Hi there! Here's the new chapter. I'm sorry it took so long. I want to thank everybody for all your kind reviews.

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Chapter 24 – First Kill

Bella had hoped that the incident with Athenodora would just fade away, but of course, it didn't. Caius had to throw the biggest conniption fit.

Jane was the first to tell her about it, running up to her room, laughing. "Did you just push Athenodora into the pool?" she asked, taking a seat on the bed.

Bella nodded.

Jane's eyed grew wide. "You really did it then. That's so funny," she squealed, bringing her hands together. "When I first heard it, I thought Dora was lying. So what happened? You must tell me everything."

Bella sighed. "She just pissed me off. She got in my face, called me a whore. Tried to slap me. I pushed her in the pool."

Jane started laughing again, falling back on the bed giggling, before sitting up again. "I would have loved to see her face."

"I can't believe you already heard about it?"

"There's no way I could have missed it. Caius is furious. He practically accosted Aro on his way up here. He's demanding that you be punished. In fact, I think I hear them coming right now."

Bella felt her stomach drop. She could already hear their footsteps in the hall. When Aro opened the door, she cringed.

Of course, Caius was with him, complaining in Italian, making angry hand gestures, and since Bella was starting to pick up Italian, she could hear almost every rude word he was saying.

However, Aro was strangely serene, lifting his hand, gesturing for Caius to stop talking.

But Caius just ignored him. "Since she is impervious to Jane's gifts," he growled. "I demand that she be whipped. If you do not punish her, I will."

Aro just shook his head and turned to her. "Tesoro mio, please forgive me for approaching you this way. I must ask you though, did you push Athenodora into the pool."

Bella gritted her teeth. "Yes I did," she retorted.

"I see."

Caius glared at him. "Well, it's settled then, punish her."

Bella's fingers curled into fists, preparing for a fight, but to her delight, Aro seemed to have no intention of doing anything like that. At least not at the moment. He walked over to her, clasping her head gently in both his hands and gave her a kiss on her forehead. "Excuse me, my dear, I will get to the bottom of this. Please stay here and wait for my return." He gave a slight bow and kissed her hand. It was very formal. Bella almost felt like he was putting on a show for Caius.

"Come, my brother, we must talk," Aro said, raising his hand, indicating he wanted Caius to follow him.

Caius looked indignant, but he followed Aro out the door.

Bella watched them leave the room. After the door closed, she could still hear Caius cursing all the way down the hall. She turned to Jane. "Is he seriously planning to whip me?" she asked incredulously.

Jane shrugged. "Was it was your fault?"

Bella wanted to say 'No, it wasn't my fault!' but in reality, that wasn't completely true. She could have just walked away.

Furious, she opened the door to her bedroom. "To hell with this," she grumbled, grabbing her bag, opening her dresser drawer. "I'm out of here. I don't need this shit."

Jane followed her and stood in the doorway. "You're leaving, seriously?"

"Yes, I'm not some little 'Yes Girl' who's here to do the Volturi's bidding. I don't know how you live with this, Jane, seriously. I was fine back in Port Angeles, living on my own. My daughter wants me to come home. I'm leaving!"

Jane scowled and tilted her head. "So you're going to let Athenodora drive you off without a fight?" she asked, eyeing her with contempt. "I should have known." With a sniff, she turned around and headed toward the door. But before she left, she looked back at Bella. "I'll have you know, I'm not some little 'Yes Girl' either." She then walked out.

After Jane left, Bella just stood there holding her bag. Jane was right. She was giving up without a fight. If she left now, she would lose Aro.

Setting her bag down, she sat on the bed. "No, I'm not going to let her run me off," she said softly, knowing Jane could still hear her. "But I'll be damned if I'm going to let them whip me!"

Jane didn't answer her.

Bella didn't expect her too. She was starting to realize that she would not be able to pull herself from this relationship without going through some serious heartbreak.

..

When Aro came back an hour later, Bella was almost afraid to ask him what happened. He didn't say anything at first when he walked through the door, but then he smiled and opened his arms wide, making it clear, he wanted her to embrace him.

Bella ran to him. She felt like she almost lost him over her own anger and it made her hug him even tighter.

"Ah, my lovely Isabella," Aro murmured, wrapping her up in a bear hug, picking her up off her feet. "I'm so sorry, tesoro mio, I should have never left you with that harpy."

"Is everything all right?"

"Yes, yes, everything is fine. Caius is still a little miffed, but he will get over it."

Bella shook her head. "I'm sorry Aro, but you should have heard what she said to me. She called me a whore and Jezebel. She even tried to slap me and-"

Aro hushed her and gave her a kiss. "Yes, I figured as much," he said, clasping her hand, guiding her toward his bed. "I know Athenodora very well. In fact, I went down and confronted her along with Caius and demanded to hear her complaint. She said that she was just standing there minding her own affair when for absolutely no reason you brutally attacked her."

"That is so much bullshit," Bella argued. "The bitch is lying."

Aro chuckled. "Yes, it's a ridiculous claim. Of course, I knew she was lying. So I held out my hand and demanded to read her mind."

"She let you do that?"

"Of course not." Aro chuckled again. "She always goes on and on about how my telepathy is an invasion and I'm raping her mind or some such. I told Caius that her story obviously must be false, or otherwise, she would gladly offer her hand so she could be vindicated. But since she does not want to do this the affair is over."

Bella was touched. Without even hearing her side of the story, he just immediately defended her. "Did Caius accept that?"

"He had too, and while he wasn't pleased about it, I don't think he will bring it up again. In fact, when I left him, he looked like he was going to interrogate Athenodora further, which is never a good thing. Caius hates it when people lie to him."

"I probably shouldn't have shoved her into the pool," Bella grumbled.

Aro laughed. "I'm glad you did. You have to stand up to her or she'll just run roughshod all over you."

With that, he pulled back the covers to the bed and started to undress her, lifting off her t-shirt, unclipping her bra. "Now I'm going to make love to you. I was going to this down by the pool, but it appears I cannot go anywhere without being interrupted." He shook his head. "Athenodora is very tiresome."

Bella removed his coat and started loosening his tie.

Aro unclipped her bra and then bent over, placing his mouth on her breast.

In seconds they were in bed making love again. She never got tired of this. Aro could ravish her anytime anywhere.

When they were done and lying in bed facing each other in Aro's massive four-poster bed, she whispered, "Thank you."

Aro laughed. "For what?"

"For sticking up for me."

Aro pulled her into his arms. "Of course, I will stick up for you. You are my lady."

Bella smiled. "That means a lot."

Aro looked deep into her eyes, smoothing back her hair, caressing her cheek. "Tesoro mio, you don't ever need to worry about me standing up for you. I will always do my best to care and protect you."

Before Bella could reply, a voice inside her said, "And I will always protect you, my love. The crazy thing was, this voice was separate from her. Not that Bella didn't agree with what the voice said. She did. It was just it came from a place from inside her that she didn't know existed. A place that seemed to be panicking that she would lose him. A presence inside her crying, I cannot bear to lose you again.

"What's the matter, my dear," Aro said, touching her cheek. "You look troubled."

Bella shook her head. "It's nothing. I just want to say, I will always protect you too, Aro."

"Ah, you're my guardian angel. How I adore you." Tenderly he kissed her and Bella kissed him back. She was starting to wonder though if it was just her who was kissing him.

..

The next few days were spent out in the garden training. When Aro found out how Bella trapped Athenodora inside the pool with her shield, he was delighted and now wanted to see if she could pick something up.

This turned out to be agonizing difficult. Her shield was so unwieldy, it was hard to control, and getting it to bend and curve just the right way was almost impossible.

Aro turned out to be a very good teacher though. He knew how the mind worked and he gave her very good suggestions.

They started out with a leaf, which took a while, but she managed to hold it up in the air. There was no way she could pick it up though. Aro then had her curve her shield into a bowl which he poured a cup of water into, and she was able to hold it, but only for a few minutes before it wobbled out of shape.

After three solid days of working on this, Bella had enough. "No more training," she told him, giving him a kiss, grabbing her purse. "I'm starving and I need to go hunt.

But Aro stopped her, wrapping his arms around her, gently lifting her chin to look at him. "No hunting. Not tonight."

"I have no choice. I've got to get some blood in me."

"I know," Aro said, nodding his head. "But tonight, I want you to drink human blood."

Bella sighed in exasperation. "Aro, come on, we've talked about this."

"Yes, but you must do this. I need you to be the strongest you can be." Gently, he cupped her face in his hands. "The Summer Solstice is a little more than a week away.."

Bella shook her head. This was so hard. She wanted to help Aro, but what he was asking for was too much. "Even if I wanted to, I don't think I could wait until Saturday for your feast day. I'm hungry. I've got to feed tonight."

"I know. I've been watching you and I've noted when you dine. Consequently, I've got it all planned out. I figured you would not be ready for dining with the Volturi. You're too tenderhearted." Tenderly, he caressed cheek. "That's one of the reasons I adore you. But I think you will be ready for what I have planned tonight. I want you to come with me. You will do this, yes?"

Bella grimaced. Aro had to be the most persistent and persuasive person she knew, and for that reason alone, she almost wanted to say yes. But she couldn't. "Look, Aro, I know you want—"

He pressed his finger to her lips. "Just come with me tonight. I beg you. I would never ask you to do something that would cause you great pain. I promise. And of course, if it is still unacceptable for you, you can always decline."

He looked so sincere, she almost believed him. He then clasped her hand. "Do you trust me?"

That was a good question. Did she trust him? A couple of weeks ago, the answer would have been no. But now things had changed so much.

"Yes, I trust you," she said softly.

"Then trust me on this. What do you have to lose?"

In truth, she had a lot to lose, the main one being her innocence. This would make her a murderer, and she wasn't ready for that. But to her surprise, she agreed.

Aro smiled and kissed her. "Thank you, my love. I know how hard this is for you."

..

As promised, Aro had it all planned out. He took her to Pisa, but it was nothing like she imagined. For some odd reason, she had it in her mind that they'd be hunting criminals or something, but instead, she found herself standing outside a nursing home.

Aro proceeded to tell her a story. A very sad story.

"Tonight, I'm going to introduce you to Miss Francesca Bianchi. She's a very unfortunate creature. When she was only fourteen years old, she was walking down a country road with her friends when a drunk driver hit her and tossed her several feet into a ravine. This accident should have killed her, but with the medical marvels we have today, she survived. However, she was never the same. After waking up from a coma several months later, the family discovered she was completely paralyzed. She couldn't even breathe without a respirator. The only way she could communicate was by blinking her eyes. This was thirty-seven years ago. Her mother loved her dearly and took her home. She cared for her daughter for years, but three months ago, her mother died. Now Francesca is all alone."

Bella stiffened, her fingers clenching. So this was how he was going to convince her to kill. In some ways, it made her angry. But then what did she expect. "You want me to do a mercy kill."

"Yes," Aro said softly. "She's fifty-one years old, living in a nursing home. Her body is covered with bed sores, and she has no one to love her. I cannot imagine what it must be like for her." He clasped her hand. "We are going to relieve her of her suffering."

Bella hesitated. "Won't it look suspicious, us just walking inside?"

"Oh, no my dear, they won't even see us. I'll show you." Aro's eyes turned white and he led her right through the front door. The security guard didn't even look up. They just opened the door and walked right past him. When they passed a nurse in the hall, she didn't even register their presence.

Francesca's room was down at the far end of the hall. On her door was a photograph of a young, dark-haired girl with a nineteen-eighties hairstyle and a big smile on her face.

Inside the room was a middle-aged woman with dead eyes, gray hair and a medical ventilator over her face. There was no television, no music, no nothing. The staff just left her there.

A wave of sadness fell over Bella. "What if there are cameras?"

Aro waved his hand. "I already checked. There aren't any. Not to mention, with someone like her, they don't even bother to do an autopsy, and if you extract the blood from her wrist instead of her throat, they will think the wound is from the IV. Therefore, they cover it up."

Aro walked over to Francesca and gently caressed her cheek. He then spoke in Italian. "My dear Francesca, you remember me. We spoke the other night."

Francesca blinked her eyes.

"I asked you a very serious question the other night, and I'm going to ask it again. Do you long for death? Would you like to join your mother in the afterworld? I promise you, there will be no pain. Blink once for yes, and twice for no."

Tears filled Francesca's eyes and she blinked once.

"Are you sure, my dear?" Aro asked again.

She blinked once.

"Ah, I understand. Rest in peace, my child. I pray that an angel takes you to heaven." Gently, he gave her a kiss on the forehead.

He then lifted her arm and prepared to remove the IV. "Are you ready, Isabella?"

Bella hesitated. This still felt so wrong. In fact, she was kind of angry that Aro put her in this position.

Yet Francesca's eyes looked like they were pleading with her.

Walking slowly toward the bed, Bella murmured, "I'm so sorry. Rest in peace." She then brought Francesca's wrist up to her mouth.

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