A/N: Oooooh yay I'm so excited for this chapter. It's gonna be good people, very good. . Oh and please please please leave me reviews, they make me more motivated to write chapters. (Most of the time, I won't post another chapter until I get a review on the last chapter I wrote. XD) So yeah. Read, review, love it!

Max turned out to be a fairly good companion, but it wasn't like I had a "back up" companion. Well, not saying that I didn't want to hang out with Max, but... Well, sometimes he got really annoying.

Once I really started to get to know him, he turned out to be one of those guys who thinks they're all that and expects everyone to fall on their knees in front of him.

He kept bragging and telling me on and on and on and on about his life. He was a great athlete, he almost had a scholarship... Blah, blah, blah. It all went in one ear and out the other.

But, he was nice. He was kind. He was grateful that I saved him. He listened to me when I needed to talk about something. He was very encouraging of my need to know why I'm different. In short, as a friend he was amazing. But as a person? Not so amazing.

I had thought we had told each other everything about ourselves. But he kept coming up with questions for me.

One of them set off a chain reaction that... well... It's hard to explain.

"Hey, Dawn," Max said as he strolled into my room without knocking. He didn't need to, and I didn't care. He promptly sat down next to me as I marked my page in my book.

"What's up?" I asked him, throwing my book on the floor.

"Question," he began, and I nodded, accustomed to this now. "Are you now, or were you ever, in love with Devon?" he asked quickly, as if he was asking if the sun was out right now.

I blinked a few times. "Um... No. To both. I hardly knew him." He nodded and laid back on my bed. "Can I ask why you're so curious about our relationship?"

He simply shrugged and changed the subject, "So why did you leave Oregon in the first place? You knew Devon then, didn't you?"

"I left because there wasn't anything for me then." I gently laid back next to him. "I didn't see any reason to stay."

"But you went back," he said.

I rolled my eyes and playfully hit him. "Because my heart started beating again!"

He laughed and pushed me again. "But you still went back with Edward and the crew, didn't you? You could have gone somewhere else."

I threw him a dark look. "Do you honestly think I was planning on going back? It happened so fast, you couldn't imagine. All I wanted to do was get out of the Volturi's reach." I scoffed. "Because that plan worked out so well."

We fell silent for a while. It wasn't the awkward silence that happened at the beginning of our friendship. It was comfortable, like a familiar feeling. After a while, I felt his hand snake into mine, intertwining.

"You're not going to go back again, are you?" he whispered.

I bit my lip. If I had the chance, would I go back? Back to where I would have to look at my father and brother fall apart without mother and I? Back to where Devon would be waiting to pounce the second he saw me? Back to where everything was comfortable, but nothing was right?

That moment, the answer was no. I wouldn't go back to Oregon, not for the life of me.

"No," I whispered back. "Never."

We sat there for almost an hour later, not speaking. We just lay on my bed, holding hands, praying for something better than this to happen.

And maybe someone heard our prayers.

Maybe someone did something.

Maybe it was by sheer will, mine or someone else's

Or completely bad timing.

But, nevertheless, I heard it. That familiar sound that accompanied the thumb in my chest cavity. It was beginning again.

My head snapped towards Max, who was already looking at me. I mouthed to him, 'Did you hear that?' He nodded.

This was definitely not a good thing.

---

I didn't do anything about it, I just ignored it. I figured, if it followed the same pattern, I had at least a week.

Why do something now? Nobody heard but Max.

He wouldn't act on it.

I certainly wouldn't say anything.

I would just ask Max to bite me soon. That was all.

No big deal.

Max and I were hanging out in the entry hall outside of the balcony, like we did when we weren't hanging out in our rooms, when it happened again.

It had only been one day.

Within seconds, the entirety of the Volturi was in the entry hall, staring at us. Their eyes read our guilty faces easily and, just as quick, two vampires came up and held me back. I hung my head and let them hold me back. Who was I to put up a fight?

There was some quiet bickering between the leaders, but after about a minute, all of us headed out onto the balcony again. I was forced to stand in the middle, having everyone stare at me.

God damnit.

"Dawn," Aro began, in his patronizing voice that he gave me sometimes. I looked up at him and mustered the dirtiest look possible. If they were going to treat me like a criminal, I was going to let everything out. "You're becoming a liability."

A liability?

A liability!?!?

I'd give them liability...

Screw this shit, putting up with being cooped up all day. No ties to the only people I could consider family. Did they really expect me to roll over and just comply with everything they would tell me.

"We can't deal with this behavior anymore." It was Caius now. They were ganging up on me.

I scowled. "So what? Are you going to take me back to Oregon and swap me with another Cullen? Will it be Alice this time?" I snarled.

"Now, Dawn..." Aro started.

"It's just a business transaction. You're just trying to keep us in line because you know, deep down-"

"DAWN!" Cauis roared.

"YOU KNOW WE'RE A THREAT!" I yelled at them. I felt something surge inside of me, but I pushed it down. "You're scared."

Now everyone stared at me with anger. I'd just insulted their very being. The Volturi was scared of no one, everyone was scared of them.

But not us. Never us.

I could openly say that after the first time meeting the Volturi, I couldn't be scared by them. I saw past their silly little charade. They think they're all mighty and powerful, but they aren't. And they know it, which is their greatest, and only fear. A rebellion.

Edward. He knew what they were capable of, and he wanted to use it for his own vices. He simply saw the Volturi as a way to keep himself happy, in his own sick and twisted way.

Alice. She had come face to face with the Volturi many times, saving Edward, Bella, and me. Well... not me. But Edward and Bella, for sure. Twice.

"You know it," I whispered, lowering my head again. "I'm only here because you're trying to keep the Cullens in order... and away from werewolves." A ripple of whispers broke out in the crowd, who didn't know about the werewolves in Washington. I swallowed carefully and started talking again, this time lifting my head high and staring straight at the three men who had made my life hell. "Go ahead. Kill me," I taunted. "I know you want to." I thrust my arm out to them. "Go ahead. Oh... wait..." I laughed to myself. "If you kill me, what's to stop the Cullens from returning the favor? And, oh yeah, what's to stop them from bringing the werewolves too? It'd be a terrible shame if this entire place was exposed to what it really is... to vampires, to werewolves... and to the humans."

Suddenly, I found myself in terrible pain. I knew it was Jane. I crumpled to the floor and writhed in pain. Through the tears gathering in my eyes, I saw the Volturi looking down, amused. After a few seconds, I heard a yell from the door way.

"STOP IT! STOP IT!" Max yelled. Jane only laughed at him and I felt more pain. I screamed loudly.

After that, I'm not quite sure what happened. I heard a loud yell from Max and then, everything began shaking. I heard the rocks jostling, and I knew the balcony was coming down. Jane lifted her stare and everyone went into a panic. Max grabbed me and dragged me into the entry hall. Most everyone had gotten out, only two people fell out of sight with the balcony. They'd be fine, they were both vampires.

But I was most impressed by Max. He had found his power... whatever it was. It was power... and it was scary. The Volturi had another force to deal with. I was visibly weakened by Jane's brutal beating, if that's what you could call it. I could hardly stand up. Not that I needed to, because within seconds, the same two vampires were holding me back, and two more had grabbed Max.

Cauis, Marcus, and Aro stepped forward again. "That was some show," Aro said plainly, sizing us up. "But you're no match for us." He signaled to the two vampires holding me, and they let go, making me crumple to the ground, with no hopes of getting up.

I felt a new wave of pain hit me, and I couldn't even muster enough strength to scream. So I didn't. I laid there and took it, while they all looked on silently. I don't know how long that went on. Some days it seems like seconds, some it seems like days. But when I felt it, it felt like a year. Nevertheless, I fainted eventually.

When I woke up, I was on my bed, with Max holding my hand again. For a second, I thought that was all just a terrible dream, and then the pain set in. My entire body ached. I groaned and felt Max shift next to me.

"Hey Dawn, how you feeling?" he whispered in my ear.

"Like shit," I whispered back. He patted my hair and I curled up closer to him. "What's going on?"

"Don't worry about it," he said simply.

I nodded and closed my eyes. And, for the first time in almost half a year, I slept.

I felt fully human again, and to be honest, it was not a good feeling. I felt weak... vulnerable... dead.

That was the feeling, exactly. Dead. My body was telling me that I shouldn't be alive right now. That the pain I just experienced was too much. Maybe it was the vampire part of me that kept me going. Maybe I'm stronger than I think. But then and there, on my bed with Max, I felt. That was the most important thing. I ached, I was angry, I was sad... I was terrified... But I was feeling this. I felt human again. I fell asleep.

I don't know how much later, but I woke up, and Max was still there. I felt a little better and I rolled to face Max. "What are they going to do to me?" I asked him. "You need to tell me."

He gulped. "They're going to burn you."

"What part of me?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No... They're going to burn you like Joan of Arc."

I paused. "Oh," I said eventually. He nodded. "I need a favor from you, Max," I said carefully.

"Anything," he said.

"Bite me. Now."

---

At least I could take comfort in the fact that I got a special execution, not like the everyday criminals that were decapitated and thrown in a huge pit.

They wanted me to suffer.

They weren't even going to decapitate me.

I would be led into an abandoned building, where there would be a stake. (Historically correct, at least.) They would tie me up, and then set me on fire. Then, they'd all leave and let me burn. The plan was to let the building burn, and let me burn with it.

Then the night arrived. Darkness covering us, we marched out into the night. It was a long procession, even though we were moving at a speed faster than any human could detect. We made it to the building and I was tied to the stake. They formed a circle around me. I saw a few sad faces, from the people that I had touched. My eyes found Max's and I dropped my gaze, letting a few tears fall.

Without any words, Marcus came forward and lit a match. Some of the vampires around him backed away, and he threw it onto the pile of wood surrounding me. Everyone vacated quickly, and I remained. This was where it would get tricky.

Like I was going to stay here and burn to death.

As the fire began and filled the air with smoke and fumes, I began to wriggle out of my bindings. I managed to loosen the rope a bit, but not enough to slip out. Carefully, I dipped my hands lower and lower until...

The rope caught fire and I pulled it apart easily.

I untangled myself from the rest of the ropes and attempted to jump over the flames. The trail of my cloak caught fire, so I quickly shed it, leaving me running from the now burning building wearing only black shorts and a tank top. I tried to maneuver my way out of the complicated building, or at least find the stairs. It took longer than expected, and the fire was quick at my heels. I knew the building was going to cave soon. But I found the stairs. I ran down them quickly, faster than I've ever run as a vampire.

But I hadn't expected anyone to be waiting.

A group of vampires waited at the stairs for me, and quickly latched onto me, dragging me back upstairs. I tried my best, but I was vastly outnumbered. They left me upstairs and lit the stairs on fire before running out the building themselves. Now I was surrounded by two fires, that were soon to meet and devour me, with no means of escape.

Well this was a complete failure.

I didn't join the Volturi just to die. I joined to find out who I was... What I was.

I came back to save Bella. They'd only just go back to get her now.

I stayed to protect their marriage. That love that I saw was so perfect, so everlasting... Was I willing to give up here and now only to let the Volturi just go back and completely screw it up again?

I was dead girl. Vampire. Girl-Vampire. Whatever I was, I was dead. Everything I'd ever done was in vain, and my life was over. I felt the building shake, and then it gave out underneath me, the fires colliding where I was. I felt my skin burning, but I couldn't scream. Just when I was about to give up, when my life was so close to being over, I felt a familiar hand slip into mine and pull me up, dragging me away.

We began to run. The night air felt cool on my burned skin. It all seemed so surreal, like I was dead and watching this happen. But no, this was really me. We ran for what seed like five hours, without stopping. But when we did stop, I knew where we were. I knew this place well. It was just another rhythm to follow, and I was being led but him anyway...

Before I knew it, I was on an airplane, holding Max's hand. I was so weak, I couldn't tell you how I found the strength to run for that long. Max had been half-dragging me anyway. I was completely drained, and Max had to keep me awake, for fear that if I fell into sleep, that I would die.

Because, I would. It was given.

Sleep was death for me then and there, on that airplane ride. I was almost fully vampire again, and soon sleep wouldn't be a problem. But until we got to wherever we were going, I was in serious danger of death.

I hardly noticed the airplane trip at all. It wasn't until the pilot said that it was overcast with a heavy chance of rain did I know where we were:

Oregon.

---

I don't know how Alice knew, but the second we got off the plane, I saw the entire Cullen family waiting for me. But when they saw me, they knew something was wrong. Max was carrying me, because it took all the strength I had to get off the plane. He had taken me up in his arms the second we were off the actual airplane.

I can't tell you anything that happened after that, because I don't even know. All I know is that I woke up the next day in my bedroom, with Max's hand in mine.

From then on, I knew that I had to watch my back. I needed to find out what I was, and I needed to do it now. I needed to go to Washington. I looked over at Max.

Max needed to come.

I'd troubled the Cullens enough, now it was time for me to stick up for myself.

But even as I tried to roll over, I found that I couldn't do it. In all senses of the word, I was stuck. I couldn't move, I was back in Oregon, and none of the Cullens would let me go out again.

It was like being a prisoner... all over again.

A/N: meep! How'd you like it? (And yes, Devon's coming back next chapter.) This chapter just came to me, seriously. And 3,000 words to boot! Heck yes!

So yeah... Hope you liked it! And yes, just in case it hasn't been mentioned earlier in the story, the Cullens live in Oregon now. . Oregon's really pretty, for those of you who haven't been there. (Also, coincidentally, it has America's largest bookstore. It's amazing. If you ever go to Portland, go to Powell's bookstore.) Review please, people! The story only gets better from here on out!