"Edward, please" Esme cried.
"Dude, if you stop screaming, I'll give your leg back" Emmett said.
"Edward" Alice sobbed.
"Take me back!" I yelled.
"It's dangerous, moron" Rosalie sighed.
"I don't care. Just let me go back" I said.
"Edward… I can't let you go back" Carlisle sighed, "We all would have to go back. We promised her"
"They'll kill her" I cried.
They fell silent. They knew it was true.
"I think we're far away" Esme said quietly. "Jasper, attach his arm and leg, please"
"He'll run, Esme" Jasper said. "Let's wait a little more…"
"It's been four hours. The Volturi must be gone by now" Rose said, "Attach his damn limbs"
"It will take some time for him to heal properly, anyway" Carlisle sighed.
Jasper sighed and put my arm back. I sighed at the feeling of having both arms, as the pain slowly vanished.
"I still think it would be best not to attach his leg yet. Let's wait a few more hours" Jasper said.
"Give me my fucking leg!" I growled.
"I'm just trying to make sure you won't run back"
"Would you?" I asked, "If it was Alice?"
He was silent, but I could hear in his thoughts the answer. They all would if it was their mate.
"It's different" Rose said quietly.
"How?" I hissed.
"She's not one of us" she sighed.
"She is my mate, the love of my existence!"
"She asked us not to come back for her. She wants us safe"
"You can be safe. But let me go!"
"If it was me in her place… I would want Emmett away. And you have to consider your gift, Edward. You're too valuable to the Volturi"
"Rose" Emmett sighed, "You think he hasn't considered? He's Edward. He over thinks everything. He thought about what would happen if he went back"
"He just doesn't care" Alice finished. "Stop the car"
Carlisle stopped the car in the side of the road.
"Do you see anything?" Esme asked Alice.
"No… Nothing" Alice said quietly, guiltily. "The pack must be involved, everything is blank"
"Bella called Jacob. He knows not to get involved" Carlisle said.
"Yes, but you have to consider Jacob loves her" Jasper said. "He went there. Bella made a mistake by talking to him at all. She shouldn't have called. He would have continued to ignore her"
"You can't see anything?" I asked Alice.
She sighed and closed her eyes, concentrating in the future. She tried to see past the blackness, the wolves, and finally she got a glimpse. Bella, being violently dragged by guards, and they threw her in a dungeon. The door closing, cutting all the light, and the view of Bella's bloody face, and tear stained cheeks.
"They took her to Volterra?" I asked her.
"Apparently" she said quietly.
"Why?"
"I don't know"
"I thought they would kill her! They are torturing her!" I said desperately.
"We're talking about Aro" Carlisle sighed. "I don't know what you saw but… I know him. He wouldn't pass the chance of getting to know a new kind. And there's the possibility she's blocking his gift as she block yours. He'll torture her until he's satisfied with what she tells"
"What does she know he could want?" I asked.
"Us" Rose said quietly. "She knows about us. And he must be thinking she knows where we are. But she doesn't. He'll kill her to get information she doesn't know"
"Let me go, please" I said quietly this time. "I need her"
"You won't help her by going there, Edward. You'll just get things worse. You can't save her" Rose said.
"Rosalie, I need to…"
"You can't save her" she said cutting me off, "But we can"
"What?" everyone asked.
"We need to get people, friends and confront them" she said calmly.
"We still can't win, not against the Volturi" Jasper said.
"But we can damage their precious reputation. People can't know the vile, unnecessary things they do. Like hurt an innocent vampire's innocent mate. To all vampires, they are leaders, people to make our world better. And yes, they know they can be violent, but they think that they have a reason. But if people knew they don't have reason…"
"All they have is their reputation, the fear people have of them. If vampires knew they weren't fair, righteous, then they would lose power" Emmett said.
"And power is what they care the most" Rose said.
"Rose and Emmett are right" Alice said. "And we have to start now. Jazz, give Edward his damn leg"
He was about to protest, but with the look everyone gave him, he gave me my leg.
"Call the Denali. We can't count on Irina, but we can count on the others" Alice said to Carlisle.
"We should part" Jasper said. "Alice and I search through America"
"Rose and I can go through Africa, though it there isn't many vampires there" Emmett said.
"We go to Africa and Australia. There are a few vampires there that can help" Rose said.
"Carlisle, Edward and I start in Asia, and we all meet in Europe" Esme said.
"Hold on" I said quietly. "What about the wolves?"
"What about them?" Emmett asked.
"Shouldn't we contact them? They must know something"
"And they can help, if they want to" Jasper said.
"But they would mess with my visions, more" Alice sighed.
"The wolves the Volturi have are messing already. We need them" Esme said.
"Alright" Alice said, "Let's go"
I curled in a ball in the cold floor as I heard Leah's agonized screams. Tears didn't fall anymore. There weren't tears to cry anymore. A month. A month of my friends screams. A month of torture. A month of pain. A month of slowly dying. I wondered where Edward was, and what was he doing. Was he thinking of me? Did he forget me? I wish he did. If not, if he was feeling the pain I was for being away…
The door of the dungeon I was in opened and Demetri entered. By now I knew all their names. What they were, and if they had a gift. I didn't mind Demetri or Felix, they still hurt me, but I could see a little of compassion in their red eyes. It was vampires like Santiago, that hurt without thinking twice, without pity, or compassion, those were the worst. Demetri walked to me, and pulled me up by the arm. I couldn't stand though. I was too weak. They didn't give me any food for days, I was in pain, and tired. I could never sleep. I was too scared of letting my guard down, even though when I was awake, my guard didn't help much. Demetri gave me a sad smile, and picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder, carrying me out of the dungeon. He took me to what I called 'torture room'. I whimpered, but again, too weak to fight. He put me down on the cold floor, and waited.
"If you give up…" he started.
"It's not easy. It's my nature. I can't stop it" I said tiredly.
"Your nature should have more self preservation. This is going to kill you"
"Fine"
"Fine?" he snorted and sighed, "Tell us where the Cullens are, and we let you leave"
"But you won't let my friends leave" I mumbled. "I can't leave them"
"You can't help them either" he said, "Where are the Cullens?"
"I don't know" I sighed.
"Where?" he pressed.
"I told you a thousand times. I don't know!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes"
"Too bad" he sighed.
Santiago, Felix and another two guards entered. The torture began. They tortured for information. They tortured for me to phase. But I wouldn't phase. If I did, they would hurt me more. That was their objective. Make me stop phasing. To make my body reject the flames, because I knew how much they would hurt me if I phased. Hours, the whole day and night. But it felt like an eternity.
"See? Not so hard not to phase, right?" Santiago sneered, "Keep this up, it's good for you"
Felix and Demetri carried me back to the dungeon, and left me there, broken, bleeding, crying. I saw a glass of water, and tried to reach for it, but I couldn't. It hurt to move my fingers. I must have tried for hours. My eyes heavy, begging me to close them. But they snapped open when I heard Leah's screams stop. I thanked God they were done, even though that when they finished with her, they usually came to me. Minutes passed. The door opened, but I didn't move my eyes from the glass of water that I didn't reach. It was my glass of water in a desert. I felt cold hands on me, and waited for the pain.
"Please" I cried, "I'll do anything you want, just please, don't hurt me"
"Bella…" The voice was familiar.
"I don't know where they are" I murmured.
"It's time" the voice, I recognized as Aro's, said. "We'll create a new kind, hybrids"
"Alice" I said and pulled her to a hug.
"I think we can do it" she said quietly.
I nodded and pulled away to greet Jasper and the others with them. We were in France, in the middle of a forest. After two months, we decided we had enough. Rose and Emmett brought almost 50 vampires from Africa and Australia, 15 of those were gifted. Alice and Jasper brought more, almost 120, only 23 gifted. Carlisle and Esme got 100, from Asia and Europe, most Carlisle's friends, and 40 gifted. It was enough. But we had more. The pack joined me, traveling through the world, getting not just vampires, but more shape-shifters. Paul, Jared, Quil, and the newest member, Colin and Brad, traveled with me, trying to find more shape-shifters. We found a small town in US, the whole population of shape-shifters. It almost ended in a fight, because everyone wanted to kill me, but once the pack explained I was with them, they were willing to listen. Half of the town joined us. While we traveled through Europe, trying to get vampires, we ended meeting werewolves. True werewolves. They were more than happy to join us against the Volturi. We had a whole army.
"You got werewolves?" Jasper asked.
"Yes"
Everyone was tense. We were hundreds between vampires, shape-shifters and werewolves. All not friendly with each other.
"The Romanians will join us later, tonight" Esme said. "They were happy to help"
"We should plan" Jasper said.
"Alright" Carlisle said. "Ahn, maybe… each group sends a leader to talk?"
Two werewolves walked to us, five shape-shifters, Embry and Jared, and almost twenty vampires.
"When do we attack?" Jared asked.
"As soon as possible" I said.
"We have to wait for full moon" one of the werewolves said. "Or my kind will be useless"
"Full moon is two nights away" the other werewolf said.
"Alright, so two nights away" Carlisle said. "We should divide"
"Yes" Jasper said, "Especially the gifted ones"
"Did Bella, Jacob or the others tell you anything?" I asked Jared and Embry.
"Ahn, just the guys are phasing" Embry said.
"What do you mean?" Jasper asked.
"Leah and Bella aren't phasing for some time. And when they did, all we could get was pain" Jared said. "Embry once commented they were blind… They couldn't see, hear anything…"
"Alec's gift" I said, "He takes every sense from them"
"But why Leah and Bella don't phase?" Esme asked. "Why just them?"
"Just the women?" Carlisle said.
"Why would the Volturi make the women stop phasing?" Rose asked confused. "What's the difference?"
I noticed Alice was quiet. Too quiet.
"Do you know something?" I asked her.
"Yes… But, I don't want to tell" she said quietly.
"What?" I said annoyed, "Tell us already"
"It was just a glimpse I caught… Bella's future is getting clearer by the minute"
"What does that mean?" Emmett asked.
"I think… They are making her stop phasing" Alice said.
"Why?" Rose asked.
"Her healing abilities will stop. She'll get old. Die" Jared said.
"I think that's the reason" Alice said.
"Aro wants her dead? That doesn't make sense" one vampire said.
"No. When she stopped aging, her whole body stopped" Alice said. "Frozen, like a vampire"
"Yes, so?" one shape-shifter asked.
"What a female shape-shifter can't do while phasing?" Alice asked him.
"We can't reproduce" a female shape-shifter said joining us, "Our body is frozen like you said"
"They want Leah and Bella to have kids?" Esme asked shocked. "That's why they took Jacob and the others?"
I gripped my hair tightly, desperate to hear Alice said that was wrong.
"Edward, calm down" Alice said.
"You tell me they are forcing my Bella to… mate with other men and you expect me to calm down!" I asked shocked.
"I don't know if it's true. But what I know… I saw Aro saying something about hybrids"
"Hybrids?" Carlisle asked, "Like…"
"Half shape-shifter and half vampire" Alice finished. We all fell silent. "At first I didn't understood what he meant, but, I put the pieces together. Bella and Leah, shape-shifters, being taken by vampires…"
"It's impossible" a shape-shifter said. "If it works, it means she stopped phasing. She's basically a human. She'll die giving birth to the hybrid. The hybrid will be stronger"
"Edward, you need to calm down" Esme said as she watched me pace. "You aren't helping like this"
"I'm not helping at all" I said.
"I understand…"
"No, you don't!" I snapped. "My soul mate was taken by the Volturi and they are planning on having her mate with other…" I trailed off feeling sick with the thought.
"She won't let them" Esme said.
"She can't fight them all. She'll be… raped" I mumbled.
"They have to make her stop phasing first. It will take time, you've seen how sometimes she can't control. We have time"
"It's been almost two months" I whispered and sighed, "I hope you're right."
"Isabella" Aro said happily. "What a delight to see you!"
Demetri and Felix dropped me, and I fell on the cold marble floor. I whimpered as I fought with the pain to stand up. I couldn't so I stayed kneeled in front of Aro. I looked around, several guards, Jane, Alec… I held a cry when I saw Jacob lying in the corner.
"Now, let's see if we had success" Aro said, "Phase!"
"I-I can't" I whispered.
"Are you sure?" Aro asked.
The guards got out, leaving just Aro, Jane, Jacob and I. I got suspicious.
"Yes. I can't phase" I said.
"Too bad, right? Jane?" Aro asked.
Suddenly Jake started to scream in agony, thrashing on the floor in pain. I cried out begging them to stop but they would never listen to me. I closed my eyes, trying to bring the flames through my body. I couldn't. It hurt trying to phase.
"I swear, I can't phase" I cried.
"Jane, dear, stop" Aro said.
Jake stopped screaming, gasping for air.
"Wonderful! We can start the mating process!" Aro said happily.
"Please!" I begged. "I promise I'll be loyal to you as a guard. Just please, don't do this"
"Aren't you happy to give continuity to your species? To create another!"
"No"
"If you hadn't let the Cullens escape… Your dear Edward would be the one to procreate with you" he said with a smirk. "But for now, Santiago will be glad to share a night with you"
I let the tears fall freely. This was really happening. I was yanked from the floor by Demetri, and instead of taking me to the dungeon he took me to a room. There was a bed in it and nothing else. Demetri let me go and I sat on the floor by the foot of the bed. He looked at me and for a moment pity and compassion flickered in his eyes. But then he put a blank mask and walked out, locking the door leaving me to wait for the horror that was my future.
"The pack will get Leah, Embry and Jacob" Jasper said.
"I'll get Bella" I said.
"Edward, we need your gift in the front line" Carlisle said.
"Esme and I will get her" Rosalie said. "Don't worry; we won't get out without her"
"Okay" I sighed. "We need to eliminate Alec first"
"Jasper and Emmett will take care of him" Alice said. "I see Alec getting out going to hunt. This evening"
"Alright" I said. "Two werewolves will go with Esme and Rose just to be safe"
"The rest will take the guard" Jazz said.
"I get Aro" I said firmly. "Let him to me"
"Alright" Carlisle said, "Then it's decided.
"I see it. Bella will be home with us!" Alice said happily.
Alec got out of the castle. It was night already so he didn't have to worry about sunlight and wearing cloaks. Emmett and Jasper followed him in the rooftops. Alec found his pray as she walked around taking pictures and in awe with everything. Clearly a tourist. A young beautiful lady who was more than happy to follow him to a dark alley.
As Alec sank his teeth on her, Jasper and Emmett jumped, right behind him. Emmett pulled Alec and Jasper snapped the boy's head. Jasper torn the vampire in pieces as Emmett picked up the girl's drained body. They jumped in the roofs, ran to the outskirts of town, where they burnt the bodies. One smirked to the other before running to the castle to help his friends and family kill the rest of the Volturi.
I jumped up when the door opened. There stood Santiago, with a terrifying smirk. He took a step to me and I jumped back. He chuckled and tackled me to the bed. I tried to fight him, but he pinned me down with his body. He licked from my collarbone to my earlobe and I shuddered, disgusted.
"Hm… Delicious" he said.
"Please" I cried. "Please don't"
He ignored me of course, continuing to kiss my collarbone, jaw… I closed my eyes and tried to shut down reality, but I could still feel my clothes being ripped, his hands on me. I was disgusted, I felt disgusting. I begged God in a silent prayer to have some mercy and kill me just then. I heard the sound that made me hope. Fight. Santiago didn't notice the door open and a huge wolf enter silently, followed by Rose. Santiago was too busy kissing my shoulder to notice I was looking at the door, begging Rose to help me. I could feel anger boiling through heras she let out a snarl and jumped on Santiago, tackling him to the ground, off me. I crawled backward in the bed, pulling at the sheets to cover myself as I watched Rose and the wolf tear the vampire apart. Esme entered the room and ran to me, embracing me in a hug, sighing relieved. She gave me a coat but as I went to put the sleeve Rose stopped me.
"Can you phase?" she asked eyeing my trembling limbs with deep cuts.
I concentrated, shutting my eyes tightly trying to make the flames come, but nothing. The pain wasn't bad but as I tried harder the pain got worse, so I gave up with a sigh.
"It's okay" Esme said soothingly, "Let's just go"
"Who are they?" I asked eyeing the wolves, "The pack…"
"They are real werewolves, not shape-shifters" Rose said.
"I closed the coat, eyeing the wolves and realized they were slimmer, looked more deadly and had red eyes. I tried to get up, but I almost fell. Rose wrapped an arm around me and one of the wolves phased back to human form, revealing it was a woman.
"Put her on my back" she said with British accent. "I'll carry her"
She phased back and leaned down. Rose and Esme helped me get on her back as if she was a horse. I held tightly around her neck and she started to run, one wolf in front of her, and Esme and Rose right behind, escorting us.
As we ran through the hallways I saw a few people fighting, others running… There was smoke everywhere and I imagined there was vampires burning.
"Edward" I gasped.
"He's fine! Keep going" Rose said, "Let's get out of here!"
A few more minutes running and we finally got out through the back directly to the forest that surrounded the city. I saw other vampires there, wolves, and they watched us walk to them with relieve. I guessed they were friends. Suddenly there was a loud noise and I turned my head to see the castle crumbling down, before I passed out.
"Bella, it's me" a voice said, "It's Edward"
My eyes finally opened, and I looked at his eyes. My tired eyes, with tears in the way, could see him. His copper hair, his golden eyes, his perfect cheekbones, nose and jaw. His pink, soft lips. All contorted in pain, anger.
"E-Edward?" I whispered.
"Yes, love" he said and I felt his hand on my cheek. "I'm so sorry"