His touch was fire on my lower back as he led me through the house to rejoin the Cullen's, even though I knew his skin was cold to touch it still seemed to ignite something within me. I glanced up at him from beneath my lashes, hoping that the glance would go unnoticed by him, it didn't. He smirked down at me wolfishly and I felt my knees tremble, leaning into him slightly for support as he was turning me into a swooning damsel. This was precisely the picture we presented as we walked into the now occupied living room.
I swallowed audibly as I turned from gazing up at Aro to the room full of Vampires with varying degrees of shock over their faces. Of course Aro had known that they were no longer in the dining room, he had known that everyone would be waiting for us to return. I really was his perfect little puppet, barely even aware of my master tugging at my strings. Seething I rapidly stepped away from him and moved to stand with Alice, she sent me a small, pitying smile and wrapped her arms around me in a hug I didn't realise I needed until I found myself clinging to her.
"Isabella has decided to join the Volturi in one month." Aro spoke in his rich, deep voice from where I had left him stood. He was directing his speech at Carlisle and Esme. "I am entrusting you, my old friends, with her safekeeping until she is fully under my protection. It should go without saying that I would be most displeased should something happen to her in the meantime."
The quiet in the room was deafening and I was glad that Alice had hugged me in such a way that I faced no one, just the wall, and so didn't have to confront the situation just yet.
"Of course Aro. We have always done our best to protect Bella." Carlisle's calm and smooth voice washed over me like lukewarm water, dulling the fire that Aro stoked with his own voice. I felt myself relax in Alice's embrace and she finally released me.
"Now Carlisle, we both know that isn't true." My gaze flickered quickly to Aro as a chill swept over the room. His voice was cold and hard and a dangerous glint lingered in his gaze. "She would be dead by now if it had been left up to you and your family. Thankfully Laurent has been dealt with, as has Victoria. It seems you are woefully ill-equipped to deal with the safeguarding of Isabella's life. Do I have to resort to using the dogs again, Carlisle?"
The fair haired man bowed his head in shame and Esme reached for his hand to stroke it lovingly, her eyes too held sadness.
"Wait a second." I interrupted, turning and advancing upon Aro. I wouldn't be a wilting flower, I wouldn't let him manipulate and use me as he saw fit. Just because I was human, didn't mean I was weak. "What do you mean, use the dogs again?"
In my minds eye I played through the scenes where the wolf pack had appeared, saved me at just the right moments. Jacob being there at all the right moments.
"Why do you think I didn't want you around Jacob, Bella? Petty rivalry?" Edward spoke up from the corner of the room where he had been looking out of the window, his voice contained so much emotion it was hard to tell which was which. "They've had a pact with the Volturi for far longer than they've had one with us. They work for them in return for… finances." He spat the word like it tasted foul to him.
"Among other things." Aro hinted, his controlled tone worlds away from Edwards emotion. When I raised an eyebrow at him in query, holding my ground and managing not to shake from the combination of fear and anger, he elaborated. "Most new wolves have… accidents. The dogs don't have the means to control the situation, to stop their own species being discovered and tested on, to stop their pups from killing in violent rages, to remove bodies of humans who were unfortunate enough to get in the way. It is a… mutually beneficial agreement."
I felt a chill go down my spine as I thought about Jake and everything that had happened between us. How distant he had been once he had turned, it hadn't made sense to me then, that he would use the excuse of being supernatural. He knew that I was involved with the Cullen's, why would Werewolves be any different to me than Vampires? This however, made sense.
His conscience had stopped him from socialising with me.
Once he had phased, he'd discovered how deeply embroiled the pack was with the Volturi and he had felt cheap, guilty even. Even though clarity was being shed upon a great many things this evening I felt like my entire world was falling down around me.
I mean, Jacob of all people?
How much crueller could things get?
I merely gaped around me at the people I had thought I knew, for years they had kept this information from me. I had only met Aro for a second time this evening and been in his company for a few hours and he had already shed more light and told me more truths than the Cullen's ever had.
"I'm going to leave now." I said, in a low and quiet voice. I turned on my heel and walked toward the door. "No Alice, you stay here." I said, not unkindly as she tried to follow me out the door. "And I don't need protecting, by any of you. Victoria, Laurent and James are gone, there is no one left out there to hurt me."
Aro shot across the room and held his arm out to block the doorway before I had chance to walk through it and to my freedom. I took a moment to admire his arm, which was dressed in what I had no doubt was a ridiculously expensive suit, before I turned to look at him feeling defensive.
"I assure you, they were amateurs compared to those who will be after you now that I have shown interest in you. There are a great many Vampires out there who have been waiting for an opportunity such as this. To take something precious to me and destroy it." I swallowed thickly at the intensity in his eyes, fully aware of the others stood around us. I cursed his Vampire magnetism as I felt myself sway toward him again and my eyelids droop at the sweet, delicious scent of his breath. "You will be protected until I can return to do so myself, do you understand?"
I felt myself nodding and screamed internally in frustration as he smiled in a self-satisfied way and crooked his elbow to me.
"I will escort you home, ensure that you get there safely. I will return soon." The last part was directed over his shoulder to the Cullen clan as I placed my hand on the cool material of his suit jacket and left my old life behind.
He drove well and with the space required for driving between us I had managed to clear my head somewhat since leaving the house. His driving was faster than Edwards, but I never felt at risk. It was smooth and the cars engine purred as it sped down the roads, I was barely even shifted in my seat unlike previous rides I'd had with Vampire drivers.
"You are very quiet, Isabella." His voice in the enclosed space of the car was even more hypnotising and I fought against closing my eyes to enjoy the sound of it.
"It's been an eventful evening. I think i'm in shock, to be honest." As I said it I realised I was, I had been staring at the same spot on the windscreen for most of the drive and my emotions were a mixed jumble of panic, fear and anxiety.
"I'm sorry to change your life so drastically and so quickly, truly I am. But you were destined to be immortal Isabella, even your blood calls to our kind. You can age in Volterra until you feel that you are ready to be turned, you will be safe I promise you that." He seemed sincere and I wondered how he planned on keeping that promise when I would be in a castle full of Vampires, so I asked him. He sent me a withering look. "You have seen the more… forgiving side of my nature little bird. I assure you, none who live under the Volturi would dare touch you." I saw his hands clench a little too tightly around the steering wheel and I averted my eyes. It seemed too personal somehow, to observe his moment of emotion.
"I can't believe I'm going to have to say goodbye to everyone." I said more to myself than to him, he seemed intrigued at the new line of conversation though and continued with it.
"From what I understand your life consisted of your Fathers company and that of the Cullens. Am I wrong?" There was something hidden in the tone of his voice, something that lay beneath the surface of the false nonchalance.
"No, you're not wrong. But there are friends I have outside of that circle." My mind flashed momentarily to my letters but I knew I couldn't count that friend among the number. After all I was sat right next to him, as much as I struggled to believe it. I wondered what he would say, this strong, powerful vampire if I confronted him with the truth. Demanded to know why he was writing to me and sending me gifts, if he truly meant everything he'd said, if he really was my friend.
The night flashed by me and I tried to observe through the car windows but the lights blurred together and I couldn't focus on anything. I sighed softly and bowed my head, knowing that I couldn't speak to him about the letters yet, I still didn't want to let them go. I didn't want to lose the friend I had within the paper.
"Perhaps you could write to them." Aro's voice was as serene as the surface of an untouched pond and if I didn't already know that he had been writing to me, I would have fallen for it. Truly a master manipulator indeed.
"Perhaps." Was all I said as I eyed him suspiciously. The rest of the journey was spent in relative silence until we reached my home and as I exited the sleek car a wave of nostalgia hit me whilst I looked the house over. I really had been happy here, even when I thought such a thing would be impossible.
A cold hand laid upon my shoulder in what was meant to be a comforting gesture, but it was done awkwardly and I understood why. He was so unused to touching anyone in a way that didn't hold one intent or another behind it, that using touch just to comfort was unusual to him. As he walked me to my door I was so focussed on the touch and scent of him that I hadn't noticed the white envelope that dangled from his fingertips, that was until we stopped on my doorstep and he held it out to me.
A/N: I know you hate the cliff hangers, but they just happen naturally! Blame Aro and Bella, not me. Please don't forget to review and let me know what you thought, every time I read a review I write a new paragraph ;)