Alec didn't return for a few hours and when he did it the sun was beginning to rise and he was still fuming, easily shown by his slamming of the door, which surprisingly stayed in place so he must have been restraining him at bit, and the chair that got thrown across the room.

'Alec!' I called worriedly before he accidently destroyed something valuable, he turned to me his eyes burning anger.

I had never seen him like this before, his chest heaving, his eyes seeming half-crazed, his hands clenching and unclenching themselves into fists. I reached out to him and he came so I could wrap my arms around him. His head buried into my shoulder as I nuzzled into his neck and his arms slipped around my waist easily since I was in an upright position. I was completely surprised when his body started to shake and I tightened my arms around him. I was completely confused: was he broken or was he just so angry that his body couldn't take it anymore?

'Alec?' his name slipped off my tongue as I pulled back to place a kiss to his lips. He welcomed the embrace and kissed me back passionately the action seeming to both distract him from his tears and his anger. 'Honey?' I asked again, separating my lips from his and giggled as he began to kiss my neck. I grabbed his face in my hands. 'No, we're not starting that - what's wrong?'

I removed one hand from his check and wrapped it round the back of his neck.

'Somebody is doing this to you,' he growled as my other arms joined with the other behind him neck, playing with the hair there. 'And there's nothing I can do about it without most likely getting myself killed - which I doubt you'll allow me to do.'

'You doubt correctly,' I told him sternly staring imploringly into his red eyes trying to force him to promise never to put himself at risk for me, though I knew I would never get that promise for he was an overprotective fool towards me and even Jane.

He smiled at me but still looked extremely pained, 'you have no idea what this power is, it could kill you.'

'It won't,' I told him confidently though now I was beginning to understand everything a bit more.

'You don't know that,' he replied darkly and I rolled my eyes, he always needed to be more optimistic. 'Izzy, don't blow this off.'

Obviously he'd taken my eye roll the wrong way, 'I'm not, baby, I promise. I just … I don't feel like I'm going to die from this, okay?'

'No,' Alec said. 'I want something more reliable than a feeling that you have. Izzy, I love you, more than anything, I'm not going to calm down at the thought of losing you because you have a feeling that you'll be fine, I can't.'

I simply blinked up at him, wondering what I could possible do to put his troubled mind at ease but nothing came so I just lent forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips before pulling back.

'If there a plan for the army yet?' I asked.

'We're going to meet them slightly out of Volterra, catch them before they are ready,' he replied heavily, not appreciating my change of subject as he got up walk round the bed to sit beside me. 'The transitionary guard has been called in to be ready or at least they will be by the end of the day. Your father has sent people out to find them and bring them back.'

'Great,' I grinned before turning away from him and coughing painfully.

Despite what I had said to Alec what ever the vampire was doing to me was getting worse and not better. It was getting more painful and I found myself wishing to sleep. It was so bad that I was debating turning back into a human but there was too many problems with that for me to really consider it: for the most part I had no idea how this power would affect a human and even if it didn't I wouldn't be able to turn back into my hybrid form for years. It simply wasn't worth the risk.

'I wonder how close this vampire has to be for this power to work,' I suddenly mused and Alec's head snapped towards me. 'I mean not many powers work well long range, do they? Has anyone done patrol recently?'

'I think everyone's a bit busy,' Alec pointed out and I raised an eyebrow at him. 'Going.'

'I love you,' I called after her and he spun back around to kiss me again, leaving me smiling as he left the room to follow my unofficial order.

Alec had to admit that sometimes his wife, as much as he loved her, came up with the strangest idea's. What were the chances that the vampire that was causing her illness was going to be standing in the open in Volterra. It was suicidal but when Isabella got an idea in her head, Alec knew better than to try and argue with it. So grabbing his cloak and swinging the hood over his head to hide his skin from the sun he stepped out of the safety of the castle and into the streets.

In one way she did have a point, during times like these they really should have a few guards on patrol at once to make sure everything was safe in the city and to keep an eye on the walls: Alice's visions weren't perfect, they could change, nothing was set in stone.

He sniffed the air and was shocked to find that there was an unknown vampire somewhere in the city or at least there had been one near where he was standing recently whether they were there now or not. He shook his head wondering if maybe, just maybe, his wife wasn't so crazy after all. Footsteps came up behind him and he would have spun around growling if he had not recognised them as Jane's.

'What are you doing?' she whispered low enough that he was sure that no one could hear but him.

'I have orders from the princess to patrol the city,' he muttered in reply and Jane laughed lightly.

'She'd kill you if she heard you refer to her as "princess".'

'Then lets not tell her,' Alec chuckled. 'Come on, I smell something.'

He heard Jane sniff the air and then she tensed, 'I don't recognise it.'

'Nor do I,' he whispered darkly. 'Come on, this could be the vampire.'

'Wait,' Jane stopped him by grabbing his arm and he found himself getting irritated, the longer they talked the longer his beloved wife was ill. 'What do you mean?'

'Izzy believes that the vampire has to be reasonably close for the power to work,' he explain without turning around to look at her but staring the way the scent went, 'like most powers, she doesn't think it'll work over to far a distance. Hence why I'm out here.'

'Got it and that sounds plausible so lets go,' Jane began forward and Alec shook his head, what did he think she was going to do: walk back into the castle?

They followed the scent through the maze of stone walls that was the city of Volterra to the edge of the city near the gates, which would provide the perfect escape. Luckily for Alec and Jane, the gates, for some reason, were shut. The snuck towards him and then shared a glance, debating what to do.

'Cut of the sense and we'll take him back into the castle,' Jane suggested, no doubt thinking that her own power, which she didn't like using, would wake to many humans so Alec let the shimmering hazy mist more toward the newborn, which had turned towards them at the sound of Jane's voice but wasn't quick enough to run, and displayed his vivid eye colour.

One subdued they grabbed his arms and dragged him up to the castle.