Chapter 1

She had welcomed death. After all, death would've been more merciful than living with the knowledge that everyone she'd loved had perished, their thousand-year future (as Edward had promised, 'forever') extinguished in the blink of an eye. The immense physical pain had rendered her mind foggy, but the memory of their deaths – Edward's, the most of all – had remained, burnt into the back of her mind, promising to haunt her for as long as she lived.

If she lived. And she did not intend to.

After Victoria's newborn army had wiped out the majority of the Cullens, Victoria had forced her to watch as she ripped out Edward's head; forced her to watch as the crimson flames devoured the remains of what she'd come to know as family; forced her to watch their ashes scattered and dispersed in the wind. Her reason to live had dissipated along with their ashes, and Victoria had cackled at her tears.

"This was how I felt when they killed James," She had hissed, her grip on Bella tightening. "And they killed him because of you."

Victoria had mutilated her, body and soul. With all the gashes on her upper body, and a diminished will to live, she should have perished, but yet here she was, teetering on the thin line between life and death, but still very much alive. Humans were fragile, weren't they? It shouldn't be long now.

With that assurance, she closed her eyes. She prayed that it would be the last time she opened them.

~.~

She was thirsty. She was very thirsty. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time she was this thirsty.

She jerked upright at the realization, eyes flicking open and focusing quickly on the mud-coloured brick walls around her. A fly buzzed away happily, ten feet away from her, its turquoise shell complete with intricate patterns of bubble-shaped –

Wait, she could hear three ants, scurrying away beneath the marble flooring. She could see every single pebbled, uneven blemish sticking out of the mud-coloured brick walls like a sore thumb. And she could smell –

She could smell the thick, delectable scent of blood. It permeated the air, ensnared her senses, rendering her so, so, so…

Thirsty.

"You are awake."

She spun to the source of the sound, and a mountainous man with cropped, black hair came into view. He was at least 6'5'' tall with a muscular body and a slight olive complexion which looked odd combined with his chalky pallor. But it was his eyes that stood out the most of all. It was a dark crimson red so piercing it pained her to look at it.

She couldn't help but think he looked familiar.

His thin lips curved into a smirk. "You look good, immortality suits you."

And just like that, reality hit her like a sword to her heart. She had wanted death. And she had gotten it. But it was not the restful nothingness that she had hoped for, and instead, an immortality that imprisoned her in a meaningless, yet never-ending lifetime of regret and grief. There was no doubt about it: She had been turned on the verge of death. By whom, for whatever reasons, she did not know. She did not care either. She could not live without Edward; without the Cullens; without Jacob. She was better off dead.

The man uncorked a small vial of blood. She could smell it even when it had been in the pocket of his dark robe. "Here," He said. "You need to feed."

It took everything it had in her not to snatch the vial out of his pale fingers. Every cell in her brain screamed 'BLOOD'.

"Tell me," She replied instead. Her voice felt raspy, like it hadn't been used in a hundred years. "Who are you? Why are you helping me? Why didn't you let me die?"

Again, another smirk of his. He placed the vial down on the wooden table beside her. "Pity you don't recognise me." He said. "I did take a liking to you the last time we met."

His composed marble form, alongside his billowing black cloak, triggered a distant, distasteful memory from her past.

She was up on her feet, her vampire reflexes forcing her into a defensive position. "You're from the Volturi," She bit out. The lack of blood was starting to get to her. Her head spun. "What do you want?"

"Is this how you repay people for saving your life?" He replied, clearly amused. "Perhaps we should have let you die."

"You should have." Her grip on the bed rail tightened. It made sense now, and she hated it. "You should have let me die! Why did you interfere?"

He frowned, clearly not expecting such a reply. "We entered the battle site after the Cullens were defeated to clean up the mess that Victoria made. And you were the only remotely alive thing on that battlefield. You claim you seek death, but you lived – even with 28 incisions on your upper body, you still lived."

She stilled herself. Perhaps it was not the Volturi that turned her after all, but Victoria's venom.

"Clearly, you had been left for dead," He continued. "You had lost too much blood. The turning should have finished you. Most of us thought you wouldn't survive, but we could not take the chance. We could not risk the possibility of a newborn running amok without a master – "

"But I lived," She groaned. She eyed the blood vial with loathing in her eyes, and then at him. "You could have easily killed me. Finished Victoria's job. The Volturi are not known to be merciful. What is your ulterior motive?"

"Very clever. Sharp as always, Bella. You are right, we need you. Alive." He cocked his head to the vial, red eyes alight. "So please feed. Aro would like to speak with you later."

~.~

Edward had tried to kill himself before, when he believed her to be dead. It was ironic how there was a reversal of roles now. It was like Romeo and Juliet, just that she was now currently a vampire and thus almost impossible to kill. Drowning, poisoning, falling from great heights – she was immune to all these now. Edward had known that. He had taunted the vampire royalty, knowing that that was one of the only ways for a vampire to go.

And here she was, standing in their midst. With even less of a reason than Edward to live when Edward attempted to expose himself to the people of Volterra. It would be so easy to give them a reason to kill her – she would just need a small one. The Volturi loved killing. It was in their blood.

She levelled her gaze at Aro, and then Caius, sitting on right-hand side of Aro's throne. Could she die from emptiness? She felt like she could, but it would be a long and painful process. She wanted to die now. A quick death sentence, an eternity of numbing nothingness – she wanted that now.

"I demand you kill me."

Caius's lips curled into a sneer. "I believe you are in no position to make any demands."

"Come now, Brother Caius," Aro said soothingly. "Our dear Bella has been through quite a lot."

Not enough for the Volturi guard to stop flanking her everywhere she went. Even now, two drifting, waifish dark cloak figures trailed closely behind her. If only they knew that she was too exhausted, too devastated to fight or escape.

"If you don't kill me," She declared, loud and clear. "I will hunt and kill a human a day on the streets of Volterra."

Days ago, she would have cowered in The Volturi's presence. She didn't know whether it was the shedding of humanity or embracing of death that extinguished all fear of them.

Jane hissed at Bella's threat and stepped forward, her red eyes glittering with spite. Caius rose to his feet in both anger and shock at Bella's outright defiance.

"My dear Jane; my dear Caius, do stand down," Aro commanded with a wave of his hands. He looked straight at Bella. "We are not here to fight. We are here to discuss an alliance."

Bella frowned at that. She was a newborn vampire, a weak one at that. What possible alliance could The Volturi want with her? With Edward, she understood, but with her…

"Victoria has raised an army of newborns, which you of course, are well aware of," Aro began. "As long as Victoria's army lives, our secrecy is at high risk. Her newborns do not live by the vampire laws that govern us all, and some witnesses tell me that they have spotted immortal children in their midst."

"It's simple," Marcus continued. "I believe you long for revenge. Is it not in your favour to join us in our hunt for them?"

She remained silent. Marcus was wrong. She felt numb. It wasn't revenge that she longed for, it was death. Unlike Victoria that thirsted for revenge, Bella knew that revenge wouldn't bring Edward back.

"Why me?" Bella whispered. "It all makes sense, but why me? In this room stands the most skilled vampires in the world. There is simply no need for me."

Aro shook his head and gestured to another member of the guard, draped in a dark ebony robe. He was more beautiful than the rest of them (if possible), with an olive complexion, short frosted brown hair, an aristocratic nose fit for a king and a cutting jawline sculpted from chalk-coloured marble. He stood at around 6'3 feet tall, his body hard and lean as the blade of a sword. Bella instantly recognised him. Judging by his dark and dangerous aura, Bella knew that this was none other than Demetri, the greatest tracker of his time.

"You met Demetri, have you not?" Aro said. At that, Demetri's beautiful burgundy irises fixed themselves on her. "A legendary tracker. He can pick up the essence of anyone's mind and then follow it over any distance across the world to hunt them down. Victoria and her army, of course, are our highest priority as of now. You came into contact with Victoria during your battle with the newborn army. With your permission of course, may Demetri pick up her flavour from your mind?"

Bella felt that there was no harm in allowing Demetri to do so. She wanted the Volturi to destroy Victoria and her newborn army, she just didn't see a purpose in living after that was accomplished. But something still didn't click in Bella's mind. Technically, Demetri didn't need her permission to pick her mind. Since when did the Volturi seek permission for something they wanted? She didn't need to be a mind reader like Edward to know that Aro wasn't letting her in on everything just yet.

But her desire for revenge was overwhelming, exactly like the scent of blood to a newborn like her. Without much hesitation, she nodded.

Aro nodded towards Demetri. Demetri stalked forward and circled her predatorily, eyeing her like a hawk eyeing a squirrel.

Then he frowned. He squinted again. Another frown.

He turned to Aro. "Nothing," He declared, clearly puzzled. He glanced at her curiously. "I cannot detect her mind. It is as though she does not exist." His voice was deep and soothing, like liquid honey, to the ears.

The rest of the guard stared at her in shock. Jane grimaced, balling up her fists at her sides. She glared at Bella, her red eyes contorted in furious concentration. Bella was reminded of the last time Jane had tried and failed to attack her with her power of illusionary pain. She was currently attempting to attack her again, to no avail. Was it a coincidence that Demetri's power had failed to work on her as well?

Aro merely stared at Jane's immense concentration and smiled.

"Ah, as expected," Aro said, clapping his hands in glee. "A hypothesis I wanted to test out. It seems like you, dear Bella, have been gifted with a defensive power far greater than any that I have ever seen."

Most of the members Guard looked uncomfortable with the revelation. Others stared at her in disbelief.

Marcus looked to Aro, slightly startled. "Does it mean that she renders all our powers useless?"

Aro nodded. "As you recall, even as a human, I could not read her mind. Now, turned, I believe her power extends further than that."

The Guard turned back to Bella, observing her unblinkingly. She felt a bit uncomfortable. She had to get used to being around bloodsuckers.

"So you want me to join your collection," She concluded distastefully. Jane flinched and again attempted to attack Bella with her illusion, to no avail. "And if I refuse? Will the consequence be death? Will you finally give me what I want?"

Aro didn't reply. It dawned upon Bella that Aro, being who he was, would never let her leave or die for that matter, now that he wished to collect her gift. The Volturi had saved her for that reason and that reason alone. She had to get out of here.

It was impossible, judging by the dozens of black, waifish shapes floating around her, but if Aro was right, at least their powerful gifts were rendered obsolete with her.

Without warning, Bella slammed her arm into the guard on her right. She recovered quickly, her vampire adrenalin kicking in, allowing her to spin-kick the other on her left. They fell away from her, and Bella took a second to appreciate how much stronger she had become.

Then the Volturi's defensive drill kicked in. Renata immediately flew in to block Aro, as practiced. Jane and Alec glared at her, clearly in deep concentration, trying to incite some form of discomfort. Felix and Demetri flew at her at the speed of light, incarcerating her in half a millisecond.

"Stop, stop," Aro commanded from his post atop the platform. Demetri's iron grip remained tight around her throat. He was truly a piece of marble. "My dearest Bella, you have to listen."

She grimaced, clawing at Demetri's cool hand. The pressure of his grip intensified, his thumb forcing her chin up to an uncomfortable angle. The subtle act in itself was a deadly warning. He would have no qualms beheading her if she moved.

Aro shook his head and lowered his inverted palms. Demetri's grip loosened with that silent instruction.

"Your lovely sister, Alice – she predicted this. She predicted that you would want to leave, perhaps to end your own life – and she said, to tell you this: 'Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.' You are alive, dear Bella. Live. Edward and the Cullens, they would have wanted you to live. Avenge their killers with us."

Bella's head snapped up. Her mind was whirling. Her head hurt. How did he… How could he… have echoed the exact same quote that Alice had said to her the night before the battle? She had used the exact same words. How…?

"You lie! How could you have known...? You read her mind, didn't you? Why would she tell you this? WHY?" She accused immediately. It was a defence mechanism. Nothing made sense. Perhaps she needed more blood if she wanted to think harder.

Aro folded his arms. "She had an extraordinary gift. She could see things that might happen or were coming as an outcome of someone's decision. She knew they would perish, and that you would live. During your last visit here, Alice let me in on this."

Bella could almost feel tears on her cheek. Vampires didn't cry, but maybe she would be the first one that did. Her voice shook as she spoke. "So Alice knew… of course she would… But if she did, why didn't she save herself? Save them? She could have prevented it, so why didn't she?"

"That was the only path she saw. After Edward killed Victoria's mate, that path was set in stone."

"You're lying. You could have helped, after knowing our fate. Why didn't you?"

Aro smiled. "Your brilliance never fails to astound me. You are right in there being another path. But through Alice's mind I saw the outcome of the second path. If the Volturi had joined in the fight against Victoria's army, I would have lost half my Guard. Her newborn army, though unskilled, has several debilitating gifts."

"Instead of half your Guard," Bella gritted her teeth. "I lost my whole family." Vocalizing this made the pain more unbearable. She wondered if Jane's pain inflicting ability could be more brutal than this. But something still didn't make sense to Bella. "What makes you think you won't lose half your Guard if you go after Victoria now?"

Aro grinned. He looked completely unfazed by the deaths of all her loved ones, as expected of a manipulative, unfeeling bastard. "Because we have you," He said. "Alice predicted that your defensive shield could be projected upon your turning. Victoria's newborns' gifts will have no effect on us."

Bella glared at him.

"Ah, you look positively lovelier when you are angry. Alice wanted you to live, my dear child. Is it a coincidence that she said those exact same words to you? She wanted you to join us, exact revenge, and live."

Bella knew this to be true. Aro was one manipulative motherfucker, but in this aspect, he was right. Alice wanted her to find a new purpose in life, and live. A new purpose could include serving the Volturi as a member of the Guard, but Bella knew it didn't matter what the purpose was to Alice, as long as that purpose enabled Bella to live on.

But Bella knew one thing for sure. If she was going to heed Alice's last request to live, she would do so with a purpose of her own.

She would find Victoria and her army of newborns.

And she would behead every. Single. One. Of. Them.

~.~