5 : Visitor

Had Alice come to find me in Forks before my transformation, I would have undoubtedly run directly to her cool, strong embrace. But now I was unsure. What was she doing here? Everyone left Alice and I alone as soon as my foot as in the door. Right now, I truly wished for the power to listen in on her thoughts. Perhaps she saw my transformation in her visions and came to offer her help. But she must have also seen my arrival here and realized that I am safe, to myself and to others. I have adapted speedily to living around humans. In fact, it would be no problem now if I were left them to live on my own amongst humans. Perhaps, I could return to Forks…

As my thoughts rambled on, Alice only starred at me without any comprehensible expression on her face. I shifted my weight, fidgeting uncomfortably and unnaturally for a vampire.

"Bella," Alice chuckled silently at my little movement and finally approached me with her usual friendly embrace. She slipped her arms through the holes between my bent elbows and my torso. The unexpected softness and warmth of her hug caught me off guard. My shoulders tensed and a strange anger ignited in me. It took all my effort to restrain myself from violently pushing her away. Instead I leaned slightly away and Alice got the message.

"How are you feeling?" Alice was persistent, not letting my body language discourage her at all. "I've missed you. I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner."

"Why are you here now?" I kept my voice calm and void of emotion.

"It's a long story and I'm not sure how to start."

"Try, Alice." My anger faded completely and now seemed absurd – must be another bout of newborn symptoms.

"I saw your death."

I gasped at Alice's statement. "You're here to warn me? Again what?"

"No, Bella. I saw you jumping off a cliff and I saw Victoria bite you in the water."

"And?"

"And for weeks… nothing more. I assumed you were dead."

"You didn't see Jacob chasing away Victoria and pulling me out of the water?"

"Jacob? Your friend from La Push. How did he manage to fight off a vampire?"

"Um…" This is going to be hard to explain. I couldn't come up anything but the truth. "Jake is a shape-shifter kind of like… a werewolf."

I swear Alice's eyes visibly bulged to twice their normal size. "You were with a werewolf during your transformation?" Yep, she was definitely appalled by my story.

"Yeah, it went mostly ok. I don't think the rest of the pack was happy about Jake staying by my side while I was turning into a vampire. The pain… well it's over and I was unconscious during most of the time."

"Bella, I'm surprised that you are even alive! To be nursed by a werewolf!"

"Jacob is my friend! He even let me feed on his blood."

"You bit the dog!" Is it possible for her eyes to get bigger?

"I didn't bite him!" Now it was my turn to be appalled. Like the Denali family, Alice was expected me to be an absolutely out-of-control monster. "He poured, for the lack of a better word, some into a cup for me."

"Oh my god…" Alice was clutching her upper body which was shaking with wild laughter. "I can't believe I missed all of this in my visions."

"And then I came here." I ignored her misplaced humor, still shocked by the suggestion that I killed my best friend. "Now finish your story."

"Ok. But listen to all of it. Don't freak out in the middle."

I nodded and Alice kept going.

"I wasn't suppose to keep tabs on your future, as order by Big Brother Edward, but your death sort of crept up on me. So I told the whole family except for Edward about my vision. He was somewhere in South America on some self-motivated mission to track Victoria." Alice grimaced. "Edward is talented in a lot of ways but he was never good at tracking."

"Rosalie, being her vain and unthinking self, went to find him with the news of your death. Edward trusted the unfaltering accuracy of my vision, and not able to reach anyone in Forks, he headed straight to Italy. Bella, he went to the Volturi to ask for death."

I gasped. Edward had mentioned the Volturi before. They were the ruling family of vampires. The very people he planned to visit if he could not save me in time from James. In Alice's eyes, I saw a reflection of myself pale faced and desperately clutching at her arms.

"Bella, let me finished." I nodded robotically.

"I watched all of Edward's plans in my visions helplessly. When Jasper and I got to Italy, he was already a prisoner of the Volturi. The Volturi don't take offenders of our secret lightly but they value Edward's gift too deeply to…" Alice trailed off her and I understood what her silence meant. Edward could have met with the fate he wanted. Under normal circumstances, the Volutri would have punished disobedient vampires with an end to their existence. It was Edward's gift and the Volturi's greed that saved him. For now.

"I thought Edward could not be saved. He refused to apologize even after Carlisle pleaded for his release. The Volturi are arrogant because of their age. They are set on keeping him until he agrees to their terms, but Edward could not be persuaded. He's made up his mind to die and no one can convince him otherwise. All of us thought we were sure to lose him, but a couple days ago, I saw this vision of you swimming in the ocean. I thought I was hallucinating. We were all convinced you were dead. But the visions kept appearing and I had to come to find you."

"Edward is a prisoner of the Volturi." I whispered to myself, testing my own reaction. My body was numb all over.

"Bella, you have to come with me. If you love Edward still, you have come save him."

Hope was creeping back into me. There was only one thing I could recall in the frozen darkness of my mind - Edward's face.

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End Notes: Thanks for all the reviews. Keep it up! I hope this chapter wasn't too boring. Tell me what you like and don't like so I'll know what to include in the future. Thanks!