A/N: Whoa! Hold onto your horses guys seriously! The number of reviews I got last chapter were staggeringly... painful.

Yes, only four reviews! I'm hurt... the story is finally getting interesting and people are becoming uninterested...

So if you could read this and find it in your heart to tell me what I'm doing that is deflecting you that would be wonderful. Nothing puts a stop to writing like depression... :(

On a happier note!!! I remembered I have a story again!!! xMidnightlullaby is the author of a great early twentieth century fic and so whenever she updates I'm reminded of my duty to you all. Go! Read this chapter, read her story... have a pleasant day.

Disclaimer: I sometimes wish I was Stephenie Meyer but, I like being me. Just a girl who loves writing...

PART II: CHANGES

CHAPTER TWENTY:

THE STRANGER

Recently:

Her only hint of pain came from a grieving look in her caramel eyes and the scent of dried tears on her rosy cheek.

ISABELLA'S POV (Isabella is seventeen, about two years have gone by)

"Heidi!" He called to her across the room. "Thank you for that... delectable meal."

Quite for show he whipped a satin handkerchief and gently ran it across his spotless mouth.

"You disgust me." I hissed to him, narrowing my eyes to mere slits. Were my mother to see me she would call me a scandal. I hardly deserved the privilege of being brought up a proper lady for now I was acting quite the rogue.

"It would do you well, Miss Swan, to hold your tongue." Aro spoke with hard voice and rough temper.

This reduced me practically to the disgrace of tears. This evenings feast for the Volturi had consisted of a poor girl and many other innocent bystanders. The girls death effected me far more than any had in my years in this dreadful place.

This girl was different, because I was believed to be her for a time. Today, July the twentieth of the year nineteen-hundred and twenty, Katherine Marcy died.

They found her in the streets of Philadelphia, haggard and blabbering. She was driven crazy, I was told, by the knowledge of vampires.

I only wish I was her. Without Edward my whole world was doused in misery. The city of Volturi was often covered in clouds, but on the rare day the sun shined it was never bright . Never did the sun light my way. No. My whole future shone like an abyss. Dark, meaningless: not a drop of sparkle to light the way down the darkest road.

I was so lost without him.

I watched Aro and his brothers leave the slaughterhouse with Voltera's guard. Oh, how they sicken me. As they exited you could here young Jane's voice above all else.

"That was a poor meal. Quite ill in my favor. None of the blood tasted… as luscious as I'd have liked."

Her comment was greeted with a load booming sound as the thick wood doors shut her out. They left behind only several dozen pale corpses and me.

Remembering my sickness to the smell of blood, I coughed profusely to no avail. Nothing sat in my belly to splurge. Not even the stale bread I had stolen a week ago.

"Oh!" A man came in through the front entrance to the lobby. His features were fast as he scanned the bodies around us. His eyes shone a glowing red. He must be a visitor.

"Looks like I missed lunch!" He joked, smiling. His laugh echoed through all the room, bouncing from surface to surface. He seemed to notice me as his ruby gaze latched on my face.

"Hey! Looks like they left me a little treat…" Jolly as his smile was before it now became sinister.

"Hello, sir." I attempted to sound casual but fear struck the very breath I expelled. "If you are looking for Aro, Marcus or Cauis I must tell you that they are all in the tower. If there is anything else I may help you with just say so."

"Of course…" he grumbled. "They keep a human secretary. It's just hard… for a recovering vampire."

"Recovering, sir?" I questioned.

"Yes. After a year or so away I've found that the 'vegetarian' lifestyle is indeed possible. I almost got my eyes to change shade… once. As you can see though, the disinclined tend to slip-up a bit." He smiled and pointed a finger to his eyes. "I came here to see if I could steal away a few fellow members of the guard. Keep me company in my new life. You shall find it better than this lonely place."

What could he possibly mean about being a vegetarian? "Indeed I may, sir. How, though, do you say you plan on our exit."

"The front door, my lady." He grinned. "I'll change you as we near the next city."

I stood and smoothed my skirts. I ran to the heavy wood doors and pressed my ear to the crack between them. No sound came to me.n They were not too near.

"Anything, sir. Just get me out of here."

With that I left the castle. Turned my back to the Volturi and embraced danger.

"Are you afraid?" He whispered as he carried me on his back.

I leaned into his ear and spoke the absolute truth. "Never." For now that Edward was gone… what was there to lose?

Three horrible days had passed. Agony had awaited me at the Inn of a city near Volterra… three horrid days. All accompanied by this man. I knew not who he was… but what I do know is the minute I awoke he grabbed me in his arms and tried to push his lips to mine.

In shock I slapped his face hard. What surprised me more than anything was that he retaliated, falling through the Inn's window. I sank to the floor, leaning against a grubby wall. I took in my hand. It was smooth, soft and even my bitten nails looked beautiful and perfect.

Next to the vampires I always looked even dimmer than the ugly I was with my own kind. Now… now just even my hand was beautiful. As I looked at the reflection in the polished shine of a metal slab I saw I was gorgeous. My spirit's arose. I'd finally be pretty enough for my Edward!

Then it sunk deeper than any trench. It meant nothing. My love was dead and never coming back.

I must have stayed, frozen in shock and longing for my lost love for less than a few minutes.

It seemed a long while… but the man came back to the room in a flash. I realized the clock on the wall hadn't ticked more than a few seconds.

"You, young lady," he spoke taking my hands behind my back and pressing me to the mold stained enclosement. "Are more than I signed up for."

"And you, sir, are no gentlemen." I replied wittily as I released my hand from his grip and wrapped it, in turn, aroung his throat. With the mere tightnign of a muscle his head flew off.

Then his arms, legs, and torso joined him in a pile on the floor.

For at least a while, I was free. I breathed deeply, then sighed it out. Yet with the movement I felt no constriction of my lungs. No feeling in my heart.

I was a shell. Empty and a monster. My throat burned and I knew the only was to quench it was to drink from a human. To end an innocent life.

Who would I be to end the life of some poor man or woman? Then, think, pray the woman loved the man. Maybe not to the extent I cared for my dear Edward, but enough to shatter to pieces.

No, ending the life of a human was impossible.

What did that man say of converting? He spoke as though there was an alternate food source.

Think, Isabella… think! I willed myself to wrack every part of my brain for an alternative nutrition source.

Vampires. They drunk blood, human blood. He talked of it being hard to resist my blood, human blood. So… the alternate must not be human.

But warm. Something with blood similar to that of a human. A mammal. An animal.

I grinned evilly and looked to the body on the floor. To my immense horror the disembodied head let out a sinister sneer too.

I screamed.

This needed to be gotten rid of.

I gathered the sheet from the bed. Holding it in a sack I carried his remains through the lobby.

In this desolate hotel there was only one woman guarding the front room. She looked curious, but I just held my breath and looked ahead until I'd gotten to the fringe of the surrounding forest. The beating sound of hearts swarmed enticingly in my head, steady as the Indian's drum.

I found a river. I dug a hole far beneath and set the bundle in the damp sand of it's banks as I thought about the practicality of burying the body.

I'd heard Aro speak of burning a vampire. I would, but I had no wood. I'd have to settle for this and see if dismembering was enough.

As I wandered the woods I asked myself what I was looking for. I took a deep breathe and contemplated my options.

I suppose I'd go and find some vampires. Nice ones, to be with. Was that to hard to ask. Nice vampires? If the number of them at Volterra was any indication there was definitely enough of them to have the odds play out that a few were sweet hearted. As sweet as a cold blooded killer could be anyw--...

Wait. That smell. Now like any human scent. Better than molasses cookies and old family pasta. The delictable smell seemed to waver through the thick fog in the air.

Potent and lovely. I found this scent to belong to a young doe. Her double heart-beat told me she was with child. I hesitated to care. Within the second I had sucked her dry. In a handful of seconds more she was buried in the soft earth.

This was a fine alternate source. It cured a portion of the hunger and after a few more of her herd I was satisfied to an amount I doubted even a glutton could obtain.

A/N: Sorry it's short. There will be quite a few time warps in the near future of this story. Then I'll wrap it up and begin the sequel.

I love seeing Eddie as much as the next person and I really can't stand to write all of her horrid existence without him.

See you soon,

r.0.