Seven Days – Epilogue

"I surrender who I've been for who you are." - Turning Page, Sleeping at Last

I walked the covered streets of Pomarance quickly, the cobbled sidewalk barely making a sound beneath my feet. The flashing Tuscan sun played hide-and-seek with the charming striped awnings that adorned the storefronts, though I didn't dare step out from beneath them for fear of upsetting the locals.

I'd been in Italy for six months. They'd been the longest six months of my existence.

For starters, it had been six months without Leah.

It had been six months of training to become a small but persistent evil, of listening to the thoughts of the others around me and of trying to talk myself out of walking into a fire when I heard them. Six months of trying to remember what I stood for each time they brought me a human to feed from. I refused every time until they finally realized that I wasn't going to back down. If I had to sell myself to them in every other way I would at least keep that particular part of my old life.

Demetri was the first to accept it, and the others followed: little Jane and Alec, colossal Felix, and the rest of the Volturi guard, none worth naming. Aro still held out hope, though. I could hear it in his every thought. He wanted me wholly, fully.

I wouldn't give in. I didn't join them because I wanted to.

I was there for one very important reason: Leah.

What I had told her was true: if I hadn't joined them, she would have been killed. Aro would have done everything in his power to destroy everything I loved, and I had no doubt that she would have been first. Even though I'd never touched him and never let him see my thoughts, Demetri had met her: he still knew. And he would find her, of that I was sure.

I finally reached my destination, the small post office in the town square. Bianca, the clerk, greeted me with a smile and handed me two pieces of mail. I thanked her and made my way back onto the crowded street where children laughed and played while their parents watched, thinking prosaic little human thoughts. People gathered on corners, smiling and talking and silently worrying about bills and boyfriends and jobs. Some things never changed, no matter the time or the language. I gave a sigh, more out of habit than anything else, and opened the first letter.

It wasn't unusual to receive mail, but having two letters put me on high alert. I knew from the elegant curling hand on the first envelope that Alice was the sender. There had never been a doubt in my mind that she would keep in contact, keep looking for me and my possible future, and she was smart enough to write in semi-coded language and to send each letter from a different location and alias. I also knew that if she saw something unfavorable that she would keep it to herself as to not upset the rest of the family.

Of course, my time with the Volturi did very much resemble the other ninety years of my life in certain ways. I still hunted vampires that were determined to draw attention to us. I just did it with reinforcements and permission now. Sometimes I would bring them back to Aro and his brothers. That was the part that I hoped Alice kept from the family: the part where I brought our kind to be tortured and killed or forced to join. I never stayed for that part of the evening, preferring to quietly slip off to my quarters and be alone. I lived for the days and nights I got to spend in quiet solitude and away from the bloodthirsty thoughts of my so-called comrades.

"Ah, there you are, Edward. We've been waiting," Aro greeted me as I stepped into the large library of the mansion the Volturi owned.

"Afraid I wouldn't show? Ready to send out the cavalry?" I raised an eyebrow and dropped my bag at my feet.

He laughed breathily and stood, though I was sure his papery skin would disintegrate with each step he took. Aro finally reached me and held out his hand, his cloudy eyes eager.

"I'm here, Aro. That's all I'm going to give you." I glared.

He chuckled again and dropped his hand."You are a stubborn one, aren't you?" he mused. I shrugged and shoved my hands in my pocket. "Demetri tells me you sacrificed a great deal coming here."

"Well, your pawn obviously doesn't know what he's talking about. My work is done. I had nothing left there," I lied, and hoped I wasn't as transparent as I felt.

"Perhaps no," Aro said quietly as his eyes focused on my hands. I shoved them in the pockets of my jeans and shifted my feet. "I fear I'll never know you fully, Edward. This saddens me. If we are to work together, we must trust each other."

"You can trust me, Aro," I stated, not bothering to point out the obvious: I couldn't trust him.

I pushed those thoughts out of my mind and smiled as I opened the first letter. Alice was good to keep out their names and location. She gave me just enough information to know that they were happy and safe. I folded the letter and dropped it into the nearest trash can, not wanting to chance taking it back to Volterra with me. I didn't need it anyways- I'd already memorized her words.

Knowing that they were happy brought a strange ache to my chest. I missed them all terribly, especially Alice. But again, I knew what I was doing was best. They'd all be dead too if I hadn't come to Italy.

I opened the next letter, addressed to the same alias, but in an unfamiliar handwriting. It was postmarked from a city in Brazil. I didn't know who it could be from and if I had been human, I was sure my hands would be shaking with fear.

I slipped the single sheet of paper out of the envelope and the scent, though faint from the strain of traveling, hit me like a freight train.

Woodsy.

Sweet.

Cinnamon.

Leah.

As it turned out, my hands did tremble as I poured the rest of the contents out of the envelope. A single earring fell into my palm: a one-of-a-kind diamond that had once belonged to my mother. The same pair that I'd slipped into Leah's pocket along with Alice's phone number the day I left. I knew it was Leah's way of letting me know it was really her. I smiled again despite myself as I read her words over and over. There were just three of them, a simple enough direction.

One that she'd hoped- no, she'd known I would follow.

I looked around nervously and listened to the crowd while I thought.

It didn't take me long to make my decision. It was the decision I'd wanted to make the minute I set foot on the plane to Italy. One I knew would cause a lifetime of worry and an eternity of running. It was what I wanted to keep Leah from, what I had been trying to protect her against.

I was so sure the moment I left her that we would both better off. Leah had known better, though, and for that I was grateful.

If we were going to run, we would do it together.

"Don't let me down, Alice," I muttered and hoped Alice could still see me. I was going to need her more than ever.

I tucked Leah's letter in my pocket, and quickly slipped through the crowd. It didn't take long before I was running and leaving my own personal hell behind.

Her words were the only thing I could see:

Come get me.

Thank you all so much for reading and taking a chance on my first AU! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

XOXO,

Ashley