Disclaimer: -Sigh- I don't own most of these characters, they belong to Steph Meyer.

A/N: I'd like to send a special thanks to my newest reader who seems to have devoured both stories in a day-Forever-Aurelie. Thank you for you help and your comments. Always love hearing from new readers. And to the rest of my loyal reviewers: MickeyandMinnie, pricel, darkmistres darkalyria Twilightfan0195, MyChemicalRomance70, suzy5, literaturecrazy, & aglblsm you guys always make me want to keep writing and offer such helpful and encouraging suggestions.

Chapter Nineteen Part 2 Stupid Plans

"Please just hear me out," Carlisle implored.

"Not to be rude or anything, but there's not a single thing that you could say to me that would persuade me to willingly join the Volturi." If I just walked out the door right now and went on my merry way then they could kiss this wretched plan goodbye, but the thought of walking out on Edward when we'd only just made up was more than I could bear, so I plopped back onto the plush couch with my arms folded across my chest and a very determined expression fixed on my face.

Edward knelt in front of me, his eyes full of pain. "We're not asking you to go in alone, Bella," he whispered. "Demetri will go with you." It looked like it cost him a lot to utter those words. I could only imagine what the idea of me and Demetri alone together in Italy was doing to him.

A low snarl emanated from the back wall making the hairs on my neck stand erect. Leah stood rigid as though she was fighting her instincts as both woman and wolf. The woman in her would never allow Demetri to jet across the globe with me- the vampire she hated beyond all others- but the wolf in her wouldn't allow her to care either way.

Demetri moved cautiously toward her, but she snapped at him, the growl growing louder with each step he took closer.

"Enough of this," Carlisle commanded in a voice I'd never heard from him before. For a split second I could completely envision him as the ruler of vampire kind. Who would ever disobey such a kind authoritative figure? "We have no time for melodramas. Bella, you and Demetri will join with the Volturi and supply us with the information that we need."

Wow. I just didn't know what to say to that. If Charlie had ever spoken to me like that I'd have had some snippy retort out before he could have blinked, but this was Carlisle and the last time I took a negative tone with him Edward had been pretty irate with me, so I bit back my response and took a few calming breaths.

"Like hell he is!" Leah's voice tore across the room. "He is not going anywhere with her." She moved fluidly over the couch and landed in a crouch in the center of the room, her whole body shaking with the anger that threatened to bring on the transformation.

"Well, I never thought I'd agree with Leah, but on this I do. On what planet is placing me within Marcus's grasp a smart idea?" I asked, my voice dripping with sarcasm. Boy, the minute I got Edward alone, he was really going to hear what I thought. I'd just open my mind and let him have it. If thoughts could cause physical harm, then he'd be in for one rough night.

Edward's finger under my chin tore my angry gaze from Carlisle. "Just listen to the rest of the plan before you make your decision."

"I don't know how you can ask me to do this." I shook my head, feeling my heart break all over again. "I don't want Marcus anywhere near me," I pleaded, my voice cracking a little as the fear of what he might be able to make me do filled me. I broke free of his power once. Did that mean he could no longer use it against me? Somehow I didn't think I'd be that lucky.

"If you go to them willingly, Bella, there would be no reason for Marcus to use his powers against you," his velvety voice chided me.

"I can't even pretend to sleep, and you want me to act as though I'm in love with him? Because anything less than that and he will use his powers on me. How far do you want me to take this little charade?" After all I'd been through I couldn't understand how he could make such a request. Hell, he'd even seen most of my memories of my time with Marcus. How he could kneel there and try to persuade me to subject myself to that again was beyond me.

"I don't know." He leaned his forehead against my knee. I did not reach up and stroke his soft hair reassuringly; I didn't feel like touching him at all, so I pulled my leg out from under him and huddled closer to the arm of the couch. I watched as an odd expression passed his face before becoming void of everything. "Surely you can keep him at a distance for a few weeks while you convince them that you need time to come to terms with the break up of your marriage." His words were clipped and barely audible even to my sensitive ears. Yeah, I'd whisper too if I'd been suggesting such a thing.

"And if I can't? If the only way to survive there and not blow our cover is to…be intimate with him-what then? You want me to whore myself out just so you can have a few more details about the workings of the Volturi? This is stupid, you could simply gather some other vampires and the Romanian brothers Christian mentioned and march on them and destroy them. Why the elaborate plan that involves me screwing that nearly translucent vampire?" I snarled.

"We should have brought Jasper with us," Carlisle murmured softly.

Demetri lowered next to Edward, Leah's low snarls wafted through the room. "I will not let Marcus touch you. We can pretend to be together," he spoke softly, his hand clutching at mine. Leah fell to her knees, her head falling forward.

"You can't do this to her," I stated.

"She'll come with us." I cocked my eyebrow in disbelief. "We'll bring her as," he glanced at her uncertainly before continuing, "…our pet. Aro and Marcus will find it highly amusing."

Leah glared at me but spoke directly to Demetri. "I am not some stray dog you picked up and decided to keep and I will not be treated as such. I will never play second to her," she spat at me, anger dripping off of each word she bit out between clenched teeth.

I held up my hand. "They can't come with me," I whispered as the realization hit me like a Mac truck. "I am the only one that Aro cannot read. Do you really think that he won't demand that each of us allow him to touch us, to know all our thoughts?" I glanced at Edward's then Carlisle's shocked face. Clearly they hadn't taken this into account. "I told you this was a stupid plan."

Christian and Kattra sighed in unison. "We can go with her. We both have the ability to shield our thoughts," Christian supplied warily.

"No," Alyria gasped. "Not both of you, I will not risk both of you!" She all but shrieked.

See, it wasn't just me. Everyone's okay with sending the sheep amongst the wolves until it's their ass on the line or someone they couldn't bear to part with; which, I think spoke volumes to how the Cullen's and Edward truly felt about me.

After much discussion, it was decided that Christian and I would catch the next flight to Italy and Alyria and the rest of her coven, including Demetri and Leah, would head to Seattle where she'd been scheduled to perform, making it appear that Virat had indeed been successful in splitting us up. The Cullen's and the wolves would once again join forces. After I'd supplied them with enough information and they gathered a strong enough army, they would storm the Volturi for what I hoped would be the last time. I still wasn't sold on the fact that they needed insider information. I would rather have taken the chance of not knowing the complete layout of the castle, the guards, what extra powers each member had. This was one risk I was willing to take, but my opinion didn't seem to count.

Edward and Carlisle were huddled in the corner of the room and Alyria and her coven had disappeared into her room a few minutes before. The wolves and Demetri were in Kattra's room. I thought about listening in on that conversation, but I couldn't seem to make myself care enough to bother. I felt utterly betrayed by the family I'd given up my human existence for. I understood why I was the only logical candidate for spying. Not only did the Volturi want me, but I was the only one among the Cullen's that could keep secrets from them.

Edward took my hand hesitantly. "Come on," he said as he pulled me off the couch. I didn't ask any questions, just didn't feel like talking to him right at the moment, so I let him lead me out of the room. He guided me to the elevator and hit the button to the top floor. We stood there surrounded by mirrors and bad elevator music without talking. He still had my hand clasped in his, but avoided my eyes as I stared at his reflection in the mirrored door.

This floor was done in rose and gold with Renaissance paintings every few steps. We stopped in front of room 1200 and he used the keycard to let us in. He had either anticipated my reaction to the plan and had wanted somewhere private to talk, or had planned on having our make up talk take place here rather than Kattra's room. I'd like to think it was the latter, but something told me that this was where he planned on saying goodbye.

The room was massive. The living room was bigger than the whole downstairs of Charlie's house. It had what looked like very uncomfortable furniture. All of velvet material, dark woods and straight backs.

Edward spun me to face him, wrapping his arms around my waist. "I may not be able to read your mind, Isabella Cullen, but I feel you pulling away from me. Let me in. I need to know what you're thinking," he begged, his eyes full of anguish.

"You first," I muttered.

He nodded. "You don't need my permission, Bella."

Since I was already touching him, I decided to uses Aro's power rather than Edward's limited one. This way I could know every thought he'd had since the night I fed from Tyler.

I pulled away as the last of his thoughts played out before me like a movie. I leaned heavily against the door. He eyed me cautiously, waiting for me to break the silence.

He loved me. There was absolutely no doubt about that. Yes, I'd seen some less than stellar thoughts about me right after he learned that it had been me, rather than Demetri, who had attacked Tyler, but even then his love for me never wavered. Even when he'd spat those vile words at me he had still been wholly in love with me. Pain wasn't a strong enough word to describe what he was going through right now as he thought about me traveling to Italy, as he tried to find a way to say goodbye.

I finally pulled back the veil in my mind that kept him out and used my power over memories to share everything with him. Fair's fair, after all. I watched as different emotions flitted past his face. I knew he would know how very close Demetri and I had become and that out of all my memories that would be the one that hurt him the most, but I was not about to censor anything. If I tried to hide anything, he would never believe all the good ones. And there were many good ones that proved how much I adored and loved him and no matter how fond I was of Jacob or Demetri, it could never compare to what I felt for him.

"Thank you," he whispered hoarsely as he wrapped his arms around me and brought his lips to mine. I let him guide me into another room. He picked me up into his arms and lay me gently against the thick velvet bedspread, his lips never leaving mine, our minds both open allowing the other complete access to each thought and feeling.