IMPORTANT! Chapters have been merged!

This chapters contains Chapter 3 and the newly updated CHAPTER 4!

Highly recommended you guys go back and read Chapter 1, which contains what used to be Chapter 1 and 2.

Sorry for the mixup!

A/N: I'm just not going to express how sorry I am, I probably sound like a broken record. I'll just go straight to the updates-

-I went back and changed her name, just to avoid any confusion. I'm going to stick with it this time, I promise! When I first started writing this I probably had three names because I couldn't decide which one I liked best. I'm awfully picky when it comes to names, its a curse.

-I've also merged these chapters. I'm going to try to come out with longer chapters in the future.

-Also, I know some of you have a few questions and I promise I will try my best to supply you with answers as the story progresses. I guess I could answer a few now, its the least I can do for keeping you guys waiting so long.

*The reason why this is an OC story is because I couldn't alter Bella's character to fit the character in mind, they're too different.

I'm not crossing out Bella entirely though, but all I can say is-you're in for a few surprises ;)

*All I can really say right now is that Chelsea's ability did not work on her because of her strange gifts. Telling you what she's capable of so soon would give it all away, sorry :P

*I'm going to be honest, besides the real life junk and having a bit too much fan fictions on my plate, one of the major reasons its taking me so long to update is because of her abilities. I'm trying to make sure everything fits and it doesn't help that I've been changing my mind a lot. It took me a while, but I think I've got it down.

*I guess it wouldn't hurt to say she was seventeen when she was turned – little cookie for you amazing reviewers

More will be revealed as the story progresses, I promise. If you guys have any more questions, feel free to ask, I'll see what I can answer without spoiling anything for you.

-Thank you so much for the reviews, story alerts and favorites. You guys rock my world! I can honestly say you inspired me to keep going with this. Hope I don't disappoint. Your reviews seriously give me the warm and fuzzies ^.^

::Just a little warning:: This has not been beta'd so, please, forgive me if its terrible.

*~Chapter 2~*

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its plots or characters.

One of the things I both loved and hated about the dark abyss were the ghosts of my memories.

I have no doubt that if they didn't haunt me I would have easily forgotten I was ever human.

Sometimes its easy, when you're a monster, to forget your humanity. That one time, long ago, I had been lying carefree by the river, or reading next to the window in my father's studio.

It is always your family you forget before you forget yourself.

I could barely remember my own father, a gentle man I once knew for nearly seventeen years of my life that was now just a name and a face that my memories have reduced to muddled images.

I remember his paintings. They had been such beautiful treasures and I could always tell it was there he truly expressed his thoughts and emotions.

The way the brushes touched the canvas or the blend of colors he used, you could always tell there was something more to it.

He always tried to hide his pain and his loneliness, especially around me, but I always knew.

He was a lonely man, having never remarried after my mother died giving birth to me. But I could always tell, in the way he would use the colors to express the emotions in his work, like a dance across the canvas wish a brush of brilliant kaleidoscopic colors, just how much he missed her.

It was almost like with every brush, every color, every hue, he was talking to her, breathing life into his paintings to keep her alive.

I always loved to watch him work. It was one of my favorite past times, to watch and to learn everything about his craft as well as the love he put into his paintings.

It had been the memories like these that I held onto dearly while I floated around in darkness. But with cherished memories, the nightmares would always follow.

Nightmares like the day that I died.

I had fallen asleep while reading by the river not too far from my home. When I awoke, I found it was already nightfall. Heavy with guilt at knowing my father was probably worried sick about where I had gone, I began to head back to my house. I knew the woods like the back of my own hand, so walking back would not have been too difficult.

However, as I was walking I couldn't help but feel like I was being watched.

I wish now more than ever I hadn't been so stupid and fallen asleep, because then I could have returned to my worried father.

Sadly things didn't turn out that way.

I can remember the last few moments that I would be human all too clearly. I remember my heart beating frantically in fear from seeing the shadows as I tried to walk faster in the dark woods.

Upon hearing a twig snap somewhere around me, I burst into a sprint.

The next few moments were really hazy, mainly because my human eyes couldn't quite comprehend what had happened.

I was thrown against a thick tree so swiftly it was impossible to even tell where it had come from or what had caused it.

And then I saw him.

Even through the small light from the moon, I could see his red eyes and the smooth paleness of his skin. Somehow I had known the fingers gripping my face could easily snap my neck with one flick of his wrist and that was enough to freeze me in my place.

All I could remember of those last few moments of my human life was his teeth sinking deep into my neck and the fires that spread throughout my body as he slowly drank my life away.

No vampire could forget the pain of a transformation, even if they wanted to.

The fires that burned through me will always replay itself into my mind with my own screams reverberating in the background.

I didn't understand why I was still alive, why he kept me alive only so I could feel these fires engulfing me.

I would have embraced darkness during those three days, embraced it so I could hide from the seemingly never ending fiery pain.

At the time, I seriously thought I was in hell, but then I woke up and I realized I really did not know what hell truly was.

"We dodged a bullet, Edward. We were lucky." I heard a voice that broke me away from the darkness of memories.

Edward. The darkened haze was swimming around me. Edward. It was getting darker, my memories threatening to come back. Carlisle.

Edward!

My eyes opened wide with a jolt, almost as if a spark ran through me. It took me about a second to realize I had been out of it for two days as my mind immediately opened up around me.

Edward and Carlisle were scheduled to leave in just a few hours. It was close, so close.

Something was different though when I awoke, something stood out more than usual.

It didn't take me long to find Edward, but I realized he was focused on something, listening carefully as the city echoed in my mind.

He was searching for a sound? His name. It had come out of nowhere.

Did I call out to him?

He was starting to notice echoes as he tried to pinpoint where it was coming from. He was curious and suspicious, wanting to know who called out his name.

My stomach almost felt alive, twisting and turning into knots as I kept thinking about a million ways for this to go. How would he react? What should I say?

I could hear Edward was still searching as the echoes became more pronounced.

It was now or never. Either I reveal myself or I don't.

What were the chances I'd encounter someone with a gift like mine again? Someone who could hear me?

Edward was listening intently now and it was time for me to answer.

"Edward?"I was still, more still than I have ever been in five hundred years as I waited for a response. I was so scared, already I could feel my body starting to shake, the most movement I've had in centuries. I was scared of what he would say, what he would do, of everything that could possibly happen right now as I listened.
Edward's thoughts seemed to have exploded into a million things at once as he stood, so still, and confused. He knew he heard something but he wasn't sure.

Once again, I reached out. "Edward." My mental voice was little more than a whisper, but it was more than enough for Edward to hear me.

He knew for certain he heard something, distinctly his name, but he was cautious and silent.

"I know you can hear me."

He glanced cautiously around the room they were in, wondering if there was a chance they were not alone.

Carlisle had taken a notice of Edward's strange actions and was instantly concerned. "What is it?" He voiced.

"Its nothing." Edward said to Carlisle, though Carlisle was no fool, he knew his son better than that.

"Is something wrong?" Carlisle voiced in his thoughts. Edward heard the echoes once again through Carlisle's mind and my own has he inhaled sharply in surprise, his natural defenses taking over.

I could hear his every thought, and while he was more than extremely curious as to who I was, he was perturbed by the fact that I could hear his thoughts and was now trying to determine if I was a danger.

It was getting harder for me to keep a firm grip on this surreal connection to Edward, to keep my voice from fading into the millions of thoughts around us, but if I were going to desperately cling onto something with the last of the energy I had left, it was going to be this.

"I promise...I have no intention...of harming either...of you. I just want to speak to you...I know you can... hear me, you can hear the...truth..."

I could tell Carlisle's thoughts were really anxious the longer Edward kept silent as he considered my words, trying to decide the best way to proceed.

Deciding to finally ease his father's mind, he spoke aloud but so quietly that not even a vampire could hear had Carlisle not been standing right next to him.

"Someone is speaking to me, through her thoughts." He said, though his tone was uncertain and cautious.

"Speaking to you?" Carlisle inquired with concerned interest.

"Yes. She can hear us, like I can hear you."

"She has a gift like yours?" Carlisle confirmed, a little stunned.

Edward nodded, still a little dazed himself. He wasn't used to people being able to read his thoughts so easily, even the thought of it still unnerved him greatly.

"Well, what does she want?" Carlisle asked, wanting to know more.

"To talk, it seems." Edward was still considering my words, still extremely cautious.

"Why doesn't she talk to us in person?" Carlisle was puzzled, but it was a very good question, as Edward was starting to wonder the exact same thing. He knew I could hear him and he was questioning me.

'It's not that simple…I've been imprisoned beneath the city..in a tomb…for centuries.'

Everything faded out for a brief terrifying second, before I pulled myself back out of the darkness.

It was getting harder and harder, but my desperation was the only thing holding me above the sinking dark.

I could barely hold onto what Edward was thinking, but I knew his eyes were wide in shock. Carlisle voiced his concern in Edward's change of expression. "What is it?"

But Edward did not answer him as he held up his hand for Carlisle's patience.

"You're imprisoned?" He thought towards me, the shock was evident in his mental tone.

"Five...hundred years...The Volturi..."

Edward inhaled sharply, he thought of being imprisoned for centuries greatly disturbed him, as it would any vampire. Centuries without being able to feed, the torture was beyond imaginable.

Carlisle's patience was growing thin with concern as he waited to learn what it was that Edward heard that could him react in such a way, so Edward repeated everything he just heard.

Carlisle's expression was extremely tense. Never in all the years he had been a vampire had he ever heard of a punishment so severe, especially to our kind. It went against everything he knew about the Volturi, mainly because he couldn't think of one law she could have broken to deserve such an obscene punishment. The only thing that seemed to make any sense as to why the Volturi would act so harshly would be if I were extremely dangerous.

Well, it was pretty close, depending on how you define dangerous and whom I was a danger too.

Edward was more than puzzled by my inner thoughts, I had forgotten we still shared a connection.

"Aro considered me a threat." I began to explain, my words were slow and even so I could continue. "I was foolish enough to rebel against him, but with my gifts, he thought killing me would be a waste of potential. Because Chelsea's ability could not work on me, he knew I would never be loyal to him. Deciding that I needed time to reflect and see things their way, I was placed here."

Edward listened carefully to my words before repeating them to Carlisle. They both knew, as well as I, that Aro could be a bit unpredictable and unreasonable when it came to things he wanted, case in point, the mysterious death of Aro's own sister.

I didn't even realize I could no longer hear Edward or Carlisle, or the words they were exchanging. The silent dark was trying to envelope me again and it was becoming easier and easier to let it. It was like trying to swim when your feet are weighted and your limbs are so tired you're tempted to just let it bring you under.

I was not sure exactly where I was consciously, somewhere between the dark and the light, where memories could still overwhelm me, but the voices were still a static in the air around me.

~*oOoOoOo*~~*oOoOoOo*~~*oOoOoOo*~~*oOoOoOo*~~*oOoOoOo*~~*oOoOoOo*~~*oOoOoOo*~~*oOoOoOo*~~*oOoOoOo*~~*oOoOoOo*

I couldn't see, I couldn't hear, I couldn't feel anything.

I was at the mercy of one of the witch twins, Alec. Only he could take away all my senses, leaving me in a pit of darkness where I could not fight.

After what could have been forever for all I knew, I finally heard the sound of Aro's voice.

"You have no idea how much it pains me to do this, Liliana, you had so much potential."

I could hear again, but why was it still so dark?

"I only hope you will begin to see things our way."

Where had they taken me?

When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I made out what looked to be a wall of what seemed to be stone just inches from my face.

I felt my surroundings and nearly panicked as I slowly learned where I was. I was in a very confined space made of walls of stone that surrounded me, the air was damp and smelled strongly of earth and decay.

It didn't take long for me to grasp where I was, and the thought was enough to send chills down my spine.

I was in a tomb.

I confirmed it through Aro's eyes, as he was sitting casually on top of my stone prison as he continued to speak down towards me while Jane and Alec stood a few feet away, his two childlike bodyguards.

Had it been a normal stone tomb and maybe if I had been fed recently, I probably could have beat away the walls without fail, however I realized Aro had not been that ignorant.

The stone coffin I was lying in had been reinforced with more stone and settled into the ground with a tomb built over it. It would take the strength of multiple vampires to pull the coffin free.

I growled as my natural instincts took over and I began to flail against the walls.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you, Lili. You'll use up your strength far too quickly, and trust me, I think you're going to need it. Been a while since you last fed, has it not? I believe it was three weeks before your little display, another three weeks down here. I bet you can already feel the prickle of thirst in your throat."

Now that he mentioned it, my throat was tight and it burned with thirst. It had been awhile since I fed last, six weeks, and I could barely go for three.

"Let me out of here!" I snarled, though it was more of a cry as I continued to try to beat against the stone walls.

"It weighs heavy on my heart, truly it does, but you've left me with no other logical choice."

Even though I needed no air, I began to breath heavily almost as if I were suffocating as Aro continued.

"I have no intention of killing you, Liliana. You know I adore you and it pains me you could not be persuaded to see things our way, however I couldn't very well allow you to roam free. Your gifts are too precious, too dangerous. Perhaps in here you'll gain some common sense."

"Go to hell!" I growled, using my anger and my fear to fuel the part of my new-found gift Aro considered to be so dangerous when it was used against him.

I had only barely, even with all my fueled concentration, managed to make him feel a slight twinge of pain before I screamed. My back immediately arched inside the small space as waves of intense fire consumed me. I cried and fought against the torturous pain of Jane's gift but to no avail, the pain was just too overwhelming.

After what seemed like hours instead of seconds or even minutes, I heard Aro's voice "That's enough Jane."

All I could do was sob as I felt the fires slipped away from me, but I could still very much feel the aftershocks.

"Well, that was foolish, don't you think?" Aro said, a little amused. "Now that I have your attention, shall we have a civilized conversation? I don't believe Marcus to be entirely accurate when he says you'd never be truly loyal to me, but I find the mind to be a very fickle thing with enough convincing."

Even through the stone walls and the earth, I could feel Aro's determination in his words. Then, my entire body trembled with the realization that he really was going to leave me in here, knowing full well the torture I'd go through without feeding. My throat was beginning to throb painfully at the thought as I let out a choked cry. "Please no."

"I think a year sounds about right."Aro continued as he hopped down from my tomb and started to follow Jane and Alec out of the chamber where I was entombed. "Let us hope Marcus is wrong, shall we?"

I could do nothing except scream.

Liliana!

~*oOoOoOo*~~*oOoOoOo*~~*oOoOoOo*~~*oOoOoOo*~~*oOoOoOo*~~*oOoOoOo*~~*oOoOoOo*~~*oOoOoOo*~~*oOoOoOo*~

I was yanked back to Edward's thoughts, his voice pulling me out of the dark.

I could hear his thoughts loud and clear as it took me a moment to realize what just happened.

"You were gone there, for a little while." Edward explained, but something about his thoughts were off.

Both of their thoughts.

Then I was awestruck as I slowly started to figure it out. I couldn't believe it.

Edward witnessed everything.

"Its a miracle she's still alive." Carlisle voiced to Edward in incredulity.

But Edward was busy thinking about something else entirely, something that involved dark tunnels.

I was having a hard time trying to figure out what he was thinking of as his thoughts kept changing from the dark tunnels to a drainage hole outside of a city.

Wait a minute, I thought in suspicion as my stomach began to flip.

He was thinking of the catacombs?

Then it all clicked together in my mind. He was thinking of getting me out of here?

It was enough to raise every hair on the back on my neck and near enough to make my heart beat again.

The true miracle was that I somehow found the strength to shout into Edward's mind;

"NO! That is NOT a possibility!"

I had missed an entire conversation from my lapse of consciousness, during which a very dangerous and impossible decision had been made.

From the moment Edward saw my memory there would be no going back.

The very goodness I knew I sensed in them from the beginning had already formed dangerous thoughts, and as he told Carlisle everything he just learned, that thought became more firmly planted in their minds.

It was a righteousness that could not be ignored and could very well lead to their deaths.

Even though my body was starting to shake with the possibility of hope, it was also filling with dread, because I did not want them to put themselves at risk for me.

But Edward's mind was made up as he stubbornly raked his fingers through his hair with an exasperated sigh, relaying everything to Carlisle."She's back...She just found out about our decision. She does not want us to risk it."

"It is not without danger," Carlisle agreed, but like Edward, he already made his decision and fully intended to follow through as he continued "My conscience as well as yours will be heavily weighed if we ignore this."

Their thoughts were interrupted by a light melody that was playing inside of Edward's pocket.

I recognized the metal device Edward held in his hand as a cell phone, something I have seen people in the world above me becoming more and more attached to these days.

Edward pressed a button on the device before speaking. "Alice?"

All this excitement was starting to pull me under, back into the dark. I kept myself above the surface but just barely as I struggled to keep a firm hold of Edward's mind. I could hear the faint sound of an almost bell-like voice on the other end of the line.

I knew the name Alice to be Edward's sister, the one that had the peculiar gift to see the future.

I wasn't sure if I should feel relieved or anxious.

Did she perhaps witness their deaths as a result of their dangerous decision? I could only hope she called to talk some sense into them before they ended up getting themselves killed.

However, this was not the case, I was astounded to learn. I continued to listen intently to their conversation as Alice's voice filled Edward's head.

"I can't even begin to tell you the number of visions I just had! I mean, one minute I'm looking out for you and Carlisle and the next I'm seeing you guys crawling out of a sewer, then everything just sort of exploded into this series of visions, and-"

"Alice, please, slow down. We apologize, but really, there was no way any of us could have seen this coming."

"You're telling me!" Then Alice suddenly let out a really deep calming sigh before she continued "This is going to be really complicated-"

"So you're saying its possible?" Edward interrupted, extremely anxious to hear the answer to that particular question.

I knew from Edward's thoughts that if Alice saw it was possible then there would be no stopping them.

"You're actually going to attempt this?" Alice's voice was laced with surprise, something that seemed a bit out of place for one who could see the future.

I saw through Edward's eyes how he glanced at Carlisle, who could hear every word they were saying and how he nodded slightly in agreement before he replied softly "Its the right thing to do."

His mental thoughts made it clear that his response was intended for me as well.

But its suicide!

Edward however, ignored my thoughts, determined to see his decision through, to try.

There was a moment of silence, on both ends, before Alice spoke.

"Its possible, Edward. But I'm not going to lie, all the outcomes keep wavering. Nothing set in place because there are just too many possibilities, too many things that could go wrong even with my help.

If you're going to do this, you will have to listen to me very carefully, Edward. One wrong turn down there and- I won't even go into specifics, I'm sure you grasp the general idea."

"We understand."

I retracted from their minds, slipping away and back into my own as both dread and excitement filled me, the world becoming a buzz of static once again.

I couldn't listen anymore. I felt too awake, too alive right now to be calm enough to focus on keeping a hold of Edward's mind.

Edward and Carlisle were really going to try this, I thought as I tried to accept this possibility as a reality. They were really going to try to save me.

Too many emotions were coursing through me in strong waves; shock, anxiety, hope, fear, dread, the excitement most of all making my mind extremely heavy.

I hadn't realized I was starting to sink again until I stirred back up again at the sound of Edward's voice.

"Liliana?"

Even though it wasn't the first time he'd said my name, it was just now that I realized that I didn't know how he learned it, before I remembered- my memory.

I was seriously starting to relate to how Edward had felt earlier. After centuries of listening to the minds of others, it was taking some getting used to having my own mind being read for once.

"If you are still listening, if there is even the slightest chance we could get you out of there, we are going to take it." Edward's mental voice was soft, but I couldn't tell if it was because he was trying to be soothing or if it was because I was so weak.

Once again I had to keep my thoughts firm and my words slow and even as I spoke out to him.

"You can't, Edward." I couldn't even hide the somber tone of my mental voice as I pleaded, out of fear for their lives. "Please. You are both risking your life for a complete stranger. If I knew you would have even considered this I would never have listened to your thoughts in the first place."

Edward was quiet for a moment, I could tell he was pondering something but I couldn't bring myself to listen in closer. My sadness was overwhelming me and if it were possible for me to cry, I knew the salty tears would be streaming down my cheeks this very moment.

Finally, Edward was speaking to me again. "Earlier in your thoughts, you were thinking about how you saw a goodness in me, just by taking a look into my head," I couldn't help but to be puzzled as I listened to him continue on.

"Well, it works the exact same way for me. I saw more in those memories of yours than you might think, Liliana. There is a compassion inside of you that the Volturi will never be able to corrupt, no matter how long they keep you down there."

It really was amazing how easy it is to truly know someone when you can read the other's mind, amazing and surreal.

What Edward and I could accomplish with our minds could take years for others. Because with just a few thoughts and one memory that had resurfaced on complete accident, he knew more about me in less than an hour than what could be achieved from a lifetime.

"Edward," Carlisle's words interrupted, but it gave me a moment to let Edward's words register.

While Edward had been talking to me, Carlisle had taken over the phone.

"Alice says if we're going to move, we best do it soon."

Edward nodded in agreement.

Damn it all, I was not asking them to save me!

"We know you're not," Edward paused for a moment before I heard his mental voice again. "But what if we could get you out of there safely, without them ever knowing?"

As if such a way existed- I didn't even want to continue that thought. I didn't want to grasp that there was indeed hope in all this, in fear that it would only be a false hope and something far more terrifying would happen.

They wanted to help me.

They wanted to endanger their lives to help me.

Already I knew that they were different than the vampires here, and it wasn't just the gentle honey color of their eyes or their lifestyle.

It was something I craved for, ever since I first realized what I had become.

They were not monsters. They had the ability to adapt and try to be human.

They had compassion for human life.

My resistance to the thought of true hope was slowly beginning to fade, and I was starting to let it fill me with its warmth. I felt it course through me, helping me to fight against the sinking darkness, keeping me afloat with its strength.

The darkness...I would never have to fear the dark abyss, never be forced to relive every memory, every moment of my existence.

I would be free, free to learn a new way of living, free to be at peace.

It was a chance I had always accepted I would never have.

"There is some concern as to whether Demetri will be able to track you." Edward's voice interrupted my thoughts.

Demetri. The Volturi's tracker.

Years of listening in to the Volturi's thoughts gave me a little insight to Demetri's infamous gift. The reason the Volturi greatly valued him was his uncanny ability to link himself to a target. All he needed to do was physically meet that person and capture their essence and then there would be no place that person could go where he could not find them.

If I could laugh right now, I'm sure I'd be hysterical.

It really couldn't have been more perfect, almost as if the strings of fate had woven my life's tapestry on the loom of destiny and delivered it straight to the stars.

Maybe I had fallen so deep into the darkness I was dreaming, or perhaps I've truly gone insane. Everything just seemed so carefully aligned it was hard to imagine it was real.

Because Demetri never got a chance to capture my essence...I had been imprisoned almost a decade before he joined the Volturi.

Another stroke of pure luck.

"Demetri won't be a concern, she was before his time." Edward said before their thoughts started to fade again, the very little strength I had was wavering.

"Just listen to the sound of my voice." Edward encouraged, trying to keep me afloat.

His voice was starting to become the only thing that anchored me above the surface, his voice and the hope that was laced within it.

A/N: Thank you all so much for sticking with me, I fully intend on finishing this story now that I've got some issues with it out of the way. Hope you guys liked it, give me a shout what you think!

Also, I realize that things seem to be happening really fast, but she is kind of holding onto reality by a thread, so it would sort of seem that way. The important thing to remember is what can be accomplished by being able to read another's mind.

Just a reminder- Link to Story Banner on my profile- its who I see as Liliana, hope you like it :)