The sun was incredibly bright all around us. Alice was speeding as usual through the cramped alleys of the Italian city. If I wasn't having a small panic attack in the back of the car, I would have liked to admire the centuries-old architecture and artwork that surrounded us. I was trying to keep my breathing calm as my hands grasped at the maps I had been studying for days. Alice and Jasper were on their A-game, already prepping each other on how to get inside and keep Aro and the others busy while I infiltrated a lower level. According to the maps, there would be a string of dungeons that the Volturi would use for their "meals". If Edward wasn't already gone, or if he had not accepted the "offer" of joining the guard, Carlisle suspected he would be starving in one of the cells.

Starving. I winced at the word as it floated in my head.

The streets were mainly empty, outside of some police and civilians. Everyone seemed on edge as they saw us driving. Alice slowed down to a normal speed as we neared an enormous castle. It was a rusty color mixed with different hues of grey. A giant clock stood at the front, and I could see a large rusted bell above. It was almost like a monastery. Alice stopped at the end of a winding road and turned to me. "Get out now, Bella. They sense us. Go around the back alleys."

"Oh, right." I jumped, unhooked the seatbelt from my waist and gathering myself mentally. "Good luck, guys…" I whispered, opening the door. I felt a wave of calmness come over me, and I smiled at Jasper.

"And to you, Bella," he said, thick with accent. I took a deep breath and began to run as I heard Alice speed off towards the front of the castle.

The alleyway was filthy and reeked of garbage. Did this city still live in the Middle Ages? I couldn't think about it as I ran as fast as my legs would carry me behind small houses. I noticed a large fountain in the front, where I saw the bright yellow shade of Alice's parked car. As she and Jasper approached the tall, red, wooden doors of the entrance, I made my way around the left side. I was amazed at how much adrenaline coursed through my body; I was still exhausted from the plane rides. But that didn't matter. All that mattered was getting into the castle undetected. And I knew that wouldn't be easy.

I saw a small circular door at the end of the wall I clung to, and I looked over the maps to confirm if it was the right one. With a sigh of relief, I dashed toward it and slowly opened it with a small, rustic silver key that Carlisle provided me. The door made creaking noises as I opened it, making me cringe. I made my way inside and closed the door, thanking God that no one spotted me so far. The stairwell I walked onto was very narrow and steep. Not to mention everything was pitch black. I could hear strange noises in the distance, like footsteps. I held my breath as I took each step carefully, flipping open my cell phone to look again at the maps. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it was going to be heard by someone. The cell phone light revealed cobblestone all around me. The steps were made of stone as well, and were slick as I cautiously went down them. There was a long and narrow corridor once I got to the bottom. I could see thin rays of light from around what seemed like a door from where I stood.

Okay, I have to get through that door, go down the hallway, make a right, then go down the second hall on my left…I mulled over the map in my head. I hope you didn't forget anything, Carlisle.

I couldn't help but imagine how it must be for a normal human to be dragged down through these hallways. I thought I could hear their screams of terror. When I opened the first door, a hideous stench wafted into my nostrils. Rotting meat. As I walked down the poorly-lit hall (small fire-powered lanterns aligned the walls), I began to relate the smell to my memory. It reminded me of when my leg was burned. My stomach churned as I looked at the map constantly and tried to be as quiet as possible. When I made my right turn, I gasped slightly. There were cells. At least a dozen of them. And there were rotten bodies inside them. The stench grew stronger as I passed them, doing my best not to linger on the images of their skeletal frames and torn-apart limbs. To think that Edward was stuck in a place like this for almost two months…

I found the second hall between the cells and was welcomed by even more cells. They seemed endless! How many did the Volutri have? Sure, Carlisle made markings on his maps of them, but seeing them right in front of you was a different story. So many victims had been stored here. And these weren't even completely recent, outside of the few rotting corpses I noticed already. Carlisle had told me before that they don't tend to keep them in the cells for very long before devouring them. He assumed they don't even go that far these days. It was probably easier for them to crowd around a small group and get to them fast and easy. Alice had mentioned to me on the plane that Volterra was a very famous city for its history, and that there would be tours held within the castle on a regular basis. In fact, the timing of our arrival was perfect; there would be a mass of tours happening that day. This would mask my blood's scent from the Volturi. I felt terrible for those people. Walking into such a beautiful place, only to become food.

There was a very elaborate door that stood at the end of that hallway. Carlisle marked on the map that he thought Edward may be placed in there. He told me that there were certain rooms that exceptional victims would be placed in. Usually for torture, especially in the cases of vampires who defected or made themselves known in the public. When Aro or the other elders felt like torturing them, they would be placed in these rooms, where Jane, Alec, or another guard member, Felix, would "play" with them. I shuddered at the thought of it. I pulled out a second key from my pocket and looked at it in the dim light. This one had a letter at the end: an elegantly-shaped V. I silently prayed that Edward would be in there as I slid the key into the hold in the cement door and turned it. The clinking sounds caused a shiver down my spine. I opened the door slowly, hearing something move; chains rustling. The room I walked into was pretty dark, outside of a single lantern that hung in the back corner. I followed the light.

That's when I saw him.

Off-white skin contrasted the dark cobblestone that sat adjacent to me in the large room. What once were strong arms clung to tightly-attached rusty chains that connected to the stone behind them. Tattered and green-stained clothing covered only bits of his body; I could see parts of his chest and thighs through the shreds. The bronze hair that I used to admire from afar hung over his face; dirty, tangled, and covering most of the pitch-black eyes that were wearily gawking at me. He was on his knees, sunken to the ground like a beaten, traumatized animal in a cage. I could feel tears forming at the sight of him.

"Edward…?" I softly called out. His head was hung low, but moved when he heard me. His dark eyes blinked at my voice, and his body shook. The chains rattled and he lifted his face. There were markings of dust along his cheeks; his skin must've been damaged somehow, and the dirt covered over where the healing process happened. Though his body looked as strong as it always had, I could sense how similar he was to me when I was in my depression. As if he, too, had "lost over 20 pounds". Carlisle was right. He was being starved. His eyes revealed that all too clearly to me. I took a step towards him and he twitched slightly. "Edward, it's me, Bella…" I called to him quietly, unsure of who may come around. As I neared him, his black eyes widened and his nostrils flared.

He could smell my blood.

When I got close enough to him that we were only a few feet apart, I wanted to cry. He looked up at me with an unreadable expression. Did he recognize me? "Oh god, Edward…what have they been doing to you?" I fell to my knees and leaned closer to him. His back pressed against the cobblestone as if he was afraid of me. Like a battered child. When I reached out to him with my hand, I could see his entire frame tense. "It's alright; I'm not going to hurt you…" I tried to sooth him. Finally, my hand slowly touched his ice-cold face, rubbing against his cheekbone. The man that I thought was the most powerful being in my life was staring at me like he had been broken.

Like I had been broken.

A shattered soul.

How was I going to get him out of here? It was clear to me that he was too weak to break away from the chains. How on earth would he be strong enough to get out of the castle? As his coal eyes stared at me in a blanketed shock, I slowly got an idea.

"Sometimes, for vampires, there are humans out there who have…more delectable blood than others."

I moved my shirt away from my neck with my other hand, exposing my skin to him. His eyes followed my hand and stared hungrily at my upper chest. "It's okay. You need this to survive. Please, Edward, take it." My voice shook as I thrust myself closer to him. My heart was pounding again, which would have only made him hungrier.

"It has been a very long time since I last fed on a human being. It was as if you were being dangled in front of me, teasing me with temptation."

I could tell by the low-pitched growl he made that he couldn't resist. I closed my eyes as I felt pressure in front of where my shoulder and neck connected; near my collarbone.

The contact of his cool lips made me tremble. Sensual. Familiar. It was almost surreal, like I was dreaming it. But then, I cried out in pain as his fangs cut through me. As painful as his bite was, I somehow felt as though he and I were connected. For a few seconds I could actually sense how weak he was, and how my blood was flowing into him, rejuvenating him. But it began to sting horribly, and my hands clung onto his arms for strength. A strange burning started to enter into me, and my cries turned into screams. The fire was spreading from his mouth underneath my skin. I tried to hold my mouth closed as best I could, but it was nearly impossible. I sensed Edward becoming stronger and stronger, and I felt a sudden jolt of his body as his arms jetted outwards, pulling away the chains from the stone behind us. I heard the stone collapse. Billows of smoke erupted around our bodies. His arms wrapped around me, and I felt him apply more pressure to my chest. He was piercing into me even deeper. My hands wrapped around the back of his neck and clung to him.

His bloodlust…for my blood…Edward…

But suddenly, something changed. I opened my eyes through the searing flames that were taking over all my senses and saw his eyes slowly change from black into spirals of red. They widened as they looked up at me. They began to fill with pain. Then, his arms moved away from my twitching back and pushed me off of him. I fell backwards, hitting the stone floor hard. I barely felt the impact. The fiery pain was becoming unbearable by the second, and I couldn't hold in the cries any longer. My body began to twist and shake as the burning began to spread from my chest, into my lungs, stomach, into my neck and face, to my fingers and toes.

"Bella?" I heard Edward call out to me, and I looked at him through tearing eyes and forced a smile through the pain. "Oh, no! What have I done! Bella!" Edward cried out more strongly, appearing above me. He looked frantic, knowing that the venom was coursing through me. He pressed himself against my chest once again, and started to suck. Was he going for more? I felt as though my very brain was beginning to burn, but I remember thinking that it would be alright for him to drain me. If I was going to die, I wanted to die knowing I gave him life.

A few moments passed, I think. The pain made me lose track of time, honestly. But, I soon began to feel lighter. The burning started to die away, and I stopped thrashing about. The wound stopped aching. Like it was never there. When my vision cleared, I saw Edward letting go of my healed wound with his lips and pull me into a deep embrace. What happened? My body was incredibly tired, but there no more burning. I wasn't dying. What did Edward do? "I didn't think I could do it…but I did somehow…" I heard him whisper as he buried his head into my neck. "I got out the venom before it could infect you…sealed the wound…oh Bella…" My head rested on his shoulder and I began to sob uncontrollably. All the heartache, feelings of loneliness, of loss, of anger and pain, everything flowed out of me and onto his icy skin. "I thought I'd never see you again," he sighed, grabbing my now-messy hair and pulling my face to look into his. "But you're really here, aren't you? I'm not imagining you?" His fingers caressed my face, wiping away the flowing tears. I smiled weakly at him.

"I'm really here," I managed to squeeze out. He smiled through the dirt and blood that now covered his face. I didn't care about that. When I saw his smile, I knew he was just as real.

"Listen to your heart fly. It's fluttering like a hummingbird's wings. Are you alright, Love?" Hearing him call me by that name unleashed the floodgates of my heart. Without another thought, I plunged myself into him, kissing him with months of suppressed passion. My fingers tangled themselves in his hair as his cool hands held me against him. His mouth was as warm as I remembered and I knew in that moment that we truly were together again. I was so engulfed by his kissing; my body began to act on instinct. My hands had moved from his hair, to his chest, pulling away at the torn fabric in order to feel more of him.

The cloth tore easily, and I tossed the remains of his shirt aside while never leaving his lips. His skin was flawless; a sculpted god in comparison to me. I couldn't get enough. His cold hands lowered along my back, sliding into my shirt and running upwards along my sides. I trembled as his coldness collided with my warm skin, and I felt electrified. For a brief instant, I pulled away to breathe, and resumed to kiss along his jaw line. "I've missed you so much…" I whispered into his ear lustfully.

"Bella…" he whispered back. "You are making me insane." His low tone was filled with need. I left a trail of kisses down his neck from his earlobe.

"I was so lost without you. I don't want to be alone anymore," I cooed. I felt something snap away at my mid-back and I smiled. I pulled my face back up to look at his, and he stared at me with uncertain eyes. My breathing was like short gasps while we looked at each other. My mind was focused on Edward and Edward only. My fingers ran along his jaw, wiping away the leftover traces of my blood.

"You are my life, Bella," he sighed, pulling back hair behind my ears; still cupping my face with his hands. A strange sense of pride filled me as I stared into his crimson eyes. I thought about how it was my blood coursing through him. How my blood revived him; empowered him. Finally, I could do something to help him for once. "Tell me what you want, and you can have it." My hands ran up his cool neck and played with tangled curls of his unbelievably soft hair.

"Just you," I replied simply through a husky sigh. My lips crashed into his, along with the rest of my being, which slammed his concrete body back into the cobblestone.

We were in the midst of danger. We could be discovered at any time. We might both be killed. But that didn't matter in those moments. Nothing else mattered.

Only the bubble that was recreated in that cell.