IRINA

We had entered the American continent. I had to walk behind Caius, and Jane's eyes were on me all the time. It freaked me out. I wondered how long it would take until they caught me if I ran now. I snorted. As if I could go anywhere. The Cullens' house wasn't so far away anymore. Everything made me feel sick. I was disgusted with myself, I should have just gone home after all. Now it was too late. Felix came walking next to me. 'Nervous?'

'No.' I lied. 'Just sad. They will get killed and it is my fault!'

Felix shook his head. 'Nah, they would have gotten killed anyway, sooner or later.' I stared at him in disbelief. 'Felix, they are my friends. What have I done?'

'Well, you are a little telltale, that is.'

I hung my shoulders. 'I can never go home.'

'Why?' He moved in a relaxed, nonchalant way. He was not even worried about a possible fight. He knew they would win. I knew too, and swallowed hard.

'Carlisle is my sister's best friend. If she finds out I have betrayed him, she would hate me.'

'She would never hate you. Don't you guys go with that 'family first' spirit?'

'But the Cullens are family, too!'

Caius turned his head to us. 'Silence!' he snapped, and I almost tripped. 'Oh brother, let the children be. And look, we are almost there!' Aro squeaked in his high voice.

I continued in a whispering tone. 'I did the right thing by reporting the crime didn't I? But I just wished the criminals were not my friends.'

Felix nodded. 'Understandable. But as I said, it would have come out sooner or later, and your message might have prevented a lot of trouble for our kind. So, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself.'

I sighted. 'I know. But I feel so bad.' Demetri had led the group from the moment we had left Volterra and we were on a place I vaguely recognized from visits. I bit my lip. I would never visit my friends again, I realized, unless a miracle took place. Absent minded, I wandered behind the Volturi trio, not really noticing anything around me.

Suddenly, Aro gasped. 'My, my! Do you see that, brothers!' He turned around to look at us, shock on his face.

'They are planning on an attack!' Caius hissed. I had to stand on my toes to see and I understood Aro's shock. It weren't just the Cullens there, they had collected a small army, of vampires and werewolves, as it seemed. I doubted something like this had ever happened before. But…

My eyes searched through the crowd and I almost immediately found who I was looking for. I spotted Tanya's jumping curls, almost pink in this light, and soon my other sister's white hair as well. Oh no. Carmen and Eleazar stood there, too. They would not survive! I sucked my cheeks in to stop myself from crying out. This was what I had tried to avoid from the beginning on. And here they were, my family, and they would most likely die today. I caught Tanya's eyes and wondered if she was angry with me. If I were here, I would be furious. I had broken my promise of coming home after that damned weekend and I had ignored all here worried calls. Right now, she also seemed more worried about me than angry. I hated when she did that, it made me feel even worse about myself. I looked at Kate, but when we made eye-contact, Kate turned her gaze away and stared past me with a hard expression. It felt like a punch in my stomach, but, honestly, I deserved this. She turned to a guy next to her, someone I'd never seen before, and started talking to him. He laughed. Who was he? Who could possibly laugh in a situation like this. What had Kate told him? I wished I was on the other side of the field, with my sisters. I would rather die with them now, than be the person who caused their deaths. I would end up all by myself with my two favorite people in the world dead because of my stupid actions. Fuck, Irina, fuck. Then I saw the child. It was not the same child. Was it?

I couldn't concentrate on what Aro and Carlisle talked about. When Caius addressed me as "informant" and asked if this was the immortal child, I admitted that the child was different than the one I had seen. This girl had grown, I said. That meant she was not immortal. I finally could breathe. Maybe there was some hope left. He gave me a slap in my face as a reward, but it didn't hurt. I felt ashamed, that is, but I knew he just let his anger out on me because he could not have what he wanted. The child. I glanced at my sisters and they were so angry. It was a relief, in some way, Kate might be raging mad with me, but her eyes were on fire as Caius hit me, so she had not gone entirely stopped caring. I almost felt joyful, knowing that. 1

I had to do something. I couldn't bear this, Caius was looking for excuses to still kill the Cullens, so I spoke up. It was the closest thing to an apology I had. I heard myself say that I took all responsibility, that the Cullens were innocent. 'I'm sorry.' I said and Tanya smiled and Carlisle nodded and maybe everything was all right now.

Then it all happened so fast. I felt hands on me and everything was a sea of black coats. I would not end up all by myself with my friends dead. I would be the one to die.

1

I forgot this part in the first version, sorry, but here it is anyhow!