A/N: I just want to make somehting clear about the time frame. I'm doing Carlisle's part first but Bella's takes place before his. Hers takes place befor Alice's and Rosalie's too. Poll update: We are at 66% for a part three and 33% for giving Bella a happy ending. Keep voting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CARLISLE
I arrived in Volterra around six o'clock the next night. It would've been earlier but the only flight I could get had three layovers. Thanks to a couple decades of living there, I was able to slip into the city unnoticed. I was surprised to find that I still remmebered my way into the St. Marcus building.
When I arrived in the reception area at the end of the tunnel, I noticed they had a different human working then I remembered. I shivered at the thought of how they disposed of the last one. Thinking about it, made me worry about what they'd do to Bella when they found out she knew our secret. I didn't tell Edward of these possible thoughts. I didn't want to worry him anymore than he already was. I was actually hoping that my friendship with Aro would save her from the terrible fate that other humans had faced by their hands. Still, I knew there were at least three powers in my family that Aro would do anything to get. It would be four once he found out about Roxanne. I prayed he wouldn't go as far as using Bella to get one of them.
The human at the desk smiled at me as I approached.
"Good evening, I'm Gianna." she said. "Can I help you?"
"I'd like to speak to Aro, please?" I stated kindly.
"And who may I say is calling?" Gianna asked.
"Carlisle Cullen." I replied.
She nodded and went through the door across the room. She was in the for a minute before she stepped out.
"He's attending to some business but he'll be with you in a moment." she stated with a smile. "You can have a seat."
"Thank you." I nodded to her.
I sat in one of the chairs and stared at the ceiling. I prayed that everything would work out and he'd leave Bella alone. She didn't need anymore pain and heartbreak in this life. Not with everything that she'd already lost. I didn't have anymore time to ponder things because Aro stepped out followed by Jane and Felix.
"Carlisle, old friend." Aro exclaimed opening his arms in a welcoming gesture. "It's good to see you."
"It's good to see you as well Aro." I replied. "Jane, Felix." I nodded to both of them in turn. They nodded back but didn't say anything.
"To what do we owe the honor." Aro said.
"My family is having a bit of a problem in Forks." I explained. "You see, we have recently gained another daughter, Roxanne. Unfortunately, she's had a very troubled past and it has caught up with her in Forks."
"I'm not sure I understand." Aro replied.
"It would be much easier to show you than explain it." I said knowing that his reading of my mind was inevitable anyway.
"Very well." He replied and held out his hand.
I took it. He closed his eyes as everything that had happened over the past two years flowed through to his mind. He made noises of disapproval or assent every know and then but didn't say anything. Ten minutes later, he released my hand.
"Carlisle, you've been bad." he said in a reproving tone.
"No, we have not." I replied. "Bella is a very perceptive young girl. She put everything together on her own."
"So why not deny it when she confronted you?" Aro asked.
"And cause more of an exposure risk when she started asking the others around town questions." I replied.
"You could've killed her."
"Believe me, it was discussed. However, by the time, she figured it all out, my son, Edward, had fallen in love with her. He was more than willing to fight anyone who tried to hurt her, even a member of his family. So you see the problem?"
"I do but she still needs to be taken care of. She could still expose us."
"I doubt that she would." I argued. "You see, a little over a year ago, Edward decided that it was too dangerous for us to be around her. So he broke her heart and we left. She kept our secret so I don't think she'd ever say anything, not even in revenge."
"Still, Carlisle, you know we can't take chances." Aro stated.
This wasn't going at all the way I wanted it to. I was hoping that Kyle's powers would distract him from Bella. Of course, exposure has always been an issue for Aro. I suppose I had to make Kyle seem like an exposure risk. That shouldn't be to hard.
"Look, I didn't come here to debate about Bella." I stated. "I came because I think Kyle may be a greater exposure risk than any one human."
"What makes you believe that?" Aro asked politely.
"You've seen my memories of Roxanne's account of what he did to her. He's done that to countless other girls and doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon. What happens if one of the girls escapes and goes tp the police? There'd be an investigation and god knows what else. And if the found him, it be like the Salem Witch Trials all over again. I need your help to stop him." I explained.
"But what makes you think I can help?" he questioned.
"Because, as you've seen, his power is the same as Peter's was." I stated. I knew I didn't have to saw more. "You had your guard destroy Peter and I have to know how, so my family and I can take care of Kyle."
Aro stood silent for a moment thinking back.
"Jane, wasn't it your plan?" he finally asked.
"Yes, master it was." Jane replied.
"Would you please tell us about it?"
"Of course, it wasn't as hard as you'd think. I simply drastracted him by saying that I was here against my will and ask him to take me with him. He was so worried about getting me out without getting caught. That he wasn't expecting Felix and the others to attack the minute we reached the street." Jane explained. "By distracting him, we were able to sneak attack him before he had a chance to use any of his abilities. The whole thing took two seconds."
I inwardly cringed at how carefree that she talked about killing another creature. An inoccent one at that but then again, Jane had always been the most sadistic of all of them.
"So that's it." I stated. "Just distract and ambush."
"Yes." Jane replied.
"Thank you." I stated. Wanting to leave quickly and still be polite I added, "I suppose I should go now. The family had to split up to investigate the Kyle situation. I want us to get back togather quickly, for Bella's sake."
"Of course," Aro stated. "Jane and Felix will show you out."
Jane and Felix headed toward the tunnel and I turned to follow.
"And Carlisle," Aro called me back. "We'll be in touh about Bella. She's still an exposure risk and must be dealt with."
"Of course." I stated. "But I must warn you, if any of you try to hurt her, my family and I will fight for her." I added not sure it would help.
"That will be taken into consideration." Aro replied.
Not all together reassured, I followed Jane and Felix through the tunnel and onto the streets of Volterra.
BELLA
I fell asleep in Edward's arms shortly after the family meeting. When I woke up the next morning, I was in my bed with Edward laying next to me. I was shocked to hear abosolutely no sounds in the house except our breathing. I turned so I was staring into Edward's beautiful golden eyes.
"Good morning." I whispered.
"Good morning, love." he replied. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yes." I said. "No visitors."
"Good." he whispered and kissed my forehead. I found it was the little things like this that I missed the most.
"Where's everyone?" I asked unable to ignore the quiet.
"Well, thanks to our over abundance of money, last minute flights were arrange for last night. Esme called a couple hours ago to let us know that they were in Denali. I actually just got off the phone with Alice. She and Jasper are still in the air but the should arrive at their destination by noon. And Carlisle couldn't get a flight without any layovers so he won't be in Volterra until later." Edward explained. "Roxanne is in her room going though her more vivid human memories, trying to find anything else that may help us find Kyle. And Emmett is out guarding the perimeter from Kyle. I have to call him and let him know you're awake."
I suddenly felt guilt in the pit of my stomach. Here they were again wasting their time, money, and energy on trying to keep me safe. It felt like they spent all of their time doing that. I didn't feel worthy of any of that. It seemed that the only thing I contributed to this family was danger. I considered leaving and letting Kyle have me but I couldn't do that to Edward. Not after everything he'd done for me. I looked down at the blankets to embarrassed to look Edward in the face. I felt his finger slide underneath my chin and lift it until I was looking at him.
"What are you thinking?" he asked.
"I'm sorry I'm such a burden to your family." I said near tears.
"Burden?" he questioned. "Where'd you get that idea?"
"Well, you guys are once again wasting your time, money, and energy to protect me." I stated. "It just doesn't seem like something you should have to do."
"Bella, I told you, we do this because we want not because we have to. We are very well aware that we could throw you out and make you deal with Kyle by yourself. But that's not we we want. We want you to be safe and happy."
"But it seems like you spend most of your time trying to make me safe and happy." I stated.
"And that's fine with us. Bella, you are family to us and you have been since Alice had her first vision about you. And we protect our family, no matter what the cost. We know that you are unable to protect yourself the way the rest of us can. Which is why we put so much more effort into protecting you. We love you Bella and nothing anyone says or does will stop us from loving and protecting you." Edward explained.
Feeling a little better, I snuggled closer to Edward who pulled me closer to himself. We laid like that for a few minutes before he kissed the top of my head and sighed.
"As much as I want to sit like this forever, you need to get ready. We have to meet with the wolves in a couple hours."
"Oh." I said. I had completely forgotten that Carlisle wanted Edward to inform them of our newest developments.
"If you don't want to go, I can have Emmett and Roxy stay with you." Edward stated. "And I'kll just go alone."
"No." I said. "You shouldn't go by yourself. It's not safe. We don't know how far Kyle would go to get me. Besides, I have to get used to seeing them on these kinds of terms, right?"
Edward nodded.
"Okay, then, go take your human minute for the day and I'll go make you breakfast."
"Should I be scared."
"Bella, I've been alive for over a century. I think I've seen at least one cooking show." he stated.
I giggled as crawled out of bed. He was already out the door by the time I was able to stand. Stupid vampire.
TWO HOURS LATER....
I was on Edward's back and we were running to meet the wolves. There were already there when we arrived. Sam and Jacob were standing in the front with Quil, Embry, Paul, and Jared lined up behind them. We stopped a few feet from them. Edward pulled me gently from his back and set me on my feet. He kept a hold of my hand. Roxanne stood on my left with Emmett next to her.
I took in the faces of my brothers. The smiled and waved at me. I smiled back. I noticed Jacob was staring at the ground. I knew being here was hurting him too. I hated myself for flaunting my relationship with Edward but if it wasn't for his hand in mine, I'd be an emotional wreck right now. Besides, I knew Alyssa was waiting in La Push to offer him the comfort that he needed. Sam stared at us for a minute, shocked that we were only half of our usual number.
"Where's Dr. Cullen and the others?" Sam asked.
"We've had some new developments on the Kyle thing." Edward explained. "And they've had to go check on our new theories. Carlisle asked me to come here and speak on behalf of himself and the whole family."
"You have the floor." Sam stated.
"First, we wanted to give you an update on the situation." Edward continued. "For some reason we are unable to track Kyle in anyway. We know he has to be close by but I can't get a read on his thoughts, Jasper can't catch any strange emotions, and Alice can't see Bella's future because it's too closely related to what Kyle decides to do. And we know you guys haven't been able to catch his scent either. We've decided it's best to just look for him in the normal human way. Carlisle asks that you guys keep an extra eye out for him. He says that you can extend you patrol into our territory, if necessary."
"Well, see what we can do there." Sam stated.
"Carlisle also wanted you to know about his abilities so you aren't caught off guard." Edward went on. "We think that he's able to steal abilities from other vampires so we aren't sure exactly how many he has. Roxy has been kind enough to inform us of the ones she knows. Carlisle would like you to have that information too."
Sam made sure the others were paying close attention as Edward went through everything we knew Kyle was capable of.
"Also, the entire family implores that if you do find him, let us know immediately. Don't go after him. We don't want you to put yourselves in unnecessary danger."
"We appreciate you concern." Sam stated. "But it is our job to protect our tribe and any other inoccent humans from the threat of vampires. And that;s exactly what we'll do if we find Kyle. We won't stop until he's destroyed."
"That's your choice." Edward said knowing he wasn't going to win the fight. "Finally, we must ask a favor, and we're willing to beg for this one."
Sam nodded for him to continue.
"Our kind only have one rule, keep the secret and we have a coven that makes sure this rule is obeyed. Whenever a human finds out about us they either dispose of them or change them depending on what the have to offer. They don't know about Bella yet." I could feel his hand starting to shake in mine. "But Carlisle had to go to them for help and won't be able to get away without telling them about her. And they'll have to follow their own rules. Carlisle's sure he can convince them just to turn her but we need your permission to do that." Edward stated his voice cracking. "If you don't agree then they will kill her. And you have no idea how sadistic this coven is. If the decided to kill her, it will be in the slowest most digust and painful way possible. I know you don't want that. If you agree, we're willing to do anything you want us to. If you want me to do it in front of her to make sure I don't kill her fine." His voice shook so bad that I knew he'd be crying right now if he could. I never heard Edward like this before. "Please, let us do this? It could be the only way to save her."
Sam looked at the ground for a moment after Edward's speech. I kept my eyes on him wondering what he'd decide. Finally, he looked into my eyes, I could see a war raging in them. He couldn't decide between saving my life and upholding the treated. I stared imploringly, begging him to give his permission. It would be the ultimate big brother thing for him to do.
"Fine, do it." Sam answered after what seemed like forever. "But if you kill her, Cullen, I'll kill you."
"If I kill her, I won't stop you." Edward replied.
"Is there anything else?" Sam inquired. Edward shook his head. I, however, found my voice.
"If you find Kyle, please be careful. I don't want any of you to die because of me." My voice was shaking with emotion as I said this.
"Don't worry Bells." Jacob said looking up from the ground for the first time. "We know what we're doing. You just take care of yourself."
With that, the pack disappeared into the trees. I couldn't hold my emotions back anymore. I sobbed into Edward's shirt as he held me. I hated that both of my families were risking their lives to protect me. I didn't understand why I was such a good target for sadistic vampires.
Edward stroked my hair and whispered comforting words. He kept telling me that everything was going to be okay. I found myself wishing I could believe him.
A/N: OKay, so the part in Volterra. I'm not sue how getting to see Aro works so just go with that. I also hope you are grabbing at my little hits for the potantial part three. Also, I not sure if they've had the Bella thinking she's a burden conversation but it seemed like a good place for another. Besides, it's more like Bella to need it more than once. Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed. Please review and keep voting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Only a few more chapters to go.
