It was well past midnight but nobody looked to be slowing down. At least not anyone over one hundred. Charlie had been escorted home by two considerate immortals; and Bella's mother, who was usually the last one standing when it came to any party, had begun fading after her sixth cup of spiked punch and needed help from Phil to leave the hall with her dignity in tact.

Bella was glad her parents were able to come together for their daughter's wedding, but it was always a little awkward to have them under the same roof. She usually spent that time flitting from one to the other and worrying about if she was distributing her attention evenly. Though she couldn't imagine how such two dissimilar people ever got together long enough to create her, she did sometimes wish for a more traditional household. She was, at heart, a bit of a prude and old-fashioned, or so she had thought until she met Edward.

As the last human standing, Bella did not know how she was managing to stay upright under her own power. Though she had resisted all efforts at bridal formalities, somehow she had caught the bug Rosalie and Alice had, and felt it was her obligation to be a gracious host. This would not have been so bad if her guests had been of the mortal variety. As people who did not need to sleep, however, it occurred to Bella too late that she may be in over her head when it came to all-nighters.

The phrase You can sleep when you're dead crossed her mind more than once. Somewhere around her third waltz she started operating on autopilot. She danced with Edward, she danced with her father-in-law, she danced with a very tipsy vampire with an accent made incomprehensible by copious amounts of punch. Bella had steered clear of the huge, gleaming bowl in pride of place on the banquet table, filled with suspicious red stuff; it was the only edible substance the vampires had touched.

Bella tried to keep up but for the last half-hour she had ceased to worry about anything except which side of the bed to sleep on. So when a scream shot through the din of celebrators she barely turned her head. She was beyond caring about anyone's drama but her own.

Only when she caught sight of Edward's face did the first inklings of alarm pierce through her fogged brain. Despite her fatigue her mind searched for a word to describe that look, having seen it before. It was Edward and yet… not. She so seldom saw him as anything other than flawless, something more to be worshipped than truly loved. But she had seen that look before and it was Edward at his most unguarded. This was Edward the vampire and Bella was both surprised and unsurprised at how inhuman he truly was.

Then she saw the faces of everyone else in the room and it was very much like being a rabbit in a den of foxes. Everyone had stopped dancing, drinking, smiling. Bella was sitting down and so could not see what had everyone's attention. She climbed on top of her chair to see over the sea of heads and a voice called out, young, girlish, and cold through the sudden still air.

"My compliments to the groom on his new bride," Jane said.

She was of a slight stature and still looked like a child but there were few who could evoke such icy dread in Bella's heart. While no expert on the supernatural, Bella had associated with immortals and shapeshifters alike and lived to tell the tale. Jane, however, with her brother Alec, were altogether different.

Indeed the entire Volturi coven were a bit of an enigma to Bella. Educated, cultured, they acknowledged the arts created by humans and yet could not have had greater disdain for the species that had created it. Yet Carlisle had spent time with them and Aro even now insisted they were friends.

"What are you doing here, Jane?" Edward said, stepping forward.

Jane stopped when she was surrounded by the Cullens, surveying the crowd unconcerned.

"This is a private party," Emmett said.

"We were aware of the upcoming wedding of Edward Cullen and Isabella Swan," Alec said behind his sister. "Our invitations got lost in the mail, I'm sure."

Emmett smirked.

Always a bit more diplomatic, Carlisle said in his soft voice, "I did not know the Volturi were interested in the wedding between my son and his fiancé."

"All matters of discretion concern the Volturi," Jane said, her eyes flashing. She pointed Bella out with one finger. "And that is why we are here."

Bella teetered on her chair. She had one leg on the table and the other balanced on the chair, tipping it forward so she could see over the heads of the crowd. Startled at a hundred pair of yellow eyes fixating on her, she nearly toppled out of sight.

"I can smell her from here," Jane said, her head tilting back to survey Bella. "Her humanity. Was it not understood upon your last departure with Aro that this regrettable state would be remedied?"

Edward opened his mouth to speak but Carlisle smoothly overran him. Bella only noticed because she had come to know the Cullens, and doubted anyone else had taken note of the brief battle of wills. It was a wise move, though; whatever Edward had been going to say would not have improved matters. It was written all over his face.

"It was understood," Carlisle said. "And we still intend to uphold our agreement. But," he swept his arms out to indicate the surrounding guests, "this is a wedding."

His point was simple and reasonable - this is a wedding, not a funeral. Had it been Aro he was talking to, the matter would have been settled then and there. Whatever Aro's concerns about vampires revealing themselves to humans, he also had some sense of taste and class.

Bella struggled to unwrap the train of her dress from around her legs. Freeing herself she began running towards the middle of the room. Edward was far too close to Jane for her liking. But a hard, small body propelled into hers, sending her off course.

Wild eyed, Alice grabbed Bella's arm and jerked her around in the opposite direction. "Find Jasper!" she hissed. "We need him. This is bad." She pushed Bella towards the door and Bella tripped in that direction, trying to run.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jane's head turn and then the Cullens closing in around her, creating a wall. Carlisle was still speaking, distracting her. Bella marveled at his ability to stay so cool under pressure. Jane's gift was almost unparalleled and she was not shy in whom she used it on.

Bella started running blindly. The outer chamber was mostly full of coats of rich materials, deep colors like those of royalty, handbags full of money left carelessly on tables or chairs. No concerns about theft here. After all, who would steal from vampires?

She did not know where Jasper could be. After seeing him dance with the Denali girl he had disappeared. Bella bit her lip as she ran, her feet slapping on the stone floor. Technically they were still in the church, but it was attached only by a low-hanging archway and hidden from view of the street by the courtyard and overgrown ivy. Bella darted through the archway and came out on the other side.

Finally she stopped, chest heaving. Her corseted gown was so tight she couldn't get in a proper breath. Frustrated at her own ineptitude she knocked on her temples with her fists, eyes shut tight. Think, idiot! If I were Jasper where would I want to be?

It was not hard for her to place herself in Jasper's shoes. He was like her when it came to parties and the answer was simple: anywhere else.

The courtyard. It was quiet there, any noise from the traffic outside muffled by stone walls and centuries-old moss and overgrown weeds that the caretakers had left to claim. Bella spun around and retraced her steps, feeling blindly along the wall for the rusty gate that led back outside. The secret garden, she thought, although that was one book she had not read.

Fumbling with the hook, Bella opened the gate and entered the maze of shrubs. She tread quickly, kicking up gravel and wet earth. Sure enough, as soon as she got to the middle there was Jasper. The moonlight shone on his light hair and skin, that skin so flawless and smooth; it was one of the vampire's most distinguishing traits. On Jasper there was almost not an inch of him that was not marked or scarred. Did the others think he was ugly?

Even in Bella's distress her mind never stopped wondering. Regardless of the opinions of others, in that moment Jasper could not have been a more welcome sight to Bella's eyes. The tight band around her chest loosened enough that she could get in a good breath at last.

Here was someone capable. Jasper Hale. Soldier. Warrior. Someone who could protect them. Why was he always treated like a redheaded stepchild? To prove her own hypocrisy was just as resilient to scrutiny, now here Bella was, running up to him and begging for his help. But there was nothing to be done about that right now. Jasper would save them. Jasper knew how to handle these unpleasant, uncivilized things. Because Jasper was not a civilian.

Due to the angle of the trees, Bella could only see the back of Jasper. He was leaning forwards and it was only as she turned the corner that she got a full view of the scene and it stopped her dead in her tracks. Her mouth fell open and she uttered a faint little "Oh" as if having walked in on him in the bath. But instead of retreating she simply stared.

Jasper was in front of the Denali girl, and they were - they were kissing! At least that was what Bella assumed they were doing. Maybe 'kissing' was too polite a term for what they were doing. Bella's mind could scarcely countenance the reality of what she was seeing in its full detail.

The Denali girl was making noises but Jasper was not. Her leg was angled up around Jasper's waist, the blue dress pushed back so that Bella got a good sight of a long creamy thigh. Bella's face, already red from running, flamed hotter. She could not believe what she was seeing! All time seemed to stop. The reason that had brought her here, all the people waiting, flew right out of her mind. She was locked into place, unable to look away.

Jasper had pushed the girl back into the tree and was holding her up as his hips thrust forward. Bella heard the boughs creaking with each thrust and her mind reeled with the amount of force he must be exerting to do that. The girl did not seem to mind.

Bella held her breath and clutched a low-hanging tree branch for support. She was only feet away but neither Jasper or his partner reacted to a human's presence. She had heard this was possible, that a vampire was occasionally a slave to his senses and ignorant of all else. Though Edward had not dwelled on this aspect of immortal life, Bella suspected this was in fact the core of the Cullens mantra of self-restraint. Only beings of supreme power could be so concerned with such discipline.

The girl kept murmuring things like harder and yes, right there and so good, but Jasper was silent. Eerily silent. It was as if he were… Bella searched her mind, trying to pinpoint exactly what it was about the scene that so disturbed her. It was more than the shock of seeing Jasper with someone other than Alice. For some reason, this did not surprise her as much as it might have were it, say, Emmett or Rosalie. Or Edward and yourself, her conscience jibed.

No, that was not quite it. Bella placed a palm over her pounding heart, willing it to still before the two heard it. There was something very wrong about what she was watching. She could not see Jasper's face and she wished that she could, sure that had she been able to catch a glimpse of his eyes that all would be made clear. But then maybe not. She had only seen Jasper display one true, honest emotion to her - desire. Desire to kill. But it had been honest, and Bella tethered it tightly to what she knew of him, scarce as the facts were.

It was as if… it was almost as if he were not quite there. Like he was doing something on autopilot. If the girl noticed anything amiss she wasn't complaining. Her head was thrown back and she kept making these alluring little kittenish noises that had Bella squirming where she stood. She had never sounded like that with Edward.

Jasper sucked on her neck and ran his hands up and down her body. The girl responded as if helpless, enthralled by Jasper's attention.

Enthralled, Bella thought, recalling her English lessons. To captivate. To put into slavery. And then it clicked. That was what he was doing! She jolted at this conclusion. He was doing that thing he did, that he always did. He made people feel what they wanted to feel - at the expense of their own will.

Oh, not that it mattered, really. Bella doubted the other woman needed any help in enjoying what Jasper was doing. Even to her virgin eyes she could tell Jasper was, well, good at this. Someone with experience, a natural expectation when you were almost two hundred years old.

But Jasper took it further. He was enveloping his partner in a hazy bubble of pleasure. She was truly powerless. If Jasper had wanted to he could have killed her right then and she probably would not have even noticed it until she was dead. Or made her his slave, and too happy about it to even wonder if that was right.

If he had wanted to. Which he did not seem to. So what was he getting out of this encounter? Was it just the satisfaction in having so easily manipulated someone? It did not seem like him; but then Bella was assuming many things about him in making that conclusion. For instance, that Jasper reacted solely out of a desire to do good. Such an assumption would have placed him with the saints. If Bella were him, she knew she would probably keep everyone in an idle torpor, simply to make things easier on herself.

But the question still stood. What was Jasper getting out of it? He did not look, to Bella's eyes, as if he were enjoying what he was doing at all. It made her sick to watch.

Snapping out of her reverie, she took a step forward, deliberately loud. The two vampires finally looked up and saw her. Jasper did not appear surprised at her presence and it occurred to Bella that he may have known she was watching the whole time. But that was too horrible a concept to entertain.

Jasper's pupils were dilated and so expanded his eyes appeared almost black, the way Edward's did when he was hungry. Bella instinctively took a step back before standing her ground. There was no time to think about this. It was still Jasper. It was always Jasper and perhaps even more so when he was like this, unrestrained. She was having difficulty remembering this, however, when he started to approach her.

But then he looked at her, really looked. Bella's anxiety rolled off of her in waves. Even if he were drunk he could not have failed to note it. The glazed cast to Jasper's eyes began to lift as he stared at her and his brow knit.

"Has something happened?" he said. "You're shaking."

Bella swallowed and found her voice somewhere in her stomach. "Jane," she rasped. "The Volturi. They came to my - they crashed my wedding!" Out of her fear came a small hard kernel of righteous indignation.

"Please," Bella said. "Please come back with me?" It was more of a question than she intended it to be, but with Jasper she was never sure of anything.

"Shit," Jasper said. Bella had never heard him curse and her ears pricked at the word. She felt like a child, and things had suddenly gotten very serious. Even Jasper was acting like this was a big deal.

Jasper turned to the Denali girl, who was still standing beside the tree, her liquid-ink eyes wide with anxiety. "Go," Jasper said. "Now!" The girl didn't move and Jasper took a menacing step towards her and she snapped out of her fog. She ran towards the exit in a blur of blue and was gone by the time Bella blinked.

Jasper turned on Bella and he looked so large and dark that Bella nearly shrank from him. His yellow eyes had become clear and cold and whatever had just happened, the crazy, hazy fog he had created for himself and the girl, was gone. Bella almost apologized for interrupting him, but that would require admitting to having seen him, and this seemed to be one of those situations where it was tacitly understood by all parties that it had never happened.

But his eyes, Bella thought. They were so different when they looked at her this time. Like someone else was with her entirely.

"You should leave too," Jasper said.

"I can't," Bella said, the idea having not even occurred to her. "Alice sent me to find you. W-we need you."

Jasper nodded as if it were only to be expected but Bella went quiet with guilt. Of course they needed him now. And then he could go away again once this unpleasantness was dealt with, like always.

"Come on, then." Jasper strode past her and Bella started puffing to keep up with his longer strides. "Why is she here?"

"I don't know. Because she's mean, I think," Bella said. "She doesn't like us."

"She doesn't like anyone. But this is Aro. None of the Volturi would come here of their own volition. It would be a matter of principle."

"Jane said this was, too," Bella said. Because of me, she did not add. These days every conversation seemed to be about her, and she was thoroughly weary of it. She was really nothing to be made much of. This was not false modesty, it was simply the truth.

Though Bella had vowed not to utter a word of what she had seen in the garden, the next words out of her mouth were "Who was that girl?"

"No one," Jasper said. For a moment there was nothing but the sharp tap of his shoes against tile. Bella would not have dared press for more but then he said, "A distraction."

She did not know what he meant by that and could not ask; they had reached the banquet hall. Jasper slipped in through the door and Bella scurried in after him. She was glad he had not wasted precious minutes in trying to persuade her to ditch everyone to save her own skin. Though she knew she could not sensibly do much to help, she wanted to be there. This was her family. She was very glad her other family - the humans, she thought, I'm already starting to think of them as 'the humans' - were not here to witness this. If only because it would have inspired inconvenient questions Bella had no answers to.

Once Jasper entered the room Jane's head turned towards him, proving she must have known exactly where Bella was off to. "Oh, good," she said. "I see you went to fetch the guard dog."

Jasper slid through the crowd and came to a stop next to Edward.

"Jasper Whitlock," Alec murmured. "It is a surprise to see your company." He hardly looked as if it were a surprise, and Bella was sure he and Jane had received full intel on the Cullen maneuverings. The Volturi did not just happen to gate-crash wedding parties.

Jasper said nothing. Somewhere in the crowd he had removed his jacket and now stood in his white dress shirt and pants. Bella's heart climbed back into her throat. Oh no, she thought, oh no oh no. Alice's words came back to haunt her. This is bad. The understatement of the century.

"We thought you would have left by now," Jane said. "There were bets."

Jasper's normally soft, easygoing smile had a sharp edge to it. "Didn't know I was so popular."

"Consider yourself a person of interest," Jane said, her eyes flickering towards Bella's corner. "We find it remarkable that someone with such a weak power has wrought so much damage over the centuries." She appraised Jasper with something akin to respect.

"Oh, I don't got any power," Jasper said, as if Jane were bestowing undue praise. "I just know people."

Bella's mind spun back to the courtyard, to this afternoon when Jasper found her, his smile, the way he stood, so careful. He was being careful now. Bella was afraid for him. She had this crazy urge to call him back to her, as if he were indeed the slur Jane had flung at him. Come back, come here, she wanted to say. Get away from them. They're poison. Already they were filling Jasper's head with their words.

"Then you must know why the Cullens would have accepted someone of your…" Alec let the word hang in the air, "talent into their fold." Less verbose than his sister, his expression stayed neutral, his large, dark eyes assessing Jasper from every angle. He looked Jasper up and down and did not seem as impressed with what he found as his sister.

"Somehow I doubt it was quite the fortuitous love match they would have you believe." He glanced at Alice. "It is never quite so convenient as that."

Carlisle stood between Jasper and Edward and Jane and Alec. Bella's eyes searched the crowd for Alice's dark head, and found her standing off to the side. She wore a familiar look on her face, vacant and unfocused, and Bella hurried to her, pushing people away without consideration. The crowd was thinning. Apparently, their guests had deemed this a family affair and were beating a discreet and hasty retreat. Soon, the only people left were the Cullens and Bella. As usual.

Cowards, Bella flung at them, though logically she knew there was little more they could do than herself. The Volturi were greatly feared and most adhered to their laws blindly. Only certain clans, such as the Cullens, who were strong enough to withstand them, made any fuss over their decrees.

And why were the Cullens so strong? They had Edward, who was like real family to them. Carlisle loved Edward as a true son, that was clear. And they had Alice. But she was loved for her own self, too. Bella could not imagine Emmett and Rosalie and Esme belonging anywhere else than to the Cullen house; they were loyal and they belonged.

Jasper? Who knew where he came from or where he was going. Bella scarcely recognized the man standing in front of her now. His pose was casual, his hands loose at his sides, and so unlike Jasper's normally rigid, at-attention pose that it immediately set off alarm bells in Bella's head.

Bella was not the praying sort but she prayed now, clasping her hands in front of her chest. Her mother couldn't make up her mind between New Age spiritualism and atheism and so Bella did not have much to drawn upon in the way of religious observance. She simply babbled the first thing that came into her head, hoping some greater power than herself could intervene.

Please, oh please! Don't let this happen. Don't make him do this. Something deep inside of her knew the wrongness of what was happening, and she didn't need Alice's prophetic powers to understand what Alec and Jane were implying.

"State your business here or leave," Carlisle said. "I think we have been more than patient."

Jane frowned at Carlisle and Bella felt a faint trill of fear for her adoptive father. He stood without hostility but quietly, relentlessly implacable. And eventually, perhaps realizing that here was somebody who could not be bullied, Jane acquiesced.

"Aro sent us," she said, shrugging. "He is not confident in Edward's commitment to turn the human Isabella Swan. So we are here." She smiled. "As witnesses."

Carlisle looked faintly exasperated. "Is that all? We have sworn to uphold our word."

Jane made a cutting motion through the air. "Aro wanted to emphasize that he has no doubts about your word. It is your son's that is in doubt."

Through all this Edward remained silent. He wasn't even looking at Jane anymore. Bella willed him to speak up, to finally hear her across the void. It now seemed that, whatever his opinion, she must be turned, or truly lose everything. She could not go on living, knowing as much as she did about the supernatural world. Even to her mind, this was just common sense.

But she doubted Edward saw it in quite the same way. A chilling part of her wondered if he would even be more content with that outcome, her death - as long as she died a 'pure' human. The word, associated with so much frustration and mediocrity, stuck in her like a thorn.

"She must be turned," Jane said, "tonight."

"No," Edward said, finally.

"No?" Jane's brow crinkled in what looked to be genuine confusion. She probably didn't hear that word often. "Did you just say no?"

"Bella is not going to die," Edward said, meeting her unwavering look with one to match.

Jane frowned at him. "I wasn't asking."

Bella experienced an almost Alice-like slow motion of occurrences for the next several minutes. She was able to take in many details at once, to sift through them as if they were files and to only retain that which was most critical. She could not have moved if she wanted to. Something kept her in place, fear or morbid fascination, she didn't know.

Jane gazed around at the vacated banquet hall, her fine eyebrows lifting. "Oh dear, it seems the party has ended early. How disappointing."

"Disappointing," her brother echoed. "We have just arrived."

"Somehow, I reckon you two see the end of a lot of parties," Jasper said.

Jane turned her eyes back on him. "I don't like your tone," she said. She took a step closer to him, her white hands swinging lightly at her sides. "I don't like the way you look at me. You're... different. What is it?" She tilted her head, her wide, red eyes penetrating into Jasper's yellow ones.

A lesser man would have backed away, but Jasper stood his ground. And he kept talking.

"Maybe it's the fact that I don't shake just 'cause you say 'boo'. No little Volturi she-witch is gonna dictate terms to me." Jasper smiled into Jane's shocked face. And with a soft, stinging voice, he quoted, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live… I'm sure you've heard that one before. Right?"

After that, several things happened at once.

"How dare you," Jane whispered. With the speed of a knife aiming for its target she darted forward. Alec made a motion as if to pull her back but she was too quick for him.

Bearing down on Jasper she employed the full force of her power on him and he went down to his knees. The impact cracked on tile and made Bella flinch and the screams that ensued were nothing compared to the ringing silence that came after. It as if he were cut off in midair, an invisible vice closing around his throat. He froze like that, trapped in a hell of his own mind, with Jane standing over him.

Seconds turned into centuries and Bella felt as if they would all stay like this forever, a macabre tableau. She could do nothing but stare at Jasper, her mouth open. She wanted to scream, to voice her denial, however useless that action would be. But she couldn't even do that.

Then Edward moved. Edward moved and then so did Emmett and Alec could only shout out the warning "Jane!" before a strong hand was clamped over his mouth. Jane turned but by then Rosalie had reached her and shoved her from behind, propelling her forward. She lost her concentration on Jasper and Jasper was released from his torture and fell to the floor, too.

These were the events that Bella's mind were able to record. It was only later that she understood the full synchronicity of the Cullens' actions. But right then all she understood was that Jasper did not move even now that Jane had stopped hurting him and that she was the only person in the room doing nothing. She started to rush over to Jasper but a hard, bullet-like object grabbed her in the same place around her bruising arm. It was Alice again and she shoved Bella in the opposite direction of where she wanted to go. She had similar orders for Bella as last time but this time Bella was less interested in obeying them.

"Go, run!" Alice said. "Wait by my car. I'll come get you."

"What about -" Bella gasped.

"There's no time for that! You have to run, Bella." And then Alice turned to help her father restrain Jane.

For a few seconds Bella gave real thought to ignoring Alice's words. But then reason prevailed. She was useless here. Indeed, she was the reason everyone was fighting now. If she stuck around she would only serve as a distraction and would compromise everyone else's ability to negotiate the situation effectively.

The best thing to do would be to… go wait in the car like she was told. Mouth twisting at her own impotence, she tore herself away from the scene in front of her and ran through the door. Everyone was moving too fast for her to see, anyway.

At least her parents were gone. At least the other guests had gotten out okay. She had to shake her head as she passed through the coat room. Most had not been so distressed by the uninvited guests as to forget their coats. Bella could only imagine what people would talk about when they got home. She was certainly making a reputation for herself.

She hurried over to Alice's Turbo. It was not the same one she had driven in Italy, but it was same model; she had liked it so much she had declared she would never drive anything else for the rest of her life. Jasper had bought it for her.

Were all vampires so rich? Bella climbed into the Turbo, feeling as out of place as a street urchin sitting in a king's throne. Her dress was ruined beyond repair at this point.

The rest of the parking lot was empty. It was mindboggling to know how much was happening inside that little church, and yet you would never know it to look from the outside. Bella pressed her sweaty forehead against the cool glass, breathing out to create a fog on its surface. Every muscle in her body ached. Gazing at the surrounding, dark and curtained windows, she wondered how many other untold nightmares were occurring right at this very moment, and no one knew about it but the inhabitants of those rooms.

They would all be okay, she reassured herself. They were strong. Stronger than her, stronger than anyone she knew. Alice had said she would come for her.

Alice had said she would but come but Alice was not always right. But this time, she was. She had to be. And if not Alice then… Bella tried to follow the wispy thread of her trailing thoughts, but it fluttered away from her reach. Some part of her brain seemed to have decided, for the sake of its own preservation, to simply cease with all concerns. Before Bella knew it, she knew nothing at all.