Chapter 50 – How Eternity Came to Be

As I laid there holding my love, I finally became aware of my surroundings. It was amazing and scary how I had been so consumed in making love that everything else had faded to the back ground. I briefly pondered if that was normal or only because it was our first time. It could become problematic and dangerous if every time we had sex, I shut out the rest of the world.

As I pondered this, I ran my hands through Bella's hair and felt something different. I looked down and there were feathers in her hair and surrounding us. Further observation showed ripped open pillows, providing the cause for feathers.

My jaw dropped as I saw bare wood sticking out from the corner of my eye. As I followed it I discovered the entire headboard was demolished. I racked my brain trying to think of exactly when I had done all of that damage, and couldn't remember doing it. That terrified me. How could I do something like that, while being with Bella, and not know I did it? What if it had been her and not the bed?

Oh God! I thought, horrified.

I turned slowly, hovering over her and looking to see if I had done anything to harm her. Within moments, I saw finger shaped bruises on her hips. I sighed and flopped back down in the bed.

My thoughts raced as guilt flooded through me. I hated for causing her harm again. I wanted to vow to never touch her again, but after having been with her I knew I wouldn't be able to resist being with her. That was all the proof needed to show I was a monster. I hurt an angel and knew I couldn't resist possibly hurting her again.

As I lay there, my phone went off. I contemplated ignoring it, but knew my family would only call if there was an emergency. I quickly retrieved it without waking Bella and saw Jasper's name on the display.

Before I even had the phone to my ear he was talking. "You need to stop wallowing. Alice didn't tell me why you were, only that it was bad and if I you didn't stop things would not be good for either of you."

I rolled my eyes. That was just what I needed, my meddling sister keeping track of my sex life. "I think Alice needs to stop being a voyeur and mind her own business."

Alice replied from the background. "I was not watching you have sex, brother, but your brooding caused a chain of events that took Bella out of all of our lives and you ended up going to the Volturi begging them to kill you."

I was shocked, speechless. I couldn't end up driving Bella from me, could I? I looked over to where she was sleeping peacefully on a destroyed bed and felt completely lost.

Jasper asked, "What happened that set you off like this?"

"Are you alone?" I didn't relish having this conversation with my entire family listening in.

I soon heard wind whipping over the line and knew he was leaving to give us privacy. "Alright I'm far enough from the house that no one can hear. Talk to me."

I explained everything that had happened. When I finally hung up an hour later, I felt much more in control and wasn't panicking. Jasper had helped me understand that I hadn't harmed Bella. While the bed was destroyed, it showed that I was capable of thinking through what was happening enough to look for ways to channel my strength when it got to be too much. He didn't even harass me for my embarrassing lack of staying power when and I had first entered Bella.

Back on the bed, I held my love as when she woke the next morning. I had been listening to her stomach rumble and knew she had to be hungry after not having eaten much the day before. Her eyes were still closed as she stretched her body against mine and I bit back a groan feeling all of her flesh rubbing along my own.

She blinked open her eyes. "Good morning."

"Good morning, love. How do you feel today?" I was still slightly worried that she would be in pain.

She smiled, making me feel relief. "I feel wonderful."

"Good. What do you want to do today, Mrs. Masen?"

She thought for a moment with a goofy grin on her face. I loved how much she enjoyed having my name as her own now. "I don't know. Right now I just want to eat."

I chuckled as her stomach growled punctuating her words. "Yes, I can hear the monster in there begging for food. Why don't you get cleaned up and I will get something started for you to eat."

She smiled and I kissed her before getting off the bed. I felt slightly self conscious being naked and assumed Bella would as well so I made sure to keep my back turned while I heard her shuffle into the bathroom.

She emerged from the shower, dressed for the day and met me in the kitchen she looking sheepish. "Edward?" she asked.

"Yes, my dear."

"What happened to the bed and why did I have feathers in my hair?"

I didn't want to see her face, in case there was any hatred there so I turned, giving a large portion of my attention to the eggs I was making. "That was my fault. Last night things were a bit overwhelming and I did what I could to not hurt you. I know you have some bruises on your hips. I'm sorry for that."

She came up behind me, put her arms around my waist and squeezed me as much as her human arms could. "I love you, Edward, and I thought it was perfect. I hope you aren't upset."

I turned in her embrace so I could hold her as well. "No, I'm not upset." I didn't want to tell her about the despair I had been in. I would tell her eventually, but today was about the joy of being together.

That's how the following days and weeks melted away. It was amazing, being with Bella and not having thoughts from others playing in my head. I'd never experienced such tranquility.

During the day we explored, swam, or relaxed. We also found ourselves making love often and in many varied places. The nights found her curled up around me or waking up to join together again.

As the weeks continued neither of us talked about leaving to go back to civilization. I knew we needed to at some point, but had no desire to leave this halcyon existence.

All of that was shattered with a phone call from Carlisle. It was early in the evening and Bella and I were lounging on the back patio when I heard my phone. I grabbed the it from our bedroom, and went back to the patio bringing Bella onto my lap.

"Edward, the Volturi know," Carlisle said without preamble.

I sat up so quickly, I almost dropped Bella. "What do you mean the Volturi know?"

"Alice had a vision. Vladimir went back to Russia and wanted to have what he thought you had. He has been collecting women for pets and he was making such a mess the Volturi found out. He will be brought before Aro later today and when Aro touches his hand, he and will find out that you were with a human girl. Alice doesn't know what will happen after that, but I can almost guarantee he will be calling you to come before him, and then he will know it all."

I sat back, scared and mad. I knew that at some point the Volturi would find out about Bella. They called various members of our family to them every decade or so. It was an arrangement made long ago to satisfy the brothers that we weren't trying to take over. I purposely put it out of my head knowing I could worry about it later; I never dreamed it would come to a head this soon.

I sighed. "Alright, what do we do?"

"I think the best thing to do is present ourselves as a family. He will likely call for all of us anyway. It's hard to say what will happen. Alice is contacting your pilots right now so they can get ready to fly you to Miami where we will meet you."

"I don't want Bella to go there." I said hoping my saying it would make it happen, though I knew in my heart she needed to come with us."

"I know, son, I know. I don't want to take Bella there any more than you do, but I doubt we will have a choice. I'm hoping that since she's your mate and part of our coven now that there will be some type of grace given."

I nodded even though he couldn't see me. I didn't know what else to say. I wanted it to be true, but I knew the Volturi, and they were not known for showing compassion towards anyone. I had seen them take out whole covens for much less.

Carlisle spoke again. "It'll be okay, Edward. We are a family and we will stand by each other. Bella has never talked to a soul and she never will. Hopefully, Aro will see that when he touches her."

I looked at Bella. Aro had the ability to know every thought a person had ever had just by touching them. "She can block me, what if she blocks him as well?"

"I don't know. Let's see what happens when he calls us. That may give us more insight or hopefully Alice will see something. Go to Miami and we can all talk together."

I hung up with Carlisle and stared at Bella. The thought of her dying in less than twenty-four hours made me want to scream. She sat staring back at me, knowing something was going on, but not asking.

"We need to get packed up to leave. Do you remember Vladimir?" I asked.

She nodded her face showing worry.

"He is being brought before the Volturi later today and they will find out about you. I've mentioned them in passing, if you remember. They are the rulers of our world and enforce the laws of our kind. There is only one main rule: 'never let humans know about vampires'. This law is punishable by instant death for any that violate it. The brothers, the three vampires in charge, are not known for compassion or leniency. There's no running from them, as they have trackers that can follow us anywhere. We will meet up with the family in Miami and travel together to Volterra to see them."

"Are they going to kill us then?" Part of me was glad to note the fear in her voice. She had come so far, from embracing and wanting death just months ago, to now wanting to live.

"I don't know. I hope not. I hope the fact that you're my mate changes things in our favor. Alice is going to be looking to see what she can to give us anything that can help us."

Her eyes were full of fear and acceptance. "I'm sorry."

I held her to me. "No, no, my love, you have nothing to be sorry for. You did nothing wrong. We fell in love and are meant for each other. I couldn't not tell you what I was. I know you would never tell a soul."

"I don't want you to die," she whimpered.

I ran my hand through her hair trying to calm her. "I know. We don't know what will happen. We need to think positively." I didn't know where the words came from to try and keep her calm and thinking encouragingly when I was anything but. I didn't want to tell her that before the sun set tomorrow it wouldn't be just her and I that were killed but the entire family.

I packed quickly while Bella showered and got dressed. The trip to the mainland was made with no words between us. When we finally boarded our plane, I tried to think of something to say, but came up empty. Bella sat on my lap and we gazed at each other the entire trip to Miami.

The plane touched down to get fuel as my family boarded. Carlisle started talking immediately.

"Aro called and has asked for us to meet him. He didn't indicate what we were being called for; although I'm sure he thought it was unneeded with Alice around.

"Alice has seen that he hadn't said anything to anyone except for Marcus. I think that works in our favor, it means he is wondering what was going on. If he was calling us there for the express purpose of killing us he would do so before the entire assemblage. Alice can't see anything else. I'm wondering if he thought Bella being with Edward was a fluke, and that he was trying to save a human in general. I doubt he thinks we will be bringing her with us."

I nodded and considered how it would be to our advantage to have only Aro and Marcus ready to meet us when we got there. I knew it would be easy for him to call in the guard, who have always hated us and were uncomfortable with us because of our diet.

Bella remained in my lap, not saying anything. I wished I knew what was going on inside her head. I wanted to be able to promise her that everything would be okay and that we would all go home living happily ever after. I couldn't make that promise though, and I refused to lie to her.

"Bella, you need to get a little sleep," I said softly.

"I don't think I can." Her eyes implored me to understand.

I looked at Jasper. "Can you help her?"

He nodded.

"Jasper will help you a little bit. We have a long flight and you need to get some sleep before we get there. I know you're stressed, but you still need sleep."

She snuggled deeper into me and soon drifted off. I held her and kept my nose in her hair, breathing her scent into me. I didn't want to think that this would be the last time I would be doing such a thing. The world couldn't possibly survive without its angel here. It was impossible.

When we touched down in Italy, there was a limo waiting for us. The drive to Volterra was made in complete silence. Everyone was holding their mate, afraid of losing them. It was scary to consider becoming ash, but the thought of seeing our mates become ash right before we did ourselves was too much to think about.

Nothing had changed about Volterra since the last time I had been there. Bella gasped as we entered the city. I'm guessing she expected to see something other than humans walking about their day, not knowing the seat of the vampire world was among them.

The limo parked in an underground garage and we took the elevator to the reception area. Bella stopped when she saw a human working in an opulent lobby, on a computer. I nudged her to keep going, not knowing how I was going to explain that the Volturi hired humans that were usually killed when they were no longer of use.

We didn't wait long before we were escorted by Felix to whatever awaited us. He was a guard member and had always been openly hostile towards our family and way of life. When he saw Bella with us, his eyes widened and his thoughts were full of curiosity as to why we brought a human. He planned on alerting most of the guard as soon as he we got our destination.

I rolled my eyes knowing no matter what we were going to have some kind of audience. At least the guard knew better than to be around the private conference rooms when any of the brothers were in a meeting.

We entered the meeting room and sat down to wait. Alice whispered, "Felix will be spreading the word that we are here with a human and within ten minutes the entire guard will know. Aro plans on seeing us alone with Marcus."

Rose snorted. "So much for the idea that gossips are only girls."

Soon, Aro entered with Marcus following him. Both were surprised to see Bella with us, and Marcus noted immediately that we were mated. That was Marcus' gift; he could see and read the types and strengths of bonds. His interest was piqued in a way I had never seen before. He normally was completely apathetic, having lost his will to live when his mate, Didyme, was killed. The only reason he hadn't sought death was his bond to the Volturi.

Aro's thoughts were vague. He had learned to think around things so I didn't pick up on his every thought. Shock was still evident and he had many questions.

With no comment or welcome he walked right to Carlisle and held his hand out wanting answers. Carlisle gave his hand immediately. Aro read through his past thoughts so quickly, I wasn't able to keep up or learn what he did.

When he was done with Carlisle he stepped back and regarded Bella closely. "How interesting," he said. He turned to me. "Edward, I received more than enough input from Carlisle, but I would like to have your unique perspective."

Before he finished, I held my hand out for him to take. It wasn't like I could deny him anything, but I was more than happy for him to know exactly what my relationship with Bella was like. Mostly though I wanted him to see who Bella was and that she would never tell anyone anything about us. I doubted that it would make a difference to the outcome, but I had to try.

When he was done, his eyes were shining and his thoughts indicated he was delighted at the prospect of what Bella would become as an immortal. He was staring at her, scrutinizing her, trying to decide why I couldn't read her thoughts.

Alice was continually looking to the future to see what decisions Aro or anyone else around was making. Since Aro wasn't saying much of anything, I could hear the anxious and worried thoughts coming from my family.

Aro spoke to Bella. "What an unusual human and circumstance. Of course, it is and has always been law that no human is ever to know about us. Not only do you know what we are, but you live and are embraced by a coven. Normally this would be instant death for all with no further thought or comment, but you are mated. In all my years I have never heard of a human and vampire being mated." He turned to Marcus and raised an eyebrow in question.

"Yes, brother, they are fully mated and their bond is incredibly strong. She is also bonded to the rest of the coven as any vampire would be. I would never have guessed that a human could bond to a vampire let alone a coven."

Carlisle spoke up. "She is a full coven member. She is my daughter as much as Alice or Rose. We all know it is against our laws for her to know what we are, but when Edward discovered she was his mate, we knew we wouldn't be able to keep what we were a secret forever."

Marcus inquired. "Why didn't you immediately change her?"

Surprisingly, Aro answered, "Because she had a broken soul. I've seen instances where someone as broken as she were turned at it created an incredibly unstable vampire who had to be exterminated, assuming they didn't find a way to do it themselves first. No, Bella wouldn't have survived being turned once Edward accepted she was his mate. I doubt the Cullen coven would have survived intact. I'm sure Edward would have left in guilt seeking either death or searching for restitution he would never find. As to how it would have affected the others, who's to say, but losing two fully bonded members would have repercussions."

My shock at Aro's seeming defense was echoed in the thoughts of everyone in the room. His eyes never strayed from Bella and I shockingly read compassion in his thoughts. I had never experienced any thoughts about humans from him. He truly considered them cattle, so for him to consider her in anyway was surprising.

Marcus turned his gaze to Bella and considered her. He had no clue about anything in her past, but hearing she had had a broken soul and now was healed caught his attention. His soul had never repaired from his mate's death, and he couldn't fathom such a young human girl surviving that amount of pain. He wanted to learn more about her.

Bella's heartbeat was a pounding drum in the silent room. I let it clam me as I focused on Alice who was searching our futures to see what would happen to us all. She saw Aro's intention to touch Bella and that she would block his gift. I flicked my eyes in her direction, letting her know I had seen her vision.

"Bella, it seems you have the ability to block Edward from seeing your thoughts. An ability, I might add, that both pleases and confounds him. Since my gift is similar I would like to see if you are able to block me as well." He held his hand out exactly as Alice had foreseen.

Bella looked at me and I gave her a slight nod with as much of a smile as I could manage. Her hand trembled as she placed it in his.

"What an amazing human," Aro smirked.

His thoughts reflected his desire to have such an obviously gifted human turned into a vampire to see how much stronger her gift would become. He knew she would never become a member of the guard as she was my mate, but she would be subject to the same agreement that he had with the entire Cullen coven so Bella would be at his disposal if he felt he needed her.

Then he decided to test her further and see if she could block other mental invasions. I tensed while he considered Jane and if her ability to cause excruciating pain would work on Bella. Jane had used her ability on me and I doubted a human could live through something like that, and even if she could, I refused to allow Bella to be subjected to such a test on a whim.

Before I could object, I saw Alice move out of the corner of my eye screamed my name in her thoughts. I cocked my head slightly towards her so she knew she had gotten my attention.

Edward, don't panic she'll be fine. I promise. See . . .

A vision appeared of Jane coming in and trying to harm Bella who had no clue what was going on. Seeing the incredibly pissed off look on Jane's face in the vision made me want to laugh.

Aro excused himself to find Jane and everyone in the room stayed quiet. Marcus wanted to ask questions about Bella, but decided against it, wanting to wait for Aro to finish whatever he had planned. My family's thoughts all reflected their unease at Aro leaving as none of them knew where he was going or why.

Alice quietly reassured everyone. "Don't panic when Aro comes back with Jane."

Everyone's thoughts in the room, including Marcus', showed surprise and uneasiness. My family knew enough to trust Alice, but still didn't want to have Bella around the vicious girl.

I tuned to Jane's smug thoughts before she even entered the room. She was incredibly pleased that she was being asked to cause pain to a member of the Cullen coven, whom she had always thought less of because of our diet.

They entered and I kept rubbing soothing circles on Bella's back, hoping to let her know that everything was alright. She had no clue who Jane was and I didn't want to tell her what Aro's experiment was about since Alice saw it not working anyway.

Aro gave me a significant look before turning to Jane. He knew the only way I would be so calm was if Alice had seen nothing happening. This didn't stop him from continuing.

"Jane, dear, this is the human I was hoping you could work with for me."

She desperately wanted to know why the Cullens were in Volterra with a human and why she was being asked to punish the human. Jane turned to Bella and exerted her gift of pain towards her. Her thoughts spiraled as Bella sat calmly in my lap confused as to what was happening, but obviously in no pain.

Jane started growling, and Aro placed a hand on her shoulder. "No worries, Jane. It would seem that Bella confounds all of us. Thank you, my dear. I won't need you for anything further." She left incredibly put out that she couldn't cause pain to any of us.

Carlisle picked up that Aro completely dismissed Jane, instead of asking her to stick around and hoped that meant that Aro had no plans on torturing us.

Aro stared at Bella. His thoughts were circling around so I couldn't tell what he was planning. Alice was getting flickers, he was purposely not making a complete decision to avoid her visions.

"Bella, I am grateful for Carlisle bringing you here. Of course, he didn't have to bring you here to be changed. He has never indicated that he want to expand his coven so we had never discussed how he should do so. It heartens me that he came here seeking my approval before you were turned. We have a secluded castle in Germany near a forest where it would be easy to accommodate everyone and where there is abundant wildlife for when you have completed the change. Make no mistake, my dear Bella, since you know who and what we are you will not be leaving Volterra property with a beating heart."

His proclamation was met with complete silence. Marcus was surprised, as was my family, though only he and Carlisle understood that the only reason Bella was being given a thinly veiled option was because Aro wanted her abilities. If she had not shown such strong abilities, likely things would have been much different, but I wasn't about it have her changed against her will, even though I had come to embrace the idea of her change.

"She doesn't want to be changed. She's never told a single person about us and she still needs healing."

He turned to Jasper. "What do you think? From Edward's and Carlisle's thoughts she seems much better. I doubt anyone could ever be completely healed from such a vulgar travesty, and we all have burdens we carry with us from our human lives. Bella seems stable, do you think she can handle immortality?"

I wanted to beg and plead for him to say no, that she needed more time, though I knew he would tell the truth and never allow Bella to be harmed.

"I wouldn't mind more time with her, as I think there are a few things she needs to work on more, but I don't think there is anything that would hinder her in immortality or make me worry that she is or would be unstable," he replied.

He nodded and turned to Bella. "Wonderful. I will have a car brought around and Felix and Demetri will escort you to our holding in Germany. I will be by to visit in four days time to see how you're adjusting." We were just given our cover story of how Aro was going to spin us being here with a human girl. Even if someone in the guard questioned if that was the real story, no one would say anything against it.

I held Bella tightly trying to find a way out of this. Felix was a tracker, there was no way we could get away from him and he would let the guard know where to find us. There was a chance he wouldn't be able to find Bella, since she seemed able to block many mental abilities and his tracking was done by getting a mental tone on a vampire and then being able to track it back to them.

Alice was searching out futures, but her thoughts revealed that she was content with how things were working out. In fact, all of my family was happy that we were leaving alive and that Bella was coming with us. None of them felt my apprehension about how Bella refused to discuss immortality with me and that she didn't seem to want that future for herself.

Jasper noted my anxiety and soon pieced together what was causing it. As we were walking to the limousine that would take us to Germany he leaned in and whispered, "It could be worse, we could all be dead. Before you change her, talk to her and find out why she doesn't want to be changed. It may be something simple you can deal with."

I nodded, doubting there was anything else that could be done at this point.

The trip to Germany was made in near silence as none of us wanted to say anything in front of Demetri or Felix. Most of my family was happy that everything seemed to work out perfectly. They all considered Bella a family member and this would only make it more obvious. Each had passing thoughts about how Bella had stated she didn't want to be a vampire, but figured she would rather be changed than die and that whatever her hang up, probably wasn't something that couldn't be overcome.

For the entire trip Bella didn't say anything. I desperately wanted to talk to her, but decided to wait until we had more privacy.

The castle we finally pulled into, was old and in need of repair. Looking around it was an ideal location to change a newborn that would live on animals and not humans. There were plenty of woods around and the nearest village was a few miles away. Felix and Demetri stayed outside as the rest of us went in.

There was little furniture and the walls were bare. It hardly seemed inviting, and made me wonder what it had been used for in the past. Likely it had belonged to a guard member when they were human, so Aro considered it a Volturi holding to be used when or if he wanted to.

I held Bella's hand and we looked around upstairs until I found a room with a bed. The old mattress smelled of mildew and feathers, but it looked more comfortable than the hard stone floor.

I turned Bella to face me. "Alright, it's just you and I now. I need to know what you're thinking. What you want to do?"

She refused to meet my eye. "I don't know what to do." If I hadn't been a vampire I would never have heard her.

"Talk to me, Bella. I don't know what you're thinking. Do you want to be changed? I don't know that I can find a way out, but I will try if you want me to."

She started crying as she shook her head back and forth. I held her waiting for her to find the words to tell me what she was thinking. Eventually, she stuttered out, "I don't want to be left alone."

I was confused. "Why would you think you would be alone? We'll be together. I would never leave you."

"You don't want me. You said you didn't want me to be a vampire."

I searched my perfect memory for a time I would have said that to her. Even when I didn't want her to be a vampire because I feared for her soul I didn't say it to her, knowing her already fragile self esteem wouldn't let her understand. "When did I say that, love?"

"After James bit me you said you couldn't let me be changed and sucked the venom out. You don't want me for eternity, just for now."

"Oh dear goodness, no, that isn't what happened at all. When James bit you, I said I didn't want you to be changed like that. Not that I didn't want to be with you. Bella, you weren't healed from your past yet, had in fact just gotten through your last trial, and then you were kidnapped by a vicious vampire that bit you. Your mental state at that time would have made your transition into immortality difficult at best. It's possible you would have been so unstable that you would have needed to be killed later. I couldn't let that happen. I wanted you to get better before we even discussed such a step."

She drew back slightly and looked at me.

"Bella, you would have lived for decades, maybe even longer in the depression you were in months ago. I couldn't let that happen."

"So you do want me with you?"

I brushed the hair back from her cheeks. "More than anything, but it isn't what I want that matters. What do you want?"

She bit her lip and looked up at me through her eyelashes. "I want to be with you forever." She tipped her head to the side and pulled her hair out of the way.

"And I you," I said. Then I lightly kissed her neck before biting her thinking of the future we would have together.


So there ya go. I promised that either Bella would or wouldn't be changed but that both of them would embrace it. Now after many death threats and comments of violence I knew that Bella needed to be changed. Seriously, I have loved all of your comments, suggestions and not so subtle insinuations about Bella becoming a vampire.

Now be glad that Nissa told me that I couldn't end the chapter saying "The End" as I had planned. So there will be a short, tiny, small epi coming, but don't look for a long drawn out affair. Bella is healed and I never had plans on writing much past that. So shout outs to Nissa for all of you that are happy there is more coming.

Thank you to Burtncore for giving the chapter a once over. Seriously she is a gem. I dumped 6,000 words on her and she never complains. I love you girl.

Thank you to all my new readers, WOWSERS have there been a lot of you. I love your reviews of past chapters that touched you as you read. Thank you.

Lastly, here is the dealie. My next story is in the works. It is Vamp Carlisle/human Bella. I have already been told there are people very creepeed out by that pairing and that they won't be reading. I understand and am just happy you stuck with me on this story. My C/B is an all romance, no angst story (seriously I must be losing it). If you are against Carlisle because he is the "daddy" well he won't really be in my story. Okay, read if you want but if the story even remotely interests you can you review and tell me - do you want me to wait and post once I have the entire thing written so I can update regularly, know that will mean probably more than a year and with no one really inspiring me it may not get written, OR do you want me to post knowing that updates may be sporadic, there won't be any cliffies, like I said all romance and mushy. I have 2 chapters written and have showed it to a few friends that told me to keep going, but they are friends so have to say that. LOL

Sorry for the long AN. I love you all!