"Bella? Where are you?" Called Alice, her voice carrying through the open door behind me. She appeared a moment later, framed by the light that came from within, soft smile on her face when she saw me. "What are you doing out here? It's freezing."

It was cold outside, but having spent so much time around Alice the last few days I was starting to get used to it. The night was dark, the stars and the moon illuminating the field beyond and the trees on the horizon, and the wind whistled through them, making their shadows dance across the grass beneath.

"Sorry," I replied, smiling when the brunette's arms slid around my waist, pulling me backwards so I was flush against her chest. "It's just so beautiful out here."

"But not as beautiful as you." Alice pressed a light kiss to my cheek. "They'll be here in the morning." The words made me shiver, even though I already knew the truth of them all too well – I'd been counting down the days ever since Alice had brought me here, to this little house in the country, away from prying eyes.

We felt it was a fitting place to meet to Volturi, away from any other humans. I didn't know how Alice had found this place, but I was glad she had – it was a wonderful haven to spend my last few days as a human in.

It was a difficult thought, to think that, as early as tomorrow, I could be starting the transition into a vampire. The thought made me more uneasy than it had all those years ago, when I'd tried and failed to persuade Edward to turn me.

But my decision was made – I couldn't age while Alice didn't. I wouldn't. Already, I was older than she ever would be; the thought of increasing the physical age between us wasn't an option for me. I knew that Alice didn't care, that she'd happily turn me in twenty years if that was what I wanted, but she respected that I wanted it to be as soon as possible.

Leaving London hadn't been easy. I loved my job, but that was replaceable. Leaving Nikki, though, had been difficult. I hadn't been able to be honest with her, obviously – she thought that I was going away with Alice travelling for a few months, but that I'd eventually be back. I'd left her a letter, hidden in her apartment that I knew she'd find sooner rather than later, telling her that I wouldn't be coming back. It would hurt her, I knew, but there was nothing else I could do. I could hardly drop by and explain that I couldn't see her again because I was going to become a bloodthirsty vampire, and would probably try to kill her if our paths crossed again.

Angela had been harder, for I hadn't known that the last time I'd seen her would be the last time. I'd done the same for her, posting her a letter, instead. And Charlie… I hadn't been able to say goodbye to him yet. I knew I'd have to, and soon, because Nikki and Angela both wouldn't hesitate to question him when they read their letters, thinking that he would know something more, and I'd hate for him to have to learn about it from someone else.

But that was a worry for tomorrow, I decided, as Alice's arms tightened around my waist, her breath stirring my hair before she pressed another kiss to my cheek, this one more lingering. Distracted from my thoughts, I wound the fingers of one hand through her hair and turned my head, lips moving against hers.

"Come inside," she murmured when we parted, her voice seductive as she took my hand and pulled me backwards, shutting the glass doors behind her. Her mouth found mine again as she pulled me towards the bedroom, her hands gentle on my hips, guiding me.

Heat washed over me as we crossed the threshold to our room; a fire burned hot in one corner, the sound of crackling flames comforting in the otherwise silent room. Alice's hands were sure as they yanked the thin material of my t-shirt up eagerly, making a noise of approval when it became apparent that I wasn't wearing a bra underneath.

"You're insatiable," I murmured as her fingertips ghosted along my sides, leaving a path of molten fire in their wake. Her eyes, previously golden from the hunt she'd just been on, were shining now with something darker as they traced the movement of her hands, her gaze lingering at my chest.

"Not at all," she replied as her fingers deftly undid the button of my jeans. "You're just ridiculously attractive." She tugged my jeans down my legs, pressing a teasing kiss to the front of my rapidly dampening panties as she did so, before she straightened up and pushed me back onto the bed with one gentle shove.

She was straddling my hips a moment later, her lips trailing down the side of my neck as her hand twisted in my hair, exposing more of my skin. She paused at my pulse point, pounding beneath the cold press of her lips, and then her nose was ghosting back up the slope of my neck, her lips devouring mine once more.

"I love you," I gasped as her hand slid down my body, across my stomach until she'd peeled my underwear away, driving two fingers into me easily. A breathless moan left my lips, my hips pressing forward in time with each of her thrusts, and as always with her it was over almost embarrassingly quickly – she was far too good in bed.

I fell back on the bed afterwards, panting, a thin sheen of sweat lining my skin – the coolness of Alice's skin felt wonderful against mine as she stretched out beside me, her eyes appraising my face.

"I love you, too." She pecked my lips lightly and I curled into her side, draping an arm across her waist. "Are you ready for tomorrow?"

"Not really," I answered honestly, drawing absent patterns across the smooth skin of her back. "But I know you won't let anything happen to me." Her arm tightened protectively around me, her eyes burning with sincerity as they met mine.

"No. Never."

x-x-x

"They're here," Alice murmured into my ear, her voice strained, and I was only able to nod tersely in response. She was tense beside me, which didn't do anything to alleviate my nerves – I was terrified, my heart pounding rapidly in my chest, my hands clenched into tight fists in an effort to stop them from shaking.

They came in a line, emerging from the forest as one, moving fluidly together in perfect formation. There were three a few steps ahead of the others, and I assumed that those were the leaders – Alice had told me a little about the Volturi over the last few days, in an attempt to prepare me for what was to come.

All but those three paused before they reached us; Aro, Caius and Marcus continued until they stood before us. "Alice, my darling," the hood on the cloak of the vampire in the centre of the line was pulled back to reveal pale, almost translucent skin, milky red eyes and a head full of long, dark hair. "I don't suppose you'd ever consider joining us? Your gift is, after all, remarkable."

"No, thank you," Alice replied, her voice cold. I didn't like the way he was looking at her – his eyes were greedy as they absorbed her expression. But then his gaze turned to me and I swallowed hard, my mouth going suddenly dry.

"Isabella Swan," he murmured, almost reverently. "I've heard so much about you. You're… intriguing." He took a step forward, until there were only a few inches between us. "My name is Aro – presumably Alice has told you about my… gift?"

"Yes."

"And would you mind if I tried to read you?" I doubted I had much choice in the matter but I still nodded, not trusting my voice to work. One papery hand extended towards my face, and I fought the urge to flinch when he touched my skin, bracing myself for what was about to happen – but nothing did, and after a moment he stepped back, shock written clearly across his face. "Fascinating. I wonder…" He trailed off, taking a step backwards and then turning slightly, glancing towards the other vampires stood. "Jane?"

"No," Alice hissed from beside me, stepping forward – but she stopped at Aro's raised hand, as one of the others, Jane, presumably, stepped forward. She lowered her hood, too, to reveal a blonde who, in human years, didn't look to be much older than a teenager. "Aro," Alice tried again, her voice turning pleading. "Please."

"If she's immune to me, my dear, she most likely will be to Jane as well."

"But - " Alice cut herself off as Jane's eyes locked on mine, and I held my breath – but again, nothing happened. I watched the blonde across from me frown, before growling in frustration. Aro seemed delighted by the whole thing.

"See? Nothing to worry about." Aro's eyes were back on my face, the level of scrutiny making me uncomfortable, but I forced myself to stare right back. "We are here for a reason, though, as I'm sure you know Alice."

"Of course."

"There is only one rule, and you've broken it. Can you explain yourself?"

"I'm going to turn her."

"You've had ample time to do that, and yet she's still human. Like this she's a liability – she could talk easily. How do you know that she hasn't already?"

"She wouldn't. You can't read her, but you can read me – if she'd talked, I'd know." I could see the tension in the set of Alice's shoulders, and the way her chest rose and fell rapidly. "And I will turn her, and I can prove it to you. I've seen it."

"You… you can show me?" Aro sounded as though Christmas had come early, and when Alice nodded he clapped his hands together in excitement. "Excellent, excellent. Come here, then, let me - "

"Only on the condition," Alice spoke hastily, and I hoped that the flash of darkness that crossed Aro's face wasn't going to be detrimental to our cause. "That if what I say is true, and that Bella will soon become one of us, that you let us both life our lives in peace."

"Hmm," Aro mused, glancing towards his companions. "A reasonable request, I suppose. What say you, Caius?"

"If it's a certainty, and the girl hasn't talked, then I agree."

"And you, Marcus?"

"I don't see why not." I saw Alice let out a small sigh of relief, before she stepped forward, allowing Aro's hand to brush her cheek. His eyes closed, and a tiny smile crossed his face as he sifted through Alice's thoughts – when he released her, it was with a curt nod.

"She speaks the truth," he called to the rest of the Volturi, his voice carrying. "Isabella will soon become one of us, and then the danger will have passed. We have more urgent matters to attend to than the awakening of another vampire. Let us leave here and return to our home."

His words released the tight knot of worry that had been sitting in my stomach for weeks now, growing harder to bear each day, and I fought the urge to grin like an idiot – I hadn't realized how much the threat over mine and Alice's head had been bothering me until it was gone.

"But make no mistake," Aro continued, turning back to face us. "We will be checking to make sure that you do actually follow through. And keeping a close eye on the both of you to ensure no further risk to our kind occurs. And Alice, if you ever reconsider my offer… you know where I'll be."

Alice shuddered at his words, but the elder vampire didn't notice – he'd already turned, the others all falling into step with him as they disappeared back the way they'd come. It all felt unreal, that the horror I'd been imagining for so long could be over so easily, but the easy smile that Alice threw my way as my eyes met hers assured me that it wasn't a trap.

"That went… surprisingly well."

"You expected it to be worse?" I asked, quirking a questioning eyebrow upward, and the brunette shrugged, stepping forward and taking my hand, drawing me back inside.

"It could have gone worse, yeah."

"But it didn't." We collapsed onto the couch, with me facing forwards towards the TV and Alice behind me, cuddling in close. "What now?"

"Now you get to decide when you want to turn." Her breath was cold on the back of my neck but it didn't bother me – I was too used to it now, it seemed.

"As soon as possible."

"Is that so you can do it before you change your mind?" She teased, and I laughed, elbowing her gently in the side to spare bruising myself.

"No, idiot. I just don't want to wait."

"It'll hurt," she warned, voice low. "The worst pain imaginable – you'll wish you were dead."

"I will be, technically, won't I?"

"Stop being such a smartass." I could practically feel her rolling her eyes behind me. "I'm serious."

"I know." I rolled so I was facing her, cupping her face with one hand, my thumb running reassuringly across her cheek. "I didn't mean to make light of it, I'm sorry. But I want this – I want you and I want our forever; our happy ending."

"When did you get so cheesy?"

"Shut up," I groaned, kissing her to wipe the smirk playing across her lips off of her face. "What about today?"

"You seriously want the memory of your last day as a human to be one where you were interrogated by the Volturi?"

"It's the future that matters," I replied smartly, and she rolled her eyes again.

"Okay, then. But I'm taking you out for dinner first – it's the last time you'll be able to eat anything other than blood. Without throwing up, anyway."

x-x-x

"Hey, Dad, it's me. I don't know if you've spoken to Angela and Nikki lately, but I hope not – I want you to hear it from me. And I wanted to catch you but I guess a voicemail might be easier. I… I have to leave. I've already left London; soon I'll be leaving the UK altogether. I can't explain why. I wish I could, but… I just can't.

You probably won't hear from me again. I know that's hard to ear – it's hard for me, too. But I couldn't go without saying goodbye. I love you, Dad, and I've never thanked you for all the things that you've done for me. I know I wasn't the easiest daughter in the world, that it wasn't easy living with me sometimes. I put you through hell four years ago and I don't think I ever apologised for that.

And I can't apologise enough for this, either. But I want you to know that I'm safe. I'm safe, and I'm well, and I wish I could explain more but I can't. Don't look for me. Don't mourn me. Don't throw your life away because I'm gone. You have Sue – she'll get you through this, and so will Jake, and Leah, and Seth, and Billy.

I love you. So, so much. And I'll miss you. But I know you'll be okay – and you have to believe that I will be, too."

x-x-x

It was an odd concept, to know, conclusively, that some things would be your last. Last meal, last desert, last alcoholic drink… last time having sex where my girlfriend had to hold herself back.

Okay, so that last one wasn't really something that I was going to miss, but still.

"Are you definitely sure about this?" Alice murmured against my neck. It was later that night, after a dinner where I'd eaten so much food that I'd very nearly made myself sick – but I imagined that in a few days I'd appreciate it.

We were in bed, both naked and exhausted after several rounds of mindblowing sex. I ached everywhere but I still couldn't get enough of her touch, to the extent that, when I felt her fingers dance down my body again, I groaned in anticipation.

"Yes," I murmured, both in appreciation as she slipped three fingers into my core, and in answer to her question. "Yes I'm sure."

Her mouth left my neck and trailed lower, pausing at my breasts before moving over my stomach – her fingers were soon replaced by the chill of her tongue and I moaned, the fingers of my hand fisting in her hair.

She pulled back just as I was on the precipice, and I could feel her breath against my thigh, coming out in short, sharp pants. I was about to voice my disapproval that she'd stopped, even though I knew perfectly well what she was doing - we'd discussed it, at length, over the last few hours.

"I love you," she whispered against my skin, and then her fingers were pressing back into me before I could reply, her thumb skating over my clit with just enough pressure to make me explode – it was as I was coming, head thrown back, hand still fisted in her hair, and mouth open in a silent scream that she struck, her teeth biting easily through my skin and into the blood vessels beneath.

"Forgive me," I heard her murmur, before all coherent though left me, before I registered the pain, burning, burning… Everything was burning.

A/N: I seriously cannot apologise enough. I lost complete motivation for this story, for this fandom, for this pairing, and it resulted in such a long time between an update. And it's a pretty short one at that. I don't even know if anyone is still interested in this story, but I couldn't leave it unfinished for any longer. I'm content to leave it there, to be honest, but if people are interested I will do an epilogue, taking place a few years after where this left off - I go on holiday on Wednesday, so I'll aim to have it up by then.

Once again, I'm so sorry this took so long, and if you're still reading this then that is a great level of dedication that I'm undeserving of after so long - and I thank you for it.