I do not own any of the twilight characters they belong to Stephenie Meyer. Hope you enjoy this.

Prologue

How I found myself running through the streets of London at night was a mystery to me. My life up until two months ago had been full of parties, dancing and champagne, now it was full of horror, death and fear. I was still clutching my parasol and trying to hold onto my cloak, even though I knew that they would not help me if I was caught. I skidded around the corner and ran into something solid, a dead end? Slowly I lifted my head to see the eyes of the man that I had been running from for the past two months. Was this how I was going to die?

Chapter One

The summer of 1882, London

I walked slowly behind my father as we travelled into the depths of Kensington Palace, my eyes had not yet adjusted to there being little light, all I could see was the outline of my father and the two men who escorting us. After what seemed like a mile long corridor we finally came to a halt in front of a pair of ominous doors. I let the breath that I had been holding for the entire journey out and felt a shiver travel up my spine. Whatever or whoever was behind that door, the thing that had taken my father and I, was something to be feared. The doors were opened by two guards that were standing either side of them and for the first time in my life I felt insignificant.

My father and I were pushed into the cavernous room and I realised that the entire perimeter of the room was occupied by a hundred men all dressed in suits. My father paled slightly at the sight of the men and proceeded to grab a hold of my hand. A man dressed in what appeared to be clothes from the last century stood beside a throne in the centre of the room, he raised his hand and there was a deathly silence. "We are gathered here today to witness the execution of the honourable Charles Swan, who is charged with betrayal of the mighty Volturi family." The man paused when he saw me. "Remove the girl from her father, she will provide the entertainment for the party." I found myself being grabbed dragged to the other side of the room, while my father was now kneeling in front of the throne.

I awoke with a start and realised that I had been kicking and moving violently in my sleep. Even though that night had been a week ago it still seemed that it had occurred only yesterday. My father had been killed that night, in front of my eyes. I shivered, I was living by myself our servants had left as soon as they heard that my father was dead. I was an orphan now, a criminal in my own home. After getting dressed, I slowly tiptoed down the grand staircase, and proceeded to do my usual check for intruders. After having spent my entire life being looked after by servants, the past week had been a shock to my 18 year old self. Sighing I wandered back up to my room, today was the day that I was going to leave London for good, my plan was to track down my mother who had left when I was only a child. She would know why my father was killed and somehow she would know how to make this right. As I entered my room my eyes locked with a pair of topaz ones from across the room, before I even had a chance to scream a hand was placed over my mouth from behind. How had the man managed to move so quickly?

"Please stop struggling Miss. Swan it won't do you any good. I'm Edward Mason from the government and I'm here to help you." He finally released me and I quickly backed to the other side of the room.

"How should I trust you, you look like the people who killed my father?" My mind flashed back to the grin on the man's face as my father fell onto the stone floor. "Wait, you were there." I reached behind me and clasped the poker from its holder beside the fire.

"Yes, Miss. Swan. I was there undercover we needed proof of what the Volturi were doing, or should I say are doing. Put the poker down if I wanted to kill you I would of by now, trust me." My grip loosened on the poker, something about his voice was sincere. "Tell me Miss. Swan have you ever heard of the Book of the Dead?"

And that was how I found myself sitting in the board room of No.10 Downing Street, surrounded by men. "Cup of tea, Miss?" I looked up to the servant smiling, only to be interrupted by the man, Edward. "No she won't thank you Elsie." I scowled at him and went back to resting my chin on my fist. Mr. Gladstone sat down at the head of the table and everyone deceased with their idle chit-chat. "As you know there has been a grave event, Charles Swan was murdered by the Volturi a week ago today." Everyone in the room began to murmur and whisper to one another. "His daughter is now the only surviving member of the Swan family and therefore it is our duty to educate her and train her in the ways of the vampires." They all turned to look at me and I frowned slightly.

"I'm sorry what?" I said finally after a few moments silence.

"Mr. Mason I trust that you can arrange the protection and training of Miss. Swan?" Mr. Gladstone asked completely ignoring my question.

"Of course Sir, however this is all if the lady consents. As you know the rule…" Edward trailed off.

"Ah yes. Miss. Swan you must pledge your allegiance to the Order of the Lion and they will in return protect you and train you so that you may carry on with your family's duty."

"I'm sorry but I really have no idea what you're talking about. I mean vampires do not exist they are a figment of people's imagination. And I'm sure if they did they wouldn't want anything to do with me, my father was simply a banker." I replied while sighing.

"Your father was not a banker, Isabella. Your father was in charge of the protection of the Book of the Dead. You wear the key to it around your neck, and vampires do exist. You're sitting beside one." I looked to my left to see Edward grinning at me and I could see he had two prominent fangs. "Will you pledge your allegiance?"

"Yes."

I was escorted through a set of corridors and led into a room that contained a book on a stand and nothing else. "Stand in front of the book." Edward ordered from behind. I slowly moved forward until I was in front of the golden book. "Place you hand upon it." As I did I felt a surge of energy travel up my arm, I faltered slightly. "And repeat after me. I Isabella Marie Swan, pledge my undying trust to the Order of the Lion."

"I Isabella Marie Swan, pledge my undying trust to the Order of the Lion."

"I promise to protect the sacred book and serve my country as others have before me." As I repeated this sentence my voice shook near the end as I felt a pain in my hand was touching the book. "Remove your hand from the book." As I did the world went black and for the first time in my life I fainted.

R/R This is a new story for me just an idea that I had. I hope that you like it.