Chapter Thirty-Two

I felt my heart immediately stop at Alice's words. If Edward kept refusing to change me, I would be so, so, so screwed. The Volturi knew that I was still a pathetic human. Edward had sworn to them that I would become one of them in order to keep their secret from the human world.

He had lied to the Volturi. Not only was my life at risk but Edward's was as well. Everyone I knew was at risk whether they knew about vampires or not.

"So what do we do now, Alice?" Emmett asked. His loud voice caused me to jump. I had forgotten that he was in the room with us.

"Well," Alice begun. "For starters, Carlisle needs to know what's going on. He knows some very powerful covens. He might be able to make a few phone calls and get some of them out here to help."

"Alice…I c-cant. I can't have him do that!" I cried. "All you keep risking your lives for me. I can't have others doing it too. Just…no. it's out of the question. No."

"Look, Bella, we wouldn't be asking these covens to stand up and fight the Volturi. We need them as witnesses."

"Witnesses?"

"The Volturi know that we lied, Bella. We convinced them that you had died during transformation when in reality…"

"…I lived fifty-three more years. But why now? Why are they just realizing all of this now?"

Alice shrugged. "I wish I had more answers for you but unfortunately I don't. My vision showed the Volturi making the decision to pay us a visit as well as Carlisle asking the other covens for aid. All of them come to help. Our plan is to have them witness your transformation."

Edward cleared his throat, causing us to look at him. He glanced down at his feet before approaching me. "Being a vampire… this is something that you want right?" I nodded. "There's no going back, Bella." His beautiful crooked grin graced his pale lips. He looked hesitant but still grinning, he finally met my eyes. "I'll do it. I'll change you." A gasp escaped my lips before I lunged at Edward. His cold, strong arms wrapped tightly around me. It was in this moment, embraced by Edward, that I finally felt I belonged. That he truly wanted me. That he was my soul mate. "I've let you down so much," he whispered. "I'm not going to do it again. If you're going to become one of us, I'm going to be the one to change you. God, Bella. I've been so stubborn. I've been a fool and just kept letting you go. Never again. I can't go another ninety years without you. None of us can."

"Okay so let me get this straight," Emmett chimed in, causing me and Edward to chuckle. I pulled away from him to look at Emmett. "Not only do we have the Volturi but someone else is after Bella as well? Someone that Alice has seen before in her visions and someone Bella can hear in her mind." Alice nodded. "These people – whoever they may be – are the reason we are here. In Brazil. On Isle Esme." Alice nodded again. "So, what exactly are we going to do about them?"

Alice sighed. "I haven't really thought about it. I don't really know anything about them. I don't know if it's one person or ten targeting Bella but someone is. I believe that the ones invading Bella's mind is a small group of vampires. The only way to overcome them is for Bella to be one of us. They terrify her. They can speak to her and invade her thoughts. If she's a vampire, she may be born with a gift. A gift could help her against this group as well as the Volturi."

"Alice," Edward said. "What if her gift doesn't make itself known until it's too late? Or she can't control it? I had a horrible time trying to get my gift under control. You're the only freak who had control from the very beginning."

"That's another reason I want the other covens here." Alice bit her lip. "With Eleazar, he'll be able to sense her gift from the very beginning. The others… the ones who have gifts… we could always test it on them."

"And if it's something like Jane or Alec?"

Alice was clearly becoming frustrated with her brother. For once nobody was just going along with whatever she had to say. They had questions. They wanted to know everything that they could. "That's why we'll have Eleazar on hand! His gift would be able to tell us what kind of gift Bella has. Come on, Edward. You need to start listening more." She clasped her hands in front of her and looked around the room. "I am going to inform Carlisle on what is going on. He and Esme can make the phone calls." She glanced at Edward and I. "I want you two to find a nice quiet place to talk like two people who are supposed to love one another. No more of this one step forward, two steps back stuff. It's exhausting to those of us on the sidelines." I glanced at Edward. He was trying not to look at me. "Get moving, people! We don't have much time!"

CPOV (CARLISLE)

As soon as Alice had alerted me about her vision and her plans, I had handed Esme half of my address book. I only had telephone numbers for a few covens. It would be Alice and Jaspers task to track down whoever we could not contact. I glanced down at the first name in my half of the address book.

Denali.

A quick glanced at Esme earned me a nod from her. "Let's get started, shall we? I'll start with the Denali's. Who is the first on your half, my dear?"

"The Egyptians," Esme answered.

I nodded. "Don't let Amun bully you. If need be, ask to speak to Benjamin. He can be more reasonable than Amun."

Without answering, Esme picked up her cell phone and dialed long distance… all the way to Egypt while I made the call to Alaska.

"Carlisle, my friend, what can I do for you?" a thick Spanish accent asked."

"We need your help, Eleazar."

"Is everything alright?"

"No. I'm afraid not."

In the background, I could clearly hear the concerned voices of the Denali women. I looked over t Esme to check on her progress. She rolled her eyes at me before snapping viciously into the phone.

"Carlisle, I'm going to put you on loud speaker is that's alright." I agreed. "Alright. Go ahead, Carlisle."

"It's regarding Bella," I said. More talking over one another.

"Bella? Didn't she… "

"We can't really explain it, Eleazar. I've never seen anything like this. The only explanation I can offer you is reincarnation."

"Reincarnation? Really? Carlisle, surely you don't believe in that do you?"

"I didn't until now… until I saw down and talked to Edward. It's been ninety years since her death. How do you explain that?"

"And she's not a vampire?" Eleazar asked.

"Yes."

"You're certain?"

I laughed. It was obvious that Eleazar wanted to believe what I had to say. He was just having a hard time doing it. I sounded crazy to the Denalis. I wouldn't believe anything I was saying either if Bella wasn't here with us.

"Carlisle?" Tanya piped up. "Carlisle, what did Edward have to say about all of this?"

"The earliest memory Edward can recall is from 1905 when they were both children. He's not the only one who remembers. Bella remembers practically everything. She's been having dreams I guess you could say. She has seen her and Edward in England as early as the 1800s. She was there when Edward came down with the Spanish Influenza. I don't know why it never occurred to me before. I don't understand why it didn't dawn on me ninety years ago. I always assumed that they were grandmother and granddaughter. Never once did it occur to me that they were one in the same. I have a theory though."

"Go ahead, Carlisle," Carmen, Eleazar's mate, urged.

"Bella and Edward have a history. 1800s, 1900s and now. Something always happens to tear them apart. Edward died during war. Edward dies and becomes a vampire. Edward refuses to turn Bella so she leaves. I'm almost certain that this is some kind of cycle. Bella and Edward are soul mates. Until they end up together, this cycle will keep on repeating itself. We need you to come to Olympia and stand with us, Eleazar."

"What for?" Eleazar questioned.

"You're not telling us everything, Carlisle," Kate chimed in.

"We have a few problems coming our way. The Volturi found out that we faked Bella's death years ago. Alice had a vision that they're coming to check up on us. I don't think they realize we're in Brazil yet though. The second problem is that someone has been tapping into Bella's mind. She can hear this person talking to her and it's terrifying her. Alice thinks that someone else is after Bella. Lastly, we want to change Bella as soon as possible and find out if she has a gift. That's where you come in Eleazar. We want you to sense her gift. It might be one that we need if we have to fight against anyone."

"Carlisle, you're my friend but I will not fight the Volturi for you," Eleazar said.

"I would never ask that of you, Eleazar. We want witnesses. We want you and various covens to travel to Isle Esme and be a witness to Bella's change. Our plan is to attempt to trick Aro. It's going to be difficult but Alice is confident that we can make it happen."

"Now, listen hear, Amun," I heard Esme growl into her cellular. "You have been one of our biggest allies and Carlisle has done a lot for you and your family. Now when he needs you you're going to just turn a blind eye?"

Words were passed back and forth from the sisters to Carmen and Eleazar. Irina was unsure. She hadn't gotten over the werewolves killing Laurent. Tanya and Kate were adamant about going. Kate wanted to help Bella while all Tanya could talk about was Edward.

"What do you think, Eleazar?" Carmen asked in a soft voice.

Eleazar muttered a few words in Spanish before sighing. "We will be there, Carlisle. Give us three days."

"Thank you, Eleazar. Thank you so much."

"Do not expect us to fight the Volturi, Carlisle. We are doing this to help you and the girl. We do not want bloodshed."

"Neither do we."

And I could only hope that it wouldn't come to that. We were asking friends to come and bare witness. I couldn't stand to think about what would happen if Aro wanted a fight. Yet I knew that the majority of my friends would stand with us as well as the wolves if need be.