Chapter Nine

Aro

Bella was busy thinking about something and it was clear she didn't like Caius, not that she was alone, he liked few people and few liked him. When the door crashed open we all looked up and Edward Cullen came striding in, a look of amazement and joy on his face,

"Bella"

She turned and her snarl of recognition was heard by the whole building. He stopped and put his hands out,

"Bella its me, Edward Cullen, remember me? I'm so sorry I wasn't there to change you myself but I only just learned you were here."

"I know you. I remember you."

"Yes its me Bella, Edward, your Edward"

We waited in silence for her reply but none of us expected the harsh laughter that issued from her throat.

"My Edward? No, I don't think so. I don't feel you in here"

She touched her chest.

"Edward you mean nothing to me. You left, walked away without a backwards glance. What gives you the right to come in here and try to claim me?"

Bella

I had recognised Edward Cullen as he strode in as arrogant as ever and tried to take me. I didn't belong to him, his eyes may be golden but they weren't the ones I thought of, the face that filled my thoughts. I had no idea who I needed but it wasn't this arrogant upstart. Edward looked shocked at my words and I couldn't help laughing. Aro looked at me indulgently,

"It would seem you are mistaken Edward, Bella doesn't recognise you as her mate, how interesting."

"It's just because she's confused, a newborn. Too many new experiences making her confused."

I didn't like being spoken of as if I didn't exist and I felt rage build inside me and unable to contain it I flew at him my hands like talons ready to scratch his eyes out. He was fast but I was faster and more powerful and I threw him across the chamber to crash into the far wall and slip to the floor then jump to his feet looking outraged.

"Bella, please, remember"

"Oh I do Edward, you were an ass hole when I was human and you're still an ass hole."

The three brothers all laughed out loud at my words but I was too angry to find it funny. Edward came towards me again but this time I didn't wait for him to reach me, I moved forward and in his fantasy world he saw me running to his arms. His surprise when he realized what I was really doing was funny. I grabbed his arm and pulled it up his back just to the point where another inch would detach it and I hissed in his ear

"You stay away from me Edward Cullen because if you don't, the next time you touch me I'll rip both your arms off and burn them. Do you understand?"

He nodded and I let go pushing him away from me, my hands felt dirty just touching him, and I wiped them on the front of my new jeans, my room had been equipped with everything, including clothes in the closet.

Marcus

As we laughed I saw that Bella was far more dangerous than Aro had imagined. She may be a newborn but she wasn't a typical newborn, she was far too controlled for that and she was focused, she knew what she did and didn't want. Not at all normal and that concerned me, she was unique and I wondered who her mate was, he would have to be someone with strength of body and character, not a weakling like Edward. Was it her mate that concerned me so much? I didn't know but I thought we needed to, because I could feel trouble coming and I wasn't the only one. I had friends out in the world, friends that Aro wasn't aware of and one of them Sebastian, could feel danger on its way and he felt it now. The Volturi were headed towards danger, not just danger but possible annihilation.

"Aro I think perhaps we should give Bella time to hunt and calm down, perhaps Jane would take her out of the city."

Aro nodded thoughtfully still watching Edward, his face registered shock and disbelief at Bella's treatment of him. Having heard what happened leading to his decision to ask us to kill him I wondered at his blind stupidity. I had never thought very highly of Carlisle's first-born, I'd thought he was blind to Edwards shortcomings and it was quite obvious that he could delude himself. As Bella walked out with Jane, a last scornful look at Cullen, I knew she was meant for better things than him.

Edward

I could hardly believe it when Felix told me that not only was Bella still alive but a vampire and in Volterra and I rushed to be at her side knowing she would turn a smiling face to me and run into my arms glad to be reunited. I had hurt her bitterly when I left but I knew she would forgive me as only a mate can. Her reaction when she saw me was confusing but she was a newborn and her thoughts were still muddled. The attack she made on me showed just how confused she was or at least that was what I had thought but all her reactions screamed hatred, distaste, and anger, and Marcus shaking his head just reinforced that she wasn't my mate after all. I had loved her, shown her another life, another way to exist and she ignored all that. If she wasn't mine then whose was she? A gifted vampire like Bella wouldn't be alone for long and it did occur to me that Marcus might be trying for her himself but his amusement at my reaction wasn't that of a mate. How had she ended up here? Alice had seen her commit suicide so who saved her from the ocean? It wasn't a wolf or she would be on the reservation not here in Volterra a newborn vampire although that wasn't right either, she didn't act like a newborn but she couldn't be very old, was her gift able to help her through the anger, the rage and the thirst? I wanted her, she was mine, I found her and her gift and I would speak to Aro, ask him to give her to me, I could soon tame her, show her what she was missing by turning her back on me. But first I would let the others know that she was here with me, where she belonged, that Alice had been wrong, not the first time but the most mistaken she had ever been.

Carlisle

I was relieved that Aro had agreed to keep Edward in Volterra under Chelsea's thrall. It wasn't the way I wanted it but at least he was alive and would come to his senses in the end. I hadn't heard from him since I found out he was going to Volterra to commit suicide and I was pleasantly surprised to hear his voice.

"Edward, at last. How is life treating you in Italy? What are you doing with yourself son?"

"Carlisle I saw Bella"

"Bella? Oh Edward no, Bella's dead, Alice saw it."

"Well Alice was wrong because Bella's here in Volterra, a newborn."

"How? Who changed her?"

"I don't know any details yet but she's very confused and angry, it's going to take some time for me to win her back"

"You mean she doesn't recognise you as her mate?"

"No but she's very confused as I said"

"Confused or not, a newborn should recognise her mate, if she doesn't then perhaps she wasn't the one for you"

"Carlisle its Bella, she loved me with all her heart."

"As a human yes but things change when you become a vampire, perhaps you'd do better to let her go Edward. I'm just glad you didn't do anything stupid"

"No Aro talked me out of it but I will win her back Carlisle. I just thought you'd like to know she didn't die."

When he put the phone down I sat pondering for some time. I didn't like this latest revelation, if Bella wasn't Edwards mate and he insisted on pursuing her it could lead to trouble with her and her real mate if he ever showed up. Some of us went many years, decades, even centuries, before we found the one for us.