I promise I'll get to the real story soon, but this background stuff is important! This time I want 4 reviews!
Also, Stephenie Meyer is amazing & created most of the characters. You know who's mine & who's her's...if not what are you doing reading this?
Five years had passed since Madison's murder; if she was alive today she would be twenty-two. Of course I would have changed her on her eighteenth birthday, despite what she always thought, because she, like Bella, only wanted immortality before she was older than us.
Bella grabbed my hand as I pulled the car under a large Washington Pine in the Forks Cemetery. I smiled at her and looked out at the sky above. The sun was hidden behind future storm clouds, but the weather was warm and nice for Washington.
Bella and I got out of the car and grabbed the fresh flowers from the back. Around her tombstone were Madison's closet friends from Seattle High, sitting and talking happily about their college lives. The younger boy was instantly alarmed when he saw Madison's youngest brother and sister walking towards them. One by one the others stared in awe at our reappearance. A few looked around for some sign of the rest of our family.
"I've never seen such a small group with such diverse colors!" whispered Bella. "Two shades of orange, one lime green, one envy green, three sky blues, two true blues, and one-Dustin-bright yellow."
"What's the difference between true blue and yellow again?"
"True blue is content or regular happy, and yellow is excited or thrilled," she explained again. It was astounding that she could tell the difference between the similar shades and meanings of the surrounding colors.
"We were wondering if we'd ever see you again!" called Dustin, Madison's almost boyfriend, as he jumped up. The others followed, most wondering why we hadn't come back earlier.
"It seems that we keep missing you. We try to come back every Memorial Day or her birthday." Bella bent down to replace the wilted flowers in the vase. The red roses tremendously stood out against the dirty stone beneath. Bella started to scrub the year's worth of grime off of the granite and gold name.
"We all decided that today would be a great time to get together again, and we figured Madison wouldn't want us to cry when it's so nice out, so we're having a small celebration of the day," explained Christina, our daughter's last best friend, pointing to the blanket and juice boxes on the ground.
Edward, where's your human? taunted a female voice inside my head. I immediately froze. Bella snapped her head towards me, surprised my by sudden color change. She, too, froze to listen; the humans looked at one another in confusion.
"Edward, I don't hear anything," she whispered so soft that only I could hear her. I shook my head, and pointed to my forehead. She understood and stood up at my side.
Is that your Bella? Caius will be pleased, but we want to know what a vampire would be doing in a grave yard…with humans. It was a male who spoke the second time. I forced back a frustrated growl.
"Remove the humans or we will," threatened the female. Bella jumped in alarm and searched for the voice that only we could hear. The humans by then were getting paranoid.
"Trust us and get out of here," I warned.
"Edward, what do we say about Madison? They're not stupid, and if Aro's here he'll know!" I thought for a moment and took her hand. I turned back to Madison's old friends and hinted that they needed to leave before dragging Bella towards the Volturi and the car.
Hidden in the shadows behind the large Pine was Jane and Aro, both smiling at a job well done. They looked Bella over and began wildly guessing about her vampire power. Both weren't even close.
"It's good to see you again, Bella," purred Jane as she stepped slightly out of the shadows and towards us.
"I hope you are happy with my transformation, Jane," she shyly answered. Then Aro gave her a crooked smile.
"Is her mind still secure, Edward?" he asked before reaching out to touch my wife. He didn't give me a chance to answer before he tried to read her deepest thoughts. A smug smile spread across my face when Aro's face dropped in vanquish.
"And what do you have to hide, Edward? Another look like that and you'll be next!" I whipped the smile off. "So why were you here?"
"I don't see how that's any of your business, Aro." I tried to keep calm because Bella's grip on my hand was growing tighter as my temper rose.
"The Volturi make anything and everything their business. Answer us." Aro then grabbed my arm tightly to make sure I didn't break away. Memories flew inside my head as Aro searched for our purpose. Scenes of Bella and I in Alaska drew closer, and I fought to keep them hidden, but there was no use. He saw them all, and took his time watching the news of Bella's pregnancy.
"Explain, Edward!" he roared as he let go. Bella looked scared, and I panicked. If they knew vampires could reproduce with humans… anything could happen. Aro then looked at Jane with meaning.
"Alright! Madison was our daughter." I sighed in defeat as the words processed through their minds.
"Impossible," spat Jane.
"Possible," I assured her. "When Bella was still human… things happened, and she got pregnant. Search my mind if you must, but I promise that Madison was mine." Jane glared at us for a minute.
"She was human with semi-vampire speed and strength, but she was killed about five years ago by a vampire named Albert," Bella explained. This lit the Volturi's imagination. As I expected they began to think about replicating the dampire possibility and planning its' change.
"I won't let you do that!" My temper shot out of control at the thought of other Madison's going through the same emotional confusion of split instincts.
"And how do you plan to carry that out," taunted Jane. Aro cracked up laughing. Then a disastrous thought hit our minds.
"Very well. We liked Carlisle, and for him and his family we'll keep this Halfling experiment a dream… for a price. You know Caius wants you and Alice to join us, and Bella's power is intriguing. I'm almost positive he'd want her, too. Here's what I propose: service for a secret?"
"Would the others allow you to make such a strong deal?" asked Bella.
"If not, we'll take all the blame, but I think we're safe. It has long been prophesied about the end of the world. Some of us believe it while others laugh at the ridiculous idea. All I know is that it has been thought about far too much to be laughed at, and I say that if it is proven true, you two and Alice join us until the last twenty-four hours of existence," said Jane. I thought about it for a while. I didn't believe that the world would ever end, against my previously Catholic teachings, but Jane was right: it might be possible.
"Edward, you can't be serious!" cried Bella after studying my colors. No doubt they were changing as fast as she could interrupt them. "You can't agree for Alice."
"She's right. I can't sign away her life to you without her consent. I couldn't even do that to Bella; however, I can and do." As soon as the words spilled out I regretted them. Bella almost fell in disbelief, and I couldn't blame her.
"You have my word, too," she sighed. I knew she would, but I prayed that she'd see the stupidity in my words and make the right choice. The Volturi smiled and disappeared in the shadows as the rain began to fall.
We'll be back for your service when the world ends, promised Aro.