Please enjoy. Here is my attempt at an Evil Vamp Bella story. Rated M for Lemons, violence, newborns, veterans - whatever the game is, these vamps are playing it. Even some baseball. Slightly AU x CANNON PAIRS x OTP x FLUFF

Preface

On the balcony overlooking the concrete jungle, the excitement of the crowds made a cohesive buzz of music. A quartet of violins sang a bitter, flat song that coasted folks along. The sun-buttered brick roads were littered with cracks and garbage. I leaned onto the railing. A glimpse of skin peaked from the silk robe and the beam of light shimmer on me.

On ground level, I focused in on a child who was crying for his mother. His father scolded him for something petty. A young couple bumped against them. An older women squeezed her way to a merchant's cart. They were selling sun hats weaved from grass. Humans could profit from anything. Such bastards, such selfish meat sacks. A hoard of teenagers nearby were smoking and skateboarding against the fountain. A guard rushed after them.

It was controlled chaos. This was Aro's favorite game of chess to play. He, Alec, and Jane were laughing as the guard caught up and escorted the humans toward our castle doors.

"I call the female," Jane claimed.

"Not a very fair chance for the rest of us, eh?" Alec argued. The cluster of them were several floors underneath me, hiding under the alley of pillars. Their robes masked them as shadows to the world. He glanced up and met my eyes. They were sunken and deep. Hunger pulsed in the twitch of his smile as he waved.

I nodded in return. Jane followed the guard inside, causing both men to chuckle. She was certainly the most irritable and impatient. Her twin was a close second.

"Mama! Una regina!" a child in the crowd shouted. Their mother looked up and cupped their pointed hand in her own.

They were both staring at me. She bounced the child on her hip, cradling her close.

"Quella รจ una statua," she corrected her, lingering an uncertain gaze on me, trying to believe her own words. It must have clicked, as she turned to talk to her husband. The little girl was staring and drawing shapes at my direction. Her eyelashes damp with tears and sweat. I noticed the roast on her flesh. She would be well burnt by tomorrow. Skin red and irritated and fragile. I caste a hand into the open wind and waved at her.

A loud scream exploded from the crowd and I held my lungs stiff. A set of fireworks breathed into the sky and tussled the crowd crazy. I wasn't sure who was in charge of the event. Humans usually played with fire when the moon was high in the sky and the darkness was over their heads. It was an odd choice I believed, and the commotion was irritating. They were so careless and obtrusive. I found that I didn't care for the mindless way humans carried themselves. They acted on impulse and were often careless. I brushed the wrinkles from the robe and turned my way back inside.

I ran down the stairs the winded down the tower for ages before I made it to the main lobby. It was polished and inviting for these festivals. The Volturi even wired phones and computers as a registry in the last decade. Humans proved to be calmer with familiar surroundings. They made less of a fuss when our guards hauled them in and gave tours.

A flash of light blazed in my direction. I snapped my head over and saw a sweaty woman draped in chiffon gawking at me, checking her camera for the shot. My nostrils flared as the scent of our guests burned and fogged with the candles dripping in the lights above.

"Excuse me, there no pictures allowed beyond the front doors!" Heidi, the alluring secretary that Aro had collected for their coven, jumped up from her desk. "Give me that camera."

The tourist's flabby chin wiggled under her gaping jaw. "Nah, mate! You can't take my stuff."

Even more human than most of us, Heidi was fierce. I was fond of her personality. Brash, courageous, and unyielding. She was very tall for a woman, towering over the round lady.

Her heels clicked against the bricks and I watched closely.

"Delete the photograph and hand over the camera."

Heads were turning and a rain of silence poured in the room.

"You can't talk to me like that," she argued. Her accent was very prominent, more than likely born and raised in South Wales.

"This is your last warning. Hand over the camera."

"It's my property. I'd like to see you try."

Heidi tore the strap from her neck. It was like cutting the bindings from a pork roast. She turned to the guard and nodded. The lady started screaming. She wailed about how we caused the worst vacation she'd ever been on. I lapped each tooth with the indent between my tongue. I could hear her heartbeat thud as the anger flavored her flesh like a boiled apple.

"Come, now," I stepped forward. The crowd tensed, and Heidi stepped back. The camera was clenched in her eggplant manicured grip. "It can't be that bad. I tend to think Italy is the most beautiful place on Earth... well, top three."

Jane came around the corner with her brother. My fingers tickled the hem of my hood as I draped it on shoulders. Marcus, Caius, and Aro followed in suit, coming out from the shade and letting the chandelier candles flicker against their translucent faces.

We were going to have some fun earlier than expected.

"You're..." the large lady shuddered. It was almost funny to watch her thick knees twitch under the pressure.

"I'm what?"

She shook her head. "Get away from me. I'm leaving!"

I inched closer, "Why do you want to part from us so soon? The tour has barely even begun."

"Because you're a bunch of freaks."

Heidi seethed, "You will watch the way you address your superiors."

"Ain't anybody here a superior of mine. This is the worst service I've ever been delt!"

"Would you like a proper picture?" I flashed my teeth at her and motioned for Heidi to hand over the device.

Aro approached my side and held his hands in the air. Every breath was iced over. It was rare that any of us came into the lobby. We liked to keep it clean. It made cycling through the feedings quicker. Aro smiled, full teeth bared at me. "Rather hungry today, Isabella?"

I rubbed my shoulder and cupped my other hand on the woman's overripe tomato chin. She cringed at my touch but I held tight. "I must be."

He turned to the crowd. No one made a move. He approached the woman with a sick grin, a slimy drool of venom dropping, sizzling on her clothes. "Sorry to cause you such a fuss, we mean no harm."

She made a reach to snatch her camera back, but Aro beat her to it and tore the chunk of plastic in half with me.

Heidi swore and motioned for the guards. We were going to have an early meal, indeed.

"I want to leave," she bellowed like a sick elk. "Why are they shutting us in?"

A man from the audience gaped and held his wife. "Why are they locking the doors?"

A thin whimper cried out from an elderly woman and perfumed the air in her fear. Aro met my gaze. He gave a nod and I took a sick moment of satisfaction in seeing most eyes overflowing with tears before icing the few of us immortals in my shield. Jane marched to the front.

"Pain," she whispered. Bodies hit the floor at different notes, playing the room like a xylophone. I twisted my back and stretched my jaw wide like a black widow. I admired my reflection in the midnight of my prey's pupils. Her veins coiled like snakes in the her throat and grew taunt. I considered tearing her apart slowly, like eating an orange and pealing her skin from the bones. Or plucking her vessels out from thickest to thin and arranging them on a harp.

"Don't play with your food," Marcus chuckled.

I offered him a knowing smirk before I launched myself at her, the rest of the coven following in suit. Panicked shrills bounced on the marble and sent shivers into my teeth as I sank them viciously into her jowls. Her beefy hands struggled against my cheeks and lathered me in her secondhand sweat. Each second I stayed latched, I took joy in the tightening of her skin. My adrenaline made each gulp more erratic. With her skin paling as oxygen drained from her lungs, I laughed and choked on her life. She threw fists into my face and shoulders. My fingers crawled up her cheeks. I stole an enormous drink of her and it overflowed, a set of warm rivers waterfalling down my cheeks. The ooze colored my chin and dripped back to her chest.

Her final punch froze mid air and died where it started. Her blood grew sour as I drank from her furthest depths. She was nearly pruned when I had the control to drop her on the floor and watch her break like a Christmas ornament on the marble. She was uglier in death. The sweat was waterlogged in her hairline and I used the sole of my boot to roll her over. When I was younger I wouldn't have, but age lost the joy of looking at their hanging jaws and popped eyes when they died.

Her blood was curdling on my chin, chilling where the weight of the drops clenched heaviest. They dribbled down my collar bones and used them like sewer pipes. I saw Heidi watching us from behind a glass door. Her aroma was lively. It reminded me of Brazil, like a jaguar after a rain storm. A ripe lily heated in the summer. Aro was lucky to have staked his claim on her loyalty.

A swift kick itched against my ankle.

I grabbed the human leg, snapping it off like a square of chocolate. It squirmed on the floor, followed by his screaming pleas. He looked like a slug after the rain. I slammed him into a pillar and brought him to my height. His skin was beautiful for a human, dark from both his heritage and the sun, freckled in small pores with no scars. It was almost a shame that he would go to waste. He probably had a family waiting for him back in South America. This had likely his first vacation as a legal adult. So innocent and eager to explore the world. I shook my head and clenched his square jaw.

"Don't be afraid," I smiled. He flinched and spat at me. "The field mice will enjoy your corpse."

His sandal flew off as he kicked me with his remaining leg. It was like a baby pawing me. His veins quivered as I clamped my fingers tighter. I stretched his skin taunt, licking the spot where his pulse hit hardest. He smacked my head and beat me with the end of his palms. My hair flew in a frenzy under his blows. I sawed my teeth through his shoulder. He was earthy and hot. So delicate and juicy. I kept my eyes open, glued on his fingernails. I wanted to see the beds glow white. I wanted the moons to disappear and reflect his now dead heartbeat.

All the lively richness dissolved from his limbs as I milked his blood in key with every breath. His skin eventually sagged into his bones like a wet napkin. Empty.

It took several calming thoughts for my jaw to unhinge and leave his angry embrace. He fell like an hollow vase to the floor, sitting against the stone. I chuckled at the thought of leaving him like that, as if he could watch the sunset tonight and go back to his hotel room with achy limbs and cracking knee caps.

Three bodies later, I left my last meal half full and garnished with a broken neck. I yanked her by the hair into my pile.

"What a mess."

I lifted a brow at Alec, "Oh?"

He pointed to his own chin in mockery. "You've got a bit of something."

I swiped my forearm across my doused chin. Aro threw his last corpse to the floor and joined us. "Red is your color, my dear."

The others laughed and I winked before making my way to the closest door. "You're not going to make your lovely Heidi clean up this time, are you?"

"Certainly not. It's a holiday for everyone, is it not?"

Marcus and Caius yelled for the guards to haul the bodies into the basement and we all headed to the throne room. It was a short run to the elevator as we packed. Jane nudged my elbow with hers, "Did she at least taste good?"

"Hardly," I growled. "Like drinking blood from a sea monster." The elevator dinged. "How about the Russian girl? Was she worth dibs?"

She flashed her brilliant teeth and the beautiful burgundy blood stained her gums, outlined by the rim of her lips. "Delicious."

"I hear humans who live in colder climates taste better. It makes their blood fresher," Alec hung his robe up on to hooks greeting the entrance and dusted off his shirt.

"Like iced tea," Jane joked.

"Maybe we can test those theories," Marcus traded his robe for a fresh one. "Aro seems to agree with you."

"I do," he chimed in. "There are Eskimos in the Western Hemisphere who are fantastic hunting if you're ever in the area."

They continued back and forth and I shimmied my robe off, bunching it up to wipe off the blood on my throat. My reflection glared back in the stain glass window. I was filthy. I cringed at the sea of knots my hair sat on. "What a mess."

Caius turned to me, "You let them squirm today, Isabella."

"I like to have a show with dinner."

"Their blood is becoming on you."

"You're going to make me blush," I shook my head. "I didn't even count the damage this time."

His gaze wandered up to the ceiling and traced the artwork with his eyes. "It was a quaint party. Ninteen guests."

"Will you be having seconds?"

He nodded, "Certainly. It is the last festival of the season. Are you saying you won't be?"

The sloshing in my stomach felt like honey stuck in my muscles. "Unless you find a singer, I don't think I could fit in another drop."

A thick chortle heaved from his chest. Marcus called his name and he ended our talk with a curt bow. This was the dizzy and the dancing after a glutenous hunt. Jane and Alec marched to meet another human - one I knew they wouldn't be keeping - and played mind games on her. They were so young in body and soul, I was not sure they'd ever develop a leadership in the Volturi. No doubt that I hoped differently, however. Each had their own remarkable talent that could surpass most in the vampire race.

Aro, Marcus, and Caius stole spots on their thrones and happily found trinkets to gossip about. Aro was holding his his newest piece in a ray of sunlight. A broach from an Egyptian corpse that he extracted from a newly dug up catacomb. The gorgeous gems spoke rainbows into the light and the men were caught in awe.

There wasn't a flicker in me that sparked interest in relating to their fascination. Relics of human creation didn't appeal to me. Their useless baubles and unnecessary attachment to items left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth. I knew Aro well, though. After decades of joining his company in festivities and completing missions, we had a great understanding for each other's lifestyles.

"Aro, I regret that I must make my departure at this time," I approached the triplet thrones and smiled at the number of times I had dismissed myself from their company.

His large lizard eyes traced me and his smile was no longer a crest, but a full gaping moon. "Oh, but my Isabella! You haven't had a chance to dine with Sulpicia. She will be greatly saddened to have missed you this time around."

I dipped my hand into the belly of my pockets and fished out my apology for them. "I regret it as well, my friends," I frowned. "But please, take my newest catch as a token of gratitude for the hospitality."

His hands shook like wild tree branches in a tornado. Caius rolled a wonderfully pale strand of blonde hair, as Marcus' ancient sculptured features stretched beyond it's stone in amazement. Aro's hands gripped my wrists.

"Are you afraid to touch it?" I teased.

He sang a shriek into a full fit of laughter that lavished into a crescendo from the ceiling. It bounced around and echoed against the blood swishing around in his gut. I flipped the creature between the knuckles of my forefingers and held it by the tail. It struck me that I probably resembled a sports car, the sleek and hard metal of my skin adamantly displaying the most notorious feline front and center. This was no ordinary utensil, even I knew that.

"Isabella, I am jealous of my beautiful mate!" He giggled. I wondered if he would snap out of his childish state soon enough for me to leave by dusk. "You play a hard game, that's for sure. Once, she and I visited the castle in Europe. Only once, how odd," he murmured to himself. "Yes, how odd. Yes, I think I should plan another honeymoon for my beloved. She will be eternally in debt for such a treasure. What a blessing!"

His curiosity won the race of time in moments as he snatched the bracelet from my grip. He twisted it around so the diamonds could sparkle against the ribbons of light the a prism of shades that the glass cut in the room.

"Incredible, by all accounts. How you conned the humans, I do not wish to know, you vixen. The power you hold, oh goodness. Greater men than I have had no such luck in being bestowed such an prize. You went on a scavenger hunt," he swung around.

Jane shoved her twin out of the way and sped next to Aro's side. "I've never seen the Diamond Panther bracelet in person. Not in any of my lifetimes."

"It's spectacular, isn't it?" Aro gusted weightlessly around the room. Each vampire examined the jewelry and I took a half step back as Aro drew his way to our shared stair. My heels teetered on the edge, the marble eating into the soles of the boots. "I knew I smelled a hint of The Windsor Duchess on your presence this week. You're very good at keeping secrets. You spoil us so."

"A small price to pay," my hands snaked into the sleeves of my opposite arms. "Enjoy it. Let it be an invitation for Suplicia to visit me the next time she finds herself in Greece."

"A challenge we most certainly will be accepting," his long nose curved into the enormity of his grin. "However, Isabella..."

"Aro, save your breath." Alec groaned.

"Not again," Caius rolled his eyes.

"Isabella..."

He slid the exquisite bracelet into the breast pocket of his velvet vest. I took ten steps backwards and saw Jane roll her large, murky doe eyes, and Alec cover his mouth to avoid the rattling laughs from escaping.

"Thank you, Aro. As delightful and honoring your offer will be... once again, I regretfully decline, but only on my incredibly selfish behalf."

His liver-tinted lips pressed firmly. "Maybe next time then, Isabella."

"Maybe next time," the words ghosted from the lingering smile I had at the end of every journey I made to Volterra. "Tell Athenodora I greatly missed her presence this time around, Caius."

"As she has, yours," he politely waved.

Jane and Alec bowed at the same time and I reflected their condolences. Another squeal from Aro erupted with the hard thud of the elevator sealing our goodbyes. A flash into the lobby, where mops were erasing our adventure from only minutes ago, and Heidi turned from berating a different employee to greet me. I didn't exchange a word or meet her wondrous red eyes as they followed my escape into the fresh air. Two guards at the entrance stayed silent as boulders on the mountain top as they thrust the bulky doors open and guided me out.

My boot clicked against the stairwell, rusted from centuries of storms and walks, and I sailed into the beckoning sky. A single roof tile crumbled in half as I landed three buildings over. I stayed perched like a gargoyle to let the final drop of Italian summer bake into my memory.

The year was lackluster. No wild chases or blood baths with marathons of humans running for their lives. No useful memories that I would check back on to enjoy. There was now only the stench of wheat and tomatoes, basil and oregano lush in the gardens, and creme that melted from their sweet dough casings. After a month of collecting human recipe books, I found that I leaned towards the descriptions of Italian cuisine. Though, I was sure a biased edge buried thick in the forest of my never regarded human past posed judgement on that decision. Rarely did I bid an ode to the lost human puzzle of my birth.

To be human was to be an ink blot in time's bible. To be human combed itself into details like delicate, soft, temporary, and gullible.

I patted the roof goodbye and headed eastbound.

I was fond of solitude in the last dozen seasons. Or had it been a dozen decades? The finer details melted together. There wasn't anyone to blame but my own unwillingness to launch away from the mouths of the oceans or the beckoning cheeks of mountains or dandelions of forests.

A hard thud popped in natural surrounds as I pounced at the base of a tree. I hitched each of my limbs on and hugged it before crawling like a demented rodent to the top. It split through the canopy and overlooked a river that ran into the mouth of a lake that was twenty, maybe twenty-three miles out. That was the trail I followed every year as I drew to and from Italy. No humanity staked its claim in the twenty-seven million acres of the forests of Italy. I explored every meter eighteen years ago. Athenodora was close to convincing me to purchase my own square of land so we could be neighbors. Despite my dedication and loyalty to her, alongside Suplicia, I couldn't sacrifice the privacy.

She compared me to a bear. Both woman found comedy in my extensive effort I put in to be left alone. A lifestyle I found suited my nature.

I swung the tip of the tree to give me enough push as I bounced to the next. Miles descended down the drain. A flock of Starlings used the sky as their host. They danced like a sandstorm with the wind, guiding the directions their bodies dragged in. Seventy feet to the base, a family of foxes tapped their way to a den. Their babies sneaked in first, followed by the female, and a final protective glance before the male disappeared as well.

The branch snapped under my footing and I lurched forward and carried on. Traveling by foot in nature was hardly glorious in it's own manner. There was the layer of pride that had to be pealed like a scab to reveal the a barbaric instincts it took. Insects splattered in almost ever crevice and nook of my body, even in the kiss of my nostrils and waterline of my eyes. Venom burned them away there, but that didn't stop the collection from crusting haphazardly every where else.

Occasionally, the unlucky bird or rodent found its corpse stuck to my foot. Luxury wasn't the friend of the wild. A nest of eggs crushed under my weight when I pounced on all fours in a forest buried deep in Iceland once. The smell of death, coupled with crumpling it's angry mother into a moth ball, taught me to use the tallest perches of trees for jumping.

Once I landed on the lake's mouth, I used the chance to swim and clear the gunk that built itself on me. The sun was cutting into the Earth and animals descended into their homes. The water dulled and reflected noise off from me, so I hummed Clair De Lune in a loop in order to keep track of time.

The moon and sun traded places three times before I faded to a halt under the shores of Ithaca.

My dead heart slithered against the walls of my shoulders, making it's new home in the constraints of my throat. Salt and ash blackened it's perimeter in a halo of scum from the active hot springs gurgling in the mud. My skin was pasted in murk. It made me nauseous and uncomfortable. I clapped hard against the water and made it to the air in a minute. I hunted like an alligator with only the round of my head splitting the surface and my bottom eyelashes sitting like mosquitoes on the ripples.

I welcomed myself home.