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35. Shooting Across the Sky like a Meteor

The trip to Volterra was long. There are no handcuffs strong enough to hold down a Vampire so we spent the entire journey with our hands held forcibly behind our backs by the Vampires, Jane and Alec. They barely looked like teenagers; I wondered if this was some sort of humiliation tactic by the Volturi – having their criminals detained by children.

"Have you found any of the others yet?" I asked them. They didn't answer but the blonde girl detaining Edward never took her gleaming red eyes off me.

"You're immune to my power," she said just as we were preparing to land in Volterra.

"I'm immune to a lot Gifts," I told her. "Why don't you try me against Aro?"

"How did you know about Aro's Gift?" she asked. Edward winced as she seemed to tighten her grip on his hands. "Have you been telling tales, little boy?" Her voice was as sweet as a child's too. It felt like my stomach was churning.

The helicopter parked on top of a large grand building. It looked like a palace. However, the Volturi weren't inside the palace. Inside was dull and dusty. It was like nobody had been in here for centuries. A few skeletons lounged about on sofas, draped in clothes from hundreds of years ago.

"What is this place?" I whispered in horror.

"This was the palace of the ruling humans of this country before the Volturi took over," Jane explained almost proudly. "We've left everything as it was as a sort of tribute." Edward was in front of me so I couldn't see his expression but I imagined it was grim.

I remembered Tanya telling me the wonderful things humans used to achieve for themselves before the Volturi came along and had Vampires invent everything for them. With every body I passed, I was passing what had once been a human free from Vampire control. Was there a future that would echo this past?

"Don't touch anything," Jane warned in front of me, despite the fact knowing full well Alec had my hands tied securely behind me. "We've been ruling for so long that these bones are only a brush away from dissolving into dust." I could hear the smile in her voice. "You humans are so fragile."

They led us all the way down to the ground floor – and then even further. Through underground tunnels we traipsed, my stomach feeling heavier and heavier with each step we took. I was terrified but I didn't want to let the others see that.

Eventually the tunnels opened up into a large dome-shaped room. There was a red carpet running along the stone floor, leading all the way to the three thrones which stood on a sort of alter. All three of these thrones were occupied by pale men in black cloaks with ruby red eyes.

"Ah, at last!" the middle Vampire sighed, standing up and walking down the steps towards us. "It's good to see you again, Edward." Jane let go of Edward's hands and the Vampire took one in his own, tracing the back of it intimately. My eyes darted about the room, taking in the other exit at the other end of the room in the form of a large heavy-looking wooden door.

"Hmm, you have been busy haven't you?" the Vampire mused and I realised with a shock that this was Aro. He looked so…normal. I'd been expecting some sort of demon like the old artists used to paint to symbolise their hatred of the Vampires. Aro just looked like one of us.

He turned to me and I felt Alec let go of my hands. The two teenagers went and stood by the left of the thrones, watching us as intently as the other two leaders were doing. "And this must be Bella Swan," he said, smiling. "Tanya told me all about you before we had to put her down. So did the shifter actually – he was very fond of you at one point." I fought the urge to growl. Aro held out his hand. "I also hear from Edward that you're quite Gifted. May I?"

This was it. This was where the entire plan could fall apart. I held out my hand and he snatched it, tracing patterns on my skin just as he had with Edward.

"Well, isn't that interesting?" he said, his voice a gentle breath. "I can get nothing from you at all. How extraordinary!" Relief rushed through my body like adrenaline. He looked passed me to Demetri. "You did well," he said. I turned to see Demetri bow his head. He wouldn't meet my eyes.

"But what's all this I hear about you becoming one of us and taking us down?" Aro asked suddenly.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Edward's body go rigid. He hadn't thought that Aro could see through him to our plan. He'd been careless.

I had clicked straight away but I'd kept that to myself.

"Bella–" he began but Demetri was behind him then, hand wrapped around his throat.

"Shut up," I told him. He stared at me in shock. Aro seemed impressed.

"Now, you are special," he said. "Tell me; did you intentionally lure your Mate here?"

I turned back to look Aro in the face. I stared into his eyes and said carefully and slowly, "I want to join the Volturi but not to take you down. I want to be part of the most powerful group in the world. I have a defensive Gift – I could be your spy."

"I wasn't very impressed with our last spies," he said, his eyes flashing. I felt a pang in my chest when I realised he was referring to Alice and Jasper.

"Please," I said to him. I tried to make my voice determined but I was worried I sounded as though I was begging.

Aro pursed his lips, something that didn't look right with him. "Tell me something about you first," he said. "I'm fascinated. Tanya, Edward and that shifter boy could only tell me so much." It took all my effort not to flinch when he referred to Jacob like that.

I glared at him, refusing to tell him anything about me. The thought of sharing my life with somebody like him sent chills down my spine.

"Very well," Aro said, turning back around and heading back for his throne. My eyes flitted across the room again. A larger Vampire had come through the door. Felix. "This has been quite an accomplished day," Aro went on after he had sat back down. I looked to the side to find Demetri still clutching Edward's throat. Edward was looking at me, his eyes both pleading and questioning. "Why don't we pick it up tomorrow? I need to have a think and discuss things with my brothers. Felix, Demetri? Show them to the cells."

Felix stepped towards me and I cringed when he grabbed hold of my arm.

"Oh, and let them share a cell why don't you?" Aro said humbly. "They are supposedly Mated after all. Seems one wasn't enough for Edward."

We were led out of the large room via the other exit, down more tunnels and finally onto a corridor of cells. They were all empty but Felix seemed to choose one specifically for us to go in. He pulled open the heavy door. Inside was a dark room with no light. I realised once the door was shut behind us there would be nothing for us to see by. As it was we had very little light from a lantern Felix carried in his large hand.

"A little nest for the love birds," Demetri joked, shoving Edward in. Felix shoved me in next but not before his hand grazed my lower back making me shudder.

"Aro won't execute you straight away. He'll at least keep you overnight. He likes to drag things out, show he sees you as no threat to him. He might even let you and Edward share a cell just to throw you – make it look like you're the enemy, disobeying his laws when he's being so nice to you."

Once the door had closed behind us, Edward and I were in total darkness.

"You want to join them?" Edward asked, suddenly breaking the silence between us. "After everything they've put you through?" His voice sounded broken, like the Edward I found in the woods. I reached a hand out to him, my fingers brushed the skin of his arm not covered by his shirt but he moved away from me. I listened as he shuffled over to the corner of the cell and sat down.

Determined to make him understand, I followed him and sat beside him. I made sure we didn't touch – I wouldn't force myself upon him if he didn't want me – but I did lean over to him so my lips were inches from his ear.

"It's all part of Irina's plan like I said," I whispered.

"But he knows about the plan now. It's over."

"No. You have to trust me. Aro won't think of me as a threat. You saw the look on his face, he looked like he found the idea of me overthrowing them funny." I risked placing a hand on his shoulder. "I suppose when you live as long as them you'd find humour in everything."

"So you really don't want to join them?" he asked, his voice so small.

"No, but I don't want to carry on living like we're doing now either. Something has got to give."

I placed my head on his shoulder and leaned into him. He didn't push me away, he held me close to him. I smiled in the darkness.

"I suppose this is sort of what being at the bottom of the ocean feels like," I said quietly.

"This is nothing like it," he said bitterly. "I'll find a way to show you the real thing, I promise." My heart ached at his words. There would be no way for him to find.

"I won't let the Volturi hurt you," I promised him, taking his hand and lacing my fingers in his. "I promise."

"We'll get out of this, Bella," he said to me. "Whether we destroy the Volturi or not we'll get out of this."

I snuggled further into him, wishing I could see his face. It must have been so confusing for him. I wondered if he consciously knew I was keeping things from him. He never asked me but I think he did know. I like to think he trusted me enough to allow me my secrets.

"But what about Edward? What will they do to him?"

"Don't worry. I've thought of that too. Let me explain…"

Edward kissed me first much to my relief. I was scared of initiating contact like that with him because I was so sure he would feel my desperation seeping out of my skin, engulfing us. We undressed each other slowly, feeling with our fingers what our eyes could not see.

"I wish I could see you," he whispered as he kissed his way down my body.

"Me too," I replied, hoping he would mistake my choked voice for fear of the situation we had found ourselves in.

I wondered how Jacob and Tanya had coped down here on their own, locked in their own cells without a comforting hand to hold. Did they talk to each other whilst they were down here? Did they already know what was going to happen to them?

I gasped as our bodies began moving together. Now that my sight was rendered useless, my other senses were on high alert. Snaking my hand down his back, I stored away in my mind the feeling of his skin beneath fingertips; the sound of his gentle growling in my ear; the taste of his mouth on mine; the smell of his sweet breath as he panted gently into the crook of my neck. So human yet not.

If he noticed anything different to how I acted, he didn't say. If he noticed how desperately my fingers clutched onto him, he didn't ask.

I didn't know when the sun went down or when it came up again but eventually we had to prise ourselves apart and dress hurriedly as we heard the heavy footsteps of Felix and Demetri approach our cell.

I kissed Edward one last time before the door was flung open, revealing the two Volturi Vampires.

"Watch what you say when it comes to Aro deciding your fate. Let him believe you've turned over a new leaf, let him think you worship him. You need to create as much confusion as possible."

The Vampires led us back to the main dome-shaped room where everything was just as it had been the day before. I wondered if any of them had even moved. Demetri and Felix pushed us to stand before the thrones and their occupants before they retreated to stand by the door that led to the cells.

"I hope you enjoyed your night together," Aro said, smiling slyly. "Because it's going to be your last."

Edward flinched at his words, his arm automatically snaked around me, pulling me close. I remained as still as ever, keeping my cool.

Aro looked amused. "Tell me, Edward, why would you and Tanya lie to us? Why would you choose to go against our laws and falsify a Mating?"

"We didn't so anything wrong," Edward told him confidently. "We were mistaken."

"So how do I know that you're not mistaken by declaring Bella Swan as your Mate?" Aro asked. "I simply can't trust the two of you at all."

"But I want to join," I spoke up. "Please, I want to join you."

Aro focused on me, his eyes narrowing. At either side of him, the other two leaders watched. They were nothing more than assistants to him just as those nameless Vampires had been nothing more than assistants to Demetri. It was all about Aro.

"We don't allow traitors in our family," he told me, his lips curling into a sneer. "Me and my brothers have decided you both shall be executed…on television."

"What?" Edward cried.

The Volturi never got involved with modern technology – they never showed up on television or in newspapers or magazines. This was something new; another sign they wanted more power, more control.

"We need to set an example to the rest of the world," Aro explained, smiling patiently. "We need to let everybody know that law-breakers don't deserve to live."

"You monster!" Edward cried. He'd lost it. "You're nothing but control freaks the lot of you. I swear the day will come when you're nothing!"

Aro regarded Edward with a bored expression. "Take them both away whilst we make the proper arrangements," he said to Demetri and Felix. "Separate cells this time – we don't want them plotting their romantic escape. Take Edward first."

Demetri wrestled Edward from me and marched him out of the room. My fingers still burned from where Edward had touched me last, as he had tried to grab for my hand.

"He'll lead Edward away first. That's what he always does when executing Mates. He likes to watch one of them being tortured as the other is pulled away. And he'll want to watch you being tortured because you're new and exciting."

"It's such a shame you're a criminal, Bella," Aro said as I looked towards the door where Edward had been pulled through. How far away where they now? "Because you do interest me. I would have liked to get to know you but laws must be obeyed and criminals must be punished."

Fuelled with anger by his words, I made to attack Felix.

"You need to target Felix. He holds no qualms about attacking a woman."

Felix brought his huge fist slamming into my stomach. In those few seconds I thought of Edward and I and everything we had shared; I thought of Lizzie and the life she sacrificed for the Resistance; of the shifters and the Hell Raisers and the Lycanthropes and the Vampire Guardians and their determination to change the world; I thought of the Vampires back in Forks and how they rebelled against the Vampire social norms but still managed a peaceful existence; I thought of Angela who I had thought was my friend; of the Angels and their warped view of society; of Jacob and me at First Beach; of Charlie and the meals we shared in silence after he came home from work; I thought of my mom, Renee and how her and Phil had tried to protect me; I thought of the werewolf that had started it all.

The ticking has started.

We only have a few seconds but my Vampire brain takes in everything that happens in those few seconds. I watch as Aro looks at me, first in confusion as he hears the unfamiliar sound and then in anger as he puts everything together.

"The force of Felix's punch should trigger the bomb."

"How do you know all this?"

"Because I was a Volturi Vampire once," Irina told me. "And if there's one weakness that they have it's that they never change."

His mouth opens as though he's going to form words but he doesn't have the time. I stare into his eyes, hating him to be the last thing I look at but pleased that my face is the last thing he will ever see.

In my own head, I'm screaming. I'm crying out to Jacob because he better be waiting for me and I'm apologising to everybody I'm leaving behind. There better be something after this; there better be something worth going through all this for.

Please forgive me, Edward. I love–

END OF PART 2