A/N: Sorry this took so long. I got wrapped up in a show and then got really depressed about the job hunting shit. But I'm back I swear. Thank you for all the support as usual. It's what made me get my head out of my ass ;)

In my thoughts you're far away

And you are whistling a melody, whistling a melody

Crystallizing clear as day

Oh I can picture you so easily, picture you so easily

Chapter 7: Curiosity

Liam POV:

I woke up hours later, alone. The charred remains of Marcus were directly behind me. Shit. My phone was buzzing incessantly, I pulled it out to reveal 15 missed calls and 34 text messages. They ranged from slightly concerned, to threatening me if I didn't call back within the hour. I dialed headquarters before they could actually send a search team.

"Where the fuck have you been? It's been hours. You said you would call the second you got to Volterra." Colt was understandably pissed at my lack of contact.

"I'm sorry. Our plan hit a small snag."

"What happened?"

"Well I thought I was getting through to her. But then she snapped my neck." Colt was silent, probably trying not to hit something in frustration.

"Fuck. Fuck! What now? Do you know where she is?"

"No. It's been hours. She's long gone by now." He sighed on the other end and I bit my lip. "But I think I know her end game."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean Liam? You've been hiding shit and it's pissing me off!"

"Now who's the one that needs to stay calm?" And I hung up before he could yell at me more.

Yes I know her end game, but that doesn't mean I want to follow her to it. Especially now that she's proven she has no care for me. I rubbed my sore neck and thought about my options. I still had the sedatives Carlisle gave me, and I could probably track her scent if she went by foot, which was most likely considering her new diet.

"God damn it Bella. This is all my fault." I sighed to the empty room, making up my mind.

Tracking her was a little more difficult than usual. While the base of her scent remained the same, the notes in it had changed. It gave off a territorial and predatory odor, warning other animals to keep their distance.

Around the middle of France I started to catch up. The body trail she left behind was getting fresher and fresher. I was pushing my legs hard to try and keep up. But the pain would all be worth it if I just got her home.

I was close, I could smell it. My direction changed immediately at the sound of a human scream. The middle of a hunt would be the perfect time to surprise attack her. I crept up slowly to the scene, keeping my scent down wind.

There was already one woman dead, probably the scream I heard earlier, and Bella was closing in on a scared man. Most likely an unfortunate couple on an evening stroll.

"S'il vous plaît. S'il vous plait, laissez-moi partir." The man begged, tears streaming down his face. Bella ignored his pleas and snapped his neck, sucking greedily on his pulse joint. Now was my chance.

I jumped and inserted the needle into her skin while she fed. But instead of weakening her as it should have, it just seemed to piss her off. Oh fuck me.

"Didn't I take care of you already? Or do I have to keep snapping your neck until you get the point?" She growled at me angrily, I had interrupted her meal.

"Look Bella I'm sorry ok? But you know I can't stop until I get you back." She pulled the empty tranquilizer from her neck, and I prepared for an extremely hard fight.

She lunged suddenly and I ducked away. What have I gotten myself into? Her incisors were out as she growled even louder, I never thought my best friend could look so terrifying until now. She went for me again, and somehow I dodged that as well. Damn I'm not too bad. But my cockiness was thrown out the window when she swept my legs from right underneath me.

"You thought this shit would stop me?" Bella held me down by my neck and pointed at the empty needle next to us. "I'm stronger than you. And I'm going to make sure you never forget it." Her hand was slowly crushing my windpipe and her eyes were once again gleaming with joy at it. I had to do something fast, if she killed me again there was no way in hell I'd be able to track her. She would make sure of that. I threw my hand up into her chest cavity, grabbing a hold of her heart.

"I'm sorry Bella." I choked out, she let go of my neck in surprise. I didn't want to do what I was about to do, but I couldn't see another way. "I have to do this." I screwed my eyes shut and ripped her heart right out.

Alice POV:

"I'm going to kill him. I'm going to fucking kill him." Colt had been pacing furiously for the past several hours. Everyone had been on edge since Liam landed in Europe, and now even more so with the recent news.

"Hey, we just need to remain calm. We need to have faith in Liam. He knows what he's doing." Carlisle was doing his best to keep everyone sane, but it wasn't helping much. If Bella was so far gone to the point of killing Liam, what could we do? And even if we could do something, how were we supposed to get her now?

"I'm not going to fucking calm down Carlisle! He's keeping secrets again! They both are." He glanced at me before continuing his pacing. Probably because the last time they were keeping a secret, it was about Bella's rape. But this time felt different. It had something to do with what was in Volterra? I didn't have the slightest idea what it was about.

What did that say about me? Did I even know Bella at all? My own wife? She was so good at keeping secrets. Does she have other secrets? How am I this bad at being a mate?

Suddenly Colt's phone rang and we all jumped in surprise. He hesitated picking it up, worried about how this conversation may end this time.

"This is Colt." He placed it on speaker so everyone could hear.

"Relax it's me." Liam's exhausted voice rang out, I think we all let out a collective breath.

"How can I? Considering last time we spoke."

"I have Bella." It was amazing how those three words could make me feel a thousand times better. "I'm bringing her back right now. Can I speak to Carlisle?"

"Um yes. Go ahead Liam he's right here." Colt nodded to my father for him to speak up.

"Do you need something?"

"Yeah. Uh how do you put someone into a medically induced coma? I need to keep Bella down." Carlisle furrowed his eyebrows at the question.

"What do you mean? I gave you enough sedatives to keep her down for a week if need be. Why would you need a medically induced coma?"

"Uhhhh. Yeah those tranquilizers you gave me didn't work. Like at all." Now we were all confused again.

"Wait, if they didn't work, how did you get her?" Carlisle asked what everyone was thinking.

"Carlisle, there wasn't another way. She-she was going to kill me again." All of my relieved feelings were immediately washed away.

"What do you mean? Did-did you kill her?" I couldn't tell if he was angry or surprised. Maybe both.

"I knew if she killed me she wouldn't let me find her again. She would do anything to shake me trailing her. I didn't have any other choice. She was dangerous. Look, I'm sorry."

"You killed her?" Rosalie jumped up and went over to the phone screaming. "You promised you wouldn't hurt her!"

"Rose I didn't have another choice!"

"There's always another choice! You-" I placed my hand on her to calm her down.

"Hey. It's ok." I whispered quietly for everyone. "I understand Liam. I know you did what was right. Thank you." I walked off without saying anything else. It was true, I wasn't angry at him at all. I know he would never hurt her unless it was the absolute only option. Her pain was his pain as well. And the others would never understand that like we did. So they would blame him for doing something that I'm sure was one of the hardest things he's ever done.

I went back to my room to take a breather before Bella came. I don't know what to expect, so I'm assuming the worst. I've seen a lot of human eating vampires in my long life, but I've never seen one without humanity. Jasper used to tell me about them before all this. His stories had scared me, even then. And now, they terrified me even more.

How could I look at her, and know everything I knew was not in her? How could I look into the eyes of my wife, and see her without a soul? I love her so much. And I know she loves me. So I don't want to see what it looks like to not have her love me.

"Alice. They're back." Esme came into my room a while later, a sad smile playing on her lips. When I got up she gave me a comforting hug before we both left.

Liam was talking with Colt and Carlisle when I walked in, no Bella. They stopped their conversation right away and Liam came to hug me tightly. I couldn't help but notice the large bruise covering his neck.

"Wh-where's Bella?"

"Downstairs." Jasper walked in at that moment to answer my question. "She's hooked up on a low drip so she remains weak Carlisle." Emmett came in right behind him with a miserable expression.

"Thank you boys." He gave them both pats on the shoulder.

"What's going on?" I looked to all of them. Last time I checked they didn't have a plan.

"We're trying to dry her out. If she's hungry, it will make her weaker to influences. We have her on a strong sedative as well right now so she doesn't break out." Carlisle explained to me gently.

"Basically we're using the same technique the Volturi used." Jasper said coldly, which made everyone uncomfortable.

"No we're not. We're trying to make her love, not kill. And we aren't using mind fucking drugs and torture. And the hunger is a necessity ok. We need to get her off blood." Liam retorted defensively, glaring daggers at Jasper.

"Look, I'm sorry. For everything. Especially to the both of you." Jasper whispered to Liam and I. "I haven't been supportive at all. I acted out of despair and hate for the Volturi. For what they did. But I shouldn't have taken it out on you. Or Bella for that matter. I'm really sorry." His guilt and sorrow were radiating off of him, I had no choice but to forgive him.

"Thank you Jasper." I smiled at him so he knew we were ok. "Can-can I go see Bella now?"

"Alice I'm not going to stop you from seeing her, I never would. But there are some things that you should know before you go in there and try to talk to her."

"Carlisle I know she doesn't have emotions right now. I know her eyes will be red and stuff."

"It's not that." My poor father looked like he had aged so much since Bella. First the uncovering of what Caius did and now this. I know he will always think it's his fault no matter what I say. "Alice, she'll say anything right now. Anything that will hurt you or make you feel like there's no hope. So you'll give up and let her go. But it's not her, it's the defensive side kicking in. And it will only get worse the closer we get." I took some time to let his words sink in, but I eventually nodded.

"I know. Thank you for warning me. But I have to see her, you know?" Carlisle looked to Liam who went over and took my hand. He led me downstairs to the room they had kept Jasper and Emmett so long ago.

"Are you ready for this?" He paused as we reached the door, pulling out his key and waiting for my affirmative. I swallowed hard.

"Yes." He gave me one last pleading look before opening it up.

There she was. After all this time, I had to rein myself in so I didn't tackle her into an embrace. She was seated in a chair, chained around the wrists and ankles, and hooked up to the IV keeping her sedated. But she was conscious, I could tell, and her head was hanging low.

"Bella." Her name fell from my lips before I could stop it. She slowly angled her head up to meet my eyes.

It didn't matter how long I spent preparing, nothing would've helped me for it. I remember thinking about how I never wanted to see Bella's eyes red, it was as horrible as I had imagined. There was not a hint of love, or even recognition, in those eyes. It was like I was standing in front of a completely different person.

"Bella, do you know who this is?" Liam asked, as if he were a mental health doctor.

"Alice Cullen." She said it so heartlessly, like I was just a stranger, or someone she was studying for a mission. I couldn't help but feel saddened at the fact she said I was a Cullen.

"No. Her name is Alice Swan. It has been for four months. She's your wife." Bella made no indication that it was a surprise to her.

"I have no wife. Marriage requires feelings, and I have none." She said robotically, all the while staring at me as if I were an interesting animal in a zoo. Could it be curiosity?

"That's not true Bella. You love her. It's just buried deep inside of you so you don't get hurt again." She turned to Liam now, with the same inquiring look on her face.

"If it hurt me before, what makes you think I would want to turn it on? Why would I want to feel, if you said I was in pain?"

"Because the good always trumps the bad. And just because you felt pain before you turned it off, doesn't mean you didn't feel extreme love before all this. The Volturi hurt you to make you feel this way. But your life is full of love, not that constant pain they made for you."

"Are you in pain? Right now?" It wasn't an accusation, she actually seemed to be curious about it. "Because you look like it." Maybe she really didn't understand facial or body expressions anymore. Did the inhumanity take away her ability to empathize? Liam and I glanced at each other uneasily.

"You could say that. I miss my friend. And Alice's misses her mate." Bella continued to stare at us peculiarly, and then rolled her head back down.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't."