My second exam is tomorrow, the first one went okay...I think, suppose I'll see when I get the results. I've got about up to chapter 14 written, so for the next few weeks I'm going to be posting chapters on a Monday, then after my exams hopefully I'll get into a bit of a quicker updating schedule :)

Hope you like it!

Bittersweet Bones

Chapter 10

by missrebecca

Four days.

Four days in the steadily growing spring sunshine. Four days of kisses, of holding hands and clandestine meetings in crowded public parks. Four days of falling in love and loving every moment of it. Four days to forget her past, to repeat mistakes she'd long ago said she would never make. They were the best four days of her life. But she should have known it would end.

Four days after the day by the seaside, after their first kiss and Isabella surrendered herself to her heart, the Volturi arrived in Bristol.

They manifested in the night; she never saw them coming. One moment she was knocked suddenly from her sleep by her door breaking open, the next she was opening her eyes in a stone walled cell in the hidden palace of Volterra. She had no idea how long she had been incapacitated, and had no idea how. All she knew was her life was over and there was no one to blame but herself.

Isabella was unaware of just how long she spent in her cell. She did not scream, and she did not pace. She sat on the lone chair by the window and unravelled her curls, straightened her nightdress and stared out of the window over the sunlit Italian landscape. She had a feeling it would be the last glimpse of sunlight she would get.

Sometime after midday, or so she assumed judging by the height of the sun, the door of her cell was swung open by a male vampire standing in the doorway. He didn't so much as look at her as he asked her to follow him, the threat of what should happen were she to run was evident in his voice, and so she chose to simply do as he said. There was little else she could do.

Along stone corridors she walked, and from the misting of her breath she had a feeling that she would have been freezing had she been anyone else. The vampire led her into a room she was quite intimate with, to a chair bolted to the ground. She sat and surveyed those around her, as she tried to keep her heart from breaking out of her chest.

The room was massive, high ceilinged and incredibly long. On a dais sat three wooden thrones, occupied by two vampires, one she recognised as Aro, she was unaware of the other dark haired man's name. Then, standing in a semicircle out from the dais, were ten vampires, the same ten she had seen before, including the little blond girl, Jane, who had tried so hard to cause her pain.

A door behind the thrones slammed open and Jasper materialised into the room, Isabella couldn't stop the sudden move she made towards him, and found herself thrown back into the chair by the vampire who had led her from her cell. Jasper looked terrible, his skin was cracked in places and his clothes were ripped, but it was his eyes, feral and pain filled that made her ache. A woman flitted to his side, tiny with black hair, and she spoke quickly into his ear before dragging him off to the side. After him strolled two vampires, a blond haired man Isabella knew to be another of the rulers, who took his place beside Aro, the second was someone Isabella had never wished to see again.

Edward looked just the same as he had twelve years before; pale skin, boyish good looks and hair the colour of a newly minted ha'penny. She wished she had the strength to wipe the crooked smile from his devilishly handsome face.

"Good afternoon, Bella," Aro spoke, causing Isabella's mutinous gaze to spin from her old love to him. "Or shall I call you Isabella, as you seem to be going by now. I must say it is far more adult, but I suppose so are you! You know, I forget how quickly you humans age." His smile was friendly, and Isabella wasn't sure where she stood with him. The last time she was here, it had been obvious that Aro was disappointed with Edward's decision to kill her; she wondered if, seeing as she was still alive, she would manage to escape again.

"You've caused us quite a bit of trouble you know, but at last we've found you. Now, it's been a while since you were here, and I believe last time we gave Edward a choice on what to do with you, as it's been so long, I find I've almost forgotten his decision." A few members of the guard around the dais shifted slightly, as though shocked by their leader's words. "Edward," he called. The red headed vampire moved to stand in front of Isabella, and she barely resisted the urge to kick him. "I'm asking you again. As you were the one who exposed us-"

"Actually, you did that all on your own," Isabella said, finding her voice at last. The sound of stone on skin was heard as her guard slapped her round the face; she tasted blood in her mouth but only smiled up into his black eyes. "Don't you remember? That won't work on me."

"Yes, Felix, leave her alone. You're right; of course, you claimed to know nothing of us before we brought you here." He sent a scathing look towards Jane, who only held her head higher in retaliation. "But still, we'll stick to form. Edward?"

"I believe she should be bitten, it would be a shame if her obvious talents went to waste." His voice was wooden, as though reciting a speech he had rehearsed, before he slunk off to the side.

"Excellent," Aro gushed. There was a moment of silent, and Isabella wondered what they were waiting for.

"Well get on with it then," the blond haired man at Aro's side spoke up. As Isabella was watching him, and the interaction between him and Aro, she missed the frantic look Edward sent towards the small black haired woman at Jasper's side.

"Aro," she began.

"Yes, Alice?" Aro said.

"Don't you think it would be better if someone more experienced turned her? After all Edward has very little control."

"Of course, you're right, who would you suggest?"

"Well, Jasper's turned over fifty vampires in his lifetime, and since he was the one to find her..."

"Of course, see to it then."

Isabella couldn't stop her gaze from drifting between the speakers. It was as though she were watching a finely orchestrated play, which no one but the players knew they were involved in. She had a feeling she had fallen into something far more complicated than simply a human knowing of the existence of vampires.

She was broken from her thoughts as Jasper gently took her hand in his, and led her away from the main room, down further corridors and into what she assumed were his private chambers. There were posters of plays and films on the walls, a large sheepskin rug on the floor, and a large writing desk, littered with papers.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Gently he tugged her to sit beside him on an ottoman that badly needed reupholstering; Isabella fingered the fraying fabric as Jasper spoke. "Alice came to see me a few days ago, and she saw us together. There was no way she could hide it from Aro, so we came up with a plan, well, they did, to get you here and to keep you safe. The problem is...the problem is I can't stay with you."

"What?"

"I have to...turn you into a vampire, but then I can't stay. It's too dangerous if I do."

Isabella frowned, she was missing something huge, she knew, and she hated feeling so left out. "I don't understand - you're leaving me here?"

"Yes." He was smoothing his fingers along the back of her hand, Isabella could see the marks he was leaving in her skin, but felt nothing but a faint pressure upon her skin. "It'll be hard. But we'll have forever, and that's all I'm thinking about."

Isabella felt herself smiling, despite her apparently dire situation. "You want me for forever?" It was a juvenile thought, selfish in fact, but it seemed to be the only thing registering in her mind.

Jasper couldn't stop himself from smiling and rolling his eyes. "Of course. When you're like me, you'll know."

"Well," she said, grasping tight to his hand in both of hers. "I suppose we should get on with it, yes?" Swallowing heavily, he nodded. "What's wrong?"

"The transition from human to vampire is extremely painful; I don't want to do that do you."

"Well it doesn't seem like we have a choice, do we? Plus, I can't feel pain, it'll be fine."

Smiling, Jasper leaned in close and spoke quietly, for Isabella's ears only. "Have I ever told you, how amazing you are?"

She shrugged. "You might have."

They shared one final smile, before Jasper leaned over her, bared his razor sharp teeth, and sliced through the soft skin of her neck.

There was pressure, and a shot of pleasure unlike anything Isabella had felt. She gripped tight to Jasper's shoulders, pulling him tighter and closer to her. When all of a sudden there was a feeling unlike anything she had felt, it was a feeling she was unable to describe, but it caused a scream to rip its way from her throat. In the moment before her world went black, she realised what it was, the burning, tearing feeling throughout her whole body; it was pain.

Let me know what you think :)