Means to a Mend
-A Bella Swan and Marcus Volturi Story-

Chapter 1

She sat at the open-air cafe in Florence, just fresh off a red-eye flight. The early morning air had a slight chill to it which was understandable for the beginning of March. Weaving her fingers through her mahogany hair, Isabella contemplated her next steps. She wasn't expected to start her internship until a week from now. She had time to explore. She could read and write in the local language, but her spoken Italian was lacking and it was her main reason to take this internship. Working to locate and translate classical texts with her old professor from her Master's program. Isabella aimed for a doctorate but before she could get into a program, she needed a firmer, practical grasp of the classical languages. She turned her face up to the rising sun in the east, it just now sending it's warming rays over the tops of the old buildings. Renaissance, Gothic and the occasional Baroque buildings towered around her little sanctuary at the café. The cappuccino lay tempting her on the table in front her; so beautifully crafted she wasn't ready to ruin it. She gave in with a satisfied hum. Italians do it better.

Isabella Swan had come a long way from a shy, uncoordinated teenage girl. After Edward had left her in those forbidding woods and a rough mourning period, she had poured herself into her education namely books. Books had never let her down. She had, just as before he came into her life, a thirst for knowledge. Isabella was in on a long-forgotten, secret world and normal life filled with dead-end jobs, passionless endeavors, and marriage and kids seemed laughable. The curtain had been pulled back for her. She thirsted for information, to uncover the rest of the world's secrets. No job, money, or man would stop her from her pursuits. Not to say there weren't a few random mostly innocent trysts along the way, she was still a young adult after all. Charlie supported her the best he could with helping her pay for college. He was also there for her many tear-filled calls home when student life became unbearable alone. Thankfully, obscure grants came from time to time when money, working, and college got too tight and demanding. Somehow, she survived to get her bachelor's degree with zero debt, a feat within itself. Isabella also graduated at the top of her program. She had grown into herself, a young twenty-two-year-old. Gone where the days of clumsy steps. She was confident yet modest. Isabella was still oblivious to her beauty as she filled out into an adult. Petite with slender curves, long mahogany hair in thick curls and pale clear skin; Isabella was a vision. She hardly noticed the attention she drew; she had more important goals. Without taking a break Isabella applied to a graduate program in England, and miraculously she was accepted. Charlie cried for the first time in front of her at the news. Never had he been prouder, even though this would separate him from his daughter by a large distance. Charlie celebrated by announcing it on his police car loudspeaker through downtown Forks, much to Isabella's embarrassment.

Everything had changed that summer. The loss of Edward, his family, and her future immortality seemed small in comparison to losing Charlie. The fruits of her past were reaped regardless if she had never personally sown the seeds.

Retribution.

That's what Charlie's blood had spelled out on the old pine floor of his little white house. He was strewn across the living room in mauled pieces. She could not think about the smell of gas as her knees buckled and she fell to the foyer floor, nor could she place where the piercing scream was coming from. It was hers. A sleek body blocked her view of the carnage. Victoria, she recognized her fiery hair. She had for years tried to kill Isabella, always kept at bay by the local Quileute pack. Isabella found out about the wolves a short while after the Cullens left. An accidental reveal after they saved her from Laurent. As always, the past has a way of catching up and Victoria's vicious smile drew Isabella's attention.

"Because of you, I lost my James."

Isabella had to admit; Victoria's justice was poetic. Very Romeo and Juliet, if they were sadistic vampire lovers. Isabella could see the despair that losing her mate had caused. Victoria was disheveled and rabid. Isabella had never felt a love that deep, one that the loss caused you to lose yourself. She thought once she felt it, but Edward had corrected her of notion before he left. Did she really deserve the punishment? Probably not. The fault did lay with the Cullens, but a human was an easier target. Isabella was resigned in her fate. She had followed her in passion for knowledge, and a passionate yet short life was better than a long, dull one. Plus, she felt responsible for her father's fate. Victoria's black eyes appraised Isabella cruelly. Her lithe body stood righteously with the promised future reward of Isabella's demise. After all, Isabella's father was just warming up, an appetizer before the meal if you will. The smell of gas penetrated thickly, drawing Isabella's to the old gas stove; opened and on. Victoria's corrective cluck drew Isabella's focus back.

"You'll burn just like I have all these years."

The last view was of Victoria being engulfed in flames after flicking her lighter open. Isabella woke up on her front lawn in front of the charred remains of her home, unharmed. The town had called it a tragedy and miracle in the same sentence. A local hero taken by a gas leak; his daughter miraculously saved from the blast. Isabella was the only human that knew the truth. Somehow, she was shielded from her wrongfully garnered sentence. A blessing and a curse.

Isabella took another pull of her drink. The caramel notes of the drink sang in her mouth; she hummed in appreciation of the simple pleasure. To a new start, she thought taking another sip.

A/N: I know in the books Marcus was around 19 and in the movies he an old decrepit man. I'm going to keep his age to around mid-30's, but I picture more of a Gabriel Garko. Obviously, you envision whatever you'd like. I hope you enjoy!