When The Ball Drops 1

“Hurry up Rose it’s almost midnight. You’ll miss the fireworks.”A female voice said. Rosalie froze misstep at the top of the Eiffel Tower hearing that female voice. It was a voice she recognized as it had haunted her for almost 15 years. Not sure if she actually wanted to know who the voice belonged to for fear of disappointment Rosalie looked anyway. Her breath caught in her throat when she met the very familiar eyes of her mate. Eyes that confused Rosalie because the woman before her was obviously a vampire but she had the same brown eyes when she was human and Rosalie was positive they weren’t contacts. That was just one of the many question Rosalie had. The biggest being what the heck was going on.

“Bella Swan. Is that you?”Rosalie asked.

“I go by Isabella Volturi now.”Isabella told her.

“You are a member of the Volturi?”Rosalie didn’t like the sound of that.

“It was the only way to save your life.”Isabella said.

“I don’t understand. How are you here and how are you alive?”Rosalie would never in a million years guess that the author of the cryptic letter she received in the mail would lead her to Bella Swan. Rosalie corrected her thinking. Isabella Volturi.

“It’s almost midnight. Come over her and enjoy a glass of champagne with me and I can explain everything.”Isabella took a bottle out of an ice bucket and opened the champagne causing the cork to fly off to the side. She then poured two glasses and handed one to Rosalie.

Rosalie took the glass in confusion.”I can’t drink this.”

“Just try it.”Isabella coaxed.”Before you do I would like to make a toast. To us!”

Rosalie sniffed it and took sip. She was immediately surprised at how good it tasted.”That’s incredible.”

“Thank you it’s one of my own creations.”Isabella was proud of the champagne.

“You created it?”Rosalie was surprised to hear that as she hadn’t thought Isabella was much of an intellectual.

“I’ve learned in my short time as a vampire that our species doesn’t really put a lot of effort in evolving. Before I went to the Volturi I spent years learning and experimenting and have come up with an entire line of food and drink that vampires can ingest. All of those things can take the place of blood in our diet so we never have to feed from humans or animals again.”Isabella explained.

“You figured out a way to replace blood with human food?”Rosalie had never even dreamed of something like that being possible.

“Yes and I come up with new things to add to the already diverse selection all the time.”Isabella told her.”But I doubt you bothered following the instructions in my letter just because you wanted to talk about our diets.”

Rosalie did want to talk about their diets but not as much as other things.”How are you alive?”

“Before I tell you do I have permission from you to shield your mind from mental gifts?”Isabella asked.

“What do you mean shield my mind?”Rosalie didn’t think there was a way to shield anyone’s mind.

“When I was turned my shield strengthened and revealed itself to be not only mental but physical as well. With some practice I am able to create barriers around other’s minds to make them immune to mental gifts. That means no more Edward hearing your thoughts, Jasper messing with your emotions or Alice seeing your future. Even the witch twins or Aro wouldn’t affect you.”Not that they would because if they did they would upset Isabella and no one wanted that.

“I would love for you to shield my mind.”Rosalie had always yearned for her mind to be her own. Ever since she was turned.

“Look into my eyes and count to ten.”Isabella instructed.

Rosalie stared into the eyes of the girl she loved and counted. When she reached one she blinked.”Is it done?”

“Yes it’s done.”Isabella confirmed.

“Now will you tell me what’s going on?”Rosalie didn’t understand any of this.

“I guess we should first start when I saw your family in the cafeteria.”Isabella said.”Jessica had been talking non stop all day so I didn’t really pay attention to any of your siblings until I saw you walk in. Initially I thought you were gorgeous but when I locked eyes with you I felt like you were the center of my universe and I would gladly dedicate my life to making you happy.”

“If you felt like that why did you date Edward?”Rosalie had been under the impression that Bella was in love with Edward. It caused many fights between the two of them because Isabella was her mate.

“The reason for that was as I sat there trying to figure out how to approach you I was overcome with a vision of you and I getting married. I was a lot older maybe mid thirties and you were the same age but had red eyes.”Isabella was cut off by Rosalie.

“Wait you had a vision.”When Isabella nodded Rosalie was even more confused.”Have you had others?”

“I have had lots and most of them have kept you and I alive all this time.”Isabella told her.”Let me get back to my story. Everything will become clearer.”

“Alright.”Rosalie still didn’t know how no-one knew that Isabella was a seer.

“As soon as I came out of the vision I was overwhelmed with voices. I didn’t know what was going on because it sounded like every single person in the cafeteria was screaming at me but when I looked around barely anyone was talking. In a panic I looked at you and the voices dimmed and all I could hear was you complaining about a group of boys who were making comments that you couldn’t kill. The thing is you weren’t moving your mouth when you said any of this.”Isabella was once again cut off by Rosalie.

“Are you saying you can read minds as well?”Rosalie wasn’t sure she believed that.

“At first I didn’t understand what was going on but after spending some with your family I realized I wasn’t just a shied. I’m a sponge. I absorb and retain any gift that is used on me. Eleazar confirmed it when I was introduced to him.”Isabella told her.

“Are you the reason the Denali can block mental gifts?”Rosalie and the rest of her family had been shocked when they visited Alaska and found out none of their gifts worked on the coven.

Isabella nodded.”Aro is very keen on no one finding out about me and my abilities so he has me shield most of the people I meet’s minds.”

“Get back to what happened at school.”Rosalie wanted to know about Aro but wanted the full story.

“Well as I was focused on you I heard Edward’s interest in knowing why I could block his gift. As soon as he had that thought Alice had a vision of him killing me in biology class. The pair had one of their silent arguments that Edward won of course and then the bell rang. By the time I made it to Biology I had realized that no I was not crazy and that I could read minds. That was mostly because I sat next Edward while he was doing the same. I’m personally impressed he didn’t give in to his instincts because his whole focus during class was draining me of all my blood. I didn’t know you were vampires at the time or I would have been smart enough to leave the room.”Isabella could have kicked herself for being so careless with her life.

“I can’t believe that Alice had seen him killing you and didn’t put a stop to it.”Rosalie said.

“Keeping Edward from me would have ruined her plans.”Isabella told her.

“What plans?”Rosalie asked.

“When I drove in to the parking lot the day Edward came back to school he and Alice were standing by his car having a silent conversation. To be honest that’s the only type of conversations they have.”Isabella said.”Anyway Edward’s thoughts were of dating me and proving he was worthy of god and Alice’s thoughts were of having a new best friend and keeping me away from you so that Edward would be happy.”

Rosalie growled.”She knew the mate bond wasn't real?”

“Yes she did. She even had Jasper try and use his gift on both of us when you were in the room to make us hate each other.”Isabella hadn’t been effected.

“That’s why I got so annoyed anytime I saw you.”It was those feeling that had Rosalie questioning the mate bond.”Why didn’t you say anything if you knew?”

“The entire coven would have killed you if I spoke up.”Isabella had seen it all play out.

“You had a vision of this?”Rosalie asked.

Isabella nodded.”If I went to you with the information you would have gotten pissed and confronted everyone including Carlisle and Esme who were telling me the bond was real. When they tried calling you a liar you threatened to go to Italy and report them for the false claim. As soon as you turned your back Jasper would have grabbed you and while Esme restrained me the rest of them including Emmett would have ripped you apart.”

Rosalie wasn’t sure what to think about that. She did believe Isabella however.”Why would Emmett side against me?”

“Emmet has been in love with you since you saved him. He knows you won’t ever love him but if you had a mate it would make him unimportant in you life and he wouldn’t receive your attention.”Isabella explained.

“What the fuck?”Rosalie decided that she would think deeper about her relationship with Emmett another time.”What happened with James?”

“It wasn’t anything like you guys were thinking. Yes James was a tracker but he wasn’t trying to kill me he was trying to save me from your coven. Victoria is gifted and could tell that I was in extreme danger being with you guys.The pair were worried about what you would do with me as it was obvious that you weren’t going to drain me.”Isabella actually liked James and Victoria very much.

“We killed a man that was trying to save you?”Rosalie knew that Isabella was being truthful because the only information they got on the two of them was from Edward. Who at the time was claiming a false mate bond.

“James isn’t dead. When it was obvious that you guys had caught up to us James bit me hoping it would turn me and then he and Victoria fled. I don’t know why we were all told he died because there was no body to account for.”Isabella had been happy when she learned that James was alright.

“If he was trying to change you why did he break your leg?”Rosalie added James being alive to just another thing to question her family about.

“He didn’t break my leg Edward did when he was sucking the venom out of my system. Which is extremely painful by the way. It feels worse than the change itself.”Isabella had never felt anything so painful.

“No wonder why Edward was so unconcerned about Victoria when we left. I had brought it up that she would come after us for revenge but everyone brushed me off.”Rosalie had been scared for Bella when they left thinking Victoria would come back.

“She did come back with James but not to kill me to save me from you guys. They even brought allies to help. When they found out that you had left Victoria said that you would be back so I needed to be turned so I was out of your clutches.”Isabella had been more than happy to be changed.

“She was right. We did come back and then we found that you had gone missing. Alice said your future was blank and we all assumed you were dead.”Rosalie had remembered how hard she had sobbed when she learned Isabella was gone. She now knew that the reason she didn’t go crazy from losing a mate was that Isabella had been alive the whole time.

“I was very much alive spending time with my new coven traveling around the world working on projects and racking in more money than the pair of them had ever seen in their lives by using my knowledge and gifts to exploit humans.”Isabella had been more than happy to help out her new coven mates.

“What I don’t get is if Alice was having visions of you why didn’t she have any that would come true because it’s obvious you were just playing along?”Rosalie couldn’t figure that part out.

“Alice doesn’t understand her gift the way I do. She has only used it she has never looked into the mind of someone else who has the same gift. I have seen every aspect of it that I can and I have adapted so that I can make Alice have false visions at anytime. Like right now if I wanted to I could let down my shield and show Alice a vision of my being tortured in someone’s basement.”Isabella could do things Alice couldn’t even imagine with her gift.

“Why didn’t you come find me when you had settled?”Rosalie was hurt Isabella waited so long.

“I had a vision of Carlisle going to Italy and Aro seeing you all left me behind with the knowledge of vampires without changing or killing me. I knew if he did all but Edward, Alice and Jasper would be killed. The problem was I couldn’t let you know that I was alive yet because I was going to be turning myself over to Aro to save you and you would have no protection from your family or the castle inhabitants that would have attacked you to prove how unworthy I was of being Aro’s favorite by having a weak mate. Your family would have killed you if they found out. I had to wait until I cemented my role with the Volturi so I could protect you.”Isabella had to stop herself dozens of times from going to Rosalie.

“How are we going to handle my family now?”Rosalie didn’t want to even speak to them after what Isabella had told her.

“I say we travel to all the houses they aren’t at and the storage units you have stuff you want to keep in, collect what you want and you can move into the huge mansion that I built for the pair of us to live in.”Isabella had built the house in preparation of Rosalie living with her.

“You built a house for us?”Rosalie wished she had gotten to give her input.

“I don’t usually use my gift on purpose to have visions of people I know but for this project I had a vision of you finalizing the design. So really you built a house for us.”Isabella liked to give her friends privacy and having visions of them unless they were in danger was a violation of their privacy.

“Thank you Isabella.”Rosalie was touched her mate went with her preferences on where they were going to live. She never got to choose with her family.

Isabella checked her watch.”We got about 30 seconds till midnight.”

“I don’t have to be a seer to know this is going to be one wild year.”Rosalie said. Seeing the first fireworks burst in the sky Rosalie wrapped her arms around Isabella and kissed her hard on the mouth. Finally kissing her mate after thinking it would never happen had Rosalie feeling like she was floating on air. After finding Isabella on the top of the Eiffel Tower Rosalie was especially happy she went against her instincts and followed the vague instructions in the letter she received from an anonymous person. The part about getting freedom from the Cullens had been the deciding factor but Rosalie was very satisfied with finding Isabella waiting for her. Pulling back from the kiss Rosalie clinked her glass against Isabella’s and held her arm up to let her mate snuggle into her side. Standing on top of the Eiffel Tower, holding her mate in her arms, sipping champagne while watching fireworks was the greatest way Rosalie could think to bring in the new year. A year that like she told Isabella was sure to be wild but with her mate by her side Rosalie knew she would love every minute of it.