Aro spread his arms in yovial gestrue, trurly a magician on the scene.
"I'd love to chat longer, but it's time for you to hurry. Heidie will be any moment now. We don't want more complications, do we?" he exclaimed.
Dark, voven eyes of ancient vampire fixed on pale face of the only living human here, underneth a sacred temple where time seemed to stop centuries ago and last in stillness. Bella hardly resisted the temptation to ask further, but she catched the look at Edward's face. Her beloved was troubled. She forgot the whole world within a blink of an eye and touched his arm with symphaty. Though she meant to comfort him, his overly handsome face hardened as he admitted dryly:
"Most certainly. Thank you, Aro, for all you have done and you haven't. You are trurly a friend to Charlisle. Yes, I'll pass your regards to him. Volturi, fare well and excuse us any trouble we possibly made."
Courtasy always was a treat Bella treasured in Edward. His honey-rich, vibrant voice like a music for mortal ears. Golden-eyed vampire turned and led his former girlfriend towards exit, followed by the last companion: Alice, a slim vampiress with curly black hair and dark-amber eyes. Soundless footsteps of vampires caused clumsy moves of mortal girl even more embarassing. But the emotions of shyness and confusion were dim and unimportant in the light of mere fact of Edward's precence. Bella knew he would eventually move on and leave her again. She was completely consious her heart would dissolve in pain then. No hope and no joy in the world could soothe the hell she was going to be thrown in, but it was the future. There, at the time, with Edward close to her she figuratively reached heavens.
Bella's beloved one gently, but forcefully made the girl go faster. Even at the point of half-run. This resulted in husky hiss gurgling in throats of Volturi guardians and servants. Vampires have generaly predatory instincts and at the sight of running virgin they are most likely to attack... Yet the obediance towards vampiric arystocracy and expectation of fresh meal within less than an hour forced them to push their urges back.
Two yellow-eyed vampires and one human teenager passed dark, gothic-in- style corridors like in unrealistic, shadowy nightmare. A lift enabled them to reach street level where they stopped protected from sunlight by strip roofs and colourful tarpaulins. There was a festival day in the town, after all.
Edward and Alice looked at each other in mutual understanding. Bella could tell they were deeply moved, she saw mixture of disbelieve, curiousity, grim and relieve on their beautiful faces. Mortal girl felt she begin to share these melted traces of emotions. She smiled unconciously, the embodiment of pure happiness. Her belowed lived. She has saved him. Vampire who makes a suicide attempt, it would be funny if it wasn't so horrifying. Bella was about to tell him not to do such stupid things ever again, but as she opened her mouth Edward leaned down and kissed her warmly.
"I love you, I can't help that." he murmoured. "I wish you forgive me I cannot live without you." Hearing that she was close to pass out. Vampire looked into her chocolate eyes at a close range.
"Isabella Swan. You are pure perfection." he complimented, content that the warm brown does not need to be replaced by crimson nor amber. Edward continued:
"Promise me you never try to never change." he whispered eagerly inside her left ear. Bella clearly read what he had meant. That caused her tears of anger.
"W-why? Why you don't want me to be yours for all eternity? Why are you so hellish stubborn! Volturi let us go under the one condition and you intend to maul it! The second thing I always wanted..." she gulped and finished forcefully: "is to be with you forever. The first thing is you."
Edward caressed her hair and kissed her forhead while quite shocked by her sudden eruption.
"Love, don't cry. Please. I value your potential of growing and giving birth and love other people instead of wanting to eat them." he explained soothingly. Never before he used that tone towards her and Bella found herself unable to think. After a minute of silence Alice said:
"Don't worry about Volturi, Bella. They just look majestatic, ghotic and unbeatable." Golden-eyed vampiress bliked at Bella with her best impish smile. Edward send his sister stern, meaningfull look. Alice pretended not to notice. Bella shook her head.
"Alice, there were so many vampires in that great hall! And you, my family, is only up to eight vampires. I worry about you." Mortal girl was obviously troubled, but at the same time she intentionally said "eight" instead of "seven" thus counting herself into amount. Short, curly hair waved as Alice giggled.
"Yeah. Bella, you're right saying 'there were' because they aren't at all now. They're gone. Completly vaninquished."
Edward interrupted:
"Alice, stop it. You find far too much fun in this. Don't you dare to play on Bella's delicate, vurnelable and compationate soul any minute longer. I'm sure she doesn't want to hear about that." Golden-eyed vampire wasn't far from presumption that details abot uterly destroyed vampire arystocracy would make Bella sad, but the real reason of that was slightly different than pure symphaty. For now, for Bella Volturi were the power which not only wanted her immortal, but also influenced Alice to make appropriate promise. With their death the deal could be futile. Instead of worrying Bella asked with silly laugh:
"Come on, what are you talking about, Alice?"
Vampiress made suddenly a serious face and replied with a question:
"I guess you know what was the meaning of Heidie arriving?"
Bella shrugged and looked somwhere else, unable to keep eye-contact in the face of such a monstority of far too many among vampires. Almost unbelievable they all were human once.
"Tell me." Bella demanded dryly, concious that Alice won't talk more by herself as Edward would find pushing the subject up highly offensive. Even now he growled displeased.
"Bella, let it pass. It's nothing that important."
His girlfriend looked at him sternly.
"It's ok. You don't need to shield me from the knowledge." she smiled a little. "Alice, go on." she encouraged again. After a pause for taking breath, Cullen vampiress continued.
"Heidie brought the dinner, that means a bunch of tourists. Can you imagine there was a suicide-terrorist who blew himself up as soon as our kin started to murder people? That was quite a bomb he used. Volturi ended up shattered to pieces and these pieces melted from high tempreture of explosion. From vampiric point of view, they are as good as dead."
Bella stared with eyes wide open and mouth like letter "O".