Author's Note: This is an AU fic. It will contain both canon pairings (Bella/Edward) and a few non-canon ones (see if you can guess which they are!). The story will be told through journal entries, somewhat akin to Dracula's format. Reviews = love, so please don't forget to leave feedback!
Summary: In a Roman motel, a woman checks into her room, but never checks out. What she leaves behind is her journal and a forwarding address, Edward Cullen. Someone named Bella Swan is desperate to tell him how she died.
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Stephanie Meyer's work.
Epitaph
Prologue
On a rainy day in September, Sabato Conti, proprietor of a small motel in a suburb of Rome, went to evict one of his guests. The woman had showed up in the main office three nights ago and gave him the name Gianni upon checking in.
Sabato thought she might be a whore (or a drug addict, at the very least) judging from the way "Gianni" shook as she took her room key from him. When later questioned by the police, he confessed to remembering little about her, except her eyes.
They were exceptionally bruised, he said. As if someone had shown her the wrong side of a fist.
Sabato heard nothing from his young guest throughout her entire stay. He did not see her leave, nor did he see anyone enter her room. The cleaning lady also attested to the same.
When Gianni failed to check out three days later, Sabato took his ring of keys and went to pay her a visit.
She'd have to pay up or get out. The last of the summer tourists were eager to book rooms and he had no use for freeloaders.
At roughly half past nine in the morning, Sabato entered Room 32B.
It was empty.
The bed, he noted, was made. In fact, it seemed as if no one had slept in it at all. And, as the cleaning lady would later add, she had not been in the room herself for a week.
In the bathroom, Sabato found the rolls of toilet paper untouched and the complimentary soups still in their wax wrappings. He began to think that perhaps this Gianni hadn't ever entered her room, but then he found that the drawer to the nightstand had been left upon.
Inside, on top of a copy of the Bible and a "Visitor's Guide to Rome", he found a stack of papers. The edges of the manuscript were ragged, having been torn from a journal and hastily assembled into a packet. On the very top sheet was a sticky note which read, in Italian…
Please Forward to…
EDWARD CULLEN
33 WHISPERING LANE
FORKS, WASHINGTON, USA
In the inquiry that followed, Sabato denied any familiarity with the documents. However, his story soon fell apart when the police continued to question him.
If he didn't read the letters, then how did he know to call the police?
Sabato was trapped in his own lie. After an hour long interview with the head inspector, he broke down and told them he had read the first letter only.
And when the inspector asked him what it had said, Sabato was able to recount it, word for word…
I'm sorry, Edward. I'm sorry for what I've done. I know you'll never forgive me. And believe me, I don't deserve your pity. I just…I just want you to know what happened.
It was my fault. Yes, my fault. I've done terrible, terrible things. And I'm not ashamed. God, I'm not ashamed.
But I am scared.
I wasn't very smart about things. Stubborn, really. You knew that. You knew I should have listened to you, to Alice. You knew I shouldn't have let Aro turn me.
I'm sorry.
But it wasn't mistake.
I'm glad it happened this way. I'm glad I went to Volterra after you. Because I met him.
Aro.
You wanted to kill him, I know. You tried to. You knew what he did to me.
I hurt you that day.
Do you remember when we were standing there, the three of us and Aro took my hand to hear my thoughts?
It was then, Edward, it was then that I fell…
No one caught me.
And, if Aro had sensed it, if he had been able to read my mind, I don't think he would have turned me.
But I would have begged him to.
I'm sorry I made you leave me there. It was for the best. You're safe and so is Alice. And it doesn't matter what happens to me.
They're going to kill me, Edward. They're going to have me drawn and quartered and burnt alive.
But not before they let Jane have me.
I miss my Mom and Dad. They'll never forgive me either, I suppose. Please…don't tell them what's happened to me. Don't tell them that their daughter became a demon. They're innocent, they always have been. And so are you, Edward.
I'm sorry.
Don't ever come to Volterra, Edward. God help me. Don't ever come here again.
But I need to tell you what happened. So that maybe you'll understand. Or perhaps, even I'll understand. Why I did this to myself…why…
I joined the guard because I wanted to be close to him. I stayed because I loved the power.
But Edward, you knew he was mated. You told me that. You laughed at me and I hated you for it.
I still hate you for it, but no more than I hate myself.
He'll never love me like you did.
I miss Forks sometimes. Miss my old banged up Chevy and Jacob.
But don't tell him what I did, either. He'd be heartbroken…
I'm a narcissist, you see. I lied to myself. Nobody cares about me anymore. And that's a good thing.
I'd hate to be missed.
This is what I did, Edward. I hurt people. So many people. I hurt Felix and Alec. I tried to hurt Sulpicia.
She is strong. Too strong. And I was foolish. Newborns usually are, I guess. I think she knew that first day I came to Volterra, knew not to trust me.
She wants revenge now. And she'll have it. It's the only way she'll be appeased…by bathing in my phantom blood.
But she can't be blamed. I would have done the same to her.
It only wounds me because I know Aro won't save me. He doesn't care. He never did.
I shouldn't have dragged you into this, Edward. I'm sorry. So sorry. But I want you to read this. I want someone to know…know what happened.
Don't let me become ash.
I can't….too late. It's too late now, Edward, darling, darling Edward. They're here.
I'm sorry….
Bella Swan