I looked at the clock mounted on the wall near me. It read three in the morning and I scowled. All I had to do was just go in and tell him. The thumping was going to happen soon. It seemed like it thumped every three days, but it seemed like every single time, they were closer together. Biting my lip, I knocked on the door.

"Come in," Carlisle called from inside. I sighed deeply and entered the room. "Dawn, what is it? You look... troubled."

I averted my eyes from him. "Yeah, I figured that you could help me." I paused for a moment, trying to place my words correctly. "There was a specific reason Edward and I had to leave so... quickly." My eyes chanced a look at him. He simply nodding, encouraging me to go on. "Well... there was this... sound." I pursed my lips, trying to figure out what was going on. "It sounded like... like a heartbeat. From a real, human heart." I stared into his eyes and said the last part of the story, "It came from me. The sound came from my... chest." My hand landed on where my heart would be on instinct.

"That is..." Carlisle couldn't place the words. "So very interesting." There was a pause. "How many times has it happened now?"

"Three times, but it will happen again soon. There's a set pattern to it, I know." My eyes flicked to the clock behind Carlisle. "Sometime in the next few minutes, that's what I–" I stopped midsentence as the thump happened. I felt it in my chest. "You see?" I whispered.

Carlisle nodded. "I think... I think your body is fighting back the venom."

"After two months, though?"

He frowned. "I've never heard of this happening. Did you do anything different the day you were changed?"

I thought back to my memory. I ran through the entire morning, and the only thing that I didn't do every day was take a Tylenol. "Just took some Tylenol for a headache, but otherwise, no."

"Tylenol is far too weak..." Carlisle mused to himself, mostly. "I think that you might need to get another dose of venom." I sucked in a breath. "No, it wouldn't be like the first time. It would just sting for a few days, but it should sedate your body."

"And... without the venom?"

"Complications would occur. You would be safest if one of us just bit you." He nodded a few times.

I held out my arm to him. "Could you do it? Now?" I closed my eyes and looked away. Carlisle hesitated, but in a few seconds, I felt the pinch of his teeth on my arm. He pulled away just as quickly and I felt the stinging immediately. Tears filled my eyes. "It stings," I hissed. "But thank you." I nodded to him and glided out of the room.

Alice saw me from the stairs and was at my side in a second. She was glowing with happiness. For what, I didn't know. But, it probably had something to do with the future. "Dawn, come with me!" She grabbed hand and I yelped out in pain. She touched the bite on my arm. She looked down at the arm and tilted her head.

"It's complicated," I reasoned. She looked like she was going to pry a bit more, but she seemed to be in a hurry.

"Quick, guard your thoughts." I immediately started thinking about Devon and us kissing, that was sure to deter Edward. "Now, come on! There's only a few more seconds." We ran down the stairs and stopped in front of the front door.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Alice whispered, "Five, four, three, two, one..." The doorbell rang and Alice yanked open the door with more force than necessary. Our visitor jumped and dropped the envelope she was carrying. Alice launched herself onto her, squeezing her tight.

"Bella?" I asked, shocked myself.

She smiled weakly and pushed Alice off of her. "Don't get Edward," she said first in a low voice that was sure not to carry to his ears. She bent over and scooped up the envelope. "Give this to him for me," she said, giving the envelope to Alice. She nodded happily. "Dawn, I need to talk to you." She looked at me carefully. "It's important."

I nodded, dumbly, and followed her outside. We sat on the porch and I waited for her to begin talking. "So... I was talking to an old friend of mine up in Washington." She chanced a look at me. "And he told me something about... about your attacker. The one who changed you."

I caught my breath. How could she have known that I was looking for answers? "Well, Jacob... he told me that this vampire was being elusive and the pack – he's a werewolf – couldn't catch him. But they could hear him saying things about the one that got away. Blue Eyes, he called you." She bit her lip and looked down. "I told Jacob about you, and it's clear he was talking about you." She looked at me for a moment, but looked down again. "I've told them not to destroy him."

I breathed out a sigh. "Thank you," I told her. All pain in my arm seemed to disappear. "Maybe I can finally figure it out now."

"Can I... ask a question?" she asked cautiously, now avoiding looking at me.

"Yes, you can ask me anything."

She bit her lip and focused on the porch beneath us. "Is Edward in love with you?" The question caught me off guard and I couldn't say anything for a moment. There was silence on the porch step and my arm began to sting again. I was suddenly hyper aware of everything around me.

"No," I told her. "No. He loves you more than I thought possible." I looked at her and waited for her to meet my gaze. She eventually did and I said, "A few days before we left Italy, we were looking at the night sky. You know what he said to me? He said that knowing you were out there without his protection was harder than thinking you were dead. Harder than anything."

"He... Did he really say that?" her eyes glittered.

"Yes, among other things. He loves you, Bella, and it's killing him." I looked down at the ground. "Why did you leave?"

She sighed. "I thought for sure that he was in love with you. Edward... he's attracted to things – people – that are different. I thought that I had become too mundane for him. And we were fighting, and I said some things that I shouldn't have and..." She stood up. "And I can't talk about this. His name is William, he's near Forks, Washington." She handed me a piece of paper. "If you decide you want to find him, call my friend Jacob. He'll help, just tell him you're a friend of Bella's." She took a few steps before breaking out into a run and disappearing from my sight. I looked at the number on the paper in my hand. I folded it carefully and pushed it into my pocket. I would use that in the future.

The door behind me was yanked open and Edward stood there, and I knew that he had caught on Bella's scent. I turned to face him and ran the conversation through my mind. "Why didn't you tell me?" I asked him.

"It wasn't important." Alice appeared behind him and handed him the envelope with sad eyes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to him. I walked past Edward who was holding the envelope. Alice took my hand and we walked upstairs, stealing glances at Edward once in a while. Alice and I had just closed the door to my room when we heard Edward yelling. I looked at her, confused. She sighed and explained, "They're divorce papers."

---

Christmas break was too long already, and it was only the first week. After the debacle with Bella, Edward had locked himself in his room with the papers. At first, we all tried to get him out, but he wouldn't leave. There wasn't much we could say, but we tried. I was spending more and more time in my room as well, but I assumed we all were. Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, Esme, and Carlisle had gone on a hunting trip. I opted out, simply because I didn't feel thirsty at all. Alice opted out as well, if only to keep my company.

I was reading a book when my door opened and Alice danced in. "You're going to have a visitor!" she squealed and jumped up onto my bed. "Devon's coming to see you."

"Here?" I asked. "When? Now? Please don't say now."

"Not now... fifteen minutes," she offered me a smile and I scowled at her. "I thought you would be excited! He is your boyfriend." Oh yeah. I had almost forgotten that entire thing. A rather large part of the equation, you might say. But, so much had happened recently... Well, I hadn't had time to think about it. "He's going to call you in less than a minute. Your phone's in your backpack." She smiled at me and I launched myself towards the backpack. I dug through it and found the phone. Almost the second I had it in my hand, it began to ring.

I flipped it open and said, "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me." Alice hovered near me, listening in on my conversation.

I swatted her away, but she persisted. "I know. What's up?"

"Well, I was wondering if it was okay if I came to see you."

Alice nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, sure. Come on over." Alice jumped around excitedly.

"Okay, see you in a few minutes."

"See you." I closed the phone and threw it on my bed. I began pacing. "Alice, oh Alice, what am I going to do?" I whispered. She paced with me.

"What do you mean?"

"He wants answers, Alice. He wants to know why I'm so cold. He's curious!"

She quirked an eyebrow at me. "So lie." She shrugged. "Surely you can think of something he'd buy."

I barred my teeth. "I don't want to lie to him."

She laughed. "You can't very well tell him the truth! Well, actually..."

"No, I can't tell him..." I trailed off and the sentence had less confidence than I wanted it to have. "But... no. No, I've seen what Jane could do..." My pacing got fasted and soon, I was running back and forth in a straight line. Alice's eyes followed me from her spot on the bed.

She jumped off unexpectedly and exclaimed, "He's here!" I stopped and she took advantage of that and yanked me by my arm. We ran down the stairs and the doorbell rang soon after. Carefully, I opened the door. And the practicality left once again.

There were flowers. Pretty smelling, beautifully arranged flowers! What girl would be able to be practical with flowers? My newly-stopped heart melted at the sight. "Oh, Devon," I whispered. Probably a bit over-dramatic, I ran into a hug with him. "Thank you."

"You like the flowers? I wasn't sure what to get so I kind of got... everything," he explained when I pulled out of the hug.

I smelled the bouquet and smiled. "I love them, thank you!" I was still aware of Alice's presence. I turned around and gave her a look that clearly said to go away. She raised her eyebrows but left anyway. "That's Alice, by the way," I said, probably a bit late, to Devon. I let him into the house and closed the door quietly. "So... this is the house..." I stated lamely.

"Where's everyone else?" Devon asked.

"Well... most of them are – er – camping. Edward is... preoccupied." My eyes darted up the stairs for a second, my thoughts straying towards him.

"School work?" he offered.

I nodded. "Yeah, school work." I bit my lip. The lying would have to stop... eventually. "Listen, Devon, I've been meaning to tell you..."

"About your thing?" he finished for me. "I figured. But, don't tell me if you think it wouldn't be best. I mean, you're human, I'm human, I bet we both have secrets."

"Well, that's the thi–" I started but an aggravated yell from upstairs interrupted me. Alice and Edward were downstairs quicker than they should have judged their pace.

"Even now, she can't stay out of danger!" Edward yelled as he ran out the door.

Alice came up to me and started talking extremely fast, obviously hoping that Devon wouldn't understand. "Bella's in trouble, big trouble. The Volturi decided to pay a visit to her, and she was with Jacob at the time. They took her back to Italy because they don't like the pack knowing where we are apparently, but the pack already knew about us. So Bella's in Italy, or at least on her way, and we're going, are you coming?" Alice bit her lip and Edward honked the horn three times.

"I..." My eyes darted back and forth between Devon and Alice. "I'm so sorry," I told Devon. Thinking twice about it, I got on my tip-toes and kissed him. "If I don't come back, it's not because I'm avoiding you," I told him, grabbing his hand and pulling him out the door. "It's because of complicated–"

"Dawn, I'm coming with you." My eyes bulged.

"You... You can't possibly!" Alice stuttered.

Edward stuck his head out of the window and yelled, "HE'S NOT COMING!" 'I'm going to tell him anyway. He won't go to see the Volturi, and neither will I. He doesn't need to know anything unless it's necessary,' I thought, staring directly at Edward. He hesitated then yelled, "JUST GET IN THE DAMN CAR, WOULD YOU?"

Alice giggled and the three of us ran towards the car. She slipped into the front seat and I crawled into the back with Devon. Edward took off, doing almost two-hundred. I looked over at Devon and he seemed scared. Softly smiling, I took his hand and leaned towards him to whisper in his ear. "It's okay. There's no way he's going to crash." He still seemed tense. "Just look at me, ignore the road." He turned his head and focused his eyes on me. I returned his gaze. In a matter of minutes, Edward had parked the car. The four of us moved quickly into the airport and Devon seemed surprised.

Alice and Edward got us four tickets with ease, and I marveled at them. Well, Alice already knew we were getting on the plane and Edward knew what they were thinking, so it really couldn't have been that hard. The next plane left in five minutes, so we would have to bypass security, illegally of course.

"Devon, get on my back," I told him, turning around.

"Why?" he asked. "Won't I be too heavy for you?"

I shook my head. "No, don't worry about that. Just trust me and get on. I'll explain later." He got onto my back and I shifted my weight so I could support him better. "Duck your head into my neck."

"Wha–" Before he could finish, we were running. Alice and Edward quickly passed us, but the human eye would not pick Devon and I up, even though we were going a bit slower than I would have liked. I stopped and let Devon drop. The four of us boarded the crowded plane and took our seats. "Can I just ask one question?" he said as we buckled ourselves in. Alice and Edward were in the row across from us. I could tell that Alice was soothing him with her visions because Edward had his eyes closed and looked like he was concentrating on reading her thoughts.

"Yeah," I answered him, turning my head from Edward and Alice. "Just one."

He nodded. "Did I... pass out or something? Because one second we were by the ticket counters and the next we were at the gate."

I shook my head. "You didn't pass out." He nodded and we settled back into our seats. The plane took off and I was shaking with anxiety. Going back to Italy might be dangerous for me, but I would have to fight tooth and nail to protect Devon. A few hours into the flight, Devon fell asleep. When he woke up, I knew I would have to explain a little. Probably just the illegal things. "Devon, I feel like I should tell you something," I started. "Don't interrupt me, and no questions, okay?" He nodded and I took his word. "So, when we get to Italy, you can't say anything about what we're doing. We'll be in a hurry, so don't let go of my hand, whatever you do. No questions, just go with the flow. And then, at one point, Edward and Alice will have to go do something. I might have to help them, but my first priority is protecting you." He looked like he was about to say something, but I started up again. "You see, we're on a slight... rescue mission. And we'll have to do some things that aren't exactly... legal."

I stopped and he responded, "Is that it?"

"Well, we'll be fugitives of the law. So, yeah, that's it."

"Cool."

---

We ran at almost human speed in the airport. Devon could hardly keep up with us, so I had to half-pull him most of the way. Alice commented on how the last time she was here, she was doing something strangely similar. Edward growled at her. The two of them ran off, leaving Devon and I alone for a few seconds. A car pulled up and Alice waved us over.

Edward took off, even faster than before. It was a while before we reached Volterra, but we did. The sun was shining brightly, which worried me. Edward parked the car in an abandoned alleyway, in the shade. He and Alice disappeared without a word, but I knew exactly where they were going.

I paced for a moment, not knowing exactly what to do. An idea came to me and I dived into the car once more. Rummaging through the things in the backseat, I produced an umbrella, luckily. I opened it up and hid myself under it. "Okay, let's go," I said to Devon. We walked at a brisk pace, moving into the shade when we could. Thankfully, Devon didn't ask questions. We came across an inn and we took out a room, under Devon's name. I couldn't risk anything.

For a while, we sat in silence. Then, I finally asked, "Have any ideas yet?"

"I've got theories," he told me.

"Care to share with me?"

"You're going to turn into some sort of animal any second now."

I bit my lip. "Not exactly."

"The sun will make you turn into an animal?"

I chuckled. "No."

He laughed with me. "Then, no. I don't know."

"Well that's good. I can't risk anything, especially in this city." There was silence once more. The unmistakable buzzing of my phone on vibrate rang in my ears and I launched myself at it, answering it before it had even finished the first ring.

"Dawn, where are you?" Alice asked quickly.

"Devon and I are in the hotel not too far from the car. Where are you?"

"We got Bella out. We're coming to get you. Be ready." The call disconnected and I put down the phone.

---

With the stress of knowing the Volturi were not happy with us, we rushed out of Volterra. We had to steal another car because somebody would have noticed the one before was stolen. The air in the car was tense, however. Edward seemed angry as he drove, Alice was glaring at him, Bella was glaring at him, and I was just trying to figure it out.

There was silence the entire way to the airport. And even then, while we were waiting for our flight, there was silence. Then, Bella pulled me aside without a word and we walked down the terminal, out of earshot. She stopped and hugged me tightly. "I'm so sorry, so sorry, so sorry!" she whispered in my ear.

I hugged her back awkwardly. "Why? You did nothing wrong. We came to save you."

She pulled back and looked down at her feet, ashamed. "I wish you hadn't." She led me to a vacant seat. Sighing, she elaborated, "Edward and Alice were bargaining to get me out. At first, Edward told them that he would come back if they let me go. But they didn't want him."

"Well that's good, right? I mean, now you two can get back together. He never did sign those papers," I responded. She bit her lip and started to pace again.

"That's not all." She stopped and stared me in the eye. "They didn't want him because they wanted you." I tilted my head, confused. "Edward traded me... he traded me for you."

My eyes went wide. So what was I, some kind of material object that could be traded at will?

But, then again I felt somewhat glad, if that would be the correct term. If I went back – which seemed inevitable now – I wouldn't have to explain anything to Devon. He could go on without knowing, and I wouldn't get him into trouble.

It was silent for a moment or two. Then, after I mulled it over, I responded, "Okay." Calmly, I walked back towards them. I went directly up to Alice a whispered in a tone just below what humans could hear, "It's okay, but I'm going to go now." Alice gasped and hugged me tighter. She let go of me eventually and I hugged Edward wordlessly. Then, I turned to Devon. "Bella and I are going to the bathroom, we'll be back," I told him. I gave him a quick kiss and then I walked away with Bella.

We reached the bathroom and went in. I gave my final hug to Bella and, once I pulled back, I said, "Keep him safe, please." She nodded and I started running, undetected by any humans.

Arggghhhhh It's taken me this long, and all I can spew out is this shit. I'm so sorry. SO SORRY.Because this is probably the worst chapter of this story. I'm really pissed. But, it's something. And it's propelling the story forwards, so yeah.

And we WILL be seeing Devon again, just in case you were wondering. He's a bit more interesting than you may think. But that's all I'm saying! Okay, so please leave a review and, if you would like to, please read and review my other Twilight story! Thanks!