AN- -This chapter gets a bit violent.

Guyana was... different. Different from Forks, my old home, which I most definitely did not miss, and different from Italy, my new home, which I did catch myself thinking about several times over the last month. Well, not Italy, really. Not even Volterra.

Renata. The First Shield.

I had struck up a long conversation with her not long before I had left with Demetri, Felix, Jane, and Alec for North-Eastern Southern America (the Cullen Coven's, or what was left of it's, last known locale). I had learned much about her, including that I want to learn more.

Born in 1240 to a family that produced at least several other immortals before her, she was changed at age twenty by her uncle, Luca.

'Where is he now?' I had asked, curious despite myself.

'Dead.'

'Oh, I'm sorry. Were you close?' I had asked, covering her hand with mine.

She had gripped it tightly, and her crimson eyes had seemed to search for something in mine. I don't know if she found it, but she had smiled tightly and shook her head.

'I'm not sorry he's dead. Nor am I surprised.'

Her life after joining the Volturi had been, in her own words, 'uninspiring.' I had winced, hearing that, but I deduced that trying to dispute it would only be an attempt to deceive the both of us.

She had seen me off with a hug.

'Avenge your suffering, Bella, but please don't endanger your life in doing so. I... feel that I've known you for a thousand months, not one, even though I know almost nothing about you. I know I would find my heart heavy if harm befell you.

I smiled. I would try.

Suddenly I heard someone... no... two someones approaching the small village me, Jane, and Alec had had for dinner. Alec nodded at me and skirted to the opposite side of the twenty-building hamlet. A probe against my shield let me know that Jane was also in position.

All preparation was rendered moot after a few seconds when Demetri and Felix walked out of the foliage.

I zipped up to them. 'News?' I asked tersely.

'There are four Vampires around seventy miles to the west. Howev--'

I was off before he had a chance to finish.

And was tackled before I could top five kilometres.

'Calm the hell down Bella!' Demetri hissed. 'Even if they are the Cullen lunatics, if you come like this they'll hear you coming a mile away. Or thirty. We have to be smart about this.'

I sighed in resignation. He was right. Blind rage wouldn't accomplish anything.

We spent the next two days deciding on a plan of attack. The other four people in the area, whoever they would end up being, didn't move from the immediate area.

On the third day, I crept closer and closer to what we were calling 'the camp.' The wind was blowing in my face, carrying my scent behind me, and I was using my limited knowledge of South American wildlife to ensure that animals, particularly the noise-making variety, would mask my approach.

Suddenly, I heard a voice three kilometres ahead of me.

'Someone's here.'

I was so shocked by the carelessness of someone speaking aloud that I didn't have time to identify the voice. I did, however, get the location.

Slithering forward on my hands and feet, with my stomach and face pressed to the jungle floor, I made it another three hundred meters before I finally heard the sound of a quartet of people trying to run.

I laughed. This was already over.

I had caught up to them in less then eight seconds, and, to my cataclysmic glee, I soon realized that the four people I was rapidly gaining on were Carlisle, Esme, Tanya (I think) and a fourth I didn't recognize.

For the first time in my life, I used Jane's ability.

Four bodies fell to the ground in the throes of agony. I walked up to them and looked down. Carlisle and Esme were simply spasming rigidly on the ground, Tanya was wailing in pain, but what interested me was the fourth. I released him from the grip of my second ability, grabbed his hand, and spoke to him in a matter-of-fact voice.

'Who are you? For every lie you tell me I will remove two of your fingers.'

He looked up at me defiantly. 'My name is Nahuel, I'm a Vampire-Human hybrid, and you can go to hell.'

I smirked. 'It is you, not me, who is on their way to hell. Tell me, are hybrids as resilient as we are?'

'Yes.'

'Liar.' I quipped before grabbing his tongue and ripping it out of his mouth in one fluid motion.

There was an enormous jet of blood. As this new hybrid fell to the ground, I threw the bloody appendage to the ground beside him and said 'I recommend you put that in your pocket. You'll definitely need it when we get back to Volterra. Much screaming yet to be done, you see.

I walked over to Carlisle and Esme, both still writhing in pain, and gave both of them a savage gut kick.

'Everyone who isn't being tortured help me carry someone who is. We need to get back to Volterra and hear these deviants fail to explain themselves.'

I laughed.

'Oh Esme,' I sighed as I threw the contorting Cullen matriarch over my shoulder. 'I hope you can tell me where Edward is, but whatever the case, I'm going to have some fun with you.'