A/N: Thanks for being so patient with me. This chapter is such a turning point for the story. I hope you all enjoy it. I'm sweating bullets here….

I know some of you are following my other story called "TWO STEPPING"…thanks again for following my writing. These two stories are like night and day and I'm feeling a little schizophrenic writing the both of them at the same time!

Your support means the world to me!!!

Stephenie Meyers owns all characters from the Twilight Saga…

Utter Darkness - Chapter 22

EPOV

___________________

I drove the car hard and fast back to Volterra. Bella's venom was singing through my veins. I had just tasted my love, my life. I was reborn in my mission to bring down the Volturi.

It was so hard leaving her. But this was different. She let me go with the understanding that I had to do this. She understood that there was no longer the possibility of us fully being free as long as the Volturi survived.

Bella's unshakeable faith in me made what I was going to have to do to gain Gianna's trust even harder. I still wasn't sure if I was going to be able to follow through. I was hoping that I would be able to exert my influence on her, play on her feelings. I hoped I wouldn't have to go any further. My heart and body belonged to my wife. I regretted this decision I had made about Gianna but I had no choice but to use her. It went against everything I was ever brought up to believe in. Even after a hundred years, I felt terribly wrong using a woman's feelings for personal gain. But when it came to my family's safety, all bets were off.

I kept thinking about Bella, Jake and Sam. Bella was risking her life on this quest to find the Children of the Moon. The idea of her being exposed to the danger of werewolves that had been persecuted by the Volturi for centuries left me with an uneasy feeling. Once again, I had placed her in danger. I thought I had removed the danger by joining the Volturi, but I could never stop Bella when she put her mind to something. The fact that I could only read her mind when she let me exacerbated this fact.

I turned the car onto the cobblestone streets of Volterra. I passed through the massive gate and pulled into the garage. I knew that I would have to keep my distance from Aro. One touch from him and he would know everything. He would know I had been with Bella. He would know what I had planned. I would die immediately.

I had no further choice. I had to save my family.

I got out of the car, took a deep breath and went to find Gianna.

BPOV

________________________

I could hear Jake and Sam as they approached. I heard the rapid patter of eight paws and then the hard sound of two men running. They phased back before coming into the clearing where I had just been standing with Edward. I felt a little weak and I knew if Jake saw it, he would be angry. I tried to hide it from him.

"Bella!" Jake called out. His eyes were bright. So were Sam's. I knew at that moment that they had found what we had been searching for.

As Jake and Sam came closer, they both stopped. I could see the apprehension cross Jake's face.

"He was here wasn't he Bella?" Jake demanded. I just nodded. I knew they could smell the scent of Edward. Jake looked me over and softened his tone.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

I chuckled slightly. "Jake, I can take care of myself." I pointed at myself. "Vampire. Remember? But yes, physically I am fine. My heart and mind are another story."

Sam lightly slapped the back of his hand against Jake's bicep then said, "I'm going to run the perimeter. We don't know if he brought anyone else along."

Jake nodded and Sam left the circle of light that the moon had created and circled about us.

I let out a sigh of relief when Sam left Jake and me

"Talk to me Bella. What happened?" Jake demanded.

"Jake, its bad." I said sighing loudly. Jake must have seen the look on my face. He came over and opened his large arms to me and I stepped in for a bone crushing hug. I rested my head on his chest. "We have to help him Jake. He's trying to do this all by himself, but I don't know how much time he has left."

"Bells? What are you talking about?" He whispered as he ran his hand down my hair.

"He wants to kill Aro himself. It's suicide plain and simple. If Aro comes within touching distance, Edward will die. He risked everything seeing me tonight. If he dies Jake…."

Jake interrupted me. "He's not going to die Bella. I promise you that. I may be mad as hell at him for choosing to do this, but I won't let him or you down. "

I looked up at Jake expectantly. I could hear the excitement in the tone of his voice.

Jake paused for a moment. "We found them Bells. The Children of the Moon. The pack is larger than we ever could have anticipated."

"But how? How have they stayed so well hidden from the Volturi?" I asked.

"That's just it. The pack has been able to grow since the Volturi brought back the children from the Amazon. Remember how Alice can't see what is going on when you are with us? "He asked me.

I nodded wanting him to continue with his story.

"Well the guard is the perfect shield for us!" Jake started to relay excitedly.

"TheVolturi guard has the same problem as Alice. The Volturi themselves are relying on the guards' natural power of the shield similar to the one you are able to produce. They are getting lulled into a false sense of security." Jake stopped talking for a moment just to see if I had been taking everything in.

"The funny thing is the leader of the Asanian Pack believes that the new guard is blocking any of the inside talent from being able to see the wolves as well." He continued.

"So what exactly does this mean for us Jake? " I asked, almost scared of his answer.

Jake eyes lit up along with the huge smile that filled his face. "The guard has never experienced the power of the pack. We can take them down Bella. The Asanian wolf pack started to expand immensely once the Volturi brought back the vampire children from the Amazon. We have legions of wolves just waiting for their revenge."

I became extremely excited and encouraged by what Jake had to say.

"Jake, can I meet the Alpha? Can you arrange it?" I asked him.

Jake shook his head. "I don't know Bella. I'm afraid it would be too dangerous."

"Too dangerous?!" I exclaimed. "Jake, Carlisle and some of the other covens are on the way here as we speak. Can you imagine the danger that the wolves will be to my own family if they don't know that they are not part of the Volturi? Don't you remember how you and Sam had to introduce the rest of the pack to the family when we were trying to face down Victoria?"

"Yeah, I guess you are right Bells. But these wolves are different. They are not like the Quiluetes. They are more savage. Their pack mentality is different than ours. They can be extremely volatile. Even Sam and I were worried when they first surrounded us this evening." Jake admitted. "Wait, when did you get the news about Carlisle?"

"Edward sent out visions towards Alice. He finally was able to let her see what he was planning. Remember all that hard work that Alice and Edward did trying to strengthen their bond from long distances? It finally paid off. But right now I need you to tell me

What happened?" I demanded.

Jake drew in a long breath and slowly exhaled out. "I'm still trying to come to grips with it myself. It was weird Bella. Sam and I were still in our human form. We hadn't phased yet, but we caught scent of something. The noise of the night around us just stopped. It was if we had almost entered a vacuum of some kind. Everything was deadly still and quiet."

"Go on." I prompted .

"We heard the growls first. Then we could see their eyes. Bella, their eyes glowed with a weird blue incandescence. I've never seen that in a wolf before. Slowly they circled us and moved in closer. Sam and I looked at each other and I could tell that we were silently trying to decide if we should phase in front of them. Sam shook his head no knowing we would be vulnerable for just those few seconds of the transition."

Jake paused for a moment and turned to face the direction right over his left shoulder.

"It's Sam. He's coming back. Besides, I think he needs to be here for this part of the story anyway."

Jake and I waited for Sam to join us. Sam sauntered up to Jake and reported back on his brief run.

"Edward didn't have anyone else with him. His scent was the only one I could track. I followed his scent from here to a set of tire tracks. The scent disappeared after that and I couldn't detect anything else. We are okay for the moment, but I don't like being stationery too long."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "See Jake. I told you he was by himself. I won't ever believe that Edward would be capable of hurting me."

"Bella, you have to understand my skepticism. He didn't exactly keep you too safe when you were still human." Jake snapped back.

"That was low Jake. Even you know I caused most of that trouble. Not Edward. Besides you and I never exactly played it safe on those motorcycles either." I quipped right back at him.

Right after I had finished my sentence, the strangest sense of déjà vu, or call it an epiphany or whatever came over me.

It had been me all along who put Edward and I in danger.

Me.

My selfishness.

My wanting nothing but him and the consequences be damned.

His family in danger.

My family in danger.

I loved our daughter more than life itself.

But was I with her?

No.

The whole realization of my incredible selfishness came crashing down around me. For those brief moments that I had been in Edward's arms tonight, nothing in our relationship had moved forward or changed. And with a wry twist of irony, it was becoming too late to fix my selfishness. Edward had always given of himself. Sacrificed himself.

The absolute grief of my mistake weighed heavily on me all of a sudden. My whole being seemed to open up and I felt all the energy sucked out of me. I collapsed for a moment to the ground underneath me. Jake rushed forward to help me to my feet. I put my hands on his strong arms and allowed myself to be pulled up. I stood still for a moment against Jake, hearing the phantom heartbeat of a human heart that had been stilled long ago by my husband's own deadly venom. My choices. Renesemee, myself. I had forced Edward to go against all of his principles that he had held so dearly for more than a century. The extent of Edward's love for me was staggering.

All this time I thought Edward was only being stubborn. Gah. I was so damn blind!!

What I didn't realize was how selfish I had been. Deep down we were both still teenagers trying to deal with the basic emotional concept of love. Even though Edward swore time and again that he loved me unconditionally, I still questioned everything. I remembered the night we watched "Romeo and Juliet" together and how much Edward had admired but disliked Romeo for some of his choices. And now we are facing the exact same consequences as before. Except this time I knew for sure that it would be Edward that would die.

I broke out of my reverie. "Jake," I pleaded. "You and Sam….you have to help me. Please?" I sounded pitiful, desperate even. My immortal blood may have made me immune to some things. Edward Cullen was definitely not one of them.

"The wolves, Jake. You've got to convince them to meet with me. I want them to understand how important it is that Edward survives this. Sam…please. I've already asked so much of the both of you. Sam, I know how much you want to go home to Emily. Jake, Renesmee asks for you every day. That hole you feel in your chest…I know you feel it. That strong undeniable pull that makes you feel empty unless you are with the person you love? I feel that with Edward! It's our own form of imprinting. I know you understand it." I argued. "There is no life without love."

Sam started to chuckle. "Who would have ever thought vampires and werewolves would come to understand one another?"

I smiled sheepishly at Sam and ran my hand down his arm in a comforting gesture. Sam and I had finally found some common ground.

"So are you going to tell her Jake or am I?" Sam asked Jacob.

Jake shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He shrugged his massive shoulders and wouldn't make eye contact with me. I was confused about Jake's sudden reticence. Jake had always been larger than life to me. Fire, muscle, and strength. Jake was my strength when I had none. I would always be indebted to him for that.

"What is it Jacob? You know you can tell me anything." I prodded.

"I can't…I …It just isn't me!" Jacob exclaimed suddenly.

"Sam, if neither one of you tells me what the hell all of this is all about…" I started to warn them.

Sam put his hands up in a gesture of giving up. "Stop Bella. I'll tell you since Jake here still seems to have problems being an Alpha."

I waited for Sam to continue.

"Bella, Jake is the alpha of the Children of the Moon. He is the last known survivor and ancestor of the Royal blood of our original wolf mother Asana. Jake is the number one alpha, period. You want help? You are looking at him."

Gianna POV

____________________________________

Edward had been gone for a long time. I spent my time with Aro playing our regular game of Chess. Aro spent long hours teaching me the subtleties of strategy. I knew now that chess was just a metaphor for all that he had really been teaching me.

I had made a personal vow to destroy those who took my family away from me. Looking back upon my human life and my vampire life. I realized just how much I truly had a real family for the first time. My allegiance lay with the omniscient vampire opposite me. Aro would kill me with no compunction whatsoever if I betrayed him. . Aro would most likely kill Edward if what I believed to be true.

Aro studied the pieces on the board as long as he studied me.

"So, my child." Aro started speaking as he made his next move. "You have reason to believe our young Edward is playing a game with us?"

I nodded yes. My eyes closed for a minute and I felt the last feelings I had for Edward die away. I came to realize my own sense of self preservation was stronger than any emotional tie I had ever had in my life. Edward was a momentary pleasant distraction. I knew I had made peace with the emotions that had confused me for so long.

Edward still loved his wife regardless of his new found craving for human blood. Nothing, not even Chelsea had been able to sever the bond that Edward had with his wife. I was embarrassed by my actions. I had thrown myself at him every chance I had gotten.

Edward had humiliated me for the last time. I sat with Aro, confident, knowing I was not wrong about Edward and why he was here.

The silence filled the room as we played further along. My skills were getting better. I could hear Aro chuckle every once in a while trying to decipher his next move.

The silence was broken by his mellifluous voice.

"Do what is necessary to bring him here Gianna. We will wait."

I nodded and sighed as he took my queen again. I started to move towards the door to leave.

"Oh and Gianna?" He summoned once again.

I turned to face him once again.

"Make the necessary arrangements in the mausoleum please." Aro said, his tone chilling me to the bone.

So…there it is. Drop me a review…I'm dying over here on this one…..