Aro sighed as Felix and Demetri returned with their reports. It was as he had suspected, and though this actually came as great fortune, it was somewhat irritating.
He had just been informed of a vampire army of newborns being created somewhere in the Midwestern, desert areas of the United States of America. In Phoenix, Arizona, one of the sunniest places on Earth.
The notion that a vampire would be stupid enough to create such an abysmally located army, such a blatant disregard of the rules, made Aro worry that what Marcus had confided in him was true. They have lost their respect of us. And because of that, they have lost their fear.
It was the Cullen Coven, and the Renesmee ordeal, that had so weakened them in the eyes of other vampires. It would have to be restored, and Aro could think of no better way to reassure the multitudes that the Volturi were, indeed, interested and concerned in their affairs, than to individually see to this problem.
Aro was preparing, along with the other elite Voturi guards, to individually stop this problem.
He gave a quick nod to Felix and Demetri, their order to start preparing an attack.
Aro sighed again, reclining back in his chair. When he recently left Volterra, he had been exposed to life outside. He would almost go as far as to say he envied the varied, full life his old friend, Carlisle Cullen led. Everything in Volterra was a nod, a motion, a signal. Rarely were things said, if one had something on their mind, it was conveyed via tactile telepathy, or hissed quietly, or, more frequently, kept silent.
For too long had this gone on, and Volterra was suffering from it. They had become machines, eternally in routine. Despite what many thought, Aro's sunny personality was not a façade, and the abysmal life he had sunk into made him feel… Well, humans would call it depressed. Aro wasn't sure if vampires fell under that, but for all intents and purposes, that's how he felt.
"Master, we're ready." Came the silent hiss from Jane.
He looked up at her eyes, bright with admiration and sadism, and he fleetingly wondered if he had the capability to truly be cared for in any mind that was not completely crazy. (AN: If you don't already know, I've eliminated Suplicia, Didyme, and Athenodora from my story. Their existences would be too difficult to get around, and I was only just recently made aware of their existences, so for all intents and purposes, they does not, has not, and will not exist in this story. Sorry for all you die-hard Suplicia, Didyme, and Athendora fans out there.)
Shaking the thought from his mind, he smiled. "Jane, you bring such relief to me. Shall we be off?"
.
The Volturi arrived on the outskirts of the city, just as the sun had disappeared.
Aro eyed Demetri, who nodded, and led the way through the area surrounding Phoenix.
It being dark out, it would only be so long before the newborns were released upon the unsuspecting inhabitants, and this would not do, as it would make them harder to dispatch.
The unfortunate vampire who was amassing the army, had had the misfortune of having a previous run in with Demetri, while the latter was seeking a different prey.
Now, the world's most adept tracker's senses were turned on him, and he would find out, first hand, the punishment of disobeying the rules.
Demetri held up his hand, before motioning at the area ahead of them. A rocky, nearly mountainous area, which Demetri had reasoned to be the headquarters of the growing army.
Aro nodded at Alec, who stealthily made his way into the area. A shriek was heard, as the dark mist of senselessness, summoned by the youngest Volturi member, spread, eradicating all five senses of the newborns.
The stronger members of the guard dispatched them as they bolted from the area. Aro himself saw to the burning of the destroyed vampires, while Demetri circled the area, picking up the mental tracks of any vampire, so that, in the unlikely event that one may get away, it would be only too easy to eradicate.
Jane, immune to her brother's power, followed him into the misty region, to seek out the leader of this army.
A few seconds later she returned, her grip firm on his arm.
"Wh-wh-what's going on?" He stammered, blind, deaf, unable to feel or smell anything around him.
As soon as he exited the misty region, his senses returned to him.
His eyes narrowed as he saw the Volturi, and he instantly turned to throw Jane off.
His attempts were rewarded by an angelic smile, which sent him to the floor, howling.
"Is that all of them?" Aro asked Demetri, as Felix snapped the arms off a newborn, throwing her into the fire.
Demetri nodded, and Aro turned to the vampire leader. "I understand you sought to overthrow a vampire coven, not a far ways off, by amassing this army." He stated it pleasantly, as if he were asking the weather.
The vampire said nothing.
Jane's eyes flicked to Aro's, asking for permission.
This granted, she turned her horrifying stare to their enemy.
"Alright!" He shrieked. "Alright! I'm sorry! I-I-I, please! Stop!"
Aro nodded, and turned to Felix.
The enormous vampire nodded, and made short work of the miserable vampire.
Aro smiled. A job well done, and, with the way news traveled, others would become aware of it.
Unlike with Victoria's army, in which they had waited, with the hope that her army would eradicate a few key members of the Cullen coven, leaving who he wanted open to him.
However, Aro had learned that he must be patient. Too many failed attempts had caused wariness of the Volturi to grow, and the outright confrontation that had occurred further showed how little the vampire witnesses feared them.
The Renesmee incident. On that sparked quite a… controversy, and brought out quite a lot of rebellious bravado. This blatant bravery was unfounded, as the instant Felix defeated Bella Cullen, the army would soon fall into a senseless disarray.
Aro smiled at the huge vampire. Many thought he had no power, but his strength greatly surpassed that of a newborn's, much to the Cullens' ignorance.
"Master!" Jane's hissed penetrated his thoughts. They had been heading through the city, and the young Volturi guard now pointed, alarmed, at the rapidly rising sun.
"Get under cover!" He hissed.
The various members quickly made their ways into various buildings, where they would wait out the bright Phoenix sun.
Felix and Demetri dived into a small, secondhand clothes store, where they lurked away from windows, and were forced to put up with giggling teenagers' whispers.
Alec and Jane had quickly entered an old pub (one of the few open in the morning), where they gloomily sat on stools.
Other members entered buildings, though Aro considered himself lucky, as he made his way into a large library.
Let's see if they have anything interesting in here that I don't already know, he thought to himself. Or something I wasn't around to see discovered.
.
Renee Dwyer made her way through the library. It had been her new hangout since her breakup with Phil.
They just had stopped getting along, and now she was wishing he had never happened. If she hadn't fallen for Phil, Bella wouldn't have moved out, and if Bella hadn't moved out, then she wouldn't be married, and giving Renee the cold shoulder. Seriously, there had been, like, radio silence since the wedding.
Renee sighed, and sat down in the Italy section. A friend had been planning a trip, and Renee wanted to learn a bit about the country.
"Hey!" She said, casually to the man sitting at the table near the Italy section. "Are you studying Italy too? I'm going on a trip soon, trying to snap myself out of a funk I've been in. Just got a divorce, for the second time, and my daughter's not speaking with me! I swear, kids, right? You have any? Mine is all grown up, and married, and you'd think I did something to tick her off at the wedding, 'cause she's completely not talking to me." Renee sighed, pulling a book out, and rifling through it. She loved chatting, and often found herself striking up conversations with the strangest of people. Either that, or just getting strange looks.
The man pulled his book down, and gave her the once over. He was a strange looking guy, that she couldn't deny.
"I know most there is to know about Italy, as I lived there, and have done so for," he paused, thinking, "several years. No, I have never been blessed with children, as I have never been married."
Renee laughed. "All the better for you!" She shook her head, ruefully. "Obviously, I don't mean that, but still, the heartbreak if it ends badly is hardly worth the perks."
He sighed. "Some people will do very crazy things for love."
She smiled, shaking her head. "I know, and that's how it's supposed to be, but after two… Whatever. I'm Renee, by the way."
He smiled widely. "Aro, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Renee chatted on about her girlfriends' trip to Italy, and how nice it would be to finally do something for herself for once, when everything always seemed to be for someone else.
"I hear Italy's beautiful. I'd just love to draw some pictures of the place. My way of capturing memories. I have pictures of everyone in my life, and of all the places I visit."
She sighed, before checking her watch. "Oh goodness! It's already past one! My how the time flies."
Aro frowned slightly. "Are you expected somewhere?"
"No, I was just thinking about eating."
He blinked. Renee got the feeling that he wasn't the type who ravenously ate lunch. She wasn't either, really. Still, she was planning on stopping out.
She glanced out, the window, seeing that the sun had taken momentary refuge behind the clouds.
His eyes followed hers briefly, before flicking back to hers. "I was about to head out myself. Would you do me the honor of accompanying me to lunch?"
Renee shrugged. "Sure."
Aro held out his arm courteously, and Renee lightly rested her fingers on his arm.
The two made their way out of the library (Renee had, distracted by Aro, forgotten to check anything out) and headed for a nearby restaurant.
Aro led the way, walking quickly, so that she almost had to run to keep up.
He occasionally glanced at the sun, and although he kept a completely neutral facial expression, Renee got the impression he was slightly worried.
But nothing worrisome happened, and soon they were safe inside.
The restaurant was nearly empty, and they were shown to a table in no time. Renee requested a window side seat, and Aro asked for one on the northeast portion of the restaurant.
The maître d' blinked at this odd request, but when Aro pointed out an empty table located by the specified spot, she shrugged and led the two there.
When the waiter came to take their orders, Renee ordered a light meal, and, when she saw that Aro didn't seem to want a full one himself, offered to share hers, which he accepted.
"So," Renee asked, "Where in Italy do you live?"
He pondered, his eyes half closed, thinking. "It's in a city, a little Southwest of Florence. In a very old castle, dating far back before 100BC."
Renee stared. "Really? Did your family… inherit it?"
He paused, the same thinking look on his face. "In a matter of speaking, yes. You live here in Phoenix?"
Renee sighed. "Well, my first husband lived in this tiny little town in the middle of nowhere. It was actually the location that made it not work out for us, I can't live cooped up in the rain! I'd rather live indoors, so long as I've got the sun. Besides, he came with the small town mentality, everything you need can be found here. I just wasn't that kind of girl. So we split up, and I took our daughter back here to Phoenix.
"Then I fell in love with another man, Phil, and we moved to Jacksonville Florida, but then things started not working with us. He became obsessed with trying to make the major leagues, but it really wasn't going to happen." She bit her lip. "I didn't want to sound like I was crushing his dreams, but I reminded him that he was in his mid-30s, and shouldn't physically push himself too hard. He just laughed at me, at first, but I think that he felt betrayed, so I tried to be more supportive, but he became more and more convinced that the managers had something against him, so his training became more rigorous. I tried to get him to slow down and be more careful, because I had a feeling he was going to hurt himself, but he was starting to get irritated with my, what he called, nagging disbeliefs. He told me that I didn't want him to succeed, because I was 'afraid it would get between us!' I told myself it wasn't what it sounded like, but deep inside I worried that he cared more about his success than he did about 'us'. Well, he did end up hurting himself, which set him back on even minor leagues, and then he became unbearable to live with. What was worse was he blamed me. I know it was a hard time for him, but months had passed, and it just. Wasn't. Working."
She gave a heavy sigh. "So now I'm single again. I need someone who can lighten up, who's not obsessed with something. I didn't want to live in the middle of nowhere, because I worried about wasting my life there. Then I married someone who was so worried about wasting his life and never achieving his goal, that I couldn't live with him!" She laughed slightly, shaking her head. "Sometimes I wish we had more times in our lives than we do. More years to live in the prime of life. Because it'll pass you by so quickly."
She paused, glancing at him. His face held a polite listening expression, but she sensed that underneath, he was secretly amused.
"I'm sorry, I was talking too long," she said, blushing slightly.
He shook his head. "No no, of course not! I've spent too many years inside with no change to my routine, it's quite… refreshing to find someone who still has the spark of life in them."
She cocked her head, thinking. "You've never had someone special like that?"
He shook his head, a slight sad shadow in his eyes. "No. I have seen firsthand the power love can have, but have never experienced it."
Renee picked up on the sad tone. "Well, you still have time," she said, encouragingly. Unspoken to herself she figured that, looking like he did, and with his charm and manners, not to mention intellect, he would find it easy to attract anyone. Not that he was looking for anyone, but Renee knew that she herself had little to offer, and was unlikely to find herself in another relationship.
The two talked a little longer, before noticing that it was fast approaching four o'clock, and Renee had promised a friend that they would get together that evening.
"It's getting late," she said, and even though she'd be quite content to stay here and talk, a promise was a promise. "I've made plans for later this evening…"
Her voice trailed off.
He frowned slightly, glancing out the windows. The sun was once again behind clouds, and, it being winter (although the weather in Phoenix was warm enough to disguise it), the sun was already fast on its path down the sky.
"I'm sorry to hear it," he said. "I did enjoy our talk, it was possibly the nicest one I've had in quite a long time."
She laughed. "I'm just rambling. Though you do know far more than anyone I've ever met. Is there any chance I'll see you around again before you return to Italy?"
He sighed, "I'm afraid not. I return tonight." His eyes were sad again.
Renee tried to disguise a look of disappointment, before shrugging. "Well, it was nice to meet you, then Aro."
He bowed his head. "As was it meeting you, Renee."
The two said farewells, and she headed off, glancing back one last time to wave.
What a nice man, she thought to herself.
"What a charming woman," he said to himself. He had purposefully not touched her hand, in order that her stories remain hers until she divulged in them. He found pleasure in hearing her talk, and conversation was not normally engaged amongst the Volturi.
He waved down a waiter, and paid the bill. Renee had forgotten, as hours had passed since she finished the meal. She hadn't even noticed that he didn't touch a thing.
With the sun safely behind clouds, and evening coming soon, Aro deemed it safe to venture out.
The other members of the Volturi saw him in the streets, and drifted out to join him, before they all turned and left Phoenix.
To them, not much had changed, but Aro was very pleased with the day's events.
He felt, for the first time in centuries, a spark of life in him, as if his future might not be the bleak, grey existence it had been for the last thousand years…
.
At home, Renee chatted openly with her friend, though not about the handsome man she had spent the day with. A small part of her hoped she'd see him again, although she knew that was impossible.
Even though a small part of her hoped…
Hey all! Thanks for reading (and hopefully reviewing) on my first Twilight fic! I'm writing this because one of my younger siblings are a huge fan and I noticed there weren't any stories under this pairing, so they convinced me to write one :P
Please review, and make my day!