Disclaimer: Not mine. Go figure.

Chapter 13
Hit The Ground Running

Bella

And then I killed Jane.

No, I'm joking. I didn't kill her, as much as I deeply wanted to. No, in fact, Edward was only in pain for a few short moments. That's about how long it took me to appear behind her and twist her arm painfully behind her back.

"Stop," I hissed in her ear, "or I'll rip you to shreds – starting with this arm." I tightened my grip on her arm, and she squirmed, trying to get away from me. Edward stopped writhing on the ground and leapt to his feet. "See Jane, this all works so much better when we all get along."

"Will you let go of my arm now?" she growled.

"Are you going to play nice?" I returned.

She sighed. "Yes, ma'am."

I reluctantly released her arm and pushed her towards the front of my guard. "You're walking in front of us from now on."

It only took about another minute to reach the main lobby. "Buon giorno, Gianna," I greeted the human secretary.

"Oh, buon giorno, Miss Isabella. The Masters have been waiting for you to arrive."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I expect they have. I'll just go on in then." She nodded at me and pressed the button to open the door.

A low murmur of 'Dorso benvenuto, Isabella' and 'Buon giorno, Isabella' were heard as I passed various members of the guard. When we entered the throne room, Aro was nowhere to be seen, but Caius and Marcus were both there.

"And here I thought Aro was requesting me," I said as a way of announcing myself. Caius stood gracefully and met me halfway through the room. He held my hands caringly, as though I were his daughter. I practically am, I suppose.

"Isabella, yes, Aro had wished to see you, but we decided that it was best if I explained what was going on first. I have a much better way with words than Aro." I nodded, waiting for him to go on. "As I'm sure you've noticed, Nathan's obsession with you has become rather dangerous. He's been recruiting like crazy and he's got a large army behind him now. He… or possibly one of his army, was in Italy not too long ago while Heidi and Vanni were out shopping. They managed to catch them while they were separated. From what I understand, Heidi was in a dressing room trying on clothes and they snatched Vanni away without a sound."

"Vanni is… she's not dead?" I clarified, focusing on breathing in and out. It was painful.

"We're not sure, but we're assuming she's not. My best guess is that Nathan is holding her hostage. She's still so young – she's not been a vampire long enough to efficiently defend herself like the Cullen's can, which is probably why Nathan targeted her."

I took a deep breath. "Demetri, Ehno, please escort the Cullen's to their rooms. I have some things to take care of."

I don't want them to have to see me like this.

I kept my eyes trained on the floor as they followed Demetri and Ehno out of the room. I could sense Edward's eyes on me, pleading with me to look at him, but I couldn't. This was my mess, and somehow I'd once again brought danger to the Cullen family. But I would fix this.

"Eran, please call down to CCO, let them know I'm on my way." Eran, Demetri, Ehno, and Vanni made up my personal guard.

Eran had to walk quickly to keep my pace and I strode through the castle to CCO downstairs. The door had a placard on the front reading 'Department of Counterintelligence and Covert Operations.'

I pushed open the door and was immediately greeted by a vampire named Jared. He was one-hundred percent American, and I'm pretty sure he and I were the only ones.

"Isabella, imagine seeing you down here. Eran" – he nodded toward the vampire behind me – "called ahead and said you were on your way. I presume you've been told about Vanni, then?"

"How did you know about Vanni?" I questioned suspiciously.

"Isabella," he tsked. "I am Jared. I know everything that goes on around here."

"You've got the castle bugged, don't you?" I asked laughingly. He nodded and put a finger up to his lips. "Don't worry," I assured him, "I won't say a word."

"So you want a team to help you hunt down Nathan?" he guessed as the atmosphere became serious again. I nodded. "Do you have any idea where she might be?"

"No, I'm going to tap into the INTERPOL main frame and see where there have been a lot of suspicious kills. Then I'm going to said place, probably accompanied by Eran, Ehno, Demetri, and… I'm thinking Akiko."

"You want Akiko as your fourth guard member?" he clarified.

"For the time being." I nodded. "Vanni is my actual fourth guard, but since she's the reason this is happening, Akiko will step in. She's a good fighter."

"She's a little maniac," Jared agreed. "She's actually in the training room right now. Shall we go speak with her?"

.xoxo.

Fucking Switzerland. We were in fucking Switzerland. Why? Because that's where it looks like Nathan is at. And of course, I couldn't manage this with just my four guard members.

"Hurry up," I hissed at Demetri, who was leisurely packing his suitcase.

"Isabella, the plane will not leave without us," he assured me.

"I want out of here before the Cullens catch wind of my leaving."

"Too late for that," someone murmured from the doorway. I spun quickly, staring at the four bodies in the doorframe.

"You're not coming," I said immediately. "It's too dangerous and I've already put your family through enough. This is my problem."

"We didn't tell the others," he said, trying to pacify me. "Edward only just heard someone thinking about it and we thought it would be best if you had some of us come along."

"I've already caused your family enough grief, Carlisle," I tried to explain. "I don't want any of you to get hurt."

Of course, they didn't listen to me. So now, not only were Demetri, Ehno, Eran, and Akiko with me, but also Edward, Carlisle, Jasper, and Alice. I was sure if given the opportunity, they all would have tagged along, but Carlisle informed me that he was aware I wouldn't want so many of them with me, and they managed to sneak away from Emmett, Rosalie, and Esme. He also confided that he would have a lot of making up to do when we returned – Esme would be furious with him. According to him, an angry Esme was frightening. I just laughed, imagining such a sweet woman being angry. I can't really imagine her ever being angry at me.

The plane ride was tense, and Demetri – who reminded me a lot of Emmett – was eager for a fight. He and Akiko were fighting in the back.

"If you knock a hole in this plane, Demetri Volturi, I will kick your ass! Calm the fuck down!"

Everyone stared at me in shock, with the exception of Jasper. He walked over to my seat and pulled me up from the arm. Edward sent him a questioning look, and Jasper responded in his mind. Edward nodded, and that was the end of their conversation.

Jasper pulled me up a couple rows and sat down in a seat next to me. "Why are you so stressed, Bella? We have them outnumbered, and we're all pretty sure your friend is still alive. If you go into battle like this, you're going to be distracted and you're going to get hurt."

"Everything has just… exploded lately, Jasper. I was kind of semi-content in Alaska, and then all of a sudden, you guys are back and you're there and you don't hate me, but then Nathan's back and he'll try to kill Edward because he'll be jealous, but then Edward will be so caught up in trying to protect me that he'll end up getting himself killed and I'd never be able to live with myself if I got any of you hurt. I've already caused your family so many problems and you all should rightfully hate me, but you don't, and I don't understand it because I don't deserve any of you and I definitely don't deserve Edward…" I rambled all in one breath, and by the time I was finished I had to inhale deeply several times to get air flowing again.

He grabbed my hands tightly, trying to comfort me. "Bella, you are worth any trouble we've gone through. You are family to us. Edward has told you so many times that you don't see yourself clearly, and he's right, Bella. You were a beautiful human, and you've grown into a beautiful," he paused. "…half-vampire I guess. You are a wonderful person. You are the most caring person I've ever known, and you are the most deserving person of Edward I've ever met. You two complement each other perfectly, and you need to see that. You both feel so guilty for dragging the other one down, you guys don't see it. But all the rest of us do, and we wish you both nothing but an eternity of happiness."

He reached out of his seat to wrap me in a brotherly hug, and I returned it tightly. "I love you all so much," I whispered quietly. "Promise me you'll be careful today, Jasper. I don't fancy seeing Alice if we have to return to Italy without you.

"Isabella, the plane is landing," Demetri called. I sighed. Time for battle.

.xoxo.

Hit the ground and I'm still running
But I need a place to stay tonight
Swear I'll be gone in the morning
I just need somewhere now to close my eyes

Sorry it's taken me so long to update. I've had this chapter done for like two weeks, but I've been having some computer issues. It keeps kicking me offline whenever I try to upload something, so hopefully it's going to work this time. I can't make any promises, but I'll definitely try to have the next chapter up sometime this week. I'll have tons of free time since I'm on spring break now. I'm thinking the next chapter will be the last, and then the epilogue.

The song by the way is Voices Off Camera by Rise Against.

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