At five-hundred forty-seven miles per hour, the plane was not moving fast enough.

I held myself suspiciously still for the entirety of the flight home. I couldn't even nervously tap my foot. My strength was out of my control, and I could very easily break through the floor of the plane.

It had been an unexpected surprise to find Victoria among the Volturi guard. A low member of the guard, but there nonetheless. Aro did not think of her once, so I had no chance to discover how she found herself there. Though, I doubted it was punishment for a crime. Victoria was not anywhere she did not wish to be. Newborn army or not.

Aro was quite put out by the wrench Carlisle through in his plans, though he was careful to conceal the depth of them to me. We were sent out of Volterra almost instantly, to catch and destroy a rogue vampire in Egypt. According to Carlisle, ancient agreements forbid the Volturi to cross certain borders, but such restrictions were clearly not applicable to us. It was nearly impossible to track the vampire in question. Both Carlisle and I were out of practice, and Aro refused to send us Felix or another one of his hounds. We eventually caught him outside of a small village, stalking his next victim. I knew right away why Aro wanted him dead. He had a gift, not much different from my own.

I wouldn't allow Carlisle to kill him. He already risked so much by coming with me. He left Esme and his job behind, though I deserved the punishments inflicted on me. It was regretful, and the look on this vampire's face would be seared into my mind for the rest of my limitless existence, but it was either him or Bella. And though he wasn't creating armies or wreaking havoc, he was still regularly killing and feeding from humans.

Though I wanted to see Bella, Carlisle and I agreed that we would try to wrangle another of my three favors from Aro now, to get it out of the way. But we returned to find Victoria was no longer there.

With a sinking feeling in my gut, I knew exactly where she was.

It was foolish to think we were free of her once Bella was turned. Bella was sturdier, less fragile, but my love could still very much be killed. And Victoria's life mission was to do so.

Suddenly, we needed to return home as soon as possible.

"It's going to be fine, son," Carlisle said again, in a low, even voice that made me want to scream. "She's with the whole family. I wouldn't be surprised if we found a dozen calls from Alice when we got off the plane."

My father only spoke the truth. It was a relief that Victoria would not be able to sneak up on us. As long as Bella stayed home, she would be safe.

Rose was waiting for us at the airport. It was Carlisle's idea to keep our return a secret from Esme and Bella so we could surprise them. Romance was not dead, even for vampires. Rosalie and Jasper were best at keeping secrets, so they were on point while Alice and Emmett stayed away, for one could not control her mouth and the other could not control his face.

Rosalie greeted us both affectionately. She missed her mentor and her menace. It was good to have the family back together, even in dire circumstances. We'd all spent too much time apart, lately.

Naturally, Rosalie insisted on driving. She drove nearly as well as I did, so I did not argue. I sat back and let the fall foliage of the mountains rush past in a blur.

"Bella is at the shop. Alone." Rose stressed the word, as if it should mean something to me. Bella had taken to vampirism easier than most. There were a few slip-ups in the beginning, but that was expected. After that, she had no issues. Her feeding habits were reluctant. She was overly cautious around humans. She was perfect, through and through.

"Wonderful. We'll pick her up and return to the house," I said. Carlisle and I couldn't share what we did for Aro, but we wanted the whole family together when we shared what we knew about Victoria. Bella would need the comfort of the whole family.

We pulled up to the shop to see an unconscious girl slumped against the doorframe of the front door.

My muscles tensed; venom flooded my mouth. I shook them loose and swallowed.

In the back of my mind, I heard Rosalie and Carlisle complete the exact same analysis as I did. The girl's heart was still beating. Her breathing remained low and slow. There was no major destruction to the shop, as far as we could tell.

Most importantly: Victoria's familiar scent was nowhere in the vicinity.

With that theory removed, it was clear to me what happened. The girl fell, and smart, responsible Bella fled. Oddly, Carlisle and Rosalie did not share my theory. I would have preferred to defend my love's honor right away, but Carlisle's priority was the girl. We had already donned our hoodies, baseball caps, and gloves for our airport trip. So, there was nothing to stop us from entering into daylight, dim from fog.

To our great relief, she immediately blinked awake after Rosalie's gentle rousing. We took care of the necessities. Rosalie called her emergency contact. Carlisle checked over her vital signs. She was concussed and had a splinter in her finger, and nothing more. Rosalie guided her to sit in a soft armchair. I brought her a hot cup of honey tea.

"Edward?" she said, dreamily, as I knelt before her.

"Yes. Amy, is it? My Bella is quite fond of you."

She blinked, either dazed or dazzled. Her thoughts weren't concrete enough for me to discern between the two. "You're fiancée…"

"Is perfectly alright," I lied with a charming smile, holding onto the cup of scalding liquid until I was certain she could handle the weight. "Thank you for thinking of her."

"Thank goodness. For a wild second, I thought she attacked me." She pressed her hand to her forehead. I steadied the cup as it teetered to the side. "Must have been a weird hallucination before I passed out."

"Perhaps."

Leaving her to enjoy her tea, I returned to the counter, where Rosalie was double-checking the money in the register. It was something I wouldn't have thought to do, but practical Rosalie always had a head for these sorts of details. I rubbed my temples. An indulgent habit—I couldn't get headaches.

"We told her to stay closed."

"Why would you do that?"

Rosalie looked at me like I had grown a second head. "Because she attacked a human girl."

"The girl has an artificial wound, with all the blood still in her body."

"You don't think Bella did this?"

"I know Bella didn't do this!" I hissed. "She would never do anything like this."

At the other side of the room, Carlisle was quick to hide his thoughts.

"Please just say it," I sighed. "I would rather hear criticism than wonder what it could be."

"Are you always so dismissive of this subject around Bella?" Carlisle asked.

"I'm not dismissing anything. It's the truth. Plain and simple."

Carlisle said nothing, which only made me more agitated. The two of us spent the last six weeks hunting a vampire on Aro's behalf, yet the discussion of my love's vampirism was the first moment of strife between us.

"I'm simply making sure that these discussions are allowed between you two. Especially since the two of you have a history of idolizing one another."

Thankfully, Amy's emergency contact arrived at that moment. He hovered over her every movement, thanking us profusely for keeping his girlfriend safe and promising to take her to a hospital. We saw them out, promising free books and tea for the inconvenience. With that wrapped up, I was itching to get to Bella. Not only so she could disprove my family's wild allegations with the truth, not even because her lovely neck was placed under a guillotine once again, but because I missed her.

Leaving the car parked behind the shop, we took the back route through the woods. Carlisle and Rosalie headed straight for the main house, while I veered off for the cottage. After her near-accident, I expected to find Bella under a bundle of blankets with her beloved copy of Pride & Prejudice in hand.

But there was only Alice. Fiddling with the keys on my old, upright piano.

I supposed the psychic was the second-best thing.

"Alice? Where's Bella?"

"It's good to see you, too, brother."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm thrilled to see you, Alice. I always am. Thank you for your efforts in keeping my arrival a secret. I would very much like to reap the benefits of those efforts, now."

"Bella isn't here."

I clamped my teeth shut, to keep myself from screaming. "Then, where is she?"

"I'm not quite sure."

We both watched the vision of myself swiping the keys of the piano in a panicked rage play in Alice's head.

"There's no need for that. I'm watching her." As proof, Alice showed me her latest vision of Bella. My love was walking down the bank of a river. Her arms wrapped around her chest. I tried to scan the background for any identifying features, but there were only trees behind her. "I don't see her hurting anyone else."

Anyone else. The words hung heavily in the air. Bella did hurt Amy, after all. "I see."

"I think she wants to be alone right now."

In my mind, I looked at the image of my Bella longingly. "I don't understand why she would run away. She left the girl alive. She did a good job."

Alice focused intently on the difficult song she attempted to pluck out on the piano.

"What are you hiding from me?"

"You'll have to ask Bella when she returns."

I caught the slip. The mental correction to say when. She really meant to say if.

"Alice," I demanded, in a low, slow voice. "What happened to Bella?"

Reluctantly, Alice revealed the vision she received fifteen minutes ago, when Bella decided where she wanted to hide the bodies.

My jaw dropped.

Alice did not catch the actual killing—that decision was too rash, too unpredictable—merely the aftermath. I watched in helpless horror as Bella chose the burial sites of five different people. I couldn't tell their age or gender past their wounds. Wounds inflicted upon them by my lovely fiancée.

"You can see why she would rather be alone."

I pushed my hair off my forehead. "Only because she doesn't know I'm here! She needs me, now more than ever. To remind her that her hands are clean."

Alice leaned her elbow onto the piano. "She was the one who killed five people, Edward. I would say her hands are very much dirty."

"No," I disagreed venomously. "It's my fault. The moment I chose to pursue her rather than leave like I should have, I took all responsibility. She should know that. She needs to know that she should not shoulder the blame for any of this. I have to…" I turned for the door.

Something sparked inside of Alice. She stood in front of the doorway. "I really think you should stay here and wait for her to come back."

"Alice! Victoria—,",

Alice neatly blocked my path. "—is sniffing around in upstate New York. Don't pretend I haven't kept a better eye on her than you."

"You saw her join the Volutri?"

"Obviously not, Edward. Or I would have warned you!"

"So, you admit, she found a way around your visions! I need to get to Bella."

My younger sister spoke to me like I was seven years old. "It would not be prudent for you to see Bella if you are going to act like that."

"Act like what? Someone holding themselves accountable for their actions?"

"Edward, she doesn't want to hear anything you want to say."

"You don't know that," I snapped, though she was the one person who most certainly would know. I attempted to spin around her, but Alice's vision gave away my plan. I planted my feet, irritated and defeated.

"Jasper!" Alice yelled out. You won't be able to get past us both.

"Why are you doing this?" I roared. "I want to see my fiancée!"

"And I said no!"

I lowered into a defensive crouch, "Then, I want to know why, or I will rip off your head and throw it at Jasper's."

We seethed at one another. Alice checked the future. There was only one path that didn't end in a brawl between myself and any number of my siblings, which was Alice telling me the truth.

"The truth?" I picked the words out of her head.

"She will not want to talk to you for the same reason she didn't tell you about the other deaths," Alice said, quietly.

"Other deaths?" I echoed once more.

"Four, to be exact. While you were living in Canada."

"There… weren't… other… deaths…" I muttered quietly, watching past visions of a red-eyed Bella bury mutilated bodies.

The blow of the truth was softened as Jasper's arrival swept the room clean of any emotion.

"Who were they?"

"I don't really know any of the details," Alice admitted, softly. "She was smart. She would follow up with decisions involving Jacob so I couldn't see. But she was never quite fast enough. I always saw a little bit."

All those times Bella went to visit her old friend were a lie. And it was the perfect lie. I never cared about Jacob enough to ask about his well-being when she returned. "Did she ever go see him?"

"I genuinely don't know. She outsmarted us both, Edward."

"She's always been clever."

Sparks of anger quickly fizzled with Jasper's strong hold of the emotion in the room, so my demand was abysmally tame, "Why didn't you tell me any of this?"

Likewise, Alice's response was downright civil. "Because I should not have been the one to tell you this. Your fiancée should be able to talk to you."

"Of course, she can. She knows she can."

"No. She can't, Edward."

Fury raged, powerful enough to burn Jasper's control. Emotion engulfed the room in flame. I clamped my teeth shut and loomed over my sister. How dare she doubt my promises. How dare she think Bella would doubt my promises. "I. Will. Never. Leave. Her. Again."

"That's not the issue," he spoke slowly, circling until he was between me and Alice. "You will always love her. You will always forgive her. The problem is that you will always hate yourself more than you love her."

I blinked, stunned.

"I believe the problem is you scared her into a corner," I stepped up to meet him toe-to-toe. "She ran because she thinks you'll tear her arm off."

"Those dead people in Canada would disagree, I'm afraid. You are her true fear. She doesn't want you to suffer, so she hides her own misery. I can feel it. Repressed so far back in her heart, she doesn't realize it's always there."

I faltered. Jasper felt for me. He brought his hand to my shoulder to support me as he delivered his next blow. "Stop making everything about you. Stop getting upset at yourself. From day one, that has been the biggest issue. Depending on how much you hated yourself from one day to another was how your relationship went."

"No… I put her first. I always put what she wanted and needed first."

"Did you?" Jasper challenged.

"Why do you think she won't marry you, Edward?" Alice asked, stepping around Jasper.

That was a step too far. My marriage to Bella—and lack thereof—was a sore spot no one but Rose dared to poke. And Alice went at it with an iron fist. "Watch it."

Alice shook her head, unwilling to back off. "It doesn't take a mind reader to see that she's too scared to marry you because she'll feel guilty for tying herself to you every time something goes wrong, and you have a meltdown over it."

"So, what are you saying?" I cried." "I cause all the problems in my life? Newsflash: I already know I'm the villain in my own love story."

"This is what I'm talking about!" Alice leapt up onto the coffee table so she could properly scream in my face. "There is no villain! You're insane for thinking that there is! Bella loves you. Bella chose you. Nothing that happens in this life is a reflection on you. Get over yourself!"

"What do you suggest that I do? Abandon her! Let her suffer alone!?"

"Listen to her! Be there for her! Let her have problems! Her life doesn't have to be perfect to be worth living!"

"Let her have problems…" I said to myself.

I collapsed onto the chair behind me, running my hands through my hair.

A normal person would be furious with their partner, but any resentment I felt was aimed toward myself. But that was my problem, wasn't it? I immediately took all the blame. It pained me to think it, even to myself, but Bella was wrong, too. She lied to me. Deceived me. She hid her mistakes from me and let me live ignorantly in a world of bliss. But, just as my past mistakes were, her lies were rooted in love. My sweet girl loved me so desperately, she hid her pain to keep me happy.

"I cannot believe that it's possible for two people to love each other too much."

Through their eyes, I watched Jasper and Alice share a wry smile.

"What should I do now?"

With my mind in utter turmoil, Alice had to make a few decisions on my behalf to see the correct course of action.

"Bella is going to come home, thinking she tricked us all once again. She is going to be absolutely beside herself when she sees you—well done. Oh, don't wear the tan sweater, the green always suits you better. I don't know why Esme scared you away from color…. Aw, you're going to be reunited at the shop. You replaced the door and added a stained glass window—nice touch. Whoops. We'll skip over that part." She waggled her eyebrows at me.

I glowered at her.

"You are going to take her hands and very gently tell her you know the truth. Yes, good, ask her to confess with her own words rather than state an accusation of your own. Listen calmly, patiently, try not to make that face you always make. That's better. Hug it out, hug it out, hug it out. Trust Bella to cop a feel every chance she gets."

"Alice…"

"You're going to come to the main house, where we will all be waiting for you. Aw, Esme is waiting for her with open arms. Bella will share the truth with the whole family. Even you, Jazz!" She poked her partner in the side. "Bip, bop, bam! Done and solved. You are welcome."

Jasper patted my shoulder. "She wants to do right by you, by all of us. Let her know this is a safe space where she can do wrong, too."

"And we will always solve those wrongs together," Alice agreed, mirroring Jasper's gesture. "Whether it means knocking sense into your head, or ripping your head off altogether."

I rubbed the back of my neck, pleased that we didn't need to resort to that. "Alright, when Bella comes back, it's all understanding and honesty from here on out."

"Good boy!" Alice cheered, clapping her hands in rapid succession. "Stay here, make that new door for Bella. We'll watch Victoria and let Bella have time to herself. There's no need to go running through the woods, screaming and crying her name like an idiot."

"Thank you," I sighed, gratefully.

"Oh." Alice gasped at her incoming vision. "Edward. You need to run through the woods now, screaming and crying Bella's name like an idiot."