A.N: Thank you for the replies... even the flame LOL. I love getting feedback. It really does help. And I'm sorry if you read the weird version of Part 7 that had a double post to it. I will do better.

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. If I did, I wouldn't write fanfic... ok, yeah, I probably would LOL

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Part 8: Now and Then

"So you're headed there now?"

"That's a rhetorical question for a psychic."

"Yeah, whatever. We'll meet you there."

"You don't need too, Alice." I sighed. "I won't jeopardize your existence for a choice I made."

"You know that we have been in a holding pattern for awhile now." She paused. "I told them. Just a few minutes ago... when I was sure..."

"I know." My voice tried not to crack. "It's ok. They had to know sooner or later."

"You need us all for this. And Rosalie is being, well, uncooperative. She's still pretty mad at you."

I laughed half-hearted. "Yeah, well, after she sees what it has cost me, she may not covet so much."

"Yeah." she matched my pitiful attempt. "We are already on a plane.."

"Alice--"

"Edward. It's done. We have to help you. Don't fight me on this, you know you need us."

I huffed to myself. Of course I knew I needed them. I was putting them in danger, something I hated doing. It seemed completely selfish of me to do it, but I knew they would come no matter what I said.

When I didn't speak again, Alice went on. "I can't believe Bella is gone."

"I know." I shut my eyes and saw her face, the peaceful, sleeping face I had left her with hours before.

"I'm not sorry I called her before hand."

"I know that too. I'm not angry with you. I don't have room in me to be angry with you. Not with everything else."

"It's going to be alright." She sounded certain of that fact.

"Is that a know or a want?"

"No, I haven't seen it. But I know with my whole heart that everything will be ok. Trust me."

"I'll have to on this."

"See you in Italy."

"See you in Italy." I replied then closed my cell phone. I leaned back into my chair in my hotel room, shut my eyes, and only thought of her. The reason I was about to do all of this crazy mess. I knew it was worth it, and maybe I'd save the world in the process. I reached in my jacket pocket and pulled out a pristine picture of Bella from when we were in high school. I had kept it in mint condition. It was one of my most prized positions. She had aged well, at least I thought so. She never lost her beauty. But the picture of her I carried brought me back to the days I wanted her more to kill her than to love her. Then I realized that wasn't entirely true. I knew I loved her from the moment I first saw her. In the strange way a vampire can love a human.

I lightly rubbed the curve of her lips, the contour of her cheek, wishing I could feel her warmth just one last time. Sending I'm sure unheard prayers that I would be able to see her again, and hoping where ever she was wouldn't feel her wrath if they kept me away and didn't let me fulfill my promise.

My eyes never left her picture, but my mind, despite myself, wandered to the deal I made the weeks following getting my memory back and the unspeakable thing I almost did to her. What I did do to her.

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Italy, July 2008

I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for, but I knew what I wanted to find.

It was dark when I left Bella standing on First Beach. Thankfully, when I made it into Aero Porto di Firenze "Amerigo Vespucci" Airport the next night. I booked a hotel, checked the next day's weather (cloudy), and forced myself to say in my room until daybreak. Florence, Italy was a beautiful city. I had seen it many times in my years. It pained me when I thought of how Bella would have loved to see it. But even if we were on good terms, Florence with its close vicinity to Volterra, was way too dangerous for her.

When the first signs of light filtered through my window, I headed toward the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale at Florence, the national central library. There are two such libraries in Italy, but this one is historically richer. History is what I needed.

When I arrived at my destination, I was, as always, overwhelmed by its charm. It is a beautiful stately building across the Arno River from the Pizzale Michaelangelo. Very old world in its characteristics, it was built in 1714 and, even through some rough times, it has maintained its luster.

Upon entering I inquired to the lady at the front desk the location of the section on myths and legends. She produced a sketch of the building, circled where I needed to go, and gave me directions. I thanked her, and went on my way.

The section wasn't hard to find using her map as a guide. I scanned over the titles until I found some that seemed to pique my interest. Vampyre, Mythical Creatures in a Modern World, Vampyre: Legion, Ancient Oddities of the Human Condition, The Old World, and many others too numerous to name. I also took copies of books on werewolves, zombies, Roman gods, just so if anyone saw my stack, they wouldn't become suspicious. When I had been a young vampire, in the days when I had defied Carlisle, I had come to this very library to find answers to my existence. I learned later that it is a common theme among us 'bloodsuckers'. We like to know our origin. We are as curious as humans to that point.

I sat down at a very isolated desk and picked one book up and random. Running wasn't the only thing I was fast at. I was finished reading in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, nothing held any interest or answers for me. In fact, most of the books fell into the same category. When I only had two left, I began becoming impatient. Maybe I was deluding myself that there was something I could do? Maybe a vampire was a vampire until the day he/she was destroyed and there was nothing to prevent it?

Disgusted with the whole situation, I tossed my latest volume down at the stack I had procured and ran my fingers through my disheveled hair. I had placed myself in a very hard predicament. I had promised Bella to return to her, but I could not in good consciousness come back to her the same monster I left her. It wasn't fair to her, and I would not allow it.

Just about ready to give up and look elsewhere, one of the books on the stacks next to me caught my eye. Gypsy Legends of the Eighteenth Century. I cautiously rose from my chair and walked over to it. Gypsies weren't people I normally read about. I took it from the stacks anyway and went back to my small, secluded desk. I found that it had been published in 1979, a relatively new book considering the much older ones I had been looking through. I flipped through the pages, slower than I had any others, like there was a sixth (or in my case seventh) sense guiding me. Then, one of the pages caught my attention. Actually, it wasn't even a page; it was more of a sentence. One sentence in the countless others I had read that day.

"Mykal, undead, became among the living, cursed, blessed, both by the Gypsies of Aita Mare."

That was the only reference to this 'Mykal' or any other 'undead' in the entire book, but it was enough for me. I quickly placed all of the books on the return shelf, escaped to my hotel room to pack my few belongings, and headed back to the airport to book passage to Romania.

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Florence, Italy: Present Day

My thoughts were interrupted by knocks on my door. I normally heard people coming, heard their thoughts, but on this day I had been too far gone in mine to notice. I lazily got out of my perch on the opulent red and gold clad bed and made my way across the immaculately decorated suite. I'm not sure why I splurged on a Grand Deluxe suit at the Westin Excelsior. It's not easy finding a room in Florence in the summer, and money talks. Money can also buy you happiness... for a price.

I already knew who it was before I even go to the door. It wasn't difficult. Once the door was unlocked, I didn't even have time to open it before a bubbly pixie came bounding in, giving me a big old bear hug. "Oh Edward! I can finally give you a decent hug without worrying about breaking your ribs."

Despite myself, I smiled and hugged her back. "Yeah, Alice. That's a really good trade off."

She backed away, eyes wide. "Oh, I'm sorry Edward. I didn't mean... I mean... I'm sorry your not human and all. It's just nice to have you more durable again."

I had to laugh again. 'Durable' was one of the words I always used to describe how Bella would be when we used to talk about her becoming a vampire. At that moment, I didn't want to be durable. I wanted to be able to die with Bella, but thoughts like that weren't going to help me fulfill my promise, contract, whatever you wanted to call it.

Behind Alice, the men stood, not near as bubbly, but smiling none the less. Alice let me go and Jasper took her place. "I'm truly sorry about Bella." He said as he patted my back in our hug.

"I know. Thanks." I released him and in came Emmett. He didn't hug me like I thought he would. He just stared. An uncomfortable chuckle emitted from me, "What?" I asked. "It's you. You look all... young again. That's one hell of a plastic surgeon you found." Emmett, smiling broadly, came and hugged me too. I realized it was just his way of dealing with things. He would probably never bring up Bella, but I could tell in his eyes that he missed her and was thinking about her.

Carlisle and Esme rounded out our motley crew. I was told Rosalie wasn't coming. In fact, she and Emmett had taken a temporary hiatus to their relationship over his siding with me. I hated that for them. I wanted everyone to just be happy and together. Some wishes just weren't meant to be I reasoned.

"Damn Edward. Went all out, eh?" Emmett called from the large window in the living room of the suite.

"No," I replied. "I could have had the Presidential Suite, but thought that might be pushing it."

We all ended up congregated in the spectacularly decorated, maroon living room off of the bedroom of like color. I say it was a maroon living room, but in fact, the walls were a copper tone. The opulent chairs, the bed coverings, curtains, the little odds and ends that no one really cares about unless you are staying in a 'fancy' suite, were all maroon which matched perfectly with the walls. Cream colored double doors lead the way between the two rooms. The black iron chandelier in the bedroom matched the table side lamps, iron curtain rods, and exquisite black coffee table with glass top of the living room. Again, my thoughts went to Bella and how she would have loved this room. Actually, she probably would have chided me for going 'all out' and 'wasting money'. Underneath it all, she would have loved it, but never admitted it.

Esme sat in one of the regal-style chairs. Jasper paced. Alice went from the chairs, to the couch, to Jasper's side and back again, not able to keep still. Carlisle stood beside me; hand on my shoulder, at the entryway between the two rooms. Emmett looked longingly out the window. He wouldn't have admitted it for sure. His thoughts gave him away. Rosalie's absence weighed heavily on his mind.

"Ok, so we have a mess." Jasper began.

"No, I have a mess." I clarified.

"Same difference." Jasper rolled his eyes mockingly at me. "In any case there is a definite mess."

I raised my eyebrows and nodded. Definite mess. The family began talking strategy. As they did, my mind wandered back to 2008 and my trip to Romania.

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Aita Mare, Romania July, 2008
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Finding the place was easy enough. The commune of Aita Mare wasn't extremely far from the airport. I did, however, feel strange even a tad bit silly being in the part of Romania that was once known as Transylvania. The Vampire Edward... in Transylvania. Yeah, horror fans beware!

The city, or small town for lack of a better word, was just a tiny blip on the map. Not even 2,000 people lived there making it the perfect place for myth and legend.

I drove my rented black Mustang across the bridge and into the town limits around night fall. It was a peaceful little town. Even with the small population, the stone covered streets were filled with rows of house I could only describe as 'old worldly'. I saw the steeples of at least two churches rising up against the horizon.

Getting to Aita Mare was the easy part. Finding someone to help me was the hard part. Or so I thought.

I found a small, quaint little hotel not far from the town limit. Even though it was the height of one of the two busiest Transylvanian tourist seasons (the other I learned was Halloween), I was lucky enough to find a vacancy there.

The only thing I found open that time of night was a pub called The Rambling Rose. I went in and sat in a corner booth, surveying the scene. Two burly men nursed beers on stools at the counter. The rest of the room had five other inhabitants, three of them customers, two waitresses. I wasn't there long before a leggy brunette came waltzing my way with a smile as broad as the mountain range. "New in town?"

I nodded.

"Well, my name's Corina."

"Edward." I replied offering to shake her hand.

"Edward, what can I get you?"

"Information, if you please."

"What kind of information?" she darted her big brown eyes at me.

"I'm a writer. And I'm looking for any information on--"

"Vampires." she finished for me and nodded in understanding. "We get allot of your type around here."

"I imagine." I laughed. I'm sure there had been a lot of vampires in this part of Romania from time to time.

"Well, there is a library about a 1/2 mile down the road. It's not as stocked as Florence or Rome, but it gets us by." By this time she was sitting at the booth facing me; interest clearly audible in her voice.

I leaned into her, mimicking her pose. "Actually, I'm looking for a person, maybe that I can talk too. See I'm not just writing a novel about vampires, but also about--" I paused and whispered, just to let her know that this conversation was just for us. And maybe pique her interest a little bit more. "--about gypsies."

Her eyes lit up like Christmas. "You don't say. My uncle is the nearest thing to a Gypsie I know. He doesn't follow the 'traditions' but he is well versed in the history. I can set up a meeting between you two if you'd like."

"You are a Godsend." I smiled brightly. She took it as a sign of some sort and reached over the table to touch my hands. Quickly, I jerked them away, and then spent a good 5 seconds trying to figure out how to get her back in my good graces. It appeared I had hurt her feelings in some way. "I'm sorry. It's just-"

"Look. I'm just touchy, feely like that. No harm done. I'll set up that meeting tomorrow."

"Evening if possible."

She nodded. "Evening. Sure I can't get you anything?"

"I'm sure." I stood up and bowed to her. "Ms. Corina, thank you very much for the information and for setting a meeting with your uncle. I appreciate it more than you know."

"My pleasure. Come back tomorrow at dusk and I'll tell you when and where."

"Thank you. Goodnight." I tilted my head to her and walked away. That woman had no ill thoughts toward me. No ulterior motives, save maybe she thought she might win a date. I'd deal with that in time. For now, I needed her on my side.

I made it back to my room at round 3 am. It was a charming, one bedroom, chamber with stone walls and a big, four poster, dark wood bed. I flipped the TV on, trying to find something to occupy my time there. I hoped that the weather tomorrow would be cloudy so I could do some more research during the day. I was too wired to stay in my tiny room. It would feel like a prison. Besides I was on a timeline. I had promised Bella I would be back in time for our wedding, and I had no intention of breaking her heart.

Florence, Italy: Present Day

"Edward. Snap out of it." I heard Emmett say, waving his hand in front of my eyes and snapping his fingers at me.

"Sorry, I was... thinking." I stammered.

"Think some other time. We have business to discuss and you haven't said anything."

I strolled passed Emmett to his previous post at the window. "Maybe I haven't said anything because there is nothing to discuss. I'm doing this on my own."

Their thoughts shouted at me as much as their words. I turned to them, pleading. "Please. Just... I can't risk your lives for my promise. Let me do this alone."