Love Bite by Here's To

by Stuckinmichigan

Bella gets a little too rough during a play fight with Alice, which has some unexpected consequences. But in hindsight, she really should have known that vampires would consider biting a turn on.

13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT OR CHARACTERS

Silence is a peculiar thing.

It's incredible how the sound of nothing can be so utterly oppressive, and that was all Bella could hear as her sex spasmed as she collapsed with that hopeless, desperately sexual noise leaving her throat before she could even realize what was happening.

To her credit, she reacted quickly.

Oh fuck! She thought and went from arching her back inward and tilting her head towards the ceiling to crunching forward and curling in on herself to hide the look of bliss on her face from all the watching eyes.

"Bella?" Angela gasped above her as Bella pressed her hands down hard on her lower abdomen to quell the delicious ache pumping between her thighs.

Fuck you Rosalie, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, she thought furiously, trembling as the quick but powerful orgasm began to fade, leaving her thighs shaking and her heart pounding. She had gushed in her fit of pleasure and was uncomfortably wet between her legs. She flinched when she felt a hand on her back and the voices of her friends calling to her in concern.

That did not just happen…

"Bella, hey, are you okay? Bella?" Angela murmured as she crouched down next to the brunette.

No.

No, she was not okay.

She just came in front of half the student body.

Her face was so red that she did not dare look at Angela, but she could hear the whispering in the cafeteria stirring up.

"I'm okay," she squeaked, still doubled over.

Jesus, that was ridiculous.

Rosalie had only brushed their shoulders but it had been unreal the way her pheromones bomb rushed Bella from the slight touch. She had not been able to contain or resist the pleasure that shot through her the instant they touched and Rosalie's aura flooded her being with heat and desire that her poor body could not cope with.

Which resulted in her releasing so fast and hard that she was still trying to catch her breath.

That was it.

She was calling Carlisle about this crap the second she got the chance, and killing Rosalie the next.

What happened? You sound like somebody stabbed you," Jessica said. Bella felt her other friend drop down worriedly next to her.

She had been stabbed, by that bitch Rosalie, who knew better than to get that close to her, let alone brush against her like that. God damn it.

"Bells? Seriously, are you alright? People are starting to stare," Jessica informed her nervously.

They had been staring since Cassie and her crew blasted past them. Now they certainly had no reason to look away. Bella glanced up, mortified, arms still wrapped around her quivering middle, and saw all the watching eyes. No one was even really eating anymore, too caught up in watching the weird ass girl collapsed on the floor.

Well.

This was embarrassing.

Nobody may have known exactly what her problem was, but she did, and getting off like that with everyone watching was completely and utterly devastating.

Bella's eyes of course swiftly found Victoria's, and by the look on her face, she knew the redhead knew exactly what had just happened. Her vampire ears would have known the reason for that pitiful mewl of ecstasy like a professional pianist could pick out the notes of different keys where others could mistake it for a groan of pain.

Victoria's eyes glittered and she was smiling a Mona Lisa smile. Very slowly and very deliberately, the vampire licked her lips, said something to the people she was sitting with, and then stood up.

And then she began to walk towards them.

"Stomach cramp!" Bella gasped and leapt to her feet, staggering a little. Angela and Jessica looked startled, but she looked crazy enough anyway already, so oh well.

"Stomach cramp?" Mike said skeptically, eyeing her uncertainly.

"Yep!" Bella replied in a high pitched voice, clutching her stomach and giving an exaggerated wince. "Must have been the school food. Maybe I'm getting my period. I'm fine now though, don't worry. No big deal. But I-"

Victoria was getting closer, walking unhurriedly with her hips swinging back and forth with every step. Rosalie's pheromones still lingered in her sensitive nervous system, and if that redhead vixen got close, it would be all over for Bella. She might even orgasm again if the vampire laid it on thick which she was perfectly capable of doing, and as she'd proven before, willing to do.

Shit.

"I gotta go!" Bella yelped, turned and bolted.

"Bella, what the hell? Gotta go where?" Angela shouted after her.

"Bathroom!" she called back, booking it for the doors on legs that could barely support her weight.

She knew she looked insane as she sprinted out of the lunchroom, but there was nothing else for it. People could say and think what they wanted about her outburst, they could whisper and talk about her standoff with Cassie, they could jump to all sorts of conclusions.

Bella didn't care.

Anything was better than facing Victoria, and so she ran, and did not stop until she reached her third period classroom and grabbed her stuff before darting off to fourth. The bell rang but she was already moving out the door again.

Don't look at anyone, don't say a word, she thought frantically, speed walking with her head down, a pronounced slickness between her thighs that made every movement remind her of why she was going to put a fucking stake through Rosalie's chest the next time she saw her, whether it would kill her or not. What was that woman's deal? She knew better. She knew not to get so close to Bella, let alone touch her. And why had the effect been so powerful this time? Alice had hugged her when her pheromones were high and she had not had that reaction.

Bella was going to kill Rosalie, somehow, some way.

She knew there were eyes following her as she walked, some people fresh out of the cafeteria as well and whispering to their friends about it.

She really hated Forks, Washington right then. They were looking at her like a circus freak and her neck went hot under the stares. When she got into fourth period, she sat up front instead of in the back where she usually sat with Mike and Eric, and when they walked in she avoided their eyes like the plague and brushed off their questions of if she really was okay and why she was acting so weird until the teacher told them to go sit down.

And that was what she did for the rest of the day.

She avoided her friends (and Victoria) with the desperation of a woman being hunted throughout the rest of school, and when that final bell rang, she was the first one to the parking lot, and also the first one out of it.

Bella sighed as she reclined in her bed, staring at her popcorn ceiling, the same thing she had been doing for the past hour since she had gotten home from school. She miserably replayed the day for the thousandth and first time, reliving every horrible second of it.

I came. In front of everybody. And I moaned like a whore while I did it too, she anguished, putting her face in her hands and groaning. I hate you Rosalie, she thought for the one millionth time. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you.

The mantra was spiteful and petty but it was comforting all the same. It was the only comfort she was like to get at this point. Besides, the weak hope that nobody would ever guess what her problem had been wasn't doing much for her. That would be just what she needed, for everyone to figure it out.

Isabella Swan, the girl who likes girls, orgasming from brushing up against another girl.

Wow.

Just, clap it out, Bella, she thought sarcastically. Clap it out. This is your life now. Look how great it's turning out.

If only people knew she hung out with vampires, too. Wouldn't that really put the cherry on top?

She was in the middle of contemplating how mad Charlie would be if she put a hole in her wall –with her face- when Alice called.

Bella's phone rang out to the sound of Teach Me How to Dougie (Alice's choice, not hers, supposedly because she swore one day she would make Bella learn how to do that stupid dance) and the human gave a forlorn sigh that was like to wilt flowers with how depressed it was.

To answer or not to answer?

That certainly is the question.

Bella looked at her phone lighting up on her dresser with apprehension, torn.

On the one hand, she needed Alice more than anyone right then.

On the other hand, Alice had also blatantly told her that she didn't want to hang out anymore, which in Bella's mind translated to not friends anymore.

Still…

She had done the same thing with her other friends and had been proven completely wrong. And Alice was closer to her than anyone, so maybe it wasn't fair to assume whatever she had to say would be negative. They were best friends after all, and Bella knew Alice wouldn't just cut their ties off like that so suddenly.

But it still hurt.

"Fuck it," she muttered, reached over, snatched up her phone, and clicked answer. "Hello?" she said tentatively.

"Bella? Finally."

Alice's voice was as sweet and high as ever, and the sound of it sent an unexplained ache through her chest. It had been too long since she had heard it, and it had kinda been the only thing she wanted to hear lately.

"Hey, Alice," she rasped and then coughed to clear her rough throat. She blushed then, for no ready reason.

"Hey, Bells," Alice's reply came through the phone in a gentle tone that made butterflies stir in her belly.

I don't like her, Bella told herself vehemently. Angela and Jessica and everyone were wrong. I just missed her, that's all. There's nothing wrong with missing your best friend after you've had a fall out.

"Thank you for picking up this time," Alice lilted, sounding both playful and mildly annoyed.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry. I've been busy lately," she answered in a falsely honest way, clutching the phone tightly in one hand and picking nervously at a stray thread in her tank top at the same time.

There had never been a time in the period of their friendship that they had been too busy to reply to a text or phone call. The excuse was as weak as it was transparent.

"Right," Alice hummed, the sardonic tone making Bella blush again.

"I have," she defended, pursing her lips as more heat made its way into her cheeks. "Besides, you told me you wanted space anyway," Bella continued in a more guarded tone, fighting embarrassment with a little offense.

It probably wasn't a smart idea to get into this so fast, especially in such a way, but it was too late.

"No, I didn't," Alice huffed, not shying from the subject at all. "You seem to have heard what I said a lot differently than I did, Bella."

Gawking, Bella glanced at her phone in disbelief as if Alice could actually see her, and then put it back to her ear to protest.

"Yes, you did! You said you didn't want to hang out anymore. What was I supposed to think, that you were calling me up to chit chat instead? Sorry if I-"

"Bella," Alice interrupted, sounding agitated now. "Can we not do this over the phone? Can I please come over and talk about this to you face to face?"

Bella's stomach flipped at that suggestion and she bit the inside of her lip anxiously. Instinct told her to say no, but with Alice's voice in her ear for the first time in days, when she had needed her so much lately, she hesitated.

"I thought you said we'd been face to face a little too much lately," she murmured into the phone, unable to keep all the spite out of her voice, or the hurt.

Yep.

Yep, that wound was still fresh if the way Bella slumped into her bed were any indication.

Alice, however, did not seem to like the comment very much.

"You know what I meant," she snapped. "Don't be that way, Bella," she added as if she had seen her tone of voice make Bella grimace. Alice knew her oh too well. "Please, just let me come over and we'll talk this out. I know you had a really rough day, but I can help. I'm still your best friend, aren't I?"

"Are you?" Bella asked before she could stop herself, the trill in her question making her wince.

"Yes," Alice stated, her voice rising just so in a way that Bella knew she was offended.

Oops.

"Are you not mine now or something?" Alice demanded a moment later when Bella shifted and took too long to respond. "You don't want to be friends now, is that it? Because of one conversation where you took what I said wrong anyway?"

Panic.

Absolute panic.

"No, that's not it!" Bella hissed, heart jumping. "No, of course you're still my best friend. I just thought-"

Well, you thought wrong, Angela's voice echoed in her brain. Whatever you thought was wrong, because we don't hate you or any dumb shit like that.

"I just thought you didn't want to be friends anymore," she finished meekly, and pressed one miserable hand to her forehead, because of course that would never be true, not with Alice.

Never with Alice.

"Always", they had told each other. Always. Had the vampire not proven that time and time again? Why would this be any different?

It just hurt so much to be told that Alice did not want to be around her anymore…

"Of course I still want to be friends," Alice scoffed. "Bella, will you please just let me come over and explain? Please?"

The plea was all it took to break her and Bella sighed helplessly into her phone. How was she supposed to resist that tone?

She wasn't.

She was supposed to give in, and so she did.

"Okay," she murmured, voice quieter than she meant it to be. "Okay, Alice."

"Thank you," Alice sighed with exasperation, and with a light laugh, she hung up.

O-kay?

Blinking in surprise, Bella put her phone down back on her dresser and frowned.

Well that was a really rude way to end that call. They never hung up on each other without saying goodbye. Had she irritated Alice that much?

Bella jumped, however, when the vampire who had just so rudely hung up on her appeared in her window with the soft sound of the glass sliding up so she could slip into the brunette's room, which she was currently doing.

"Hey, Bella," Alice greeted in a bright voice, the sight of her stunning Bella stupid.

It was not merely the fact that Alice was here and climbing so suddenly into her room that really shut her up. It was seeing her for the first time in days, and having to remember how beautiful Alice really was, and how well she lit up the world.

Alice landed nimbly on her carpet and smiled a kind smile towards her. Her heart shaped lips tilted up in a way that made her apple cheekbones raise, her golden eyes twinkled, and when she walked right over to Bella, sank on one knee into her bed and reached over to wrap her arms around the brunette's neck, Bella could only freeze up, spluttering.

What?

The familiar scent of white chocolate and berries made her inhale deeply and she instinctively wrapped her arms around Alice's waist, straightening and blinking rapidly in astonishment.

It felt better than she could ever admit to herself, Alice's arms around her neck and the feel of her after not seeing her for what felt like weeks and not days.

I don't like her like that.

She had not been expecting the hug, nor had she expected Alice to show up like that, but she definitely wasn't complaining as Alice drew back and smiled at her before sitting down on the bed in front of her, oblivious to Bella's internal rush. She didn't know why Alice had hugged her even though they were technically sort of fighting, but something about it soothed Bella immensely.

I don't like her, she thought. I don't.

"Hey, Bells. I missed you," Alice said when Bella only stared at her in disbelief.

"Hey, Alice? How did you-When did you-" Bella stammered, and Alice perked up as if just realizing why Bella was so surprised.

"Oh, sorry. Yeah, I knew you would eventually say yes if I kept prodding, so I just came over anyway. Sorry, I didn't mean to like, intrude or anything. But then you did say I could, so," Alice babbled, waving flippantly at the window and shrugging when Bella's eyebrows rose.

"Oh," was all she said in reply, her throat feeling dry for some reason.

They just stared at each other for a long moment. The sunlight coming into her room was fading fast because this was Forks and the sun was never out for long, but the way it lit up Alice was making Bella distinctly uncomfortable. She was intrigued more than she should be about the way Alice's jet black hair was illuminated with a curious red sheen she had never noticed in it before, and the way the strands brushed along her lovely jaw line.

"So," she croaked and cleared her throat, fiddling anxiously with her hands when Alice only continued to wait for her to talk first. "What's up?"

Idiot. Dumb, dumb, dumb question.

Alice quirked an eyebrow at her.

"What's up?" she echoed. "What's up is that you're being really unfair right now."

Straight to the point as always, Alice.

"How?" Bella scowled at her though, blushing despite herself.

"Because I never said anything like not wanting to hang out with you anymore, and I certainly didn't say anything about not wanting to be friends anymore," Alice said pointedly, her gentle smile giving way to a reprimanding expression.

"Okay, you totally did. You said we were spending too much time together and you didn't want to hang out-" Bella rushed out indignantly, folding her legs Indian style under herself.

"No, I didn't. I expressly said that I do want to hang out with you. I always want to hang out with you. All I said was that maybe we shouldn't as much. And I never said we had to stop completely. If you had listened to me," Alice emphasized when Bella opened her mouth to protest. "instead of jumping out of the car and running off, you would have heard me tell you that I only wanted to spend the duration of my suspension apart, not stop being friends. I mean, really, Bella?"

Bella went crimson at the offended look on Alice's face. She glanced down at the sheets and squirmed, embarrassed and a creeping shame crawling up in her.

"Oh," she mumbled, avoiding Alice's piercing eyes.

She really needed to stop jumping to conclusions in her fear.

"But I mean, what was I supposed to think? You said it like I was getting on your nerves or something. And things have been weird between us, and didn't you think it was kind of crappy to spring that on me when I was already freaking out about going back to school? Which has been hell, by the way," Bella feebly protested, and Alice sighed at her.

The vampire turned and slipped both legs onto the bed to fully face her, with both a guilty and exasperated expression on her face. The sight of it made Bella shift around, hot and uncomfortable.

"I know," Alice admitted. "That was really bad timing, but there's a reason I felt like I had to say it when I did. That's part of why I wanted to come talk to you face to face, I'm sorry I made you feel like I was abandoning you when you needed me, but that's not how it is, I promise. You know I would never leave you alone to deal with that. I knew your friends would have your back, and I saw in my visions that Cassie was going to start with you today. I sent Rosalie and Emmett to go and keep an eye on you."

Alice asked Rosalie and Emmett to come watch over her? That's why they were there today?

"Why Rosalie?" she balked, bewildered. "She-Do you even know what-I mean seriously, why her? She shouldn't have been at school like that. She-"

Did Alice know? Had they told her everything that had happened at school today? No, how could they have? Rosalie had stalked off and probably not even noticed Bella falling apart behind her…Or maybe she did, and just didn't care.

Either way, Bella couldn't get it out of her mouth, and just trying made her tongue stick to the roof of her mouth. How was she supposed to tell Alice that she had orgasmed in front of the whole school? Even thinking about it made her nauseous with embarrassment.

"I would have preferred to send only Emmett, but Rosalie's been driving everybody crazy being cooped up in the house, complaining that she isn't even getting to experience being human, and Carlisle wanted to see how she would cope being out and about in her human state for scientific purposes. She's not returning nearly as fast as I did. The only thing she's gotten back about being a vampire is her fangs, and it's been days since you bit her," Alice told her. "Emmett was there to make sure nothing went wrong."

Bella pouted anyway, sulking. So Alice had sent them as guard dogs?

Great fucking choice, that was, and Emmett did a really great job making sure nothing went wrong, didn't he?

She would have preferred to have an old fashioned hair pulling, face slapping girl fight with Cassie and her crew than have that blonde woman make her cum in front of all of her peers. Yet the intention behind Alice's gesture could not be ignored. Even when she couldn't be there herself for Bella, she was trying to do it in other ways.

She was such an idiot for ever believing Alice never wanted to see her again. She had to stifle the urge to blurt out an apology right then and there. It wasn't that she meant to be this way towards her friends, but when the fear of the worst set in, Bella sometimes couldn't help it.

Alice hesitated, on the verge of saying something, and Bella waited curiously, wondering what it was.

"Bella," Alice sighed. "I know what Rosalie did to you, and I am so sorry. Esme's put her on house arrest until she's full vampire again because of it-"

Bella wasn't listening anymore. She was frozen still, all the blood in her body rushing to her face.

Oh my god, she knows!

God, could this be any more embarrassing?

"-and we had no idea she would be able to cause that kind of reaction," Alice finished, sympathy written in the downturn of the corners of her mouth.

That only made it worse. Embarrassment coated her like a hot sheet and Bella shrank beneath it. Somehow, the fact that Alice knew only made it worse.

"God, Alice!" Bella mourned, dropping her face into her hands to hide it. Her cheeks were hot to the touch and she whined pitifully.

"It'll be okay," Alice rushed to say. "Bella, it's really not that bad-"

"Yes it is!" she groaned into her palms. "I-In front of everyone-"

"Nobody knows what was happening to you, Bella. It's not your fault, you couldn't help it."

That wasn't helping. It didn't matter that nobody knew. Bella did, and that was enough.

She let out a miserable noise that made Alice sigh again, but this time it was not exasperated, but compassionate.

"Oh, Bells, stop it," she murmured and Bella tensed when two cool hands wrapped around her wrists and gently but firmly pried her hands away from her face.

It wasn't fair. Even when she strained against Alice's grip, it was useless, so she turned her head away quickly to hide the tears that had begun to pool in her eyes, only further embarrassed.

It was mortifying.

"Bella, sweetie, look at me," Alice insisted softly and Bella flinched when the vampire's fingers brushed her cheek, coaxing her to face her again. Helplessly, Bella obeyed, following the motion of Alice's hand against her face.

When their eyes met, Bella took a great shuddering breath, and a single tear dripped from her right eye, overflowing. Effortlessly, mindlessly, Alice's thumb swiped out and brushed it away, and Bella could not explain the ache that pulsed in her quivering heart at the movement, or when Alice smiled a nose crinkling smile at her, trying to comfort her.

"And sometimes you grab each other's faces when you talk," Angela reminded her.

"Didn't you say she wiped your tears away in the parking lot?" Mike cocked his head. "Nobody does that stuff except boyfriends and girlfriends. And your parents."

Bella ignored the voices of her friends echoing in her mind as Alice drew her hand back.

"I needed you, Alice," Bella admitted in a heavy voice, and Alice's face twisted up, empathy radiating off of her.

I needed her more than she knows, Bella thought. I needed her more than even I knew.

She didn't like to think of the implications of that.

"I know," Alice replied quietly. "I know, Bella. And that's why I'm here right now, to explain everything. Everything."

Bella tilted her head, rubbing at her eyes to get rid of the tears in them. Crying now would only make her feel worse and she hated to be a drama queen though she knew Alice wouldn't judge her for it.

"Everything?" she parroted, a little confused at the emphasis.

"Yep," Alice said. "Everything. You remember how I told you I couldn't tell you why Victoria was here?"

Bella was instantly more alert now that she knew what Alice was talking about. Curiosity stirred inside her and she nodded swiftly, both apprehension and excitement filling her. Was Alice really about to reveal the nature of that woman's presence? It had been killing her not knowing, but she had not had the chance to ask Alice about it again.

But now? That was a little out of left field, wasn't it?

"But what does that have to do with everything else?" Bella frowned. "Not that I don't want to know, but…"

"It has a lot to do with it Bella. More than you could ever know. It's got to do with everything, really," Alice informed her sincerely. "I don't want to keep any of this from you anymore. You have no idea how much I've been keeping from you, and why I've had to. But I can't do it anymore, Bella. I feel like I'm lying to you even though I'm not, and you need to know. So I'm going to tell you all of it."

Bella got the feeling Alice was understating just exactly how much Bella was missing. She had a vague memory of Alice and Victoria arguing after the pixie had saved Bella from the wicked woman's ways in her car, of Victoria stating that she had only promised to keep Bella out of the loop, but not out of it.

What the hell was it then?

"Okay, because I really want to know. Victoria has been driving me crazy. I was about to explode if she looked at me like a juicy steak one more time and I've been dying to know anyway," Bella replied eagerly, some of her embarrassment lifting at the thought that she was actually about to get some answers for once.

Alice didn't like that and she growled at the mention of the redhead's lascivious looks. But then she rolled her eyes and sighed.

She was sighing far too much as of late.

"Look, Bella, I have to tell you that what you're about to hear isn't a joke. This is really serious stuff. Like, life-and-death serious," Alice warned her.

Life-and-death serious? Bella raised her eyebrows and Alice made a discontented noise.

"I'm serious. Don't take any of this lightly, Bella. I'm not playing. You need to know what you're getting into-Or rather, what you're already into," Alice insisted. "You can't just write any of this off like it's no big deal because it is a big deal."

What the crap could it possibly be?

Bella was really dying to know at this point and the look on Alice's face was causing trepidation to mix with her curiosity, but she had to acquiesce to the girl first.

"Alright, alright. I get it, I won't. I'm serious. What's the big deal, Alice? What are you not telling me?" Bella inquired desperately, beyond curious now.

Alice stared at her for a long moment, and only when Bella ducked her head to stare back honestly through her lashes did she relent.

"Okay…If you get that this isn't some game…"

"I do," Bella said hurriedly. "Seriously, Alice, spill. What's going on?"

Alice ran a hand through her thick black locks, and then reluctantly began to talk.

"Do you remember when Edward told you about that portrait of those vampires in the foyer of our house?" Alice began with a question.

Uh, barely? She vaguely recalled her ex explaining to her about some painting they always passed when entering the Cullen home. Something about those being the most powerful vampires around, and they had some weird name she couldn't remember.

"Sorta?" Bella replied in confusion, not getting why Alice was asking.

"That was a portrait of the Volturi. He told you that they are basically like the vampire police, right?"

Shit, I don't remember, do I? She thought, shrugging to let Alice know she was at a loss.

Alice gave her a look for her bad memory and she shuffled defensively, to which the pixie gave a soft chuckle and playfully rolled her eyes. The sound of her chiming chortle made Bella grin self deprecatingly.

"Alright, refresher then. The Volturi are some of the strongest vampires currently known and alive. They are one of the largest and most powerful vampire covens around. They enforce the laws of our kind. Their coven is even larger than our own, and they're known for frequently recruiting vampires with special powers to their palace in Italy. They've been out to have me, Jasper, and Edward for years now, and we keep saying no, and there's a good reason for that," Alice explained, which only confused Bella further.

Ah…

It was coming back to her now that Alice had charged her memory. She recalled that Edward had told her mostly the same, leaving out the part about the Volturi wanting him and some of his siblings, but she did not forget the grave look on his face as he spoke of them.

That was fairly interesting and all, but why was any of this relevant?

"Okay, but what do they have to do with Victoria?" she cocked her head. "And why do they want you guys so badly?"

"I'm getting to that," Alice said patiently. "They want us for our powers of course. Seeing the future, reading minds, and controlling people's emotions are very valuable assets. Victoria is one of their scouts, for a lack of a better word. She is not from Lansing, Michigan. She was born almost five hundred years ago in London, England, and her name is Victoria Sutherland, not Victoria Rosa."

Stunned, Bella's jaw dropped.

"She's almost five hundred years old?" she gawked. "I got macked on by a woman that's almost half a millennium old?"

Maybe that was missing the point, but still. Victoria was old. She knew vampires were technically immortal, but still. Maybe she should be flattered, not gobsmacked. Victoria was a beautiful, sexy, nearly five hundred year old vampire, and yet she had sought Bella out. It was frightening at the same time that it stroked her self esteem.

But this was not the time to be thinking like that.

Alice wrinkled her nose and shrugged. "There are vampires far older than her in the Volturi, Bella. Anyway, the Volturi are the ones who sent Victoria here."

"But why?" Bella asked, not getting any of this. "Are they trying to use her to convince you guys to join the Volturi? You're not, are you?"

Her last question was asked with wariness…If the Cullens joined with the Volturi, surely they would have to leave Forks, and that honestly terrified her.

If the Cullens left, then so would Alice, and that was something she really didn't want to think about.

"No," Alice asserted. "I just told you we wouldn't, and for a good reason. Bella, they haven't sent Victoria to recruit us. They've tried too many times to bother. They've sent her to recruit you."

Bella stared, waiting for the Just kidding after that, but Alice did not waver. She gazed back stoically, clearly not joking.

"What the fuck?" Bella finally threw up her hands. "Why? Alice, I don't understand-"

"Let me elaborate, Bells. Just, let me explain, okay? You can ask questions when I finish, alright?" Alice suggested gently, catching onto Bella's frustration.

Might as well do it that way. Bella was only getting more and more perplexed the more Alice talked.

"Thank you," Alice smiled lightly at her, then grew serious again. "Bella, the Volturi keep tabs on every coven of three or more because the larger a vampire coven, the more risk there is of being revealed to the outside world. Our family is unusually large at seven, and so they check in frequently on us. They know that Edward told you what we are, and they already weren't happy about that, but they're still holding out hope we'll change our minds and join them so they have let it be so long as you don't tell anyone else. And you haven't, thank God."

Bella pulled a pillow in front of her and held it self-consciously, trying her best to follow.

"Not revealing ourselves to humans is one of the biggest rules there is, and we already broke that. But Bella, they know about what your bite is capable of," Alice admitted to her. "They heard all about what happened when you bit me and what it did. And…And they don't like it, Bella. They don't like the idea that there's someone out there who can weaken a vampire so completely. The Volturi are power hungry if nothing else, and honey, your bite strips us of our power totally. I didn't even have visions when I was recovering."

Surprised at that revelation, Bella made to interrupt, but remembered that she was not supposed to, and Alice continued, sounding unhappy about everything she was saying.

The Volturi know what I can do? She wondered. And they don't like it?

"So they sent Victoria out here to find out more about it. That's what she was doing at the house when you first met her. She was laying down the law to us, and there's not really anything we can do about it. We can't just tell her to get lost. Defying the Volturi is a really bad idea. She enrolled in school to keep an eye on all of us, but mostly you. And…And that's why Carlisle really needed you to bite someone else. The Volturi are pushing for more information, for more knowledge about what you're capable of, and…The results are what will make them decide what to do about it in the end."

At this, Bella could no longer keep quiet. The way Alice had put it sounded entirely too foreboding, and she was starting to get a supremely bad feeling about all of it.

"Why do they have to do anything about it?" she questioned hotly, beginning to become overwhelmed.

Who did these people think they were, barging in on to their affairs like they had a right to know?

"Really, why do they care so much? I'm just-I'm just human. It's not like I'm going to go around trying to chomp on them or something."

Alice grimaced and she shifted around on the bed, letting one leg fall over the edge in her movements.

"Bella, I don't know how else to say it. They care because they're the kind of people who want absolute and total control. The continuation of our kind depends on that control. And you are a wild card. Your bite can make us human, Bella, and being human is one of their greatest fears," Alice elaborated.

"But it can't really make you human, can it? Rosalie's getting back to herself, slowly but surely, right? And you're all vamp again, too. So what are they freaking out about? So my mouth does some weird stuff to you guys, but it's not permanent or anything. Why is it such a big deal?" Bella protested, getting more and more uneasy.

Knowing that there was a group of very powerful vampires out there who would do anything to keep their laws followed that was spying on her, 'keeping an eye on her' Alice had said, made her feel violated.

That's what Victoria was doing here. She was spying on Bella. She was collecting information about her and feeding it to some very scary people who Alice seemed to believe did not appreciate her biting of vampires, whatever the reasons may have been for it.

"That's how it works now, when you are human Bella. But what if that changed? What if it works differently on certain vampires and makes them human for longer periods of time? What if it has side effects that strip special powers from us that we don't know about yet? And what if you were turned, Bella? Everything is intensified and exaggerated once you become a vampire. All your old characteristics and abilities become strengthened, like mine and Edward's intuition or Jasper's empathy. What if you become a vampire, and then when you bite someone it is permanent?" Alice fired off the possibilities, the worries the Volturi must have expressed to her at some point.

Bella fell silent, unable to combat the slippery slope fallacy. She pulled at the stray thread on her tank top anxiously, and Alice softened at the plain anxiety on her face.

"And what if someone tried to use you against them? In the Volturi's mind, Bella, if you're not with them, then by default, you are against them…" Alice went on, every word just making it all so much worse.

"Why would I ever be changed into one of you?" Bella finally managed a response. "I'm not dating Edward anymore, and we only ever talked about that because we thought we'd be together forever…"

Ha, what a riot. Yeah fucking right.

But Alice hesitated again at this question.

"Because. The Volturi won't let you know of vampires forever once they finally get it into their heads that we're not interested in joining them. And so they'll stop playing nice, and demand we do something about the human we informed. And according to the law, that means changing you into one of us so that you abide by our laws, or…Or…"

Alice seemed to be struggling, and Bella felt her stomach dip.

"Or what, Alice?"

Alice looked directly into her eyes, took a deep breath and said, "Or they'll demand that we kill you."

What?

Bella inhaled sharply at that, and Alice rushed forward.

"But that is not happening no matter what. No way in hell. I'll change you myself before I let them try and execute you, or let anyone else touch you. This is what I meant, Bella. This stuff is serious. You can see the dilemma they're experiencing. They want you as a bargaining chip, but that won't last forever, and they're afraid of what you might be able to do if you ever become a vampire…"

'If she was changed' was suddenly starting to sound a whole lot like 'when she was changed'.

"Why have you never told me any of this before?" she demanded abruptly, her internal panic starting to mix with anger. "That-You guys never told me anything about the fact that I wasn't supposed to know!"

Alice grimaced at her and wrung her hands. "I know, Bella, I know! But it wasn't my place to tell you. Carlisle and Esme expressly asked me to keep it quiet because we didn't want to scare you, and technically it was Edward's responsibility to inform you because he's the one that told you in the first place."

"So you thought it was better for me to just walk around, la-ti-da, oblivious to the fact that there's practically a hit out on me by some of the strongest vampires on the planet?" Bella's voice rose and she jumped off the bed, desperate to move, to pace as her nerves shot through the roof.

This isn't happening. This is crazy, she thought. Alice is crazy! What did I ever do to these Volturi guys? I didn't do anything! I'm not running around willy-nilly, snapping my teeth at any vampire that comes around! If I had it my way, I'd never bite another vampire again! It's not like it's good for my health here either when they're making me orgasm in front of half my school!

"Were you ever going to tell me or were you just going to do it one day when I wasn't looking?" Bella hurled the accusation, on the verge of hysteria. "Kill me or bite me when I was sleeping next to you or Edward one night?"

She knew she should stop talking while she had the chance. She was speaking out of anger and fear, and that never ended well. She regretted her choice of words the instant they left her mouth.

"No!" Alice snapped and lunged to her feet, eyes blazing so much that Bella froze mid pacing. "What do you think I'm doing now? How could you ever ask me that? Please tell me you don't really believe that I would ever hurt you that way, that I would kill you, Bella! Do you really think-"

"I don't know!" Bella cried and squeezed her midriff, her throat closing as Alice went up in arms at her unjust assault.

She knew Alice would never do anything like that to her, but damn it, she was scared.

"You don't know?" Alice's voice was thick with disbelief and hurt. She swelled like an irate bull frog and when she opened her mouth to yell, Bella hurried to stop it.

"Don't! Please don't. That's not what I meant. I didn't mean to say that. I'm just freaked out, Alice, I didn't mean that. You know I didn't. I know you would never hurt me-never kill me or bite me…Just…Why didn't you tell me before? Why didn't you tell me all of this the second you found out what the Volturi were doing?" she pleaded and Alice deflated like a balloon pricked by a needle, the air whooshing out of her as frustrated tears began to gather in her eyes.

Fighting with Alice was like a one way ticket to Sobville, if she were honest with herself. It would be better not to act in the heat of the moment and throw blame around because she was confused and frightened, when she knew Alice was the one who was here to help, to protect her as best as she could, not act on some psycho coven's orders to change her or take her life to follow their bullshit laws.

"Because I couldn't, Bella. I'm still not supposed to," Alice answered immediately, her voice as beseeching for Bella's understanding as Bella's was of hers. "The Volturi wanted you in the dark about this so that you would be more compliant, but I couldn't-can't do it anymore. You need to know what's going on. It's not fair to play with your life like that, and you deserve to know. You need to know."

'Ignorance is bliss' felt like a good life motto right about now, but Bella knew that it wasn't, not really. Though the bomb Alice had dropped on her was huge, she could not find any more outrage towards Alice in her heart.

Alice had not kept things from her because she thought Bella shouldn't know or thought she was too weak to know. She had only done it because she had thought she had no choice, but now she was telling Bella everything because she knew Bella wanted, deserved, and needed to know.

And so Bella did not resent her, and already regretted her rash reaction.

Because Alice was the one person standing before her, revealing everything. Alice was the one who was always there for her, always looking out for her, always had her back, always wanted to make sure Bella was as safe as could be, and always, always put Bella first, Volturi be damned.

Alice was not the enemy here, and Bella felt ashamed for jumping on her like that.

"I'm sorry, Alice. I'm sorry, I just-This is a really big deal…When you said life or death, you really meant it," Bella groaned and rubbed at her forehead, stomach queasy.

The Volturi want me dead, or a vampire. And they really don't seem to be feeling the vampire thing at the moment, she agonized. Great. Just freaking great.

Getting off in front of everyone at school was suddenly no more bothersome than stubbing her toe compared to this.

"It's okay, Bella," Alice forgave her immediately. "And I did. I told you this was serious. I know it's a lot to drop on you at once but…But you need to know. You can't…You can't react properly or get through something when you don't even know what's happening. Trust me. I rely on my visions so much that sometimes when they fail me I can barely cope," Alice replied, her tone back at a gentle pitch. She stepped forward and peered into Bella's eyes, trying to catch them.

"I just don't understand how you see the best in people yet still assume the worst of their intentions, Bella. I would never, ever do something like that to you. And I will not let them hurt you. Look at me, Bella. I mean it. No one's going to hurt you. I'm right here, and I am not going to let that happen," Alice vowed the moment Bella finally met her eyes. "And neither will my family."

Bella felt even worse for assuming that Alice was wrong in all of this. She really wasn't. All she was trying to do was the best that she could.

"How can you stop them?" Bella muttered skeptically. "You said they were the most powerful vampires around…"

"I don't know yet, but I will find a way. I swear I will Bella. I got you into this mess, and I will get you out of it. I'm going to fix this, whatever it takes. It's all going to be okay. It's going to work out fine, I promise," Alice murmured with total conviction, so sure of herself that Bella could not help but relax.

There was no use going back to that old argument of who caused Bella to bite Alice and whose fault it really was, so Bella didn't bother.

Alice always found a way. She always found the words to make it better. She always found the path that led to the happy ending. She always figured out what to do to make it alright. Bella stared at her best friend, feeling the warmth of her words reassure her in a way that only Alice could.

"Besides," Alice continued in a lighter voice when Bella visibly eased. "I don't think they want that any more than we do, Bella. I told you how power hungry they are. You're a weapon as much as a threat. Most vampires despise the idea of being human as well, and what could be a better punishment than bestowing that on them? Like I said, Victoria's here to recruit you if she gets the chance Bella. All the Volturi are really doing right now is testing the waters and gathering data. Their interest is piqued, but they're not salivating at the mouth over you. Nothing is set in stone. So please don't believe you've got a death threat looming over you or anything, because you don't, and even if you did, I'd get rid of that threat anyway."

As usual, Alice found all the right words to say to make Bella's panic go from a hundred to zero in just a few seconds, and she smiled genuinely at the protective note in Alice's tone.

"So…Why does Victoria have to molest me in the meantime?" Bella inquired slowly, still sensing holes in the explanation.

Alice scowled and grumbled under her breath.

"She doesn't. Victoria is after you because she's a bitch and you smell good. She'd bite you and drag you back to Italy to be her plaything given half a chance. She's not a very nice person, Bella, and half the time she's more interested in bleeding out the people she's supposed to be 'recruiting' than actually doing what she's supposed to. Her control is limited because she feeds on humans. That's why her eyes are red and gold both. The only reason the Volturi keeps her around is because of her unusual propensity to survive and persuade when she's not doing whatever she feels like doing," Alice groused, clearly annoyed at the thought of Victoria.

Well, it just kept getting better and better.

Not only were the Volturi trying to recruit her or whatever the fuck, but the person they'd sent out for recon could barely keep it in her pants around Bella, not to mention she had a nasty habit of drinking human blood.

Crap.

"Why does she want me so badly?" Bella complained. "I'm nothing special, I just smell a little better than most people."

"Because she also has a nasty hobby of liking to fire people up, as you already know. She does it because she wants you, but also just because she knows it pisses me off," Alice growled. "And because she knows I can barely do anything outright about it because she's got the Volturi backing her."

Another thought occurred to Bella, one that she was much more sensitive about broaching.

"Alice…" she began uncertainly and the pixie perked at her tone. "That's all really fucked up and everything, and I think I understand even if it is freaking crazy and stupidly unbelievable, but…How did all that make you say what you did in the car, about us not hanging out anymore?"

Her heart twitched anxiously at the tentative question she had put to Alice, but the vampire only sighed and gazed at her with gentle golden eyes.

"That, Bella? Honey, that's a whole different story, at the same time that it's not."

Well that just made oodles of sense, didn't it?

Bella waited for more, and Alice sighed another soft sigh and rubbed lightly at one arm, shifting on her feet. Her attitude stirred something light and fluttery inside Bella, that both made her nervous and excited at the same time.

"Bella, do you really need to ask? You're not an oblivious or unaware person," Alice reckoned.

Bella wasn't sure how to respond to that, but in a moment of clarity, she understood what exactly Alice was getting at, and it made her stomach dip lower than it should. The reality of the situation really hit her then; Alice was pretty much asking her to acknowledge the fact that maybe they were harboring feelings for each other that were a little too friendly.

It took all her courage to reply.

"Alice, is all this because of what happened in your kitchen?" Bella asked nervously, gnawing the inside of her cheek.

"Yes," Alice answered without hesitation in her characteristically fearless manner. "Bella…"

Bella really hated when Alice took that tone with her. That tone that said she was holding back, because she knew whatever she was going to say might hurt or upset the brunette. She knew it far too well by now. In fact, Alice had been using it since the moment she had popped into Bella's room today.

"You know what happened as well as I do, honey…" Alice said slowly, and it was hard to keep eye contact with the vampire anymore after that declaration.

Bella did. It was admitting the fact of the situation to herself that was the hard part, not understanding it.

"We…" Bella swallowed, finding it hard to speak. "We almost…" She couldn't get the words out. What if she really had been imagining the way Alice had looked at her, as if she were a second away from pressing her mouth to Bella's? And Bella felt a miserable stirring inside as she acknowledged to herself that she wanted her imagination to be right?

"We almost kissed," Alice finished for her, bypassing any of Bella's denial or beating around that god damned bush she liked to hide behind so much.

So much for her imagining it all in her head. Apparently, Alice had taken the situation the same way she had.

I don't know if that's a talent of hers, or a curse, Bella thought to herself, tensing now that it was verbalized out in the air.

Alice was watching her with her cautious, measuring saffron eyes gauging Bella. Bella stared back warily, her heart beginning to thump faster inside her chest.

"We almost kissed, Bella, and that's part of why I said we needed to spend some time apart. I'll say it again, Bells. It's different now that we both like girls, and you know it. I know you've felt the way things have shifted between us, and honey, it's shifting in a dangerous sort of way," Alice said bluntly and when Bella hunched her shoulders, she took a step towards her.

A dangerous sort of way, huh? Trepidation filled Bella and she did not reply, too anxious to know where Alice was going with all of this.

"You can't tell me you aren't feeling things for me you probably shouldn't, Bella…" Alice went on, and Bella shrank further, throat tightening.

So Alice definitely knew her feelings were slightly more than platonic.

Shit.

No. No, she couldn't tell her that she wasn't feeling things for that she probably shouldn't, and it killed her.

She also couldn't tell Alice how much she hated her ability to be so relentless with the truth of the matter. It was useless trying to deny it, so Bella gave a noncommittal shrug, the best she could manage.

"What I told you in the car was not to put everything on you, though. When I say we're getting too close for comfort, I mean both of us are. Honey, I won't lie to you. You are an amazing, beautiful girl, Bella, and we spend so much time together that there is no way I can't recognize that. You're not the only guilty one here. I shouldn't behave around you the way that I do sometimes, and the fact that we came that close in the kitchen…Do you understand how big of a mistake that would have been, Bella?"

Yes, she did. There were a million reasons why their lips should never be that close, why their eyes shouldn't lock like that, and why they should not be pressed up against each other, quivering with so much tension.

One of the biggest reasons Bella knew was because Alice was with Jasper, and if they kissed without the influence of pheromones or the biting or any of that, then it was an entirely different matter, and Bella did not ever want to do that to him. Already he was more distant towards her when it was justifiable in a way, but if Bella did that…

If Alice were to cheat on him because of her?

It made her sick to think of getting between them like that, of causing what would undoubtedly be a terrible rip between them. If they had kissed in the kitchen, that would have undeniably been cheating.

Bella didn't say any of that, though, because she didn't have to. They both knew it, and so she only nodded helplessly, helpless to the feeling that even though she knew how wrong it would be of them to act on the feelings they were clearly having that it still excited her more than anything else really ever had, especially because Alice was telling her that she felt it, too.

I like her, Bella realized, a sinking, soaring feeling warring in the pit of her gut. Son of a bitch. I like her. I like her, and not as just a friend.

And that was a very, very bad place to be with your taken best friend.

"You know you're my best friend, right?" Alice inquired gently, sensing Bella's increasing distress.

"Always," Bella answered reflexively, and then blushed at how soft Alice's smile was, how tender.

Damn it, she internally swore.

Damn.

Damn.

Bella was going to punch every single one of her friends the next time she saw them, for putting these thoughts in her head, for making her notice how close she and Alice really were, for forcing her to acknowledge how much she appreciated Alice, in so many ways, ways that she probably shouldn't.

Like physically.

Like emotionally.

Like desperately, adoringly, with her heart pounding, skin tingling, mind racing.

"And…And you know that's all we can be, right Bella? That that is all we're ever going to be? I don't think I should have to say it, but we need this to be as clear as possible…" Alice added, sounding as if she were doing her very best to let Bella down easy, even though Bella had never known she was up where she needed to be let down in the first place.

Her statement made the fluttery feeling in her heart collapse, and she breathed in deeply, heavily.

"Yeah, I know that. Alice, I never meant to make you think I wanted anything more. I mean, you- You're right, when you say we're feeling things we shouldn't. I think you were right to say we needed some time apart. It-Things are different now, but I wouldn't ever-I would never-"

Never risk their friendship like that? Never make such an idiotic mistake as to hope for anything more?

She didn't even want anything more, did she? All she really wanted was to be Alice's best friend, and she had that. She didn't want these stupid feelings.

It was unsurprising that as soon as Bella admitted to herself what her heart was determinedly experiencing that Alice had to smash it, though. There was a tightening sensation in her chest that she couldn't explain.

"I know, Bella. I don't mean to make it sound like you were coming on to me or anything, or like it's one sided when it's not, and I'm glad you're not taking any of this the wrong way," Alice said, understanding what she was trying to get across, which was a relief. "Us taking some time to ourselves was for me as much as it was for you. But making sure neither of us gets the wrong idea or too ahead of ourselves wasn't the only reason I said what I did, and definitely not the reason I said it when I did."

"Well then why did you say it when you did? Seriously man, that was some crap timing," Bella chose to settle on the easiest part of that.

"I told you that Victoria likes to do things purely for the sake of pissing people off, right?" Alice raised one eyebrow, already looking annoyed just having to say the redhead's name.

"Yes."

"Well, trying to antagonize me has become one of her favorite pastimes since she got here, and she's noticed all the things we just talked about. She knows how close we are, and part of why she's out for you is to try and get to me," Alice informed her, her voice hardening as she spoke about it.

Surprised, Bella replied, "So she's coming onto me so much because she doesn't like you or something? What's her deal with you?"

At this, Alice smiled a tight smile and scoffed, shaking her head.

"Because," she said. "I rejected her. More than once. She's one of the ones they've used to try and recruit us before, and every time she thinks she can seduce me. I told her outright this time to piss off, and now she's being bitter. Victoria doesn't take well to rejection. It's kind of a win-win situation for her. You smell fantastic, you're attractive and easy prey, and she gets to agitate me all at the same time. So that's why I was in such a rush to get the air clear between us, and especially because if she catches on to our, er…Inappropriate feelings, then she'll really be out for you. I thought if she saw space growing between us that she would back off."

Fat chance of that. Victoria hadn't backed off, not really. Bella knew that because of how the redhead always looked at her with hungry eyes, and how she had rolled her hips in the hallway.

"Why are the Volturi okay with her? How have they not gotten rid of her yet? She's obviously more detrimental to this recruiting crap than helpful," Bella frowned, rubbing at the back of her neck uncomfortably.

So Victoria wanted Alice, and couldn't have her, and so she had switched to Bella to spite the tiny vampire and get her kicks out of Bella's blood at the same time?

Well, shit.

That was certainly disconcerting.

"Like I said, Bells. She's very persuasive when she wants to be, as you may have noticed, and that's a skill the Volturi requires. She has a way of getting what she wants from people, and that's why I warned you away from her so much," Alice said, sounding entirely annoyed about it.

"I see," Bella groaned. "Well, what now? What am I supposed to do about all this Alice?"

Her life was getting really crazy lately.

"Don't worry about any of it," Alice told her. "I'll take care of it, I promise. I'll keep you up to date, and I'll make sure nothing happens to you. You're not being bitten, or anything else. I'll keep Victoria and the Volturi off your back, whatever it takes. I only told you all of this because you deserved to know, and because you needed to, not to worry you, Bella."

Don't worry about it?

How the hell was she supposed to do that?

"Won't you get in trouble for telling me all this? Didn't you say you weren't supposed to?" Bella inquired worriedly, narrowing her eyes when Alice made a face at her.

"Sort of. There will be consequences, and I accept that. It won't be a big deal, though," she hurriedly added when Bella looked alarmed.

"Consequences? What kind of consequences? They're not going to punish you, are they?" Bella demanded, worry for Alice taking over anything else instantly.

She wouldn't get in trouble for this would she? Surely not? Not just for telling Bella what was going on?

"No, no, Bella, calm down," Alice laughed lightly and reached out to put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "It's nothing big. I'll probably just get like, a stern talking to or something. Seriously, don't worry about it."

Bella found it highly unreasonable of Alice to continue to ask her not to worry about any of this, but before she could open her mouth to say so, Alice's phone rang.

The familiar sound of her own laughter chimed out of Alice's pocket, coupled with an embarrassing snorting.

"You made that your ringtone?" Bella gasped, outraged and cheeks flaming immediately. It was the audio of a recording Alice had taken of her on her phone when they had hung out the previous weekend, when the vampire had made her laugh so hard that she couldn't stop for five minutes straight (something about a time when Emmett went skinny dipping in a Florida swamp and got bitten on the ass by an irate alligator).

"Yes," Alice smirked, eyes twinkling shamelessly. She winked when Bella gawked at her, and then slipped her phone out of her pocket to answer.

Little minx!

Bella glared at her, half amused and half embarrassed. Change it, she mouthed at her friend and Alice snickered back, but only for a moment.

"Hello?" she answered. It took only one second for the grin to slip off her face. "Yes, okay. Yeah, I got that. I'll be there in a minute…I said I would, and so I will, alright? Where else would I go anyway? Okay-Fine. Fine, I'm leaving now. Goodbye," Alice snapped and abruptly hung up the phone, looking irritated.

"Who was that?" Bella questioned, surprised at the viciousness of the call.

"Nobody. Look, Bella, I gotta go, okay? I'm sorry to leave so suddenly, but it's important," Alice declared, her playful demeanor gone without a trace.

If that was nobody, why is it so important? Bella wondered, confused.

"Um…Okay. It's fine, go do what you gotta do. I need to get started on some homework anyway, so," Bella shrugged it off, not having the energy to pursue it after all that they had already talked about. Alice looked harried, and it wasn't really any of her business anyway.

"Thanks," Alice smiled at her gratefully, but it did not reach her eyes. "But hey, we're all good right? Everything's clear, and you're okay with everything we talked about?"

That was a loaded question if nothing else, and Bella answered before she could second guess herself and say something stupid.

"Yeah, totally. Everything's fine."

"You're sure?" Alice pressed.

The way Alice gazed at her then said everything she did not have to say aloud. Bella knew what she was really asking was, You know we're just friends right? Even though we might feel more than we should, it'll never happen? You know I'm your best friend, but I don't like you like that, not really? You know we have to let all of that go, and move on, right? You know that, don't you?

But knowing it and being okay with it were two different things and Bella was still trying to process the feelings in the first place.

So all she said was, "Yes, I'm sure Alice. Everything's fine. I mean, sort of, but you get what I'm saying."

Alice nodded, and Bella started when the vampire's pocket rang with her laughter again, another phone call incoming. Alice promptly reached into her pocket, pressed a button, and the call was stopped.

"You have to change that," Bella ordered and the corners of Alice's lips quirked up despite the annoyed look she wore at it going off again.

"Not a chance," Alice chuckled, and without warning, she leaned in, slung her arms around Bella's neck and squeezed her close.

Caught off guard the same way she had been before, Bella blushed and quickly put one hand on Alice's waist and the other around her, hugging her awkwardly as she tried not to inhale too much of that lovely aroma.

"Bye, Bells. I'll see you tomorrow, okay? By the way, you can call me later if you need help on that Algebra homework, weenie," Alice murmured to her ear, and Bella was startled by the sudden, forceful throb her heart gave at the vampire's soft, high voice.

Oh shit, I've got it bad, she mourned.

Angela, Jessica, Mike, and Eric were all getting coal from her this Christmas for being right.

"Bye, Alice. Jerk," she chuckled, ignoring the way her lungs rattled when she breathed, and the way Alice's hair tickled the side of her face as they embraced.

With that, Alice slid off of her, gave her one last lingering smile, then blurred over to the window and slipped out of her bedroom with only the sigh and click of the window pane shutting behind her.

Bella sighed and rubbed at her forehead, feeling a headache coming on at all the new information swirling around it.

So.

The ultra powerful vampire police, the Volturi, were spying on her because she could bite vampires and make them human. Almost. And they had sent some crazy, sex hungry, blood thirsty, woman to see how all that would pan out, who wanted her for her blood and sex as much as she wanted her to spite her best friend for turning her down.

And not only that, she now had a crush on that best friend.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

"Whatever," Bella griped and threw up her hands.

Maybe Alice was right. What good was it to worry about any of it when there was nothing she could do? She ended up just flopping back down on her bed and closing her eyes, exhausted from the day's events.

She lay there, stewing in the mess her life had become for longer than she intended to. Twilight faded fast to nighttime, and before she knew it, Bella became drowsy, and then she was falling asleep.

She couldn't do that, though. She really did need to get her Algebra homework done. She was starting to fall behind. Her shaky B was slipping to a C in that godforsaken class, and so she dragged herself back up, wondering why knowing how to graph a polynomial function meant anything in the grand scheme of things. How would that ever help her deal with vampires?

It wouldn't, but at least it gave her a reason to call Alice. She felt guilty as she did so, dialing Alice's number while she stared blankly at her textbook, not getting any of the shit in it, like she shouldn't.

It was all for naught, however, because Alice did not pick up, and Bella was surprised when she never even called back…And maybe in the end that was for the best, that Alice did not pick up. After all, Bella knew now that she needed to control whatever feelings she was having for her friend before they ruined them.

Yet her heart and her brain were not on the same page. In fact, it was starting to look like they might be reading an entirely different story…

Alice walked through the forest behind her house, shirtless and in nothing but a simple black lace bra and a pair of ratty old, ripped at the knees jeans that she had found stuffed in the darkest corner of her highly stylish and fashionable closet. She did not feel the cool Winter breeze that stirred the equally naked tops of the tree branches around her, but she swore she could feel every next step weighing her down to the earth just a little more.

Victoria was walking in front of her, and the redhead glanced over her shoulder at her and smiled a feral smile her way, one that made her fangs glint in the moonlight pouring down over them. Even without vampiric sight, the brightness of it made everything clear as day. The promise of pain in those cruel eyes made Alice purse her lips and stare back as stoically as she could manage.

It was not that she was afraid. She supposed she should be, but Alice had felt pain before, and quite a lot of it. She was sure nothing would ever hurt quite so much as her transformation into a vampire, where only Hell itself could come close.

And yet…

Dread still consumed her when they entered the designated clearing, where the trees were far apart and the dirt hard packed beneath her bare feet. She halted just within the perimeter of it, swallowing the venom that had pooled instinctively in her mouth due to her heightened state of emotion. Victoria continued forward and stopped in the middle, next to another vampire who was even shorter than herself. The smaller vampire leaned against a five foot tall post sticking up out of the ground. Victoria turned around and sneered back at her.

Alice gazed back, unflinching.

She would not kowtow to that bitch. No way. She would not cower or look away, give Victoria the satisfaction of seeing her nerves show through. She could not afford to show weakness, and she desperately tried to convince herself that she wasn't weak, that she could take what she was about to get.

Alice had known the consequences of her actions. She had known what she was getting herself into, and did it willingly. She had lied to Bella. The punishment she was about to receive would be much more than a mere 'stern talking to.'

But she did not regret it, and that was what made it easier to meet Victoria's eyes.

For Bella. She had done it for Bella, she reminded herself. And so it would be worth it, no matter how much this was going to hurt.

For Bella…

She stirred only when she felt a hand on her bare shoulder, and slumped when she felt soothing vibes flow into her like ocean waves, lapping at her tension like a purring kitten, like a parent's comforting embrace.

Jasper.

She looked to her side and found him staring down at her with oil slick eyes and dilated pupils, black on black. The worry in his face was even more than any she might ever feel for herself, and not for the first time did she feel shame well up in her at his concern.

He loved her. He loved her with all his heart, and she knew it. How could she ever not? She had been with Jasper for fifty years, five decades of her life, and even now she still wore the ring he had placed on her finger the day they wed, a physical representation of all that he felt for her.

And he still wore the ring she had placed on his.

Alice loved him, too. She did. She honestly, truly did. She was in love with him. Of course she was. It was just…Lately, there had been some interference in the airwaves, diverting her, confusing her. It was not uncommon for vampires to stray from each other. Forever really meant forever when you were immortal, but when they truly loved each other, they did not really leave or cheat or go to someone else.

But…

But then there was Bella.

Alice had not expected to be so enamored with the young girl, the young woman. Bella was eighteen, and she had soft chocolate hair and a heart shaped face, with big brown doe eyes and a kindness in her soul, a genuine humanity to her that Alice had never seen in anyone else. And Bella was intelligent and funny, and so easy to talk to, and Bella understood her when she felt like no one else did, never judged her, and they could talk for hours or never say anything at all and still get each other either way.

Bella was like no one she had ever met before. She had never met someone in her long life that interested her so much. Even Jasper had not clicked with her like that, at least not so well so fast. No one ever had.

Save for Bella…

And when Bella had bitten her, it had triggered her instincts, her want and desire so powerfully that she could not admit to herself how strong it really was. Bella had not created the desire then, only made her see how deep it really went. And it had terrified her, more than anyone really knew, that she had almost really, really hurt the girl when she bit her back. If she had still had her fangs…

God. She couldn't stand to think about it.

Alice knew she liked Bella. She had lived too long to bother with trivial things like denial. It was best to acknowledge the truth as fast as she could, so then she could deal with it.

But she loved Jasper. She loved Jasper, and pursuing any of whatever she felt for Bella was idiotic, foolish, and wrong. There were a million reasons why; Jasper, the fact that that could easily break their friendship anyway, that Bella could be emotionally and physically destroyed…Just. No.

She did not need to linger on Bella because of a simple infatuation because of her baser vampiric instincts and a mild school-girl crush. It was unrealistic and stupid, and Bella was nothing more than a friend, not what Jasper was. So she may have been distant lately, and Jasper probably knew why, and yet he still stood her beside her, gazing at her with devotion and fierce protectiveness in his eyes, not caring, still loving her.

So she would get over it. She would ignore whatever she might feel for Bella until it went away, and Bella would get over whatever she might feel for her too, and they would all move on and deal with the real issue…

Victoria, and the Volturi.

"We can still stop this, Alice," Jasper murmured to her, softly so that Victoria and Jane, the small blond vampire who was also an emissary from the Volturi, could not hear them. "We can run. We can even fight. You don't have to do this."

"Yes, I do," Alice smiled gently at him, trying to ease his fears. "You know we can't do either of those things, Jasper. It'll be okay, sweetheart. I'll be fine."

For Bella, she had to. For Bella, because she had gotten the innocent human into this by tickling her and starting the snowball effect. And just because they were only friends did not mean Alice wouldn't do anything to keep that sweet girl safe.

Bella didn't deserve this danger, or the heartache. So Alice would do this for her, for both of them.

Victoria smirked right at her and slowly slipped the whip coiled on her hip into her hand. It was thickly braided steel wire, cords of it wrapped around each other tightly, and the silver of it gleamed lethally. Victoria let it unfurl and it brushed across the ground. It glittered curiously in the moonlight, as beautiful as it was foreboding. Tiny but wickedly sharp diamonds were embedded in the steel cords, the only mineral hard enough to breach a vampire's skin.

But damn, was it going to hurt.

"Don't be stupid, Jasper," Rosalie muttered on Alice's other side, hovering and watching Victoria with cold eyes. "Alice knows what she's doing…Or does she?"

Alice really wasn't in the mood for Rosalie's judgment, but she got it anyway.

"Rose…"

"You didn't have to tell her, Alice," Rosalie growled as Jane said something that made Victoria toss her head back and laugh. It made Alice's inner vampire bristle anxiously, but she fought it back.

"Yes, I did," Alice hissed. "Don't start with me. She needed to know."

"No, she didn't," Rosalie snapped. "You-"

"Rosalie."

Esme had appeared behind them, and so did Carlisle and Emmett. She stopped Rosalie's inevitable tirade with the sharp tone of her voice, and Alice was unbelievably grateful. The blonde scoffed and stepped back, and Alice had to breathe in deeply despite the lack of a need for oxygen when Esme put a maternal hand against her cheek in her stead.

She appreciated the gesture, but the motherly worry in Esme's eyes only made her feel worse, and so she could only grimace back, and Esme's hand slipped away.

"Come now, Alice, time's wasting away here. We've got plenty of it, surely, but it's time to face the consequences of your actions," Victoria called, sounding gleeful.

Sadistic bitch, Alice thought, and had to force herself to move away from the comfort of her unorthodox but loving family. When Jasper made to go with her, Victoria stopped him.

"Ah ah ah, little one. No one crosses the tree line. It's a precaution, you see. We can't afford the risk that one of you might do something stupid, like try to attack us when the punishment begins," Victoria gestured for him to step back. Alice heard him growl, but Emmett put a hand on his elbow and held him back.

Alice approached with her chin high, but it dipped and her jaw locked when Victoria's eyes raked over the swell of her breasts in nothing but the bra.

"That's a nice bra, Alice. If you want to keep it intact, though, you'll want to be taking it off," the redhead sneered lasciviously.

Disgust and annoyance flitted through her and she chose not to respond.

"Fine, have it your way. But it's going to come off, one way or another once we get started," Victoria shrugged.

"Can we just get this over with?" she snapped, ever aware of Jasper's rising voice and Esme's desperate hushing of him.

"Certainly," Jane interjected, speaking up. The tiny vampire was cloaked in formal black Volturi robes with the red satin interior, and when she pushed her hood back, her blood red eyes contrasted harshly with her pale blond hair.

Jane was small for a vampire. She had been changed just on the brink of childhood and was frozen at thirteen, just treading the line of breaking Volturi law when it came to creating immortal children. If not for her power to invoke unimaginable pain, they might have killed her anyway.

As it was…

Jane reached into the pocket of her robes and pulled out two items. One was a rolled up sheet of paper, another a large, unmarked aluminum can. She passed the can to Victoria, then lazily unrolled the paper and began to read from it.

"Mary Alice Brandon, aged one hundred and eight years old, hailing from the Cullen coven of Forks, Washington, you have been sentenced to a whipping of no less than thirty lashes by way of the Viper, to be administered by Victoria Sutherland on the night of November 15th, 2013 for the crimes of outright defiance of Volturi commands consisting of informing the human Isabella Swan of the nature of Volturi interests when you were expressly forbidden to do so, and for revealing vampire kind to said human," Jane droned, sounding bored and uninterested in every word.

"I didn't tell her about vampires!" Alice protested indignantly. "And you said if I told her it would be fifteen lashes, not thirty."

The Viper was the whip currently dangling from Victoria's hand, the primary tool the Volturi used to punish disobedient vampires. It was a renowned and world widely feared instrument of their power, and for good reason.

The redhead popped the top off the can and used two fingers to reach in and scoop a viscous looking substance with the consistency of jelly out of it. She took the substance and began to deliberately smear it all over the whip, coating it in a clear sheen. Alice recognized the substance as the Volturi's patented, perfected version of napalm. They had chemically altered the original product to better control its production of heat, and so that it would cling to the whip but not much else after the initial application. It was also mixed with vampire venom for an extra sting, and thus the name Viper. It gave her chills to know why it was going to be used.

"Oh well. That's just too bad for you, isn't it? We also told you not to tell the human what was going on, and you did it anyway. The Volturi do not take kindly to such blatant defiance. Your punishment has been adjusted accordingly," Jane replied, uncaring.

Thanks, Eddie boy, Alice thought sarcastically.

Victoria finished coating the whip and passed the can back to Jane, who slipped it back into her robes. The redhead then reached into her pocket and pulled out a silver cigarette lighter. She took a step back from them both and gripped the whip by its black hilt with the ruby threading with a hand covered in a thick black gauntlet. She held it away from her body, unceremoniously flicked the lighter to life and held the flame to the glistening thing.

It caught fire instantly.

Heat blossomed and Victoria hissed softly as dancing orange flames licked along the length of the whip, stopping halfway down its length, well away from her hand but still threatening. When the flames settled, they flickered only an inch up off the surface of the whip, yet they might have been a hundred feet high for the way Alice felt about them.

Fire…

No vampire was a friend of fire. Nothing else could hurt them quite like fire.

Her insides turned to squirming snakes when Victoria smiled at her, her hair shimmering like the now flaming whip, apparently relishing it.

"Alright then, sweet Alice. Let us commence. You will turn, kneel, and grip the post with both arms. If you stand or try to run, we are authorized to apply Jane's abilities to subdue you. If you or your family attempts to attack us, we are authorized to kill you. Do you understand?" Victoria commanded, her voice thick with excitement.

The woman was evil. Absolute and pure evil.

But Alice had no choice. Even though the heat radiating off the whip made her want to bolt, made everything inside her recoil, she could not.

For Bella. For Bella, remember?

So she turned around and bared her back to Victoria, going against her vampire instincts, and sank down to her knees. She folded her arms around the post and tried to pretend it was Jasper she wrapped her arms around, not the cold, unforgiving wood.

I won't scream, she thought. I won't give her that satisfaction.

"I hope she was worth it, Alice. But, here's a little payback for when you slammed me up against that truck. You ripped my blouse that day," Victoria's voice floated down to her.

And with no further warning, the whip cracked out and lanced a line of fiery agony across the skin of her back.

Alice screamed.

She shot forward and braced her shoulder against the post, smothering the need to cry out. Her knees dug into the hard earth and she could feel the way her marble skin cracked apart. The whip moved too fast to set her aflame, but it turned the steel cording white hot and combined with the diamond inserts, it cut through her like a hot knife through butter, and hurt like nothing she could have expected.

Oh god, Alice whimpered. That was only one. That was just the first one.

"Hurts, does it?" Victoria giggled behind her as Alice raked her nails along the post and thick lines of wood shavings came up under her fingernails. She was aware the Jasper was bellowing in the distance, but she had shut her eyes to combat the agony coursing through her and could not see him.

For Bella.

For Bella.

The pain was burning, throbbing, cutting, needles and knives and swords raking across her in one long line of agony. Her back became a raw nerve, and she felt the way her bra brushed the lash mark, broken apart as Victoria said it would. She didn't even care. All she wanted was the pain to stop.

"Screaming already, honey? But we're only just getting started," Victoria cooed. "If that's all it takes to make you scream, then maybe you really weren't worth my time anyway…"

Alice gritted her teeth and did her damnedest to straighten up against the post, wishing Victoria would just stop talking and finish it. She clung to the post with everything she had, trying to ground herself. She had not expected it to hurt this much. She could not even find the ability to growl or bare her fangs when she felt Victoria sink down next to her and whispered softly in her ear.

"You know, Alice, all this whipping is getting me kind of hot…And it's giving me some ideas. You scream so sweetly, but I bet Isabella's are even sweeter. What do you think? Do you think if I took a whip to her that she'd scream for me? I bet she'd like it, don't you? She seems like that kind of a girl. I bet I could whip her bloody and she'd still beg me for more…" Victoria taunted. "I bet she'd beg me to fuck her."

Rage dominated anything else at Victoria's words, that she would dare speak of Bella that way, and Alice found a surge of strength. She turned and stared right into Victoria's eyes, mouth wide open and hurting so badly that she could barely talk, but talk she did.

"She wouldn't fuck you even if you were the one begging her, and neither did I when you begged me, remember? So you might as well just go fuck yourself," she choked out and Victoria's face twisted with fury. For one brief moment, Alice almost wanted to laugh.

"Oh, you'll regret that one, sweetling. And I'll make sure to make you regret it again when I get my hands on that girl, too. Next time, you won't be there to pull me off of her. I'm coming for her Alice. I'm coming for her, and there is nothing you can do to stop me," Victoria vowed, hissed, and disappeared from her sight.

Like hell you are, Alice thought vehemently.

And yet she did regret talking back, because not a second later, Victoria went all in.

The whip cracked out, lashing her again and again and again, thirty blows cutting through her in ten seconds, and Alice screamed and screamed and screamed.

For Bella. For Bella, for Bella, for Bella!

For Bella …