"Oh little one, that was not a smart thing to do."

Dimitri's red eyes stared down on me as I shivered not with fear-I haven't been afraid in a long time. His hand held onto my arm in a tight grip that must have been nothing to him so I didn't even bother trying to escape again. It would be useless with him right there. In a fight of human vs. vampire the vampire always wins. All I could do was stare at him in the silent way I always did and wait for him to take me back to Aro. Or wait for him to turn me into one of them.

"No matter how far you run or how well you hide," he began his sentence with a smirk but it crashed into blatant sincerity, "I will always find you."

I kept my face stone still as the dooming reality fell around me again. I should have guessed by his not beating me that he was in love with me too, as most men that came too close became. It was such a shame. I much enjoyed his unrelenting cruelty how he had looked at me before as if I weren't anything special. I shut my eyes and reverted back to my usual nothingness-I knew the more I said the worse it became.

His cold fingers reached up to rest under my chin and he lifted my face so that I was forced to look into his eyes. His face was sweet as I had never seen it before and I wanted to crumble. He was going to kiss me. I hated that part. I hated the cold kisses.

"Dimitri."

Our eyes turned away to find Alec in burning hatred. I liked Alec. He and Jane had been the ones to bring me in and since then I had mostly been at his side. Even though it was my curse he fell in love with I enjoyed his company. He was quiet and didn't touch me except for the cuddles and except for the way he wrapped my arms around him on cold nights when I was half asleep. He didn't say anything and neither did I. He never gave me any reason to be afraid. Except for now.

"What are you doing?" his voice was dark and his eyes were twisted into burning rage. His fists were clenched at his sides and I thought he might use his ability against Dimitri since it didn't work on me.

"Bringing her in," Dimitri said with narrowed eyes and forcefulness.

He stepped toward the both of us and filled up the empty space inside of the room of the now dead gentleman I had been borrowing from. Alec stood tall as he returned the angry stare, "Let her go."

"I found her, she's mine," he hissed. I began to cry out as his grip on me tightened, I thought my arm was going to snap.

A thick cloud of darkness slipped into the air and I shut my eyes tight. His ability wouldn't work on me but I knew Dimitri's kind. He would squeeze his fists tight and snap my arm in half. Alec shouted, "She will never be yours!"

"Enough!"

The voice rang out around us like a knife in my gut. I opened my eyes to see Jane staring at us with wide and hateful eyes. Her hand was out and Dimitri's grip on me was gone and both he and Alec were on the ground. Her ability didn't work on me either but that didn't stop me from reacting anyway she wanted me to. I dropped down onto my knees and lowered my head.

"She's coming with me and there's nothing either of you can do about it," Jane declared. Her fingers snapped as she pointed beside me and I jumped forward to stand next to her. It was rare but there was the opposite effect my curse had-creating absolute hatred. She grasped my elbow and hissed, "I don't know what you're doing to my brother and my friend but you won't be alive long enough to continue."

I gazed backward to Alec, the only one who could help me, and saw he was shifting and getting onto his feet. His eyes were round with worry but I could see a promise inside of him. I knew he would protect me and I wouldn't mind a life with him-even if I had to be a vampire. But behind him was something frightening. Dimitri stood tall and his red eyes held their own kind of promise. Love makes people do crazy things.

...

The cellar door opened and I sat up quickly from the bed to hold the blankets around me. I let out a sigh as Alec's face appeared before me. He shut the door behind him and in that quiet way he flew to the seat next to me. I leaned my face into his hand that always moved to rest against it. I shut my eyes and waited to hear what ever it was he had to tell me.

"You know, I won't let anyone hurt you right?" his voice was soft, just above a whisper.

I nodded my head weakly as I gazed up at him. I always thought those red eyes didn't belong to him. He always seemed to be too sad for such a vicious color. His lips were so gentle and so sweet and I was always so thankful he never forced a kiss on me. I shut my eyes once more to feel the touch of his skin.

His head leaned in to rest against mine and I found myself breathing in his magic. Alec's words licked at my mouth in their closeness, "I have a plan to get you out of here, to keep you safe."

My eyes shot open in wide surprise. I shook my head slightly, "That goes against Aro's direct order. Y-You'll get killed."

"Jane would never allow that," he smirked lightly. But my heart began to beat fast at the thought of the only man that had never taken advantage of me being murdered for my sake. He seemed to hear it and so his hands dropped to grasp both of mine, "It's going to be okay. Everything is in order. I'll stage an escape and claim rogue vampires came and attacked me to capture you. I'll rip off my own hand and put it back together as they head out to find you. Then we'll escape and I'll fly us to the Americas. All you have to do is sit there and look pretty."

I rolled my eyes briefly as I looked away from him, "As always."

"Hey," his voice grabbed my attention and forced my eyes back to view his face twisted with concern, "When you're safe I'll make sure you never have to just be beautiful again."

A small smile worked it's way onto my mouth and I nodded my head as I lifted my hand to trace the features of his face. His lips raised so that I can catch a rare sight that was him smiling too. I furrowed my brows slightly though, "What if Jane can't stop them?"

For the first time he leaned in and pressed the sweetest kiss to my lips that I have yet to receive. I shivered under it. Usually when men captured me and kissed me and did what they wanted to me I was only still. I never wanted anything they offered until now. I returned the kiss lightly.

I felt a sharp pain on my shoulder and suddenly everything went dark.

...

The sound of waves crashing and rain on my face awakened me from my painful slumber. My eyes opened to see Alec carrying me with his face focused. Suddenly the brilliant cold shook through me and I began to look around in surprise. We were ascending a slippery cliff as he gripped me tight. It sounded like we were heading over water in the middle of a giant storm.

"Alec?" I questioned, looking up at him.

His eyes lowered to me as he whispered with sad eyes, "You're not supposed to be awake yet."

"What's going on?" I asked with worry, leaning up and trying to get out of his arms.

He placed me down on the ground but he looked at me with shame, "Things haven't gone exactly to plan, my love."

That was the first time he called me that. Something must have been very wrong, "What's happening?"

"They found us, found the plan. They killed the human family I wanted to keep you safe. I failed you," he whispered, looking away with shut eyes.

I didn't know what to say, I didn't know what to do. My bones shook with the cold as I looked him over, "What are we doing here? What's going on?"

He closed the space between us and wrapped his arms around me in a nice embrace. I sunk into it but it only made me colder. His lips pressed against the top of my head, "This is the only safe place I can think of but you can't tell them anything about the Volturi. You understand? They protect humans. But they won't protect you."

"What? We won't be together?" My eyes filled with tears as I stepped back toward the edge. I couldn't trust any one else would treat me as Alec did. I just couldn't trust anyone.

"I will see you again," He whispered as he took my hand and pressed a kiss to it. I opened my mouth to protest but suddenly a sharp and crippling pain filled my hand. I screamed out in shock and looked at him in terror. How could he? "I love you. You will be safe."

I felt a soft nudge and before I knew it I was tumbling over the edge. I hit the water with a scream. I felt the water fill my lungs. How could Alec do this to me?