"Turn left in 200 feet." The GPS system in Bella's rent-a-car told her. As Bella complied, she got her first, well second, glimpse of Volturra. She barely remembered her first trip to Volturra. The memory was clouded by fear and worry. This trip was not much different. Of course, she was still scared and worried, but not for Edward's life this time. She was scared and worried that her plan wouldn't work. What if Aro just laughed at her? What if he refused to talk to Carlisle? What if they ate her? No. She needed to stop thinking that way. Her plan would work. It had too. Bella knew just how much Aro was intrigued by her. Her mind was strong against vampire's mental abilities. That isn't something that Aro would want to throw away. Eating her was out of the question.

Bella parked the car on the side of a street, in front of a hotel. She made the decision to sleep at the hotel that night and head to see the Volturi in the morning. She knew that it wouldn't really matter what time of day she went and saw the Volturi, but she felt like she needed some preparation before she rushed into things. She laughed at her thought. This whole trip had been rushed, why slow down now? As she wrote a check for the hotel room, she grimaced. Her college fund was diminishing, and not slowly either. The plane ticket, the car, and now the hotel. This trip was costing her thousands of dollars.

Bella's phone was ringing off the hook all night, until she finally just shut it off. She didn't want to talk to the Cullen's. She wouldn't know what to say or how to explain herself. She knew they were angry with her and that worried her. Would they ever accept her back? Her night was spent mostly sleeplessly. She drifted off to sleep around 4 A.M., but only slept until 7. She was too nervous about meeting the Volturi to sleep any more than that.

Later that morning, Bella found herself standing in front of the Volturi palace, unsure of how to get inside. Does she just knock? Last time they were practically dragged inside. She switched her body weight from one foot to the other, trying to decide what to do. As she reached her hand up to knock on the massive door, it opened and revealed a woman with a frown on her face. She was human.

"Can I help you" The woman asked, clearly not wanting to help anybody do anything.

"Um, yeah. I'm Isabella Swan here to see Aro." Bella said, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Oh. Step inside please." The woman responded, stepping aside to let Bella in. The woman had changed her tone at the mention of Aro's name. She didn't seem annoyed anymore, but bored and a little irritated.

"Stay here." The woman told Bella and Bella planted her feet. As the woman walked away, Bella looked at her surroundings. She was in a foyer, and a large one. The whole place was made of white marble. It was beautiful. A few minutes later, the woman returned.

"Follow me. Aro will see you now."

"Now?" Bella asked, suddenly nervous again.

"Yes, now." The woman responded, still irritated. She rolled her eyes and Bella had the feeling that the woman thought she was stupid.



Bella followed the woman through a series of twists and turns, corridors, and rooms. Finally, she stopped in front of large, two-story, double wooden doors. Bella instantly recognized the doors as leading to Aro's office and library. The woman knocked once and was rewarded with a voice from inside the room.

"Come in."

She opened the doors with some difficulty and shoved Bella inside, none too gently. Bella turned to see if the woman had followed her in, but the woman was already retreating. Bella stiffened. She was in a room alone with Aro. As she turned back to him, she realized that she wasn't, in fact, alone with Aro. Another vampire was there too, sitting in an armchair in the corner. He had his face hidden by his book. His presence eased Bella's mind. At least she wasn't alone.

"Ah, Isabella Swan. How are you? Well, I hope." Aro's voice boomed across the room. He stood up from his place behind his desk and walked around it to greet Bella properly. He took her hand in his and shook it lightly. He stared at her hand while he did this and shook his head, "So strange." He muttered.

"It never ceases to amaze me, Bella. This talent you have. Amazing." Aro dropped her hand and looked her in the eyes.

"What can I do for you dear?" Aro asked her, motioning for her to sit in an oversized black leather chair across from his desk. They both made their way towards the desk and Bella took the seat he offered. He went back around his desk and sat down as well.

"Well," Bella started, her voice unsure, "I came here to ask you a favor."

"Oh?"

"I want to be a vampire, Aro, badly. Edward is being difficult about it and suggests that I should attend college first. I'm not saying that this is an entirely bad idea, but I just don't want to go."

"Okay, what do you want me to do about it?"

"I want you to talk to Carlisle. Make him understand. I want this more than I have ever wanted anything. I think that if you told Carlisle that I should be changed, Edward will finally see the light. They won't have a choice but to change me."

"Ah, I see."

"You understand, don't you?" Bella's voice shook.

"Of course, dear Isabella. I have wanted you to become a vampire ever since I first met you. The power you would have! Just imagine. If you can block me now, what would you be able to do as a vampire?" His voice trailed off and he seemed lost in thought for a moment.

"So you'll talk to him then?" Bella asked, feeling more confident.



"I will discuss this matter with Carlisle, yes. However, I cannot force him to do anything. You know that, right Isabella?"

"Yes." Bella grumbled. She wasn't feeling confident anymore.

Aro laughed heartily and stood up. "I shall get you a room."

"Oh, I have a room at the hotel down the street, Aro, I can just sleep there."

"Nonsense. Felix, show her to one of the state rooms." Aro said, looking over at the figure in the armchair.

Felix's head shot up and he put the book back on the book shelf next to him. He stood up gracefully and walked past Bella before turning around, "Are you coming, human?"

Bella rolled her eyes, but followed him out of the room. Bella remembered him all too clearly. He had called "dibs" on her just last year. He had wanted to be the one to kill her. It didn't sit well in her stomach that she would have to be alone with him for any length of time—even if he was just showing her her room. She couldn't help but notice how attractive he looked, though. Especially from behind. He was wearing tailored black slacks, and a pin striped vest. Underneath the vest was a blood red dress shirt—the color matched his eyes, she noticed—the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, showing off his forearm muscles. His hair was styled into a short phohawk—a hairstyle that Bella had never liked, but Felix seemed to pull it off really well. (See outfit on profile.)

Felix wasn't walking very fast and Bella caught up to him easily. She was trying to decide how to fill the awkward silence when Felix spoke up.

"So your pathetic lover won't change you, will he?" His voice dripped with cruelty.

"No. Not that it's any of your business, Felix." Bella said, spitting out his name.

"Everything to do with vampires is my business, human. I'm Volturi." Felix said, snapping at her.

Bella scoffed. "You're not Volturi. You're their guard. You are easily replaceable and you know it." She didn't know where her new-found confidence had come from, but she liked it.

Felix hissed at her comment, "Watch your tongue, girl."

The rest of the way to her room was quiet. The silence was no longer awkward, but instead it was thick with hatred. Felix made her so angry! What right did he have to make fun of Edward? He was only doing what he thought was best—even if he was wrong.

Felix stopped suddenly in front of a door that looked like all the others in the corridor. Bella was unsure why he had stopped in front of this one instead of the countless others they had passed, but she decided to just ignore the thought. He twisted the door knob and opened the door, stepping aside and letting her go in first.



He stepped in after her and pointed to a key ring on the coffee table just inside the door, to the left, "This is the key to the room. You don't need to lock it, but if you feel it's necessary, you can." His voice was hard.

"Thank you." Bella said coldly, not really feeling thankful at all.

"Whatever." He turned to leave, but stopped himself and turned around again, "So what did you think you'd accomplish by coming here?" Bella thought he actually sounded sincere with his question, but she tossed the thought away with his next comment.

"I mean, if they don't want you what makes you think we do?"

"Oh, bite me, Felix. You don't need to be such an ass." Bella said, unaware of the pun.

Felix was aware of the pun. Without fear of repercussion, he made a choice he had been waiting to make for the past year. Before Bella could open her mouth to make another comment, his teeth sank into her throat.

Bella's scream filled the place. Felix was sure that the whole palace heard. His decision suddenly seemed like a bad one. Bella's eyes were filled with fear and pain. It wouldn't be long before someone would come and see what he had done. He picked Bella up swiftly and put her on the bed in the next room. Then, he darted out of the state room before someone else came in. Before Aro came in.

He ran and hid. He ran and hid like a coward. When it came to Aro, that's just what Felix was. A coward. He had no reason to fear anyone else. Felix was strong. He was brute force. He was Aro's personal guard. His right hand man—a very replaceable right hand man. Bella was right, the Volturi didn't need him, but Aro liked him. As long as he stayed on Aro's good side, Felix lived a life of luxury, power. Without Aro, Felix would be nothing, and they both knew it.

He couldn't hide for long. Only twenty minutes after he bit Bella, a choice he was regretting more and more, Aro approached the palace library—Felix's hiding place of choice.

"Felix? Felix, I know you are in here. You stink of fear." Aro called, his voice calm. Aro's voice was deceiving. His voice always sounded calm.

Felix stepped out to meet his doom.

"Yes, Aro?" His voice shook.

"Felix, you know what you have done. You know how I feel about this. You created a mess and I am not going to clean it up for you. Go take care of it, now." Aro said sternly.

"Take care of it?" Felix asked hesitantly. Did he want him to kill her?

"Make her as comfortable as you can. We need her on our side after this. All that power…" Aro said, off in his thoughts again.



Felix nodded and headed back towards Bella's state room. He could hear her whimpers of pain from hundreds of feet away. He was suddenly racked with guilt. All of this was his fault. He opened her door and headed into the bedroom. He could feel the heat radiating off of her as soon as he approached the bed. He sighed and climbed on the bed next to her. She was completely oblivious to her surroundings. Her eyes were closed and her face was in a permanent grimace of pain. Every once in a while she would whimper or scream.

Felix put his hands on her cheeks in an attempt to cool her down. At his touch, Bella opened her mouth, "Edward…" she whimpered. Felix growled at his name and removed his hands. He sat stubbornly on the bed until he felt her fever escalating.

Take care of it.—He could hear Aro's voice in his head.

He sighed, grumpily. He looked at Bella and smiled evilly. Under the excuse that her fever was burning her up, he peeled her soaked clothes off of her, leaving her in just her bra and panties. He then removed his own shirt and lay down next to her. He wrapped his arms around her body and pulled her closer to him so that her back was against his chest.

If she wasn't unconscious and in so much pain, this would have been awesome for Felix. As it was, he had to control his primal instincts—both his hunger and his hormones.

For hours on end, Felix held her like that until she would start to shiver. Then, he's let go of her and let her warm up again until her fever returned. Then he would bring her close to him again. He did this over and over again. Gradually, by the end of the next day, her fever was reducing and the length of time between when he got to hold her grew. He felt himself feeling a little disappointed. He knew that when she woke she would want nothing to do with him. He tried to convince himself that he would feel the same. He wasn't doing a very good job of it.

Author's Note: Check my profile for the picture of Felix's suit. Thanks to Molly again for designing it!