Master Aro beckoned me closer and took my cloak – my cloak – to bestow upon Edward Cullen, a human-lover. I repressed a snarl with difficulty. It was revolting and unnatural to lust after a creature from a different species. Crazy Carlisle taught his children to love humans, and this was the natural result. Edward was attracted to her. You could see it in the way he touched her, the way he gazed at her. He wanted to have relations with his domesticated human. Disgusting.
I still remembered Carlisle, of course, and I had thought little of him at the time. An eccentric. If he wanted to starve for eternity, it was his business, but he had the bald audacity to preach his own brand of insanity to the Volturi. It was fortunate for Carlisle that Master Aro found him amusing. The guard did not.
Carlisle Cullen. The last name had always irritated me. No vampire had a family name except the Volturi themselves. It was as though Carlisle was putting on airs, pretending to be their equal. Master Aro refused to see him as a threat even when I warned him, assuring me that Carlisle would never find other vampires unbalanced enough to follow him. As always, the Master was right, but Carlisle found a way to build his empire anyway. He elevated humans himself and nursed them on the unwholesome blood of animals. Carlisle starved his own children.
And now here was his offspring, another Cullen, even more sick and twisted than the first. Like Master Aro, I never thought I'd see a vampire outdo Carlisle, but the proof was standing in front of me. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have never believed it. Edward was thirstier than I've ever been in my entire existence, and he just cuddled his pet human like she was his mate. And she was his singer, no less.
Human-lover Edward refused to drink her – refused to even share – but at the same time, he didn't want to elevate his domesticated female either. Perhaps he didn't want her to starve for eternity, too. But then, why not just leave the Cullen clan and bring her with him? Master Aro was generous beyond imagining to offer them a place here, yet they haughtily rebuffed him. How could Edward possibly maintain allegiance to a master who warped him so thoroughly?
I could see then the wisdom of the Volturi. We are stronger, swifter, and smarter than the humans. Of course they would love and worship us. After all, look at Gianna. The Volturi have already promised me her blood, and yet she fawns on and serves us. It would be convenient sometimes to have a ready supply of domesticated blood, but meeting Edward has taught me the peril of such an arrangement. A vampire might form an attachment. It was simply immoral, contrary to nature. Far better to live as we were meant to – as hunter and prey.
It was funny to see Edward and that female Alice jump like a couple of frightened children when they heard the humans coming. Heidi had rounded up a better herd than usual – with Americans, no less! The venom dripped from my teeth. Americans ate more meat than most lately, especially the fat ones. I had commented about it to Gianna, and she claimed it was so they could lose weight. I didn't much care about the reason. All I cared about was the result. Delicious!
The Cullens rushed their little pet out of the room, afraid she'd mingle with the rest of the herd, no doubt. Perhaps Master Caius would choose me to hunt them down when the time came. If I worked hard, I might even earn a taste of that female. If I were lucky. I looked at the females who now milled about uncertainly as we surrounded them. Would I ever have an unnatural lust for one of them? I took a deep breath, and the humans' scent filled me with a painful longing to drink.
Never.