Prologue:

I can't believe that I am getting married today. It all seems like a dream, a good dream that will end when I wake up. As I stare at my reflection in the mirror I can't help but, wonder what will the future hold. Hopefully I will still be with my one and only soul mate.

Aro . . . . . .

Chapter 1

Most people have average lives and average friends and family. Not me. My name is Anastasia West and I am now 21 years old.

When I was five I realised that I was different from everyone else. I can make people fall in love with each other and turn a group of friends into enemies. I realised that I was a witch. Most people would be terrified but, not me in fact I was euphoric. Come on how many witches do you think there are in the world. The answer is one thousand, two hundred and seventy-four and counting.

Witches can live for five times as long as a normal human's life span and a benefit of this is that we stop growing at the age of 25. This is so that we look more appealing to the people that visit us. The biggest problem with living for so long is that people begin to notice that you don't age. So we created a spell that gives you the appearance of someone older while still leaving you as young as you are underneath.

When a new child is born with the gift all of the witches in the world know that you are born and your name gets written down a special piece of parchment that has every witches name on it. Once a year we go to a celebration called KAZOKU WA TEJINA-SHI. Every witch comes to this gathering even if they have not stopped growing.

At KAZOKU WA TEJINA-SHI every witch votes for our new queen. The new queen then stays in power for as long as we vote for her. Our current queen is Queen Amelia Saffron; she is very controlling and always gets us to send reports about our coven's activities.

This year KAZOKU WA TEJINA-SHI was being held in Volterra, Italy. Queen Amelia was going to renew our alliance with the vampire kings. Every witch was excited as Queen Amelia would only be taking five guards with her and they would be chosen the night before.

As I was packing I looked at the list of things to bring with me and sighed. Where was I going to get a ball gown in 48 hours? So instead I put my only dress in the bag. The dress was strapless with gold embroidery and the velvet was a very deep crimson colour.

The last time I had worn that dress was the day that my grandmother was killed in the Salem witch hunts, which was when I was 3 years old. The dress had been enlarged as I got older, so that my mother wouldn't have to buy another one.

I grabbed my bag and took a cab to the airport. When I got there I could see lots of witches all taking the same flight. I sat down next to a witch that looked at me as though she wanted to kill me, just with her glare. When we were finally allowed to board the plane I saw that I was sitting next to two younger witches who were in their early teens.

During the flight they started talking in French about what they would be doing at KAZOKU WA TEJINA-SHI. I started a conversation with them and when they realized I was a witch they started to ask me questions about what we do. I answered in detail and by the time we landed in Rome, Italy they looked like they understood what they were going to do.

I shared a taxi with them to Volterra as I was used to going overseas when KAZOKU WA TEJINA-SHI came around. When we arrived we were astounded at the beauty of Volterra it was a breathtaking city and as we passed the markets the smell of freshly baked bread and other foods assaulted out senses.

When we got to the mansion we would be staying at two of our elder witches greeted us. They showed us our rooms and then left us to unpack. The two witches I sat next to on the plane were sharing a room with me and I found out that they were in the French coven. Maddie and Sarah were excited as they had never been to KAZOKU WA TEJINA-SHI before.

We went down to the auditorium to be briefed before Queen Amelia spoke to us and decided which guards she would be taking. As our coven leaders approached the podium I saw that Elder Nicole was missing. My questions about where she was were soon answered when Queen Amelia and Elder Nicole walked in arm in arm.

Queen Amelia looked down on us all and began her welcoming speech.

"Hello, my fellow witches. Today I am going to pick my guards for the duration of my meeting with the vampire kings and those who have put their names forward will be chosen, not by their magical abilities but by their diplomatic ability and their knowledge of vampire history. My first chosen guard shall be . . . . . Samantha Glenwood."

There was a round of applause for her as she went to the podium to receive her cape with Queen Amelia's seal on it.

"My second guard shall be Maddie Tismall."

There was another round of applause and as she went up I realized that Maddie was one of the girls I sat next to on the plane.

"My third guard shall be Lisa Smith."

Another round of applause was heard.

"My fourth guard shall be Sarah Stonemask."

That was the other girl I sat next to and I applauded with everyone else. Queen Amelia was up to her last guard and every witch that hadn't been called was sitting on the edge of their seats.

"My fifth and final guard shall be Anastasia West."

I rose from my seat and there was no applause for me. I was known as the witch who killed her mother by a spell gone wrong and for wearing an emotionless mask all the time. When I received my cape Queen Amelia looked at me and gave me a look filled with compassion and another emotion which was quickly hidden before I could read it.

When I got back to my room there was a note in the cape asking us to meet Queen Amelia for breakfast the next morning before we departed. When Sarah and Maddie came back to the room they looked at me with fear in their eyes. I shook my head and told them that I would not harm them in any way unless they used my toothbrush. That made them laugh, I offered to have dinner with them in one of the local restaurants and maybe they could help me improve my French, as I knew only four words.

At dinner I ordered their food for them as I could speak excellent Italian and over dinner and dessert they helped my French vocabulary improve. I must have been a hard student to teach as when we started to pay the bill I saw that we had consumed four bottles of wine. Sarah and Maddie were both drunk and leaning on each other for support.

I lead them to their rooms and they passed out on the bed as soon as they were close enough. The next morning they were both complaining of a headache so I gave them one of my hangover potions but only on the condition that they didn't get that drunk again. As soon as we had had breakfast and we dressed in appropriate clothes. Sarah was wearing a skirt, with leggings and an elbow length t-shirt, Maddie was wearing shorts with a t-shirt and I was wearing dark ripped skinny jeans with a long shirt and a sweater.

When we found Queen Amelia's room we knocked and were told to come in. Queen Amelia was dressed in a gold dress with the Witches crown on her head. She was wearing all of our traditional jewelry and a pair of high heels. When we entered she motioned for us to kneel and we did immediately.

We were the first guards to arrive and when the others finally turned up we were getting impatient from kneeling for so long. Queen Amelia then addressed all of us and told us to be on our guard at all times as the vampire race was ruthless and cunning.

The other witches were told to leave and go to the car and I was told to stay behind. Queen Amelia then looked at me and said, "Your orders are different from everyone else. I want you to follow behind us invisibly and should any vampire try to attack us you have permission to kill them. You can use any spells that you want should something go wrong. Is that understood?"

I thought about it for a second then I said, "Yes, milady."

We then went to the car and drove to the entrance of the Volturi castle. As soon as we got out of the car I immediately became invisible. We were met by a small child like vampire with a big vampire. I heard Queen Amelia say hello to Felix and Jane the two vampires were impassive and I knew that they smelled our blood.

We were taken into a throne room that was entirely made of marble and gold. There were three thrones that each had a vampire sitting in it. The one on the left looked as if he was sucking on a lemon, the one on the right looked as if he wanted to eat us and the one in the middle looked happy if you could call it that.

Queen Amelia bowed whereas we remained standing. I was near the thrones about three feet from the king on the left and barely breathing. I quickly performed a spell to mask the beating of my heart and the smell of my blood. Queen Amelia then moved forward and shook hands with the king in the middle.

I performed a spell and saw their names appear above their heads and their special powers. Aro was very intriguing and with a power like that no wonder he was the main leader and sitting in the middle. Marcus had an interesting power and I wonder what he was getting from the guards surrounding Queen Amelia. Caius was boring as he didn't have a power but by the look he was giving us I knew that he was not happy.

Aro let go of our queen's hand and then sat down next to his brothers. It looked like they were talking to one another and deliberating something. Then Aro said, "Our race will welcome you tomorrow night. We will be holding a ball in your honor we would like you to bring your entire race to celebrate with us."

Queen Amelia nodded and then bowed to the three kings. Just as she turned to leave one of the vampires snarled at her. I looked at the vampire and saw that Queen Amelia had insulted the vampire once. I quickly moved in front of her and as the vampire attacked I was hit and she wasn't. Suddenly I was on the floor with the vampires hand on my throat. As I was losing air my magic started failing and I became visible. I shouted, "Tsuyosa de hayasa de kousei." Magic surged through me and I flipped us over so that I was on top and he was on the bottom. I held his arms down and just as I was about to rip his head off Queen Amelia told me to stop.

I got off him then created a shield that would protect us and all those inside of it. Aro walked over to us and hissed, "You were lying when you mentioned that you only had four guards and that none of those guards had any special powers."

I laughed at him, "You really thought that my queen would walk into the lion's den with only four guards who could be rendered helpless within seconds. I don't think so! I do not have any special powers I'm just a very powerful witch and don't you forget that!"

Aro looked at me then said, "I will not forget but next time do not make a threat to one of us when you have been invited into that our home."

I looked him up and down then said, "You look like a vampire that doesn't know how to use his rights and privileges. You look like a coward and guess what you will never be fight to rule this coven.'

Aro lunged at me but my spell was still on so I dodged him and slammed him into the ground. As soon as I had touched him I felt an electric current go up my arm so I let go immediately.