Edward:

Leaving Bella behind nearly destroyed me. After almost losing her to the Volturi's bloodlust, I was reluctant to be apart from her. However, it obviously meant more to her that Leah be returned to Jacob safely so that was why Jasper and I were coordinating outside Santa Maria Assunta's cathedral. At this early hour, monks were walking around the perimeter in silence. The grey sunlight was still muted enough so that our skin was safe from becoming a spectacle.

"Do you have her scent?" I asked him.

Jane or Leah? he wanted to know.

"Wait, is this a rescue mission, or an assassination?" Rosalie frowned at me.

"You'd be up for either though, right?" her husband said, challenge edging his words.

Her face went callously vacant. "I'm not too keen on either, frankly. One aligns us with werewolves; the other makes us definite enemies of the Volturi."

My laugh was hollow. "Rosalie, your blond hair is having a deeply adverse effect on your brain. We've been on the Volturi's hit list for decades now. This changes nothing. I am hoping that I've at least managed to secure us some protection for now," I added, thinking of the secret I was guarding for Aro.

Rose, who'd encountered the entire Volturi only once, could not shake her fear of them. However, Emmett was looking at her in disappointment at her lack of loyalty to her brother, so she waved a dismissive hand and urged me to continue.

"First and foremost, we must save Leah," I said. "She ran out intent on putting a lot of distance between us, so she and Seth could be anywhere within a hundred mile radius."

Alice was still frowning. "I can see Jane," she assured me. "As soon as she disappears, we'll know that we're too late."

"Does she have Leah's scent?" Jasper wanted to know.

Alice shrugged. "She definitely has Jacob's. She was silly enough to drink his blood. For a vampire as old and wise as her, she didn't really get the 411 on werewolves, did she?"

Rosalie was getting impatient. Her thoughts longed to be back in Forks, and the combination of Emmett, a powerful spa-bath and a lot of privacy wandered wistfully into her mind. Emmett, on the other hand, was still thinking about Leah naked.

"God, you two..." I scowled at them. "Focus, please?"

My sister looked unashamed. Emmett grinned sheepishly at me. "What? She's hot." He kissed Rosalie on the cheek, and she, none the wiser, beamed at him.

Alice was still searching. "Edward..." she said, "Jane is back at the Piazza dei Priori. She's just...standing there, in the shadows. She looks like she's waiting..."

I saw the flashes in her mind. Cherubic Jane's face was anciently scarred with agony. Her extraordinary youth was a thing of the past - now, she had matured into the most hardened of killers. She no longer wanted to play with her food.

With an abrupt nod, we were running across the countryside once more, arriving at the Piazza with impressive speed. As predicted, Jane was standing beneath an arch, inhaling the air.

"Ah," she greeted us the moment she caught sight of our family from across the square. "I thought I smelled a rat."

Emmett grinned cockily. "Five rats, actually. We like to stick together. Which is more than we can say for you and your little boyfriend."

Her nostrils flared, and she glared at the cobble street beneath her.

"Tell me, Cullen," she spat with such suppressed wrath that Emmett laughed in surprise, "Will you be so cheerful when I have your lover screaming for mercy?" Her gaze shifted to Rosalie with a hunger for torture. Rose's brow creased nervously. She did not like the Volturi.

A retort was forming in Emmett's brazen mind, but Jasper pinched his marble skin extra hard to get the message across. With a grunt of pain, Emmett bit back his initial response and instead fell silent.

"We know you're after the werewolf," Alice called over to her. "And you should know that if you even think about hurting her, you will have to deal with the five of us."

Jane was revolted. "First humans, now you protect werewolves? Mi Dio... I am truly perplexed that Aro did not slaughter you on sight for your offense against vampires everywhere. Where is the dog?

"Did you not hear us?" I asked, taking a bold step forward which she noted with excitement.

"My hearing is excellent, Edward Cullen," she hissed. Her mind raced with desires to see me writhing before her in pain. Others fantasised about snapping Leah's neck. At that moment, she was conflicted with what she wanted more. It was like giving a child the choice between a lollipop and a piece of cake... both were sweet, but in different ways. The cake would deliver immediate satisfaction... but the lollipop would have a lasting pleasure.

Her sweet tooth appeared to prefer immediacy, however, which was when I felt the nails drilling fast into my skin. I gasped, rooted to the spot. She just smiled at me, a flicker of her sadistic lust returning to her.

Alice was the first to realise what was happening; she squeezed Jasper's hand and together, they launched at Jane from either side. With a shriek, she side-stepped them - but not before she delivered a staggering tidal-wave of pain that made my knees buckle beneath me. Momentarily debilitated, I winced as her mind screamed for self-preservation. She dodged Alice and Jasper, shooting between them and leaping high onto the top of the large wall surrounding the square. With a growl, Emmett pursued her while Rosalie helped me up.

"This is going to end badly," Rosalie said to me darkly.

Hearing her, Emmett boomed a laugh. "Don't be stupid, Rose. She's like three feet tall. I - AH!"

He shouted a loud curse word and fell off the fall with greater force than that of Humpty Dumpty. Rosalie screamed, and Jasper took off after Jane who took this moment of distraction to flee. She was so small that she soon disappeared into the distance, Jasper streaking behind her.

Alice's eyes widened in horror.

"Edward," she breathed, her mind disintegrating before my eyes.

And I took off after Jasper, terrified.

Because if there was one vision that I could not stand to have become reality, it was Jane killing my brother.

--

Okay, gonna go bug Jess to make me write some more... I have 5 pages of the next chapter already.

- Lolly.