Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or its characters.

Bella POV

Time could be the mass killer of all beings. It either went by too fast or too slow. Or ceased to move at all. The hour hand of the Clock Tower in Piazza dei Priori barely moved at all these days. It was as though it were mocking me. I would never age, and so neither would it.

I sighed, turning away from the window and towards the large room in front of me. Growing up, every little girl's dream was to live in a castle. I knew that had been my dream. But now that it was a reality, I wanted nothing of it.

The Volturi castle was bland and boring. Gloomy in all the wrong places. No light was allowed in, except for the main room where Aro, Caius, and Marcus spent their free time. Lord knows everyone tried to stay clear of that room.

"Isabella." I turned towards the doorway, startled by the sudden call. Demetri stood in the frame; his eyes a bright red. He had just fed, and I had skipped feeding time. Again.

"Aro wishes to see you." I nodded, standing lithely to my feet. His face turned down in a sneer before he left the room, off to somewhere else in the vast castle as I made my way to the main room.

Although I tried to stay clear of the Guard here, they always found a way to make known their dislike of me. It's not like I was mean to them, or beckoned on them at all. They were all…jealous. It was true, no matter how callous that sounded. Jealous of me; jealous of my position around here.

Aro had always deliberately chosen vampires with unique and advantageous abilities to join his Guard. The Volturi were the most powerful vampire coven in the world, and they planned on keeping it that way.

To outside vampires, the Volturi were seen as the villains of the unnatural world; ones who sought out large covens to slaughter. In reality, the Volturi were more of the peacekeepers of our kind. They made sure all vampires remained unknown to human kind; being sure that large covens were not mass murdering whole cities.

Those were the two basic laws in the vampire world. Don't expose us for who we are, and keep the draining of humans under wraps. Of course, all the vampires that I had seen roaming these hallways were not worthy of 'living'. They were monsters; creatures of the night sent by Hell to obliterate and devastate human kind, as well as the few vampires who tried to live in peace.

As a human, I had come to Italy with my school as a class trip. We had broken up into small groups. Mine consisted of myself and seven other people. We were to stick to the schedule, remain within city walls.

However, my group had the misfortune of being rounded up by Heidi with other unknowing tourists from many parts of the world, with the promise of a rare tour around the ancient castle. Walking in, we had been told the stories of Marcus, having frightened away all vampires, leaving the city safe; St. Marcus Day. It was humorous, almost, how everything she had said slowly related up to our impending demise.

Everyone's except for mine, that is.

Aro, having met up with Heidi outside of the main room, had helped the tourists into the room, laying a hand on each and everyone. I now knew that the reason for that was to elicit a reaction of natural fear in the prey. In many eyes, it was more fun for the predator to go after a frightened prey. I felt the opposite.

When Aro had passed me through, his hand gingerly touching my shoulder, he realized that I was not a normal human. He couldn't read my thoughts. It was like my mind was shut off to him, when everyone else's was an open book, showing him every thought they had had since childhood.

I can clearly remember the moment when his eyes met mine. They were a cloudy red, as though he suffered from cataracts disease. My pulse had raced as my mind reeled, telling me to run from the abnormal being. Danger! My brain had shouted at me.

He had pulled me from the group, and I just had time to hear the beginning screams of my fellow travelers when he took me into a room that cut off all sounds.

Everything after that was a blur, thanks to human memory, but I clearly remembered the first bite. It had been on my wrist. It was as though he had pierced my skin with a knife, rather than teeth. Then he had bit me on the side of my throat.

The pain had been unbearable. I vaguely remembered begging for my life as the fire blazed through my veins, smoldering my organs. I could barely breath, the pain was so harsh. It was the worst torture I had ever been through. The worst torture I would ever be through.

Nothing beat the pain of a transformation. Especially the last few hours, as the blaze coursed through the limbs, landing in the heart. It was as though the venom running through your system was fighting your entire body, getting revenge on all that had been living within you.

My first month after transformation had been Hell on earth. All I wanted to do was go home. But of course, being the blood thirsty creature that I had become, I had to be kept within the castle. The only interactions I had were with the Guard and the unfortunate human they placed in my room to be drained.

After a year, I had somehow been able to regain most of my morals. I began feeding as little as possible; waiting until my eyes became pitch black and I grew weak before taking another innocent life. I often got in trouble for that, being told on all occasions that I had become a vampire; that I had to give into my desires. My only desires were that I be destroyed.

I hated almost all vampires. The Volturi, especially. I had yet to meet a good vampire, though I was convinced that there must be at least one out there. The ones I had met were all the same; beings of mass destruction who thought of nothing but the humans they were going to murder.

I had tried to off myself numerous times, after my own first kill and it wasn't until a few months ago that Aro decided I was no longer suicidal, and that he could let me in on the only way a vampire could be destroyed.

It was true. I was no longer suicidal. However, I didn't think much of my life. If this was a life, and if it was…well, it wasn't much of one.

I had reached the door leading to the chamber where Aro and his brothers resided. I took a deep, unnecessary, calming breath before reach up my hand to knock on the over-sized door.

"Enter."

I bit my tongue as I pushed open the door, stepping into the bright room.

"Ah, Isabella. So glad you finally decided to make our acquaintance." I tried my hardest not to glare at Aro as he spoke. He was no doubt commenting on my lack of appearance at feeding time today.

Almost as though he could read my mind, his next words verified my beliefs.

"You do realize, Isabella that it is customary that as Volturi royalty, you are one of the first to drink. It is almost disrespectful to your fellow vampires to not show up."

Did I mention that I was the Princess of the Volturi?

The first chapter was rather short, but I promise that the second and following chapters will most likely be longer. Thank you for reading!