The sun was rising over the low layers of clouds. I knew that I should go back to headquarters and get my assignment, but, for some reason, I just couldn't bring myself to leave the little stone bridge that I had been perched on the entire night.
I felt the sun on my skin, not that it warmed me at all, even so, I enjoyed it. I held my hand out in front of me and watched it sparkle in the sunlight.
"Wh-what the hell are you?!" a shaky voice asked from behind me. Augh, I've been discovered again! I thought as I got up from the bridge and turned in the direction of the voice. The source of the voice appeared to be a man, shaking violently, a few feet away from me. I sighed in frustration of being found out, yet again. It wasn't so much that being discovered was annoying, it was just bothersome dealing with the humans involved.
I walked up to the man. "I'm a vampire." I told him simply, "and I'm sorry, but I have to erase your memories of this incident. But worry not. If wont hurt. Until you wake up."
The man gave a silent scream as I lifted my hand in front of his face. There was a flash of blue light and the man fell to the ground. "Again, so sorry…" I mumble turning my back to him and crossing the bridge.
I arrived back at headquarters a few minutes later. There was a crowd around the main table when I walked in. I ignored it and sat in my chair in the far corner of the large conference room.
"I think we should send that twit, Maria." I became suddenly intrigued by the mentioning of my name. Curious, I approached the crowed. "Oh, here she is now…" Jane sneered.
"Ah, yes." Aro, the head of the Volturi, said, "Maria, we have a very important, long term mission for you."
"Yeah?" I replied, excited.
"You will," He began, "be sent to America to monitor the Cullens and the werewolf pack in Forks. Understand?"
"Uh… yes, sir…" Ew. I'd have to leave Italy. I suddenly wasn't so excited. I could hear Jane snickering behind me.
"And listen," Aro added, "if the Cullens find out you're from the Volturi, they'll turn against you, so if anyone starts to get suspicious, wipe and replace their memories of what caused them to begin suspecting you.
"Whatever… When should I be ready to go?" I changed the subject.
"8:30 tonight." He answered simply.
"That soon?!" I wasn't even close to being ready, packing wise, or emotionally. I didn't want to leave my beautiful city. I loved it there.
I went to my bedroom and plopped onto my bed. I didn't want to even pack, let alone leave. All I wanted to do was mope. Eventually I brought myself to drag the suitcase out of my closet and began to shove random articles of clothing into it. Slowly, as I thought about it, the assignment became more and more appealing. I wouldn't have to see Jane or the other annoying vampires here. That would certainly be nice. After a while, I found that I was actually excited to go.
The rest of the day had felt painfully long. When it was finally time to leave, some of my "friends" went with me to the airport, to see me off, claiming they'd miss me. I smiled and very forced smile at them and waved as I went into the boarding area. Soon, I found myself alone.
I didn't particularly want to be alone right then. It gave me time to think, plan out the worst possible thing that could happen and then convince myself it would. By the time I actually boarded the plane I had convinced myself that the plane would crash into the ocean, which wouldn't kill me, so I'd have to swim to America, where I would be captured by a pack of werewolves, eaten, then pooed out of their sorry asses. The logical part of me knew that would never happen, but I was still freaked out either way.
"Hey, what're you doing here?" someone behind me asked. I turned to look at them, angered by the disrespect in their voice. Standing before me was a teenage boy with golden eyes, copper hair and extremely pale skin.
"I'm catching a plane to Washington, if you really must know." I mumbled, turning away from him. I began running through the details of my assignment in my head.
"You're Maria?" it was more of a statement than a question.
"Wha-! How-?!" I spun around. My eyes widened at my sudden realization. He was Edward Cullen. I had been given descriptions of all the Cullens and he matched Edward's perfectly. Shit! He can read my mind! I yelled internally. A smirk crossed Edward's face. Then a tiny girl with short, black hair came out from behind Edward, Alice, I recognized her instantly.
"I had a vision that you would be coming to us, Maria." She said pleasantly, "Oh, don't look so scared! We won't hurt you! We know how the 'higher ups' are." I was relieved somewhat.
"But," Edward growled, grabbing the front of my shirt, "if you hurt Bella, I'll kill you!"
"I… I understand." My voice was shaking.
"Good." He said, releasing me, "Now c'mon, we're going to miss our flight." Awkwardly, I followed them into the plane.
A voice came over the speakers, giving the usual safety precautions before take off.
"Er… Edward?" I began. He looked to me in response. "You really care about this Bella girl, don't you?" He nodded slowly. I suspect he was wondering where I was going with that. "But, she's human…" I finally said.
"So?" he said. Not exactly the reply I was looking for.
"Well isn't that difficult?" My eyes darted to his golden ones. "Not that you drink human blood or anything, but still…"
"It was difficult, yes," he replied, "but I care too much about her to ever hurt her. And I swear, if you hurt her-"
"I won't!" I said, "You care so much. I know how that feels. I would never end that for anyone! I don't want what happened to me to happen to you." Edward's stern expression lightened.
"I'm sorry for being so cruel, even if you are with the Volturi." He mumbled, turning away.
"Like I said before, Maria," Alice said, "we won't hurt you. Carlisle welcomes everyone into our home. Just know that you can't drink human blood in our territory." I nodded. It had mentioned that in my mission outline.
"Oh, don't worry, that won't be a problem." I assured them. Edward and Alice glanced at each other. "Glad it won't be an issue." Edward replied.