Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Stephanie Meyer does.

Trigger Warning:

Discussion of depression and attempted self-harm

Author's Note:

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Third Person POV: Bella

"Bells, there's a letter for you!" Charlie called upstairs to his daughter's room.

Bella trudged down the stairs with an irritated sigh. Unless this was a letter from Edward, she didn't give a shit. Her father handed her an elegant-looking black envelope with a red wax seal. Well, now her interest was piqued. Maybe this letter would be worth reading after all…

Overtaken by curiosity, she scurried back upstairs to her bedroom and shut the door. She broke the seal and unfolded the letter.

Dear Isabella Marie Swan,

Bella scowled at the use of her legal name but continued reading.

We are aware that you possess knowledge of the supernatural world. As you know, any human with this knowledge must either be killed or be given immortal life.

A squadron of guardsmen will retrieve you from your home in Forks, Washington this Friday after sunset to perform your trial. This trail will ultimately determine whether you will be given immortal life or not. You will, of course, be given the opportunity to defend yourself and provide any pertinent information.

We advise you to use the following week to settle your affairs and prepare your statements for trial.

Since we have given you the courtesy of announcing our arrival, please, do us the courtesy of staying put. Our guardsmen will track you if you run and will execute anyone that you inform of this exchange.

Cordially,

The Volturi Royal Coven

Bella stared at the signature. The Volturi knew about her existence… She wondered if the Cullens had been involved, or worse, if they had been the ones to report her. She felt her eyes burn as tears collected. She was going to die; she would never get to see Edward again…

The Volturi were giving her a trial though, and that was better than nothing. The Cullens always told her that the Volturi were power hungry and that one of the three kings, Aro, was an avid collector of gifted guardsmen. She could tell the guardsmen that the Cullens believed she had a mental shield since Edward couldn't read her mind. She just hoped that information alone would be enough to convince them to change her. However, she dejectedly realized that if they changed her for her latent gift then she would likely be required to serve as a guard. It wasn't ideal, but she would gladly take that option over death.

She sighed dejectedly, considering if it was worth attending school this week – her mortal life was over regardless. She would tell Charlie she wasn't feeling well and make the most of her remaining time.

Third Person POV: Harper

Harper finished typing the conclusion of her English paper on one of the clunky desktop computers at the back of the Fork's high-school library. Satisfied with the quality of her first draft, she saved the document and logged out. She repacked her books into her bag neatly by height. Then, she grabbed the folder containing Bella's missed homework for the week.

Bella had been absent from school every day this week, so Harper had volunteered to collect her assignments and deliver them to her house at the end of the week.

Harper was concerned for Bella; she had always been an exemplary student. Well, had was the key word. That was before Edward Cullen broke her heart and skipped town with his family.

Harper was a loner. In fact, Bella was probably the person that she was closest to at school, and they only exchanged polite smiles in the hall and spoke about homework assignments. But just because Harper didn't interact much with her peers didn't mean that she was oblivious to what was happening around her.

Bella and Edward had been smitten for months. Then suddenly, he broke things off, moved away with his family, and hadn't bothered to visit once since then. She could understand being upset by this, but it had been months now and Bella still hadn't recovered from her depression. Harper wouldn't pretend to know the details of Bella's love life, but it seemed like Bella had invested too much of herself in Edward. No one should wield that kind of power over you.

Harper wasn't exactly in a place to be giving advice though. Four months ago, her parents were killed in a car accident, and she had been teetering on the edge of deep depression since. It varied by the day, sometimes she managed to forget about everything and genuinely enjoy life. But sometimes late at night, all alone in the house her parents left her in their will, she couldn't help but feel utterly alone. It was a dark, all-encompassing grief and she was scared that one day she would go to that place and never come back out, or she would do something worse, something irreversible...

She had moments when she looked at her pocketknife and thought that any other feeling would be better than how she felt now, even if that meant physical pain. She had tried to cut herself several times, but she could never manage to break the skin. She had even tried using a razor once, but it didn't leave a mark either. Eventually, she had concluded that she was just mentally incapable of harming herself. That was the only reasonable explanation since it was that, or she had impenetrable skin.

On those nights, she often wished she had been killed along with her parents. It would have been easier that way. She had been in the car with them when they were killed. They were hit by a drunk driver on the way home from a dinner out. Everyone involved in the crash had died on impact, except her. She relived that moment in her nightmares nearly every night. She could still hear her parents' screams, see the blinding light speeding towards them. She could feel the fear take over, her body bracing for impact. She would wake up screaming, covered in sweat.

The doctors at the hospital had said it was a miracle that she was pulled from the wreck nearly unscathed, but it didn't feel that way. Her parents were all she had, and they didn't have much to leave her aside from the house. Harper was 18 years old, a legal adult, so instead of moving in with a relative, she chose to remain in her family's house. She could afford to pay the bills until the end of the school year, but after that, she knew she would be forced to sell the house. It was all she had left of her parents… There were memories in every inch of the house from the paint stains in the attic to the tick marks used to track her height in the kitchen. But Harper had no way to earn the sum of money required to keep it. Even if she got a full-time job after graduation, she would never make enough money to cover the utility bills and taxes for a house that size long-term.

Harper swung her bag over her shoulder as she left the library. The sun was setting, painting the sky orange and peach as she walked through the empty parking lot to her car. She hopped into the driver's seat, twisting her key in the ignition a few times to get the car running.

"Come on girl." she said, patting the steering wheel encouragingly until the engine rumbled to life.

She hummed to fill the silence as she drove down the road to Bella's house. She had no radio in the car because she had pawned it, as well as most of her other non-essential belongings and furniture. When her parents were alive, she had lived in blissful ignorance of the cost of living and responsibilities of adult life. But after the car crash, the weight of the bills, responsibilities, and grief had all fallen onto her shoulders simultaneously. She was trying her best to stay afloat, but she knew it was only a matter of time before she drowned under the pressure.

Harper parked on the side of the road when she reached Bella's house and hopped out of the car with the folder containing Bella's homework. She knocked on the front door and waited a few minutes, but no one answered. She saw that the lights were on inside and Bella's truck was parked in the driveway. So, she figured that Bella must be home and she knocked again, louder this time. Still no response…

Harper frowned; she didn't want to leave Bella's homework on the soggy porch. So, she decided she would just have to try again tomorrow. As she returned to her car, a light caught her eye from within the forest behind Bella's house. Was Bella out in the woods at this hour? It was already dark outside...

Harper moved across the lawn and into the forest, following after the light. However, eventually, it grew smaller with distance and, before she realized it, she was lost. She knew that it was risky to try to find her way back alone, that could result in her getting lost even further in the woods. So, she continued in the direction of the now distant light, hoping that whoever held it knew the way back.

She trudged forward until she heard the soft sound of distant voices. There wasn't just one voice but many; this must have been a meeting of some sort. She inched forward cautiously, praying she wouldn't blindly step on a twig. She was feeling apprehensive now, whoever was meeting here clearly didn't want any witnesses. She didn't have much of a choice if she wanted help though. Perhaps she could wait for their meeting to end and discretely follow them back to town?

Suddenly a voice spoke behind her.

"Well, well, what do we have here? It appears there's a little human eavesdropping on our trial."

Harper's heart froze and she spun around to face them. Her eyes widened as she saw a large, red-eyed man in a thick charcoal gray cloak. He prowled forward and she instinctually stumbled backwards away from him. In her haste, she tripped over a tree root and fell backwards, dropping Bella's homework in favor of breaking her fall with the heels of the palms. She scampered up and sprinted away from the man. He flashed over to her right faster than her eyes could track, and she turned to run in the opposite direction. How was this guy moving so fast?! Then the man flashed to her left, so she skidded to a halt and changed direction again. This continued for a couple of minutes and, as she finally reached the sharp cliff edge, she realized that she had been intentionally herded there. Her eyes darted around the area, searching for an escape route. However, when she attempted to skirt around the man in either direction, he blurred at an unnaturally speed to block her, forcing her backwards all the while.

Soon enough, she was cornered at the protruding edge of the cliff. With no other options, she shuffled backwards, trying to maintain some distance as he stalked towards her with a predatory glint in his ruby red eyes. She glanced behind her, the drop from the cliff to the ocean appeared to be three or four stories high and the water was turbulent.

"Are you going to jump little human?" The man asked amusedly.

There was that word again… Human. Clearly he wasn't one, but what was he then?

He stepped forward once more, bringing himself chest to chest with her. He stared down at her with a dark smile and then fisted her long blonde hair, wrenching her head to the side. He leaned down and inhaled as he skimmed his nose up her exposed neck.

She shuddered. A vampire… that's what he was. She shifted her feet back slightly again, feeling the ledge precariously under her heels.

Third Person POV: Santiago

Santiago felt venom pool in his mouth, he had finally caught his prey. The girl, who had been dangerously close to overhearing Bella's trial, was now trapped between his body and the precipice of the cliff. Her only remaining options were to either surrender to him or jump. Santiago wasn't worried though, a fall from this height would seriously injure a human, if not kill them on impact.

The girl's blood was even more intoxicating up close, reminding him of freesia and ripe citrus. He knew this girl was not his blood-singer because a vampire was granted only one in their immortal life, and he had swiftly drained his centuries ago. However, this girl was a close second in the temptation of her blood. He flicked his tongue out, tasting her blood through the fragile skin over her jugular vein. He felt her tremble against him and then go stiff as he bit deeply into her neck.

Oddly enough, he was barely able to get his teeth through her skin before he felt strong resistance. So, he bit harder and eagerly swallowed as much of her sweet blood as he could.

Suddenly, the stone under the girl's feet began to crumble and he unlatched his teeth as she lost balance, plummeting towards the ocean. The girl's body crashed down against the water below and was quickly pulled under by the surging tides.

Santiago cursed. What was he supposed to do now? On one hand, he had enough venom in his mouth when he bit her to initiate the change. But on the other hand, he doubted that she would survive in those waters regardless of how much venom was in her body. He was already running out of time to decide… but he didn't want this to come back and bite him in the ass if she managed to survive the change and massacred a town as a newborn.

He stripped off his cloak and dove into the ocean. He surfaced and propelled himself through the jagged waves. The ocean water was murky and the sediment made it hard to see even with his enhanced vison. Luckily, after a minute of searching, he saw a flash of golden blond hair and started towards it.

It was the girl, thank God! He used the back of her jacket to pull her limp body along behind him as he swam back towards the cliff. Then, he tossed the girl over his shoulder and scaled the cliff face, placing her on the ground for a moment while re-donning his cloak. He kneeled next to her body and listened to her heart, it was thrumming rapidly, showing that she was already in the process of changing. He pressed his fingers against her neck and felt that her skin was already hardening too. Dammit, he wouldn't get to finish his meal then...

He knew that he should probably kill her now, but she was already changing and would therefore need to be dismembered and burned as a vampire would. Santiago sighed… how troublesome. He considered an alternative option; the girl's blood had been sweet, so sweet that he could almost guarantee that she would manifest a gift when she woke. He could bring her back to the castle if Demetri agreed. If the girl ended up being more trouble than she was worth, then he would just send her to a training facility for her newborn year.

With his mind made up, he threw the girl's body over his shoulder and took off towards where Bella's trial was being held. Upon arriving, he saw that the trial had concluded, and Bella would be returning to the castle with them to be changed.

Demetri turned to face him as he approached, clearly suspicious of the unfamiliar scent he was carrying with him.

"Oh my God! Is that Harper?!" Bella gasped.

"Santiago, did you seriously create a newborn? You were supposed to scout the area!" Demetri snapped at Santiago in exasperation.

"It's not what you think Demetri, I caught the girl approaching the trial when I was running the perimeter." He began explaining. "So, I decided to chase her a little before I fed. You know how it is..."

"Yes, I know how you like to play with your food." Demetri responded dismissively.

"Well, I trapped her at the edge of the cliff to the west and bit her. But then she slipped off the edge before I could finish drinking." he continued, and Demetri pinched his brow in annoyance.

"Anyway, by the time I retrieved her from the water, she was already changing. I considered killing her, but her blood was so sweet Demetri, I have a feeling that she's going to be gifted."

Demetri sighed, weighing his options. It had been a long time since the Volturi had acquired a gifted vampire, especially one worthy of a position in the elite guard. Aro would be greatly pleased if he returned to the castle with not just one but two potentially gifted individuals. Having said that, he was not looking forward to listening to the girl screaming through the flight back to Italy. She was quiet now, but he knew it wouldn't last.

"Fine. We'll keep her." Demetri agreed. He hoped at least one of the girls would prove useful to their coven.