I rolled my eyes and threw the cloak’s hood over my head. “Yes,” I sighed as I hastened to get out of the back seat.

I pulled Alice out after me and she saluted Demetri, “Yes, Dimka!”

“Stop calling me that!” He barked, putting on a show for the surrounding passersby. Alice and I were to be ‘prisoners,’ though why Demetri had insisted I put a cloak on was beyond me. Jasper was to be the only guard that had survived, Alice and I having ‘killed the other one.’

Here we go… Jasper thought sarcastically, and I hissed at Demetri for effect.

“Shut it, Cullen!” he growled, pulling Alice and I along by the scruff of our necks. We let him, obviously, but I voiced a string of profanities as protest. Alice chose to growl.

We went through double doors, up a floor in an elevator, and we were in the lovely, cheery reception area. Gianna was long gone of course, but there was another human at the desk, this time an annoyingly perky blonde.

“Good evening, Demetri,” she smiled and bounced on her toes. They would not be keeping her.

“Evening, Clairina,” he nodded his head and dragged Alice and I towards the desk. Jasper took Alice out of his right hand and gripped her shoulder tight, his thoughts voicing their displeasure at Demetri’s ‘treatment’ of her. “Do you know where Chris is right now?”

“I can page him, hold on just a minute, okay?” she bounced towards the phone and dialed quickly. “Hello, Chris? Yes, hi. Demetri wants you. Oh, okay, right away. Bye!” She set the phone down and whipped her head towards Demetri again. God, he’s so hot… “He says he’s downstairs, and that you know where to find him.”

“Thank you very much Clairina,” he smiled and led us down an off white, drab hallway with fluorescent lighting.

“Why’d you hire her?” I asked in disbelief.

“She’ll do anything for us,” he muttered as he pulled me into a narrow stone stairwell that spiraled downwards. Jasper and Alice followed close behind, and I heard Alice snort.

I bet she would. I laughed at my sister’s comment, but that died quickly as I heard the musical lilting of Bella’s voice, a voice I hadn’t heard in five years.

“Well I told him not to!”

God she’s feisty. That would be Chris, and I growled low in my throat at the sound of his mental voice. “See, you can hear him now.”

“Edward?” she asked hesitantly, and my still heart threatened to beat again. I yanked myself away from Demetri and ran towards the sound of her voice, only to be met by Felix.

“Hello Edward,” he grinned and licked his lips.

“Let me see her!” I shoved him aside and pushed my way through two big guards, and then I saw her.

She was as beautiful as ever, even with sunken eyes that were a hollow black, and hair that drifted messily around her face. Her clothes were in tatters, and I couldn’t even tell what color they were originally. Her shirt was blue, I remembered. Blue all those years ago… Now it was a muddy brown, as were her capris. She wore no shoes, and her feet were dirty as well. So was her face, but now it lit up with passion and triumph.

“Edward!” she cried and ran towards me. Our bodies collided with a tumultuous, resounding boom, and I threw my arms around her gladly, hugging her tight. She raked her hands over my chest, my shoulders, my back, just getting used to the feel of me under her fingertips again. She traced my eyelids, my nose, my cheekbones, my jaw, and finally, my lips. That was it for me; my lips crashed down on hers, and she kissed me back with such intensity I completely forgot our surroundings and our audience.

I was home.