Chapter 1 - A meeting

All the others in the Volturi did not seem all that worried about the fact I did not like to drink human blood. They were used to the fact I could not stand the smell and that I was more happy killing animals.
Aro in particular had been curious about that, but he knew not to pester me about it. After all, he knew i could block him from reading my mind without a second thought. Though they had also taught me to sheild others as well in the guard. I was not a newborn vampire any more, thank god that savage year was behind me, I'd been a vampire for twelve long years. To be honest, I enjoyed what I was, it was a lot of fun for me. The others were fun to train with and talk to.
Little Jane was one of my best freinds. We were so close that sometimes, were were refered to as sisters, though we did not really mind. After all, we saw ourselves as sisters, though we knew we were not.
Not to mention I had the most gorgeous of husbands now. Marcus, the only single one of the three Volturi ancients, Aro and Caius being the other two, was the one who had found me. Instead of killing me, he had bitten me, and he'd been there when I woke up to a life as a vampire.
I knew that for some reason, he was glad that I could not remember my human life. I never asked why, I trusted him enough. He was as talented as I was. Marcus could see relationships. he could tell how strong they were between couples. What a help that was to my master, Aro, when he wanted to destroy or aquire a member of a coven for the gaurd. All he had to do was find out from Marcus who was the closest to the vampire he wanted and threaten to destroy them. The vampires always wondered how he knew of these weaknesses in everyone else, and how he was aware of the relationships. You see, my master, Aro, can read minds, but he needs to physically touch someone's skin to do so. Ever seen a human looking at one of us? It is the most funniest thing ever. We are so perfect in appearence and they stand there, frozen in surprise at us. Makes it easy for the others to feed, but not for me. Sure I am always in the room when they hunt, as Aro has a few animals brought in, always carnivours for me. While the other Volturi members kill the humans, I hunt the live animals for myself. I'm used to hunting now and I do not make a mess of myself anymore. I ruined a lot of clothing during my first year with the Volturi. Not that any of them mind about that.
Jane and I like to do things together, even shopping in Volterra's stores. We've learned to fit in easily, we only go out when it is overcaste. I know why that is something we have to do. When sunlight touches us, we sparkle like diamonds. Physically too. It is annoying at times for us, but we all get used to it as time goes on.
It was then I heard someone knocking on the door. I had no idea who it was so I called softly, "Come in."
I smiled as Marcus came in. I loved him in a way that showed that if anything were to happen to him, I would be completely lost. There was nothing else that could possibly take his place in this entire world. His long black hair was as shiny as it always was, but this time, he had it out of his face. "Marcus," I said, rising to kiss him.
"Ah Bella." He was the only one who did not call me, Isabella. The rest did other than Jane. I loved him a lot. Marcus wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his loving embrace. I smiled up at him as our lips met. Not having to breathe really did have its advantages when times like this came for the two of us.
At length he finally pulled away from me, though I did not want to stop kissing him. When we had met he seemed to always be bored, but then things started to get interesting as the others noticed that we were drawn to each other. Nowadays, he was so full of life and love, nothing like the vampire I had woken up to find waiting for me.
"What is it, Marcus?" I asked.
"There is a meeting being held, and you have to be there as a member of the gaurd." I knew he hated the fact that I could not sit next to him when Aro and Caius could have their wives - Sulpicia and Athenadora sitting next to them. It was an annoying thing for me too. But soon, I would join him by his side. Fore now we were putting up with it as well as we possibly could.
"Whats going on?" I asked. I wondered why a meeting was being held now of all times. No one seemed to be doing anything wrong at the moment. Not that we were aware of though. I knew that could change any time. The gaurd was always prepared to have to spring into action at any minute.
"Aro wants to talk to all of us. He is going to send a member of the gaurd to see if a long time unseen freind of his is still around these days. He has not seen Calisle in about one hundred and fifety years."
"Hmm." I sighed. "This should be interesting." He smiled at me. I was always eager to do what I could for my master. Though in reality, I did things for Marcus more willingly than for Aro and Caius. They knew that too. Sure I was considered to be one of the wives, but I was young and strong. They trusted me to go outside of Volterra on the odd occasion. My abhorrence to human blood was a big help for some of the jobs I was sent on. It was helpful to not want to hurt the humans around me. "Shall we head over that way?"
"Of course. We would not want to keep them waiting now, would we?" I asked. I knew that Caius never liked to be kept waiting when there were things he could be doing with Athenadora. He really did seem less enthusiastic than Marcus at first had when it came to these meetings. We ran, hand in hand to the room the meeting was in. of course, not at a human speed, but at the speed vampires always ran at. I liked running, it was fun and never took any energy. I could run for days on end without stopping and still be full of energy. The Volturi owned thwir own castle, and Marcus and I had a whole quarter of it to ourselves. Unless Jane wanted to go out into the town, Marcus and I were always occupied in our area. He only ever left me when there was business that he had to be present for with his brothers. I did not know who Carlisle was. I'd never heard the name before while I was with the Volturi. This would be something new for me. For once i was learning about someone who had not been known previously. I smiled as we reached the others and I took my place in the line of fighters. If the Volturi decided a coven must be destroyed, then we thought nothing of it. We simply acted. Jane smiled as I took my place next to her and her twin, Alec. Of the whole gaurd, Alec, Jane and I were the most dangerous. Jane could have someone lying on the ground, writhing in pain with just a smile. Alec her twin could make someone: blind, deaf, numb, and unable to feel and smell as quickly as his twin could have someone on the ground. I was a great asset when it came to that as I was able to keep the gaurd from being affected by any mental gifts an opposing coven might have. I was only too happy to help the others when this was needed. We were all in the gaurd for a reason and we all knew that.
There were others in the gaurd who had gifts though. Demetry was a tracker, and there was Felix the fighter. I knew others in the group were gifted, but I was not sure what there gifts were. Felix had been the one to teach me to fight as he always did when he had a new member. Of course when we were using my sheild in the practise I knew Jane often got annoyed when it was her than I was sheilding the others from. She was not the best of fighters and she did not like having to physically fight with us. Even for practise she hated doing so. We all had a laugh after though.
"You all know why I called you in here," Aro began. We all nodded once. "I am worried about an old freind of mine, that some of you have met before. I have been talking with my brothers and they agree that I should send one of you to go and see if he is still where he was last rumoured to be seen by one of the other nomads."
We all waited. I knew from that, that it might be me, if he did not want attention brought to our kind from the humans. I sighed, though I hated spending time away from Marcus, I would do that if I had to and all three of my masters wanted me to. Only if he was alright with it would I ever go away on these trips.
"Since stealth is one of the things we need most in this little task, we want Isabella to be the one to go and locate my old freind. She is different to the rest of us in the fact she seems to respect human lives and will not draw attention to us while she is doing this task." It was Caius who had spoken this time. We were all watching the three leaders. Snowy haired Caius, the other two were dark haired. I wondered how one out of the three of them could have so different coloured hair breifly.
"Will you do this for Aro?" Marcus asked, his eyes on me. I smiled. "I would be honoured, master."