Nayame, I gladly accept your bribe of raspberries in exchange for another chapter. Here you go.

PS golf clap for Sunshine77, you guessed right!

PSS. Darth Vyper, evil may be the dreaded five words: "excellent stories ending in cliffhangers" but happiness is also five words: "Authors updating stories very quickly"

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

"Good evening, or well, morning now, Marcus. I am so glad you could join us," Esme said politely, trying to disguise the strain in her voice. Her thoughts were going crazy, wondering what he was doing here, how he could help.

"Thank you. I have come because I feel as though there need to be some…changes in Volterra, namely the expedient removal of your Isabella. I thought perhaps if I were to go to anyone about this, it would be you, and your family," Marcus said, speaking directly to me.

My jaw was clenched in anger. The fact that he wanted to help us, that he was trying to help Bella, was not lost on me. But he was one of Aro's brothers. He made the decisions with Aro and Caius. He had been there when it was decided to keep Bella there, away from me, away from what she wanted. He was as much to blame as Aro was no mater who had given the orders in the end.

"And why, might I ask, do you wish to get rid of her?" I asked. I was unable to keep the venomous quality from my voice.

"Well besides the fact that she has destroyed quite a few things since your departure, she makes the others nervous. She is unpredictable. She can be sweet and gentle one minute and angry and ready to tear someone's head off the next. She is angry, which is understandable. But my brother is misled in thinking she will simply forget about you. She can't. She loves you far too much to let go. If he tries to contain her, I am sure she will simply come apart, and take several of us down with her."

So it had very little to do with Bella, only that he was afraid she would kill them all if they didn't let her go. Her wonderfully sweet demeanor had only cracked twice in my presence—when Jane had tortured me and when they were dragging us away—but the look in her eyes, the pure animalistic volatility was undeniable. Aro was intelligent, and his wisdom came from ages of experience, but Bella was not like his other toys. She would do what she had to do to get what she wanted.

"What do you suggest?" I inquired. I had settled the anger for now, keeping it down for the moment. I would bring it back if need be, but for now it had no place in the discussion.

"I will speak with Aro and Caius, I will see what I can do in ways of persuading them that she is not meant to stay in Volterra. I cannot promise that will work. My brother is known to be quite stubborn when he so desires. He is quite taken with your Isabella. He wishes to keep her. It may be difficult to make him believe her place is not with the Volturi."

"So if you cannot make him believe it?" Alice asked. The worry in her mind and voice was not guarded. She was openly concerned. That made two of us. Well three really. Emmett had taken a quick liking to Bella and his thoughts were almost as preoccupied with saving her as mine were. My family, back together again, and we were already risking our lives. I didn't mean to drag them into this sort of mess. I knew that when they came it would be a tense situation, but I didn't think for one minute that death-defying feats were going to be necessary.

"If Aro still remains unconvinced, we shall need to make other plans. Let us hope he is being reasonable today," Marcus said stiffly.

I know you are angry, Edward. And I know that you love her. I will do my best to get her out, but in the end, it may come down to you.

I cocked my head to the side. It might come down to me to rescue her? I had figured that already.

If all else fails you must lay your life at his feet, offer yourself instead of her. He was sorry to see you go Edward; you are valuable, as is Isabella.

I nodded just barely, enough to acknowledge I had heard him, but small enough that my family would hopefully not see it. If they knew I had responded to one of his thoughts, they would want to know what it was he had told me. I did not want to inform them of my last resort. No one could know of that, not my family and especially not Bella.

I believe that is something she would have categorized as reckless.

Marcus left us then, saying he would either come back this evening or simply send Bella along. I was praying for the latter.

Carlisle managed to get me to go hunting. It had been eight days since we had been forced from Volterra. Eight? It didn't feel like that many to me, and at the same time it felt like far longer. Then again everything between then and now was more or less running together with no perception of time at all, save for the visits from our favorite members of the Volturi.

"Carlisle," I said as we slowly walked back from the forest. I had fed but felt no satisfaction. In fact I didn't even remember if I had been thirsty. But I went to hunt because it was something normal, something soothing and familiar. And because I needed to talk to Carlisle.

He looked at me, waiting for my next words.

"You don't all have to stay here. I mean...this has nothing to do with any of you. It's about Bella and I. I won't stand to see you hurt, any of you."

When I had finished Carlisle stopped walking, standing with his arms across his chest. We looked enough alike that we could have been related by blood. I could have been his son biologically as I was in ever other sense of the word. He was my father. I needed his help, his support. But I did not want his blood on my hands, nor that of anyone else in my family.

"Edward you are my son, my first son in fact. And you are also the only one of my children that has ever left home with no intention of returning. I know why you left; I understood your reasoning then, as I understand it now. But we have missed you dearly. You add something to the dynamic of the family we cannot capture in your absence, even back when you were in a constant state of morbid pessimism."

He paused here. I watched him, keeping his thoughts from my mind. I did not want to hear his jumbled words in my mind; I wanted to hear the articulate version that he was about to deliver. I wanted advice from my father, not thoughts from another vampire.

"She makes you happy. She completes you. You now have the one thing that has kept you away for so long. If getting Bella back is what it takes to bring you home with us, we will get her back. Besides, she is quite…spunky. I like her."

I laughed. His gentle reassurance and approval of the woman I loved was welcome. As was hearing the word spunky escape his lips. He was never one for colloquialisms, which only made it more amusing.

The deep depressive state that had sucked me down was lifting slowly. Even if Marcus returned later this evening and told us that Aro was still being stubborn about Bella, Carlisle said he would help me get her back. And then we could go home.

Home. It was a word I seldom used, and even then it was used to describe the house I shared with my family, never Volterra. Volterra had never been home, it had been a barrowed place to spend my time before I went back to where I belonged. All I needed now was the woman I loved, and I could return.

When we returned to the hotel the sun was setting below the horizon, marring the sky with radiant colors. I paused to watch the sunset, admiring the red and orange hues that painted over the blue, soon to give way to indigo and black. I had seen countless sunrises and sunsets. I had lived through so many days trying to count them made me ill. But every now and then I liked to step back from what could only be described as drudgery of eternity and admire the simple beautiful things.

Carlisle had described my mood as my stay with my family had come to an end as morbid pessimism. That could not have been any more correct. I didn't hate my family—that was not possible. But I was so tired of being the odd man out. It was tiresome, and I could feel the resentment building each and every day. I had tried to find love like they had. I had sought it out, wanting it more than I wanted anything else. But I could not find it. Perhaps that was because at the time I was searching so fervently Bella was not born, or just a small child.

It surprised me that I found love in a human. I had utterly lost my faith in love by that time. It was, again, pessimistic, but I couldn't believe that such a thing could truly be, at least for me. There were a lucky few that loved deeply as my siblings and parents did, but they were the exception rather than the rule. I no longer believed that I would find it. If humans found it so elusive—those creatures so bound to their emotions and bad judgment—how could I find love?

I would need to find a vampire that agreed with my feeding habits, a difficult task in and of itself. But I wanted someone who could capture and hold my interest. Someone captivating, engaging, entertaining, honest. Perhaps I wanted too much. I had been propositioned by a few of the females of the Volturi (both out loud and through their thoughts) but none of them interested me.

And then Bella. The mysterious, stunning, funny, human Bella. From the first moment to the last she had mesmerized me. It didn't matter that she was fragile. It didn't matter than her blood was rich and potent and sweet. It didn't matter that needed sleep and real food and would one day grow old and die. At least, none of that mattered to me.

And she did not seem to mind that I was a monster. My lack of soul troubled her none, neither did my despicable being, or what I had been meant to do to her—what I had done to her. She didn't hate me for making her into a creature without the possibility of salvation. She loved me for it.

She loved me.

Those words struck me deep, somewhere I had forgotten about, like so many other things until I met her. The warmth that had cooled from her skin seemed to come to me, filling me with joy and radiance. She loved me. Even as I took her life away, as I killed her and gave her only pain in return for the gift of her blood and mortality.

All these things, these realizations, these longings only made my need for her stronger. I had to get her back. I needed to feel her beside me. I wanted her lovely face close to mine. I wanted to kiss her, to hold her in my arms again. I wanted to explain to her again and again how much I cherished her.

I would get her back. I would find a way.

Carlisle had walked ahead without me to our rooms. When I returned to them, Marcus was already waiting. No Bella. That meant Aro was not ready to let her go. I sighed as I sat down.

"I have told your family already of the conversation that has taken place. In the interest of time and not repeating myself, perhaps you should simply listen to it," he said. And then his memory of the scene opened in his mind. I let it flow like water over to me.

"Brother, you know as well as I do that she will not like being trapped here much longer," Marcus said casually. Aro shook his head.

"She will learn Marcus. There is no reason to believe that in time she will not enjoy Volterra and her new company, her new family," Aro answered as though he already knew this to be true. Marcus shook his head.

"You do not know how attached she is to that boy. Her feelings run quite deep. I do not think she will be so quick to forget him, as we well know he will not forget about her."

"She is young. Let Felix or Demitri go to her, she will see that there are others she could have, others she could become close to," Caius suggested. He was mostly on the fence about the issue but he would side with Aro if need be.

"Did you see Felix after the last time he tried to talk to her? I thought he had been in a fight with a pack of werewolves, not one young vampire. Besides the fact that is miserable, she is also dangerous. The only one she will even bother to speak to is Demitri, and that is only because she knows he and Edward were as close to friends as Edward had here."

"Come Marcus. Let us call Isabella here and speak with her. Perhaps we can clear this up," Aro said cheerily. It was as if he expected her to happily oblige to being summoned here and there constantly only to be met with disappointment each time. She wanted Edward; she wanted to see him, to touch him and know he was real and not just something she had made up. This she had confessed to Demitri the last time he went to speak with her. Marcus had spoken to him to retain this information and warned him not to tell Aro.

Minutes passed and finally she arrived. Her lovely face was pulled into an expression of even calmness. She was clearly not pleased, no matter how she tried to hide it.

"Yes?" she asked, her voice icy.

"My dearest Bella, Marcus seems to be under the impression that you are deeply in love with Edward," Aro said softly. She nodded her head in a simple reply.

"What would it take to take him off your mind?"

"Death," she answered. Her seriousness was shocking. But Marcus knew it to be the truth. He had felt it when she had been here last. The bond between them was deep and intense. It was not easily forgotten, neither would trifles and distractions keep her from thinking of him.

"Don't be so serious, Bella, surely there is something we could do to make you happy?" he asked, like a doting parent.

"Freedom. Edward. Preferably both at the same time," she said. Her anger was growing, he could see it in the way she was standing. Aro went to her and reached to brush her face with affection. She jerked away.

"Do not touch me," she growled. Aro narrowed his eyes at her.

"You may leave," he said sternly. She turned on her heel and walked out, taking her escorts and leaving the three alone.

"Do you not see? She is volatile. I am not one to be intimidated by a vampire, surely not one so young as she, but already she is showing quite a bit of rage as well as blatant disrespect for our hospitality. Why not just send her away with Carlisle's family and rid us of a problem?"

"Because there is more to her than she is telling. She is an asset, no matter how many underlings she rips to pieces. Her temper is quite intense, but she can be broken. Such things can be changed, shaped to form better, more practical traits. If that is what we must do, we will. I will do it myself if need be."

Marcus shook his head again.

The memory faded. I felt torn in many directions. The first was awed and wonderful at seeing Bella. I knew that I had told myself I did not want to see her second-hand, but she was just too breathtaking to ignore, even if I was seeing her through someone else's eyes.

The second was scared out of my mind. Aro knew there was more to her than she was wiling to share. Could he suspect it had to do with her gift?

But what chilled me more than anything else were his last words. He was going to break her. He would tear her down until her very essence was different and wrong. She would cease to be Bella. Her fire, her passion, her spunk as Carlisle had so aptly put it would be gone. That idea terrified me like nothing else ever had, or likely would again, but it also ignited the rage in me again.

"I must go to her. Now. Aro is taking this too far. His obsession is getting out of control. And I…I swear if he hurts her…I am not one to directly disobey you Marcus, you know this, but I promise you I will march straight into Volterra and take her away if he so much as lays a hand on her," I said. My tirade was not lost on the family. I could see the sparks of anger and fear in their eyes, as I knew they were in mine. Emmett and Alice above all others looked enraged.

I will do whatever you ask of me.

Emmett's mind called to mine as I stood in front of Marcus. I had not even realized I had gotten to my feet. I nodded to him.

"Calm yourself Edward, fury will not get Bella to you any sooner. I wish there was an easy way to resolve this dilemma, but I am afraid there is not. I must ask you now, is there anything about Bella we do not know? Any strengths or weaknesses you neglected to tell us in Volterra?"

I looked to Carlisle. He nodded. I was putting faith in Marcus now I was not completely sure he deserved. But he was, as far as I could see, our absolute only chance at getting Bella back.

"We did not fully disclose the extent of her gift. Bella, as well as being able to use her immunity to ward off the gifts of the rest of us, and extending this immunity through physical contact has another quirk. She has the ability to tap into the gift of a vampire via physical contact as well. While she touched me she could hear the thoughts of those around me, as I could. If she were to touch Aro while he was reading someone she would hear the thoughts as he did. If she touched you, she could use your power if she so desired. I am not sure how good she has gotten at controlling it. I was going to teach her how to block those things out at her convenience."

I finished speaking and Marcus looked quite in awe again, as well as quite pleased. I was listening to his thoughts, making sure his opinion of her remaining in Volterra did not change. With this new bit of information though, his mind only became more resolute.

"She certainly cannot stay there. If she were to be angry enough, there are so many vampires there that she could use to wreck havoc. Are you sure Aro does not know of this?"

"We did not tell him. Unless Bella has informed him—which I highly doubt—he is still unaware," I replied.

"He must not know of this. He must not. She is…quite interesting, Edward and quite precious, as I am sure you already know. If Aro learns of this he will search the world over to find her once she is gone. He would never stop. We must act quickly," Marcus said swiftly. His mind was in chaos. The possibilities, the horrible prospects this new information created went far beyond normal worry. He was worried that Bella would take down the whole of the Volturi. I had no doubt, that if she were to be angry enough, provoked and given someone with a gift strong enough she could do it. If it was possible, she might even be able to combine the gifts of others if she could touch them at the same time. All the ways this could go horribly wrong swirled in a mass in Marcus' mind. The danger she created for them was setting into his mind with a horrible feeling of unease. He was just as desperate to be rid of her as I was to get her back. Once again the tiny little Bella was striking fear into hearts that had known no such thing in centuries. She was bringing terror to a vampire who, previously, had absolutely nothing to be afraid of, whose power and dominance was inarguable.

All I could do was smile.

That's my girl.