CHAPTER THIRTEEN

No cameras catch my muffled cries

I counted days, I counted miles

To see you there, to see you there

And now the storm is coming

~ Taylor Swift, Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince

Bella

The first moment I opened my eyes as a vampire, I still felt like myself. Like the girl who struggled to hold a conversation with her peers and the one who could fail spectacularly at a sport in gym class without even touching anything and the one who grew up assuming love wasn't a given and marriage was a fast track to heartbreak.

When I found him, I felt different. So different that I knew my time spent as a human was a laughable excuse for existing. Because with him around, everything was new and bright and meaningful and purposeful and that part of me that never felt quite right in any situation as a human felt so completely settled in him. Like I was who I was supposed to have been my entire life.

We had less than three weeks. Nineteen measly days feeling like myself, falling in love with a man–vampire–that was quite literally made for me. One I had been unknowingly searching for my entire life.

When the Volturi Guard surrounded me, it was a new change. I wasn't the fragile human tripping through life, or the newborn who finally found her place. Deep in my bones, I felt it. How wrong it was to even be near Aro. Every molecule of my being repelled against him and his Guard. Because whatever I was, I was made for this very moment. An old, ancient piece of me settled in my bones, prepared for the worst.

Being around all of the Cullen's, around Edward… it felt right. That meadow with the pretty flowers and fresh air was right. The cottage where Edward and I sequestered ourselves after our wedding was right. All of the vampires around me… they felt wrong. Being near them had my spine tingling uncomfortably, every newfound predatory sense in my system ringing fire alarms in my head.

A pained wolf howl echoed in the distance.

"Interesting, that. The wolf connection. Not something I expected," Aro mused beside me.

I eyed the three members of the guard I wanted. The ones I had seen in Edward's musings, the first ones he would take out if given a chance.

Alec.

Demetri.

Chelsea.

One could cut off your senses, make you blind and vulnerable to a deadly attack in seconds. One could track anyone, anywhere, making escaping or hiding and regrouping impossible. And one could change your alliance with an errant thought.

There were others just as deadly in the Guard, but if anyone were to ever elude the Volturi, Demetri had to be taken out. If there were to ever be a chance at a fair fight, both Alec and Chelsea needed to be gone.

Personally, I decided the moment I felt the bolt of pain go down Edward's spine that Jane needed to be taken care of as quickly as possible, but four at once seemed like a lot. For now, at least.

It would have been more beneficial to myself to keep them alive, learn from their talents. From her thoughts I could tell Chelsea's talent was an intricate balance that had taken her centuries to fully learn, and Demetri spent decades figuring out just how he was able to track a person based on the… flavor of their mind. Alec… his was the simplest. Deadliest.

"Bella, darling," Aro mused, the picture of calm in the sudden sea of black. "We are not your enemy."

We were miles away from Edward by now. He was safe. The Cullen's were safe.

That was all that mattered.

It was a blind guess as I shocked the two guards leading me with firm grips on my biceps with more energy than I remembered using when I nearly burnt down the Denali's cabin. They went down easily, and I grasped Demetri's neck as he lunged for me.

His senses were dulled, but his special ability gave him enough awareness to find me in the sea of black.

The pained screaming was surprisingly enjoyable as he burned to ashes in my fingertips.

I felt dozens of hands reach for me as I ignored the shouts and demands to lift the haze. Only doing so once I had managed to burn Chelsea and Alec from the inside out.

Edward

All of the annoyingly human traits I worked to keep up on a daily basis ceased. I didn't blink, didn't breathe, didn't care. I kept my eyes on the exact spot I had last gotten a glimpse of her eyes, those silver lined amber eyes desperately looking back at me for one last glance.

Gone.

Nineteen days. I spent ninety years in Volterra trying to keep her safe and a pathetic nineteen days after I found her she was gone.

How fucking assanine for us to think we could have years. Hundreds of them, even. Blissfully ignorant to the cold hard truth that Aro had known about her from the second she was born.

A hard hand landed on my shoulder. "Edward-"

"No," I snapped. Snarled. Growled.

"We need to leave, Edward. Recoup. Refocus."

"There is no recouping Carlisle!" I shouted, flashing up to my feet to snarl down at him. "You think he will ever let her out of his sight? Out of the dungeon in Volterra? She–"

My throat closed. Hands tore at my hair.

My wife.

She was my mate, my wife and she was gone.

"She left willingly," Rosalie said hesitantly. I hadn't realized it, but the group of them formed a tight circle around me. As if they were ready to grab me the moment I ran off after the guard.

"We were all as good as dead if she didn't," Alice said blankly. "I saw it. I'm sure she saw it, too. There was no other option."

My eyes darted to Alice. "Show me."

She winced, but did as I asked. Showed me the crystal clear vision of Bella chained up buried in the dungeons beneath Volterra.

"It was far from willingly," Jasper added, a tense glance in my direction. "I've been around newborns the moment they wake up from their change, by their side throughout some of the worst blood lusts I've ever seen, and nothing compares to the… rage that she felt. She went to spare a fight, to save all of us, but she will not be a willing prisoner for Aro. She will not go quietly."

Jasper nodded to the distance, where three pillars of familiar purple smoke wafted into the sky.

Bella

Aro was mad. Rightfully so, I supposed. I had killed three of his favorites. Something everyone else in the Guard seemed to be painfully aware of as they all vied for the spots now.

Jane offered to try and keep me writhing in pain for the remainder of our journey.

Felix thought making the journey down a few limbs would make me more docile.

Renata promised she could keep me docile and confused about my motives until we arrived in Italy.

I told them I would behave.

Aro threatened Edward as he let the ashes of Demetri fall through his fingers.

I shrugged. "Good luck finding him."

Miss Americana—

We didn't go to Italy. Not me, at least.

Most of the guard went separate ways as soon as I burned Alec, Chelsea, and Demetri. I was now under strict orders to never be around anyone of value to Aro.

Which was fine with me. Aro, Marcus, and Caius were dreadfully dull and their minds were a horrific place to be. Too many memories, too much ambition, too many plans. Heidi liked to show me all of her memories of Edward through the years, making up her own endings to the advances I knew Edward adamantly refused for each of the ninety years he was around her. Jane was constantly shoving her power against the shield of my mind, desperately waiting for a crack.

Surprisingly, for now, one didn't come. I felt none of the weakness I did after the run in with the wolves, none of that burn out even on the edges of my mind after using so much of my strength earlier.

I didn't have time to wonder about it.

The random, low level guard pulled me to a stop in the middle of a field of flowers blowing in the wind. In the distance, situated up between a few rolling hills of lush green grass and pretty, pastel flowers was a castle.

An actual, real-life castle.

Stone walls stood tall, towers of varying heights wrapped around the wall, some with battlements, others topped with turrets and flags so red they could have been dyed in human blood for all I knew. There was a moat. A drawbridge.

Emotions had become… difficult. Since the moment I stepped away from Edward, some part of me had shut off every corner of my brain that wasn't focused on surviving, on escaping, on my next step. Whenever his name crossed my mind, whenever glimpses of him passed through others minds… It was a pain worse than that I knew Jane could inflict.

I shook my head, frowning at the castle.

"This could be yours, Isabella," Aro's voice floated to me from across a large field.

He no longer stood within striking distance of me.

"You're giving me a castle?" I questioned.

"With your cooperation comes rewards."

I wanted to kill him. "I will not cooperate."

"Isabella–"

I left the vampire beside me in ashes.

Miss Americana—

I ended up in Italy. I presumed. I didn't see much.

As unprepared as Aro seemed in the beginning, he was no longer caught off guard by my unwillingness to cooperate. Bindings even my vampiric strength couldn't break were tightened around my wrists, a blindfold tied tightly across my eyes, and my legs knotted together the instant I burned that guard outside of the castle.

I didn't bother trying to break the bindings or kick my way out of the reinforced steel of the box I was tossed in. One quick attempt at each told me they were all impenetrable. And I was better off conserving my energy.

It wasn't until I was tossed into the corner of a dark, musty, stone cell that I started to feel the slightest bit drained. Started to realize the one connection I had left to Edward would be drained out of my system eventually and it would be as if he never existed.

The second I was tossed on the floor, I didn't bother getting up.

Edward

March

April

May

June

A/N: I know, I know. It's been forever. I don't have any excuse other than I got a bit lost in this story, and needed to find my love for it again. This might just be one of my favorite chapters I've ever written, and I hope it makes up for the wait. Thank you to anyone still sticking around!