She looked up at me from the factory floor and then approached the figure underneath the blanket

Edward looked at me startled, then looked away as if ashamed of himself. The pained expression on his heartbreakingly beautiful face made perfect sense to me. He didn't want me here. He knew that his presence had brought me into direct contact with danger. A danger he wanted to keep a thousand miles away from me. But he didn't know that my heart and mind had already made the choice. I wasn't going to leave him like this.

I scanned the area around me. A plan formed into my mind. I had to keep Jane distracted before we could make an escape.

"What have you done?" I hissed at her.

Jane was still enraptured with Edward, gazing at him.

"A peaceful mission said Aro, as if I would ever agree to that," scoffed Jane, looking at me with disgust.

I walked slowly backwards to the edge of the room. Jane walked around Edward, her hands behind her back.

"I'm going to become a vampire, Jane, isn't that what all you Volturi want?" I asked, viewing the workbench nearest to me.

"Oh yes, that's what they want. But you're not good enough for me. Violence and killing are a vampire's natural instincts and yet you and the Cullens go against that. You go against what is supposed to be the natural order in life. Vampires hunt humans. That's the way it's supposed to be." she said bitterly.

"Not everyone believes that. The Cullens made a choice, the only logical choice. And they have managed just fine without human blood," I replied, letting my hand trail through a pile of sawdust on the workbench.

"Oh yes, just like that brother-in-law of yours who tried to eat you," she laughed at me.

I'd almost forgotten about that incident. Perhaps I should have mentally crossed off Jasper from the list of vampires able to control their blood thirst.

"That was a while ago, he didn't mean to and he's much better now," I said defiantly. He was still my brother-in-law after all.

"Liar," She scoffed

"Murderer." I hissed between my gritted teeth. Jane marched right up to me.

"What did you say?" she demanded, fury burning in her eyes.

"I said…MURDERER!" I yelled and threw the handful of sawdust I'd collected from the workbench directly into Jane's eyes.

Suddenly, there was chaos. I quickly rushed to the bench to throw the rest of dust into the air, shielding my eyes as I did so. A cloud of dust billowed into the air and I heard the light bulb shatter throwing us into total darkness. Jane was screaming in pain and frustration.

"Run, Edward!" I screamed and felt myself being picked up and slung onto Edward's back. In a blink of an eye we were gone from the factory and I could feel the rain once again on my face, soaking my hair.

We passed my truck.

"Wait, I left my truck" I wailed turning my head back to look at it.

Edward said nothing to me as we made our way home. I closed my eyes to stop from feeling sick and hugged my arms tightly around his neck.

The gentle, steady rhythm of Edward's running pace was making me feel a little sleepy as I rested my head on his shoulders. Finally, we could see the house. Edward slowed down as he saw a figure in white robes sitting on the front step. He had long, white, flowing hair. If it's not one member of the Volturi, it's another I thought to myself. This time it was Aro.

"Here we go again," I sighed. I rubbed my eyes and yawned.

I released my arms from Edward. I held his hand and raised it to my cheek. It felt so cold and smooth, like a statue. I looked at his hand in wonder. I had married a walking miracle. Edward smiled reassuringly at me, and then looked at Aro.

"Is this your idea of a peaceful mission?" Edward asked, a faint hint of humour in his voice.

"I'm sorry, Edward, this is a new experience for us all and not everyone is…quite adjusted to it yet," he replied, smiling serenely at us.

"The Cullens – what happened to them?" I said, thinking of poor Carlisle and Esme.

"Oh, don't worry, we ordered the guards to leave them alone. They are free now,"

"Jane will be punished won't she? You believe in punishment, don't you?" I said in a hard voice.

"I admit our dear Jane was foolish, however, she still has her child-like tendencies. Speaking of which I have some bad news, Bella," he said looking at me.

"What?"

My heartbeat jumped.

"Our guards caught her in the factory but she still angry about you escaping so we allowed her to get all her frustrations out,"

"Meaning what exactly?" I asked nervously.

"Meaning she trashed your truck. She found a crowbar nearby. That was a little careless, Bella," he said looking down and smoothing the front of his robes. Was he trying to hide a smile?

"Ugh, that…that…that…" I spluttered. A million expletives ran through my mind on what to call Jane.

Edward hugged my waist. I'm sure he would have put his hand over my mouth to stop me from blurting out something unrepeatable but I wasn't going to be so stupid. I knew that Aro was holding court on the entire proceeding and I shouldn't push my luck.

"Well, I've been telling Bella to get a new car for a while now. I suppose this is the perfect time for a new beginning," Edward said, politely.

"Yes! That's right. A new beginning, how perfect! Oh, I do love a happy ending, now do excuse me, my lift is here," he said as a blacked out Mercedes pulled up to the drive.

"Humph, a new beginning indeed," I muttered to myself. I supposed it made sense but all the memories that came with my truck…another set of memories to be left behind once again...