100 Years Without Love 23

Edward had given me one of the little silver phones that the family used to keep in touch with one another – like the one Alice had used back when I was being stalked by the killer James. Emergencies, I had told myself. It’s for emergencies only.

Yet, that night I found myself digging through my suitcase and calling Edward just to hear his voice. I had thought he was dead for months and now that he was alive – or at least, now that I knew he was alive; he was really alive the whole time – I didn’t want to go one minute without hearing his voice.

“Bella, is something wrong?” He answered the phone without even saying hello.

“I just miss you,” I said. “I miss you a lot.”

“I know how you feel,” Edward’s velvety voice told me. “It’s torture without you.”

“Oh,” I said. “I found Rosalie. I have no idea how to get her out but she’s alive and fine.”

“My god,” Edward whispered into the phone. “Emmett, Bella found Rose,” I heard him yell away from the receiver. Then, all of the sudden, Emmett was on the phone.

“Bella, you found my Rose?” he asked hurriedly.

“Yes,” I said.

“Is she okay?” he asked.

“She fine, a little thirsty, but fine,” I said. Okay, maybe that was a bit of an understatement but I didn’t want to worry poor Emmett. He was my favorite brother. “Emmett, we’re going to find a way to save her. I promise. Now, please put Edward back on.”

“Bella?” Edward said.

“Yeah,” I said. “Edward, this is war now.”

“I agree,” Edward said.

“Listen, we need recruits,” I said. “Anyone we can find. Maybe even werewolves if you can find them.” I didn’t say Jacob purposely. “Everyone in Denali, Jasper’s old friends, anyone. We need all the help we can get.”

“Okay, Bella, I’ll get right on it,” Edward said. “Wish me luck.”

“Good luck,” I said, hearing someone coming by there thoughts. I lowered my voice. “I gotta go. I love you.”

“I love you too,” he said and I hung up quickly with just enough time to shove the phone under my mattress. The second I had it hidden, Aro opened the doors.

“Izzy, dear,” he said, coming in and sitting down on the bed next to me and putting an arm around my shoulder. Now, don’t be staring at this page feeling like shouting, INAPROPIATE! Aro is like a father to me. At least, he used to be. Now, I just hated his guts.

“What is it Aro?” I asked.

“Listen, Izzy, I have some bad news,” he said. “We found Andrew…well, kind of. We found his…ashes. He’s dead, Izzy, I’m so sorry.”

I didn’t feel like crying anymore so I just stiffened and put a shocked look on my face. I didn’t move, didn’t breathe. Not that I need to, but I guessed that when someone was just told the guy they were supposed to love was dead this was a typical response.

“Are you okay, Izzy?” he asked.

I shock my head and said, “Would you leave for a minute? I need sometime to myself.”

I forced my voice to break at the end and he backed out of the room without another word. Once he was gone, I got up and leaned my head against the wall. Well, crap, they weren’t supposed to find him. But at least now I could ‘get over him.’

All night, people kept rushing into my hair and giving me a hug, whispering their remorse in my ear. It just made me feel even guiltier about killing the dude, but hey, this was war. I was just going to have to suck it up and get on with life. It wasn’t too hard as long as I didn’t think about it.

We had a funeral the next day. It was unusual to have funerals around here. You probably understand that – or maybe you don’t, I don’t know. Since vampires are immortal we really don’t have to many deaths, hence forth not too many funerals.

I had to wail the whole time. I was getting really good at this whole fake-crying stuff. I was really going to have to convince Edward to move to Hollywood with me once this whole thing was over so we could pursue a life in show business. I bet Edward was a pretty good actor too. We could be like the new Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, only hotter. How awesome would that be?

Jane cornered me after the funeral. “Izzy, I know there’s something your not telling us.”

Snap. I decided to play dumb. “Jane, what are you talking about?” I cried. “How could you think such a thing?!”

“Izzy, I can see it in your eyes,” Jane said. “You’re like my sister. I could tell when you’re lying from a mile away.”

“Jane, you have to trust me,” I said. “I don’t know anything.”

“You’ve been jumpy and fidgety for the past two days,” Jane said. “That’s usually a sign of guilt.”

Maybe I wasn’t as good of an actress as I thought. Darn. There goes my Hollywood future. I decided to tell the truth. Well, not exactly but you get the point.

I started to bawl again. “I feel this is all my fault! H-h-he said he was going to be right back. I should’ve gone with him. He’s dead because of meeeeeeee!”

Jane scrutinized every detail of my face and then wrapped me in a hug. My Hollywood plan was back on. We had buried what the guards had found of Andrew’s ashes right outside Volterra and started to head back into the city. The dark shielded us as we swept back into the town.

Aro walked up next to me, threading his arm through mine. I looked up at him with big, sad eyes.

“Things always look hopeless in the dark of night,” Aro said, sounding a bit like a fortune cookie. “But at the end there’s always beauty.”

He gestured towards the horizon and I saw the yellow beams of light peaking over the hills. The sunset. That was the beauty he was talking about. He was right. All this looked horribly dark right now. I had no idea if I was going to be able to take down the Volturi, even with causalities to my side. But maybe, at the end, there would be a sunset leading us through it.