Mordecai's POV

~March 2010~

A knock at my chamber door distracted me and I broke free from the call of the hunt. I gasped aloud and dropped my head back, feeling the demon which at that time had been controlling my body sink back into the depths of my soul, and the emotions and humanity rise. Looking down at the body in my arms – well, what remained of her – I felt a rush of disgust and repulsion at her mutilated young form and she dropped to the ground with a wet thump.

"Whomever you are, I suggest you leave. I'm busy."

The knock was followed by a voice I had come to know well. "Mordecai, it is I. May I enter?"

Her childish voice put me on edge and I rolled my eyes. "No you may not, Jane, I am feeding." I snarled in response.

"I know." Sure, she knew, she had smelt the blood from down the hall. She was probably fighting her own demons, as if she gave in she would have already broken through the door to find the blood. "But Aro sent me. He summons you to the throne room, he has a favour to ask of you."

I contemplated unleashing the hunter just to take down Jane, but Aro seemed to enjoy her company. I wondered which out of the two of us he would chose, should he ever need to.

"I will be there shortly. Thank you, Jane." My dismissal was abundantly clear. I heard her gentle but sure steps fade away, and once I was sure the hall beyond the room was empty, I let out an exasperated sigh and slumped against the wall. Aro was summoning me during my own time now? When I was feeding?

The thought of blood drew my attention back to the body at my feet; and the three others thrown about the room. Altogether four humans, each had tasted delicious and hot on my lips, having sacrificed their lives – although be it unwillingly – to satisfy the demon within. I had killed them, yes, but I had not caused them a great deal of pain. I'd broken their necks and took their lives in the second I entered the room, they had not seen their deaths coming. I may have been a monster, but that did not mean I enjoyed being one.

I knew Aro would be expecting me momentarily, though I did not like the idea of returning to my chambers to finish my hunt, and although the sight of the fourth dead girl uneased me, the blood pooling beneath her was too compelling to ignore. I crouched low and scooped up her light, almost skeletal corpse, and sunk my teeth back into her already torn throat.

I strolled down the hall leading to the throne room, two vampires, Dimitri and Felix, stood guard outside. "Boys." I cooed. They did not look away, but did not smile either. Why must everyone in this coven be so dull? Sure, I had my fun with some of others, but Dimitri and Felix were among the few guard members whom incomprehensibly did not enjoy my company.

Probably because they both were "Straight" If they spent one night in my chambers they'd warm up to me sooner rather than later. Especially Felix.

The doors opened from within and Jane emerged, she tried to hide her joy at seeing me but failed. She had not mastered hiding her emotions from me. It was no secret the girl crushed on me, desired to have me, it could be sensed by anyone unfortunate enough to stand too close to her. What made it worse was that I could not escape it. Obviously, I did not lust for her in return. She was but a child upon being turned, and even if she were physically an adult I would still have preferred to burn away my hand than touch that cruel creature.

"There you are. I was beginning to wonder if you were intentionally ignoring our master's call?" I brushed past her tiny form and stepped down into the throne room to stand before my 'masters.'

"Of course not, Jane, I would not disrespect them in such a way." I dropped to bended knee and lowered my head, if only to hide my bored eyes.

"No, you wouldn't. You are a loyal, and trusting friend." Aro's smooth, cold voice rang down from atop the dais on which his and his brothers thrones were placed. They were all present today, meaning this meeting was one of importance (to them at least) and humorous behaviour would not be tolerated. "Rise, my child." Aro instructed.

My Child.

I hated that. Sure, Aro called all of us his children but when he called me it, he meant it.

In spite of the fact I had been a vampire for almost three hundred years and lived three times the average years of an ordinary human, I had only been a part of the infamous Volturi coven for only short while compared to the others. Therefore, my own coven mates – or as Aro would have me call them, Family – still thought of me as the baby of the coven. I supposed this reaction was to be expected, or at least understood as my new brothers and sisters had been around much, much longer than I.

Yet this still irritated me. I, a fully grown (and strikingly beautiful, I might add) man who had lived hundreds of years was considered a sapling compared to the likes of Jane, whom physically hadn't bled yet when Aro sunk his teeth into her flesh and corrupted her soul.

Not that I believed the little brat had a soul in the first place, but that was beside the point.

I raised to my feet, meeting the burgundy coloured eyes of my masters. The three Rulers of the immortal race. Neither one of them was at all appealing to look at, despite the beauty immortality granted to us all. Caius was the youngest, and could have been handsome if it weren't for the sneer he had long since chosen as a permanent expression, Marcus was somewhat average but he was older physically, and looked like an actual statue (I could even see a fine layer of dust on his eyes, hinting that he was lost deep in thought and had not bothered to remember to blink) Aro was livelier than the others, than any vampire I had ever met. A little too enthusiastic if you ask me, but we all knew it was a ruse. A game he played he'd been playing with everyone for centuries despite being the only player.

He reached back and tucked his long, dark hair behind his ears, and then the corners of his mouth twitched in response to my kneel.

"Master." I addressed him. Master. I hated the word, hated it since Aro had informed me on the day I joined this coven that this was the title I were to address him by from that day on. I had not want to be a part of this coven, I had not wanted to be anywhere near this man. Yet I never had a choice.

Aro had heard of me and summoned me to Volterra. At the time, I had not known that what I believed to be a warm invitation to mean I would not be allowed to leave. He had welcomed me into his city with kindness, but I knew something was wrong when they began asking questions about who knew me, did I have a coven and coven mates? Could I see myself living in Volterra permanently?

When the time came for us to part ways, Aro's last request was that I would make acquaintance with a member of his guard, Chelsea. A short girl with an hourglass shape, fair brown hair and crimson eyes. I would later come to discover her ability to loosen or secure emotional ties from one person to another, thus my sudden surge of affection for Aro and the exhilaration at being offered the opportunity to join him as part of his guard.

Usually Chelsea's sway over an immortal would last a few centuries before her call was needed again, though only decades had passed when I broke free from the spell she had enveloped me in. I had become self-aware of the manipulation. I wanted to flee, desired to roam the world a free man, but I knew that if Aro discovered my aversion to her sway then he would wonder whether his gift too could be tricked.

It could. Aro could read every thought, see every image and feel every memory I had ever experienced. But I was the master of memory. My ability allowed for me to control and shape memory like clay, in humans and immortals alike. He was in the dark about this fact, but when Aro touched my hand he saw only what I wanted him to see.

Marcus did not acknowledge me, he had not in decades, Caius sneered but nodded once, Aro, however, rose carefully to his feet and stepped down to embrace me. I welcomed and returned the hug though was cautious of the contact and where his hands were placed on my shoulders. You could never truly trust vampires.

Trust me.

"Kai, I'm must apologise for disturbing you whilst you were hunting." He reached up and touched the collar of my white shirt, stained with a single spot of red. Usually, I was more careful than this but Jane had distracted me.

"It is no worry, Master. What service can I be to you?"

He cupped my hands in his own, his eyes glossed off with my memories. I remained calm, having mastered my expressions and thoughts around him. He smiled and let go. Aro had not seen my disloyalty, my loathing or hatred for this place. He had seen only love and adoration for him. He could not tell the difference from true thought to false.

"I would very much like to introduce you to someone." He then beckoned back to the doors, which were heaved open from the outside and I turned just as Felix strolled into the room with a human girl in his grasp.

That was the first time I laid my eyes on…her.

Isabella – or as she would later come to correct me – Bella.

She thrashed about and swore, her cures bouncing highly off the throne rooms marble walls. One of the first things I noticed about her was the valiant effort she gave in trying to remain calm. To any immortal, it was more than obvious she was scared out of her wits, her heart drummed against her chest at a rapid, worrisome rate. A bead of sweat gleamed on her temple, then was caught in her matted, dirty hair. Her eyes flew back and forth across the room, to Aro and Caius, Marcus then back to Felix before he gave her a light tap on the shoulder and she collapsed with a cry to the stone flags.

She caught sight of my shoes, then her head snapped up and our eyes met. She had beautiful eyes, for a human. Wide and large, an unusual shade of brown that although was dark, seemed bright at the same time – and filled with panic, of course, but still beautiful.

"So this is the human?" I asked, taking her all in. I had known of the human in the dungeons. The little pet Aro had met some time ago and decided that one way or another, she was going to be his. The poor thing would have been allowed to live her human life with the Cullen's – or killed for knowing too much of the truth – but unfortunately for her she was gifted, and he had been stunned and fascinated by her mental immunity to many of our gifts. And a gifted human would prove for an even more talented immortal.

And if there was anything Aro liked, it was the Gifted.

I felt sympathy for the human as she was only young, in her late teens it had appeared, and she had been taken from a world she had known and loved and thrown in a cage in the ground to bleed and rot until she accepted Aro's offer.

"Yes, Kai, please meet Isabella." He said her name with a purposely exaggerated Italian accent. "As I am sure you are well aware, Isabella visited our home a few months ago to save her mate, dear Edward, from exposing himself to the humans. He wanted to die, you understand, but she could not allow it, and she came all this way to stop him, whilst under the impression that he did not love her."

"I recall, master." I was here on that day, listening in to the confrontation from the rooftop, where I had been on duty watching the courtyard and the festival that day. I could see her face so clearly in my mind now, the panic that spread across her features as she barged her way passed the shrouded crowd, as she splashed through the fountain and then crashed into her lover, saving him from a certain death sentence should he have been seen.

"It was on that most marvellous day I first had the pleasure of meeting Isabella,"

"Fuck you!" The girl spat at him, her saliva traced with blood that set us all on edge, yet we kept our calm. She had delicious smelling blood that made even my mouth swell with venom.

"Felix, if the human dares to speak again without being spoken to then I suggest you break something. A bone for each interruption." Caius finally smiled.

Felix huffed a soft laugh before Aro tutted and glanced over his shoulder at his white-haired brother. "Caius, you fail to see how scared Isabella must be. This change for her must be terrifying."

"Respecting her betters is something the girl must come to learn." So, they intended to keep her around then. For how long and what purpose she would serve – if not to remain as a slave, that is – I did not know.

"I also came to understand, on that day –" Aro continued as he begun pacing around the human. A predator circling it's pray. "–Isabella has the most peculiar ability. Immunity to my power, and Edward's and even dear Jane's, and as a human!" My gaze flicked to hers, she did not look pleased. "I decided that…I wanted her." There it was, the shift in his attitude, the change in the tone of his already unnerving voice. He had gone from an old friend, to a cruel and demanding monarch. "Your Gift will serve as a great use to me."

"I won't help you, ever. I'd die first." She breathed out.

"Felix." Caius snapped and I had to force myself to watch as the guard stepped on the girl's ankle and I listened to the sound of her shattering bones. She cried out, and thrashed beneath him yet he held firm, pressing harder until her screams could be heard throughout the entire clock tower. Her cries were not actual cries, but instead were loud yells, intakes of breath; I realized she was trying to withhold her pain.

"Felix." Aro ground his teeth and the guard, fearing Aro over Caius, stepped away and left the girl be. Aro tutted and slowly crouched down. He gripped her chin securely in his hand and titled her head until she was looking him in the eye.

"And die you shall, but you will be reborn anew."

Though I was curious, he did not continue this topic and instead was silent for a long few seconds. Then what Jane had said when she came to my door came back to me. "Jane said you had a favour to ask of me – master?" I added the master, often forgetting or not caring enough to remember to say it.

"Yes! I had so hoped that Isabella would take her time here in our home to reconsider my offer of becoming one of us, though unfortunately she has refused to join us of her own will still. So, I have decided to take the choice away from her."

"You want for me to turn her?" I did not know if I could accomplish such a task, her blood was too sweet, too tempting. How did he expect me to taste it and not consume it all? "I'm afraid I do not have the strength not to kill the girl."

"No, No, don't you worry. She will become one of us, and I will take the burden of being the one to do it. What I want from you, dear Kai, is to turn our frightened Isabella into someone new. A different person, someone strong and dangerous and feared."

The look on my face was enough to warrant a further explanation.

"You can rewrite minds. I have seen it done with my own eyes. You can make a human forget all they know and believe themselves to be another entirely."

"Yes, but master? The girl is a shield? My ability will not work on her."

"Not as a human, but as one of us I believe she will have the capability to control her shield. With time and practice. Do you think it is possible?"

I considered it. "In theory."

"Excellent. The larger details can be agreed upon when that joyful day comes, but for now I want you to teach her, train her, show her the ways of our kind; in the meantime, you will aid her in learning to manipulate her shield. It will take time, this I understand, but one day and one day soon Isabella will lower her shield and then you will have your chance to alter her memories. Do you accept this task?"

I looked down at the human girl again and felt a wave of pity roll over me. Naturally, I would accept this task albeit with no interest in the human's future. You did not refuse Aro. Not if you wanted to continue living. The girl blinked up at me with eyes that shone bright with new tears, her hands trembled just as uncontrollably as her shattered leg.

"I accept."

"Good. But first – Felix? Fetch me the girl, please?"

Understanding what he meant by this, she begun to scramble away but she could not get very far, not on that broken leg. Not that the leg made any difference at all. She could have been in excellent health and still would not have made it to the doors. Felix nodded, before leaning down and scooping Isabella up by the throat.

His grip was tight, not enough to break her neck but enough to hurt. Fresh tears streamed down her cheeks, and over onto his pale, carved knuckles. He held her there like a rag doll, before moving to meet Aro in the centre of the room, directly beneath the dome ceiling.

There was no need to be as careful, not when any injury she had would soon vanish without a trace.

"Please – No – Please!" Bella begged, attempting to maintain an upright position once he dropped her before Aro. I could see from the swelling on her calf and ankle that any pressure would only hinder her leg further, nevertheless the venom's healing properties would stich the bone together and heal the torn muscle with ease.

"You will one day come to thank me for this, Isabella." He then cupped her face and brushed a thumb across her cheek, wiping away a stray tear. "Mia dolce figila."

He had called her 'His Sweet Daughter.' She had already become his daughter.

His eyes widened, his pupils dilated and for the first time ever I witnessed the hunter sleeping within Aro awaken and surface as he opened his mouth and leaned in to meet her neck. I heard the tear as his teeth sliced through her skin, the piercing scream that followed was unlike any I had heard before. Aro's hand flew up and shoved Felix with enough force to make the man almost twice his size stumble away, then he took Bella in his arms and held her to him, his tense fingers running through her hair, his palm on her lower back being the only support keeping the poor, limp girl from crumbling to the ground again.

The scream from the bite had died out, but it would not be much longer before the fiery venom we all remembered too well begun coursing through her veins, changing each cell as it passes by. I did not know how long her transformation would last, she was starved and dehydrated after all, with broken bones and who knew what other hidden ailments.

I hoped for her sake she would not suffer for very long.

When Aro pulled away he seemed bewildered, lost in awe for a moment before reality set in and he wiped his arm across his mouth yet her blood still coloured his lips. Bella fell to the ground, writhing in the early stages of the agony.

"Her blood," he tittered, facing each of us in the room. "Is very delicious. I found myself struggling to stop." His voice was somewhat uncertain, but I would not think that he would scrap all his plans just to finish off the girl himself. No. Aro's hopes were too strong to be conquered by appealing blood.

An admirable trait, some would say.

"I expect the Cullen's will arrive with the next few days, having just been released of Alec's hold on them. When they do, I would like for you to be here."

"Yes, Master."

"For tonight, go, finish your hunt if you have not done so already. I suggest you decide on how you will train our newest addition once her transformation is complete. I will call for you then."

"Thank you, Master." Another low bow to him, and to Marcus and Caius also before I straightened and headed for the door. I did not look back at Bella but felt a strange desire to, deciding that I needed to maintain a carefree appearance, I left the throne room and continued down the hall.

I did not stop until the sound of her blood-curdling, agonizing screams faded away.

Asher's Note:

Hello Everyone! This is the first chapter to my new story! First, this is a companion story – a prequel, really – to another story of mine called 'Remember a Love Long Lost' A story about Isabella who believes herself to be a Volturi Guard, and a valued and high ranking one at that. In Remember a Love Long Lost, Isabella discovers her memories are fake and placed there by Kai. She goes off with the Cullen's to try and discover who she used to be, whilst at the same time trying to keep a hold on whom she has become. This story is from Kai's POV and will follow Bella and himself as he teaches her the ways of the vampire, their laws and how to master her shield before he erased her identity forever. Newcomers to this story and the world, it is not necessary to read the main story as this is a prequel but I do suggest it.

Everyone, Please, review and let me know what you think!

~Asher~