My name is Euphrasie. I was born, not bitten, and up until recently, I grew every single day.
This will not be a tragic tale. I will not bore you with the trials and tribulations of my life. Like everyone in this world, I have had my share of tragedy, but everyone has a story to tell. I won't act like I was the only person to be born through a loveless union. My father didn't want a child, not really.
He suffers me, allows for me to ask him anything that just so happens to be on my mind, and he lavishes me with gifts. He gives me everything I could ever ask for, but he could not give me the mother that my birth accidentally killed, and he refused to give me any answers about her.
So, I take it upon myself to learn the truth. To learn how she came to live in the room that I now call my own, and how it came to be that she died, while her twin sister remained alive and well.
Aro's POV
When she first arrived in the parlor, all she had with her, other than the clothes on her back, was a very ragged copy of Hugo's Les Miserables, and a twin sister who did not look very much like her twin at all. Only from resting my hands on the tops of their heads and listening to their inner most thoughts could I figure out that they had been born of the same union.
The smaller one appeared to be more outgoing, for when Felix had told me of the ruckus the had caused in the streets, she had been the one who had been proudly causing the trouble. She had the sort of passively innocent face that most fifteen year olds have, but there was something of a smirk there too. She would be a fighter, no doubt.
Her twin was just a little taller than she, but not enough to make a drastic difference. Human's eyes would never be able to tell, anyway. To them, I was certain that they looked as identical as anything else.
For me to call them identical would be an insight to my own intelligence. Fraternal, like Jane and Alec, and like them, there was something about these two that had caught my attention.
I lead them down the hall, and my desire to converse with them was overwhelmed by my need to know more about them. The more they conversed with one another; I was sure the more that I would learn from them. Children are hardly inclined to ever share personal details of themselves with a stranger.
"Look," Squealed the smaller one, and her hand clasped around her sister's wrist as she pointed up to the ancient chandeliers that hung from the vaulted ceilings. Long ago, the fixture had been re-wired and fixed with light bulbs to make it more functional in the modern era. "It's so big! And bright! I betcha there are about a dozen lights on that thing! It reminds me of Christmas in mama's house! Don't you think so, Ami? Ami…?"
"There would be a lot more than a dozen." She stated shortly, giving her twin a relenting smile as she suffered through endless streams of chatter. "A dozen is only twelve, Ava. There might be four or six dozen- which would be either 48 or 72."
Pouting, the girl crossed her arms over her chest and shuffled along behind in a huff.
A wave of disappointment flooded through me. I'd hoped that they would tell me more about themselves through their conversation, but now insult had sent both of them into a childish arrangement known as a "silent treatment".
"Felix tells me that he found the two of you on the street," I said. If they did not want to talk with one another, they would not have much of a choice other than to respond to me. "Is this true?"
They cast one another a long glance, and thought I could, I keep my hands to myself. Some thoughts are better left unheard.
"He did," Ava murmured , her hands fisted nervously in the front of her stained blue and white camisole. "Is that a bad thing? We didn't mean to cause any trouble… just…"
She trailed off, but her meaning was perfectly clear to me. Many street children had passed through my presence; it was not an abundantly hard task to find them.
Soon, we came to a spiral staircase that led up to the upper levels of the castle. I bring them out on a small landing that extends into a long hallway where rooms are mostly used for storage and the miscellaneous activities and talents that some of the guard pursue on the days that they are not assigned other tasks.
"There is no crime in being poor, child," I answered, and they gave two mirrored sighs of relief. As we crossed a small area that looks over the sitting room we had passed earlier on the lower level, I turned to them. "Though I must say, it is rather impressive how easily you are able to obtain food. It's almost as though there is some sort of…trick to it, hmm?"
There large eyes widened and bug out of their skulls a little. Frantically, Ava grabbed onto Ami's hand and the taller wrapped her arms around her shoulders as though she were a teddy bear who would protect the both of them.
"We-we'll put the food back…w-we promise, Mister! But-…well….we can't very well put it back now, 'cause we ate it already, but we can pay. We can work for the money, sir! And then we'll pay everything back! We promise!"
It was Ava who declared this. Ami simply stood with her sister tightly ensnared in her arms, her jaw set as she stared up at me.
Seeing that I would not be getting anywhere with the two of them, I adopted a different approach.
"Dear, sweet, lovely little girls," I purred, taking one hand each. "I have not brought you hear to punish you. On the contrary, the two of you are to be rewarded for the skills that you have shown."
Ava quickly snatched her hand away, slipping it into her sister's free one. A fighter, most definitely. She had some spark in her that would not crushed without a struggle.
"Don't you punish thieves?" She demanded, her eyes narrowed just a little.
I smirked, amused by the type of authority she assumed I have. While thieves were punishable by human law, my brothers and I had never seen much of a point when it came to our kind. Blood was free for all. Whoever got prey first had the right to it, until someone else came along to steal it away. Then, whoever was left standing would be the one who consumed the prey.
"I have no intentions to punish children for simply trying to survive." This time, I answered slowly, carefully picking out my words one by one so that they would not jump to conclusions once again. "I will speak briefly to both of you. At thirteen years old, you will be able to understand. However, once you hear everything that I am about to tell you, you are to be sworn to secrecy. For the next few years, you will remain in my care, and you will obey every rule that shall be laid out for you. In exchange, you will be lavished in riches far beyond those you could have ever obtained on the streets. Do I have your word? Will you agree to these conditions?"
As though the decrepit book were a Bible, Ava clutched it to her chest and gave a silent, solemn nod.
"We promise," She declared.
Deciding that it would be better to cut to the chase, I gripped their hands tighter and gazed down at them with utmost seriousness,
"Have the two of you ever heard of vampires?"
Ami looked positively stunned, but my question had sent Ava into a raucous fit of giggles.
With a sharp jerk, I pulled her arm, and instantly her attention was redirected.
"W-we h-have…" She stammered out, still unable to control the laughter that continued to seep out. "But who cares about vampires? They're just some dumb old fairytale that writers like to use in order to get a jump out of their readers. Personally, if some snot nosed old bat with a bad Russian accent came at me and tried to nip at my blood, I might be a little scared."
Internally, I grimaced. So, she had perused some of the foolish books about my kind that human authors had dreamed up over the years. While some of the tales held some truth to them, most of them were filled with ridiculous legends.
"I'm afraid that you are only right about the last thing, my child. We cannot turn into bats, and we do not excrete any sort of bodily fluid, and we are hardly ever old- at least not In the physical sense. However, blood is something that we are very fond of."
Her lips twisted into the shape of an 'O'. Perhaps my words had managed to stun her into silence.
"But…you're talking like….like vampires exist, like they aren't just fairy tales."
"My dear, I assure you, I am no fairy tale."
I rose to my full height, and took a step back so that their vision wasn't crowded. The more they looked, the more they seemed to realize that my words held nothing but truth in them. No human could be so unobservant as to not notice the peculiarities of a vampire when one was right in front of them.
Though they would know not exactly what they beheld, they would sense that the creature was not at all like themselves.
"B-But…" Ava stuttered, her green eyes flickering between myself and her sister, unsure of who to go to for answers, "Why did you bring us here? A-Are you… a-are you going to eat us?"
The very idea… some of my guard fed from children, but I found the act of doing so to be abundantly cruel. Only as a last resort did I feed from a child.
"I have brought you here to give you a new life. A life free of poverty, and of thievery. In return, you will work for me."
As I spoke, I led them further down the hallway. There was no point in standing in one place when more of the castle needed to be seen.
"My family is called the Volturi," I explained as we crossed into another, wider corridor that had walls lined with torches. Unlike the chandelier, these had not been rewired. Unlit white and red candles set in iron holders. "It consists of myself, Caius, Marcus, and Caius' and mines wives. Those who serve us are known as the Volturi Guard. There is a higher guard, and there is a lower guard. Vampires of the High guard have phenomenal powers that they put towards the protection of my brothers and our wives."
I paused for a moment, allowing a chance for the two of them to ask a question should they wish to do so. However, all of their words seemed to have been sucked away by the sheer beauty of the castle. Hands clutching one another, they pointed out little pieces here and there as we walked- an ancient painting, a gilded mirror, the Volturi family crest- for everything seemed to catch their attention. They were in awe.
"Below the lower guard, we have a few humans in our employment who serve more…secretarial purposes. They deal with our finances, political arrangements, and other affairs that might involve communication with humankind. You will both be trained as diplomats for the Volturi. When I cannot deal with issues personally, you will be my voice. You will write letters, you will attend meetings with renowned world leaders, and you will make sure that, no matter what, the secret of our existence never gets out."
They glanced at one another, silently weighing the pros and cons of my offer. Pity, though, that they didn't know the biggest con should they refuse.
By law, if they wanted to leave, I'd be required to do away with them.
"We'll stay with you, sir." Ava chirped up, and Ami nodded in quiet agreement. "But what will happen after the few years are up? Are we going to leave?"
I chuckled. At the end of the hall, we came to a large door that led to the throne room. Introducing them immediately to Caius and Marcus was a priority, lest one of my brothers come across them later on and my plan go awry.
"No, my dears, you are going to be changed."
