𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍:
Rescuing a suicidal vampire

"BELLA," Alice chokes out. Cordelia at once went to her side, looking at Alice in worry, yet also intrigued by what she had seen to gain such a reaction. Bella scrambled to her feet and lurched to Alice's side.

"Alice, what's wrong?" Bella cries. Cordelia puts her hands on Alice's face, trying to calm her.

Her eyes focused on hers abruptly, wide with pain.

"Edward," was all she whispered. Bella's body is rigid in shock.

"What did you do to her?" Jacob demands. Right, Jacob Black arrived earlier to protect Bella from them.

Alice ignores him. "Bella? Bella, snap out of it. We have to hurry."

"Stay back," Jacob warns. "Calm down, Jacob Black," Alice orders. "You don't want to do that so close to her."

"I don't think I'll have any problem keeping my focus," Jacob retorts, but his voice sounded a little cooler.

"Alice?" Bella's voice is weak.

"What happened?" Bella asks.

"I don't know," Alice suddenly wails out. "What is he thinking?!"

And that is where Cordelia knew that Alice saw Edward in her vision.

Alice was pulling a small silver phone from her bag. Her fingers dialed the numbers so fast that they were a blur.

"Rose, I need to talk to Carlisle now." Her voice whipped through the words.

"Fine, as soon as he's back. No, I'll be on a plane. Look, have you heard anything from Edward?" Alice pauses now, listening with an expression that grows more appalled every second.

Her mouth opened into a bit of O of horror, and the phone shook in her hand.

"Well, you're wrong on both counts, though, Rosalie, so that would be a problem, don't you think?" Alice asks acidly. And what Cordelia heard from her with the rapid conversation. Rosalie told Edward that Bella was dead.

"Yes, that's right. She's absolutely fine-I was wrong...It's a long story...But you're wrong about that part, too. That's why I'm calling...Yes, that's exactly what I saw." Alice's voice is very hard, and her lips are pulled back from her teeth.

"It's a bit late for that, Rose. Save your remorse for someone who believes it." Alice snaps the phone shut with a sharp twist of her fingers. Her eyes were tortured as she turned to face Bella.

"Alice," Bella blurts out quickly.

"Alice, Carlisle is back, though. He called just before..." She stared at Bella blankly. "How long ago?" she asks in a hollow voice. "Half a minute before you showed up."

"What did he say?" Cordelia was really focused now, waiting for Bella's answer. "I didn't talk to him." Bella's eyes flickered to Jacob.

Alice turned her penetrating gaze on him. He flinched but held his place next to Bella.

He sits awkwardly, almost as if he were trying to shield Bella with his body.

"He asked for Charlie, and I told him Charlie wasn't here," Jacob mutters resentfully.

"Is that everything?" Alice demands, her voice like ice. "Then he hung up on me," Jacob spit back. A tremor rolled down his spine.

"You told him Charlie was at the funeral," Bella reminds him. Alice jerked her head back toward Bella. "What were his exact words?"

"He said, 'He's not here,' and when Carlisle asked where Charlie was, Jacob said, 'At the funeral.'" Alice moaned and sank to her knees, with Cordelia holding her shoulder.

"Tell me, Alice," Bella whispers.

"That wasn't Carlisle on the phone," she says hopelessly.

"Are you calling me a liar?" Jacob snarls from beside Bella. Cordelia glares at him.

Alice mentioned a treaty about Cullens leaving amongst them. She isn't part of that treaty. She can kill Jacob.

Alice ignores him, gripping Cordelia's hand and shaking her head in disagreement. Alice then focused on Bella's bewildered face.

"It was Edward." The words were just a choked whisper.

"He thinks you're dead," Cordelia says out loud with realization.

"Rosalie told him I killed myself, didn't she?" Bella says.

"Yes," Alice admitted, her eyes flashing hard again.

"In her defense, she did believe it. They rely on my sight far too much for something that works so imperfectly. But for her to track him down to tell him this! Didn't she realize...or care...?" Her voice faded away in horror.

"And when Edward called here, he thought Jacob meant my funeral," Bella realized.

Alice looked at Bella strangely. "You're not upset," she whispers. "Well, it's really rotten timing, but it will all get straightened out. The next time he calls, someone will tell him...what...really..." Bella trails off.

"Bella," Alice whispers. "Edward won't call again. He believed her."

"I. Don't. Understand."

"He's going to Italy," Cordelia tells a stunned Bella. Edward is going to do a suicide mission. He was going to let the kings kill him.

It's highly doubtful, with his gift of mind reading, the kings will spare him, encourage him to join him instead of death, instead of wasting such a precious gift.

"NO!" The half-shrieked denial was so loud after the whispered words it made them all jump.

Bella felt the blood rushing to her face as she realized what she'd seen. "No! No, no, no! He can't! He can't do that!"

"He made up his mind as soon as your friend confirmed it was too late to save you."

"But he... he left! He didn't want me anymore! What difference does it make now? He knew I would die sometime!"

"I don't think he ever planned to outlive you by long," Alice says quietly.

"How dare he!" Bella screams. Bella is on her feet now, and Jacob rises uncertainly to put himself between Alice and Bella again.

"Oh, get out of the way, Jacob!" Bella elbows herself way around his trembling body with desperate impatience.

"What do we do?" Bella begs Alice.

"Can't we call him? Can Carlisle?" She is shaking her head. "That was the first thing I tried. He left his phone in a trash can in Rio-someone answered it..." She whispers.

"You said before we had to hurry. Hurry how? Let's do it, whatever it is!"

"Bella, I-I don't think I can ask you to..." She trails off in uncertainty.

"Ask me!" Bella commands. Alice puts her hands on Bella's shoulders, holding her in place, her fingers flexing sporadically to emphasize her words.

"We may already be too late. I saw him going to the Volturi...and asking to die." They both cringed.

"It all depends on what they choose. I can't see that till they make a decision."

"But if they say no, and they might-Aro is fond of Carlisle and wouldn't want to offend him-Edward has a backup plan. They're very protective of their city. If Edward does something to upset the peace, he thinks they'll act to stop him. And he's right. They will," Cordelia tells them, and Alice nods in agreement, looking forward to her visions.

"So, if they agree to grant his favor, we're too late. If they say no, and he comes up with a plan to offend them quickly enough, we're too late. If he gives in to his more theatrical tendencies... we might have time." Alice adds to Cordelia's statement, and Cordelia sighs.

This human and vampire love affair is getting dangerous.

The last thing she wants to do is go to the Volturi, the coven of vampires that destroyed her father's, Mansion's, kingdom. If Alice goes, then she'll follow behind.

"Let's go!"

"Listen, Bella! Whether we are on time or not, we will be in the heart of Volturi City. I will be considered his accomplice if he is successful. You will be a human who not only knows too much but also smells too good. There's a very good chance that they will eliminate us all-though in your case, it won't be punishment so much as dinnertime."

"This is what's keeping us here?" Bella asks in disbelief. "I'll go alone if you're afraid."

"I'm only afraid of getting you killed," Alice tells her, and Cordelia nods.

"I almost get myself killed on a daily basis! Tell me what I need to do!"

"You write a note to Charlie. I'll call the airlines." Alice tells her. Bella gasps and says, "Charlie."

"I'm not going to let anything happen to Charlie." Jacob's low voice is gruff and angry. "Screw the treaty."

For goodness sake, this wolf boy is irritating Cordelia deeply.

"Hurry, Bella," Alice interrupts urgently. Bella ran to the kitchen, yanking the drawers open and throwing the contents all over the floor as Bella searched for a pen. Jacob led her a pen.

Alice pulls Cordelia towards the doorway and tells her the plan of taking a plane and stealing a car to drive towards Volterra.

Cordelia just nods along with her decent plan. Alice has already seen this plan. It'll go well-no need for room for doubt.

"Get your wallet-you'll need ID. Please tell me you have a passport. I don't have time to forge one." Alice orders her, and Bella scrambles toward her room.

Jacob suddenly confronted them about Bella leaving so suddenly for Edward, and Cordelia just rolls her eyes, letting Alice deal with him.

Then he started arguing about how the leeches, as he put with their kind, would not be able to control themselves in the presence of a human. "You might control yourself on occasion, but these leeches you're taking her to-" Jacob is furiously accusing her.

"Yes. You're right, dog." Alice is snarling, too. "The Volturi are the very essence of our kind-they're the reason your hair stands on end when you smell me. They are the substance of your nightmares, the dread behind your instincts. I'm not unaware of that."

"And you take her to them like a bottle of wine for a party!" he shouts.

Cordelia then places Alice behind her back and warns, "Watch your mouth, boy, before I carve it off your face."

"You think she'd be better off if I left her here alone, with Victoria stalking her?" Jacob asks, and Cordelia stiffens.

Victoria is still lingering in Forks. She can get her revenge for killing her father.

"We can handle the redhead."

"Then why is she still hunting?" Jacob growls, and a shudder ripples through his torso.

"Stop that!" Bella shouts at them both, wild with impatience.

"Argue when we get back. Let's go!" Alice and Cordelia turn for the car, disappearing in their haste.

Bella hurried after them, pausing automatically to turn and lock the door.

Jacob caught Bella's arm with a shivering hand. "Please, Bella. I'm begging." His dark eyes were glistening with tears.

"Jake, I have to-"

"You don't, though. You really don't. You could stay here with me. You could stay alive. For Charlie. For me." The engine of Carlisle's Mercedes purred; the thrumming rhythm spiked when Cordelia revved it impatiently.

"Don't die, Bella," he chokes out. "Don't go. Don't."

"Bye, Jake." Bella pulled his hand from her hair and kissed his palm. She couldn't bear to look at his face.

"Sorry," Bella whispers. Then Bella spun and raced for the car. The door on the passenger side was open and waiting.

Bella threw her backpack over the headrest and slid in, slamming the door behind her.

"Take care of Charlie!" Bella turns to shout out the window, but Jacob is nowhere in sight.

As Cordelia stomped on the gas and-with the tires screeching like human screams-spun them around to face the road.