Author's Note: Sorry it took so damn long to update! Gosh...busy, busy. Thank you all again for reading and replying. It means so much to me. This is quite dramatic, but don't worry...the lust hasn't gone anywhere. I hope this chapter holds your interests. It's pretty long. If you have any questions, ask away. It could get confusing, but I've tried my very hardest to be clear. I will try my hardest to answer them. If I do not, it probably ties into the story I have in my head, somehow..and I don't like to spill secrets as much as I love to build up tension. Thanks again! Happy reading/writing and much love! PS: I do NOT own Twilight or it's characters...nor do I use trained monkeys to type my stories anymore. Toodles!
3. BY THE SWORD
My head was limp. I hurt all over. It pained me all over to move a finger.
"Alright. Drop her!" The voice echoed. All I could see was darkness when I opened my eyes. I was frightened. Why wouldn't they just remove the hood from my head? Where was I? Then I felt the arms that were previously holding me let go. I fell a long distance before landing in someone's cold, hard, arms. The feeling brought back a memory. No. Not really a memory...A feeling. A feeling that felt familiar but I didn't know why. I would have cried out in pain from the impact if I had the strength. I was just a rag doll now. And I had been tugged at and tossed back and forth for the past few hours.
"Emmet?..." I heard an angry and worried Rosalie call.
"I'm here honey, it's okay...We'll kill these bastards soon."
"Where are we? What is this place?" She breathed.
"...I don't know.."
Edward snickered in sarcasm as we moved on as a group. It was evident that he knew exactly where we all were. Why wouldn't he tell us?
"In here..." A feminine voice said softly. I knew that voice. I heard it before... I heard what must have been a door pushed open.
"Get in!" A gruff voice said. The being who carried me, stepped over the threshold of the door. Immediately, I smelled candles. The expensive wax. The flame on the wick. I felt the warmth. It was much too hot. I felt like I was choking again.
"Bring her over here..." I heard the little voice call authoritatively. I felt the person who held me move swiftly across the room and place me in a chair. I almost flopped over from weakness but someone caught me and sat me up straight.
"Tie her in...She's almost done." The girl said.
"W-who are you?" I asked in a winded voice. I felt like I had just ran a mile. My heart was beating much too fast. I felt a coldness on my cheeks and soft, chilled lips at my ear.
"Your new best friend..." She hissed. I heard her sinister giggle. Then I felt something encircle my wrists. My ankles. Tying me to the chair.
"E-Edward?..."
"It's okay, love. I'm right here..I won't let anything happen to you."
"Can you s-see?..." I spoke as I shivered.
"Yes..."
"Where are we?.." I whispered. The girl giggled again. Edward said nothing for a long while.
"Where are we?" I repeated myself.
"...Italy." He said. And that's all I needed to hear. My heart began to pound. I tried to pull myself from the restraints. I had to get out of here. I didn't like this place. The Volturi frightened me. Dozens of innocent people died in this very room the last time I came. This was not a good place to be. I heard a loud knock.
"We have another.." A loud voice called. Everything was just voices. When would I be able to see again?
"Let go of me, you beast!...Children! Edward. Edward, darling are you alright?"
"I'm fine..." I heard my love answer her in the sweetest voice. "I'm glad you're safe.."
"Esme!" I heard Rosalie breathe.
"Rosalie. Emmet. Thank goodness you both are alright...Where are Alice and Jasper?"
"We don't know. They disappeared a little after you did..." Emmet said. "Have you seen-"
"No." Esme answered quickly. "No...I haven't." I knew exactly who they were talking about. Pain shot through my chest. I gripped tightly at the wooden armrest of the chair I sat in. I cried out.
"Bella? Oh my god." She shrieked.
"Stay away from the girl." A low voice said. Esme was trying to come to me? To help me? After all that I had done? What an amazing woman. So kind. So good. It made the guilt of the betrayal even worse.
"Don't Esme..." I whispered. "I...I don't deserve your sympathy..." My head went limp again and for a moment, I couldn't hear anything at all. No speaking. No breathing. No walking. And then I heard Edward growl deeply. Why? I tried to calm myself. And listen more closely.
"I assure you Carlisle, everything will be mended in good time. The Cullen family is the strongest I've ever seen."
The voices were coming from the wooden door that we had all come through. Their voices echoed off of the cold walls of the corridors and hallways made of cobble stone. They were drawing nearer.
"No...it's over. I've ruined everything..My family is broken. And there's no way to fix it...I...I still can't even put my finger on where things went wrong. Why I did this..It's just...it's Bella...she does something to me and-"
"There, there. I think this spectacle...will change everything." The door creaked. Open. There was complete quiet except for the sound of my nails clawing at the armrests. Trying to breathe deeply.
"Emmet. Rosalie...Edward...Esme..." Carlisle's voice was full of sorrow and shock. Edward wouldn't stop growling. No one replied.
"My god...Bella..." He breathed.
"Stay the hell away from her!" Edward yelled.
"Edward..You-" Carlisle exhaled.
"That's right." Edward snarled. "I finally did it. And she's mine! Now move away!"
"Edward..." Esme whispered lightly.
"Let's stop beating around the goddamn bush! Why are we here?" Edward yelled.
"Why, it's a family reunion of course!" The low, powerful voice said with joy.
"Waste of time, if you ask me...They're too young. Especially the girl. She's been bitten. There is nothing to fear any longer. Let this be the end of it." A delicious and passive voice rang.
"Caius! This family is...a key to us in this war. This is anything but a waste of time.."
"War?" Emmet asked. Emmet had never been one to turn down a fight. Hearing him so surprised made me nervous.
"Oh my, I've said too much too soon."
"Enough, Aro!" Edward yelled. "What is going on? And where are Alice and Jasper?"
And the pain started again. Intense as ever. My whole body shook with the tremors escaping me. I cried out in pain. My throat closed up again. I couldn't breathe.
"Bella!" Edward shouted.
"Step back!"
"Get out of my way!" He snarled back. I heard punches being thrown. The worry for Edward made my heart pound even harder. Making the pain worse. Each beat of my heart brought the venom another agonizing centimeter to my demise.
"Edward, don't..." I heard Esme say softly.
"I'm here, Bella. I'm here..."
But he sounded so far away. And for once, his beautiful voice did me no good. I screamed loudly. My head pounded. I felt like my skull was breaking. The daggers that stabbed me were gone. Now replaced with swords. Electricity shot through me. My throat closed up even further, cutting off my supply of air completely. And still I could manage to scream. The loud and horrible scream that splintered my own ear drums and ripped the skin off my the inside of my throat. I could feel tears streaming down my eyes. I wanted someone to kill me. And fast. End it all. My arms were being chopped off. My legs were being mutilated. My back twisted. My lungs ripped from me. The hands that were being pricked with needles dug into the armrest again. The wood began to splinter beneath my fingers. I pulled at the ropes tying me down and found that I easily broke free. I screamed in agony again as I felt the skin being ripped clean from my skull and fire cremating my body. And then it stopped. My breathing. My movement. My heartbeat. Suddenly a feeling of wellness swept over me. I didn't inhale at all...but I was okay. My heart finally stopped pounding. And I was fine. My head felt clear. My whole body tingled. I tried to breathe. Everything I smelled was enhanced. I could smell Edward. His lovely scent calmed me wonderfully. I let out a deep breath and leaned back in the broken chair. Finally, peace.
"Well then..." I heard Aro say. Even he sounded bewildered. "Shall we..have a looksee?" He said. I sat still. Soaking in the euphoria of the pain being gone. And the feeling of complete power that replaced it. I heard walking. And I heard it with precision. Every step he took. I could hear him move. He sounded ever so graceful. He took hold of the dark hood that was placed over my head and pulled it off in slow moments. After the hood was gone, I felt his soft fingers brush my hair from my face. When the locks had been pushed back and he lifted my face to him, he began to laugh. Slowly at first. But then his mirth was displayed louder.
"My goodness! Beautiful. Beautiful..." I heard Edward's breath hitch in his throat. The sound was music to me. I couldn't help but smile a little. No one could see the way I looked now except for Aro and my beloved. Who had only seen me through Aro's vison. I refused to open my eyes. The feeling of my change..it was just incredible. I flexed my fingers. My toes.
"Ladies and gentlemen..may I present...Miss Bella Swan..." He stepped from before me. I finally opened my eyes. The euphoria was heightened as I took in the sight of everything. Everything seemed so much more perfect. Beautiful. Intricate and intriguing. All the pretty people. But it was hard not to feel a little self conscious as I saw everyone stare. I was in a round stone room. In a high tower that I had once been in before the same day I had saved Edward. And yet the place looked so much more beautiful now. I saw, finally that my 'new best friend' was really Jane. I hated her. This was the vampire who had the power to make anyone think that they were being scalded alive. She returned the look of dislike, mutually.
"Bella..." Edward breathed lightly. He looked shocked. I looked to Carlisle. He looked at me with confusion. Rosalie looked at me with disgust. Emmet ran his fingers through his hair and just looked. Esme touched Edward on his head and whispered in his ear. His expression didn't change.
"This turned out much better than I thought!" Aro shouted with glee. "Now, do you see brothers?"
Caius' soft, white hair fluttered against the air as he stepped gracefully forward to look at me more closely. He looked to Marcus with a look that I couldn't quite place. He stared at me. His mouth gaped a little. I gently raised a hand and touched my own face. It was shockingly smooth. But it didn't feel like much else had changed. Maybe it was my eyes. Were they that red?
"Even as a vampire, she can't be normal!" Rosalie shouted. Edward walked to me slowly. Wonder in his eyes. When he was in front of me he stared for a long while before grabbing be by the waist and scooping me into his arms. I missed his touch. I closed my eyes and snuggled into the feel of him. Still perfect. He felt softer though, somehow. He pulled back and stared at me.
"You're so beautiful..." I whispered. I reached forward and touched his face as if I had never seen it before. It did feel as if I were seeing him for the first time.. So angelic.
"So are you..." He said. "Unbelievable.."
"Then why is everyone staring?..." I asked softly. My voice sounded different. Prettier. It made me smile a little more deeply.
"Bella...you...you look human..." I blinked back at him. That couldn't be. He leaned into me again and inhaled deeply before smiling.
"You even smell the same. How can this be?"
I looked to the left of me. Marcus was coming closer. I drew in a deep breath as he floated to me. He had been the most distant of the Volturi the last time I came here. He never even spoke. He had seemed so bored with my presence. Until now. He reached out his hand and took gentle hold of my chin. Moving my head from side to side. Inspecting the scar on the left side of my neck.
"Varacolaci.." He hummed with a look of pain and wonder. Oh, his voice was more gorgeous than his brother's combined! But the word he said. It made my breathing stop. I knew what that meant. I remembered. My eyes grew wide and I moved away from Edward momentarily. I ran to a holy water bath that was ironically placed against a wall. The time I reached the basin was amazing I had to steady myself. I bent my head over the bowl filled with water and beheld my reflection. I was prettier, yes. Much prettier. My skin was clear and soft. My features were enhanced and sharper. My eyes were bigger. My lips more shapely. My eyes were a lighter brown. Either than that...I was the same. I looked warm blooded. I felt warm blooded. I indeed, looked human. I remembered back...months ago when I was just beginning to find out about Edward. After he saved me from Tyler's van. Searching the word 'Vampire' on the computer and coming up with some strange results.
The Romanian Varacolaci, a powerful undead being who could appear as a beautiful, pale-skinned human.
I shook my head in disbelief.
"How?..." Emmet said. It seemed everyone in the room knew what this meant. But I wanted to know the same thing. How could this happen? And why me?
"Your answers will come soon enough, Emmet..." Aro said. Edward looked quickly to the wooden door. I heard talking, but none of it made sense.
"Come in." Aro smiled. The door swung open and two hooded figures stepped through the doorframe. Heads lowered. Hands hidden.
"That's enough!" He yelled. "Stop pissing around and tell us what's going on. What do you both have to do with this?" There came no answer.
"Jasper! Alice!" He barked. At once their heads arose. They pushed the hoods off of their heads and stared at the family that they looked so segregated from now. They just stared at us. Their eyes dark and empty.
"Alice, don't make me rip the thoughts from you!" Edward yelled.
"That's enough." Jasper said lightly. But he said it with more authority than I had ever heard from him.
"Don't worry, Edward. We will explain everything." Alice said in her lovely voice. Something was wrong. I could feel it. Alice looked at me. She smiled sadly but began to move closer.
"Bella..." She smiled. I stared at her but moved away. Something felt different.
"Alice, what have you done?" I whispered. She stopped advancing closer and looked at me.
"It was destiny, Bella...that you became a vampire." Jasper said. "To help us..." I remained silent. I moved to Edward's side and took hold of one of the hands that he clenched with anger.
"I saw it...in my head Bella. You should have died in Forks so many times over. And when I mean die...I mean, mortal death. No coming back... From the very moment that you sat beside Edward in biology class." Alice paused. Edward squeezed my hand and held me closer to him.
"But each time..Edward intervened. And each time that happened...it brought you so much closer to our prophecy."
Alice took her place beside Jasper and looked at the family.
"Alice..that prophecy is a myth! Just old stories of our time!"
"Carlisle! You of all people should know that is not the truth! The Illuminati does exist!" Aro rang. My scandalous lover looked confused.
"It's true Carlisle. Aro is right." Jasper whispered.
"It cannot be..." He whispered.
"Then I began to see you with us. A mortal..but still with us. As a family. And It was only when I came here to Italy with you four months ago that I realized the truth."
"You weren't really mortal in those visions Bella. You were the way you are now. A vampire who looks completely human."
"Wait a minute.." I cut in. "The Illuminati. What is that? What do you mean?" Caius stepped forward and spoke now. His perfect white hair flowing as he paced the room.
"The Illuminati is...an object. A stone..A gem of some sort. It is the reason why us vampires exist. Especially in the sun. We are...supposed to turn to dust you know." He grinned slyly. Esme gasped. Rosalie clung to Emmet. Caius continued to speak.
"But centuries and centuries ago...Long before my brothers and I existed, a spell was forged by..a very powerful vampire warlock named Atreus. He created the Illuminati. And so long as it exists, so will we. But if it is destroyed...any vampire who has ever even seen daylight after they've been changed will be lost."
"No...no, this is bullshit!" Emmet shouted. My memory took me back to a wonderful time when myself and Edward lay in a bright meadow. The sun shining on his body. Sending splinters of rainbows in every direction. To imagine the many times we did that together, being the cause of his untimely death made me angry.
"There must be some mistake!" I rang.
"I assure you, it's true." Jasper whispered. "And we have reason to believe that the werewolves of Forks know it exists."
"What does that have to do with Bella?" Edward yelled.
"We needed her in this battle." Alice started again. "We knew that in order to win against Sam Uley and his gang, we needed Bella by our side. She's special. Immune to many other vampire's powers. We needed her changed."
"But you kept getting in the way, Edward." Jasper said. "We knew you'd do anything to keep her safe and mortal. But we remembered one night when Bella came to us..and asked us to vote on her mortality. Then we realized then that Carlisle was our only hope. He was the only one who was willing to bite Bella., and able make her a vampire safely." Edward looked to his father figure evilly.
"I would have never let him!" He yelled.
"...We know. That's why we had to..bend things..." Jasper said.
"What?..." I asked, winded.
"We knew that Edward would never change you, or let anyone else do it either..so we put you in as many scenarios as we could with Carlisle..." Alice said with difficulty. "To perhaps make Edward jealous. To make him think that Carlisle would do It without his consent."
"So that Edward would change me himself.." I whispered.
"Yes. But he never did. So we tried harder. To plant the illusions of lust and attraction between you and Carlisle. So that either of them would do it...but it got out of hand." Jasper whispered.
"Got out of hand?!" Edward yelled. "Are you telling me that you two are the reason why Bella and Carlisle slept together?" I stiffened and pulled myself from Edward. Confused. Hurt.
"Alice...you didn't" I whispered. My best friend just looked at me.
"I'm so sorry. We never meant for it to go so far.."
"Alice...Jasper..." Carlisle looked at them. He must have felt hurt. Used. His family. They did this to us. Edward, Esme, Carlisle and I. Emmet and Rosalie were caught in the middle.
"Edward nearly killed Carlisle! Esme left him! Edward nearly left me! We could have lost everything!" I yelled. "So all this time Jasper was 'recovering' you both were here...plotting against Edward and I?" I felt a growl build up in my chest. All eyes were on me as I looked at Alice and Jasper like pieces of paper that I could shred apart.
"I could kill you!" I spat. "Both of you!" Alice's face was hurt. Jasper was trying to keep a look of composure, but a glint of surprise shone in his eyes.
"She really could!" Aro laughed.
"And you!" I fumed. Staring at Aro. "You helped them! They would have never done this if you hadn't told them that pathetic story!"
I began to lunge at the mighty man with dark hair and a long flowing red robe. I would tear him to bits. I had never been this angry in my life. To know that I nearly lost the only man I could ever love to two people I trusted was more than I could take. I wouldn't have it. Jane stepped before me. Daring me with her eyes to take one more step. I did so, very quickly. Making her jump. The fact that I startled her made her angry. She began to snap at me with her teeth. Snarling as I was. She took a quick swing at me with her long nails. I moved back, but not quick enough. She grazed my arm. Cutting my shirt. Leaving a wound. I moved at her again with more determination than ever. I pulled my hand back and slapped it ever so hard against her face. She flew back against the wall across the room and fell with a loud clatter. I went for her again while she was down but I felt Edward take tight hold of me. I couldn't control my rage. What was this? I was a completely different Bella.
"Stop, Bella..." He whispered.
"What do you mean, stop? Don't you see what they've done?" I yelled.
"I know...and I hate them for it too..." Alice lowered her head. She looked as if she may cry. I didn't care. "But you are very strong right now. Your emotions are splayed. You'll hurt them."
"They deserve no less!"
"Bella, give it time...they are my family..." He whispered. I looked into his agonized eyes. I spoke with my own eyes. Telling him that I would never love anyone but him. I knew it. I knew there must have been some reason gone wrong why I did such wrong. I touched his cheek. He buried his face into my hand and closed his eyes. Looking for some kind of comfort through all this madness. I turned my face and looked to Aro.
"He isn't family..." I yapped. He laughed.
"Don't push it, darling! You cannot hurt me! But it is good to know what you can do!" He frowned before looking back at his precious Jane, just beginning to rise from the floor. She stared at me with hate. I could tell that she was trying to send the burning sensation through my body. It didn't work. So her evil eyes turned to Edward. My beautiful boyfriend fell to the floor and began to squirm in pain.
"Stop!" I yelled. She didnt' She stared hard at Edward. He cried out in pain again. "Stop!" I began to run at her again. People kept holding me back.
"That is enough Jane!" Marcus yelled. She stopped immediately and lowered her head.
"I am sorry, Master."
"Oh, dear Bella..do forgive Jane. She doesn't do well with competition." Aro grinned.
"I won't fight for you!" I yelled.
"Oh, won't you?" He said. For the first time, his face went stern. "I think you will...for the rest of the Cullen family... Especially him..." Aro looked past me and pointed a long, white, bony finger at Edward, who was breathing hard on the floor. I looked at him. I loved him so much. And I knew then...that I didn't have a choice.