Here's chapter 4! For those wondering, it's 1, 882 words; great for those who like longer chapters!

Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga obviously belongs to Stephanie Meyer, I've just borrowed her lovely characters to entertain myself and my readers.

It was quiet with just Edward and I on the plane. The only sound to be heard was the steady thrum of our pilot's heart.

"Us, huh?" I asked.

He had to have known I'd bring it up sometime. Considering himself part of the Volturi made me feel like we were that much closer to being equal.

"Yes, us," he replied, not seeming to be phased at all.

"Are you happy?" Our eyes still hadn't met through the conversation. I stared at our hands linked together between us.

"I am… Are you happy?

I finally looked up to find him looking down at me. Anxiety filled his features as he awaited my answer.

I smiled wide. "Yes. I am happy."

He leaned down to kiss my forehead and my eyes closed with pleasure of his touch. When he pulled away I let my head fall to his shoulder.

It wasn't until then that I remembered his family back in Forks. I let him through my shield, not knowing how to put my worry into words.

What will they think?

"I trust them. I think they'll be happy as long as I am."

But they don't think very highly of the guard

He laughed. "I can tell you one thing though, they do think highly of you."

They do?

"Yes. I'm not worried, and you shouldn't be either."

I nodded and my shield pushes Edward out.

"So, Africa huh? I've never had a proper lion before."

I laughed. "I've practically just started this animal thing. I think we're both in for a treat."

After reaching Africa my dad sent us a map over my phone to the area with the least amount of civilization. It wasn't that hard. There were plenty of places here that weren't populated.

With the map was a message; do not worry if you come across a vampire scent. I've sent Joshua to the area.

Joshua was one of our spies, but today he was a body guard. Dad had probably sent someone to watch Heidi, too. He was obviously more worried about what happened to Felix then he let on.

It still hurt that Felix was gone, but having Edward made it easier. He was kind of a distraction from the hole in the guard.

Josh kept a few miles distance from us while we hunted. Edward told me he could still hear some of his thoughts from this far away. He was worried about keeping an eye on us. Apparently my dad placed a great responsibility on his shoulders.

After two lions I felt full, almost too full, so we perched up in a nearby tree. It was nice to enjoy alone time with Edward.

"I guess I'm going to have to drop out of high school before I've even finished." I sighed. I was a little disappointed, but I had to admit that I enjoyed having some excitement back.

"It's nice to actually do something. I didn't realize how confined I felt. I never thought the Volturi was the way to go," Edward said.

He was right. Most vampires didn't believe how much freedom we actually got. But I suddenly felt guilty, he wanted to do things but I knew the one he'd have to do soon was a consequence in his mind.

"Remember how mad you were when you swathe trial that first time you came to visit? When I killed the child?"

He nodded, not grasping what I was getting at.

I went on, "do you still feel that way? About killing our own kind, I mean?"

He paused, and I braced myself for the response I was dreading. "I think… that you do what you have to, and I respect that."

His answer wasn't what I expected but I knew he still didn't completely understand. I couldn't beat around the bush anymore.

"We sort of have this… initiation," I started. "If you really want to be in the guard - because you still change your mind - you have to kill the next criminal yourself…" I trailed off, carefully watching Edward's reaction. "I know you don't like killing humans… I wasn't sure… Killing your own kind…"

Edward seemed almost laid-back about the idea. He didn't seem disconnected from the subject, but not happy about it either. "Killing criminals; I suppose that's something you don't know about me yet."

What does that even mean? "What are you talking about?"

He sighed. "It was back in the 50s. I… 'rebelled' against Carlisle I suppose. I justified feeding on humans by just killing criminals; I tried to save more lives than I took..." then he trailed off. I guessed he was remembering, and then a look of disgust flashed across his face.

It was possibly the worst thing that could've happen. It was these times when I remembered Edward wasn't comfortable with killing, he wasn't brought up as a human-hunting vampire. He didn't belong. It made me upset, to say the least.

"You're not comfortable with it." It wasn't a question.

I hopped down from the branch in the tree we were in and started slowly in the direction of our plane. But I didn't get very far.

A familiar hand wrapped around my wrist and I stopped and sighed. "Edward, I don't want to make you do anything." I turned to face him, about to say 'you don't have to', but he put his other hand to my mouth.

"Just listen for a second. I'm not going to tell you that I want to kill someone. But, I will if it's necessary."

I was a little shocked that he seemed willing, but I was still skeptical. "I don't want you to do it for me either. And don't give me some crap about how you'd do anything for me-"

His laugh cut me off.

I glared at him. "What?"

"I just love you." His eyes stared into my soul. "And as much as I would do anything for you, I promise that I've made this decision for me. How many times have I told you that I want to be here?" he asked jokingly.

I hesitated; unsure how to respond. "You're happy?"

"I've never been happier." He smiled down at me.

I smiled too. "I'm happy that you're happy."

We ran back to the plane, and I was anxious to get back. I wanted to be there for everyone right now, and I couldn't exactly do that in Africa.

"So this is it, huh?" Edward suddenly asked. We had been sitting comfortably in silence on the plane.

I looked at him; curious.

"Running around, taking airplanes to corners of the world. Why didn't you bring me sooner?"

"Because it's dangerous." The statement wasn't true, but it was still my automatic answer.

His face drew a smirk, and I wondered if he could see through the excuse. "I don't see any danger yet."

"Don't be so cocky, Cullen. You've been lucky so far."

He nodded. "I am pretty lucky."

I tried to drive the conversation out of the danger aspect and mentioned something else that was on my mind. "You're lucky they like you so much, too."

"Who?"

"My family – you've really impressed them, you know. I'm glad you all get along so well… I was a little worried about it at first."

"Really?" he asked. He seemed genuinely surprised.

I laughed. "I don't know, you tell me mind-reader."

"Don't laugh at me! I honestly didn't realize…"

He had the cutest embarrassed look on his face that I could help but giggle. "You're adorable."

Edward snorted. "That is possibly the least manly thing you could ever call me." He just glared at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, what would you like to be called? Humor me."

He rubbed the back of his neck, obviously uncomfortable.

I grabbed his face, and his arms fell to my waist automatically.

"I agree, you fit more into the beautifully handsome category. Or maybe the sexy category."

Not even maybe, I thought, more like definitely the sexy category.

"Maybe?" He raised an eyebrow – even with my shield he could practically read me like a book.

"Yeah, maybe."

"Well, I think you are beautifully sexy." If I had blood running through my veins, I would have most definitely blushed, but I kept my grip on him and suddenly realized how close our bodies were against each other. His eyes turned dark as lust filled them.

Then he closed the gap between our faces and his lips pressed up slowly against mine. They molded against each other as Edward kept the kiss slow.

These kisses from Edward were my favourite; full of love and passion.

I heard Edward's phone vibrate in his pocket but he ignored it and growled as my hands started tugging on his hair.

Suddenly we were broken apart by a sudden shift of the plane. It lurched us forward – which was hard to do to a vampire – and I felt the plane falling downwards.

"What the heck?!" I had to yell over the sound of air rushing by the plane. I ran to the cockpit to find our pilot struggling. "What's going on?!"

"I'm sorry, Miss Volturi. The engines; they're dead, they've all failed!" He was in a panic trying to fix what could not be fixed.

"Bella…" I heard Edward say and I left the cock pit to find the back of the plane on fire.

Of course it's fire.

"We need to jump," I told Edward. Then I ran back to the cockpit to find our pilot passed out in his chair. "There's no hope for him, we have to get out of here." I spoke at lightning speed as we kept getting closer to the ground. I checked the map and radar to find us flying over the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. There were no planes around us, no land, just sea.

Edward grabbed my hand in the next second and we were flying out of plane and then plunging deep into the sea.

This is when I was grateful for being a vampire.

When I burst up through the water's surface, Edward was right next to me.

"Are you alright?" he asked; trying to look me over.

"I'm fine, Edward. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I think I'm alright."

"What I really want to know is how that happened. Planes don't just catch fire."

As if on cue I saw the plane crash into the water only a few miles away. I pulled Edward with me to get a little farther from the destruction in case any other planes would be flying by soon. If they saw two people treading water in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, it wouldn't go over very smoothly.

"We have to get to land," I said. I was in the survival mode I never thought I'd have to use.

I looked around me and knew exactly where we were. Syracuse, Italy was about two hundred miles ahead.

"Bella?" Edward asked anxiously. I turned to him and saw worry written all over his face. "Do you know where land would be?"

I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "Don't worry, just follow me."

Then I let go of his hand and took towards Syracuse.

A/N- there you go! Let me know what you thought my review, it's always super appreciated! I'm SO glad everyone has been seeming to like Radiate and I've been loving reading everyone's reviews! Thanks for the love :)

PS - The deal today is that I'm now re-writing a chapter for the third time and all reviews are appreciated now more then ever