When March came around I went on vacation to Volterra to celebrate the festival and help in the story if I needed to. I of course quickly found Edward who got tackle hugged by Bella in order to stop him from exposing himself. I walked over to them and said. "Hi Alice, Bella, idiot."
"What? Alex, what are you doing here? You need to leave now." Alice said in shock. Edward and Bella both looked at me in shock at my sudden appearance.
"I think he should stay." A voice from the shadows said as a short blond girl appeared from the shadows and eyed me with her bright red eyes. "He appears to know quite a bit more than he should, same as this other human. Aro will be interested in this situation."
I then bowed to the girl with a wide grin. "Why hello beautiful lady, my name is Alex Hale, may I be graced with the knowledge of your name."
"Hmph, how cute." Jane smirked. "My name is Jane. Now if you would follow me and Demitri back to meet with the Volturi. Please keep in mind that my brother Alec and Felix is nearby just in case any of you feel stupid enough to try and escape."
"Will you give me a reward if I'm a good boy?" I asked her while wiggling my eyebrows.
"Maybe, we'll see later." Jane said while everyone stared at us as if we were crazy.
We followed Jane back underground through a number of darkened alleys and passageways that were obviously meant to confuse a normal human. Though neither of the Cullens or I were confused in the least. Bella was to focused on Edward to even notice where we were.
After a bit more walking in the underground tunnels we were lead to a reception area where we were allowed to sit for a bit. I got to see the human receptionist. I thought it was hilarious that she actually thought she would be able to become a vampire. The poor woman was basically just stored food for a rainy day.
After a couple of minutes we were called in for an audience. I saw the guards around the room and up on three thrones sat Aro, Caius, and Marcus who were all surrounded by their guards..
"Tsk tsk Edward, to think you would so blatantly go breaking our laws." Aro said with the cheapest smile I had ever seen.
"You have told two humans about our existence and even tried to expose yourself to hundreds of human witnesses. If it wasn't for the little human girl in your arms you could have done a terrible amount of damage to our secrecy. It is good to know however that the damage was contained to just these two. Now what to do with them."
"Why hello lords of Volterra." I said with a bow to the three on the thrones after Aro finished talking. "My name is Alex Hale and I am a writer and a scholar. Here is a small collection of my recent works." I said as I pulled out four books that one of the guards grabbed from me and brought to Aro.
"Oh, you write romance novels." Aro said as he quickly looked through the introductions. "My and Caius's wives have a certain addiction to such things. I will be sure to let them read your works. You are also quite polite and have proper etiquette like I haven't seen in quite a few years. However it still does not change that you are a human who knows our secrets."
"While it is true that I do know your secret I have to let you know that I actually learned of the truth from seeing a nomad and not from Edward. I had done a fair bit of research on vampires for a novel and had read the myths and legends. I saw the nomad and her bright red eyes and was reminded of the legends. When I watched her enter a dead end alley I saw a flash of color on the roof and saw her up there. There was no ladders to get up on the roof from the alley and with everything else combined it only solidified my idea that she was a vampire."
"May I touch your wrist for a second." Aro asked in curiosity.
"Sure." I said as I moved up to him and he touched my wrist. I felt his mind touch on my memories and I led him to the fake memories I had created which showed my life without the things I wanted to hide. He only gave a cursory glance at my memories until he came to the one with the nomad.
"I see, I unfortunately don't know of this nomad." Aro sighed out. "This does get rid of some of young Edwards sins, but it doesn't do anything concerning the girl or the fact that he was supposed to kill any humans who found out about us in order to keep our secrecy."
"She is Edwards mate and will become a vampire in the future." Alice said while moving forward and presenting her wrist to Aro.
Aro touched her wrist for a moment before sighing out. "I see, she is quite a beautiful thing. Not to mention that she is your singer Edward. You must be in constant pain and suffering just by being in her presence. It will be interesting to see if you can resist draining her when you change her."
"If I need to I will personally change her myself." Alice declared while Edward had a look of betrayal on his face. Idiot is so against changing Bella he would risk us all dying. This is why I don't trust Edward to deal with these sorts of things. It's even worse than Rose's human envy.
"This does however leave you." Aro said while looking at me. "While I am sure that my wife would be quite sad to hear that I killed the author of the series she will be reading it is also true that I can't just let you leave as our laws dictate that only humans we plan to turn are allowed to live with the knowledge of vampires."
I held up my hand after reaching in my pocket to show a syringe filled with venom.
"What pray tell is that." Aro asked while every other vampire in the room looked at it curiously. Marcus lost his curiosity after a second while Alice and Edward both cried out in shock. Bella just looked confused.
"What, what is Alex holding?" Bella asked Edward quietly.
"It's a syringe filled with vampire venom." Edward ground out between his grit teeth. "I thought we had collected all of his samples from back in Forks."
"Alex." Alice said in a tone that almost sounded like she was crying.
"I told you guys that I was going to save some in case of an emergency." I smiled at them. "This is certainly the kind of situation that can be considered an emergency."
"But, you will be giving up your humanity. You won't be able to have children, you won't be able to eat or drink anything but blood. You won't be able to live anywhere for any length of time without drawing attention. You will watch everyone around you age and die while you live on in the shadows. Are you sure that you are willing to give all of that up?" Edward asked me with a pained face.
"My only relatives were my parents and they died just this last year, I never cared about my diet and so long as I work from home without making public appearances I can live in the same place for at least a little while before faking my death or retirement and handing things off to my younger relative or son who is also a very talented and intelligent individual who will look shockingly like me. I will be fine, not to mention that I doubt I will leave here alive if I don't do this." I said while looking at Aro.
"He is correct." Caius said with a nod and a grin. "If he doesn't get changed we will need to kill him here and now to get rid of the unnecessary risk that his knowledge presents."
"I would however like to do the change in Forks if that would be allowed. There is a large amount of wildlife and forests in the area and it is a place that I know which would allow me more comfort after the change."
"Very well." Aro said with a nod. "However we will be sending some of our guard to make sure you change, and if you try to double cross us and escape we will have those guards change you and bring you back for a hundred years of torture. I know at least Caius here enjoys releasing his stress on our more traitorous vampires before we end them."
"Indeed, I do hope that you try to go back on your word. The last one of my toys broke a decade ago and had to be disposed of." Caius smiled at me.
"I think I'll just keep my word." I said with a strained smile. "Though if I could, may I ask for the ever so charming Jane to escort me back home." I asked with a smirk.
"Oh, does our Jane here have an admirer." Aro laughed a bit. "Very well, Felix, Jane, Alec and Afton will go with to make sure you start your change. Make sure you keep an eye on him and if he finds it too difficult to start the change on his own help him along. If he tries to go back on his word change him and bring him back. Otherwise just come back once he has started his change and let the Cullens handle him since they are obviously close to one another." Aro commanded causing those named to kneel down.
"Do send us some more books later on Alex, eternity does tend to get boring if you don't find things to keep yourself entertained." Aro said while waving me off.
"I would be delighted to do so." I said with a bow before backing away from the thrones.
We were then escorted out of the Volturi's chambers and led past a group of tourists who were heading towards where we had just left. As the doors were closing we all managed to hear the screams of terror and pain before the doors shut out the noise within.
"So Jane." I said while looking at her with a smile. "Got a boyfriend?"
"Really Alex?" Alice groaned out in disgust.
"What? She's pretty and I'm single, it never hurts to try." I told her with a grin. "Plus I heard vampires have endless stamina, I might even be able to finally get wore out first for once."
"Sorry Alex, but I think you are barking up the wrong tree." Felix laughed. "This midget is absolutely loyal to Aro and has no interest in romance."
"Shut it Felix." Jane said with a glare. "I can speak for myself. As Felix just said I have no interest in romantic pursuits at the moment, so while it pains me to agree with Felix, I must also tell you that you are indeed barking up the wrong tree as it were."
"Well that is unfortunate." I said with a pout before turning it back into a grin. "If you ever decide you want to try some romance or at the very least some noncommittal sex and neither of us have found a mate let me know."
"Sure, though I doubt you will still be interested in romance after the change, supposing of course that you don't go insane or drown in the thirst in the process." Jane said with a small smile.
"You know, you look pretty cute with a smile." I flirted with her.
Alec moved between us and glared at me. "Can you please stop flirting with my sister and get a move on already. At the rate we are going we won't reach the airport until tomorrow."
"Sure, sure." I said with a smile before speeding up my walk.
The trip to the airport was uneventful and the same with flight back to Forks. The cars the Volturi had were quite nice though. I would think that the black SUVs would be something a countries president would ride in.
I had to bring everyone to my house in Forks and sat on the floor. My house was still empty from when the Cullens had cleaned the place out and put my things into storage.
"Sorry about not having a better welcome for you all." I told the Volturi guards with a shrug. "Edward, can you please call Carlisle and let him and everyone know what's going on. Also ask Esme if she can bring back my stuff from storage while I'm going through the change so that my place and yours is livable."
Edward nodded and I stood up and looked into Jane's eyes which had started to darken. "Think I can get a kiss for good luck?" I asked with a smile.
Alec flashed over to me and stabbed me with the syringe in the chest. Jane just looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.
"Spoil sport." I muttered before falling to the floor from the pain of getting stabbed. I could have dodged him, but I figured it wouldn't go well if I showed I had superhuman abilities before I was changed.
"Okay, lets get going." Alec said in irritation.
Jane walked over to me and kissed me on the cheek and whispered. "Good luck foolish boy." The Volturi guards then all left with Alec muttering about how he should have just killed me.
I then sat up with a groan after they left.
"Oh my god, Alex." Alice cried out in alarm. "How are you still able to move?"
"What, this. Pssh, I've felt worse." I said through gritted teeth.
"You've felt worse, how?" Edward said in disbelief while Bella stared at me in shock.
"In my last life I was killed by being melted in magma. Because of how strong my body was it took a little while. This is a close second though." I grunted out between pants. "I find it funny that everyone describes this as being like having lava in your veins, but it is a lot more like shards of glass than lava. I know from experience." I chuckled at the comparison.
"Past life, what are you talking about?" Bella asked in confusion as she watched me in shock.
"Yeah, I have past lives and abilities." I waved her off. "I really think you should be getting home now Bella. Charlie is probably having a super stressful time without you being there, especially since one of his close friends just died. I'll tell you the story later, or if Edward is done being an idiot he can tell you."
"Oh my god, you're right. I need to go now." Bella said in shock before glancing at Edward.
"Don't worry, I won't be leaving this time, I won't be leaving you ever again." Edward said with a pained look. "Thinking that you had died has put things into perspective for me and has changed my views and priorities. I don't ever want to feel that way again."
"About damn time." I grumbled out. "Fucker can't listen when I tell him what is going to happen and ends up causing all of these problems, now I get to suffer for his idiocy."
"Sorry Alex." Edward said after kneeling down to my level as I leaned my body against a wall and looked me in the eyes. "You were right. Living without the one you love with all your heart after finding one another truly was the same as living a hollow existence. Thank you for trying to stop me from doing something so ridiculous and for coming to help save me from making a truly terrible mistake."
"Can you repeat what you said in the beginning." I panted out.
"Sorry Alex?"
"No the next part."
"You were right?"
"Yeah, just keep saying that. I like to hear that." I laughed out before groaning.
"Well sorry to interrupt this touching moment of egotistical idiocy, but we need to get Bella home and get everything from the storage and any number of other things that need to be set up again." Alice said with a small smile and her hands on her hips. "I also don't think Bella should be here to see Alex go through the change since it doesn't seem like Alex is going to be going through a normal change and she shouldn't use him as a reference. Even I'm not sure what is going to go on with Alex."
"Bella, I just want you to know that the change kind of feels like having your whole body on fire and is ridiculously painful. I can only stay conscious because I have experience with my past life of being melted in magma and thus have a super high pain tolerance. You really shouldn't use me for measuring normalcy in anything."
Bella just nodded before Edward and Alice rushed her out to take her home. I passed out after that so that I could try to escape the pain for a while. It didn't help in the least and possibly made it even worse.