Edward POV

Too sunny to venture outside, we all had stayed in with the exception of a pre-dawn retaliation excursion that brought me great satisfaction. Since I had been told of the near harassment of Bella by one of our own classmates, no less, I spent much time monitoring the thoughts of Jeff Carpenter. While Mike Newton's thoughts of Bella were annoying and juvenile at best, Jeff Carpenter's mind held a darker nature. He was annoyed that Alice thwarted his efforts and resolved to make another move soon. If possible, I hovered even closer to Bella during the school day, even while she was in her Phys Ed class; I remained close; keeping a watchful eye. If she noticed, she never said anything. No longer satisfied with giving the kid hateful, warning looks which seemed to have little effect, I decided it was time to act. So that is what we did.

Mindful of Bella's request not to "touch" the creep, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper and I conducted our revenge.

This has the Cullen Boys written all over it I heard Esme's mind as she brought in the afternoon edition of the local Forks paper.

"Please tell me my boys are not responsible for this." She said holding up the paper. Her barely suppressed laugh belied the reproach of her words.

None of us had the grace to look sheepish or ashamed. Instead, Emmett let out a loud guffaw which caused a domino reaction of laughter around the room. Esme tried to look un-amused but was failing.

"You promised Bella you wouldn't touch him." She said looking around the room at all of us. I wouldn't blame her if she got really mad at all of you.

"Technically, no one touched him." I told her as innocently as I could muster.

"Then would you please care to explain this." She said pointing at the picture of the terrified kid stuck in his car, in a tree. I laughed again looking at the picture. Rosalie captured him perfectly in the shot. "I'm waiting." Esme said looking directly at me knowing I was the one ultimately responsible.

"It was quite easy actually." I started. "Rosalie lured him out of the house and into the car using her…uh…err…feminine wiles. Jasper hypnotized him to sleep right before Rosalie very convincingly warned him to stay away from Bella and Emmett and I put the car in the tree. Rosalie snapped the picture when he woke up and sent it to the Forks Forum."

Esme shook her head at all of us. "I don't know whether I should scold you or be proud of you."

"Be proud of us." Rosalie said with a stubborn tilt to her chin. "According to Edward, this kid's thoughts were getting more disturbing by the day."

It was just then that Carlisle walked in the door. Right away I knew something was wrong. His mouth was set in a grim line and he was blocking me from his mind by reciting the various ways of aiding a victim with a venomous snake bite.

"You're home early." Esme said embracing him and giving him a kiss on the cheek. He looks upset about something. She thought.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Rosalie asked. We all tensed at Carlisle's unusually edgy demeanor.

Carlisle sighed deeply and removed a FedEx envelope from his briefcase and went to toss it heatedly on the dining room table. Before it made contact with the surface, I snatched it out of the air and examined the envelope. The package was marked "personal and confidential". The postmark was yesterday from Volterra, Italy. My breath hitched and I felt an overwhelming sense of doom impeding on my recently found happiness. Slowly I removed the single sheet of expensive parchment from the encasement. On the top of the page stood the unmistakable seal of the Volturi.

"You might as well read it aloud." Carlisle told me, defeat clear in his tone.

I cleared my throat and began to read trying to keep the alarm from my voice.

"My Old Friend Carlisle,

Please forgive the manner in which this invitation was delivered. However, your presence is requested in Volterra with all due haste. I would suggest that you make arrangements for your travel immediately. Please bring the human girl with you. If you choose not to come, we will have no choice but to visit you. It is my hope that you make the right decision for all concerned.

Respectfully Yours,

Aro"

I felt the muscle tick in my jaw as my teeth clenched. This was not an invitation as the letter suggested, it was a summons. The fact that they knew about Bella, that they wanted to see her made my insides twist in fear. I looked up at Carlisle sure that the stark fear I felt was evident on my face. They wanted to take her away from me. How could they have found out about Bella?

"Victoria." I spoke hoarsely answered out loud my own question. It was obvious she had found her allies. I couldn't fathom what was worse dealing with the Volturi or Bella's idea of a newborn army. Both were equally terrifying. Fiercely, I turned to Alice. "How could you have not seen this?" I spat. "You were supposed to be watching out for her?" It was unreasonable to blame Alice, I knew but I wasn't feeling rational at the moment. Right now I was only looking for someone to blame. Alice was the easiest target. She took a step back from me, shaking her head. Her eyes wide with horror.

"I'm sorry Edward. I didn't see." Alice cried out. Why didn't I see?

"Edward, don't blame Alice. Even if she did know what Victoria was up to there would have been no way for us to stop it." Carlisle said trying to soothe the savage beast that was taking over me.

"We could have had more time to come up with a plan." I told him. He looked at me in defeat. It was useless, I knew. Plan or not, the letter was clear.

"What happens now?" Jasper asked his arm around Alice trying to console her.

"I have no choice. I have to go to Italy." Carlisle said resigned. I'm sorry Edward

"NO! You are not taking Bella. It's a death sentence, Carlisle. You are not handing her over to them like some sacrificial lamb for the slaughter. You know I won't let that happen. You can't ask that of me…of her" I shouted at him unable to control my fury. An image of them killing her nearly brought me to my knees. I couldn't see past the red haze of anger and tumultuous fear that ensnared my brain. I knew what it was like to lose her…knew the agony of her death. I couldn't live through that again…not even for the mere second it would take for the Volturi soon after once I unleashed my rage on them.

"You think I would do that?" Carlisle asked me. I heard the hurt in his voice and was immediately ashamed that I could think that of him. Of course, he wouldn't do that to Bella whom he loved as a daughter nor would he do that to me.

"No." I said bowing my head in shame.

"So what do we do?" Jasper asked. "If Carlisle shows up alone or not at all, they will come here and the results would be disastrous."

"I agree." Carlisle told him.

"Why don't you ask Bella what she thinks?" Rosalie interrupted.

I scoffed at her. I knew what Bella would do. She would throw herself head first into danger, offering herself up for the sake of me and my family. "You know she would go Rosalie. I bet nothing would please you more. What a convenient way for you to be rid of her."

"That's' not fair Edward." She pouted. "I may not like the decision she is making to become one of us but she is endearing in her own way. I don't want to see her hurt…well not anymore."

"ENOUGH!" Emmett shouted. "This is getting us nowhere. Why don't we all go and kick some Volturi ass."

Now that was an intriguing thought, if not a suicidal one.

"I could take Bella, if she agrees to go, of course." Carlisle started thoughtfully. I shook my head in dismay but he continued. "I could speak with them; make them see that regardless of what rules have been broken that she will be one of us soon." I am an old friend. I can make them listen to me.

"You think you can reason with them? You think they would consider our side out of some sense of loyalty to you" I was aghast at the suggestion even while I fervently hoped that Carlisle was right. But the Volturi were so self important, high on their own power they, may just laugh Carlisle out of the door.

"It is not out of the realm of possibility." He told me. "Besides we have no other choice."

"What if you go by yourself and explain?" Esme asked. I could tell she wasn't so keen on the idea of serving Bella up to them on the proverbial silver platter.

"They would take it as deliberate defiance to their wishes and would not take it well." Jasper answered.

"If Bella chooses to go," I said swallowing past the lump in my throat. "Nothing will stop me from going as well."

"I never expected anything else. Alice can you see anything, any glimpse of what the future may hold?" Carlisle turned to her with the question.

"No decisions have been made. There is no way I can see." She said regretfully. "If Bella chooses to go, which I have a feeling she will, perhaps I should go with you as well…to even up the playing field."

"No!" Jasper said taking a protective stance in front of Alice. "You will not go. Aro would like nothing more than to keep you as part of his menagerie and would use any leverage he can get to do it."

"Jasper's right, Alice." Carlisle sighed. "It was good of you to offer but I won't have you placing yourself in danger as well. "

To have Alice there with us would have been perfect. She would be able to guide me in her mind of future outcomes. We would be going in blind now, if we went in at all. However, I did not blame Jasper for wanting to keep Alice safe. I knew exactly how he felt.

We deliberated for what seemed like hours, going over possibilities and could find none other than to do what Aro requested.

""I won't ask her." I sobbed brokenly when I regretfully realized there was no other alternative.

"I'll do it Edward." Carlisle told me. I know it will be too hard for you to do.

I prayed to what whatever higher being there was that she would say "no".

We were all sitting in bleak silence when I heard the rumblings of Bella's '57 Chevy laboring up the drive. There was nothing I wanted to do more than hold her in my arms and never let her go but my body was frozen as I watched her run into the house and come to a dead halt as she saw our faces.

"Bella, I have some bad news." I told her grimly.

She looked at all of us bewildered then suddenly her face changed from confusion to absolute fear as tears welled in her eyes.

"No." She mouthed as the piece of paper she was holding in her hand dropped to the floor. And then she ran.

Shocked out of my immobile state, I ran after her and caught her from behind as she was just about to stumble face forward down the stairs.

"Let me go!" She shouted as she struggled, trying to shake my hold, kicking her legs.

I didn't understand. Why was she trying to get away from me? Her reaction to my words wasn't normal, completely irrational and it scared me.

"Bella." I tried to soothe her. "Bella, stop. Why are you doing this?"

She stopped her struggle and when I felt she wasn't going to try to run, I let her down safely my hands never leaving her. She turned to face me with an expression of such pain in her eyes it hurt just to look at her.

"You couldn't do this alone like last time? You have to let your whole family witness my complete humiliation?"

Her words made no sense to me. Like last time? What was she talking about?

"Bella, I don't understand what you're saying. Please tell me what's going on in that beautiful head of yours." I pleaded with her my hands still holding her in place.

"Don't pretend you don't know what I am talking about. You're leaving aren't you? Leaving Forks…leaving me."

My God! Is that what she thought? My poor, sweet Bella. How it must have looked to her when she came in the house. No wonder she reacted as she did. It hurt me however that she still had so little trust in me, in my promises, that our leaving would be the first conclusion that she made. I had only myself to blame for that. I was distraught, I wasn't thinking straight when the words came out of my mouth. I should have realized what she would think.

I nearly crushed her in my embrace then, holding her in my arms, feeling her sweet floral scent envelope me. "We're not leaving." I tried to instill as much conviction in that statement as I could.

"You're not?" She questioned still sounding unsure.

I pulled back just a little so she could see the truth in my eyes. I silently begged her to believe me "No. We're not. I am so, so sorry you thought that."

"Then what…? I don't understand." She looked at me confused.

"Why don't you come inside and I'll explain."

Bella POV

He is not leaving me, he is not leaving me I repeated in my head like a mantra trying to calm my erratic breathing as we walked back into the house to face the concerned looks of Edward's family. His hands never left me since he caught up to me moments before and for that I was grateful.

"Are you alright, Bella?" Esme asked me in her soothingly maternal voice as soon as we entered.

"Yeah. Momentary lapse of reason." I explained with a derisive smile. I was too embarrassed by my little display of dramatics to launch into the actual reason I left so abruptly. "So what's going on?" I asked to take the attention off of me and focusing it back to where it belonged. Whatever was going on in my absence was serious. Serious enough to scare the hell out of a group of vampires.

"You know who the Volturi are?" Carlisle asked me.

Fragments of conversations with Edward came back to me along with the memory of a near flight to Italy with Alice on a life saving mission. Fear came with the name. I nodded.

"I received this from them today." Carlisle handed me a letter typed on expensive paper. I silently read it's contents with apprehension. I was brought up short by the line "Please bring the human girl with you.". It was if they considered me an inanimate object, a package to be delivered. I thought of the implications of this letter, knew that that had somehow found out I was human, Victoria no doubt. I understood the danger it presented to my soon to be family and realized what I had to do…for them. I could not let them see my fear even though Jasper could probably sense it's magnitude. It would be counterproductive to let on the dread I felt at the prospect of facing this group of vampires that could very well destroy me. The choice was easy, though. If I had to give my life to ensure theirs, I would. There was no question, no deliberation on my part though I could only imagine that Edward would fight me tooth and nail on it as he had probably already been fighting with his family on it already. I, however, was resolved.

"When do we leave?" I asked Carlisle, no hesitation in my voice.

I heard Edward suck in a breath as his hand tightened on my arm. "No, Bella. Think about this first." Edward urged.

I cupped his cheek with my hand trying to convey with my eyes the sincerity in what I was saying. "Edward, if I don't go, you will all die. It isn't stated but the implication is clear."

"We could find another way." He said but one look at Carlisle's somber expression told me there was no other way.

"Carlisle believes he can use his friendship to dissuade them from their purpose." Jasper explained.

I remembered that Carlisle had lived with them, for maybe a decade. Surely that had to count for something. "That's good then isn't it? All hope is not lost."

"The Volturi expect strict compliance to the laws. Anything else is not tolerated." Edward said mostly to Jasper.

"But surely they will see that you have plans to change me." I said desperately trying to cling to any silver lining I could find.

Carlisle nodded. "That is what we are hoping. Aro can read every thought any one has ever head by a mere touch of the hand. If he touches us he will surely see our intent and perhaps give us some leeway. But Bella, I realize we are asking a lot of you and we have no guarantees of what will happen. You do have a choice Bella. If you do not want to go, then we will do as Edward said and find another way."

But Carlisle wasn't fooling me. I knew there wasn't another way. If there was, they would not be presenting me with this choice; they would have acted already without even letting me know what was happening.

"I'll have to think of an excuse to Charlie why I'm gone for a few days." I didn't want to consider the alternative that I would not be coming back.

"Oh that's easy." Alice chimed in acting like the situation wasn't as serious as it actually was. Perhaps she had seen some vision of the future, some glimpse that let her know what it would all be okay. "You are coming away with us girls to Seattle for the weekend to meet with possible wedding vendors."

"This goes against everything in me by allowing you to do this." Edward said raking his fingers through his hair in a tortured but resigned tone. I knew it did but I was glad he gave me the choice to decide on my own rather than bulldoze over any decisions I made. My safety was foremost in his mind and I knew it must be killing him inside to have me face something that he had no control over. I was also aware in the back of my mind that if I didn't come back, if the worst happened, he wouldn't be returning either.

"I'll send word to Aro and make the arrangements. We'll leave Friday afternoon and come back on Sunday." Carlisle said. His voice instilled confidence that we would all be coming back. "Thank you Bella." He said giving me a comforting hug.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rosalie pick up the sheet of paper I had initially dropped when I first entered the house. With one eyebrow raised, she looked at me.

"Dartmouth, huh?"

In the scope of all that was happening, my acceptance into the prestigious college was anticlimactic. Apparently, the Cullens didn't think so as they one by one congratulated me.

"Looks like all that time at the dining room table paid off." Emmett said with a grin, an obvious attempt to throw levity on the situation. I blushed at the memory of Edward and I caught in an awkward but very passionate situation not 5 feet from where I stood now.

But now was not the time for such musings. Edward, Carlisle and I were going to Italy and God help me, we would be coming back.