A lot of angst and very vulgar Edward bashing here so...if you love him, I'm sorry 🤷🏻‍♀️😈 Except no I'm not and I'm going to do this how any normal person would have reacted to his behavior and how he treated Bella👀 I'd also like to apologise for my absence, I've been really badly ill at the moment. I still am now but I tried really hard to get this out for you guys so, enjoy!✨

"So...how have you been?"

'Great Nora, really? The first time you see your little sister in months and that's what you're going with?'

Bella, who was reclined on the ugly and uncomfortable looking white chaise lounge by the window spoke briskly, picking at her fingers like talking to Nora was boring her. "I've been great. No thanks to you."

Nora pretended Bella's reaction hadn't hurt her and turned back to scan Edwards large bookshelf like she had been, taking the liberty of straightening it out for him. He was a little bit of a slob.

'Why am I doing this to myself?'

She remembered how awkward it had been earlier. Once the introductions were out of the way, Nora had invited a stiff Bella to talk privately with her. Her sister had refused at first, but one blisteringly intimidating look from Caius had left her shaking where she stood. Without any enthusiasm, she had taken Nora to Edwrads room, which she was currently ridiculing with glee.

He really was a pretentious asshole.

"Look, Bella," Nora paused, stretching up to put the last book in her hand in its rightful place, careful she didn't knock over any of his CD's. "I really am sorry that I missed your graduation. But you have to understand it from my point of view."

Bella sniffed like a snotty brat, crossing her arms. "And what point of view is that?"

Nora's eyebrows drew together in worry at Bella's tone. Why...why the hell was she acting like this? This was nothing like how her sister usually acted; if she was in the wrong, like she so clearly was now, she always apologized. She'd never spoken like this to Nora before. It was like...she was trying to hurt her on purpose or something.

Her fathers earlier words, well, warning flashed through her mind and sorrow still stabbed painfully into her heart when she remembered how sad he had been.

"You'll have to tread carefully with Bella when you see her, Nora. She's uhhh...not herself at the moment." Finishing the last of her bitter coffee, Nora placed her old lion king mug she'd had since she was a kid on the table and tilted her head. Her eyes, illuminated by the afternoon light shining in from the window next to the table, were cold and hard and almost seemed to glow.

"What do you mean?"

He sighed, turning his head to cast a brief glance at Marcus who was in the hall, looking at all of the pictures from her childhood with a fond, dimpled smile.

When her dad was sure he couldn't hear, he scooted his chair closer to hers. "Ever since those Cullens came back, she's been different. Standoffish, rude, she sure as hell doesn't listen to a damn word I say anymore. All she talks about is that Cullen kid and he's never far from her side, always there and always so damn smug. When I can get her to sit with me she doesn't even sound like herself anymore, I don't–I can't explain it."

Her heart squeezed painfully when his lip trembled and his eyes glazed over with tears. Reaching over she grabbed his hand, trying to at least let him know he still had her. "I just...I'm worried about her Nora. It's like she's not my daughter anymore."

Thinking back on it now, she had been kind of silly to assume her dad had been overreacting but, all teenage girls go through that kind of thing at some stage. It was pretty normal. But...this? This was not good and this was not normal.

Aggravated by her bitchy tone and her ignorance, Nora tossed Bella a dagger filled glance and decided to cut straight to the point instead of fucking around worrying that she'd hurt Bella's feelings like she'd just hurt hers.

"Shall we state the obvious then, Bella? You abandoned me in a castle full of fucking vampires!" She said heatedly, stuffing her shaking hands in the pockets of her dark gray jeans.

Bella scoffed out a rude laugh that made Nora blink in shock. 'What the fuck?'

"I did not abandon you. You were fine!"

"What?!" Nora couldn't believe her ears. Was her sister high or something? Nora could admit that she might have been a little preoccupied and petty at the time but, she was sure that in their last call Bella herself had said she'd left her.

"What the hell would you call it then? You didn't even know I was going to be fine, I could have died! Did you even stop to think of what could've happened if I wasn't their mate?"

"I–It..." Bella stuttered, her face flushing a light red as she tried to think. "I really wasn't abandoning you, Nora. You're an adult now and Alice assured me you'd be alright, so I took her word for it. Edward said—and I agree—that you have to handle these things on your own. I can't be there to hold your hand. I have my own life to live now, where I'll become a vampire and be with Edward, with a new family who loves me—just as you will too! Please, respect that I am old enough to make my own decisions and one of those decisions was to let you stay in Volterra. To make that call for you on your behalf. Besides, even you have to admit you're better off for it."

"Bella..." Nora winced as she felt tears sting her eyes, a trait that she had gotten from her father. The same thing happened to him when he got uncontrollably angry. "I actually cannot believe you're sitting there saying this shit to me right now! Do you not hear how crazy you sound?! I went there to help you and this is how you repay me?! I went blindly into an unknown situation because you're my sister and I love you! Just—" Nora braked from her rant, she could see she was getting nowhere if her sisters dead eyed stare was any indicator.

"Have you even thought about how any of this will affect dad, what you're gonna say to him when you inevitably have to turn? What's your plan huh, little miss grown up? Are you just gonna stay here until your change and never see him again?! Because he told me that's basically what you're doing now! You need to be there for him before you leave him Bella, like I plan to be."

Her sister looked only slightly guilty for what she'd done, though it was clear she was mostly offended. For whatever reason, like the child she didn't want to admit she still was, she crossed her arms and chose to ignore Nora whose anger was so palpable Bella could practically feel it pulsing in the air around her.

"A-are you serious?" Nora breathed heavily, storming closer to Bella. She clenched her fists, nails digging into her palms when her sister didn't turn around. "You're ignoring me instead of being an adult and responding? What the fuck?!"

Bella remained still, staring at the evergreen trees that stretched past Edward's open window. She wanted to turn around, to talk it out but, Edward had said it was better to let Nora rage then to bother explaining their actions. He had said that in his opinion Nora was overreacting and Bella...kind of agreed. At least...she thought she did.

Sniffling her tears away, Nora shook her head and laughed in disbelief. It was like she was staring at some stranger, like she didn't know the girl sat across from her. Nauseated by her sisters apparent lack of empathy, she whipped around to leave the room. "I have no idea why I was happy to see you or why you're acting like this. When my real sister wants to talk, if she's even still in there, then she can give me a call."

She exited Edward's room and as if just thinking his name had summoned him, she saw he was leant on the wall by the stairs like he didn't have a care in the world.

"Don't even fucking talk to me you sad little boy." Nora snarled, beginning to walk down the stairs before her anger overwhelmed her rationality. Giggling almost manically and nodding to herself in angry realization, she whirled to confront him.

"You know, Edward, I came here with the idea that I could reconcile with you both after what happened in Italy. That after all the awful shit you'd done to my sister, I could still try and salvage a modicum of positive feeling towards you but...I realize now. Who you are. I know that this makes you happy, right? I'd bet a million dollars that this outcome is exactly what you wanted–exactly what you planned. To segregate Bella from her entire family. So she's all yours and no one else's, right? Because you know that me and my dad are the only people who will never accept you or think you're good enough for her after the shit you've pulled, and you hate that. You know the only way you'll fully 'have' her, is if she doesn't have any family around her to knock some sense into her." He didn't respond, his stupid face remaining impassive.

Sickened by how little he cared about it all, she directed all of her angry thoughts straight at him, all at once. They were so strong and so full of pure unadulterated hatred that he physically blenched and had to stop himself from taking a step back.

"That is what I think of you! That is all you are to me Edward Cullen. A pathetic, worthless, egotistical, narcissistic fucking abuser whose so good at manipulation that no one can see it...not even my sister. Do you think I don't know that half of what she says anymore must have come from you–that I don't know they were your perfectly illustrated words spilling from her mouth just now? That I don't know you're the reason my father is so heartbroken that he had to confide in me earlier today that he feels like he is losing his daughter to you, that he hardly sees her anymore and when he does she is not herself!" That got a reaction from him, as miniscule as it was. The only sign on his annoying face of any discomfort was the small twitch of his hilariously bushy brows.

"I know that you've been manipulating her since she called me a few weeks ago, when I heard you for myself in the background of that phone call, poisoning her mind against me! I have no idea what you've even said to her to get her to treat me and my father like this and honestly, I didn't want to believe anyone could do this kind of thing but after this...I know!" Her voice became hoarse as she yelled at him but she didn't care; he needed to hear this, he needed to know that his 'nice guy' act didn't fool everyone.

"The kicker is, I also know that you don't care about her. Not one bit. I mean, you can't love someone the way you claim to if you can do what you have and are doing! She's just a toy to you, one you can play with and damage and when it's broken, when you're bored you throw it away just like you did when you fucked off all those months ago! That's who you are and that's what you do. And I will not stick around to see it happen again. So, congratulations. You've won you spineless, false excuse of a man."

Apparently spurred into action by her yelling, Bella appeared in the doorway of his room, yanking at the sleeves of her white Henley nervously. Her deep umber eyes were wide and puffy, sorrowful and screaming with regret. Perhaps if Nora had been in her right mind, if she hadn't been so upset she would have tried to get Bella out or get her to leave with her. But she knew it was a lost cause. The sister she knew, the sister she loved unconditionally had been buried and lost underneath all of Edwards sordid promises of forever.

Promises she was sure he himself didn't even want to keep.

As if a damn had broken, her tears that had obediently stayed put finally streamed down her face. Not wanting to cry in front of Edward and give him any form of satisfaction, she turned on her heel and finished her climb down the ridiculous amount of stairs, ignoring the majority of the Cullens who were still gathered in the living room watching her leave with worry.

She flew through the door, heart hammering away in her chest. The cold air brought her some relief despite its stinging nip along the irritated skin of her face; she reached her car and climbed in hurriedly, turning on the heater and slamming the door closed.

Nora didn't know what had possessed her, what urge took over her but she needed to get out and get away. Right that second. She couldn't stay in or near that home a moment longer.

Turning the ignition she backed out of the long driveway and turned the car around recklessly, her heart nearly breaking as she was just able to make out the silhouette of her sister watching her leave from the window, the vacuous leech known as Edward Cullen plastered to her back.

With blurry vision, she stomped on the gas peddle and hightailed it out of there.

"Do you take us for fools, Carlisle? If so then you have succeeded in your obvious attempt to insult us."

"That is not the case, my King. I am simply saying that my family and I are fully equipped to deal with this situation, we assumed you wouldn't need or want to get involved." Carlisle's pitiable attempt at explaining his actions did nothing to dissuade the anger that always seemed to fester at the forefront of Caius's mind.

"Have you gone senile? Has your revolting diet and need to live a life simulated in normalcy made you inept to discern reason?" Caius, despite Carlisle's efforts to placate him, was still very much angered by the whole thing. In his mind it was truly absurd that the Cullens were 'refusing' to allow the Volturi to help in destroying the newborn army of weaklings, an army Caius could so easily destroy single—handedly with little to no effort at all.

Standing from his chair Caius raked a hand harshly through his blond locks, clenching his jaw as he attempted to reign in the murderous urges he felt towards Carlisle and his stupid defence. He yanked at the collar of his black button up, doing anything to distract himself from his irritation.

Nope, didn't work.

He stormed closer to Carlisle, getting in the other mans face. "Why on Earth are you daring to refuse our help, dottore pazzo? As if you could command such a thing, as if you have any dominion over us! We will step in regardless of your input!"

"Be calm, dear brother." Aro pushed him back, exasperated at his brothers attempt to cause a fight when there was no need for one. Caius stepped down, shoving Aro's hand off of him and looking away rigidly as the tension diffused. "I'm sure Carlisle means well, despite his uh...lack of respect for our power and position." Aro had allowed Caius to vent his anger due to his own fury and stress, but now he had experienced quite enough. He just wanted this over. "Though I must admit, you are right Carlisle."

The blond doctor faltered at Aro's gentle voice, a stark contrast to Caius's borderline yelling. As always, his old friends tiptoeing around the line of actually saying what he meant made Carlisle's mind spin. "...My King?"

Strolling over to stand by the black tiled fire, Aro sat and relaxed back into the black velvet armchair next to it, crossing his legs and placing his restless hands on the sloping armrests. "You are correct in the fact that we normally wouldn't step in, we would see no reason to and being truthfully blunt dear one...we would not care enough to. Despite that, I have no disillusionment over you or your Coven's abilities to protect yourselves. I know very well that you can handle this and come out mostly unscathed. But that does not then say the same for our Queen's dear sister–Isabella."

Carlisle gulped at this.

"You and your little family may think us monsters, unfeeling and sadistic with a lack of care for anyone but our own—which, I won't deny is true. I know you also think that we only exist to cause pain and suffering, to feast on the blood of innocents. If that is what you wish to delude unto yourselves, that's perfectly fine. I do not care what you think of me nor my brothers, however untrue some of it may be. If thinking such things of my coven helps separate your mind from the fact that you and I and all of your family are born from the same maker, puppets on the same strings of immortality and two sides of the same vicious coin, I can accept that Carlisle. But what your coven fails to realize is...I can care and I can love and I..."

His disquieting stare that had been pinned onto Carlisle softened, and he sighed as he looked to the fireplace next to him. " I...love my mate, with all of my cold heart and black soul. I love her more than anything in this world and the ones beyond it. I would lay waste to anything should she wish it and I would do anything for her, as would my brothers. It is that love—and that only, that induces me to help you."

Carlisle, for the first time in centuries, felt as if he were seeing the true Aro. Always his friend was pleasant, broadcasting a smile that while unnerving and near crazed, made you feel welcome and like the entirety of your being was laid bare before him. But he himself was always a closed book, holding his emotions and thoughts close to his chest and wearing a carefully put together mask so you had no idea what his next move or decision would be. Nora seemed to have broken down his facade and while it was a discomfort to know that Aro really was a brutal man who didn't care for others, he was at least grateful they were offering them their aid in this. Even if it was only because of Nora.

"Then we would gladly ask for your help, my friend." Carlisle felt like he had to relent and agree, especially since Caius was still silently fuming and trying to burn Carlisle's skin off with his heated glare, his entire body tensed as if he were ready to spring into action at any moment. In truth, Carlisle felt that if he had said no he'd have found himself without a head.

"How excellent a turn of events this is..." The monotone voice of Marcus sounded from the direction of the window and Carlisle nearly jumped in surprise. Marcus had been silent up until now, choosing to stay out of the discussions in favor of watching the nature and trees that stretched on for miles past the Cullens home. He had made it very clear that he was not happy to be there, that he was not happy to be away from Nora.

With his hands clasped behind his back he twisted on his heel to look at them all, his winter coat he hadn't yet taken off flowing around his legs and his heavy boots squeaking against the floor. Carlisle's relaxed form went stiff again when Marcus's maroon eyes met his. "There is another matter to discuss Carlisle, one my brothers seem to have forgotten."

"What would that be, my King?"

"When will Isabella's cha—" He stopped, rolling his eyes to look at the ceiling when he was interrupted by the white door banging open and smacking harshly into the perfectly painted cream wall.

Alice was standing hesitantly in the doorway, her little black dress and matching cardigan ruffled from her obvious rush to get there. The kings felt a sense of discomfort overcome them as her wide and panicked golden eyes flickered between each of them. Esme was behind her, her face twisted with worry but otherwise she was remaining calm and collected.

"What is the meaning of this, seer?" Caius spat sharply, stalking closer to the two women who cowered at his menacing presence. He was stopped in his tracks by a disgruntled Marcus, angry himself at being interrupted, who placed a calming hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, my Kings." Alice swallowed and tried to control the trembling of her body, but she had seen the outcome to this conversation already and she feared for her brothers life. Esme rubbed a hand up and down her back, encouraging her to carry on. "We thought it best to get you right away. There's been a little bit of a fight and, uh...

"What is it, Alice?" Carlisle flashed to stand next to her, placing a caring hand on her shaking arm. She closed her eyes and sighed, drawing into her self as she waited for the onslaught of rage to begin, rage that would be directed at her unknowing brother.

"Nora, s—she's...gone."