Oh my, I got a ton of hits yesterday. So many people put this story on their alerts or their favorites. I also got some really kick-ass reviews. I would like to say thank you to Bleached Kitty for her always amazing reviews, Spider-Hand for finding a website with some awesome pictures of Maam and sending me the link as well as Yana5, Kaatt and Nicki Nick. Your reviews were awesome and I truly appreciate you taking the time to review. This chapter is for all of you! I rushed it out so I'm sorry if I made any mistakes.

Playlist: Sidewinder by Avenged Sevenfold and Behind Closed Doors by Rise Against

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I had been in Ireland for a month and so far I was loving it. Aislinn had grown to be my best friend and she introduced me to everyone in town as her long lost American sister. She showed me all the interesting places around Maam including the lake and a few old castles and even managed to drag me along with her to church. She was really good with Shaughn and Caden whom I had grown to love as the little brothers I never knew I wanted. Even Falyn had warmed up to me and always asked for me to repeat the story of when James tried to kill me in Phoenix. I would tell the stories and then she and Aislinn would sooth me after I started crying about Edward and that never failed to happen. The only one who didn't like me was Osiris but I wasn't very fond of him either.

A week after I had first arrived Falyn and Osiris had come back from their latest hunting trip. I hadn't seen Falyn since she jumped out the window after my mention of werewolves and I hadn't met Osiris yet but Aislinn had told me a lot about him. He walked into the house and looked me up and down, he wasn't surprised that I was there, he had obviously heard about it from Falyn, he only nodded his head to say hello and then moved on to embrace Aislinn. He was about six feet tall and looked like he had a darker complexion before he was changed, his jet black hair was slicked back and he dressed in all black dress clothes. He looked like he wanted to fit the picture of a vampire, all he needed were some fake fangs and he would look like he just stepped out of a vampire movie. Aislinn wanted him to tell me all the stories he had told them and he obliged after she gave him her saddest puppy dog face.

"Well, Bella, would you like to hear some of my stories then?" He spoke in a very different accent than anyone I had ever met.

"S-sure, if you don't mind." I squeaked out, something about him scared me.

"I'll leave out some of the trivial details but I was born in Egypt over 500 years ago; it was a very different time then, I'm sure you can imagine. The vampire that changed me wasn't there when I woke up but a member of the Volturi guard was. Have you ever heard of the Volturi, Bella?"

"Yes, Aislinn told me a lot about them. There are 3 members of the Volturi then a bunch of members of the guard. They enforce the laws for vampires, right?"

"Yes, that is correct. When I woke up a vampire named Demetri was there. Demetri is very menacing; he can track anyone by picking up the tenor of their mind. So I awoke from 3 days of fire burning through my veins and Demetri told me what I was, took me on a hunt and then told me that I must go with him to meet with the Volturi. Once we arrived I was introduced to Aro, Marcus and Caius. They are the three leaders of the Volturi. Aro can see every thought that you have ever had in your whole life just by touching you, Marcus can see the strength of bonds that people have with each other and Caius is hell bent on following the rules. Aro is the main vampire in charge, he is over enthusiastic about everything and I was quite annoyed with him the whole time I was there."

"Were you there for a long time?" I found the courage to ask.

"Yes, I was there for a very long time. After I had arrived in Volterra Aro explained to me why I was there. The Volturi were always looking for new members for their guard because they always had to have the best and most powerful vampires in it. Every vampire that was offered a position gladly took it, it was an honor."

"So they wanted you and your power?"

"They wanted me but not as part of the guard. They wanted me to find talent to add to the guard. At that point I didn't know it at that time but I had a talent that made me able to find vampires or humans with powers. Humans, of course didn't know that they had these powers yet but I did."

"So how did the Volturi know that you had that power?"

"I was told that the vampire that changed me was once a member of the Volturi. This vampire had my same talent but he wanted out because he had found a mate. Before he left he found me, turned me and told the Volturi that I would be a good replacement for him. Aro asked if I would join and I did. Most members of the Volturi and the guard stay in Italy but I was able to travel the world in search for talent. I checked in every couple years and told them about any prospects but other than that I was on my own. It was nice, and then I met this one." He was looking at Aislinn with lust in his eyes.

"Did you find Aislinn and Falyn because you were looking for talent?" I was slightly more comfortable with talking to him.

He turned away from Aislinn to stare at me with fury in his eyes. "No!" he yelled. I was scared and couldn't move, like a deer in headlights. He got, up walked over to me and crouched down so his eyes were level with mine. He didn't move them from my gaze while he spoke quietly this time "I found them when I was hunting a werewolf, I saved their lives. I love them more than anything and nothing will take them away from me."

The son of a bitch is trying to intimidate me. I knew something wasn't right. The way he was acting was like Edward was when I was questioning him about how he stopped the van from crushing me, he was hiding something big. I didn't give up then and I wasn't about to do it now. I took a deep breath and put my toughest mask on.

"I love them, too. I love them enough that if they didn't want me around I would understand. I would never try to make them be something they didn't want to be." I spat back at him.

His eyes blazed with crimson fury and he turned and left the room. Ever since that day Osiris steered clear of me and I was happy to return the favor. Luckily he was off a lot on hunting trips with Falyn; he couldn't be around us for more than a few days without feeding. Aislinn was getting tired of his moody behavior but I didn't bring my concerns up to her or Falyn. Osiris had saved them and their little brothers and for that they were forever grateful. Falyn followed him around like he was the best thing since sliced bread.

(Present day conversation with Jake)

"Let me get this straight, Bells. You find out this vampire that eats humans is a member of the vampire royal family and you decide to get on his bad side? I've got to agree with the bloodsucker when I say that you don't have any will to survive."

"Well, luckily I'm already dead so I don't have to worry about that, huh Jake?"

"Not funny, Bells."

"I think it is. What so you are allowed to make jokes but I'm not?"

"Just get on with the story."

"I would if you would stop interrupting me!"

Jake rolled his eyes and made a motion over his mouth like he was locking it and throwing away the key.

"Yeah I wish, Jake."

He rolled his eyes again.

(Back to past)

It was now the end of July, I had been in Ireland for a month and a half. Aislinn, Falyn and the boys had convinced me to stay at the house for the rest of the year. It didn't take much convincing though, I loved everything about this place and the family kept me busy so I didn't have time to let my thoughts carry me off into depression. I was going through one of my bags and noticed the slip of paper that Brendan, the guy from the airport, had written his address on when I promised him I would send him a post card. Falyn and Osiris were off on a hunting trip but I asked Aislinn and the boys if they wanted to walk into town with me and help me pick out post cards to send to everyone.

We made our way into the town, which was smaller than forks if you can imagine, and into Mrs. Carpenter's shop. I let everyone pick out a postcard, Shaughn picked out one of the lake for Charlie, Caden picked out one of the nearby castle ruins for Renee and Aislinn picked one out that had a view of the hills just behind the house for Brendan. I wrote the basic details to Charlie and Renee and told Brendan that everything was going great and thanked him for being there for a crazy stranger. I mailed them off and we walked back home. The boys were excited because after lunch Aislinn and I were going to take them horseback riding. I had only been once, a few years ago and I wasn't sure if this was a disaster waiting to happen but I was actually excited too.

We walked into the dark house and what felt like a boulder crashed into me. I landed on my back with cold hands pinning me down and red eyes hovering above me. Then the lights turned on and I saw it was Falyn. She had a frantic, scared look on her face.

"Falyn, what are you doing? Get off of Bella!" Aislinn screamed as she ran over and tried to pull Falyn off of me.

"I'm sorry, Bella. I didn't know it was you guys coming in." She said while she jumped off of me.

"Who did you think it was, Falyn?" Aislinn was looking at her with worry in her eyes.

"The Volturi. We have to get out of here, now."

"What do you mean the Volturi are coming here? Why would they come here? I thought that they uphold the laws for vampires, what does that have to do with us? Where is Osiris?" Aislinn was not moving until she got some answers.

"He is getting a car for us. I don't know why they are coming, he wouldn't tell me. All I know is that if they see that you know about vampires they will kill you. They don't like their secret being out. Osiris should be here any minute. I'm going to pack some food and the boy's things. Bella and you should pack a few things for yourselves. I don't know how long we will be gone." She said frantically.

I just stood there, numb. I knew something was wrong with Osiris and now because of him I was about to run for my life from vampires, again.

"Bella, go pack, NOW!" Falyn screamed out me. I snapped out of my daze and ran up to my room to pack. I threw a few pieces of clothes into my bag along with a picture of Charlie, Renee and I from right before I left, shoved my iPod into my pocket and made my way back down stairs. Shaughn and Caden didn't know what was happening but they could tell something was going wrong and we were in danger. Caden was crying and ran to me. I picked him up and rocked back and forth with him resting on my hip.

"Bella, I'm scared." He said in between sobs.

"I know, baby. It's ok though, everything is going to be alright. We just have to go away for a little while but then everything will be better and we can come back home." I whispered to him.

"You won't leave right?"

"I promise I won't leave. I love you with all my heart, little brother. Nothing in this world could make me leave you."

Falyn and Aislinn came down stairs with bags in their hands. "He's here, let's go." Falyn said while taking Aislinn's bags so that she could carry Shaughn. We made our way out to the car and Osiris was clearly scared out of his mind. I didn't have any doubts that he knew this day would come. We all got in and the car took off like a flash through the country roads. Caden sat in my life quietly sobbing into my chest until he fell asleep. We drove for a few hours in silence until Shaughn finally fell asleep once it was dark outside.

"What the hell is going on Osiris?" I spat out at him quietly. Aislinn looked at me like I had grown two heads. Oh, right she doesn't know that this is his fault.

"I don't know." He said.

"Bullshit. Don't fuck with me Osiris, now isn't the time to keep up your little façade. You've put people that I consider my family in harm's way and you need to tell us what exactly is going on. Do us all a favor and cut the crap, we need to know what we might die because of. You were part of the Volturi so you must know why they are coming here. How did you even find out they were coming?"

Osiris just kept his eyes out at the road ahead. Falyn stared at him from the passenger seat, obviously wanting an explanation too. It was clear he wasn't going to talk so she started. "We went to one of our favorite hunting spots and after we were full we stopped by our friend Conner's home. It was destroyed, on fire and the cloud of smoke from it was purple. I asked Osiris what happened and he just said 'Volturi.' I asked him why the smoke was purple and he said that it was what the smoke looked like when a vampire was set on fire."

"I know that the smoke from burning vampires is purple but why did you automatically assume that it was the Volturi and they were after you Osiris?" I demanded. Stupid vampire needs to cough up some answers before I set his ass on fire myself.

Aislinn was sitting there staring ahead with a blank look on her face. I had never seen her act like this; it looked like she was shutting down. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently, trying to let her know that everything was going to be alright. She knew as well as I did that nothing was going to be alright after this. Osiris just kept his eyes on the road, not speaking.

"Come on! You owe all of us some damn answers!" I said a little louder.

"Is what I think the truth, Osiris? Are we in danger because of something you've done?" Aislinn whispered, not moving out of her blank gaze.

Osiris shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Ha, caught you now you ass. He couldn't keep things from Aislinn and all of us knew it.

"Dearest, it isn't like that I promise you…" Osiris was cut off midsentence by a rock slamming into our car, causing it to fly through the air in a series of spins. It felt like we were in the air for hours, everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. This is it, the day that I die. I grabbed Caden's head and tucked it protectively into my chest. Our car did a few more spins and finally hit the ground with a loud crunch. It slid along the ground for what felt like days before coming to a stop. I opened my eyes after a moment and saw that we were upside down. It felt like I was having an out of body experience. I could see the glass shards falling from around me onto the roof of the car while Osiris got out, leaving us behind. I could see Shaughn and Caden Screaming but I couldn't hear them. Falyn was prying the door off of the car and pulling an unconscious Aislinn from the wreck.

In an instant everything sped back up and I could hear the shrieks of my little brothers. Caden was still in my arms; I unbuckled us from the car and kicked out what was remaining of my window. I pushed Caden out carefully, making sure to keep the glass away from his skin and crawled out. I noticed that we were in a huge field, a couple hundred feet from the two lane road we had been driving on. I ran over to where Falyn had drug Aislinn and Shaughn out and noticed that luckily no one was bleeding. Aislinn was now beginning to wake up and instantly started screaming. We shushed her and helped her onto her feet.

"Hello." A sinister voice said to us softly.

We turned around to see two figures with crimson eyes, wearing dark grey cloaks looking at us. The one who spoke was huge, the same size as Emmett but I doubted this guy was a teddy bear on the inside. The other was much smaller but looked even scarier. The expression on his face was pained, like he was having a hard time not killing us right then and there. It was the same look that Jasper had when I was around and he was having trouble controlling my thirst. A third cloaked figure was walking from behind the road toward us, dragging Osiris by his neck. He was big, not as big as the other one but still huge and he was scarier than both of the others put together. He walked over to us and threw Osiris onto the ground at our feet and the other two vampires positioned themselves on either side of him, he was clearly the leader.

"Osiris, we have such a long history together, I'm surprised you thought you had a chance of being able to run away from me," The leader said.

"Demetri, please, you must understand…" Osiris said, his voice was thick with fear.

Demetri as in the tracker for the freaking Volturi guard? GREAT.

Demetri held up his hand, silencing Osiris. "Oh but I do understand brother. The Volturi so graciously take you in and you chose to not only abandon us but also to defy our most important law. I'm going to give you one chance to explain yourself because you and I go back a long time. I suggest you make whatever you have to say very good, you know how generous I am by giving you this chance and you won't be receiving another."

I looked over at Osiris, his façade was finally broken, he couldn't hide anything anymore and the scared expression on his face told me that he knew it too. Falyn's eyes were full of fury and darting back and forth between the Osiris and Demetri like she didn't know who to kill first. Aislinn was crouching and had Shaughn facing her so he couldn't see what was happening while she covered his ears. I grabbed my iPod out of my pocket, put the earphones in Caden's ears and chose some soothing music. The boys were already scared enough they didn't need to know what was about to happen to us.

"Demetri, my friend, I was sent to find talent for the guard and that is exactly what I have done. These twin girls are both gifted. The one that is already changed can shift shapes and the one who is still human shows promise. I didn't go back to Volterra because I wanted them to grow up more first. I promise you, brother."

Demetri flashed a sinister smile "So," he said to Aislinn. "It is planned for you to become immortal?"

Her eyes got wide and glossy, her tears were threatening to spill out everywhere. Please for the love of God Aislinn lie! Say that you are going to be changed! She took a deep breath and kissed Shaughn on his cheek before speaking. "Yes, he was planning to change me soon. I only wanted to have some more time left with my little brothers." She whispered.

"Well then, that is good, Aro will be pleased. We will take you and your sister to Volterra and let Aro know that you are to be changed." Demetri said.

Aislinn pushed Shaughn over to me and then walked over towards Demetri, stopping just a few feet away. I crouched down and covered his ears while Caden sunk his head deeper into my chest. "No! I won't be away from my brothers." She didn't show any fear, she wasn't asking, she was demanding.

Falyn came up from behind her, grabbed her arm and whispered "Aislinn if you don't go they will probably kill us all. It's best just to do as they say." Their red and blue eyes stared back at each other; both sets were blazing with fury.

"Your sister is wise, you should listen to her," Demetri said, "Felix, take these two back to Volterra, Tallis and I will finish up here."

The big one, obviously Felix started walking away and motioned for Falyn and Aislinn to follow. Falyn complied but Aislinn just stood there staring at Demetri and Tallis. Demetri stared back at her and she lunged at him. I closed my eyes and winced because I knew that Aislinn never stood a chance against a vampire. I opened up my eyes to see that Shaughn's were wide with terror, he obviously felt me wince. I smiled weakly to reassure him that everything was ok before I looked back up to where Aislinn had been standing before.

She was lying on the ground twitching and there was a bite mark on her arm. Demetri was holding back Tallis who had a frenzied look; apparently he was the one who bit her. I wanted to kill him. He hurt my sister and now she was going to be the one thing she didn't want to be. For Shaughn and Caden's sake I didn't lunge at him myself, if I was dead the boys would have no one left. Falyn flew back to Aislinn's side, looked her over and then gave Tallis a death glare.

"You will pay for this." Was all she said as she picked Aislinn off the ground and cradled her while whispering in her ear.

"She was going to be changed no matter what and now she has learned not to attack those stronger than her." Demetri said. Tallis was finally starting to calm down but he still looked like he was in pain. He clearly wanted blood. Demetri shot him a disappointed look. Felix came back over and led Falyn back the way they had came. I saw them get into a car that was previously hidden in the shadows and drive away. I was now in the presence of three non-vegetarian vampires and keeping myself together for the sake of my little brothers was becoming harder by the second.

"Now, back to your wonderful story," Demetri growled at Osiris, "what exactly were you going to do with these three humans?"

"The young children I was going to… get rid of. The girl showed up a few months ago and befriended the girls. I would have already killed her myself but she too will have a strong power once she is changed."

I snapped my head up and glared at him. Sick fuck was going to kill my little brothers. Why would he lie about me having powers to save me?

"Really?" Demetri said, raising an eyebrow at me. "Well then it's settled, the two of you will go back to Volterra with us, she will be changed and you, Osiris, will explain yourself to Aro."

"What about the boys?" I said to Demetri. "I can't leave them."

"They are too young to be changed; we aren't fond of immortal children. They will have no powers so they have no future use to us and we will not change them. They are humans and they know our secret so they must be dealt with. Tallis…."

"NO!" I screamed. "They have no idea about vampires. You have to let them live, no rules have been broken." Tears were streaming down my face. They are going to have to kill me before they lay a finger on my brothers.

The frenzied look that Tallis had before was magnified now that he was thinking of killing my brothers. He was probably imagining how their blood would feel going down his throat. I resisted the urge to vomit and looked at Demetri with pleading eyes.

"Is this true, Osiris? Do these children know nothing of immortals?" Demetri asked, Osiris nodded his head yes. "If the children don't know then no laws have been broken and we have no desire to kill them."

I heard a shriek come from Tallis and everything turned back into slow motion. Demetri and Osiris looked at him in shock and he lunged at Shaughn. I pushed the boys down behind me and jumped into Tallis' path. My eyes closed when his fingernails dug into my skin and his teeth sank into my shoulder. The pain was extreme for a moment and then I felt a surge of cold throughout my body as though my veins were turning to ice. I immediately knew there was a difference between this and what I felt when James bit me, I must be dying this time, not changing. I opened my eyes and noticed that we were still in the air. In an instant Tallis separated from my body and blew up into dust while I hit the ground with a thud. I couldn't move, I closed my eyes and wasn't able to open them again. I'm sorry boys, I broke my promise. I'm sorry I have to leave you. Everything went black, I couldn't feel anything but the ice taking over my veins, I couldn't move and I couldn't hear.