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Chapter 32:

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I was loathe to enter those catacombs again, but I took heart that it would be the last time—until I was ready or willing to return, at least.

Jane came for us at the church like she said she would and bought us some traditional Volturi robes to wear, all black. Apparently Aro's blessing would be given in a simple ceremonial. I wasn't too excited about that, but I was eager to get it over with. We entered the catacombs through the amphitheatre where Caius had fallen and aside from stains on the stones and pillars there was no sign that anything had occurred there at all.

Descending into that darkness once again, I felt a slight foreboding, but I had Alice and Victoria at my side and I had Jane as well, who truly had become a friend over these last few days. She had given me nothing but assurances over what was to come and Alice's visions were clear as well. Even Victoria's gift was calm and settled. I wasn't about to let down my guard, but despite the darkness and the closeness of the walls, these catacombs truly had no appearance of danger anymore.

The robes we wore were black and voluminous, heavy velvet with gold trim. Our boots clicked on the stones. There was no sound at all anywhere in the catacombs and the doors to the throne room stood open. Jane led us from a few paces ahead and me and Alice and Victoria came slightly behind, marching up the red carpet that led through the large cavern toward the dais where the thrones sat. Bats chittered in the ceiling but that was all. No one was speaking. There were at least a hundred vampires in that hall, as if more had been bought in from outside specifically to witness me, and they stood silently in robes and orderly rows either side of the red carpet, a corridor of red and watchful eyes that seemed to be almost in reverence as I passed in our little procession. I looked at them without any fear, no longer a weak human, and Alice and Victoria gave me subtle smiles.

I had been expecting to find one of the thrones empty, but it wasn't. Aro was in the middle with Marcus on his left, and on the right sat Jasper.

That gave me pause but I didn't falter in my step. He was slouched on the throne, much as Caius might've been, and he was watching me with eyes that were newly red. I suppose he had assumed some kind of leadership in the Volturi. With his background, combat skill, and gift, I guess he had been a logical choice. Aro was smiling as I noticed my old enemy on that throne and I realized his sick sense of humor might've also helped with his decision. He knew Jasper's history with me. But I wasn't worried. I was the one who killed Caius, the man who had sat on that throne for thousands of years. What did I have to fear from his replacement?

I looked away and my eyes landed on Edward. He was standing near the front of the crowd along with several people I recognized. Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett. I guess the Cullens had come to take him home to America. Emmett saw me and grinned and tossed his chin. I gave him a nod. And only him. Emmett was the only Cullen I liked. The rest I ignored, especially Rosalie. She tried to look at me with her usual distain but this time it was her who was inferior and she looked down instead. I looked at Edward again. We had been through a lot together since that very first biology class, but now it was time to move on. I was glad he was back with his family. I wished him all the best and gave him a smile.

By now Jane had stopped in front of Aro and bowed and then she moved to the side to make way for me, Alice, and Victoria. The three of us came to a stop before the trio of thrones and Alice and Victoria bowed like Jane had. I didn't. Aro smirked. Marcus had been gazing out across the cavern at one of the blazing hearths in the far wall but now he shifted and folded his hands in his lap and gazed at me and my two soulmates as if he had noticed something particularly fascinating about us this time. It was probably the most alert I had ever seen the old man before and it made me smile. I could see in his eyes that he sense bonds between us that he had never sensed before.

The cavern was silent and now Aro heaved a sigh and rose from his throne to greet me.

"Well, if it isn't the lady of the hour," he said. "I'm pleased you've finally made time to come see us."

He bowed deeply, a slight drawl of sarcasm in his voice. I snorted.

"I was a little fucked up for a while, if you don't remember," I said.

Alice gave me a flare of her eyes, as if to tell me to shut up. I could tell some of the guests didn't like my disrespectful tone either, but they refrained from commenting. Aro merely smiled.

"I do remember," he said. "I also remember your courage and bravery in how you defeated Caius. If not for you, perhaps none of us would be here."

I looked around at the guests. Most of them were in robes, aside from a few in street clothes like the Cullens. James was there as well and he was leaning back against a pillar, somewhat apart from the ceremony, and he was looking at nothing but Victoria.

I turned back to Aro. "I was just trying to defend myself," I said. "I got lucky."

Aro smiled and lifted a gloved finger and waggled it at me playfully. "You are very modest," he said. "It was not mere luck. It was spirit! And will! And a fierce devotion to me that inspired you and gave you strength! Am I correct?"

I looked at him weirdly. Jane was biting her lip as if she wanted to giggle. I looked at Aro and shrugged and said:

"Sure."

He nodded approvingly. Then he gestured with a hand, still standing there before his throne. "Regardless, you are to be well rewarded. Anything you want, anything at all. Name it's and it yours. Aside from Caius's seat, of course. That happens to be taken."

With that he drew attention to Jasper who was still slouched there with his elbow on the armrest and his chin in his hand. Alice looked away from him and Victoria looked at Alice. I looked into Jasper's red eyes steadily and then turned back to Aro. Aro smiled.

"I was impressed by his gift and his tactical acumen during the battle," he said. "He's an impressive fighter as well. Very impressive. I understand you two have a history, but I trust you can both put it behind you. Trust me, in a hundred years these petty romantic squabbles will seem entirely meaningless. It reminds me of a song I heard once: I have ninety-nine problems but a bitch ain't one."

I was staring at him as if he was a complete fucking idiot. Even his guests seemed mystified as that fragment of Jay-Z lyrics echoed through the cavern. He smiled at everyone, his eyes cool and composed beneath that very convincing veneer of buffoonery, and then he sat down on his throne and crossed his legs and brushed some dust from the lap of his robe.

"So," he said. "A reward. Any ideas, Ms Swan? There must be something you want."

I literally couldn't think of anything. All I wanted was Alice and Victoria.

"Jane has hopes you'll stay on as a bodyguard," Aro went on. "Your gift could be very valuable once we explore its limits. What do you say? It's a position of high authority. Very valuable. Just say the word and it's yours. My pleasure."

My eyes narrowed slightly. What a sneaky bastard. He was trying to make it seem like staying here would be a reward. Well, fuck that. Nice try, asshole.

I glanced at Jane and even Jane seem to think her master's ploy was terribly transparent. She gave me an awkward smile and I turned back to Aro.

"In all honesty," I said. "I just wanna get out of here."

A murmur ran through the cavern at that. Aro smiled. He seemed impressed that I not only saw through him but had the balls to stand up to him as well. But he had been doing this for centuries and he parried my disrespect with absolute effortlessness.

"A marvellous idea, Ms Swan," he said. "Like a vacation, yes? You certainly deserve it. All three of you. Just name the destination and I'll take care of everything else. All expenses paid. Somewhere tropical, perhaps? Although you'd have to take care to stay out of the sun. I'd hate to have to send a deathsquad after you for breaking the rules."

He burst into chuckles at that, shifting on his throne and holding the armrests as if his mirth might cause him to tumble off. Some of the guests smiled too. Finally he settled down and shook his head jovially as if to keep me from getting the wrong idea.

"I'm joking, of course," he assured me. "But tell me. Where is it you wish to go?"

I looked at him dryly. I knew his joke was actually more of a friendly reminder that he could still kill me anytime he pleased. You also had to admire the fact that he was willing to let me go yet insisting on paying for it and keeping tabs. How generous of him.

But it was probably the best deal we were going to get, so I decided to cooperate. I glanced at Victoria and Alice, making sure they were cool with everything too, and then I turned back to Aro.

"Actually, we had our hearts set on England," I said.

Aro raised his eyebrows delightedly. "England? How wonderful. London can be a very lovely city, depending which century you visit. I haven't been there in a long time, but I understand the plague is over. Oh, those were the days. With so many humans dropping like flies, no one even noticed when the healthy ones disappeared. I had a lot of fun in those days. I still remember the first time I saw Hamlet at the Globe. That would have to be five hundred years ago by now. Time just flies, doesn't it? Or tempus fugit, as we used to say when I was a boy."

He chuckled again. But this time there was a half-heartedness to it and the chuckles trailed off slowly as if he had simply lost energy for it. As if the passage of time really did cast him down a little. He looked at Jane for a moment, as if there was something about her that made him feel better, and then he turned back to me and replaced that false smile on his face.

"Well," he said, clapping his hands together. "I suppose you must be eager to be off, eh? Are you sure there's nothing else I can offer you? I had intended to throw you a lavish ball as well, but I thought that might be in poor taste for a woman of your, um…moral standards."

The guests chuckled. The Cullens were standing there, disapproving, frowning. James unleaned from the pillar and put his hands in the pockets of his jeans. I glanced at him and back at Aro.

"Thank you for your consideration," I said, forcing myself to be polite. "But…"

I glanced at Victoria and Alice and then I took each of their hands in mine. They smiled at me and I gave their hands a squeeze. A soft rustle went through the guests. Edward looked down. So did James. Jasper looked away toward one of the hearths. Marcus had been watching us the entire time and now his eyes were wide and staring at our clasped hands. I smiled at my two lovers and then I turned to Aro.

"We just wanna be alone," I said.

Aro nodded as if he understood. "Say no more" he said. "I suppose this is goodbye then. For now at least. One day, of course, we hope you'll…"

He trailed off, glancing at Marcus awkwardly. Marcus had risen from his throne. Everyone was looking at him and now he came shuffling down the steps of the dais toward me and Alice and Victoria. He looked at our hands, frowning, and then he circled around behind us and sniffed at the air.

"Oh, Marcus, for heaven's sake," Aro said, mortified at his old friend's behaviour. "Stop it, you're embarrassing yourself. Sniffing at them like a dog. Honestly."

Marcus came around to our front and he looked at us, bent, hunched, hardly taller than Alice, his brown hair hanging in the orange firelight like an old warlock or soothsayer. He looked at Victoria and at Alice. I was trying to analyse his frown but I couldn't tell what it meant.

"What is it?" I asked.

His eyes snapped to mine, wide and serious, and then they drifted to Alice and Victoria. "What you have forged here," he said. "Never let sunder."

His words made my chest thump like a heartbeat. "Is it true love?"

"No," he said, turning and speaking over his shoulder. "It's more."

Then he shuffled back to his throne and sat down, still staring at us with that troubled frown as if the potency of our feelings was somehow disturbing to him. Aro waited for him to be seated and then he blinked politely.

"Are you done?" he asked. "Marvellous."

Then he shook his head and turned back to us.

"Now, as I was saying," he said. "We hope you'll return to us in time. You're a hero now, don't forget. Soon to be a fixture in our culture. A lowly human girl who slew the mighty king Caius. We'll be telling stories about that one for a thousand years, let me tell you."

I was still smiling from Marcus's proclamations and I glanced at Victoria and Alice before nodding at Aro.

"We'll come back eventually," I said.

"Excellent, excellent," he said, and then he rose from his throne formally. "Well, I suppose this is farewell. I'll leave you with Jane to sort out the details of your trip. Bon voyage, Ms Swan, and on behalf of the Volturi I wish you the very happiest of ever afters."

With that, he clicked his heels and gave me a bow. Swallowing my pride, I gave him a bow as well in return.

"Thank you," I said.

It was the first time I had ever bowed to him and he smiled at the gesture and nodded magnanimously. He gave a nod to Jane as well and Jane came toward us and gestured down the carpet. Victoria and Alice turned to go, Victoria glancing one last time at James, Alice glancing one last time at Jasper. I glanced at them both and at Edward as well and then I turned and followed Jane out of the cavern. Alice and Victoria came with me and soon we had finally left that place. Together. Like I had promised them.

—

A black Rolls Royce picked us up on the surface and transported us to a villa owned by the Volturi, me and Alice and Victoria in the back, and Jane in the front beside the stoic driver. She didn't speak in front of him and we didn't speak either. We drove in silence and watched the Villa rise in the windows as we came around the final bend. It was situated on a cliff in perfect isolation, overlooking the powder soft sands of the beach below and the crystal blue shoals that shimmered in the sunlight.

The villa itself was large and empty. Several of the wings stood closed off with white sheets thrown over the furniture, but the rest of the house had been prepared for our arrival, including the master bedroom with windows that stood open like doors for the breeze to blow the drapes back and forth. By now the sun was beginning to set and the four of us walked out onto the terrace. We were still dressed in our Volturi robes and we must've looked like a small row of prophets standing in the dusk. We could see the water out there and the sun setting into the water and the water was blue and purple and sparkling in the last failing rays of the sun the same way our faces would've been sparkling under our hoods.

"Wow," I said. "It's beautiful."

Jane nodded and went to go back into the bedroom. "If you were staying longer, we would've prepared the rest of the house as well," she said. "But this ought to be sufficient for a day or two while you gather supplies for your journey. The closets have been stocked with clothes and the refrigerator has been stocked with blood from a local hospital. The blood is human but I can assure you no human was harmed in the harvesting of it."

There was a laptop on the desk and now Jane unfolded it and tapped away at the keyboard.

"We've arranged Cayman island accounts for all three of you. The information you need is all here. The funds will be replenished every twenty four hours. Should your expenses run higher, we've also set up a blind trust."

She turned the laptop to me so that I could see the screen. My eyebrows shot up.

"Wow," I said. "That's more money than I could spend in a lifetime."

Jane giggled. "Not anymore. You're a vampire now." She tapped away at the laptop some more and then folded it down and continued speaking. "A helicopter will come pick you up the day after tomorrow to take you to the airport where our private jet will transport you anywhere in the world you wish to go. All we ask is that you keep us apprised of your movements. As a newborn you're still something of a liability, particularly with your knowledge of Volterra."

"I wouldn't worry about that," Victoria said. "Bella has excellent restraint."

Jane glanced at her. "Be that as it may, we would prefer to take the precaution," she said. Then she smiled at me. "It'll give us an excuse to stay in touch."

I chuckled and nodded. It didn't sound unreasonable to me. Like it or not, I was going to be bound to the Volturi for a long time, if not forever. And it's not like I wouldn't mind sending Jane a postcard or two.

Jane nodded as well and then suddenly she seemed to have run out of things to say. She looked at the laptop, at the billowing curtains. Finally she sighed and took a deep breath and smiled.

"When do you think you will come back?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," I said. "I can't really think that far ahead right now."

"We truly would make a tremendous team to protect Aro. With both of us at his side, there's no limit to what we could conquer. Perhaps even the human world itself."

Excitement hissed into her voice with that last part. I snorted and shook my head.

"My gift might not be as useful as you think," I told her.

"Maybe we could find out."

"No, I don't think…"

But she grinned and spun to Alice and Alice flung up her arms and screamed and—

Stopped. Only a single high-pitched note came out of her just as my gift clamped down on her like an invisible dome, shielding her from Jane's power. I didn't know how I had done it. I had just panicked.

Alice still had her arms up and she was breathing heavy from that brief taste of Jane's gift. Jane smiled at her, her red eyes aglow, and then she giggled and turned to me.

"See? I knew it would be able to protect others as well."

Victoria put her arm around Alice protectively and she gave me a look as if she was gonna kill Jane if I didn't do something about this. Alice was just in shock, almost smiling from Jane's craziness. I gave Jane an awkward smile and tried to explain her error.

"Jane, listen," I said. "I know you may be a little desensitized to the pain you inflict on others, but seriously: don't do that shit no more. Okay?"

She gave me a playful pout. "Okay."

I shook my head. Jane looked at Alice as if to apologize and smiled at the anger in Victoria's face and then turned back to me.

"Well," she said. "I should go."

She moved past us onto the terrace where a set of steps led down into the courtyard. I followed her out. The steps were whitewashed stone and I called to her as her boot touched the first one.

"Jane," I said.

She paused and turned back. The sun was smouldering in the swells beyond and she stood silhouetted in her hood. I smiled and nodded at her.

"Thanks," I said.

I said it with a certain gravity, as if to include gratitude for everything, and she seemed to understand. Without Jane, I might never have had the opportunity to show Alice and Victoria how much I really loved them. It was that night in the catacombs when Jane had prepared them for me in chains that led to everything. I smiled at her and she nodded back and smiled and then she turned and continued down the steps.

By midnight that night we still hadn't left the bedroom. Our robes lay in a rumpled heap on the floor, almost mimicking the positions we made on the bed as our naked bodies entwined and twisted and orgasmed in crescendos of joy and laughter. The sky outside was filled with stars that cast a bluish light into the room through the open doors of the balcony. The drapes continued fluttering in the breeze, white and boneless, carried into the room on gusts of wind like pale spirits reaching for the bed. Like ghosts bent on inhabiting our naked bodies and partaking in the joy that rose and climaxed between us and subsided again before rising anew like the waves crashing on the cliffs outside.

The sheets were white satin, almost as cool and smooth as our skin, and we made love for hours without resting. Slowly and intimately. Speaking softly about little more than what we were doing to each other. I loved both of these women so much that the feeling in my heart was a literal ache, as if it was in danger of splitting down the center. I held Alice's tiny face in my hands and kissed her. My bestfriend. My first true love. The woman who loved me so much it had almost driven her crazy. I kissed her and made love to her with my mouth and later it was Victoria's face in my hands. Stroking her cheeks before weaving my fingers into the long red locks of her hair. Red like fire. The color of love and passion. My mouth had fallen open and I was completely at her mercy. I owed her so much. If she had ever asked me to choose between her and Alice, I would've chosen Victoria. But in that choice some part of my heart would've had to have been broken off and destroyed and cast away and Victoria loved me too much to do that. She didn't only love the parts of me that loved her back, she loved everything. Unconditionally. My stubbornness, my weakness. My feelings for Alice. Everything. And she loved Alice as well. I could tell each time their mouths connected. Their eyes. They had hardly known each other properly for a week and yet they seemed to revel in whatever feelings had sprung up between them, consuming them whole and without shame while they were still fresh and forbidden. Licking each other between their legs and smiling and licking again.

Towards dawn I went to go get some of that blood that Jane mentioned. The kitchen contained a stove and a microwave and a row of darkwood cabinets. I smiled at the stove and brushed my fingers over the burners, remembering how I used to make dinner for dad and myself, realizing that I would never make dinner again. I wasn't sure if I should be happy that I would never have to cook again or maybe a little sad. In the end I just chuckled wistfully and opened the refrigerator. The blood had been bottled like wine and I didn't bother getting any glasses, I just uncorked three of them and left the corks on the counter before nudging closed the refrigerator door with my naked hip.

Alice and Victoria were chatting about Alice's toenail polish as I came in, sitting side by side on the bed with one of Alice's feet presented for examination. They looked up as I came in and grinned as I handed them each a bottle.

"You think it's okay to drink human blood?" I asked them as I settled on the bed.

Alice giggled and took a long gulp out of the bottle, squeezing her eyes shut as if it was a strong whiskey. When they opened, they were a pretty pink color. "Back in Forks I would've said hell no," she said, "but these days I've learnt to loosen up."

Victoria lifted her own bottle in a sip. I watched the pinkness suffuse her eye and then I looked down at my own bottle and lifted it and took a drink with my eyes closed before lowering the bottle again with a shaky hand. It tasted so good I had almost bit the neck of the bottle off.

When I opened my eyes, they were watching me. Victoria smiled.

"You should still be careful, though," she said. "You have incredible restraint for a newborn, but drinking human blood will make you more vulnerable to slipping."

"But you'll probably be fine," Alice added with a smile.

I nodded and took another drink. I guess none of us were in the mood to impose standards on ourselves anymore. If there was anything we had learnt lately, it was to compromise and accept happiness in whatever form it arrived.

We fell silent for a moment, the curtains billowing into the room and the surf booming against the rocks outside. I looked at Victoria and Alice. Naked and beautiful, the bottles in their laps. Smiling. Glancing at me, at each other. The silence stretched to the point where we were afraid of ruining it somehow until finally I just chuckled and shook my head and said:

"It's almost too good to be true, isn't it?"

Alice's smile brightened even further. "What do you mean?"

"This," I said, gesturing at us where we sat in a small triangle on the rumpled satin sheets. "I guess part of me never thought we would ever get here. I mean, think about all the shit we went through before now. Did you ever think it would end?"

Alice glanced at Victoria. Victoria was sitting back against the headboard with her legs crossed and she smiled at both of us.

"It did seem bleak at times," she said.

"But here we are, right?" Alice chirped. "All three of us."

I chuckled softly to myself and repeated: "All three of us."

Alice giggled and looked at Victoria's long white legs and then she placed a hand on them and stroked them up and down before leaned to kiss her big toe, her ankle, her shin, her kneecap. I watched them, smiling, and took another sip from the bottle.

"You know what's weird, though?" Alice went on, raising up from Victoria's lap. "A relationship like this had never even crossed my mind before it actually happened. Not once."

"Me either," I said.

"Nor I," Victoria added.

Alice smiled and gave a shrug of her pretty shoulders. "And yet now," she said. "I honestly couldn't imagine anything different." She was still smiling but then she went a little self-conscious and added: "Could you?"

"Nope," I said, beaming at her. "Deep down I always knew I needed both of you in my life. One way or another. I never dreamed it could ever be this perfect, though."

Alice smiled at that and turned to Victoria. "What about you, Vicky?"

There was an extra bit of supplication in the question, as if my own answer had been expected but it was Victoria's that mattered most. Victoria smiled and set her bottle on the nightstand and drew Alice close.

"I'm the same as you," she said. "All I ever wanted was Bella—until I had you as well."

The answer made Alice very happy and Victoria gave her a kiss to seal it. I watched them. Victoria's hand was cupping Alice's face, just under her jaw. It seemed to be a perfect fit for her palm and once again I found myself astounded at how much they grown to love each other in so short a time.

"I'm really glad you guys have bonded like this," I said. "It never would've worked otherwise."

Alice broke the kiss with a giggle.

"I just think she's hot, that's all," she said, and then she proceeded to go down on her.

I laughed and Victoria laughed as well with Alice's head between her thighs, watching it bob up and down with each lick, and then she smirked at me with her red hair and huge sexy boobs. I crawled over and began to kiss her.

We continued making love until well after the sun rose and filled the room with light. Then we went for showers, crowding into the glass cubicle and passing the soap back and forth and giggling and dropping the shampoo bottle. Once we were done, we dried off and ransacked the room for some clothes to wear so that we could go out. We found some scarves and sunglasses and a huge broadbrimmed hat for Alice with a blue ribbon around the crown that dangled down her back. We would look rather warmly dressed for the season, but it would keep us shaded from the sun.

There was a car in the garage too, a yellow Porsche, and it was almost an hour drive along the scenic cliffside back to Volterra. The first things we acquired were some travel bags and some iPhones and then we spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon browsing the market for clothes. We didn't want to overburden ourselves, since we could buy anything else we needed in London. All we needed was enough to get us started.

At around lunchtime we stopped at a café that had an upstairs terrace which overlooked a vast plain of terracotta rooftops and we were served by a waiter in a white jacket while we took off hour hats and scarves in the shade of the umbrella over the table. Victoria spoke to him in Italian and ordered us each a cafecita that arrived on white saucers in tiny cups. We had mostly only sat down to relax and chat, but we found ourselves lifting the cups anyway, pinching the handles between our thumbs and forefingers with our pinkies in the air and touching them to our lips in simulated sips, smiling and giggling like little girls savouring pretend tea at a teaparty.

In the afternoon we returned to the villa with our purchases and then got changed and went out again, each clad in one of the cocktail dresses we had found in the closet, Victoria in red, me in black, Alice in purple. We were of a mind to go dancing and we found a place with a dancefloor under the stars in the cool night breeze. We danced together, the three of us, and people could not keep their eyes off us, pale, supernatural, wrapped in skin-tight dresses that showed off our every perfection, grinding our bodies together in rhythm to the music with heavy looks into each other's eyes and the occasional kiss.

There was a bar there as well and after a while we stopped to get some drinks. The bar had no stools and me and Alice swayed our hips to the music while Victoria simply leaned back on it with her elbows. My own drink came with a tiny umbrella in it and I plucked it out and giggled and lifted the drink to my nose. It smelt like some kind of cleaning fluid and I pouted as I set it back down.

"I think this is what I'm gonna miss most about being human," I said to my companions. "Alcohol."

Alice burst out laughing. "You were seventeen years old, Bella. Have you even tasted alcohol before?"

She made a good point and I laughed as well. "Victoria once snuck me some champagne," I said, turning to her with a grin. "Remember at the old Rainbow Motel?"

Victoria nodded, smiling. That had been one of the first times we'd had sex. Back after fleeing from James when he had tried to kill me on that boat. Felt like a million years ago now.

"Well, that was very irresponsible of her," Alice said playfully. "She was probably just trying to get you drunk so she could have her way with you."

"I didn't need her drunk for that," Victoria quipped dryly.

Alice giggled and slapped her shoulder. She was holding her glass, a rum and coke, and she was stirring the ice with a straw, perfectly practiced at pretending to be an alcohol-drinking human. She noticed how I glanced at the glass and smiled.

"Seriously, though," she said. "Any regrets about the change?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you kidding?"

Alice shrugged, as if it had been an honest question. She continued stirring the glass and now I repeated the same question to her.

"What about you?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Any regrets? Like Jasper?"

Alice stopped stirring the straw. I hated to mention his name, but I needed to know if she needed support about it. But she shrugged casually, pretending to be a big girl, as if the loss of her hundred year relationship with a man who had betrayed everything she ever did for him was no big deal.

"He wasn't the person I thought he was," she said. "And he definitely wasn't the person I wanted."

I nodded. I could tell she didn't want to talk about it, not now at least, and I leaned to give her a kiss. The kiss perked her up, but Victoria was still frowning from the mention of Jasper.

"From now on, we will have to be on our guard," she said. "Right now we are under Aro's protection, but that won't last forever. With Jasper's gift, his influence in the Volturi will grow daily, and he doesn't strike me as the type to let go of a grudge."

That was all true but there was no need to worry about it now. Not here under the stars with the dance music throbbing like a heartbeat and the three of us in sexy dresses. So I brushed it off with a wave of my hand and started swaying my hips again.

"Let's not worry about that right now," I said. "Besides, I'm not scared. I'm not even worried. Whatever happens, we'll handle it. Together. Nothing is ever going to get in our way again. Not Jasper, not Aro, no one."

That was when James appeared.

"What about me?" he asked innocently, having heard up our whole conversation.

He had appeared out of the crowd in a black shirt, emerging like a well-dressed devil, and he was smiling sharply. I snorted and didn't even stop dancing. A while back this would've been a moment for fear, yet another plot twist in the endless tragedy of my life, but this time was different. I was a newborn, stronger even than the two vampires at my side, and I was the favoured one of the most powerful vampire in the world. I had nothing to fear from this dweeb anymore.

Victoria glared at him and put down her drink.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

James held up his hands. "Relax," he said. "I've come only to say goodbye. I'm still your mate, after all."

"I have new mates," Victoria hissed.

James smiled and shook his head. "No," he said. "Whatever they are, they are not mates. Although it is charming to see you all grouped like this. Considering our histories together."

Alice was glaring at him too by now. Alice was one of his original targets. The first one that got away, before I did the same. James never left a hunt incomplete, but I smirked at him and continued to dance on the spot.

"There's an old saying," I told him. "Don't hunt what you can't kill."

James nodded at the wisdom of that but what he said was: "There's also more than one way to skin a cat."

Finally I stopped dancing. I looked at him for a long moment and then I placed my drink on the bar behind me and turned back to him.

"James," I said. "I'm a newborn now. And you're still the man who murdered my mother. I've been trying to let go of the past and focus on nothing but the future, but right now what you're showing me is that you're the one who can't let go of the past. So let's settle this right now. Are you going to leave Victoria alone? Or do I have to kill you?"

James almost ignored me, turning to Victoria and smiling at her in a certain way. Not a sadistic smile. Just a smile. Victoria's glare weakened slightly. James reached and touched one of her hands. I bit my lip in restraint, hoping this was just some kind of goodbye—for his sake.

"It's ironic, isn't it?" he asked his former mate, gazing down at their hands. "To finally learn what true love is only as it slips through your fingers…"

He loosened his grip and let her hand fall away from his own. As if to demonstrate the loss of which he spoke. I watched him coldly.

"Decide now, James," I said. "Tell me you're never going to bother us again. And you better be fucking convincing because if I don't believe it I'm gonna kill you right here right now just as a precaution."

I was prepared to do it too, but now Alice placed a hand on my shoulder. I glanced at her and I was surprised to see her face was almost sympathetic for him.

"It's okay, Bella," she said.

"What?"

"I know what he's going to do. I saw it."

I frowned, Alice's hand still on my shoulder. The music was still blasting all around us and the lights of the dancefloor passed over our clothes in washes of red and white. James glanced at Alice and then at me.

"I have a gift for Victoria," he said. "That I would like to give her privately. After that you will never see me again."

I didn't know what was going on, but I looked at Alice. Alice nodded, as if we should let him. Victoria observed the nod as well and she didn't object. I looked at her. We both trusted Alice, but I still wasn't sure. Her one eye blinked at me beside her eyepatch in an almost anxious wink and I knew she could use some closure on this. So I didn't object either.

Alice let her hand slide from my shoulder down to my wrist and then she began to tug me away.

"Come on," she said. "We'll meet her back at the villa."

Victoria gave me a nod and I nodded back. Then I glared at James and turned away.

It was past midnight by the time we got back. We had taken the car and left Victoria to travel on foot, which would actually be faster than the car. I had half-hoped we might even find her waiting for us at the villa, but she wasn't. I kept asking Alice what she saw in her vision, but she only told me not to worry about it. I just hoped Victoria wouldn't get hurt. Not physically. Emotionally. In Volterra she would be off-limits, but her heart had always had a weakness for James. A vulnerability. I wasn't afraid that she would cheat on us—not anymore—but I really didn't want her to get hurt.

Me and Alice went straight up to the bedroom and the first thing she did was pull off her dress. Her mood was strangely buoyant and I wished I knew what her vision was. She was wearing nothing but heels and panties and she was turning down the bed.

"Are you sure about leaving them alone, Alice?" I asked her.

"Yes," she said. "Have faith in her. Her feelings for you are unshakable."

"I wasn't worried about that. I just don't want anything bad to happen."

Alice grinned and sauntered toward me with her perky body and then wrapped her arms around my neck. "Nothing bad is going to happen," she said. "Everything is going to be perfect. I'm just glad we have a moment alone. You've had so many with Victoria, but hardly any with me."

I cupped her face and looked into her newly red eyes. The last time we had been alone in Volterra it was when she lied to me about her visions in order to make me believe that Victoria would cheat on me with James. Now she was saying the exact opposite. I was so glad her heart was finally at peace and I smiled at her and she lifted in her heels to kiss me.

I kissed her back for a while and then I broke it off gently.

"Is it okay to do this without Victoria?" I asked coyly, unsure about the ethics of threeway relationships.

Alice giggled and unzipped my dress in a quick motion. Then she giggled again and pulled it off me.

"Don't worry," she said. "Me and Vicky did it lots of times without you."

I stepped out of my dress, naked but for my panties, and glared at her playfully. But she only giggled and jumped onto the bed and I quickly pounced after her.

Like she had said, we rarely had any time alone and we made the most of it, making a playful sort of love where we pecked at each other with our mouths and petted each other's pussies until we were nice and wet before eating each other out in turns, me first, then her.

It was over an hour by the time Victoria returned. She came in from the balcony, having leapt up onto the terrace from the ground floor with her shoes in her hands. The doors were already open and we saw her both at the same time, lying in each other's arms on the bed.

"Vicky!" Alice cheered.

Victoria smiled, something of an exhausted smile, and tossed her shoes into the room. She was still wearing the same red dress but there was something different about her. I frowned puzzledly as I disengaged from Alice, sitting up in the bed and looking her over. She was looking at the floor shyly and now she looked up and smiled and blinked at me with—

Both of her eyes.

I stared at her in disbelief.

"Victoria," I gasped. "Your eye."

She chuckled once and lifted a hand to where her eyepatch used to be. "James's sick idea of poetry," she said. "He might never see me again, but I'll be looking into his eyes every time I look into a mirror. One of them, anyway."

Alice grinned. "I'm gonna miss your eyepatch," she said. "That eyepatch was so cute on you."

Victoria snorted and moved past the bed, taking off her earrings. I gaped at Alice. She had obviously known the entire time. Victoria tossed her earrings onto the dresser and turned back to us with both of her eyes, placing her hands on her hips.

"I see you two were quite eager to hop into bed without me," she commented waspishly.

Alice giggled. "Bella wanted to wait for you but I told her it was okay."

"Yes, well," Victoria said.

She took two handfuls of the fabric of her dress and lifted it up over her head and let it drop to the floor. Her breasts had been revealed and all of her legs and that tiny triangle of red lace which was her panties, but the only thing I could look at was her eyes, red like her hair, both of them so beautiful.

Victoria approached the bed, haughtily and yet not without a certain coyness. Alice and I were sitting up, naked, waiting for her. I could see in her eyes that her meeting with James had been a true farewell and she wasn't without a certain sadness. For three hundred years he had never truly loved her, yet now at the end, she discovered that he did—enough to let her go.

Her eyes sidled and dropped and lifted again to look at Alice and I, her future, waiting there in the bed for her, and she smiled.

"I don't suppose you'd mind if I joined in?" she asked.

Alice and I glanced at each other and then we grinned and lay back and opened our legs for Victoria to display how we were all hers.

Victoria smiled softly and then she climbed onto the bed and crawled toward us, between us, into us, our arms and legs closing around her like a venus flytrap and dragging her down, enwrapping her forever in a place where she would always and truly be loved.

—

Epilogue:

—

Twelve months later we were settled in England.

Alice and I were enrolled at a Catholic high school there in London where we wore a half-sexy uniform of thick woollen vests—beige in color—with blouses underneath and skirts that were pleated and plaid and fell to our knees. The socks almost came to our knees as well. Alice also wore a scarf and a black beret on her head and I had a scarf as well. It was snowing outside. The boys all wore white shirts and black pants, like young officeworkers, and they all spoke with a weird British accent.

The bell had rang after final period and Alice and I dashed through the snow—at humans speeds of course—into the next building where our lockers were. The lockers were made of wood, which still struck me as incredibly stupid. Everything in this country was ass-backwards, even the steering wheels. I had to learn how to drive all over again and I still didn't feel safe on those narrow roads, indestructible or not.

Alice giggled as I slammed my locker shut and started shoving my books in my bag. I hadn't taken kindly to repeating half of senior year, but at least it was almost over.

"Only two more weeks till graduation," I said. "It'll be my very first one and I'm already sick of it."

Alice closed her locker as well. "Don't worry, college will be more fun. Vicky said she'll come with us to college."

I sighed, still trying to shove my books into my bag. "Look at this shit," I said, gesturing at the bag angrily. "I'm a vampire, for god's sake. I killed a two thousand year old vampire king with my bare hands. And now I'm supposed to do homework? Does any of this seem fair to you?"

Alice slung her bag over her shoulder and placed a hand under my chin to make me look at her.

"Get over yourself, babe," she said, and then she placed a kiss on my lips.

Unfortunately, we were right there in the corridor and a group of boys had been going by. We had classes with some of them and we were friendly enough that they hooted and shouted catcalls in their stupid British voices.

I spun at them and took a threatening step toward them.

"How about you assholes look at something else before I break your fucking skulls open?"

They giggled like girls at my badass-ness, backing away, half stumbling, gasping under their breath about how hot I was. I could hear them all the way down the corridor. A group of nearby girls watched them go, rolling their eyes.

Alice sighed and placed a hand on my shoulder. I snorted.

"They think I'm joking," I said, glaring after the perverts. "They don't know I'm an unstable newborn."

Alice giggled and shook her head. "Sorry, babe, it's been a year. Newborn phase is over."

I glared at her wearily. Honeymoon phase must be over too, because all she did was tease me these days. But then she smiled and took my hand and led me down the corridor.

It was snowing out in the parking lot and still snowing as we drove home. Victoria had purchased a loft in Bryer Court which she had turned into a professional photography studio. The building was over fifty years old, built here after the area had been bombed out in World War 2. It was six floors of heavy brick with a vine that crept up the side and a view over the entire westside of London including Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. The roof was dusted with snow and the streets as well and there was someone going past on a bicycle as Alice and I pulled up outside.

Victoria was still in the middle of a photoshoot and we greeted her with kisses on the cheek while a pair of fashion models stood by with fur coats around their shoulders. Alice and I then went upstairs to the living area and did our homework like good little girls, me in a minor rage about it and her just calmly chatting and jotting down her notes. Once she was done, she helped me as well, and once we were both finished she slipped a hand up my skirt and rubbed my pussy cheekily. I grinned and let her kiss me and then we took off our wool vests and opened our blouses for a little fun time. It was better than watching TV.

The three of us went out that night to nowhere in particular, just strolling, all three of us bundled up in coats and mittens and scarfs slung around our necks. It was still snowing and the night was nice and frosty. Our route took us along the banks of the river Thames, the water black and inky, and up past Westminster Abby with its gothic spires rising into the night. We continued on through Trafalgar Square, around the several fountains that were bright in the night with lamps in the water, and past the four stone lions that guarded Nelson's Column. The lions were massive with magnificent manes and one time Alice had climbed on top of one of them and straddled its back like a cowgirl while I giggled below and Victoria took a picture. Alice had also once jumped into a fountain.

We still had the pictures back at the loft, framed in our bedroom along with several other pictures, photographs from all over London and from road trips to France and Germany as well, the three of us at the top of the Eiffel Tower or at the Berlin Wall.

We made love that night as we made love every night. By now we had amassed a modest collection of toys, including a new vibrator every week after Victoria kept crushing them in her vagina. Tonight Victoria did Alice with a strap-on while Alice was eating me out. Alice's orgasm tore the strap-on directly off the harness, and in the end we just laughed and tossed away the toys and doubleteamed each other in turns with nothing more than our lips and tongues and unending passion for each other.

It was about four in the morning when Victoria and I went out on the terrace together. We were entirely naked, but there was no one on the streets at this hour or in this weather. There was no moon in the sky or any stars, just a silent sift of pure white snow that landed in our hair and on our shoulders and sprinkled upon our breasts. Our skin was cold enough not to melt it. I was leaning a hip on the rail of the balcony, looking out over the dark skyline of London, and I was in a pleasant mood until Victoria spoke.

"So did you get your homework finished?" she asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh my god," I said. "Who are you, my mother?"

"No," she said smirking. "I'm your big sister."

I chuckled as she came around behind me and wrapped her arms around my middle in a very nude and very un-sisterly embrace. She placed her chin on my shoulder and I smiled.

"I really can't wait for college," I said. "At least then we can spend the day together."

Victoria nodded on my shoulder. "I was thinking we could go abroad somewhere. Paris, perhaps. They have some lovely universities in France."

"I don't speak French."

"I'll teach you."

"Great," I muttered. "More learning."

She giggled and released me and turned me around to look into my face. "Oh, mon amour, vous êtes tellement stupide," she purred, presumably in French.

I narrowed an eye at her. "Was that something about love? Or stupidity?"

"Both," she whispered, and then she kissed me.

We were still kissing when Alice finally joined us on the balcony. She had three glasses filled with a dark red liquid and she handed one each to me and Victoria.

"Here you go," she said. "Might be time to raid a hospital again soon."

"Thanks," I said, taking the glass and sipping eagerly.

"How are you coping with the thirst, anyway?" she asked. "You're out of your newborn phase, but it's still so dangerous to drink human blood. Even if it is just blood bags. If it was up to me, I'd never let you."

I grinned at that, because I seemed to remember that Alice was the first one to agree about drinking human blood back in Volterra. "I'm fine, Alice," I said, sipping again.

Victoria smiled and shook her head, lifting the glass to her mouth. Alice had sipped as well and now she seemed to notice what a beautiful night it was.

"Mmm, look at that," she said. "It's still snowing."

"Yeah," I murmured. A few snowflakes had caught in Alice's eyelashes and Victoria's breasts looked like they had been dusted with icing sugar. I looked up at the sky, at all that blackness with just the snow falling out of it, and then I looked down at my hand. A snowflake fell onto my palm and did not expire. The sight moved me because I thought it was an nice metaphor for our relationship. True love, like a snowflake, is unique and beautiful and often dissolves as soon as you touch it. But our love never will. Like the snowflake in my pale palm it would persist there forever, as beautiful as it was unique and implacable, the three of us frozen in time for all eternity. I smiled and lifted my hand and blew the snowflake over the balcony like a kiss, restoring it to the winds and the weathers of the world. Then I turned back to Alice and Victoria.

"Come on, let's go back inside," I said. "If there's one thing about being a vampire that doesn't completely suck, it's unlimited energy to have sex, all night, every night."

"I'll toast to that," Victoria said, raising her glass.

Alice giggled and raised hers too. "Me too."

I laughed and clinked my glass to theirs and then we gulped them down and went back inside.

—

AN: This was the ending. Thanks to those who read this far, I really hope you guys liked it.