Chapter 13

My body was frozen, my breathing nonexistent. James was at the door, and then without blinking his hand engulfed my neck.

"I'm going to enjoy this." I closed my eyes as his teeth sank into my flesh, and I felt my blood flowing into his waiting mouth.

I felt my knees give out and I waited for my face to make contact with the floor but contact never came.

I opened my eyes, and James was still at the door. I stared back as he glared daggers right into me. I could tell he was trying to figure out what is next move was going to be.

"James, you have been dismissed. What is the meaning of barging in our chambers?"

"I want an explanation! You tell me that my matters are my own, but then I see and smell the very core of my matter here."

"We owe you nothing." Aro commanded.

James continued to glare at me, but when I blinked he left. Completely gone.

Just like my daydream, I felt my knees give way, only this time it was really happening. I watched as the floor grew closer to my face, only this time, Felix caught me.

"It's okay. I got you." He whispered into my ear.

"Uncle Aro, why was he here?" Though I didn't need to ask. Gianna had mentioned that a vampire was here seeking retribution. He was here seeking permission to kill me. Edward thought James wanted him, but he wants me.

"Never you mind child. All that matters is you're here." Caius said, but that wasn't something I could accept. James was so close, and if it wasn't for me being surrounded by so many vampires, he could have killed me right then.

"It does matter Uncle Caius! He wants to kill me doesn't he? That's why he came here." I screamed. This wasn't the homecoming any of us had planned.

"Yes. He came seeking permission to kill a vampire's pet. He described the Cullen's and we knew instantly it was you he was after. We ordered him to stay away from you and the Cullen's. Though the Cullen's will be dealt with separately."

"What do you mean 'dealt with?'" I asked.

"They placed you in danger. In harm's way. We can't have that."

"You wanted your identity secret. You can't very well punish them for something that you wouldn't punish another family for if the same situation had occurred." I reasoned.

"How do you mean?" Aro asked. He was definitely intrigued by my argument. That was a good sign.

"She means, had it been any other human, we wouldn't have stepped in to punish them Brother." Marcus defended me.

"But they let our existence be made known." Caius tried to counter but I knew where this would have headed long before I came back home.

"I told them I knew of vampires. It was me that mentioned vampires first. Most of the Cullen's wanted to kill me when I let them know. It wasn't until I told them of how I knew of vampires, and a healthy fear of the Volturi, that they relaxed around me."

"So you have covered the bases to keep your Cullen's safe." Aro smiled and looked pleased for some reason.

"I'm not an idiot uncle. I know how you and Uncle Caius like to operate sometimes.

"You can be very conniving, Bella. You'd make a lovely addition to the guard." Aro was definitely beaming.

"Can we not discuss my mortality?"

"You mean immortality. You can't escape the inevitable."

"You say to-mat-o, I say tomato." I corrected. Becoming a vampire was something I once wanted, but only with Edward. Without him, what was the use of living forever?

"My dear, I'm sorry to cut this short, but there is some business that must be attended to. If you'll excuse us?" He gestured that I should leave out of the side door. I didn't need an escort, this was my home after all.

I nodded, knowing that there was nothing further that I wanted to discuss. At least not with my uncles. I walked through the door, giving one last look at the guard that was assembled.

"Uncles, has James been escorted out of the castle? I'd really don't want to run into him in the hallway to my room.

Aro looked at Demetri who nodded and walked over to Aro. Aro grabbed his hand and nodded as well.

"James is headed towards Ireland right now. You don't need to concern yourself with him anymore."

And with that, I headed to my room. After such an eventful homecoming, the only thing I was interested in was my bed.

It was a quiet sleep. No one disturbed me and there were no dreams. Though there was one dream that I longed to see, the meadow. It was here that I dreamed of the lush patch of grass first, and a part of me was hoping that I would have it again.

I cringed when I thought of the day that Heidi must have had planned for me and hurried into the closet to see what the damage was. She mentioned that she cleared it out, but I knew there were some items that she would have left. The basics as she called them.

I found a pair of black jeans and a white wife beater. I grabbed them and my toiletries and went into the massive shower that belonged only to me.

I let the hot water cascade over me, as I soaped my body, enjoying the huge shower. I had no idea what Heidi was going to make me try-on, so I thought it was in my best interest to shave my legs. Though I loved Forks, there were things that I took for granted.

It was only the thought of Gianna's pancakes that rushed me out of the shower. I changed into my simple outfit and threw my wet hair into a messy bun. Not really paying attention, I walked into a stone wall when I left the bathroom.

"Ow! Jane! Don't you know how to knock?" I rubbed my arm which miraculously wasn't broken upon impact.

"I did Bella. I guess you didn't hear me. You know I could fix that for you." She clamped her teeth together in a playful motion and I stuck my tongue out at her. "Welcome home." She said with a genuine smile.

She embraced me in a hug, and I couldn't believe that I managed to live without my cousin after all this time. We picked our relationship up right where we left off and I gave her the abridged version of my time in Forks. I'd already accepted that I would be telling the story over and over.

"Umm, Jane?" We had walked at a human's pace to the kitchen, something she was always bored with doing. She was about to head over to the antechamber where Heidi would be bringing in her catch soon, while me and Gianna hunted for pancakes and sausage.

"Yes Bella?"

"When you see Demetri, can you have him come find me? I'd really like to see him."

"He is on assignment with Felix and Alec. They should be back soon. I will relay the message." I assumed that Jane heard Heidi's return because she quickly turned and ran in a blink towards the antechamber.

Feeding time was really the only chance that Gianna had to herself as scheduled. Even on her days off, she was still on call as Aro's assistant.

"So you fell for a vampire?" Gianna asked as she placed a plate of macaroni and cheese, ham and fresh fruit in front of me. I drowned the pancakes in syrup and stabbed a piece of pineapple in my mouth.

"G, I love you to death, but I really don't want to talk about it. And what's with the mac and cheese? I was hoping for some pancakes." I couldn't blame everyone for wanting to know what happened. I lived with vampires my entire life and not once had I shown any interest in one, to the frustration of Felix and my uncles.

"Okay. But you do realize that it's almost six in the evening." After a while she continued, "You know everyone missed you while you were gone. For a while, it was like they were zombies without you."

I laughed at her statement for more than one reason. The idea of a vampire zombie was oddly hilarious to me, plus I remembered how Charlie seemed to have preferred me being a zombie versus the always busy-hyper active person I became after Edward left.

"I don't think you'll be going shopping today." Gianna casually said but then when I looked at her, she acted as if she gave away too much.

"What do you mean?" But Gianna was clamming up already.

"Bella?" I turned and saw Demetri's stone face.

I walked over to him and he brought me into a hug. I buried my head in his chest and his scent filled my nose.

"You smell like snow." I commented.

Demetri's lips turned up into a smoldering smile. "I was on a gathering mission. Jane said you needed to speak with me."

I looked back at Gianna who nodded for me to go. She needed to clean up and head back to her desk soon anyway.

I didn't want to speak in the hallway so Demetri carried me through the castle and outside in the Italian countryside that was my backyard for seventeen years.

"Demetri. I need a favor, and I hate to ask you of it." I paused but Demetri stood still as a statue. There was no motion whatsoever that indicated for me to continue or to stop. So I continued.

"I want James dead. And I want you to track and kill him." I looked down sheepishly. I'd never asked any of my vampires for anything as big. And despite the fact that James wanted me dead, I never needed another creature dead in retribution before.

"Bella, you can't ask that of me."

"Why not? You were there last night. You saw what he wanted. My life is in danger. Charlie's life could be in danger." The thought of Charlie being in danger because of me sent me into hysterics.

"Bella. Bella, calm down." I took ten large, deep breaths to regulate my heart, staring into Demetri's blood red eyes to focus. "I can't do that favor for you because Aro won't allow it. I'm tracking him, and someone will be in Forks if he gets anywhere near there. But he's off limits, no matter how much we may want to protect you."

"What do you mean, Aro has him off limits?" I hadn't realized how angry I was until I heard my voice distorted by my clenching teeth.

"Aro thinks his tracking abilities will make him a good addition to the guard. The fact that he sees it as a sport, makes him ruthless. In some ways more than me. I need to meet someone in order to get a handle of where a vampire is. He just needs a scent."

I knew all too well of what James needed to go on a hunt. I shuddered at the thought of that fateful day.

"And besides, should the ones that you should be mad at be the Cullen's? I mean they left you alone, knowing that James was out there. That was reckless in and of itself."

"We're not going there."

"Well someone needs to go there with you. You know what forget it. I need to get back, Aro is gathering the guard for something major. It's probably important that you're there as well."

In one fell swoop, Demetri picked me up and slung me on his back. We started running at a faster pace than he'd ever run with me before. It was pretty dark outside by now.

When we made it back to the castle, everyone, including the wives seemed to be in an uproar about something. My first thought was that it had something to do with James, but what I saw next quickly pushed thoughts of James aside.

Aro had some members of the guard usher all the rest downstairs to the dungeon area. This was one area I was often restricted from going to, and tried to escape, but Demetri held a fast grip on my arm.

Once we were downstairs, Aro waved Demetri forward, who again still holding me, brought me forward as well. I was beginning to be scared for my own safety.

"Behind these curtains is the next revolution in protection. With the impending uprising from the Romanians, this discovery will give us the advantage in the war!" I looked back at Aro whose eyes looked absolutely crazed.

He nodded to Alec who pulled on the gold tasseled pulley, drawing the curtain back. I stared into the prison that was reinforced with metals of all different types.

"Oh my gosh! Aro what have you done?"