Hi everyone!

Because of the beautiful snow that decided to fall on my part of the country, I have decided to update! YAY SNOW!

This chapter is more exciting but Bella still needs to work on her procrastination problem. She is very bad at deciding things to. ( Edward smacks me and says: "Bella is perfect! She does not have problems," in a very terrifying voice.)

Sorry Edward! Haha

Chapter is dedicated to Brandicimo, for the lovely conversation we had.

The writing that is bolded is straight from New Moon. IT'S NOT MINE!

Anyway, here is your update


We have nothing to fear but fear itself

Bella POV

The night was long and cold. The nights were chilly here, and the room wasn't heated very well. The mattress felt like it was nonexistent. I was literally laying on iron bars, but I didn't want to move onto the ground because I didn't know what was lurking there. I turned on the light and lay awake, listening to the noises of the night.

As soon as I saw the sun peeking above the horizon, I was out of the bed and rushing to put on clothes. I put on a plane T-shirt and a pair of comfy jeans, something that wouldn't stand out and I could move in. Today was the day where I was finally going to go to the castle. I didn't know how this would end but I could see it ending in one of two ways. The first being, the Volturi would accept the reasons for my coming and change me. The next scenario I imagined, they would be angry that I knew their secret and would result in my demise.

I tried very hard not to think about the latter of the two, but it was a likely chance. I decided against bringing my bag with me, but put a little bit of money in my pocket. I walked out of the room and down the lopsided stairs. I was quite afraid of falling down the stairs, and had to steady myself against the wall several times.

I made it out the door and into the early light of day. It could not be more than 7:30 or eight o'clock here, but my sense of time was disoriented with all of the traveling. I knew my hotel was a couple miles away from the castle, and I didn't know if I wanted to prolong the journey by walking, or get it out of the way with taking a cab. I knew anticipation was the worst, but something was pulling me back and telling me to hang tight for a little while. Maybe I was developing a survival instinct after all this time, but I don't think it was the same feeling. This feeling was more basking in the glory of what was about to come.

I set off on foot trying to find a beeline route for the castle. I ended up going through the same small alley that I was in before, and wound up next to a big clock. This was right by the castle and it wasn't hard to find the right path, it was the one with all of the tourists flocking towards it. I blended in with one tour group from Australia and walked with them all the way up to the castle gate.

I stood outside of the castle for a matter of minutes, just staring at the terrifying beauty of it all. The castle was slightly square at the base with round sections coming out of the side, there was one great turret coming up from the middle of it and had a watch tower feeling to it. The grounds were very large and green, with many trees in different spots.

I started to walk up the long path that led to the door and my heart started to beat faster with every step. When I walked in, security shut the front gate, saying the castle had reached capacity. It was a weird sense of finality when the gate slammed shut. It was like I was being cut off from the old world I knew, and I could never go back.

After my long hike up to the door I had finally made it. There were guards standing next to the door, that I recognized as vampires. My breathing hitched and my body stiffened. One of the guards acknowledged me with a nod and I gave a curt nod back.

I walked into the castle and was amazed at the entrance of it. I was huge with black and white checkered marble floors, golden walls, and above was a high ceiling with elaborate paintings of angels in the sky. The grandeur of it all made me feel very insignificant.

I made it past the stunning hallway, and up a staircase. You could either turn left, which looked like that was where the tour groups were headed, or turn right, and go where the business men were headed to. I started following the business men, figuring they would get me to the Volturi and not to some gift shop.

Most of the men were turning into another room, so I turned into the room. It looked nothing like the grand entrance I had just exited. It was a posh office reception area. The walls were paneled in wood, the floors carpeted in thick, deep green. There were no windows, but large, brightly lit paintings of the Tuscan countryside hung everywhere as replacements. Pale leather couches were arranged in cozy groupings, and the glossy tables held crystal vases full of vibrantly colored bouquets. The flowers' smell reminded me of a funeral home.

In the middle of the room was a high, polished mahogany counter. Behind the counter was a receptionist with sleek brown hair drawn back in a tight bun. She was pale white, but not a vampire and she was wearing a white blouse. When she looked up at me, I could see her eyes were a stunning gold-green combo.

I walked over to the desk and tried to make myself look as confident as possible. The receptionist with the interesting eye color looked up at me with a sneer.

"The tourists are back that way," she said in a high-and-mighty tone.

"I'm not a tourist." I shot back. "I'm here to have an audience with the Volturi."

"Do you have an appointment?" She sounded as if she knew I didn't have one, but asked just to showcase my stupidity.

"No."

"Well then, you are not allowed to see them. You can make an appointment for . . . three months from now." A malicious grin spread across her face and she sank back in her chair as to show victory.

"This is an urgent matter. I think they would take me." I said persistently. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and tapped my fingers over the desk impatiently.

"The Volturi are very important people. Why would they want to waste their time on an annoying, American teenager?" she said venomously.

"Can you just tell them that I know the Cullens very well and would love it if I could discuss something with them." I tried to stare her down, and I think it worked pretty well because after a moment of hesitation, the woman got up and walked out of site.

After a few minutes, she walked back in looking defeated and plopped back into her chair. "The Volturi has decided to let you in. If you would take a seat, someone will be out to get you shortly." She gave me a fake smile and turned back to her desk. Her tone of voice sounded as if she was ordered to be pleasant to me.

I walked over to the couched and sat down. After what seemed like forever, a short, pale vampire walked out and gave me a sickly sweet smile. She reminded me of Alice, but much more sarcastic.

"You must be the Cullen's friend," she addressed me. "The Volturi would like to see you now."

I got up from my place and walked toward the vampire and into the hall that she was holding the door open for. As soon as I was a couple feet in, the vampire let the door slam shut behind her and followed after me.

"Hello. I'm Jane, by the way." Her voice was higher than a tinkling of bells. It was more like a child on helium.

"I'm Bella." I responded curtly.

We continued down the hallway until we came upon elevators. Jane pushed the up button and immediately after, there was a ding, and the doors slid open revealing a mahogany and gold interior. We stepped inside and the doors slammed shut. Every couple of seconds, I would see Jane glaring at me with a look of frustration on her face. I am sure my face held confusion because Jane let out a huff and then kept her face looking straight forward. Finally, the bell dinged, and singled that we were at our destined floor. The doors slid open and we walked down another hallway, but this one was not furnished and looked like it hadn't been changed since the castle was built.

Jane hopped her way down the hallway and pushed open an ancient wooden door. The room which she lead me in looked like it was in the turret of the castle because the room was completely round. There were three tremendous thrones against the stone wall on one side of the room, and another door to the side of me. There was one vampire guard next to the door we had just entered and one by the door on the side of the wall.

I stepped into the middle of the room and realized how cold it was in here. I wrapped my arms around myself to trap some of my body heat. Jane shut the door and sauntered behind one of the thrones. I waited silently, while the guards and Jane were – what it looked like – inspecting me. The quietness of the room was making me even more . . . uncomfortable, and I started fidgeting in my nervousness.

The door on the side of the room opened up and three very old vampires glided in. They each took a seat in one of the thrones and poised themselves to look prodigious. Their skin looked paper thin, almost like onion skin, and their eyes were glazed over with white.

There was a silence before one of the Volturi on the very end to my left spoke. "Hello, my American friend. I am Aro, this is Casius," he said pointing to the vampire next to him. "And Marcus." He pointed to the one next to Casius. "What would your name be?" They all focus their eyes on me and that made it even more nerve racking.

It took me a moment to find my voice, but once I did I responded, "I'm Bella . . . I know the Cullens." I don't know why I tacked on that last part. I thought it would gain me some respect or friendliness from these people.

"As we have heard," said Aro. "How is old Carlisle? Good, I hope."

"Aro," Casius scolded. "This is not the time for pleasantries." Casius turned his cold stare on me and asked, "Did they send you here?" in a stern voice.

"No. No, I came of my own will."

The other vampires looked taken aback, but I squared my shoulders and continued. "I came to ask you of something. But I am not sure if you will agree."

Aro looked at me solemnly and nodded his head. "What favor do you ask of us?"

I took a deep breath, trying to build some strength. "I would like to be changed into a vampire." I stated bluntly.

All three of the men were completely still in their chairs and their was total silence, but I could see Jane holding back a fit of giggles.

After several minutes of utter and absolute silence, Aro's voice sounded. "Bella, come here, please."

I did what I was told and went to stand in front of Aro. Aro held his hands out and I could see he wanted me to do the same. I hesitantly lifted my hands out in front of me and Aro grasped on. He closed his eyes and squeezed onto my hands. I didn't know what he was doing, so I just stood there, looking confused.

"Amazing," he muttered under his breath. "Not a thing."

Aro opened his eyes and a wide smile drew across his face. "Simply magnificent," he said with delight. He clapped his hands together and I took a step back.

"Now, tell me Bella, do the Cullens know you are here?" His voice was much more chipper and he was exuding happiness.

"Um . . . Not exactly." The happiness from Aro died at that statement and he looked a little defeated.

"Well then, why do you want to become a vampire?"

I didn't know if I was going to tell the truth or not. I tried to think of other stories there were, but I couldn't think of anything believable. "You see . . . Edward, Carlisle's son, and I were . . . mates." I felt awkward using the word mate, but I didn't think the Volturi would understand any other way. "Edward refuses to change me so we can be together. I would like to be changed but I have no one to change me since his family is all on his side. That's why I came here, to see if you would change me," I finished. I was surprised at how close to the truth I was, but I was still far enough away from it.

"So, you would like us to change you so you could be with your lover boy?" Casius said angrily. I didn't have a response for him, so I looked around the room. When my eyes landed on Marcus, his face was completely blank but I could see some touch of emotion in his eyes that seemed to favor my side. I was now feeling very petty and foolish but I stood my ground and nodded my head in response as a yes.

"We will adjourn for the day to discuss this matter and get back to you. Until then, I would suggest you go wherever you are staying and wait for our verdict. How about we meet again at two o'clock tomorrow?" Aro said.

"That would be great." I answered stiffly.

"Great. Tomorrow at 2:00, it is. When you get here, just go to Estella's – the receptionist's – desk and she will take you to us," he instructed. "Good day, Bella. Jane will see you out."

I gave my thanks and then left the round, cold room, following after Jane. We made it down the elevator and out back to the office. Before I made it two steps away, an arm pulled me back and turned me around.

"Sleep tight, Bella." Jane whispered in my ear. "The Volturi isn't very giving—you just might not have another chance to sleep tomorrow." I turned to see her eyes gleaming with excitement and I was disgusted to be face to face with those red eyes.

"You're just worried because I might not be able to sleep for another reason." I spat back at her. She glowered at me and dropped my arm.

I walked out of the office and down the hallway leading back to the great hall. As soon as I made it out in the daylight, and into the warmth, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my chest and I could breathe again. Now, I just had to wait for the decision.


A/N: YAY! IT GETS EXCITING! Tell me what you think, please! Also, the Volturi confuses me with all the people they have, so sorry if I made a mistake with some of them. I got the main ones right at least. I won't be able to start writing the next chapters until the weekend, unfortunately.

Something I found funny while researching this is the Volterra castle has been converted into a prison! For some reason that made me laugh. The picture of the actual castle is on my profile.

What I pictured for the grand hall was the entrance of Mr. Darcy's home from the 2005 version of Pride & Prejudice with Kiera Knightly in it. I couldn't actually find a picture for it though.