"Ah. Isabella. You're alive" The cryptic blond says to me. Her head cocked slightly in confusion. "Aro will be so happy. Come with us." She says turning. I go to argue but Edward grabs my arm and starts walking along.

The alley Edward was hiding in lead to a staircase. "At the end of the staircase is the secret underground tunnels of Volterra. We are going to the castle." A voice says from behind me. I am tempted to glance at who was talking but Edward grabbed my arm tighter and growled, I heard a slight vampiric mumble, the kind that had I not spent so much time with the Cullen's I wouldn't be any wiser to, and lead me to follow the cloaked people in front of me. We went in three rows of two. Two cloakes, Edward and I, and two cloaks behind me.

We were silent through the tunnels. Following the two in front who expertly lead us through the twists and turns of the dimly lit cave. You could smell and feel the moisture in the air. Every few minutes I felt a drop of water land on my head, guess that explains the hooded capes.

I know I should feel nervous, I am not naive. Carlisle told me who the Volturi were. Their goal was to ensure the vampire world remain a secret from us humans. Here I was, a human, who knew who they were, who knew their secrets, all I could feel was calm.

After about fifteen minutes of walking we get to a iron spiral staircase. The cloaks in front start ascending, we continue to follow. Edward keeping the same pace with the same grip on my arm. It was about halfway up when the slippery stairs got the best of my clumsiness. I felt my foot slip Edward's grip on my arm did not ease up. I felt my shin collide. I yelped in pain. "You need to not be so clumsy" Edward said through gritted teeth.

"Maybe you should slow down" I say, tears in my eyes. Confused why he was acting like this. So indifferent. He pulled me up by my arm and started to continue the course. I heard a growl from behind from the unknown cloaks. At the top of the stairs we encounter a red door. There is an ornate brass handle and brass gold door knocker.

The female cloak knocks three times. We wait and another cloak opens the door. This one with his hood down. The piercing red eyes sees our group. "Sister, welcome home" he says before stepping aside we enter the same way we were walking through the tunnel.

"Brother, good to be back" She says back.

The rest of the trip is short. We enter into a waiting room looking area. Like the foyer of a museum. There is a lush red carpet covering natural stone tile. In the middle is a dark wood desk. A young woman sits greeting people who are walking in to tour the old castle. I gasp. "She's human!" I say softly. The female responds "She is, and is hopeful to be turned one day." She says, but chuckles darkly.

We get to another ornate door, this one is the same dark wood as the desk with the same gold ornate designs. We do not knock on these doors, there are two men in red cloaks who nod in our direction before opening the doors. We stop in the middle of the room. The marble floors echo every step we take.

It takes a minute to take the room in. There are high ceilings and tall stained glass windows behind several tall thrones. Sitting there are the three kings. Marcus on the left, he looked detached, withdrawn. Like he was in a permanent state of pain. My heart aches just looking at him. On the right is Caius, he reminds me of Jasper, the same detached soldier look Jasper took. He was looking into the distance. Not at anything in particular, as if lost in a thought. Then in the middle, Aro. With a manic smile he sees us.

"Ah.. Edward!" He rises slowly. "Welcome back. And you, you must be Bella" He says. Walking down the steps to where we are standing. "Jane, Demitri, thank you for bringing them to us." He says. Jane nods her head before removing herself. Demitri follows. They go to stand on the side of the room. Dismissed by their king.

The other two have yet to be unhooded. They stay behind us for the time being. Aro comes to be in front of me. Edward's grip on my arm increases.

"Edward, you are hurting me." I say trying to pull my arm. I hear two growls from behind me and a matching one from Edward.

"Young Edward, calm yourself." Aro says, a mix of whimsy in his authoritative tone. I feel him release me.

"You, must be Isabella" He says turning his attention to me. "We have heard so much about you" He says, a hint of concern in his tone.

"Master Aro, I fear I have only heard a bit about you. It is an honor Your Excellency." I say, curtseying. If I am to make it out of here alive, or with some hope, finally a vampire, I need to treat these men like the Kings they are in this world.

"My dear, while I appreciate your formality, there is no time for that now. We have a situation on our hands." He says, a hint of disappointment in his tone.

"I am aware Sir." I say stiffly. My tone aimed towards the idiot next to us more than Aro. A fact he senses thankfully.

"I am told young lady, that you found out about our world on your own, is this true?" He asks, walking a few paces back and them pacing in front of us.

"It is." I say, knowing not to elaborate further than that.

"Is it true that the Cullen family confirmed this, protected you as their own against a rogue vampire, almost attacked you in their home, and then abandoned you?" He asks, this time looking directly at Edward.

"Mostly Sir." I say. "While those are the facts. There is a lot of generalization there. Yes Edward confirmed this, the family accepted me as one of their own. Yes there was a rogue vampire who threatened my life. Jasper and Alice kept me safe, I left to keep them safe. Jasper killed the vampire, Edward sucked the venom out of me to "protect" me from changing." I glare towards Edward. If he had just let it happen, we wouldn't be in this mess. "Things were okay, Alice threw me a birthday party. I got a paper cut. Everyone reacted, Jasper came charging right when Edward was getting edgy. Edward pushed me into a glass table. The family removed Jasper. It was days later they left. Edward abandoned me in the middle of the woods. I almost died were it not for the wolves." The growls from the cloaked vampires behind me start again.

"So, Jasper attacked you"

"No! Absolutely not!" I yell feeling the need to protect him.

"Bella, you weren't paying attention love." Edward says, attempting to grab my hand.

"No. Edward. You weren't. Aro, Sir, Jasper is an empath. He was in a room full of vampires, one of which I am the singer of, and I started to bleed. Blood lust is an emotion is it not." I say snatching my hand away from Edward.

"That it is." Aro says with a smile on his face.

"Look, I am only here because Alice told me you were going to kill Edward because of me. I am not going to let that be on my conscience." I say.

"This isn't about love?" He asks surprised.

"Love? Yes but not for him. I couldn't do that to his family. I know they did this under his wishes. Not theirs. He and Alice run that family with their gifts. They are scared and way too trusting."

"I see." He says. "This is a very different story than the one you gave Edward. Yours was a little more…. Romeo and Juliette." He says

"Edward confuses love and position Your Grace" one of the voices from behind me says. I hear Edward growl. The response from both the cloaks is to growl louder.

"Gentlemen, please step forward, I imagine you have some thoughts on this situation." The two men step forward, the hoods still drawn too low for me to recognize who they are. They drop the hoods and all I feel is peace and happiness. One of them I do not recognize the other though.

"Jasper?!" I gasp before running to him and hugging him tightly.

"Hello darlin, miss me?"