

“Yes, you are.” I prodded. “I know you, Jacob.”

Then suddenly, as if prompted by nothing, his head whipped toward the forest, his eyes trained on something in the blackness. He seemed to stop moving completely.

“What is it?” My heart was beating in my ears.

He stood wordlessly and took a few slow steps toward whatever it was. “Get inside.” He growled in a voice that was barely human.

But before I could move or protest or even breathe, the boy I had known since childhood turned into a giant brown wolf as he jumped to clash with a person who seemed to be made of stone.

I stumbled over my legs trying to get to the back door. Anything was possible, I already knew that. But I never thought this anything was possible. I turned back around, even if it was a terrifying giant wolf, it was Jake, there was no way that he was going to survive this, a vampire, no living thing would survive a fight against.

But then I was pulled back, by my shoulders, cold, hard, rough, unfamiliar hands on my skin. “You’ll make an excellent meal.” A male voice, high and grating into my ear. “The singer.”

“Jake!” I yelled, trying and failing to rip his hands off of me. Is this how I die? I thought for a fraction of a second.

But that’s all it took, a fraction of a second for that wolf, Jacob, to pull him off of me. I was sputtering, trying to catch my breath as I watched in horror. Jacob had him on the ground, ripping limb from limb off the vampire. Jake was doing it. He was killing him.

Finally, with a sickening sound, Jake’s giant jaws snapped the head from the neck.

“We need to burn it.” Billy’s voice was so clear from behind me on the porch. Charlie was behind him, a look of complete horror on his face.

I looked back at Jake, who was still a wolf, but I could tell he was in there, his brown eyes still kind and glossy.

I got to my feet, checking to make sure nothing was broken.

“Bella!” Charlie screamed, running over to me. “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head. “I’m okay.”

He didn’t seem to be convinced and pulled me again to his side. “What the hell was that thing?” He asked Billy.

“A vampire,” Billy said, a somberness had slid over his face. “Jake! Drag it into the woods. We can’t be seen.”

The wolf gave a slight nod and took the arm into his mouth.

“Th-that’s Jake?” Charlie was shaking.

“You know those old stories, Char? The first Quiluetes turned to humans from wolves. It's all true, it runs in our blood.”

Charlie was looking back at Jake as he continued to drag the body parts into the darkness. Now I was supporting him. “Why don’t you sit down inside, Dad?” He looked quite pale.

I led him into the living room and deposited him onto the couch. I wanted to be there for him, to talk to him through his first supernatural experience, but I needed to see Jake.

“Can you bring him something to wear?” Billy stopped me before I left the front door.

“Oh uh, sure,” I said, and quickly rifled through the laundry basket pulling out a pair of basketball shorts and brought them outside ot Jake, who was now in his human form, naked, his clothes lying in shreds on the grass. “Here,” I said, looking down as I extended my arm. My eyes landed on the beheaded torso and the remaining leg of the vampire. “The singer.” He had said, I had no idea what it meant, but he seemed intent on killing me. Even though whoever it had been was the farthest thing from Edward, the strange glow and stoneyness of his skin reminded me.

“Thanks,” Jake said, putting the shorts on as quickly as possible. “You’re taking it rather well, I assume he told you.”

He. He told me everything that he had to tell. “Not about you. But, yes, I know about the vampires.”

“I’m surprised.” He huffed. “Those blood suckers have morals.”

His words stung, but I shook them off. “You explain first,” I demanded.

“I always thought they were just stories, symbolic or something, like we are closer to nature and animals than we realize. But, turns out it was real.” He laughed. “It skips a generation or two and when my sisters didn’t turn to wolves, my Dad was relieved. But then, a few months ago, I felt this-like-heat coming from inside of me. I felt off. I took my temp and it was 108 degrees, I nearly passed out from the shock. I really thought I was dying. I called him and he made me come home. It was horrible, Bella. That first transformation…like all of your bones breaking all at once and then rearranging themselves again.”

I cringed at the gruesome description of Jake going through that type of pain.

“It's easier now. But it happens more often, the place is prowling with them. Billy told everyone to stay out of the woods.”

“Vampires?” I asked, feeling my heart leap. “Why?”

“Who knows? I suppose now that they’re gone-”

My breath hitched, they were gone, and in their wake, they left the territory open to other vampires. “So what?” I managed. “You had some sort of agreement with…” I couldn’t even say it.

“A treaty, signed by my great-grandfather. Billy never thought they were a threat, but…”

But Jake wasn’t convinced.

Chapter Text

Bella POV:

July.

Their house was not on the way to anything; it was technically outside of the town limits of Forks, even though the address was Forks. I had tried to go in the beginning, those early weeks when I was mostly in shock, but my throat would tighten up, and my hands would shake, and the salt from my tears would irritate the skin on my cheeks. A month after he had left, I would drive down that county road, it felt lonely, there were barely any cars on the road. But one day, 3 months after he left and never came back I found myself driving down that drift driveway.

Their mailbox was stuffed to the brim. It had been months, I supposed that even vampires got mail. I pulled out the letters and magazine and threw them onto the seat next to me and continued driving. It was locked, so I made do with walking around the outside trying to push the more wonderful memories away, reminding me of what I used to be like.

If Edward had been there…

I got back into my truck and thumbed through their mail.

Alice’s subscription of Vogue, letters from the hospital for Carlisle, a letter from a friend of Esme’s, I left it all unopened, feeling the weight of their absense. The last letter as adressed to Edward Masen. I opened it, my finger trembling as I fumbled with the paper.

“Mr. Edward Masen,

Thank you so much for you generous and continued donations to the National Eating Disorder Foudation. Your anonoumys contribution will help us fund research and treatment for people with eating disorders all over the country. Some of our biggest project currently…”

I couldn’t finish reading the rest of the letter. He was real, it wasn't just me who felt his absence, others would begin to feel it. He would have hated what I became.

It wasn’t long before my body began reacting, and I was doubled over on the ground, trying to hack up nothing. I left the mail on the doorstep and went home.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

It was better with Jake, I didn’t feel so alone, I didn’t feel scared anymore that Victoria would jump out from under my bed and kill me. It was nice to have a werewolf in my corner, even if things were tense sometimes. Billy and Jake and the others still had to be secretive about it, most tribe members didn’t even know about it. Charlie took a few days off of work to process. I tried to be there for him and pretend to have my world turned upside down as well. I got away with spending time in my room. Jake and I talked on the phone a lot as the council deliberated what had happened and how to proceed with Charlie and I, two outsiders knowing the best kept secret of the tribe.

The pack started a couple of years ago with Sam, slowly people began to join: Paul, Emry, Leah, Seth, and just a few months ago Jake. Most of the traditions and stories had been lost from the last pack, which was active almost 100 years ago, so when the first vampire showed up, Sam and Paul didn’t know what to make of it. At Thanksgiving, when Edward came over, Jake hadn’t started to sense the change yet so he didn't sense any sort of vampirism, but in retrospect he suspected something, but couldn’t be sure. It was nice to hear him try to make sense of it all, it distracted me.

But at night, or on days Jake was off doing his wolf thing, I found myself doing sit-ups until I nearly passed out just to keep the voice inside my head at bay. Sleeping was pointless anyway.

My stupid brain told me over and over me not to eat, Jacob was always annoyed with me, and Edward never really loved me. If was going to suffer, might as well make it pretty.

“You’re really not hungry?” Jake asked, shoving fries into his mouth.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I swallowed, looking out toward the ocean, letting the salty scent wash over me. I squished the damp sand between my bare toes and my fingers, letting it make its way under my fingernails. It felt nice. I could feel his eyes on me, looking over every inch of my skin, making me feel hot. “What?”

“You’re just- I’m worried about you, Bella. Are you sure you’re not-”

“No.” I interrupted. I couldn’t deal with it, not yet. The shame was eating at me, especially after the mail I had found that morning. “I said I’m fine.” I pulled my sleeves down over my arms. I wasn’t even skinny, I knew I checked my BMI regularly and I was in no danger of even being in the "healthy weight" category. Maybe when I was actually skinny, then he could worry, but until that happened, I would rather he didn't make me feel worse than I already had.

“You sure?” He’d asked. We had done this several times, Jacob trying to tell me I needed to see a doctor, or tell Charlie, or eat something. I usually just went silent. Maybe I should have yelled at him, he had told me the silence was worse. I told him that if was such a horrible friend he should just leave. I stopped taking his calls for a few days after that.

I stood up, not really that angry at Jacob, I was more frustrated with myself, with the situation. “I’m going h-” My ears began to ring, everything in my vision went fuzzy and then the world disappeared into just a pinpoint of light in the center of my eyes.

I fainted. I thought, vaguely aware of Jacob’s panic, his warm hand clasped around mine. The ringing was slowly dissipating, being replaced by the push and pull of the waves, and Jake yelling my name.

I took a deep breath. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, thank god I had been alone previous times. “Jake.” I groaned, trying to take breaths as deep as possible.

“Bella.” He said.

I cracked open my eyes allowing slits of light to enter. “I’m fine Jake,” I whispered. “Just help me up.” I was beyond embarrassed. His steady hands pulled me up, the world shook again for a moment.

“Oh my god, Bella.” Jake was almost hysterical. “Should I call 911?”

I shook my head, nearly laughing. “No, just take me home.”

I leaned on him as we made our way to the truck, I lay down on the bench seat, not caring how uncomfortable it was, while Jake drove.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

“Bella, I think we need to get you some help,” Charlie said.

I was ashamed at how broken he looked, even more than the first time this happened in high school. At least he had been shocked back then. My heart was racing, I wasn’t even that skinny, I don’t think that anyone would have considered me to be skinny. “I don’t want to go, Dad.” I could barely keep myself from stuttering.

“I know, but you need to. This isn’t healthy.” Tears were forming in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Dad.” I hid my face in my knees in shame, I knew it was over. I was going back.

“It’s okay, Bells.”

August.

“I think I was 8 when I noticed I was bigger than the other girls. I remember one day a kid threw up all over my classmate Kayla and me. We had to go to the nurse’s office for a change of clothes. Kayla found something in that box right away, but I had to dig through it, and nothing fit. The nurse said there were some t-shirts left over from teacher appreciation day, so I had to walk around for the rest of the day in a Men’s size medium shirt that said Teacher on it. Kayla decided to tell the other kids that I was too fat for all the kids’ clothes.” Leila said shakily, ringing her hands in her lap.

It was ironic, the girl across from me with a feeding tube taped to her face and a cast on her wrist because her bones were so brittle from malnutrition that she had broken it when she had fainted. Her clothes were hanging off of her, the ribs on her chest were protruding through her shirt, and it wasn’t hard to guess why she always wore a bandana over her head. She was really sick, sicker than I had ever been, but there was a horrible part of my brain that envied her. She had done it, figured out a way to control her appetite enough to get down to…I don’t know…85 maybe 75 pounds?

“So that summer, this was like a week before school ended, I started telling my mom that I didn’t like things like chocolate and ice cream, somehow I knew those were the things that made you gain weight. I lost a little bit of weight, I think-I don’t know-we didn't have a scale. And things were okay. And then middle school started, and something seemed to click, and things went downhill really fast.”

“Thank you, Leila.” Dr. Forbs said with her magical velvety voice. “Would anyone else like to share?”

No one said anything, we just stared, terrified in her direction, hoping she wouldn’t make one of us say something. Thankfully, I had been forthcoming, occasionally sharing over my 2-week stay. I had been to treatment before, and the only way to get through was to surrender.

I raised my hand.

“Bella, thank you.”

“I wrote about this in my journal the other day. I think that it kinda runs in my blood, like there was never a time when it clicked for me, it's just always been there. My mom definitely has an eating disorder, and I’m sure her Mom did too. I never had to realize anything; I always just kind of knew that smaller was better. But I guess it just got worse when people started to tell me what I was already telling myself.”

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

I sat in my room, Katie, my most current roommate, was on her bed working herself up over what her mother thought of her for the 13th time that day. Katie was 18 years old, she wore a lot of eyeliner and had a small obsession with smutty historical fantasy novels. Some people would say that she talked too much, but I didn’t mind listening; it was a distraction.

“Are you coming?” Katie suddenly said.

“What?” I asked, and it seemed like I had been saying that a lot.

“Visitation. It's 11.” She squeaked getting up from her bed and walking towards the door. “My boyfriend is coming.”

My breath caught in my throat. I gripped the side of the bed to steady myself as the world spun, all of my thoughts seemingly snapping back into place. The pain of losing him never got any better, I still wanted to sink into nothingness and let it swallow me whole. But I had gotten better at forcing a smile, all while thinking only of the questions that were left in his wake, in all of their wakes.

“My Dad came last weekend, so no one is visiting me.” I choked out, trying my best to look normal.

Maybe, I thought. Maybe he wasn’t dead, maybe he was alive and he’d escaped and he was waiting for me in the community room, ready to take me away in his arms. But that was just a dream; it all started to seem like a dream ever since I met him. I couldn’t have been real, it was too good.

“Okay, I’ll see you later.”

I waited for a moment until she was further down the hall, and I buried my face into my pillow and let the tears flow, trying my best to control the volume, otherwise someone would come in to console me. But it would never work because I couldn’t tell them the truth, not all of it. I could never tell anybody, not even Jake. Plus, what could anyone say to make it better? It would never be better.

I must have cried myself to sleep because Connie, one of the nurses, shook me awake.

“Bella, wake up. There some people here to see you.” She said, patting my shoulder.

“Huh?” I wiped away the salt that had dried onto my skin, making it itch

“You have visitors.”

I stumbled down the corridor, my heart racing, trying to convince myself that it was Jess and Ang. Maybe they had made a surprise trip to Seattle. Maybe it was Mom and Phil, and I had misremembered that they were coming next month. I couldn’t be, I didn’t want to be disappointed, because the disappointment would be unbearable.

I walked in, looking around at the tables of people, patients with their families and friends trying to act like everything was normal. I looked around until I saw them. My heart leaped. Roaslie and Emmet sitting uncomfortable in blue plastic chairs. Rosalie and Emmet.

Chapter Text

Bella POV:
They were alive? They were alive…

The breath was knocked out of me. The last time I had seen them…could they know?

I nearly ran over to them, falling awkwardly into Emmet’s arms, who pulled me into a huge hug making my feet lift off the ground. “Oh my god.” I breathed.

He set me down on my feet, and I went to hug Rosalie, but stopped as soon as her expression turned sour.

“Sorry.” I said.

But just as quickly, she pulled me into a hug, which took me by surprise. She smelled like him, or I guess all vampires smelled the same. My teary eyes traversed them, hoping that it would give some clue to where they had been or why they were here or something…anything.

“Hi.” I said they were eerily quiet in a way that I didn’t like. Their eyes were traversing my body as well. “W- what happened? Where have you been? Where is he?” The panic was already rising in me.

Emmett looked as though he was going to throw up. “We think they are alive. We’re pretty sure. But, Bella, what happened to you?”

The embarrassment would have been all consuming if I wasn’t so desperate for any information from them, still the question stopped me in my tracks. “I- I just. Everything fell apart. I don’t-didn’t-know what happened to any of you.” I didn’t want to admit the things that I had done to cope, even to myself. “Things got really bad.”

Rosalie looked almost angry.

“I’m so sorry.” Emmett looked almost ashamed, which cracked my heart a little more.“But you’re getting better, right?” He asked quietly.

I nodded, half lying. I mostly wanted to get better so that I could get out of the treatment facility. Eat the meal plan and do the therapy well enough that I could go back home. But now, the glimmer of hope Rosalie and Emmett brought with me made me feel guilty for just trying to play the system like I had when I was in high school. What would they all think of me? Doing this to myself was-

“We tried, Bella.” Rosalie finally said. “We tried to get them back on our own, but we need something more, something they won’t expect.” She looked broken, utterly defeated leaning against Emmett’s shoulder for support in more ways than one.

My mind raced. “But you know where they are, right?” I realized that I was on the edge of my seat.

They both nodded. “After the Volturri killed Victoria they took us all to Volterra, they said for questioning but we all knew what it was really about. They quickly apprehended Alice as soon as she arrived, I don’t know how she didn’t see it. Aro wanted Alice and Edward for his collection.”

My breath was sucked out of my lungs again. “Collection?”

“Aro, the head of the Volturi, has a sort of fascination with vampires with unique gifts,” Rosalie said through gritted teeth. “It’s sick, who knows what Aro is doing to them.”

I felt my hands tremble. What had he been enduring all these months? Was he being tortured into submission or something unimaginably worse?

“We don’t know anything.” Emmett said calmly. “We got out, I almost had to take that whole castle down, Carlisle and Esme and Jas are still there in hiding, in Italy trying to figure out how to get Edward and Alice out. We came to get you…we thought you could help.”

I couldn’t get my brain to focus on one thought for more than half a second. “We need to get them out of there.” I hissed. “Let’s go.” He was alive, he was alive, he was alive.

Rosalie looked at Emmett. “We can figure something else out if-if you can’t”

I shook my head. “I’m okay, once we get him, I’ll admit myself again. I just need him safe.” I was desperate. “Can you call Carlisle?”

Rosalie seemed a little more reluctant than Emmett, though both of them looked as if I was going to drop dead if they looked away.

“Hello?” Carlisle’s voice took a little weight off my chest.

“Carlisle, it’s Bella.” I breathed. “We need to get them out. I’ll do anything.”

“You’re a shield.” His normal, calm demeanor was completely absent, he was frantic. “Aro can read the minds of people just like Edward, he can see the future through Alice, but not if you are making the decisions.”

He spoke so fast I could barely take it all in. “You want me to decide?”

“Yes, Jas says that is the best way forward.”

“Okay. But I’ll have to go get my passport.”

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
I hadn’t told Charlie, I knew he wouldn’t take it well. If it was anything other than life and death, it was a really stupid thing to do, check myself out of inpatient treatment. I told Jacob at least, vaguely, in fewer words in a text, asking him to make sure Charlie didn’t try to do something reckless, I would be back. Within a few hours of checking out of the clinic, and after Rosalie had slipped in and out of my house unnoticed by Charlie to grab the essentials, I was on a plane looking out over the Atlantic Ocean, counting down the hours.

My mind was too alive to sleep, to read, to watch a movie, really anything, I was restless.

“You should eat something, Bella,” Rosalie said, not looking up from her book. Emmett, who was next to her, was engrossed in one of the Fast and the Furious movies. “It’ll help with your heart rate.”

“Oh,” I said, coming back down to my body. It was like a flutter. I felt embarrassed. “Sorry.”

“Here.” She said, pulling out the complimentary ginger cookies the flight attendant had given us from the seat pocket at her knees.

I took it and chewed on it mechanically. “Thanks.” I tried all my techniques to stop myself from getting more anxious. “Will you talk…about anything? I need a distraction.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not exactly sunshine and rainbows.”

“I don’t need sunshine and rainbows. I need a distraction.” I smiled, feeling a sense of satisfaction as she tried to hide her grin.

“Okay. Do you want to know about the time I met Judy Garland?”

My eyes widened.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” She smiled, her tone was icy, entrancing. “I was in my rebellious phase, I had met vampires who frequented late-night parties thrown by Hollywood executives, lots of alcohol and cocaine. I never had much stomach for that scene, but the immortals I was travelling with loved the anonymity it provided to find their victims. It was good fun too. A tight red dress and dark eyeshadow,w and a flirtatious conversation with a cute guy trying to become a movie star.”

Emmett overheard and tapped her leg with his, making Rosalie smile.

“Anyways, I was hanging back and I saw Judy, she can’t be more than 19. I can tell she’s drunk and high out of her mind, and some big guy in a black suit has his hands all over her. I suppose I let my anger get the better of me, and I went over and wrenched his hand back. I think I gave him a pretty good sprain, but he played it off well and ran off to cry somewhere else. She was pretty incoherent, but she thanked me and I got her a cab home.”

The scene was painted in my mind. “Do you think she remembered you?”

“Who knows, I think that’s one of the best things about this life. We leave our mark on so many things, but most time, only we know it. I wonder sometimes how things would be different without us. Yes, more people would probably be alive, but Alice has this theory that Leonardo Da Vinci’s mentor was immortal.”

“Alice is a conspiracy theorist.” Emmett chimed in, taking Rosalie’s hand into his. “She sees the future, but her ideas about the past are…pure fantasy.”

I focused for a split second on their hands. Edward’s absence had been so all-consuming that I didn’t even recognize who I had become without him. I couldn’t help but envy the fact that they were together, and I had spent months apart from Edward, assuming that he was dead or, in the best-case scenario, long gone from my life. In the darkest times, I had convinced myself that he never actually liked me, he just liked the fact that he couldn’t read my mind and realized he was never actually attracted to me, so he had planned this elaborate scheme so he didn’t have to tell me that he didn’t like me anymore. It was delusional, probably fed by a mixture of my malnourishment and sleep deprivation.

The plane ride finally ended, and I could barely hold it together as we went through 2 hours of customs. All I could think as we waited in line was what was happening to him, the torture he was enduring just for being who he was.

Finally, we got into the rental car, Roaslie driving as fast as the engine would allow, the hour and a half north to Volterra. It was terrifying to see the castle appear against the twilight sky, the sun just beginning to change the blackness to grey and eventually to yellow. But suddenly we turned off the main road and were essentially flying down a gravel road for a few miles until Emmett slammed on the brakes.

“We’re on foot from here,” Emmett said, slinging my backpack over his shoulder,r it looked tiny compared to him. They were both more alert now, looking around for things. “I don’t bite.” Emmett smiled; at least he still had a sense of humor.

He scooped me up and immediately we were rushing through the lush green forest over the rolling hills and rocky terrain at a pace my human brain couldn’t process. The rushing in my ears stopped, and my eyes focused quickly onto the faces of Esme, Carlisle, and Jas.

“Oh, darling,” Esme said it sounded as though tears were in her eyes. I still managed to produce tears, though I had shed enough for a lifetime. I squeezed my arms tight around her, clinging like my life depended on it. “We’ll get them back.” She whispered.

I nodded against her shoulder. He seemed closer even, which made his absence more raw, like scratching at a partially healed wound.

“I’m sorry, Bella, but we didn’t know what else to do. I know you’ve been struggling,” Carlisle said, patting my back.

“No. I want to be here.” I answered.

I looked at Jas, they looked almost worse than I did, their black eyes void of any sort of joy. I knew what they were going through all too well. Jas was keeping their distance, but we exchanged a few glances. I could tell they were trying to use their gift. It was the same expression Edward had when he was trying to read my mind.

I was to make the decisions, it was all on me, and normally the weight of that would make me crumple. But I couldn’t do that.

“Okay,” I said, pulling away. “You all need to hunt, have as much strength as possible for what we’re about to do.”

“You go ahead.” Jas said, “I’ll stay back with Bella and talk strategy.”

They all hesitated for a moment. “It’s okay,” I said. Soon they were gone from my sight.

Jas stared at me for a moment, if anyone did the same, I would feel uncomfortable, but they were looking at me more like a puzzle and thinking of all the ways to solve it. “You know…you should eat something too, “ They said delicately.

“I know,” I whispered. “I’ll eat when you hunt.”

“Deal.” They extended their hand and I shook it. The iciness reminded me of Edward, the way his skin felt, and how long it had been since I had touched him. “We both need our strength if we are going to get them out.”

I nodded, trying to control my expression, pushing down the feeling of terror. I wished that I could let down my shield and let Jas calm me for just a moment.

“They were keeping Edward and Alice separate from our cells, so I’m unsure of where they are exactly, but I have some ideas. There are two possible ways forward. Do we try to sneak in and out without anyone noticing, or do we slash and burn? I’ll talk you through both options, but you have to tell us at the last minute, otherwise Alice could see us coming, meaning Aro could see us coming.”

Jas explained everything, the pros and cons of each, even drawing out a few potential layouts of the castle with a stick in the dirt. I wasn’t any closer to coming to a conclusion than I had been before. Slipping in and out would give us an advantage because if we pulled it off, then it would presumably take them a while to figure out we were gone, but if we got caught, which was highly likely, we would be separated. Plus, speed was our friend and I couldn’t keep up. The other option, smashing through the doors, sowing chaos in our wake, seemed easier but the chaos was likely to get out of control. I knew I wouldn’t get any sleep. Tomorrow was the day. We were to leave before dawn.

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I kept my promise to Jas, after the others returned, Calrisle and Esme took me to a nearby town to eat. I did so mechanically, trying to disassociate myself from my body, I did a satisfactory job. They both seemed to breathe a little easier when I had cleaned my plate of the pasta dish I had picked at random from the menu. Esme and I shopped for a few provisions at a corner store and we quickly returned to camp. I tried to sleep in the back seat of the rental car, for a few hours at least, but it was futile, as expected.

So I began to prepare, drinking an entire bottle of water, fixing my hair into a braid, dressing in the most suitable clothes I had packed, and eating one of the granola bars Esme had bought for me. I knew what I was going to do, but I had to wait to tell them until the last moment. Jas had made that clear. It made me breathe a little easier seeing 5 pairs of golden eyes emerge from the darkness. It made my knees wobble knowing they were looking to me for answers, I just hoped I picked the right one.

“Cap?” Jas asked me. “What’s the verdict?”

I let a breath out and back in, as soon as I said we would have to act quickly. “We do both,” I said shakily. “Carlisle, Emmett, you will make a distraction. Carlisle knows the most about them right? Emmett has the muscle to do some damage. Rose and Esme, you’re our secondary distraction, closer to where they are being kept. I assume there are a few layers of defense, so it's best to disrupt them all at once. Jas and I will find Edward and Alice. I figured that I would camouflage us a little bit.”

I looked at Jas, and for the first time, I felt like it might actually work. A small smile of pride graced their lips. We were going to get them back.

Jas explained the details a little bit more, with Carlisle’s input, they were speaking almost too quickly for me to catch, but I got the gist. Stay stuck to Jas' side.

Soon, I was in Emmett’s arms, my eyes streaking with tears, my heart pounding as we rushed up to Volterra, to Edward.

Chapter Text

Edward POV:

{How could I have not seen it? I must be losing it, it's been more erratic lately. Maybe I’m going to crash out like Edward did. Maybe they’ll kill us before that happens.}

I stomped Alice’s foot, probably a little too hard, but secretly I was grateful to hear her spiraling, it let me disassociate enough to not let the panic rising in me take over.

{Sorry.}

I gave her a look that I hoped conveyed that it was okay. I couldn’t have picked someone better to die with.

Aro’s intention was clear, as we tried not to think about the thousands of desiccated vampires stacked in coffin-like boxes stored all around us, it was eerily quiet, void of thought or motion or the high, tinny sound of venom coursing through a vampire’s body. Reanimation was, from what I knew a very painful process, but quick. But before, I thought it was rather rare; most immortals have too much self-preservation to completely dry out. But Aro was twisted, creative, and fascinated with immortals and with their powers. So much so that he desicated his favorites, which most often were the most subordinate and would never follow him willingly, only to reanimate them every so often when he remembered they existed, sometimes for parties as well.

At least, that was what I heard, in bits and pieces from the immortals “employed” by the Volturi who threw us and probably hundreds of others into this dungeon. If only they understood that they were expendable to Aro, Caius, and Lucius.

{You really think they’re listening in on us?}

I nodded. She was restless, so was I, neither of us could sit down and accept our fate. Not just yet. There must be a way out. Alice had, of course, tried to bend the metal bars of the door within the first half a second of us being in here, resulting in a surprising electric-shock-like effect. A shield, Yema, I suspected, both like and unlike Bella. Somehow, he had managed to use his shield to entrap us here. Trying to dig through the rock would be impossible without them hearing us; we wouldn’t get very far. Our only other option was to wait for someone to come and open the door, just like dessication, it was a waiting game, we would see who came first.

God, Bella. I had to believe that she was alright. Victoria was dead, so she was in no danger from her, but accidents happen. Car crashes, struck by lightning, maybe one of Charlie’s guns went off, aneurysm, or spontaneous human combustion.

Not that I could do anything even if I were with her, but at least I could try. The distance between us made my chest ache. And what was she going through? Not knowing where I was, if I was dead or alive, I hoped that if I never made it out of this, she would move on with her life and realize she wanted nothing to do with me or my supernatural world. I hoped she wasn’t suffering because of me, but I couldn’t know, and I could do was hope.

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My motor skills were slowing; it was becoming difficult to extend my fingers all the way, and they wanted to stay curled against my palm. I had no self-control. I knew if a human, any human, even Bella, was in here with us, I would not hesitate to drink them dry. A reminder that no matter how hard I tried, I would always come back to my monstrous state. A month and a half of no blood is all that it took to murder Bella.

“Do you hear that?” Alice said, her voice was beginning to crack, the way humans sound when they have a sore throat.

“Alice,” I whispered, which was all I could manage. Even with our weakened state, her visions were as clear as ever. They showed us only one thing, a never-ending loop of us dessicating over and over. “I don’t hear anything.” My lips and tongue were languid as most of my attention was devoted to experiencing the consuming pain at the back of my throat. “Alice?”

The visions…they were gone.

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Bella POV:

I had attempted to remember the diagram of the castle Jas had drawn for me, but it was nearly impossible as Emmett barreled into the massive carved wooden door of the sandstone castle. Though I supposed I didn’t really need to remember because as soon as the door splintered into a thousand pieces, I was being pulled by Jas’s icy hands in the opposite direction as everyone else. My legs were quickly lifted from the ground, and just as quickly, I was dropped onto the hard bedrock. It was damp, dripping, and smelled as old as it looked.

My eyes couldn’t see whatever was happening 10 feet down the tunnel, but the strange sounds of metal scraping together only confirmed my fear. It was too dark and they were too fast, white streaks every few seconds, stopping in a headlock or one of their hands around the other's neck.

As soon as I could think of trying to do something other than run, it was over; the other vampire’s head, a woman with black straight hair and scarlet eyes, rolled on the floor. Jas scooped me up again, and we were off. “It’s working,” Jas whispered to me.

We could get them back.

Only a moment later, the quiet filled my ears. We were stopped at a door of iron bars, which any vampire should have easily been able to rip through like a toothpick, but something was different about them. They had a greenish sheen to them that seemed to move on its own, swirling and contorting as if it were alive.

“Syd,” Jas said warily. “What are you doing here?”

Syd was exactly, terrifyingly, what you would expect a vampire to look like, dressed in all black, sunken eyes, paper white skin, dark, greasy hair. “I picked a fight with the wrong Italian; it was this or execution. I could ask you the same thing.”

I looked frantically around behind the bars for them, but it seemed to be a storage room full of large wooden boxes with canvas draped over.

“And you brought something for me,” Syd said, licking his lips.

Jas pushed me behind them. “She’s not for you.” They growled. “Where are they? Where is Alice?”

“The little one? Alice is her name…” He laughed. “She’s back there, and the other one too.”

My heart stopped. Edward was there.

“I would…” Syd continued, looking me up and down like a hawk looks at a rabbit. “But I can’t, no one can open them. They’re shielded.”

His last word lingered in my mind.

“What do you mean?” Jas took a step and laid a hand onto the bars, but pulled their hand away as soon as it made contact with the strange green…shield. They let out a hissing sound and jumped back.

Syd smiled. “They really trusted me with this. I could tell you how to get around it if I wanted to.”

“Come on, Syd.” Jas pleaded.

“I want a taste.” Syd looked at me, his wine-red eyes wide with hunger. It sent chills down my back. “I wouldn’t kill her. I’m real gentle.” He said, speaking to me as though I were a child. “Then you can go see her, she’s almost dry by now. Both of them are.”

That seemed to kick up something in Jas; they were suddenly more frantic than before. “You have no allegiance to them.” Jas spat. “The Volturi will drop you as soon as they deem you useless.”

“A pint, that’s all I’ll take,” Syd said, seemingly uninterested in Jas’s plea.

“Show us first,” I said, feeling brave somehow, maybe it was knowing I was so close to Edward. He always made me feel safe.

Jas whipped their head back as if to scold me.

“It speaks. I’ve never seen a giver be so aware.” Syd said with a growl. “I’m used to those drunk girls on Bourbon Street who can barely keep their clothes on. It’s been so long since I tasted unadulterated blood. I don’t even remember...”

I was trembling, I’m sure both of them could see it, just like a rabbit waiting for a hawk.

“I want a taste first. Then I’ll show you.” Syd wasn’t giving us an inch.

“Okay,” Jas said, but I knew they were planning something. That look of theirs was unmistakable.

They weren’t going to let me get hurt. I knew that, but it took everything in me to move my feet in the direction of Syd after a little push from Jas, and quickly, I was being crushed by Syd’s arms. It felt like the rock walls of the tunnel had caved in and were lying on top of me.

“Don’t be scared.” His artificial sweet scent was tinged with a muskiness that I didn’t like. He clutched my hand and forcibly pulled my wrist to his mouth. I felt a sharp line cut by razor-sharp teeth across my veins. I watched him gulp down my blood. “See Jas?” He said, splattering blood onto my face as he spoke, “Aro would have my head if they saw my bite mark, and we can’t have a dead body lying around, can we? It's a shame, she tastes divine. I could so easily take all of it.”

Syd slammed my wrist back to his mouth, I felt my wrist make a pop under the pressure. White hot pain, I tried to control my scream, but it was too painful.

Then I was thrown to the ground, my wrist jostling, causing me to cry out again. Before I knew it, Jas had removed Syd’s head and had torn his limbs off for good measure.

I was panicking. He was the only one who knew how to bypass; we would have to figure it out ourselves, but who knew how long we had? It had been 15? 20 minutes since we had split? That shields it…

“Did you notice he never took his foot off this spot? I think there is something…” Jas explained.

But I was distracted by the sheen, the pulsing green iridescence of the shield; it was a force field, really. It was almost familiar, strangely, like something I had never seen, but I knew.

“Bella, don’t.” Jas snapped. “I don’t know if shields like that work on humans, too. ”

My good hand was extended, a millimeter away from the shield. Somehow, I knew. I touched it, wrapping my fingers around the cool metal bar. The shield hummed against me, vibrating my bones into chords like strings on a guitar. It was a strange swelling to cacophony, and then it pulled back to almost nothing. Then I heard something, it was faint, almost indistinguishable from the humming. “A shield. Orange and yellow like fire. She got through. Aro will make me pay if I don’t tell him.” I pressed in further with my hand, and as though on a hinge, it swung open. It was a gate.

As soon as my hand left the shield, the humming stopped, the voice stopped.

Jas was rushing past me, probably having processed everything that happened before I could even blink. He was frantically looking, pulling canvases from the floor, looking behind boxes, until he was kneeling on the ground. I ran as fast as I could to him. There on the ground, partially covered by a grey-green canvas were Edward and Alice.

My eyes filled with tears. “Are they alive?” I demanded. They didn’t look like it, eyes closed, motionless, their skin stretched over bones as though there was nothing else beneath.

“Yes. They are nearly dessicated, though.” Jas said, delicately brushing the dust away from Alice’s face. She was still as beautiful as ever.

Edward. My Edward. I wiped the dust off of his face and placed a kiss on his forehead. he was so cold it burned my lips

“What do we do?” I pleaded.

Jas would have had tears as well if they were able. “They need blood.” He swallowed.

I looked down at my wrist, dripping blood. “How much?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

I raised my wrist, which was throbbing and smeared with blood over the north of their lips, hoping that would be enough. It pooled in the cracks of their skin and seemed to disappear. I repeated it again and again and again. I was beginning to understand what desiccation really meant.

Seemingly from nowhere, Alice’s eyes flew open, they were a deep red color. “Jas.” She croaked, her lips stained with my blood.

“Alice.” They sighed. “Oh god. We’ll get you out of here.”

“Bella.” She croaked again.

“Hi,” I whispered. “Here.” I placed my wrist onto her mouth. She hesitated for a moment, but soon her teeth sank around the wound, and I felt the blood leave my body. Soon her hand came up, pulling at my wrist with her small fingers. It hurt, but I kept myself from whimpering. I was sure she was in more pain than I was.

“That’s enough,” Jas said, pulling her off of me, cradling her against their shoulder. She already looked better, her cheeks fuller, her limbs loosening and no longer stiff with rigor mortis.

I turned my attention back to Edward, my blood staining his porcelain lips. I squeezed my skin to make more drops. “Come back to me,” I whispered through my tears. He didn’t seem real; he never really did, even before.

I smothered my hands through his hair. Suddenly, his eyes flicked open.

“Oh my god.” I gasped. “It’s okay, Edward. I’m okay.” Knowing that was the first thing he would be thinking. “Here.”

I offered him my wrist, touching it gently to his lips. His teeth bit down and sucked more blood from me. He didn't have a choice if we were all going to get out of this alive. It was only a few mouthfuls later, he was already pulling me against him. “Bella.” He breathed.

My name on his lips was like a symphony, like I could finally breathe after holding my breath for months. I sobbed like a child, clutching him as hard as I could. Nothing mattered in that moment except him.

“You’re alive.” I blubbered. “You’re alive.”

I pulled away to look at him; he still looked gaunt; her eyes were barely a shade above black.
“I love you.” He said his voice was like sand.

“You need more,” I demanded. “You need your strength.”

“No.” He shook his head. “You’re hurt.” His eyes were sadder than I had ever seen them.

“They’re going to kill us all if you don’t get more blood in your system.” Alice chimed in, she was still wobbly, Jas helping her to her feet, but she seemed to be more like herself than not.

Edward looked at me.

I nodded and raised my wrist again to his lips.

I watched as his eyes turned to a wine color, but as that happened, the world around me went fuzzy, and my stomach began to turn. Breathing became more difficult. Even if Edward had to carry me, we still had a chance of escape, and that was all we needed.

“I’m sorry, Bella.” He said, his normal voice returning. “I’m so sorry.”

“No.” I stopped him, fighting to keep my eyes open. “Just hold me.” My voice broke, and I buried myself against him, feeling my body collapse from within.

“We’ll get out of here.” He whispered.

Chapter Text

Edward POV:

My hands had to remember how to be delicate with her, especially in her compromised state, which I had put her in. She had let me suck the life out of her and I had done so willingly. But it would all be for nothing if I didn’t get us, all of us, out of this hellscape.

“How did you do it?” I asked Jas as I pulled Bella up in my arms. She was weak, but her heart was beating strongly.

{She just pushed through it, I suppose because she’s a shield also.} Jas thought, letting Alice brace against him. Her mind was flickering with static, but frustratingly, it was just that. Static. Everything was still up in the air. {She really is amazing.}

I nodded, it had always been obvious to me, and I wondered why it took everyone so much longer to realize it.

“You feel okay?” I whispered to Bella. The scent of her blood was overwhelming, and now that I had a taste and it was coursing through my veins, I was acutely aware of how much I had missed it.

She nodded. “Just dizzy.” She said in a small voice.

“Close your eyes,” I said, feeling my heart break a little for her. “I’ve got you.” But I was grateful to have her alive.

Her skin was paler than normal, her hands lacked their normal plumpness, and her collar bones stuck out more than I had remembered them. It confirmed my fears. I would have preferred she had just forgotten about me and gone on with her life, but my absence had seemed to have a profound effect on her. Jas’s thoughts also confirmed it, from what Emmett and Rose had relayed to them.

I could hear the commotion above, though it was faint, separated by feet and feet of bedrock.

{Bella decided our plan, so that in the event that Aro was reading Alice’s mind, we would have a little protection. Emmett and Carlisle are somewhere causing a distraction. Rosalie and Esme are somewhere else doing the same. Couldn’t have planned it better myself.}

“There’s a shortcut,” Alice interjected. “Other than the tunnel.”

“We get Bella to safety first, try to let the others know to pull back,” I said.

“You worry about her, we’ll get the others,” Alice said. {She probably needs a blood transfusion. And did you notice her wrist?}

Her wrist? I tried to stay as careful as possible, but alarm bells were going off. I examined her against my chest, her left wrist was throbbing, more blood was going to it than normal. I wondered if it was sprained. My chest tightened, my brain wasn’t working correctly. It was still dry, and along with my limbs were working hard but slowly.

“Okay.” I needed to compartmentalize things, so everything was put on the back burner until we were out.

We followed Alice past the gate. I had tried to get past it in those early days of our imprisonment, but every time I touched the metal, it had sent electric shocks through my hand, draining me of all my strength. I suspected it was Yema, the strange shield, who was so different from Bella. He had the ability to put it up and down as well as project it if my theory was right.

We came to a ladder disappearing into a tunnel going straight up. It was how most got to and from underground tunnels if they weren’t transporting something. Alice and Jas were already up.

{Take your time, we’re keeping watch.} Jas thought.

“Bella,” I said gently. “How are you feeling?”

“Alright,” she whispered, her eyes flickering open.

“Can you get on my back and hold on?” I asked

She nodded, and I maneuvered her around and made sure her bad wrist was not in too much pain, though she winced a few times as she adjusted herself. “Okay?”

“Umhm.” She said weakly.

“Hold on tight.”

I felt her body tense against mine. I kept a hand on her and shot up the ladder, trying to be as quick as possible.

As soon as we reached the top to the high-ceilinged, polished marble floor of the main part of the castle. I took her back into my arms, and Alice, Jas, Bella, and I were racing as fast as we could out through the doors. Finally, we got out into the square. Volterra was beginning to stir alive, shopkeeper were putting out their signs, tour guides were bicycling to the gate entrance of the city walls, the sun was coming dangerously close to rising over the rolling hills and shining down onto the square. I was just beginning to appreciate the smell of outside, which didn't reak of death.

“Wait!” {Stop!} A strong, deep voice shouted from behind us.

We all turned. It was Yema, standing there, his blood red eyes staring directly at Bella, and she was staring at him.

Bella POV:

The world was still spinning as my eyes caught his. They were crimson, but not like other vampires. It couldn't have been my weakened state, but I swore I saw it, that green-ish blue swirling thing that was on the gate, it was dancing ever so slightly over the lenses of his eyes. I could see it even from 10 feet away and glinted as he cocked his head to the side.

I gripped Edward a little tighter, making my wrist scream in pain, but I did my best to ignore it.

“You really don’t kill people?” The man asked. He was tall and muscular with smooth, dark skin and a kind face.

“Not if we can help it,” Alice said she didn’t seem to have the same stoicism as Jas and Edward ,who were staring daggers in the man’s direction.

The man. “And the girl? She’s not a giver, is she?”

“No.” Edward spat. “We drink the blood of animals.”

“She’s a shield. But I’m sure you already know that, with your gifts. I’ve never met another shield before. Orange and yellow.”

I had heard his thoughts when I touched his shield in that dungeon. Did this mean…Was I…?

I looked up to Edward, and he looked confused.

“I’m Yema.” The man said. “Will you teach me? I don’t want to kill, but Aro said it was impossible not to. It’s our nature.”

Alice took another step towards Yema, prompting Jas to follow behind her. “It’s not, it doesn’t have to be at least.” She smiled. “We live differently than most.”

“I heard him. His thoughts.” I managed to whisper to Edward.

Edward looked shocked for just a moment. “Help, Jas and Alice get the rest of our coven safely. Then we can discuss.” Edward said, and with that, he was running me out of the castle. I felt the sun on my skin for a brief moment before we were back in the forest.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

He had been running for almost 10 minutes, through the forest, seemingly to nowhere, just away. His grip was firm but gentle on me. Suddenly, we stopped, and the rushing in my ears turned into the distant sounds of cars on a highway. He didn’t let go of me, and I just felt his lips fall delicately onto my forehead. “You’re hurt.” He said frantically.

“My wrist. I think it's sprained.” I said. “But let me hold you first.” I wrapped my arms around him before he could say anything and pressed a line of kisses down his cheek. He was real, he was with me.. I let the final tears I would shed for him fall. “I love you so much.”

His eyes were bouncing back and forth for processing. “I love you. You were the only thing that got me through. Just the thought of getting back to you, even if it took decades.” He pulled my good hand up to his lips. “It’ll make me feel better if you let me take you to the hospital.”

“Okay.” My brain was still too foggy to object to anything.

Edward ran me to the nearest and probably tiniest emergency room in the whole country. Our story was that we had been hiking on a nearby trail when I had sustained an injury to my wrist, but since we were just tourists, we didn’t know how to contact a park ranger, so our only option was to walk ou,t which caused me to lose so much blood. It explained the state of our clothes, which were splattered with my blood. Thankfully, the doctor and nurses didn’t ask me very many questions, gave me an X-ray (my wrist was broken in two places), an IV, and a ridiculous amount of Italian candy bars, as well as some new shirts for both of us.

“The doctor plans on releasing you tonight. While you were asleep, he gave me a talking to and a list of hotels in the area to let you recover at.” Edward said as I woke up from my groggy nap. “How are you feeling?

“Better.” It was true, the spinning of the room was to a minimum. “Any news from the others?”

“They’re out, they got separated, but it's safer that way. Don’t worry, though, they’re coming to meet us tonight.”

I wanted to take his hand, but one was in a cast and the other had an IV in it. “That’s a relief.”

He looked at me, a tinge of pain in his face. “Can I get you anything?”

“No!” I said too quickly. The thought of him leaving made me dizzier. “Please. I don’t want to be alone.” I didn’t want to be without him ever again, no matter how brief.

His eyes widened. “Okay.” He said calmly. “I won’t go anywhere. Do you want to sleep some more?”

“I missed you too much. I still can’t believe you’re here.” My thoughts were coming out like a waterfall.

“I’m sorry, Bella, I never would have left if I had known-” He seemed angry at himself. “It was so stupid-”

“You thought it was the best thing to do,” I said, trying to console him. “It was right, I mean, Victoria-she was a danger to everyone.”

He nodded. “They didn’t even really care about Victoria. All Aro wanted was Alice and me.”

My stomach twisted. Aro wanted them as though they were things that could be possessed. I choked back tears. “He can just do that to you, to anyone?”

“They’re the authority, in this part of the world at least.” He said gravely. “And now they’re mad.”

I examined his face across from mine, a million little cracks dotted his stone skin, desiccation. He looked on edge as well, as though all of his muscles were tensed in anticipation. “Are you alright?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll get better, I just need to hunt.” He seemed to understand what I was getting at.

I felt guilty suddenly asking him to stay, he needed to hunt badly, and I was too much of a wreck to let him. “I’m sorry, you should go if you need to.”

He shook his head quickly. “No. I can wait as long as you need me to.”

I smiled, knowing he was uncomfortably thirsty, I could tell because he was fidgeting, vampires never fidget unless something is the matter. “How about when Alice and them get back?”

He slowly nodded.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

I was discharged that night, even with the protection of Edward, I felt vulnerable, being completely dependent on him. I knew all too well that a number of things could separate us at any moment.

I knew we were somewhere near Florence, Italy, because that was the airport we had flown into. But beyond that, I was pretty much unaware of my surroundings.

It was only a handful of steps from the taxi to the hotel, but I still required Edward’s hands to guide me in the right direction and take most of the weight off of my wobbly legs. I barely caught sight of Esme, who handed the taxi driver a few colorful bills.

Thankfully, she and Carlisle had already checked into our room for us, so I only had to wait for the elevator to close before Edward scooped me up, and I melted against him, forever grateful for him.

I was too tired and weak to protest about the hotel room, a two-bedroom suite. The front room, which had a kitchenette and a sitting room which contained Emmett, Rosalie, Carlisle, and soon-to-be Esme, who was close behind us.

Every pair of golden eyes shot to me as soon as we entered the room, normally it would have made me uncomfortable, but I was still dizzy, my wrist was pulsing with pain, and I was nearly asleep in Edward’s arms. I couldn't care less if all of them were examining me with a microscope.

“Edward,” Calrisle said, like a sigh of relief. I realized it was their first time seeing each other, everyone seeing him actually in who knows how long. Maybe they hadn’t been looking at me. “It's good to see you in one piece.”

“I want you to take a look at her,” Edward said, not wasting any time.
“Of course.” He said and followed us into the bedroom.

“Where’s Alice and Jas?” I whispered to Edward.

“Hunting.” He whispered back. “They’re sort of…surveying Yema as well.”

I let go of the curiosity, which normally would have kept me up all night. I was barely able to stay conscious through Carlisle’s questions.

“She doesn’t need a blood transfusion. You and Alice showed quite a bit of restraint. I’ll take a closer look at her wrist in the morning. It seems to be alright for now, I have some painkillers in my bag.” Carlisle said in a monotone voice. “She’ll need to take them with some food, which would probably also do her some good. I will send Emmett out for something. What would you like Bella?”

It was impossible to process his rapid-fire speech. “I just want to sleep,” I whined, feeling like a child, but too tired to be embarrassed about it.

“Soon,” Edward said, stroking my hair. “You’ll sleep much better if you aren’t in pain. Emmett will be quick.”

“I don’t know…whatever is closest.”

Emmett returned in record time with a creamy pasta dish, which I ate a few dutiful bites of before promptly passing on to the bed next to Edward into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Chapter Text

Bella POV:

Warm light filtered onto my skin through the window. I wanted to keep sleeping, but the heat was making me antsy. It took me a few moments to realize where I was. I wasn’t used to the heat, not since I had lived in Phoenix as a child. I wasn’t in Forks at all.

“Good morning.” Edward’s dreamy voice whispered.

I flipped around, feeling the ache of my muscles and my head still pounding from the previous day, as I tried to reach for Edward with my braced hand, pain shot through the bone, forcing a sound out of my mouth.

“Easy.” He chided, easily slipping his hands around me, cooling my bare skin.

As I woke up more, I marveled at the rainbows dancing on the ground from the sun bouncing off his skin. All the while, he played with my hair. It felt so good to be with him that it ached, like pressing on a healing bruise. Our bodies seemed to come together like they were carved for each other.

“How do you feel?” He finally asked. I looked up at his golden eyes, and it made my heart sing to know that he was functioning at a hundred percent, no need to torture himself.

I smiled, allowing myself a moment of respite. I knew there were loose ends, I knew I would have to explain myself to everyone, I knew I would have to call Charlie and explain, but I was intent on enjoying the moment, no matter how fleeting. “I’m so happy.”

He looked as if he could cry. “Me too. More than I knew was possible.”

I placed my hand on his face, which was now normal, but the image of his emaciated face gaunt from a lack of blood, completely still, haunted me. I pressed a kiss to his cheek. I never wanted his eyes to be anything but a perfect golden color. I never wanted Aro near him ever again.

And for the first time, I considered the unthinkable. I had been able to save Edward as a human, though we nearly didn’t make it out. If I had been a vampire, I could have protected him. If my suspicions were correct and I was a shield like Yema, I could control it, project it, and protect the people that I love.

“How are you, though, physically?” He pressed.

I did a mental check of my body. “Sore, a bit of a headache, I suppose. And I’m not thrilled with this.” I said, holding up my braced wrist. It was an ugly navy blue, and the fabric chaffed my skin.

“You only have to wear it for a few weeks.” He said with a smile, though I could tell there was something more he was thinking about. His eyes flickered back and forth a few too many times to be a coincidence.

“Who's here?” I asked, trying to be quiet, even though I knew every vampire in a 50-foot vicinity could hear my heart beating.

“Everyone.” He said matter-of-factly. “It's too sunny to be out.”

“Oh.” I hoped that I hadn’t said anything in my sleep. But before I could be too embarrassed about that, my stomach growled, which was even audible to me.

“You should eat.” He said plainly. “What would you like?”

My heart rate spiked; it was embarrassing being the only human with human needs. “Wait, wait, can we talk? I want to know everything.” I pleaded.

“Bella.” He chided. “You need to keep your strength up.”

“I just- I want to know what's going on.” It wasn’t a lie. “Then I’ll eat okay?”

That seemed to satisfy him. I didn't want to make him unhappy. I promised myself I would eat what he put in front of me until we were back home and settled.

“What do you want to know?” He asked. I felt guilty; his discomfort was obvious. I felt like I had manipulated him into talking about something he wasn’t comfortable with just so he would ensure that I ate. I didn’t deserve him.

I buried my face against his shoulder. “Whatever you want to tell me.” I hoped that would remedy the situation.

“Well...”

Edward POV:

It wouldn’t be easy to talk, but being so close to her, running my hand up and down her arm helped a little to soothe the feelings that were bubbling to the surface.

“We captured Victoria, and after she was executed, they took us. Yema…he’s a shield like you, but he can project his powers, it’s his “gift.” In combination with Alec’s powers, which robs the victim of all 5 senses, and Jane’s powers, which induce the illusion of unfathomable pain in the mind- ”

I felt Bella flinch next to me at my mention of Jane. “Did she?” The look of horror on Bella’s face made me regret being so detailed. Of course, I knew all too well how torturous Jane’s gift was, but she deserved to know the truth.

I nodded slowly. “All of us were subdued until we were safely in the dungeon at the bottom of Volterra. Aro wanted Alice and me separated from everyone else. It has always been his intention to make us a part of his collection of desiccated vampires with unique gifts for him to study and dissect and show off to his friends. I just never thought he would attempt to do so when we were attached to such a large coven.”

“Desiccated.” She asked slowly, her hands were wrapped tightly around my midsection as if I would fly away.

“It takes a few months for a vampire to dry out. We still require blood for our muscles to move; that's why we need to drink it, but once it's dried up, we sort of shut down. That was his intention anyway; it is what he has done in the past.” The smell of dessicated corpses still lingered in my nostrils, and I would not soon forget it. “He visited us every few days. Yema’s shield kept us trapped, so Aro would come and try to convince us to willingly join them and escape desiccation. Jane, of course, used her own persuasion methods. Aro had grown frustrated with our stubbornness.” Her hands wrapped somehow tighter around me. “I suppose he realized we wouldn’t budge and left us to dry out. You sort of go numb after a while, it's not as painful towards the end.”

I had left things out of course to spare Bella, who I knew was already in a fragile mental state. I didn’t want to upset her more than necessary. The fact that Alice’s screams as Jane had her way with her were just as bad as my own torture sessions or that I retained a bit of consciousness in my desicated state, trapped, unable to move or speak. I shuddered to think of how long those others had been there…were still there. I vowed to get them out as soon as I was able, and Alice wanted to as well.

“And then, I tasted your blood, sweet nectar that brought me back to life. Thank you for saving me.” I pulled her onto my lap and cradled her close. Emmett and Rosalie had filled me in with their thoughts, showing up at the hospital to get her, and how different she looked from the last time they saw her.

She had hid her face in my shirt, she was shaking, sort of vibrating.

“Bella!” I said, alarmed, worried, there was something wrong. But I soon realized she was crying from the squeaks that she let out. “Bella. Ssshhh.” I never could anticipate her reactions. It must have been a shock. “It’s okay.”

“I’m sorry.” She blubbered.

I almost laughed at the absurdity of her apology. Somehow, she believed she should apologize for the things that happened when she was the one who allowed us to escape at her own expense. She let me drink her blood. I would forever be in debt to her.

“Promise me that you’ll stay as far away from Aro and Jane as possible. I don’t want you anywhere near them.” She managed to say between sobs.

“Okay.” I was putty in her hands, Alice and I would devise a way to get the rest out. “I promise.”

I wanted to know what she had been through, but I knew her well enough not to stir up those feelings before she was going to eat. She needed to eat, I could sense her blood sugar dropping by the minute. But I allowed her a few minutes to compose herself, and of course, I was never opposed to cuddling in bed with her. I had missed her warmth so much, the softness of her skin was soothing and her scent burned my throat, but was so comforting, sweet, and floral and familiar.

I tuned out the thoughts of the others in the next room as best I could so I could stay in the moment with her, enjoy the bouquet, if you will.

“I’m such a mess.” She whispered, her tears having dried on her skin, though her cheeks were still pink and hot.

“I’ll give you a pass this time.” I joked.

She smiled, making my frozen heart melt. She took a deep breath. “How about breakfast?”

“Excellent idea.” I beamed, relieved. “The hotel breakfast is still on.” It was too much of a risk to go outside to be seen; we had the advantage of being able to dwell in places vampires would normally go for fear of slaughtering a large group of people, not very inconspicuous. Yema was being rather restrained. Most vampires believe themselves to be out of control because often we are encouraged by our creators or older vampires to give over to instinct, but it is not as difficult to resist as most think. It gets easier with practice as well. Plus, it was a sunny late summer day in Italy.

“Okay.” She chirped. “But you’ll have to come with me.”

I donned my hoodie, complete with a baseball hat. I didn’t need to go so far as putting gloves on; it was easy enough to avoid the sunbeams coming through the windows, and it was more of a precaution. I helped her wrap a robe around herself, trying to avoid her wincing too much, her muscles were still sore, of course, and would be for a few days. I tried to scoop her up into my arms, but she protested and squirmed out of my grasp, planting her feet onto the ground.

“Just hold onto me.” She said, clutching my hand. “I always have to make my grand entrance, don’t I?” She cringed, whispering under her breath.

I only smiled and led her through the doors to the sitting area. They all were able to hear us, but most of them kept up the charade of being surprised that she was up. Alice was pretending to read an Architectural Digest magazine. Esme was pretending to have a conversation with Jas and Emmett. The only ones who didn’t seem to want to play along were Rosalie, Yema, and Carlisle. Of course, Calrisle’s mind was a maze of medical terms which I could easily tune out.

{She looks a bit better.} Rosalie thought, seeing Bella in a less-than-ideal state had made her nervous. She wouldn’t even admit it herself, but she was growing attached to Bella like the rest of the family. Her golden eyes caught mine, I could even pick up on a ghost of a smile forming.

Bella seemed to find a way to trip over her feet as we walked the first few steps, but caught her before she got near the ground.

{Still clumsy as ever, that’s a good sign.} Alice thought, looking up from her magazine, reminding herself to be slow with her movements. The abundance of blood in her system made her giddy.

I looked to Bella to make sure that she was alright, but her head was crooned to the side, staring at Yema, who was staring back at her.

How could I have forgotten? I couldn’t read his mind, I couldn’t hear him because his shield was up. It was purposeful. What was he hiding? I instinctively pulled Bella in closer to me. There was no telling what he was capable of, especially when none of our powers worked on him. Or I assumed they didn't.

{Easy Edward.} Jas commented. I realized my teeth were clenched and venom was pooling in my mouth. {He’s like Bella. He’s different.}

Yema was as beautifully, repulsively, intimidating as any vampire, but there seemed to be a kindness in his face that, for some reason, led me to believe that Jas was right.

{Don’t worry, Edward, he may be immune to you wackos, but we still have the numbers and the strength. He wouldn’t be here if he was going to try anything.} Emmett added. He was right.

“Your eyes,” Yema said, taking me by surprise. I was used to anticipating what people were going to say. But it was frustrating to only hear what they decided to say. It was familiar, though.

He was speaking directly to Bella. She looked at me warily.

“Orange and yellow.” He said again, slowly. “Like fire.”

“Yours are green and blue,” Bella said.

It made my head spin to be without their inner thoughts. Their connection to each other was tangible.

“But you’re human, right?” He asked.

“As far as I know.” She joked. I was frantically trying to read both of their expressions to no avail.

He tried to conceal his smile.

{Strange, these two.} Carlisle thought. {I’ve never…} “I think Bella should go and get something to eat, it’s been a long couple of days. We can all talk when she’s done eating.”

“Of course,” Yema replied almost immediately. “Forgive me, I don’t spend much time around humans.” He was still talking directly to Bella.

A strange feeling twisted in my chest.

“No problem. I-I’ll talk to you later.” She said, still unable to tear her eyes away from him.

I tried to distract myself from the mix of feelings brewing in my body by composing a couple of plates of food for Bella. I took a little bit of everything, taking more of the things that I knew were most nutritious. Eggs, bacon, sausages, a waffle with syrup, an assortment of Italian pastries, fruits, yogurt, juice, milk, and a bowl of sugary chocolate cereal.

As I approached our table with everything balanced in my hands, her eyebrows came together before she forced a smile, I was sure for my sake.

“That’s a lot of food.” She said quietly.

“I didn’t know what you like, and plus it needs to look like we both are going to eat. Eat whatever you want.” I said, placing the plates on the table and sitting down across from her.

She smiled and took a few slow, methodical bites of the eggs. She looked up at me with blushing cheeks. I had been staring at her as she ate.

“Sorry.” I looked away, reminding myself to fidget and make my chest move in and out to appear as though I was breathing. The dining room was not crowded, just a family sitting on the other side and the hostess. The family's thoughts were mostly concerned with making sure the baby wasn’t fussing, so it was easy to ignore.

“You can’t read his mind either, can you?” She asked in between bites.

“No,” I answered quickly. “It's almost as frustrating to not be able to read your mind.”

“So I guess shields aren’t so rare, are they?”

“I think it’s rather irregular. This situation.” I took a fork from the table and began to move the food around on the plate in front of me. “What did you mean by your eyes?”

“Um. I don’t really know… it's hard to explain. This like this sheen that shifts from blue to green over his eyes. It was on the bars of the dungeon, too. And when I touched it, I felt him sense me sort of. I think he sees orange and yellow on me.” She said, processing as she said. “Have you met any other shields?”

Met was a strong term; I had come across a few, but never could confirm that they were shields or just had quiet minds. “I’ve never spoken to any before. Sometimes people’s minds take a while to figure out, so I’m not even sure they were shields.”

“Why do you think he wants to be here?” She said after sipping the juice.

“For you.” It was obvious to me. “Alice has spoken a bit to him, though he’s not so forthcoming, but I don’t think he’s met anyone like him before.”

“But I’m a human.” She said matter-of-factly.
“If it's as rare as we believe, I don’t think it matters.”

She chewed deeply in thought. “Won’t they come after him? Aro and his…collection.” She seemed to have difficulty saying it.

“I’m not sure. I don’t think Alice has seen anything.”

“We should go back to Washington soon, though. To get you away from them.” She looked concerned.

“Don’t worry. We’re arranging it. I want you to focus on getting better.” I grabbed her fingers gently as best I could, avoiding the cast.

She nodded. “Okay, but we can go. I can go today if we need to.”

“We’ll be here for a couple of days yet.”