Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer is the creator of these intriguing characters. She and the filmmakers have made a fascinating and beautiful trilogy. I wish to borrow her background and add a plot twist of my own. I also made use of the site ' wiki/Volturi' a fantastic site if I may say and well worth a read for twilight fans.

High guys for those faithful readers I wish to tell you that I am taking a week off. So It will be a while before the next chapter. Thanks for all your support – and this is not goodbye but; till then.

Chapter 34 – New Allies and old friends

Bella's POV

I thoroughly enjoyed being back between the Cullens. My lessons with the Denali's were going well. At first they were infuriated at the fact that they had been 'volunteered' to help in my training but after a while they warmed up to me. Eleazar said my gifts were that of a shield, a very strong one but it would take a lot of practice before I could live up to my potential. I just hoped that Aro didn't hear of it.

Kate helped me to project my force field so that I would be able to shield others. She would use her powers on a Cullen and I had to protect them. I felt sorry for them as they continued to get jolted but after a while I was able to project my shield around others and in slightly more than a week I was able to protect those within fifty meters of me. It was hard work but I was determined to keep going; after all if Kate was willing to keep up the pace so was I. Realizing I was a liability to them I understood they wanted to get this training over with as soon as possible so that they wouldn't have Caius or Aro breathing down their necks.

I received a call daily from Caius and Athenodora they both seemed to miss me. You could push me over with a feather Caius missing me! Caius was constantly asking Eleazar about my progress and I think that his reason behind this was that he wanted me back in his bed but I couldn't complain. He did keep his promise and allowed me to stay here.

One evening I heard a discussion between Rose and Emmett over Edward and I held back a moment. I felt terrible about having to drop my relationship with Edward but knew I couldn't keep up my battle with Caius although I suspect Caius wouldn't mind. He loved to battle but I just wanted to be at peace; I didn't have it in me to bicker for an eternity.

I saw how tormented Edward was by the new status of our relationship. Although I had lost him I still loved him enough to hope that he could adjust. Listening in on this conversation, I hoped that they could enlighten me.

"He just won't forgive me" Rose said

"If I lost you because of his stupidity, I wouldn't either" Emmett replied but she continued her monologue as if he hadn't said a thing.

"He is even angry at me because that mutt overheard us" she said "It's not my fault he was eavesdropping while we were talking about Bella and Caius."

I then realized they were talking about Jacob. What did he have to do with all this, what had he heard? I understood that Rose or Emmett would say nothing to me about this so I went to the only person I trusted to tell me the truth.

"Carlisle" I asked "I heard that you had told everyone about my 'untimely accident'. What did Jacob say, was he satisfied with your story?"

Carlisle became anxious and I probed further "Carlisle what does Jacob know of my death?"

Carlisle looked at me and I saw the sympathy in his eyes "He wouldn't believe it but let it slide until Victoria and her groups had been killed. The day after the fight Sam and Jacob came over to our place to discuss the future and he overheard a discussion between Rose and Edward. He knows you were forced to bond with Caius and could never come back to you old life"

I winced at the thought "How did he react?

"He was heartbroken" Carlisle said and then went on to request "Listen Bella let time heal his wounds. Whatever you plan to do will only cause him more pain. You can't change your fate! Whatever you plan to do; it won't make a difference".

"It will to me!" I said and then looked for a phone asked him "Do you have his phone number?"

Carlisle asked "Please let it go Bella"

"He knows I'm alive and I need to speak to him, tell him I'm alright. If it were Edward I would do the same. Would you stop me then?" I asked, my eyes examining his expression.

I saw a defeated look come over his face and prodded further. "Please Carlisle" I begged "If you don't give it, I will discover it, even if I have to go to Forks to do that".

He took his phone out of his pocket, looked up Jacobs's number and let it ring. When he heard Jake's voice he gave me the phone. I took the phone, rushed up to my bedroom and when I heard Jacobs voice I hesitated. I had boldly told Carlisle that I wanted to call but I suddenly got cold feet.

After his second hello I forced myself to reply "Hello Jacob"

"Bells, is that you?" He sighed, noticeably relieved to hear my voice and yet not really recognizing the sound of it. A second later he covered the mouthpiece to yell "Heah dad, I'm going outside be back later"

I felt a pang in my heart hearing my friend's voice and said "Actually I am not allowed to talk with you but I wanted let you know that I am doing well".

I heard the sound of his footsteps as he walked in the forest. He was quiet for a moment but I realized that he was building up a succession of questions in his mind.

"Is it true that you are now bonded to one of their bloodsucker kings?" he asked almost spitting the words out.

"Yes…..I guess so. But it isn't what you think; I don't want you to worry. I am fine I just wanted to hear your voice and tell you I am all right. As I have already told Edward I only wish that you both will be able to live your life to the full and not think about me"

Trying to change the subject I inquired "Have you imprinted with anyone yet?"

I wasn't able to lure him out of his thoughts as he ignored my question saying "I need to see you Bells"

"You can't, it's impossible" I replied the fear mirrored in my voice "I will only be here for a few days than I'll be leaving for Italy and I can't come back"

"You're with the Denali coven?" he probed

"How did you know?" I enquired

"Carlisle told us he would be going there and I 'accidently' found a forwarding address in his home" He chuckled.

With a hint of blackmail he added "Look Bells, if you don't agree to meet me I will come to the coven."

I panicked and quickly countered "That's too dangerous Jake; if my bonded mate or anyone else happened to find out it could cost you your life!"

He ignored my plea and continued "I will meet you at the Healy Visitors center exit M249 on hwy 3 the day after tomorrow at eleven p.m. It's just 12 miles north of the Denali Park entrance. Now that you have vampire speed it should be easy for you; I just want to see and talk to you for one last time".

I was astonished "How do you know where to meet me, you have never been there before have you?"

"Maybe not" Jake answered "but I do know my way around the internet and I thought to myself, if Bells were to meet up with the Cullens in Alaska; I would to make sure I could see you. I have been carrying this address with me since then".

I sighed and said "It seems you know me better than I know myself"

He chuckled and said "I always believe in being prepared".

Realizing I had lost this battle I gave in to his request saying "I already know I'm going to regret it but I'll be there".

"Have you got a pen and paper Bells?" he asked and I could almost see his triumphant and charismatic smile as he spoke to me.

"Yeah" I replied while walking over to the closet to pick up my suitcase "just wait a minute, my writing block is still in my suitcase".

I finally got the side zipper opened and pulled out the pad but while doing that a small beautiful broche fell out at the same time. It must have been put there by Caius so I picked it up and put it on my bed beside me. It would be a shame if I lost it and knowing Caius he would be very insulted. I was mesmerized by its beauty but was aroused by Jacobs's voice and picked up my note pad saying "Can you repeat the address Jacob?"

As soon as I had written it down Jacob asked me for a recap making sure I had written everything down carefully.

"See you in a couple of days Jake" I said and hung up. Now I was able to look at the broach and again I was captivated by its beauty. It was a V and around the letter were all sorts of curls. There was a ruby on the bottom of the v and a shield inside it crowned on the top with a larger ruby. It reminded me of something but I didn't know what so quietly thanking Caius I put it safely in my makeup pouch and returned to the sitting room trying not to look as deceitful as I felt.

Athenodora's POV

Every day, since I had left the tower I had visited Sulpicia, telling her about the things I had seen and done this month. When we were in the tower, travel and excitement were not an option, so I told her of the new world and the things that were now possible. It was very strange for her to comprehend but she was never jealous because Aro had programmed her very well. When I inquired if she would like to meet a woman from this age she was wary but after a couple of days she requested me to bring her with me.

I had asked Alexia to dress accordingly so that she wouldn't startle Sulpicia, after all blue jeans may be the fashion now but it was not appreciated by my peers.

Alexia and I were heading towards Sulpicia's apartments in the tower. Caius had a secret hallway that joined my tower room to his so that all I had to do was smuggle Edward to Caius's room from there he could go to the tower without anyone noticing. He would then be able to listen in on the minds, hopefully catching something important which was beyond our hearing.

Alexia was nervous; afraid that she might lose control of her gift and fall into a fit. I would stay close and watch her and mentally scream to Edward if she were in danger of doing so. If that failed I was almost sure that the presence of Corin would help relax Alexia.

I held Alexia's hand trying to calm her down as we entered.

When we were allowed in the room I swiftly walked toward Sulpicia pulling Alexia behind me.

"My dear Sulpicia" I said "how are you today?"

Her smile grew as she held my hand "Good as always, but I do miss your company my love"

Well, I have brought another woman, one from this century. She is very entertaining and she will tell us how the humans live in this age.

Corin came closer to listen in on our conversation. After all introductions were made we all sat together on the settees in the room. Alexia told us about how the humans lived; the schools, the equal rights of men and woman, the jobs that were held by women and anything we wished to know.

We heard that she was a police agent in her human life and she told us what that entailed.

"I used to go after criminals she said, that was my job. Once we were after the mafia, now they are the kind of people you don't want to know. They're into drugs, prostitution and murder".

I saw Sulpicia wince when Alexia said the word 'murder' and suddenly I saw Alexia eyes cloud as if remembering something; this time her transformation was slow and I knew that with the help of Corin's gift she would get through it.

While she was quiet I skillfully maneuvered the conversation expressing how much things had changed and how fascinating the world had become. Corin agreed with me not noticing Sulpicia or Alexia's change. I was in full control at the moment and tried to keep the conversation going until about five minutes later I heard Alexia cough. Thank the gods, she was able to cope with the situation and when I looked at Sulpicia I realized she was back to reality and shaking her head trying to get rid of the fog surrounding her mind. We stayed for another hour or so as Alexia continued to chat telling us stories all sorts of stories pertaining to the 21st century. After a while we departed promising that we would soon be back.

We proceeded to leave the tower and walked with even steps to the west wing. I had the feeling we were being followed so I turned for a moment to search the passageway and then walked further talking about my time in the tower and how Alexia had been very kind to give us a view of her former life.

We then arrived at Alexia's room and walked through the adjacent door to find Edward had already come back. Alexia walked over to him and hugged him as she uttered "Thank you for being with me back there".

My curiosity got the better of me and it must have shown as Edward softly explained "I can go into her illusions and help her get out again" I was very surprised to hear that, with the help of his talent, she was able to explore her gift.

All of a sudden we heard a noise in the other room and Alexia and I quickly went over to investigate closing Edwards's door behind us.