Chapter Text
Long window slits threw thin rectangles of bright sunlight onto the stone floor below. The dark-haired vampire with shale-like skin stepped gracefully through a patch, momentarily spraying dull glimmers across the turret walls. His dark crimson eyes studied us, the two Cullens angled protectively around me.
"So what do we do with you now?" Aro sighed.
Edward and Alice stiffened. This was the part they'd been waiting for. I began to tremble.
"I don't suppose there's any chance that you've changed your mind?" Aro asked Edward hopefully. "Your talent would be an excellent addition to our little company."
Edward hesitated. From the corner of my eye, I saw both Felix and Jane grimace.
Edward seemed to weigh each word before he spoke it. "I'd… rather… not."
"Alice?" Aro asked, still hopeful. "Would you perhaps be interested in joining with us?"
"No, thank you," Alice said.
"And you, Bella?" Aro raised his eyebrows.
Edward hissed, low in my ears. I stared at Aro blankly. Was he joking? Or was he really asking me if I wanted to stay for dinner?
It was the white-haired Caius who broke the silence. "What?" he demanded of Aro; his voice, though no more than a whisper, was flat.
"Caius, surely you see the potential," Aro chided him affectionately. "I haven't seen a prospective talent so promising since we found Jane and Alec. Can you imagine the possibilities when she is one of us?"
Caius looked away with a caustic expression. Jane's eyes sparked with indignation at the comparison. Edward fumed beside me. I could hear a rumble in his chest, building toward a growl. I couldn't let his temper get him hurt.
"No, thank you," I spoke up in barely more than a whisper, my voice breaking in fright.
Aro sighed. "That's unfortunate. Such a waste."
Edward hissed. "Join or die, is that it? I suspected as much when we were brought to this room. So much for your laws." The tone of his voice surprised me. He sounded irate, but there was something deliberate about his delivery–as if he'd chosen his words with great care.
"Of course not." Aro blinked, astonished. "We were already convened here, Edward, awaiting Heidi's return. Not for you."
"Aro," Caius hissed. "The law claims them."
Edward glared at Caius. "How so?" he demanded. He must have known what Caius was thinking, but he seemed determined to make him speak it aloud.
Caius pointed a skeletal finger at me. "She knows too much. You have exposed our secrets." His voice was papery thin, just like his skin.
"There are a few humans in on your charade here, as well," Edward reminded him, and I thought of the pretty receptionist below.
Caius's face twisted into a new expression. Was it supposed to be a smile? "Yes," he agreed. "But when they are no longer useful to us, they will serve to sustain us. That is not your plan for this one. If she betrays our secrets, are you prepared to destroy her? I think not," he scoffed.
"I wouldn't–," I began, still whispering.
Caius silenced me with an icy look. "Nor do you intend to make her one of us," Caius continued. "Therefore, she is a vulnerability. Though it is true, for this, only her life is forfeit. You may leave if you wish."
Edward bared his teeth.
"That's what I thought," Caius said, with something akin to pleasure. Felix leaned forward, eager.
"Unless…" Aro interrupted. He looked unhappy with the way the conversation had gone. "Unless you do intend to give her immortality?"
Edward pursed his lips, hesitating for a moment before he answered. "And if I do?"
Aro smiled, happy again. "Why, then you would be free to go home and give my regards to my friend Carlisle." His expression turned more hesitant. "But I'm afraid you would have to mean it."
Aro raised his hand in front of him. Caius, who had begun to scowl furiously, relaxed.
Edward's lips tightened into a fierce line. He stared into my eyes, and I stared back.
"Mean it," I whispered. "Please."
Was it really such a loathsome idea? Would he rather die than change me? I felt like I'd been kicked in the stomach. Edward stared down at me with a tortured expression.
And then Alice stepped away from us, forward toward Aro. We turned to watch her. Her hand was raised like his. She didn't say anything, and Aro waved off his anxious guard as they moved to block her approach. Aro met her halfway, and took her hand with an eager, acquisitive glint in his eyes. He bent his head over their touching hands, his eyes closing as he concentrated. Alice was motionless, her face blank. I heard Edward's teeth snap together. No one moved. Aro seemed frozen over Alice's hand.
The seconds passed and I grew more and more stressed, wondering how much time would pass before it was too much time. Before it meant something was wrong–more wrong than it already was. Another agonizing moment passed, and then Aro's voice broke the silence.
"Ha, ha, ha," he laughed, his head still bent forward. He looked up slowly, his eyes bright with excitement. "That was fascinating!"
Alice smiled dryly. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."
"To see the things you've seen–especially the ones that haven't happened yet!" He shook his head in wonder.
"But that will," she reminded him, voice calm.
"Yes, yes, it's quite determined. Certainly there's no problem."
Caius looked bitterly disappointed–a feeling he seemed to share with Felix and Jane.
"Aro," Caius complained.
"Dear Caius," Aro smiled. "Do not fret. Think of the possibilities! They do not join us today, but we can always hope for the future. Imagine the joy young Alice alone would bring to our little household… Besides, I'm so terribly curious to see how Bella turns out!"
Aro seemed convinced. Did he not realize how subjective Alice's visions were? That she could make up her mind to transform me today, and then change it tomorrow? A million tiny decisions, her decisions and so many others' too–Edward's–could alter her path, and with that, the future.
And would it really matter that Alice was willing, would it make any difference if I did become a vampire, when the idea was so repulsive to Edward? If death was, to him, a better alternative than having me around forever, an immortal annoyance? Terrified as I was, I felt myself sinking down into depression, drowning in it…
"Then we are free to go now?" Edward asked in an even voice.
“No,” Caius spoke before Aro, who seemed poised to say yes. “You will do it now.”
A snarl ripped from Edward. More vicious than I’d ever heard from him. “I will not.”
“You will. If her immortality is a certainty, as you claim it to be, there is no reason to wait. You will rectify your breach of our regulations, and you will save us the effort of a visit. Such wasted time, to what end?” Caius turned his heavy-lidded gaze to Aro. “Wouldn’t you agree?”
It became hard to discern where my trembling ended and Edward’s furious vibrations began. His arms flexed a fraction too tight around my waist, and I bit my tongue to hold in a whimper, refusing to draw any more attention than necessary to my humanness.
Aro looked me over. I hoped that, for the sake of not offending Carlisle, he would ignore Caius and let us leave. But the new glint in his eye told me he was far too interested in the offered prospect. His lips curved into a smile.
A whimper slipped out, not from my mouth, but from Edward’s behind me. And I knew Aro had decided.
Chills sunk into my body. I had wanted to be a vampire. More than anything. But now that the possibility was imminent, and with Edward so opposed… I was going to be sick. I sucked in shallow breaths and thanked the nerves of the last twelve hours that there was nothing in my stomach to empty.
“Aro, please,” Edward moved in front of me, allowing his hands to skate around my waist until he had me fully hidden from view. His voice turned pleading. “Give us time. We will change her. I’ll do it myself. I swear it. But we need time.”
My heart swooped at the thought of Edward’s mouth on me, his teeth sinking into my flesh, his venom sweeping through my veins. But it settled once more with a thud. I knew he didn’t mean it. Not really. Edward didn’t want me. He certainly wouldn’t want to change me. His words only served to buy us time.
“Whatever for?” Aro’s voice was practically giddy, though a little confused. “You’ll have all the time in the world when she is one of us. Will you not? Unless you’re planning a deception?”
“Of course not. We–”
“Good,” Aro chimed with a pleased clap. “Then you’ll change her now. Oh, how I long to see what gift lays in wait for us.”
“Aro” Edward began. But before he could speak another word, Felix flashed forward and ripped Edward away from me, lifting him up by the throat. The squeal of cracking marble shrieked above my head and rippled through my bones.
“No, please,” my scream came out as a croak. “Don’t hurt him. Change me.” I whirled around to find Alice’s pitch black eyes on Edward. “Alice will do it,” I choked out, pulling her gaze towards me. My eyes begged, though I knew it wasn’t necessary. Alice had already considered it. And she would do anything to protect her brother.
She turned to Aro with a grimace. “Yes. I’ll do it. Please, release him.”
Aro waved a lazy hand and Felix dropped Edward at my feet, his face twisting in a scowl. I fell to my knees and ran a shaking hand over the fast-closing fissures beneath Edward’s jaw. His own hand flew up to cover mine, cold and steady.
“I’m sorry, Edward.” I couldn't bring myself to look him in the eyes. “I’ll keep my distance. I won’t be a burden to your family.” Even as I spoke, the words tore at the pit in my chest.
“A bur-” Edward cut himself off with a bitter laugh. He tipped my chin up, forcing me to look at him, and stroked my cheek with his thumb. The motion so achingly familiar. “I am the sorry one, my love.”
Love? I searched his face for mockery, but found only deep regret.
“For my cowardice and presuming to make decisions for you.” His voice caught. “And for lying to you so well. When I told you that I didn't want you, it was the very blackest kind of blasphemy. It was excruciating to realize how easily you believed me.”
“How could I not?” I choked. “You’re everything. And I’m just–”
“Bella, you are everything.” Taking my face in both his hands, he drew me forward until our foreheads touched. “I love you. I have always loved you, and I will always love you. I was thinking of you, seeing your face in my mind, every second that I was away.”
A sob strangled my throat and I had to fight to breathe through it. “You love me?”
“With my entire being,” Edward said, tangling his fingers into my hair. “For as long as I am on this earth, I will love you. And I can only beg you to forgive me. And hope that after everything I’ve put you through, you still love me too.”
“Edward,” I breathed, not quite believing the words I didn’t think I’d ever hear again.
A sharp clap rang through the cavernous room. “All right then,” Aro looked between Alice and me. “Let’s get on with it shall we?”
“Here?” Alice’s silvery voice squeaked.
“Once you’ve bitten, we will move her to more comfortable accommodations. I won’t have her writhing around on the stone floor.” Aro sounded almost insulted at the insinuation.
I blanched at his choice of words. I was under no illusions as to the agony of changing, but I had pictured something a little more gentle. At the Cullens’ home, surrounded by my new family and the lush, green trees I’d come to love. Not in an Italian fortress, under the crimson stares of the Volturi, crumpled near a drain of whose purpose I was suddenly sure.
Alice took a hesitant step towards me, but Edward scooped me up and flew to the edge of the room in one fluid movement. “Wait.”
“Young Edward,” Aro’s voice took on a hard edge. “She will turn or she will die. You will not leave this place any other way.”
I quaked in Edward’s arms as he buried his nose in my hair and breathed deeply. “I know,” he whispered against my head. “But I’ll do it.”
Another sob broke free and I nuzzled harder into his unyielding chest. “Edward.”
Somewhere behind me, Aro voiced his consent with growing impatience.
Edward sunk to the floor, nestling me on his lap. He nudged my face up with his own and caressed his nose against mine. Then, ever so gently, he placed a delicate kiss on my lips. I shivered and, suddenly ravenous for his touch, deepened the kiss. If this was to be my last as a human, I was determined to make it count. Whether I truly believed he loved me or not, I still wasn’t sure. But when he moaned into my mouth, desperate and pained, and kissed me back even harder, I knew at least that he wanted this as much as I did.
“Bella, Bella, Bella,” he chanted lowly after we pulled apart, pressing his forehead to mine once again. “Please. Forgive me for what I’m about to do.”
I shook my head with a ragged exhale. “There’s nothing to forgive. I always wanted it to be you.”
“Wish granted.” He huffed a humorless laugh, then sobered. “This will be painful. I’m so sorry, my love.”
“Just don’t leave me.”
“Never,” he nearly growled. “I’ll be with you the entire time. And I’ll be waiting for you on the other side.”
The other side. Immortality.
I nodded and pressed another kiss to his lips. “I’m ready.” And with a shaky breath, I tilted my head back, exposing my neck.
Edward dipped down and dragged his nose along the column of my throat, peppering me with little kisses. And when he reached the juncture between my neck and shoulder, he paused. “Forever,” he said like a promise, barely above a whisper.
“Forever,” I breathed back.
With one more deep inhale, Edward pressed his teeth against my sensitive skin, and he bit.