Bella.

"Jacob..." I breathed.

He was utterly still. A human Leah supported his head, sitting with her back unnaturally straight against the brick wall. Her fingers stroked his black hair. He was bleeding faster than he could heal. All she could say was, "Oh God, oh God, oh God..."

Seth was losing more and more of his shirt as he tried to bandage Jacob's wounds as he had done my hand. Jacob would not wake.

"Oh God, oh God..."

"Leah, shut up!" Seth snapped, tying the shirt tightly like a tourniquet. The girl looked at him as if she were seeing him for the first time in her life. Dazed confusion graced her tense features. A permanent line was carved between her brow, and tears made her eyes glitter in the darkness. I traced over the bite mark at his neck with a trembling finger.

"Venom doesn't affect you guys, right?" I checked.

Seth shook his head. "I don't think so," he muttered. "At least, not like it does to humans. It's more like...a temporarily paralysis, rather than the fiery pain that you've described. Like a bad beesting."

"He won't wake up..." Leah moaned wretchedly.

Seth grunted. "Would you snap out of it? You should be thankful he's knocked out! His arms and legs got broken. Now shut up, or I'll knock you out too."

I would have chastised him, but he had a point. She wasn't helping matters.

"He's in bad shape," I murmured. "We need to get him to Carlisle. Even then, I don't know how much that'll help..."

Leah's hand paused over Jacob's hair. And then, with enough venom to create her own newborn, she said, "I am not letting a vampire go anywhere near him."

"Leah," I began, touching her shoulder gently, but she smacked my face with enough force to leave it throbbing. I restrained the yelp of pain, but only just.

"Look at what they did to him!" she attacked. "All for you, Bella! He did this for you! Are you happy? You've killed him!"

I wished she'd hit me again. There was nothing I could say to defend myself from that.

Seth frowned at her. "He's not dead yet, Lee. And unless you want to tempt fate, I'd stop talking like he was, if I were you."

Leah's mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

"Do we know how to get out?" I asked Seth as softly as I could, but Leah still heard, and couldn't seem to resist.

"No," she said caustically. "Jacob led us in here."

Seth sighed. "I can remember the way," he assured her, heaving Jacob up over his shoulder. Leah insisted on carrying him herself, tugging the almost seven feet of muscle into her outstretched arms. I followed them uselessly, barely able to see in the darkness. There was absolutely no light source to speak of. This didn't bother Seth, who fronted out crew.

"If he dies, Bella," Leah promised me in a low voice, "I'll do a lot more than never forgive you."

"I'm so sorry," was all I could say. She had every right to tell me these things.

Silence enveloped the party of four, lasting for well over twenty minutes. Seth appeared to be getting lost, and Jacob's pulse, thudding dully against my index finger - his wrist was the only part of him that I could hold without Leah noticing - was fading gradually. I tried not to think about it. I concentrated on us getting him back to Carlisle. It was bad enough that I'd put Edward in danger by being stupid enough to let myself get captured by the Volturi. I would not take Jacob down with me, though.

That was when a low voice called my name.

"Bella..."

Seth swore, and slunk next to me at lightning speed, pinning me against the wall as he pressed himself between me and whoever had greeted us. With a shaky voice, I called back, "Identify yourself, please?"

There was a booming laugh of utmost relief. "Identify myself?" he sniggered. "And I thought I was always a man who needed no introduction."

I almost swooned, I was so happy. "Oh, Emmett!" I tripped in a most timely fashion, falling against his colossal chest. He caught me with another grin. Behind him, Jasper's voice came out in a harsh whisper. "Jacob's hurt?"

Leah refused to respond. She had made her feelings towards vampires more than clear by this point.

"Yes," Seth said bravely. "Leah and he killed one of the little Volturi kids, and two others."

"Oooh, did he take out Jane?" Emmett said so hopefully that I almost giggled. "Youngest menopausal brat I've ever met."

"Definitely the most deadly," Jasper agreed solemnly.

I bit my lip. "No, he got Alec."

Both of them let out a noise of comprehension. "Still, impressive," Jasper commented with approval. "Alice said...the entire guard was sent? And you destroyed three?"

"Did you burn them?" Emmett asked quickly, "And piss on the ashes?"

"Emmett!" I scolded.

He chortled. "Just because I can't piss, doesn't mean you still can't, Bells." With a swift arm, he knocked my legs out from beneath me and began to carry me. I tried to get him to put me back down, but he said that my human speed was most annoying.

"I'll go burn any pieces I can find," Jasper said, darting off into the darkness.

"He can't go alone!" I told Emmett desperately. "There's still heaps out there!"

I could have sworn that the brawny vampire rolled his eyes. "Bella," he said flatly, "Jasper has forged and slain over a thousand newborns. I think he can handle a few Volturi pansies."

Leah swore under her breath. Not understanding Emmett's nothing-is-sacred humour, she took it as a personal offense that he seemed to believe Jacob was now so close to death due to a lack of fighting ability. Emmett either didn't notice her anger, or didn't seem to care.

Sure enough, a pungent smell began to creep through the tunnels. I choked and pressed my nose against Emmett's shoulder in repulsion. "My God, that's awful!"

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning," Emmett grinned. "Smelled like...Volturi."

Seth chuckled in spite of himself. "An 'Apocalypse Now' man?" He seemed impressed. "I'd high-five you, but you'd probably knock my hand off."

Leah muttered hatefully under her breath.

"Wanna say that louder, puppy?" Emmett said, smirking.

She shook her head at him, not trusting herself to speak.

"I don't know where you lot were headed," the vampire laughed, "But you were going even deeper to the tunnels with the path you were taking. Good thing I happened to be strolling along..."

I got snippy. "Okay, we know you're awesome, thank you."

"And don't you forget it," he replied haughtily. "Now, to find that suicidal brother of mine. Probably spouting Romeo's death speech atop the Volterra tower by now. I hope not... this may just be my personal belief, but fifteenth century tights do not flatter Edward. He doesn't have the calves for them."

His wrist still in my hand, I felt Jacob's pulse dim even further.

"Hurry," I pleaded.

A whirring sound made my ears hum before I realised that they were footsteps, too fast for me to hear individually. Emmett seemed pleased, so I relaxed in his arms. "Hey, Rose," he greeted. "Found the little runaway and the runts of the Quileute litter."

Leah was ropable after that comment. She almost dropped Jacob in her efforts to contain her fury.

"Ease up," I said to Emmett heavily. "Vampires just hurt her friend - she's not feeling too thrilled with your lot at the moment."

Rosalie sniffed in disdain, and said nothing of Jacob's predicament. That's when a thunderous but small voice blasted me from several feet below.

"Bella!" cried Alice. "Emmett, give her to me!"

"No," he whined, "She's all little and delicate. I like feeling like the man for once... Rose is so emasculating."

"Fine. Learn to fix your own car then," Rosalie shrugged.

Alice growled, and Emmett hastily gave me up. I felt ridiculous, being carried by someone nearly half my size as we sped along the tunnels. We had to slow down a little for Leah, who was struggling with Jacob's dead weight.

"You are in so much trouble," Alice hissed in my ear. "I thought we told you not to leave the house that night!"

I could barely remember so far back as two nights ago, as I, fresh from a major argument with Edward, had stormed away. Thinking I'd needed space, he'd let me go...

...Straight into the arms of Demetri, who praised my unwitting cooperation, before rendering me unconscious.

Guilty as hell - or, putting hell to shame with my competitive guilt - I apologised profusely.

"You're just lucky that you didn't manage to get yourself killed," she grumbled. "Now we have to stop Edward adding himself to Aro's collection. I'm just worried it'll take more than that - Aro's lost three major players tonight; Alec, Chelsea and Nathaniel. He'll be damned if he doesn't have Edward to show for it."

"Even Jane's in the doghouse tonight," Rosalie went on. "And judging from the smell of this tunnel, that is naturally the worst place to be."

"Rose," Alice sighed. She looked around, nervous. "Jasper will be back soon?"

Emmett ruffled her hair, which seemed completely redundant since we were travelling at over eighty miles per hour, and her hair was already blown back. "Don't worry, squirt, he won't be long. You know how he loves to play Pyro."

He'd barely finished the sentence when Jasper had caught up with us. "There you are," he said in absolute relief, kissing Alice on her temple. She smiled serenely above me, looking whole once more. All worry had disappeared.

I ached to feel that same soothing comfort, for Edward's touch to unravel the knots of horror within my stomach.

"I'm so sorry..." I whispered to Alice. "For everything."

She rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean it, Bella," she said. "I was just venting. I will be quite put out with Aro if he doesn't give us our Edward back, or there will be no living with you and your guilt. Then I'll have to turn you myself, just so you can focus on bloodlust for a change instead of how bad you feel."

Half of this plan appealed to me. The other half - the part where Edward was trapped in Italy - did not.

Finally, a pinprick of light pierced my eye. Excited, I pointed to it. "Look!" I exclaimed.

Rosalie snorted. "So human..."

"We saw it about eight minutes ago," Emmett said. I frowned. We hadn't been going straight...there'd been so many twists and turns. Guessing why I was confused, he went to explain. "The reflection bounced off all of the walls. That's how we could see the way," he said.

Holy crow. I couldn't wait for vampire eyesight.

I'd barely exhaled before we reached the opening in the rocks. Unfortunately, it seemed to be raining torrents in Volterra at the moment. Getting a spring, Alice jumped upward, leaping out of the hole in the ground. Rain pelted against her hair, making her smell even more delicious. I breathed in her scent, my desire to be near Edward increasing tenmillionfold.

"All right," Alice said in a business-like manner against the rain. Her audibility was for my benefit - the other Cullens could hear her plan shared in the merest breath. "Rose, go with Leah and Seth back to Carlisle and Esme - see what he can do for his injuries. Em, Jas, we need to go save Edward from doing something stupid - again."

"What is it with him and Italy?" Jasper wanted to know.

Rosalie laughed. "Yeah. Why doesn't he go and see the Statue of David like everyone else?"

Emmett elbowed her playfully. "Oh come on. David's just a naked statue. Eddie can see that in the mirror every day - only smaller."

"Okay," I called loudly. I rather hoped that only I would ever have these mental pictures available to me. "Can we stay on task? Jacob needs serious help."

Seth nodded quickly, and without another word, he and Leah had taken off with a complaining Rosalie running behind them, trying to protect her hair.

Alice sighed, and Emmett gathered me in his arms once again so she could free her hands. "Thanks," she said gratefully. "Not that you're heavy, Bella..."

And the four of us were racing through the moonlit downpour, keeping to the shadows as we blurred our way back to the Volterra tower, past the old ruins and the Centre Square. The clock chimed twelve times, alerting me once again of how much time had passed. "Faster," I urged Emmett.

"Aww," he laughed, "The human is unsatisfied with our speed, Jas."

Jasper's poker face wavered. "We didn't want to make you ill, Bella. Edward warned us you don't fare well with travelling too quickly."

"I don't care," I said breathlessly. "Go as fast as you need - OH!"

They didn't have to be told twice. I screamed as I clung against Emmett, trying to keep my neck from snapping backward from the extreme acceleration. He found it hilarious. It turned out for the best, though - I'd only just summoned another breath to yell in protest for the second time before we were already inside the castle, Jasper neatly closing the doors behind us. At the speed we had been going, we hadn't even gotten that wet. Emmett had to shake only slightly to let the spray of raindrops flick off of us.

He set me down - and I one-upped him by crashing to the ground, too dizzy to stand.

"I keep forgetting," Emmett apologised, hauling me up by my forearm, "How adorably human you are. Isn't she a hoot?"

"Emmett," Jasper said quietly, "We need to concentrate now."

"Okay, Oh-Captain-My-Captain," he nodded, saluting. "Off to save our dicky brother."

Hoisting me this time on his back, Emmett followed Jasper, who led the way with enviable silence. Only my breath could be heard - that and the occasional trickle of rain on the marble floor. Alice moved like a cautious gazelle, and even burly Emmett had more grace than I had ever possessed. We walked through the long, empty corridor until Jasper froze at the door to the hall. I shuddered, remembering all the humans that had been slaughtered here a year ago. I didn't even want to think how many had perished between these walls... probably reaching the millions by now.

Jasper didn't move for several seconds, staring intensely at the door.

Alice stroked his arm. Jasper whispered, "Is he in there?"

Oh. They were calling Edward in their thoughts. That made more sense than bursting in. Alice closed her eyes, and then nodded. "I see him. Aro is...interrogating several of the guard. Caius has killed one. He's furious. No one can determine whether Bella is still alive."

"Edward's terrified," Jasper said sadly. "And contemplating how he's going to end his life again, judging from the despair that I can feel."

"Typical," Emmett grumbled.

Alice still concentrated on the visions in her mind. She winced. "All right, Jasper, he's heard you. He's looking at Aro neutrally, but his expression is calmer. He knows that Bella lives."

"So death by public sparkling is off the agenda?" Emmett said. "Thank Dracula almighty. There are far manlier ways to kill yourself - I tell him this all the time, but he never listens."

"Oh?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

He smiled wryly. "Wrestling a bear comes to mind."