Alec's Point of View
"Bella, we're here," I whispered as I softly brushed her hair out of her face. We'd been on the plane for eleven long hours, making occasional stops to change planes. As I looked down at Bella's soft face, I realized how beautiful she is. No, I can't feel this way, I thought to myself. Aro would never forgive me... "Bella, we're here. Time to get up," I said again. Her eyes opened slowly, and she groaned. "C'mon, lazy bones! We're in Italy. There's a bunch of things to do," I told her. She looked at me with puzzled eyes, so I explained, "I talked with Aro on the phone while you were in the bathroom at the France. He suggested I give you a few days to-" I narrowed my eyes as I tried to find an appropriate word, "-adjust- to your new surroundings before I take you to see him." Bella nodded, so I guided her off of the plane while grabbing our carry-on bags.
"Bella, you're going to love it here. There's the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Colloseum, Mount Vesuvius..." I told her. Bella nodded, but she didn't look very interested in going to tourist attractions. She seemed a little unsettled by all of the people or something. I stopped, looked into her eyes, and said, "Bella, what's wrong?" She started to say that she was fine, but I interrupted, "Don't tell me you're fine. You're obviously upset. Seriously. What's. Wrong?" Bella sighed, looked away, and didn't say anything. She obviously didn't want to talk about it, so I didn't force her to say anything.
We continued walking in silence. I realized that she was probably tired, considering she's not a vampire, so I stopped her and hailed a cab. "L'Albergo della Regina Isabella, per favore," I said to the man. Bella smirked when she heard the name of the hotel. "It's an Italian name, Bella. I don't doubt you'll be seeing and meeting a lot of Isabellas during your time here," I told her. She rolled her eyes as if to say, If you say so. After no longer than half an hour in the cab, we finally arrived at our hotel. At first glance, Bella gasped, but then quickly turned to glare at me. "You spent way too much money!" she exclaimed as we got out of the car. I grinned. "We're vampire royalty. We can easily afford spending a year here. Three nights is nothing at all," I whispered to her.
As we entered our room, the lights were off. The room was beautiful-more than I expected. I turned on the lights, and Bella gasped again. I snickered and said, "Once you've lived with us for a few decades, you'll be used to all of this fancy stuff." Bella just rolled her eyes. I set our bags down in her bedroom, then returned to her side. "Well? Do you like it?" Bella looked at me, then said, "Wow. Just-wow. Don't you think this is a little much? We're only going to be here for a few days, you know." It was my turn to roll my eyes. "I just wanted your stay to be enjoyable. If you'd rather stay in a broken-down hotel without air conditioning, I can arrange that," I teased. "C'mon-you should go to sleep. You were pretty tired on the plane," I told her. I quickly got the bed ready, and unzipped her suitcase. I went into the living room to give her some privacy, and turned on the television. After fumbling with the remote's buttons for a few minutes, I figured out to change the TV's settings into English, and turned the channel to the American NBC News. What I saw on the 'Breaking News' suprised me.
"Bella Cullen, 19, has gone missing from Forks, Washington. From evidence found, it could be a possible kidnapping. Her family found her empty room at 8:30am on December 12, 2006, with her window open. If anyone has seen Bella, please call 911 immediately," a picture flashed on the screen of Bella. "This has been Breaking News with Brian Williams." When the story was over, Bella came up behind me and said, "Whatcha watchin?" I turned to face her, and said, "That was the National News from the US. Bella, they know you're missing, and they're searching for you. We've got to be cautious." Bella looked slightly confused, so I asked, "What's wrong?" Bella's nose wrinkled, then said, "I can't believe they think I'm still alive, that's all. It was probably the most obvious suicide ever." I stood up, then replied, "But Bella, the Cullens probably smelled my scent. I wonder what they had to say or do to suggest it was a kidnapping to the cops..." Bella nodded, then went back into her bedroom saying, "Goodnight, Alec."
