WHO I AM
Finally my day off.
Rather that remaining in rooms and watching TV while pigging out, we decided to go sight-seeing. Five years and three months, and we were yet to look around the corner. The furthest we'd gone was the garden and that simply stretched towards the forest.
Walking with Jacob and Angela down the Piazza Della Signoria. So, after taking millions of pictures or practically every angle of the square, Ang had decided to pull us towards the Fountain of Neptune. She insisted on us throwing coins in and making wishes, regardless of the fact that it wasn't that kind of fountain.
"When in Rome" she simply replied.
Now, I stood and quietly studied the white marble statue of the god of the sea, standing tall and proud. His minions or his people were in a dark green, surrounding him in various positions.
My focus was interrupted with the loud plop of Jacob's coin sinking in the water.
"What did you wish for?" I turned my head towards him.
"Lamborghini, what else?" he scoffed and me and Angela rolled our eyes. Boys will be boys…
I looked towards her, noticing how her gaze had fallen back to the fountain where her coin landed. "Hey Ang, tell me you wished for something better" I pointed out and sent Jake an incredulous glance. "Maybe world peace?" I joked and he elbowed my side.
She wrapped her arms around herself and exhaled deeply. "I wished for my brothers to be okay" she murmured timidly and in an instant, my arms were wrapped around her waist. Jake stood by our side and laid his head onto her shoulder.
"And they will be" we assured her, happy to see the small smile she offered.
We both knew how she fretted over her brothers' safety as they were millions of miles away. Angela told me that this was the first time she had ever been away from them this long.
"What about you Bells?"
I straightened up and nervously tucked my hands in my pockets. "I don't need wishes" I replied with a blasé shake of my head while my fingers desperately fisted the copper coin that lay cold in my hand. The edges were now digging into my skin and under different circumstances, I would have thought blood would be drawn.
"Come on…" Jake prodded, clearly reading through my attempt at being nonchalant.
"I don't know" I shook my head but couldn't look away from the ripples flowing through the water's surface. The dance was almost hypnotic and inviting. Upon seeing the scattered coins contrast on the white marble floor of the fountain, I felt the desire grow. "I guess I'd just wish for more days like these" I offered and added another shrug of my shoulders.
"I knew you had it in you - you little sap" Jake teased me and I pretended to kick him.
"Jerk" I jabbed at his chest, making him stumble back with a chuckle.
Angela smiled at the sight of us and as expected, the camera around her neck was raised as she took yet another picture. "Nice" she commented, already losing herself in the concept of capturing the moment and hopefully materialising it later.
To be fair, I took the camera from her and she bent down so I could pull it from her neck. I then pushed Jacob towards her and captured the moment of him with his arm around her. She had wound her arm around his back and held up her two fingers behind his head, making the little rabbit ears. The simple gesture brought her great joy as a small devious smirk lifted her lips.
After taking a few more, I turned to a nearby tourist and asked him to take one of all of us. "Mi scusi. La prego di farci una foto?"
"Si, si" he nodded eagerly and I thanked him with a smile before moving back to join my two best friends.
The tourist was nice enough to take many photos. Most of them were of us messing around and pulling faces. Jake would sling his arm around our shoulders and wiggle his eyebrows while adorning a cocky grin – wannabe ladies' man. The last one was of us with our arms around each other in a large teletubbies group hug.
It was so wonderfully cheesy.
I felt so lucky to have such wonderful friends – family even. I was even more unbelievably lucky that after everything we hadn't strayed away from each other. In fact, it may have been the strange turn of events in high school that had brought us closer that imaginable.
Now as we looked over the photos, we laughed at the ridiculous of each one.
However, it was when we landed on the next few that I noticed something on the street behind us.
I tried to be discreet, pushing my hair back while sneaking in a sly glance in that direction. Sure enough, the same black BMW in the picture was there at the end of the street. My eyes then fleetingly fell onto the number plate and when silently reciting it, I realised it was the same one we saw at the Colosseum and by the Vatican museum.
Just as I was about to leave the guys and storm over in demand of questions, I was interrupted with the sharp sound of my ringtone.
Angela and Jake looked up, smirking at the sound of my ringtone. It was the theme song from Psycho and appropriate enough for the caller.
Pressing my thumb onto the answer button, I brought it up to my ear but paused. One regrettable glance at my friends and I smiled in gratitude when they nodded in acceptance, shooing me away. With their permission, I walked over to the side, feeling their eyes follow me as I darkly whispered. "You sent a car for me" I mused irritably.
"Do you ever miss anything?" he inquired disappointedly and I could literally imagine him rolling his eyes.
I placed a hand on my hip and allowed my anger to seep into my snapped tone. "Why are they following me?"
"You need to come back" he directed calmly.
My fingers flew up to my hair and exasperatedly ran through the windswept locks. "What is it this time? A vampire running through the streets in his birthday suit? Another animal attack?" I rambled, already forgotten the advised trick of counting back to ten. "You know what? I don't care. I was promised a week off and it's only Tuesday. I'm with Angela and Jake. I can't exa-"
He hastily cut me off with his hysterical exclaim. "ISABELLA!" he screamed and I hitched an eyebrow at the tone he was using with me and the fact that he had addressed me by my full name.
"I'm listening" I offered, after the helpful and much needed deep breath.
"You're going to want to come down"
-XxxxxxX-
The second I got inside, Felix was by my side and placing the burgundy velvet robe over my shoulders. I accepted it, knowing the symbol of respect and power it represented. Somehow, wearing it always brought that sense of authority and made it easier to make the difficult decisions. In my naïve mind, the second I took it off, the blood staining it would be washed away from me.
My fingers quickly fastened it and I reached behind to pull up my tresses and leave them behind the cloak.
"They're waiting for you" Demetri informed me, now ranking my other side.
I nodded but said nothing.
This told them everything they needed to know.
I was angry.
We walked down in complete silence. The only sound was our whispered footsteps across the rocky ground and the cool breeze that drafted through the old bricks.
When we reached the double doors, the guards by it's side reached over and pulled them apart, opening them for me. Soon the shadows of the hallway had the streaming light of the large throne room and I stepped inside.
The stoic expression that I had once adorned was immediately erased as the brightness revealed my rock and my protector. He stood a few feet away from the thrones but by the window. The bright rays streaming through the glass windows and making his long blonde locks gain a luscious light golden colour. When he turned to me, the dark hazel flecks in his honeyed orbs flared and a pleased smile quirked up his pink lips.
His back once laid onto the marble pillar but he pushed away from it when walking towards me. I approached him, meeting him in the middle and opening my arms to embrace him. However, he stopped me by taking one of the hands in a very gentlemanly manner, placed a kiss on my inner wrist. Still bending over, he peeked up from his thick lashes and locked gazes with mine as he huskily breathed, "Princessa…"
In return, I simply arched an eyebrow and yanked my hand away from him. "Cut that shit out" I snapped and he laughed gleefully, pulling me into the hug that I had waited for. He dipped his head down to kiss my cheek while his muscled arms continued to hold onto me.
When we broke apart, I noticed his smile had fleeted and his eyes had gravely fallen onto something behind my shoulder. It all became clear when I looked up to the dark looming figure of Aro, who was now stalking towards me.
A slow grin curling his lips as he took my face in his hands. The cold touch had me battling with my innate instincts of shivering away from him. This only grew harder when his lips met both my cheeks.
However, I found pleasure in the frustration he showed as his eyebrows knitted together and his lips were twisted in a wry grimace. His ageless features now crumpled with a deep crease on his forehead and I smirked inwardly.
As always, my master had put himself up in hopes that he would read my thoughts but as always he was failing miserably. "Wonderful Isabella" he murmured, the disappointed now overwhelmed with that victorious gleam he always had.
His prize had returned.
Regardless of the sadistic bastard that we all knew he was, he had saved me.
Well me and Jasper.
It was because of him that I found light and truth.
FLASHBACK:
"How hard it must be to resist her blood…" Aro commended and I wondered if his admiration would be enough to appease Edward but yet again, I was naïve.
There must have been something I was missing because I had never seen Edward grow so cold and taciturn. "Not without difficulty" His stony features now hardened as his icy pebbled glared on Aro but the only assurance he gave was the occasional squeeze to my side.
I whipped back around to face Aro after he released a strange hum. He regarded Edward like a small boy with how he waved off his anger with a pleased knowing smile.
I was then surprised when his gaze flickered away from him and swept across the room, fleetingly passing from Edward to Alice until finally landing on mine.
Something about the look had Edward pulling me closer to his side.
I wanted to question him but Aro had our attention once again. "Why did you come to me Edward?" he inquired coolly, pacing on the floor before us while looking at us with such interest and fascination. The same omnipotent expression on his face.
"It was all a misunderstanding" Edward gruffly replied and his hand slipped down to take mine. "I think I'll take Bella home now" he said and I smiled, nestling further into him as he tried to pull me out of the otherworldly hall.
Before we could make it any farther, the doors were closed and we heard Aro's joyous voice call out. "I doubt that your little pet will want to go anywhere with you…" something in his tone had me turning around to watch as he pleasantly turned to my best friend on our heels. "Or with Alice for that matter" he added and I grew sceptical.
"What?" I murmured unintentionally. The role of the quiet submissive human now gone.
Edward turned to him sharply, "I don't think that it's any of your business" he hissed but I caught the worried glance he cast onto me before diverting again.
"Well I think when you brought this intriguing beauty into my castle" those creepy scarlet eyes had me shivering once again. "…it became my business" he continued and I watched curiously as they shared some kind of silent conversation.
Edward must've hard something because in a flash, I was pushed behind him and I wondered what he was protecting me from. To get answers, I looked towards Alice who had her head down but was annoyed to find that she had her head down. My concern then grew when I read the silent pain crumpling her face as her trembling bottom lip was trapped by her teeth.
"Felix"
Aro's voice cut through the silence clearly and I whirled around to watch as Felix had Edward pushed into the wall and then flung across the room, breaking two pillars in the process.
Everything they had been hiding and the explanation I searched for was explained when Alice intervened. "NO!" she growled and I gasped at the ferocious sound coming from her tiny lungs. Her face now contorted into pure animalistic rage and her wild bewildered eyes landed onto Felix. She was there in the blink of an eye and I watched horrified as she ripped off the vampire named Felix's arm, disgustedly flung it across the room.
Once she was placated with the sight of Felix curled on the ground, howling in pain, her knees gave in. She crouched by my boyfriend's side, her hand now in my boyfrie3nd's bronze locks while the other placed on his cheek. Whispers of sweet nothings passed through her lips as she tried to assure him.
I just watched.
I watched them assure each other.
I watched them touch each other.
I watched them comfort each other.
I watched…until my boyfriend remembered me; until his golden eyes found mine and hers followed; until the other red eyes whipped around to me, watching a I finally saw what I had been blinded to.
-XxxxxX-
So, after hating myself for a week, I decided to channel all that hate onto the ones deserving. Then, I realised I couldn't keep it from Jasper and the second he found out, we left. Simple as.
As angry and hurt as we were, we both tried to be strong for each other and keep lightened hearts. To this day, I doubted that I would have gotten through it without Jasper. He understood my pain and I, his.
If anything, he must've been going through worse when experiencing my pain along with his. Fortunately, that didn't last long as I could block it from him so he wouldn't be burdened.
This only happened when Aro propositioned me for a spot as a Volturi guard. In my defence, at the time I was left alone and so completely confused but after thinking about it, I agreed. Only with the compromise that it would be Jasper's venom. Not because it was anything romantic but because of how Aro seemed to be itching to taste my blood. He was practically salivating when he spoke of the offer, but as thwarted as he was, he still agreed.
Now, five years later, I was only 23 in human years but 18 physically. However, somehow Aro thought of me being capable of earning the title as the vampire princess.
Of course what qualified me were the powers that I possessed. He wanted to keep me close and use me for his own good. Also, I knew that he was scared I would realise my potential and overpower his foundation, which I definitely could.
Under different circumstances, I would have refused, especially with a certain evil twin going by the name Jane.
She had probably been the catalyst to the life I had now.
Basically, she had been acting strangely and when following her, I found out why.
Reason was that the little sixteen year old had been hanging around with the wrong crowd. One being a particular, very familiar red head with a foul mouth and a bad attitude. The same red head that had been sighted by the police running through the woods near a certain white house. The same white house where my father was found sprawled out in a pool of his own blood.
It didn't take long to rip off her head and watch the pieces become engulfed with the fiery red flames. The inhuman part of me then found even more pleasure in watching the young blonde cry over the ashes of her best friend. Tearless sobs escaped her as she looked to the heavens and cried out for help.
With one last smirk, I left her in the shadows, returned to the castle and hastily accepted Aro's offer. Since then, I had been untouchable but I had also lost myself as Bella Swan.
From then on, I was Isabella Marie, Princess of Volturi, ruler and protector of all the vampires.
Well that was what I thought, until today, when I learnt of the other kind.
A/N: Anyway, leave a review because they are better than fountain wishes.
Questions: How did you feel about the flashback? What do you think of Princess Isabella? What about Jasper?
WARNING: Different pairings for this one.
Before I go, I was PM'd by a lovely fanfictioner – vampires-suck1993. She wanted me to inform you that she is doing her own awards called Bloodlust Awards. She wanted to do this because Ice Princess didn't finish it off and is hoping that you guys nominate and vote.
You can e-mail her at bitelilwest93 or you can send the nominations by PMing or leaving a review. Not so sure about the review thing but just go to her profile.
