Chapter One
Carlisle
I had thought to come to Volterra was a good idea, I had heard so much about them, that they were patrons of the arts, sophisticated and learned, the very cream of the vampire world, its nobility. After meeting the savages that were the majority of vampires in the world, I was losing hope. I had fled my home city of London as too dangerous, the religious zeal with which my countrymen hunted down witches and demons made it far too dangerous a place to live and the sewers of the city were not the kinds of place I wanted to call home.
In France I met up with a pair of nomads who told me of the fabled Volturi and their home in the walled city of Volterra in Italy. I wondered if that's just what they were, a myth and for a number of years I wandered Europe picking up medical training as I did so. My diet made it possible for me to live among humans and I had long ago decided I would not become the monster I had seen in my sire's eyes before he bit me. Instead, I learned as much as I could and helped the humans I came upon knowing that there must be more that could be done to help them in times of sickness. I followed the route of the plague as it decimated cities, countries even, and alleviated the suffering where I could and finally I found myself in Pisa and heard of the city of Volterra where it was said rich men lived in a citadel and there was no crime and little poverty. Of course the townsfolk guarded their homes jealously but I was allowed in as a surgeon and got my first glimpse of the Volturi's home.
They soon noticed a strange vampire in their city and I was "invited" to join them by two huge guards dressed in black cloaks who were deferred to by everyone they passed. Inside the citadel which had been built back from a stone clock tower, I found a whole community of vampires living an extremely sophisticated lifestyle for the time.
They enjoyed the finer things of life, art, literature, the theater, music and they welcomed me with open arms the rulers introducing themselves as Aro, Caius, and Marcus the Volturi brothers who had wrestled control of our world from an earlier autocracy and ruled the vampire world with a rod of iron. There were few laws, but any breach of any of them would meet with a swift and deadly response. Their main concern was keeping our world a secret from the humans.
"What they do not understand they destroy."
Was the way Aro explained things to me. I found myself feeling truly at home for the first time since I had become a vampire. It was enjoyable to speak to Aro of history and science, to Caius of warfare, he was an avid student of the history of man's struggle to dominate the world, and to Marcus of art and music. The two wives, Athenadora, and Sulpicia were grace personified, charming and beautiful women although Marcus mate was long dead by the time I met him and I assumed his melancholy was a result. How he lived without his mate at all was a mystery for I knew if a mate died, usually the other soon joined them.
It was only later I discovered that the Volturi possessed gifted vampires who could bind a man to them, make him happy, torture him without needing to touch him or cut him off from the world and leave him as a statue, unseeing, unfeeling, for eternity if necessary. It took some time, at first I was blinded by the civilized way these vampires lived, but eventually I saw the other side of life here.
The power struggles, the sometimes corrupt ways that the brothers dealt with situations. Caius was cruel and lascivious, Aro greedy for material things and more power, Marcus was the only one who truly looked for no more, except perhaps a way to kill the murderer of his mate. Her own brother Aro Volturi but with his loyalty tied tightly to Aro by Chelsea there was nothing he could do. I was seen as something of an oddity by everyone I met due to my unusual diet. I explained my reasons for choosing to live on animal blood but the others merely listened and laughed discreetly into their lace handkerchiefs. They tried to tempt me but I refused every offer and always left the audience chamber before Heidi arrived with dinner, usually in the form of a group of unsuspecting visitors from overseas to Pisa.
Aro and I talked for months about our own philosophy for life, the way we would rule the world if given the chance and although our ideals were the same, peace and a way for vampires to live openly instead of hiding from sunlight and prejudice our ways of achieving this were entirely different. Mine were, of course, peaceful, but Aro would build a vampire army and achieve world domination! I think it was these differences that finally decided me on a new strategy. I informed the brothers that I was leaving Volterra to live among the humans again as a surgeon.
"Do you think you can educate humans to accept us by your kindness to a few of them Carlisle? Kindness never won a country."
"I don't want a country Aro, just a life I feel is useful."
I know he watched me with a certain amount of suspicion after that, but he had no need to worry, I wasn't interested in world domination, all I wanted was to feel I was useful and to hopefully find myself a mate one day. The one good thing about living in Volterra with the brothers was that I was never lonely and I had found my life so very lonely before that. I couldn't make friends with humans for long, they would notice I didn't age, so I was forced to keep moving every few years. I had no family, no home, nothing but my skills as a surgeon.
The brothers tried to talk me into staying, they offered me a seat on the ruling council which I declined with due thanks for the significance of the gesture. They offered me a hospital within the town walls so I could continue to treat sick humans and access to every scientific treatise on medicine held in the archives, which were extensive but somehow I began to feel hemmed in, choked by the proximity of so many of my kind who killed humans to feed.
I needed to get away and finally I made the break after a farewell concert where Heidi played the piano and we danced. I always loved dancing even as a young lad although the only music I heard in my youth was that of street singers who sold their songs on sheets as they sang and once an orchestra as the royal barge floated by on the Thames which enchanted me until my father clipped my ear for being a stupid fool.
"Music is for those of noble birth and street songs are for the corruption of the poor. The only music you should worry about is that sung in church."
I left the following morning on a ship bound for The America's a new land with hopefully new opportunities for one such as me.
Aro
We watched Carlisle leave with mixed emotions, while I had enjoyed his company and keen wit, his wide education despite being the son of a poor churchman. However, Caius felt he was also ambitious despite his protestation that all he wanted was to live peacefully among the humans.
"Mark my words Aro, he will build up his own power base if we don't stop him and then try to take over our world. Don't let that meek exterior fool you, under it is an iron will and the greed all men feel."
"Not every man is made in your image Caius. Some of us really do want peace and quiet."
Caius looked dismissively at Marcus,
"No brother, most men are exactly like me. Man was created wanting power, it runs in our veins. It runs in his too."
"Well time will tell Caius if you are right but we will watch over our brother, just for his own safety of course. After all, I would hate anything to befall him."