Drift Away

Twilight fanfic with alternate NM ending. It has been 99 years since Edward has left, 99 years since Bella has joined the Volturi (now as Isabella Marie Volturi). And then, all in one unexpected night, she meets the people she never thought she'd see again: the Cullens.

Hello, readers! It's me, Silverduo, and I'm back! :) No, I'm not dead. Just... busy. With exams, music classes, tuition, homework, school... (the list goes on). But chapter 2 is finally here, though. Enjoy! And review, please! It'd really make this chick's day. :D I hope to respond to every review I receive, answer questions, etc., but while taking time of fanfic, I've forgotten... to which I've responded to and which not. So I'm going to do it again. :D

twilightfan213: Thanks! Here's chapter 2 dedicated to you, my wonderful reader. :)

love55: I hope you enjoy chapter 2 as well!

sprazinko: Thanks for the awesome review!

r0xi: I love Alec, too. :D I mean, c'mon, he's so good-looking and all, PLUS his powers are so cool. *swoons* LOL

ShylyOutgoing: Yay! Thanks.

ilseGomez: I love it too! (Don't mean to sound boastful, but yeah...) :P

: thanks for the review! It really brightened up my day.

Emmauk26: Thanks for the positive comments! I hope you enjoy chapter 2 too.

barcelona crow vampgirl: Wow! Creative profile name :D Thanks for reviewing, btw!

fightforpeace: thanks so much for reviewing! :)

MrSxCulLen: So... looks like I took your advice. :DDD

Volturi-lover-101: Thanks for the great feedback! It's motivating.

xsarahx: Hi! My name's Sarah, too. ;D Thanks for the comment! I love you so much.

So here goes chapter 2...

Chapter 2

JANE'S POV

I spotted Isabella sneaking along the corridor. I frowned, wondering what she was up to this time. She was so preoccupied with looking around that she missed my form.

"Isabella?" I hissed.

She jumped a little and her eyes quickly detected me. She relaxed slightly ‒ very slightly. "Oh, hey Jane."

"You missed training," I informed her. I did not like to waste time. Many thought I was rude, but the real reason was that I always went straight to the point.

"I know."

"Alec's looking for you."

"I already spoke to him."

OK, that last one was a little unexpected. "What are you doing out here, then?"

Bella bit her lip, her expression suddenly sad. Guilty, even. She glanced down, unable to meet my gaze anymore. "Jane, I…" she began, then trailed off.

I leaned against the wall, arms folded against my chest, waiting impatiently. I'd never had much tolerance, and something was up with Bella. I could tell. Being her best friend and all. "Bella, you know you can tell me anything, right?"

She jumped at the sound of my voice. Her expression was withdrawn, her eyes conflicted. "Thanks, Jane. I really appreciate that. But I ‒ I have to go."

Honestly, I wanted to punch her sometimes. I watched her go, skirt swishing at the knees. Then it hit me. That dang Cullen family, especially the stupid Cullen boy. It was all their fault. Rage consumed me so much so I wanted to kill them, burn them ‒ every single one of them.

And trust me, no one wants to get on me, Jane Volturi's bad side. Particularly a pissed-off Jane Volturi.

DEMETRI'S POV

I leaned against the wall, legs crossed, as I waited for Isabella to show. She'd missed practice before, but never more than once a time. Today, I expected both an explanation and attendance from her.

She drifted into the training room a minute and twenty seconds later. She took in my expression upon entering and glanced away.

"You owe me an explanation, Isabella," I told her, deadpan.

"I was… busy," she lied, most unconvincingly.

I continued, ignoring her. "Not only did you miss practice yesterday, you didn't mention it either." A pause, then I sighed. "I'm going to let that slide. Just… try not to let that happen again."

Isabella nodded, looking relieved. "It won't. Forgive me, Master."

We began our usual training then. Some intense sparring and workout, attack and defend techniques and most importantly, training based on her abilities. As human, Aro had already seen what she could do, what with the mental barricade of her's. She could block out ‒ at least, mentally ‒ any mental attacks, making her immune to all Jane's, Alec's and Aro's abilities used against her. Not until was she transformed did Aro realize her complete potential ‒ that under the proper guidance, it was possible her ability to create an invincible mental shield could stretch to mind control.

As time foretold, her abilities weren't unlimited or usable to full expansion. It exhausted her, even using it for a little while. Isabella wasn't fond of using it, the mere thought violating people's personal self-will, but Aro insisted, and she finally broke. We all knew she was disappointed she hadn't inherited reading minds or predicting the future like the Cullens.

Forty-five minutes afterward, Isabella looked drained. She was pale ‒ side-effects from the mind control, but patiently awaited my afterthoughts on her progress.

"You're getting better," I observed. "You're less drained from practising the mind control now." When the training had first started, she'd almost fainted. "But still overall weak. Unless your opponent's mind is relaxed and opened, which is generally seldom, the chances of gaining entry is from zero to none. Judging by its effectiveness on me, lots of training is still required." I gave her the slight twitch of the lips, indicating a rare smile. "Class dismissed."

"I think I need more blood," Isabella proclaimed as we left the room for the other students to occupy, then immediately did a double take.

I raised an eyebrow. She grimaced at me. "Sorry. The thought still of blood sickens me when I think of it."

I nodded, hiding amusement. We all knew of her repulse of blood during her human years. "You'll get used to it."

She gave me a flat look. When she'd first arrived to Volterra castle to live among the rest of us, her expressions had been more significant, more easy to read, but now it wasn't unusual for her to slip into a façade, shielding her emotions from the rest of us. Like now. "Oh yeah, because if I still haven't, as you put it 'get used to it' after ninety-nine years, I'll, again as you say 'get used to it'."

I gave her a wry smile, but didn't comment.

We walked down the hallway and we turned to separate, but then I changed my mind. "I think I need a drink, too," I said, easily catching up to her with easy vampire speed.

She glanced up to give me a small smile. "Come on. Let's go."

BELLA'S POV

My life as a vampire consisted of a half-human half-animal diet. Basically, the only reason I drank human blood was because it had enough nutrients to supply back to my system after practices using the mind control. I wasn't proud of it, but it also doesn't help living with vampires who live on a human diet. In return, I received eyes a reddish-brown, almost orange colour. I'd convinced Jane to start her very own animal blood diet, but she barely stuck two days with it before giving up.

I sniffed the air ‒ almost a fresh mountain-edge smell. I could smell the sweetness of wild flowers, enhanced by vampiric abilities. A few elk nearby ‒ causing my throat to rip just at the smell. Just as I detected a more interesting, complete throat-rippling smell that made my body react to it, I felt Demetri grip my arm.

"Humans nearby," he told me.

He broke into a sprint with me following behind. I was pretty graceful, not in an Alice or Jane way, but in my own. I felt my heart ache at the thought. Maybe if he had seen me run, in an almost powerful, gazelle-like way…

No. I shook my head, pushing the thoughts away.

"There," Demetri's voice said, pulling me back to the present. "Four of them ‒ a family. Perfect."

The idea repulsed me, but I knew I had little choice. To stay in tip top shape, I needed human blood ‒ or at least a little, anyway.

Our work was anything but messy, and soon they were fast asleep against the tree trunk with no memory to spare them a hint or clue as to what had happened.

I ignored the guilt that plunged through my stomach, watching the two kids we'd drank from now sleeping soundly.

I wasn't a Cullen anymore.

About a week later, I was summoned into Aro's throne room. He didn't look happy ‒ merely tired and frustrated, a look that seemed almost comical on his paper-like skin.

I wasn't the only one. Jane and Alec, the twins, were called in, too. They had as as much idea as I had on what was going on.

The throne room was still as exquisite as I remembered it (I had barely entered before) ‒ almost empty, consisting of three wooden chairs, spaced out unevenly away from each other up against the curving stone-like walls of the room. On them sat Aro, Marcus and Caius, the three heads of the Volturi clan. Vampire guards filled the edge of the room, blending into the darkness.

"Dear ones," Aro greeted us. Since I was changed, he remained one of the closest to me as a father.

Jane and I curtseyed, Alec bowing as we placed ourselves in the centre of the room, directly under Aro's, Marcus's and Caius's gaze.

"What is it, Master?" Alec asked. He was the person I'd been avoiding ever since our conversation, and I wasn't fond of it. I missed him, loved him, but only the words 'brother' and 'friend' summed up my point of relationship with him. Guilt coursed through me.

"There has, unfortunately, been an newborn attack up near Seattle, Washington ‒" He paused after a short glance at me where I stood frozen before continuing, "‒ almost to the point of eighteen victims, all of which drained of blood.

"Their work has been sloppy and detectable, and as to who is responsible for these newborns, it is still unknown. However, it is predicted that almost thirteen newborns are involved, possibly including their creator."

Thirteen. There were thirteen newborns out on the lose, bloodlust uncontrolled. It was almost insane to think about. One or two was coincidence, but thirteen was an entirely different story. At least, around thirteen was. There was a purpose of the doing, a reason. No dozen of vampires could emerge at accident. And being new, I knew how it felt like. The unease, the trust, was different.

A pang hit my chest as I quietly remembered the beginning of my new life. These vampires were rogue, uncontrollable - too many to look out all at once. Once, they'd been humans, humans with a purpose in life. To think of them - their families, friends, relatives, as well, to just vanish one day, without a trace. A tragedy to their family, tears to be shed and hearts broken, yet they, once changed, would no longer remember them. And even then, any love once had would be gone, so what was the difference?

And while they were out on the lose - diminishing their thirst, they were taking innocent lives with not a second thought - their families would be left mourning over the lost of them, not knowing the evil they'd been changed.

And who was I to talk? I'd once abandoned my family as well, left them mourning, thinking I was dead or gone, or perhaps even kidnapped. I was so selfish myself, selfish beyond words. And Charlie, what I must have done to him with my departure - No! I would not dwell on my past mistakes, reliving the agony once again. But I still could not ignore the fact that told me in my mind I was no different compared to a newborn.

Jane's high-pitched soprano voice broke through my thoughts. "So that's where we come in," she said, not as a question, but a statement.

Aro's eyes lit approvingly. "Exactly," he said. "They need to be stopped. If not, we are in a dangerous position where the humans learn of our existance, which is something which we must never allow.

"You three are being sent there to finish the job," he finished, satisfied. "To wipe them all out as if they never existed. With all of you, this problem can be dealt with in no time." He said it like it was a dirty word.

Jane smiled a smile so beatific that all of a sudden, she didn't look anything like a vampire, or any creature of the dark, but an angel. "Consider it done, Master," she said.

"When do we leave, Master?" I broke in. It was not the time to dwell on sorrows, but to put a stop to the creases on an smooth cloth.

"Tonight."

Caius smiled in response to his "brother's" words. He flicked a strand of white hair away from his skin, which was just as papery in texture as Aro's. "Good luck. We delight in your return soon."

Yay, everyone! Chapter 2! :D

Please review! The green button's just over there... The more the reviews I receive, the faster I update! It's the holidays now, so... up to you guys. Wanna see more? Reviewwwwwwwwww! :D

~Silverduo

P.S. Just an extra author's note coz everyone's been wondering: The Cullens are coming out in the next chapter! Yesssss! So review :D