Chapter Nine

For the first week when Bella went back to school after the whole cliff falling incident, Jessica tried to act as though it didn't happen. It both angered and upset Bella. She didn't like how Jessica thought she was just saying things in the heat of the moment. She wasn't just saying anything, she was saying something that was true. She couldn't be friends with Jessica Stanley anymore.

She almost was killed when she fell, not from the impact but of the vampire that was off in the distance, swimming towards her. Jacob jumping in after her and rescuing was the only saving grace for Bella, or else she would have been murdered by that red-haired vampire.

She also noticed when there was a storm that knocked out all the power late one night, that she flinched when Charlie was lighting one of the candles that were packed away in case of emergencies such as this. There was no way Charlie would be the kind of person to just have candles spread across the house, lit up because he didn't care about the house smelling nicer than usual.

Charlie frowned as he turned around and looked at her, his features becoming a little more wrinkled due to his stress lines. He started to look a little bit older now, enough that it concerned Bella. She could tell he was going through a lot right now, perhaps he was thinking about how Bella had been going through so much her senior year so far.

"I was hoping we could have a movie marathon tonight, but the weather didn't agree," Charlie sheepishly told his daughter before he went to the couch and sat down.

Bella came over and sat down next to her, nervously reaching her hand out and touching him–though when she looked over at the candle which sent out lineaments across the living room and upon Charlie's face she flinched again. Charlie frowned once more, he was studying her, before he brought attention to the fact that she was flinching.

"Are you okay? Are you having a headache? Is your foot hurting?" Charlie probed, enough for Bella to decide that she must have been having a headache. Assuring him she would go and get Tylenol from the medicine box in the kitchen.

She got up from the couch and kissed Charlie on the cheek before she went into the kitchen. Her ankle brace made muffled thumps onto the flooring as she entered the kitchen. She knew when she had broken her leg almost a whole year ago, she ended up having to go through a series of surgeries because the bones of her leg were so horrible crushed.

She was more than relieved when she had learnt that since she had fallen over a rock, she would have her ankle healed right around the time she would end up going to Volterra. She was glad she wouldn't be going to meet the kings of Volterra with a brace on her leg. She would have been mortified to arrive there and for them to see her broken, maybe it would show she really was accident prone–just like she had been told by Charlie and Renee.

Bella went through the drawers in the kitchen and plucked out a flashlight. Holding a candle felt wrong, as though she was going to be punished for allowing the flames anywhere near her. She didn't want to look at them too long.

Opening the medicine box, Bella plucked out two Tylenol from the bottle and swallowed them down with water. Making sure they went down her throat, Bella put the medicine box back where she had found it. Shutting the kitchen upper cabinet, Bella turned around on her heel only to drop the flashlight onto the ground of the kitchen when she saw Charlie standing in the doorway.

"Oh, sorry, Bells. I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning," Charlie informed her, which in return made her say goodnight to him.

Deciding there was no point to stay downstairs, Bella went upstairs to her own bedroom. She grabbed some pair of fuzzy pajamas before she went into the bathroom. She had the flashlight from downstairs with her still and made sure to start a hot bath before stripping down and getting into the bath. She sighed in relief and leant back, allowing the steam to wrap around her and help relax her. She closed her eyes and just focused on the warm water around her, especially when she had to put on that waterproof bag over her brace to make sure it wouldn't ruin the brace.

Eventually, Bella got out of the tub when the water started to turn cold. She pulled the plug and got out of the tub, making sure she wouldn't trip out of the tub and fall onto the tiled floor. The last thing she needed was to have her hip break from the fall. She'd end up with a full body cast with the way things were going if she kept on tripping, and that would just be downright embarrassing if she couldn't go to Volterra because of a full body cast.

Changing into her pajamas and making sure to put her dirty clothes and towel into the dirty laundry hamper, Bella entered her bedroom. The power would probably come back on tomorrow or the day after at the latest. She pulled the covers back on her bed and slipped under it. Situating herself in a comfortable position, Bella had a surge of tiredness appear and then her eyes fluttered closed.

WARNING: RAPE, SELF-ABORTION ARE MENTIONED BELOW

The moment Bella's brown eyes opened; she knew she was in a vision. It was from 600 A.D. She could tell from the little hints around her. It was England, a small England village where there were poor Medieval people that were terrified of something or someone. They were all making their way to the cobblestoned courtyard of the village.

Turning the last corner around, to the courtyard Bella stumbled back when she saw two cloaked figures were being dragged to the middle of the courtyard where there were pyres that were waiting to be lit. Bella felt her eyes were caught on only one of the cloaked figures. The taller one, where the other one went to his shoulder—she could see the taller was a male and the shorter one was a female.

"We are gathered here today to vanquish two of the devil's witches!" a priest roared as he moved in front of the two cloaked figures. He could barely walk, there were multiple aging spots, and he even had a cane in front of him. He barely had tufts of hair on the top of his head.

"We are gathered here today to send the demons who are encased in flesh and blood back into the depths of Hell!" the priest added, before he motioned to the two clergymen to rip the tops of the cloaks back.

The hoods went back at the same time, but Bella had her eyes land on the beautiful male that was staring at the priest with fear in his eyes. His dark brown hair fell in a mess around his head, thick and coarse and resting a little bit around his neck but nowhere near his shoulders. He had brilliant blue eyes, that was what caught Bella's attention the most. Not how the boy was tall for the time period, nor how he had some muscle to him from hard work. It was the fact that his eyes were speaking for him, without him even having to open his mouth.

"Alec. A pathetic sadist! A creature of incest! Born from a brother and sister! This, in itself, is a crime against the Lord Almighty! The Devil made sure to have Alec fulfill his needs, for anyone who looks upon his sister longer than he deems necessary is cursed!"

"Alec…" Bella breathed aloud, as tingles spread throughout her. Alec turned his head in her direction, and for a moment it was as though he could see her. He craned his head to the side, as though he was confused with what he was seeing.

"Then we have Jane!"

Bella let her eyes flicker to Alec's sister. A twin sister. She had long brown hair that was knotted, with dirt caked upon her features. Her eyes were the same blue hue. Only instead of them showing fear, they were showing anger. She spat at the priest when he went towards her, enough for him to stalk forward and slap her hard against the face. Her head snapped to the side from the strength of the hit.

Jane smirked cruelly at him; the young woman tipped her head up. She showed no tears, though the handprint upon her cheek was blistering red. "Your strength matches you; both are weak."

The village people began to yell in anger, at how Jane was showing complete disregard and hatred to a man of God. The priest grabbed Jane and began to pull her away from being by her brother's side. Bella hurriedly rushed over so she could hear what the priest would say to Jane.

"It is a shame that you had to ruin this by becoming pregnant, Jane," the priest whispered as he reached one of his hands up, his fingers reaching out as though he was going to touch her. He dropped his hand before he smirked and let his eyes linger all over her body, he was making sure he would remember what she was like underneath the cloak.

"Pregnancy tends to happen when you rape a woman long enough," Jane hissed back to him. Her eyes went down to her stomach, where Bella was certain the baby would be. She smirked at him though, "good thing I took care of it."

"Another reminder of your character, Jane. The baby was meant to die, riding it, yourself is just one of the many paths it was destined to be destroyed in," the priest merely stated, before he nodded his head. Bella growled as she went to attack the priest–how dare that man of God be someone who proclaims the gospel and then end up raping women and impregnating them!

Yet, when she went to throw herself at him, she went through him and fell onto the ground. The priest paused when he stalked forward, his eyebrows furled together as he looked behind him. "Witchcraft…" he whispered before he shook his head to rid himself of these thoughts and threw Jane back at one of the clergymen.

"Tie them up, make sure they cannot escape," the priest commanded before he stood off to the side. He had a serious expression upon his face, though Bella could see that the side of his lips were curled up in a cruel smile.

Alec was already pulled up and tied to one of the pyres. His eyes were hard, and his body was rigid. He knew there was no escaping this. He was going to be burnt alive on a pyre because of witchcraft. It was not his fault bad things happened to those who did not favor him and his sister, and only good things happened for those who were kind to him and his sister despite the fact that they were children of incest. They were mere children then, but now they were nineteen and it was time for them to die.

"No!"

Bella cried as she saw the two torches lit with fire begin to head towards the straw at the bottom of the pyres. She knew the moment those torches would touch the straw and lick upon human flesh she would end up feeling the exact same thing Jane and Alec were feeling. She could already feel their anger, the sorrow, the injustice, and the fear.

She was right.

The moment the flames touched upon both Jane and Alec; Bella saw flames began to travel up her feet before rushing forward. They were ready to engulf her whole. They were ready to turn her into ash and bone. She was meant for this, because this was what had happened to her own mate and his sister. She was meant to feel the same exact way they felt when they were burnt alive.

She fell onto the ground and began to crawl in the direction of the twin siblings, Jane was screaming horribly when she was being burned alive. Alec was so out of it, from the pain, it was as though he wasn't there to begin with. She wanted all three of them away from this, away from this fire and the pain. She wanted to rescue them.

Then, the flames went out and two bodies were sat onto the ground once they had the flames off of them. Bella stood up, once the flames were off of the twins, and shakingly went over to where the vampire who was looming over them was. The village folk rushed away when they saw the vampire, knowing they didn't need to linger any longer. The twins were basically dead, their job was done.

Reaching the vampire, Bella sat down next to Alec and saw the vampire grab the completely burnt twins and bite them on their throats to bring them back from the darkness and into life once more. The vampire finally brought his heart shaped head up. His crimson eyes were brilliant, alive. He had long black hair that went to his shoulders, dark nicely groomed eyebrows, long nose and plump lips. His skin was pallid and had a slightly wrinkled texture to it—overall he reminded her of Keanu Reeves, if Keanu Reeves were a vampire.

Looking back down at the twins, the vampire whispered, "Vivete, figli miei. Abitare. (Live, my children. Live.)

If Bella were being completely honest, she had no idea how she knew what this vampire was saying. She didn't much Italian, and since Grandma Swan died years ago, she hadn't had someone to practice Italian with. Still, she could hear the language as though it was her mother language and English happened to be her second language. It was terrifying but also reassuring.

Then, time sped up and everything was fast forwarded around her. The dark-haired vampire stayed crouched down next to the burnt twins. Bella reached her hand out and placed it on Alec's burnt skin, yet there was an inch of air between her hand and Alec's. She felt tears fall down her face, as she kept trying to push her hand down, so it was on top of his.

It didn't matter if this was a vision of the past, she wanted to hold his hand! Damn it! Why couldn't she comfort the ghost of her mate while he was transforming into a vampire? Was this supposed to be a blessing or was this supposed to be a curse?

Bella observed the twins as they both began to have the burns disappear from their skin. Their skin began to harden, becoming pure stone. She watched with marvel as her mate and his sisters' features became highlighted with immortal beauty. Jane's face was more feminine, as was given compared to her brother, but Bella knew there would be a hardness for the future vampire that would make someone regret comparing her to anything soft.

Bella almost stumbled backwards on the ground when Jane and Alec lunged forward, their eyes widening in fear and reaching their hands up to wrap around their throats. They turned to look at each other, their crimson irises becoming even larger when they looked at each other. One of their hands reached up and, in a mirror, -like fashion reached out and touched the other's hand, their mouths falling open as they truly realized they weren't human.

Darkness came around Bella, ink beginning to spread across the vision around her. She reached her hand out as though to see if she could grasp this scene in front of her much longer, but it didn't help. She opened her mouth, whispering, "You only have to wait a little bit longer. Then I'll be there, Alec. I'll be there."

She woke the next morning to the appliances turning on and the lights coming back on in the house. She got up from the bed and went to the windows, noticing how there were a few tree branches that had come off in the middle of the night from the storm. It was a pretty nasty storm now that she saw what was in front of her, evidence she must have been transported to the past within her own mindscape or else she would have been woken from the storm.

Light tapping of knuckles against the wooden doorway made Bella turns her head. Charlie was in front of her with tiredness throughout his features. She could tell he didn't get much sleep, in fact he looked confused when he saw she didn't look tired at all. Well on the outside, on the inside she felt as though she had just experienced the beginning of a thousand years of pain and suffering. She could feel what Jane and Alec were feeling, she shared what had happened with them in her mind.

"I see you got some good sleep last night. Can't say the same for me. You must have been having a good dream if you were able to avoid the storm," Charlie chuckled, making Bella almost stiffen where she stood as memories of what had happened in her dream/vision came to her.

"I can't really remember what I dreamt about," Bella merely remarked and shrugged before she turned around and glanced down at the windowsill of her bedroom.

It reminded her of Alec's hand, how pale and perfect it was. She wondered what the feeling of the hand would be like on hers. Would it be the same coldness she had experienced with the Cullens in her memories? Would she touch Alec and all the sudden she would have all her memories from the first three months she had been here in Forks come back?

She didn't dream about Alec or Jane for the rest of the weekend, so when she came to school on Monday, she almost imagined she had just randomly fantasized the whole vision. Maybe she was so excited to figure out who her mate was she just randomly had these two 'witches' appear in her mind? But that wouldn't make sense. King Marcus had blessed her union with Alec, so maybe that opened up so many different pathways of their mating bond.

"Bella!"

Bella blinked away her thoughts before she turned and looked at all her friends around her at the cafeteria table they usually sat at since last year. She had a tray of food in front of her, just processed food that didn't really do anything for the tastebuds.

Jessica was away from here, she was sitting at the volleyball table with the rest of the volleyball players, along with Lauren. She couldn't deal with sitting with her friends and seeing Bella there, knowing she could have unintentionally killed her because she snooped in her diary. She kept looking at Bella with both guilt and longing, she wanted things to go back to how things were before she had even gone over to Bella's house that one weekend and snooped through her things.

"Who's Alec?" Mike probed as he was stuffing food into his mouth, typical.

Of course this was Mike Newton we were talking about, he thought that eating most food was fine with just his hands. Unless utensils were actually necessary he preferred eating with his hands. Something he claimed he had inherited from some funny cousin of his. Well…Bella just hoped she wouldn't have said cousin come visit them and try to flirt with her too.

Bella glanced down at the spiral notebook next to her. She didn't like to say it, but she was a little better than average when it came to sketching. She had sketched Alec on the notebook paper in front of her, just his head. He didn't have a hood around his head though she did write his name down underneath it. She even put Volturi down next to his first name, since she wouldn't know what his last name was. He was from the sixth century; last names weren't a luxury then. Some never ended up having last names, for they were unimportant. They weren't royal.

"What's that, Volturi? Alec Volturi? What kind of dumbass name is that?" Tyler snickered next to Mike, making Bella roll her eyes.

"That sounds like Volterra," Angela softly spoke up, which in return made Bella smile softly and nod her head.

"It's an Italian city that dates back to before the 8th century BC. It has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods. I've been there before, quite lovely. It's a nice place to visit. My family tried to get us tickets to take the tour to the castle but they were booked up for the time we would be staying there. By the time we were able to get tour tickets we had to head back home. Maybe one day I'll go back…or not."

Bella's blood ran cold when she had heard Angela had been to Volterra, Italy. Something told her Angela and her family not getting tour tickets for the castle was a good thing. Otherwise, she was certain something bad would have happened. Maybe that was how the Volturi lured their victims, had them come and visit them in the throne room only to be slaughtered.

"Sounds old and boring," Mike mumbled, before he picked up his Gatorade from next to the tray of food he had there.

He took a long sip before sitting it down, apparently, he always drank Gatorade before they would go to Gym and exercise. Bella didn't see anything impressive, on days he remembered to drink it or the days he forgot. He liked to exaggerate his strength; it wasn't anything that would win him any athletic scholarships.

"Speaking of Italy…I'm heading off for a year to go and explore some countries. My Grandma Swan died a few years ago and saved the majority of her money for me. Renee left her money for me, so I'll be able to go and explore the world for a year," Bella said, only for Mike to straighten up and look as though he was going to offer his service for the whole world traveling.

"How did Charlie take it? If you don't mind me asking."

It was Angela that asked this, and Bella gave her a reassuring smile. "He's fine with it. He said that as long as I come back after a year for college, he'll be okay with it."

A slight pain in her heart took place and nestled further in Bella's heart. She knew she wouldn't be returning home after she left for Volterra. She would leave her father, and he would be alone. He could do missing person reports on her and have them go all over the world if he wanted to, but he would never see her again. And if he ever saw her again, she wouldn't look the same anymore. She wouldn't let this happen; she would make sure he'd never find her.

"So…about this Alec guy? Are you guys dating?"

Of course, Mike had to travel back to Alec and the thought of Bella dating the vampire. Of course he didn't think the Cullens were vampires, Bella was certain everyone knew there was something wrong about them. She wouldn't be surprised if there was some vampire cult theory that was going on throughout the school population. It would have been quite humorous to bring it up but knew there was no point in doing so, partly because she was leaving in two months.

Putting her sketching pencils back into their little box, Bella shut her sketchbook closed and put it back into her backpack. A little bit of heat flooded across her face, usually she did her sketches at home but something compelled her to do it here at the lunch table.

If it weren't the necklace back at Charlie's house wouldn't exist. So that meant she had traveled across the world in her sleep to meet one of the kings of the Volturi. She learnt she was destined for one of the Royal Guard members. And she saw how her mate had been changed.

The only question was…how would things be when she would meet Alec?

AUTHOR'S NOTE: due to the adult themes I brought up in this chapter I decided to up the rating of the fanfiction from T to M. I hope you liked the latest chapter of 'Handle with Care'. Let me know your thoughts!

-Emmy

as always: Twilight doesn't belong to me