Disclaimer: No, I did not dream up Edward and Bella, therefore they are not mine : (

Chapter Nine

Something was slipping down my throat. This was my first thought after what seemed an eternity of nothingness. It was cool and tasteless – I would compare it most to water. As it slipped through me, I could tell it was exactly what my body needed. I could feel my awareness spreading; until I felt my arms and legs, breathed in sweet air, heard faint rustles of sound, and lastly, opened my eyes.

Looking right back at me, his face mere inches from mine, was Edward. The relief was plain in his features as he registered my open eyes. I felt as if I hadn't seen him in a thousand years, as if we'd been apart for eternity. This time, however, Edward had not left me I had left him. I remembered the terrifying weakness that had plagued me for days on end, until…

I sat up with a bolt, realising I felt…energetic. Inhumanly so.

My shock was great. My weakness had left me, which meant Edward had found a way to save me. My mind suddenly threw up my last memory: Jane's voice as she entered our Alaskan home. I tore my eyes away from Edward's flawless and perfect features, to take in my surroundings.

What I saw was not comforting. Not comforting at all. Although the rest of my family were perched around the room, leaning anxiously towards me, the room was familiar to me. Italy. I was in Volterra.

"…Bella honey, can you hear me?" came Edward's sweet voice, breaking into my thoughts.

Without pause, I threw my arms around him, sobbing tearlessly into his shoulder before smothering his face and neck in kisses.

His response was immediate. Moulding his mouth perfectly to mine, he returned my kisses, his exulting joy anticipated by my seeking tongue.

At last we broke apart.

"How do you feel, Bella?"

"Great. Like I've just been changed. Like I've just been reborn. Edward, how did you do it…and why are we here?"

His wide grin drooped for just a second, before he quickly froze his face in a crooked smile.



"When you…neared death…Aro, Demetri and Jane had just arrived. When they inquired as to how you had reached that state."

I could see how hard it was for Edward to revisit his memories, and I squeezed his hand gently in my own.

"Aro thought he had something that would help – a prosthetic-bio-plasma-" he paused, seeing my blank look. "It's fake blood, Bella. They created artificial blood that is without the usual smell, texture and colouring of blood, the things that we think repel you from it so much."

As a human, this news would have been too much for my overstressed mind, but, being something more than human, I was able to process this and turn to the most worrying fact of all.

"Edward… do they know?" I whispered, out of habit, knowing that the Volturi who no doubt hovered behind the closed doors. His mind, as many layered as mine, was able to shuffle away his other thoughts and concentrate on my question. He knew, of course, exactly what I meant. Did the Volturi know I could null their formidable gifts with a single thought?

He shook his head, very slightly.

At this point, the rest of the Cullen's converged, each hugging me tightly, none so much as Alice, who literally shrieked in my ear about how worried she'd been and how dare I manage to hide from her visions.

I heard footsteps in the hall outside, my hearing the attuned and superhuman of the immortal once more. We all turned as the door swung open, revealing Aro and Jane, dressed identically in flowing black robes, their shining red eyes revealing nothing.

"Ah, Bella, I see your treatment was a success. How pleasurable to see you again." His soft voice carried over to us.

"Yes, I am grateful Aro, that you gave Bella back to me. We will of course, not tread upon your hospitality much longer."

"That is not an issue, my boy. I do in fact, have a proposition for Alice and Bella and yourself. I –"

Edward cut him off "I know what it is you ask, and my answer still stands. No."

"Bella, Alice, do you wish to join us?"

"No." We said in unison.



"Then there is just the matter of Bella's treatment. She will of course, require more of our 'artificial blood'"

There was an awkward silence.

"Just as I thought. We aid you, you aid us, I think."

I don't know what Aro was thinking, but I saw Edward tense, about to jump, and at the same moment, a vindictive smile spread over Jane's face as she anticipated the agony she was about to inflict on him.

In desperation, I accessed my own gift, focusing its effects on Jane. Edward was face-to-face with Aro, whose calm, like Jane's, had been broken by the fact that Jane couldn't stop Edward.

"Well, well, well." Came Aro's nonchalant voice. "Now we see Bella's gift."

I myself was in shock. I'd been able to stop Jane. No more was she a threat to us. I remembered to the time, so long ago, in the nearby Italian streets were Jane's mere presence had meant the abandonment of any hope of escape. Now we had the upper hand. However, looking into Aro's ancient face, I felt suddenly certain that they weren't going to just be me the blood and let us walk out. They had something else in mind.