Welcome to the ride of your lives! No, okay, it's maybe not that dramatic. But I hope this last chapter is an emotional journey for you all. This fic has taken me not quite seven months to finish, so I thank you all for your patience, and for those of you who've stuck it out since the first few chapters - I really appreciate it! Please enjoy this last installment, and as always, happy reading~~

Chapter 14: The End

We stood together before the front door.

Even though it was closed and Jane had kept the thermostat cranked to a steamy eighty-five degrees the entire time we'd been here, I could feel wisps of freezing cold air seeping through the cracks in the wood. It was all I could do not to shiver violently and alert Jane, but since my body was already as taut as a bowstring, I was sure she already knew.

Jane was studying me, her head tilted fractionally to the right. Her eyes flicked over my triple layer of wool sweaters and all-terrain knee-high boots. I'd only managed to put on two layers of leggings because that was all that'd fit inside the boots, but Jane assured me Volterra would be much warmer, even at this time of year.

It was in the mid-sixties over there, according to an old man who frequented the general store in Gilford, the next town over. Jane had wandered close enough to the center of town to overhear a conversation between him and his niece, who'd just returned from a work trip. This was mostly useless information, obviously, and yet it calmed me down a little. It restored a tiny bit of normalcy to my life.

But I also knew that my new life as a vampire had already begun. I was cold now, and I somehow knew I'd never be warm again, not like before. I wasn't human-warm, and yet neither was I vampire-cold. For the time being, I was somewhere in between. Sort of like a transitional stage.

Jane was standing so close to me that my exhales stirred the bright blonde wisps of hair near her temples. I also noticed, with some horror, that I was taller than her now. Between our first meeting in the Forest of Dupree somewhere in Kentucky and this moment, here, now, I had grown half an inch taller. I blinked dizzily.

"What's wrong?" Jane asked at once, her hands already on my wrists to steady me.

What's wrong? I wanted to ask her. What's right?

"I just… I'm glad we're doing this. I'm doing this," I clarified, shaking my head. Her proximity still managed to throw my thoughts out of sorts. "I'm glad I decided to be a vampire. It wouldn't have worked out if I stayed human."

"Because of the Volturi?" Jane asked, eyebrows raised.

"Well, yes, that, but also because…" Here I paused, searching her eyes. "I would've gotten old. And…and you'd have stayed the same. I don't know…how that would work."

"I would never leave you, even if you grew wrinkles and required the assistance of a cane," Jane said, a small smile twitching at the corners of her mouth.

I knew she was trying to make light of these truths, and some part of me did really appreciate it, but at the same time I felt cold all over at the thought of me as a senior citizen – demanding more Jell-O and chocolate pudding, needing to wear an adult diaper, becoming wrinkled and grotesquely shriveled – and her as the perfect inhuman specimen she'd been for the last three thousand years.

We never would've made it.

Of course, I believed Jane when she said she would never leave me. But she wasn't the problem. I wouldn't have let myself age like that if we were together. I'd have found some way to end it. One way or another.

"I won't need a cane now," I said, tilting my chin. "Besides, I could've just teleported myself anywhere I wanted to go as a human. Every step of the way, if I needed to."

Jane grabbed the sides of my face – gently, still so gently – and pulled me down to kiss me. Her lips were cold, as cold as the weather outside, but they melted against mine, as if absorbing some of my heat.

"You taste like strawberry," she said softly, surprised.

I shrugged and looked down. "Found a tube of lipgloss in the back pocket of some jeans. I figured…you know, why not?"

But there was a reason, even if it was only as simple as wanting to look nice for Jane's family. They were angry with me, I was sure, but Jane would force them to look past the last few months and see that I was willing now. I had come to them, and wasn't that what they wanted? To be sought out? To have control?

"This is it," Jane said finally, after her gaze swept over the room. A final inspection.

I nodded, also taking a moment to commit this space to memory. We'd invaded this cabin and made it our own for two weeks, and the memories we'd made here were unforgettable. Lying wrapped together in bed before dawn. Finding Juniper. Dozing by the fire as a cold snake wormed its way up my spine. Laughing over cooked deer meat at some joke Jane had accidentally made. Kissing Jane on the sofa until I was breathless, literally breathless to the point of fainting. Making The Choice to become a vampire and live with Jane forever.

Deciding to leave my humanity behind for good.

"This is it," I agreed, my eyes on Juniper. She was lounging on the window seat, her gaze swinging between me and Jane. She could tell something was happening. My heart hurt at the thought of leaving her.

"I could not live with myself if I did not ask you one final time," Jane said suddenly, and turned me to face her. Her hand slipped around my neck to cup the back of my head, and she brought our foreheads together with careful pressure.

"Bella," she whispered. "Bella, Bella, Bella." She spoke in a hushed voice and seemed to savor the syllables of my name like they were honeyed. And then, finally, "Isabella." Her grip tightened. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," I said without hesitating, and I think that's when I really started to believe it myself. What had I said before? Now the only thing left to do is follow through. "Yes," I repeated firmly. "Yes, I'm ready. I'm going to be a vampire."

I had to say it out loud to make it real. Better get used to the idea now, before someone's fangs were sunk deep into my neck. I pulled back from Jane and, after a brief moment of indecision, walked over to Juniper and scooped her up into my arms. I couldn't keep her – that truth was irrefutable. But I could bring her with us to Volterra and set her loose. I could take her away from here and give her a fighting chance. She was a survivor. If I had learned anything about this world, it was that you could only live if you decided to fight for it.

With Juniper tucked into the crook of one arm, I extended my free hand and took Jane's. I squeezed our palms together as hard as I could, knowing this was the very last time it wouldn't make a difference. Next time, as a newborn, I might break it.

"You're going to be a vampire," Jane repeated to herself, as if to make it real for her, too. "And eternity…" she said, pausing to smile brilliantly at me for the first time in weeks. "Eternity will be ours."

With her smile etched in my mind, I took a deep breath…

And we disappeared.

We stood together before the front doors.

I hadn't seen much of Volterra itself, but the city was beautiful no matter where you were. As long as you were within its walls, Volterra shone with ancient beauty. It was a wonderful representation of Jane herself. Strong, marbled, and in a lot of ways, prehistoric. There were also lush green gardens, immaculately clean streets, tanned, smiling people, and most of all – enormous stone structures that stretched several stories tall and blended one into the next into the next, all throughout the city. Everything was old, but the type of old that had been very well preserved. It was obvious this city was taken care of, not just out of a sense of duty, but out of pure love and pride.

The Volturi fortress was another story.

It was beautiful, but not the nice, light kind. The structure, which was massive and seemingly unending, exuded a dark intimidation. It wasn't just tall; it was monstrous, and it loomed. Shadows covered all the corners and alleyways surrounding the fortress, and within those shadows was a cold so deep it was numbing.

Hand-in-hand with Jane, I gazed up (and up and up) at the ten-foot-high steel doors of the fortress which shielded the Volturi from the harsh rays of the Italian sun. I felt so small and unimportant the longer I stood there, but then Jane squeezed my hand and my chest expanded again, as if I'd been holding my breath.

"They know we're here," Jane said with a light tug on my hand.

"Who?" I asked, but no, I could only mouth it. My nerves were getting the best of me.

Jane smiled reassuringly. "Alec. Marcus. Felix." She paused. "They've alerted the others. They'll be here soon."

I nodded. Aro would be here. Caius. His name sent a tingle down my spine, one I tried to hide, but of course, nothing got past Jane.

"It won't be Caius," she said, turning her body slightly towards me, as if to shield me. "We have reached a point where no one but Aro will turn you. He would not risk trusting anyone else with such a task."

"I've annoyed him that much?" I asked with a small smile. It did give me a little burst of pride, but it was short-lived. My gaze found the Volturi fortress, as if magnetically drawn to it. The structure was just so big. So dominating. How did none of the other humans in the city pass by without screaming?

Jane shrugged. "This is all a game to him," she said. "I do not believe anyone can cause him any real trouble. Aro is beyond that."

I didn't quite believe her, not all the way. Aro was old, sure, but he could still feel. His emotions might be convoluted, but they were still emotions. But I let it go.

"Shall we?" Jane gestured to the fortress doors.

I threw a glance down the narrow alley to our left. As soon as we'd appeared in Volterra, I'd crouched down, hugged Juniper tightly to my chest with my eyes just as tightly closed, and then released her. She'd watched me for a few seconds, but then, sensing no movement, she'd turned and trotted into the alley, her furry tail flicking back and forth curiously. If Juniper was smart – and she had to be to survive winter in northern Maine – she'd be long gone by now.

In answer, I took the first step, pulling Jane behind me.

The fortress doors opened soundlessly.

I straightened my shoulders as we walked down the hall, my pulse thrumming in my neck and wrists like a captured butterfly. As I stumbled and Jane glided down the hallways of the Volturi fortress, a wild thought came to me: Jane was right. It is warmer here, but I feel cold. Colder, in fact.

But that wasn't a surprise to me. The second I had made the decision to shed my humanity, life had started seeping from me like water from a leak.

Never mind that, I told myself impatiently. Soon I'll be the same temperature as Jane. I won't feel cold. Or heat. I won't be affected by temperature at all, actually.

Finally, after two or three silent minutes, Jane came to a halt. Again, we stood before giant, looming doors at least a dozen feet high. They were carved with intricate symbols and words – hieroglyphs, maybe? There were swirls and slashes and lines crisscrossing lines. Within the wood were hints of white and black, but most of all, red. Red crosses, red birds, red, overlapping circles, and red waterfalls. I shuddered as my eyes came across the last symbol again and again.

"Here we are," I said softly, and placed my hand on the solid wood door.

Jane didn't say anything, but her eyes were on me. Making sure I was ready. Not for a moment did she try and force me. My heart swelled at her constant consideration. She always analyzed my feelings and how they may be affected.

I inhaled deeply and pushed open the doors with a grunt. They swung open soundlessly…and we entered the room at the same time as the missing Volturi.

First came Demetri, followed by Caius, and then Chelsea, who remained equidistant to him and Aro, who entered last through the door opposite us. They were all dressed in sweeping black cloaks, the same as Jane's, with red symbols stitched along the hem, but unlike Jane's, Aro's cloak had a red star sewn near his collar.

Standing by the dais were Felix and Alec, who flanked Marcus in his throne-like chair.

I swallowed at the sight of them all in one place, and Aro, who'd been conversing quietly with Caius, turned his attention to me. He smiled broadly.

"Isabella!" he cried – half-hysterically, it sounded. Through my terror, I realized that this could be part of an act, but I was in no state to tell for sure. Jane had said he was into theatrics, after all.

"Welcome!" Aro continued, undeterred by my lack of a reaction. Although I could feel Jane beside me, that's really all I could feel. I was slowly going numb. "Welcome back to Volterra!"

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

"Thank you, Master," Jane said, her voice low. Her hand brushed mine, and I grasped it before she could pull away again.

Oh, no.

I'd forgotten about that. When I'd reached for her in Whittleston, Jane had turned from me rather than allow me to seek comfort from her. With all that had been going on in Seboeis, I had completely let that moment slip my mind. But now it was back in full force, and the seed of doubt I'd managed to uproot suddenly replanted itself in my mind.

Aro's eyes flicked over to Jane for the briefest second, and was it me, or did his eyes harden? They looked glacier-cold, unforgiving, merciless. But then whatever I saw in them disappeared, and he just looked moderately amused again.

"I cannot express how glad I am that you have returned to us, Isabella," Aro said, turning his attention back to me. His eyes glowed fervently, and right then I did believe him. "You will truly be a valuable asset to us, my dear. To think of all the time we have wasted without you by our sides!" He let out a ringing laugh, and Chelsea reflexively angled her body towards him, as if to absorb the emotion. Or amplify it?

I shook my head. At this point, who cared?

Out of the corner of my eye, I examined Jane's face. It was expressionless, verging on cold, but still polite. She was standing before her superior, after all. Her master. I tried to keep the grimace from my face, knowing Aro or someone worse would notice immediately. Despite her frigid demeanor, she was calm. I didn't sense any alarm or panic emanating from her. Because I had decided to seek them out, she believed we were safe now. This, more than anything, relaxed me. I trusted Jane and her beliefs implicitly. If she saw no danger, then we were truly safe.

I felt this in my bones somehow, as if I'd suddenly been stuck with a plug and now all the pressure and fear and uncertainty was spilling out. I took a slight step back, startled by this rush of feeling. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. It was Felix, and he looked amused. They'd all probably taken that step as an expression of my fear. But that was okay. It didn't matter what they thought.

I turned to Jane and smiled. Her stoic expression wavered for half a second, which only made me smile wider. She didn't know yet. But I did. Everything was going to work out. This was fact. I had no idea where this certainty had come from, but I knew it as if this day had already ended. Maybe it's shock, I thought to myself. But no, this certainty felt more than that.

"Here we are at last," Aro continued, opening his arms wide in a grand gesture. "I feel this question is redundant, but I must ask it anyway." He leaned forward, his fingers meeting at the tips, forming a temple. "Have you decided, then?"

I found my voice, and it was steady now. "Yes, we have."

We. A declaration. I'm not just a me. I am also a we. And from now on it was us, always.

Stretching out my fingers, I reached for Jane. I did it unthinkingly, reflexively, as one would reach for an object just about to topple. Only a second passed, and then Jane's fingers twined with mine, our palms melding in a perfect fit. I understood with sudden clarity that her brief hesitation was only due to her surprise. My behavior now was such a one-eighty from only a few minutes ago; she hadn't expected me to react like this.

"Wonderful!" Aro clapped his hands together, and I saw Chelsea flinch. I could sense Jane's pleasure at this. "Shall we get started, then?"

"Yes, we've wasted quite a bit of time already," Caius said dryly. "Please, do get on with it."

Maybe it was my imagination, but I thought I heard Marcus laugh. Then again, it could've just been a cough. Both were equally unbelievable to me, but then, it didn't really matter much what Marcus thought. He was probably just impatient to get back to his blood chocolate pudding.

This was it. Time to die.

Well, that sounded ominous. I was technically dying, yeah, but not in the traditional sense. I'd come back again. In two or three days, I would be transformed. For better or worse, I'd be like Jane. And how could that be a bad thing? If I turned out anything like Jane…well, that'd be the best possible outcome I could hope for.

Aro beckoned to me with a long, white finger. "Come, Isabella. Allow me."

Just as Jane had thought, Aro would be the one to turn me. At this point, he didn't want to bother with any more shenanigans. That's for the best, I thought.

I took a step forward, eager to get on with it. I wanted the hard part to be over. The painful part. But a light tug on my hand reminded me that I was the only confident one here. Jane drew me back to her, and we stood facing each other, so close I could see the amber flecks in her eyes. Her cold hands cupped my cheeks.

"Bella," she whispered, then seemed unable to utter anything else.

I smiled and leaned slightly forward so that our foreheads touched. "It's okay, Jane. I can do this."

Jane's eyes held mine, and the look was so intense it was almost like I could feel her probing around in my head, searching for any doubt, uncertainty, fear. It was there, at least I thought so, but very far away. It was there but irrelevant.

"I know you can," she murmured close to my ear. "But I…" She struggled for a moment. "I fear it will not be easy for me."

"Why not?" I frowned. "It won't hurt you, right? Like, the transition won't affect you or anything –"

"It will hurt to watch," she whispered, so low I had to strain to hear her, even though she spoke right into my ear.

Then I got it. "Oh." Amidst all my internal turmoil, I'd never considered how Jane might feel. She wouldn't be the one in pain – she was usually the one dishing it out – but I was the next best thing, I guess. She'd be helpless to do anything about it until I woke up. If there was one thing I knew about Jane, it was that she hated being helpless.

"It'll be okay," I repeated. Gently, I touched a finger to the hollow of her neck. It was smooth there, and soft like satin. "It'll be over before you know it."

"Shouldn't I be the one telling you that?" she asked with a small smile. Her eyes probed mine once more, then, with a sigh, she closed them.

We were silent for at least a full minute, our foreheads touching and Jane's hands lightly clasped around my neck. I placed my own hands on her chest. No heartbeat. That's what my chest would feel like to her once I woke up. I wondered if she would miss the steady thump-thump-thump that told her I was human.

The other Volturi waited patiently. I was sure, for them, this was only a nanosecond of time. Nothing was being taken from them.

Finally, Jane opened her eyes and caressed my cheek. She smiled – brilliantly. My breath left me in a rush, and for a long moment, oxygen deserted me. I was frozen in the glare of her love, the love that shown through that smile. It was explosive. I'd never seen it so clearly before. My heart clenched, and I knew that if something happened to me between now and the moment I awoke as a vampire, this world would fall before her.

Her lips parted. "Eternity will be ours."

She only mouthed the words, but she might as well have shouted them from the rooftops. They rang in my head like enormous church bells, echoing endlessly. They rattled my bones, upturned my thoughts. I would have her forever. Forever.

I took a step back, and another, and another, and Jane's hands finally fell to her sides. But her eyes never left me.

I approached Aro, ignoring Chelsea's unwavering glare and Caius's maliciously pleased expression. Movement from Alec caught my attention briefly; he shifted towards me, then seemed to think better of it when a soft warning growl came from behind me.

I reached Aro far faster than I would've liked. He extended his hand and gripped mine with only slight pressure. He drew me towards him, much the same way that Jane had just moments before, and spun me so I faced Jane and Demetri, who was guarding the doors. My heart pounded once, hard, before calm resettled over me.

Jane was breathtaking. We were separated by no more than thirty feet, but I'd seldom been so far from her. Usually we were attached at the hip – or shoulder, or hands – and my up-close view was usually filled with her eyes and teeth and hair. From the dais, she looked small. Small but fearsome. Obsidian black cloak with the red symbols along the hem, archaic-looking and indecipherable, eyes an equal measure of scarlet red and midnight black, skin like frost, like white velvet, like unfractured marble, features angelic, aristocratic, alien. She looked like a perfect imitation of a human, like what humans may one day become, sometime in the distant future. She was the ideal we strove for. Strong, fierce, beautiful, and merciless.

"It all comes down to this," Aro said, his hands on my shoulders. They were heavy, like boulders. "After months of shenanigans – and Jane, dear, you know I love games, but this one went on far too long – Isabella is on the verge of the ultimate transformation! Can you believe it?" he guffawed, laughing delightedly.

Jane's face twitched, and beside me, Alec shifted uncomfortably. I was surprised to see him showing any sign of weakness. His eyes flicked over to me, and when he noticed me staring, he quickly looked away. Thanks for your vote of confidence, I thought, barely suppressing an eye roll.

"My friends, how long has it been since our last member?" Aro asked the room.

Caius tilted his head, but his eyes never strayed from Jane. "Decades, at least."

"Ah, yes, far too long!" Aro lamented, but then his grip tightened subtly, and he added, "And it has been nearly a century since someone with an ability caught our attention. I do wonder how you have evaded us for so long, Isabella."

"Well, it helps that Arizona is perpetually sunny," I said with a small smile. I nearly shrugged, then remembered that Aro's hands were on my shoulders like thousand-pound weights.

"Indeed. How inconvenient for us!" Aro's attention turned to Jane and now his voice was sharp. "I must say, I'm disappointed in you, Jane," he admonished. "Do you realize what she can do for us? Her power surpasses that of any human I have ever seen. Imagine what she will be capable of as a vampire!"

"Bella will be a force to be reckoned with, I am sure," Jane said softly, and I remembered her soft caress on my cheek. In just a few short days, she would no longer have to worry about breaking me.

At this pronouncement, I sensed very slight movement in the room from various corners. Chelsea had shifted her stance again, so that she was half turned towards Aro and Caius. There was an odd look on her face. At first I couldn't place it, but then, when her eyes flicked over and over again between Aro and the rest of the room, it hit me – she wasn't actually looking at Aro, she was looking at me, and she was worried. My power scared her. Alec had the same look on his face. But I could barely see Marcus, and it didn't really matter because he still seemed vaguely uninterested in the whole ordeal. I couldn't see Caius at all; he was seated almost directly behind Aro. Demetri, by the doors, was stone-faced, but Felix, who had been invisible to me until he shifted his stance against the wall, seemed both nervous and furious. Did he consider me a threat? But even with my ability, I didn't see how I could do anything to him now. After all, there were seven of them, one of me, and Jane. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see we were outnumbered, if I dared to try anything. And I didn't.

"You've led me on a merry chase," Aro said with a lilting laugh. He kept laughing like we were at a holiday cocktail party instead of in this austere, blood-soaked room. Not literally, of course, but even I could detect the faint stench of centuries-old blood.

For the first time since our arrival in Volterra, Jane's remote expression faltered completely. Instead, her calm was replaced by genuine fear. So much fear, I worried she was drowning in it. It confused me. Why was she scared? Surely she could tell things would soon be perfect.

"It's okay, Jane," I told her, a smile flowing effortlessly to my lips. "Everything's going to work out, you'll see. When we're together –"

Aro placed his cold, dead hands on my neck

and twisted.

Jane's POV

The

world

stopped

spinning.

In that moment

and in every moment after

life ceased to matter.

"I'm not just a me but I'm also a we." – quote from the Netflix show, Sense8 (season 1 / episode 2)

And don't forget the epilogue...