I was exhausted when I settled in for the night. Charlie had left my room alone, only coming in to make sure I wasn't coming home to a blazing pile of dust, so everything was just as I had left it. Jaz, unfortunately, having slept for most of the trip, was bright eyed, bushy tailed and bursting with questions about Forks.

"So," she asked nonchalantly, her voice low as she snuggled into the pillows on her air mattress, "when were you going to tell me about you and Jake?"

"Say what?"

I rolled over to the edge of the bed, frowning down at her.

"You and Jake."

"There is no 'me and Jake'. There never has been," I said firmly, ignoring the little voice in the back of my head that was telling me that wasn't quite true. "We're friends. That's it. End of story."

"Ah."

A moment of silence. Then, just as my eyes were starting to drift closed…

"You're sure there's nothing going on there?"

"Oh for the love of God." I groaned, rolling over again. "What did he tell you?"

"Nothing!" she said quickly-a little too quickly, I thought. "It's just…you two have some serious vibeage going on. Chemistry, you know?"

I rolled my eyes, settling back into my pillows.

"Nope, no chemistry. Not even a single equation. Good night Jaz."

"Night."

At some point sleep must have won me over, because I was dreaming. In my dream there was a soft scritch…scritch…scritch at the window pane before it swung open, pushed by a pair of snow white hands that glittered in the darkness. The vampire stepped into the room on soundless feet, walking around the room, picking up items on my dresser, setting them back down, sniffing at the sweater hanging on the back of my door. He glanced down at Jaz with gleaming ruby eyes, hunger and lust flashing for just a moment before he stepped nimbly around her sleeping form and sat down on the edge of my bed. Softly, he placed his cold fingertips against the back of my neck and murmured, "Bella…Bella…"

"Bella."

I jerked awake, then shrieked when I saw the face floating over me. Fortunately (or unfortunately, as luck would have it) a hand flashed instantly to cover my mouth, muffling my screams so no one else could hear.

Oh shit. Not a dream.

"Shhhhh, cara, no need for that. You'll wake the house, and then I'll have to kill them, and nobody wants that. Now, will you be quiet if I move my hand?"

I nodded quickly, and Alec slowly lifted those ice cold fingers from my mouth with what could only be termed regret. Despite his words to the contrary, I had a feeling Alec wanted to kill everyone else very badly. That I could still hear Jaz's soft breathing and Charlie's deep snores told me that either he was just here for me or someone had him on a very tight leash.

"That's a good girl-but then, you haven't been a good girl, have you Bella?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, raising my voice as loud as I dared. Edward was right downstairs. If I could just lift my voice loud enough that he would hear me…

Unfortunately Alec seemed to know exactly what I was up to, because he chuckled.

"If you're waiting for Prince Charming to come and save you, you're going to be waiting an awfully long time," he offered helpfully. "Edward…stepped out for a bit."

"Is stepped out some kind of new vampire slang for dead?"

All right, so mouthing off to one of the most powerful vampires in the world probably wasn't the smartest thing I could have done right then. It wasn't like I could run away though, and with Edward gone and the wolves firmly confined to La Push to watch after Quil and get ready for the ceremony I was as good as dead if Alec decided to kill me. I figured if I had to go out, I might as well go out with style.

Fortunately for me, Alec seemed to think it was cute.

"Such spunk, you American women," he chuckled. "I'm going to miss that when you're dead."

"So you're going to kill me then?"

"Oh no, not right now." Whew. "But Bella, you've been a bad, bad girl. You're not living up to your half of the bargain. You're still here, and you're…breathing." He smiled, breathing in deeply. "You smell wonderful but, unfortunately, very, very human. The last time we spoke to young Alice we were given to understand the date had been set and you would be one of us now. Aro no longer believes that to be your intent."

My mind scrambled. All right, so the Volturi wanted to kill me because I was still human and I knew their secrets. But if they really thought I was a threat…

"Why didn't Jane just kill me when she had the chance?"

Alec tipped his head to the side, looking for all the world like a curious dog.

"Interesting. Most humans would be begging for their lives right now, and you ask why Jane hasn't already killed you." He shrugged his shoulders. "The simple truth is that Aro likes you, and because he likes you, and because he's always had a certain…fondness for Carlisle…he's willing to give you another chance. Have young Edward change you before the next full moon and we will allow you to live. Fail to do so…"

Alec smiled regretfully, then disappeared out the window so quickly that his last words lingered on the air behind him.

"…and we'll take care of it ourselves."

"Did you hear that?" I murmured softly.

"Yes, I did," came Jazmine's voice from the floor by the bed. I'd heard her wake up earlier and hoped she would have the good sense to continue to fake sleep until Alec was gone. "Was that who I think that was?"

"A member of the Volturi," I said grimly.

Jaz propped herself up so she could peek over the edge of the bed.

"You promised them you'd have Edward turn you into a vampire?" she asked, her voice faintly disapproving.

I shrugged.

"A few years ago I went to their…lair…in Italy. They decided I knew too much. The only way they were going to let me live was if Edward made me into one of them. I was planning on becoming a vampire anyway, so…"

"You were going to turn into a vampire? Willingly? Why?"

Jaz was gaping at me now, and I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable.

"Edward never ages, and I get older every year. I realized right after graduation that a few years between us wasn't going to make that big a difference, but if we wait much longer I'm going to look like his mother."

"Oh, sexy older sister, at least," reassured Jaz.

"Thanks. But anyway, I'm getting older every year. And right now I'm fragile. Becoming a vampire will take care of that. Edward wanted to wait until after the wedding, but now it looks like the Volturi have kicked up our timetable."

"But what about…" Jaz stopped, looking stricken.

"What about what?"

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head firmly. "Nothing at all. What are you going to do?"

I shrugged, flopping back over onto my back.

"I tell Edward tomorrow I need him to turn me, we take care of it, the Volturi go away. Seems simple enough."

The silence in the room was deafening.

"Bella, are you sure you want to do this? I mean, becoming a vampire…it's a big deal. And you can't undo it once it's been done."

"I'm positive," I said firmly, ignoring the doubts that clouded my mind. "There's nothing I want more than Edward. I know that. I've known that for years. This way, when we say we're going to be together forever, we'll known we mean it. The only difference is…"

A soft moaning sound filled the room, and I realized with a start that it was coming from me.

"What?" There was concern all but dripping from her voice.

"Renee and Esme are going to have to call the caterers."