Bella was resting besides me. She looked asleep, her breath even and slow… but her porcelain skin proved that only her eyes were closed over a very awake mind. I had spent the past few hours sitting here marveling over her beauty, and still it mesmerized me as much as it had the first moment I'd set eyes on her. Her mouse brown hair, pale and tender skin, her stubborn and kind heart-all the reasons I'd fallen in love with her to begin with were still a part of her, though now she was of my kind, more durable and sturdy. A vampire.

In the distance, somewhere across the river, I heard the chiming laugh of my daughter. I extended my mind and found that she was playing hide-and-go-seek with a giant russet colored wolf. She had hidden well: burrowed in the white snow amidst a small herd of deer that had wandered close. A smile touched my lips, for her age Renesmee was mature and intelligent, already smart enough to realize that Jacob wouldn't think to look for her amidst her own food. I chuckled and listened as Jacob slowly began to prowl around, sniffing the ground thoughtfully. Nessie's smell was cut off in his mind and the smell of deer covered the scent.

I chuckled watching the scene with mild enjoyment through their thoughts. A sigh escaped me. I had known that my life would never be considered normal after Carlisle had changed me, but there had always been a hope… I looked down at my beloved Bella once again. She had given me everything: a life, love, and then a daughter. I had believed that I couldn't have a life being what I was, that I would not find love after being alone for so long, and that it was impossible to have children. Bella had changed all of that. Yet, still things were not normal. My daughter, an additional bright beaming star added to my dark sky was different. I couldn't help feeling that it was my fault. She would never experience the feelings and emotions that went along with being human and growing up, and though I knew that this would never matter to her, I knew that it still pained me. A father's urge, I guessed, wanting everything for their child. I thought about Charlie, and now felt that I could understand his actions better, being as protective of Bella as I now was of Nessie.

I closed my eyes washing myself in silence, drowning out the voices that intruded into my mind. I imagined water languidly washing over me. I imagined the sun warming my skin. And I imagined Bella, staring into my eyes as if I was the only person in her new and gigantic world.

Oh!

Alice's sudden thought broke right through my pleasantries and landed top priority in my mind. She was having a vision. I searched more and suddenly took a quick breath. Aro… the Volturi. I was aware of Bella stiffening upright besides me, staring at me questioningly, but I focused on Alice's vision downstairs in the kitchen.

The chamber was dark dreary. The Volturi and their guard were either seated or standing around the outside of the room leaving an open space in the middle. Their eyes all glowed deep red and in the front stood Aro, tapping his fingers in anticipation. The others looked even less patient as they all watched the door their eyes like a hawks as it's about to catch it's prey. The chamber doors opened slowly and in trudged a group of humans. They looked warily around them at the chamber walls looking for a continuation of the passage, but realizing that it was a dead end. Among them was an old man squinting his eyes at the ceiling searching for the sun that he would never see again. A rotund woman glared around her surprised by the spaciousness of the chamber. A family was also among the group.

The mother was first to see the red eyes of the abnormally still and silent predators surrounding them. Behind the group the chamber doors shut. She gasped and took a step back clutching to her what looked like a baby. She looked around gathering to her four more young children who grasped at her legs and pulled at her dress looking fearful. "Mia Dio." The mother murmured, hugging the baby closer to her, her eyes searching frantically for any means of escape. It seemed she found none for she closed her eyes and began a quick silent prayer for her children.

"Welcome to Volterra." Aro walked forward and opened his arms, smiling cruelly, as if he really wished to welcome them. Then he struck. Chaos, pulsing blood, and death. The only sound heard other than the tearing of skin and the gurgling of blood, became a cry of anguish from the mother.

"Lucia!"

Her baby was torn from her arms by Aro as another vampire dipped his head over her throat silencing her. As Aro was about to do the same to the baby his finger brushed the tiny child's chubby hand. Aro froze in his position over her and stayed that way while the other frenzied vampires finished the other humans off in a matter of seconds and amassed around him. A strangely enchanting yet cold voice whispered gently in his ear. "Are you no longer hungry, Master?" Jane stood at his side surprised at this unexpected delay in the infant's death.

Aro broke from his reverie and uprighted himself, looking at the baby in wonder. His eyes were wide, still red with hunger, but brighter with curiosity. "No, not any longer Jane, dear." His fingers now grasped the baby's hand being careful not to crush it. The infant's bright blue eyes were open staring up into Aro's. He seemed mesmerized for a time. "She knows!" he whispered, seemingly to himself and continued to stare. Then, suddenly he broke himself out of it. He moved the infant around in his arms until he was holding it to himself in his arms like the mother had been before. He looked around him at his companions who looked at him like he was going mad. He smiled. "Forgive me, for that strange display, my friends. This child I have decided…" he broke off and looked puzzled down at her. "To keep." He finished. The others in the room widened their eyes and some inhaled sharply. "She shall be my little experiment." He continued. He began to stride forward and pulled open the doors with one hand still looking at the small baby in his other arm. "Lucia Elisabetta. My pet." He whispered as the doors shut behind him, leaving a confused room full of vampires behind him.

I watched as the vision ended and gasped slightly. I gave Bella a nervous glance and ran from our rom and down the stairs in a fifth of a second to where Alice was standing stock still in front of the counter in the kitchen. An unfinished bowl of mixed cookie ingredients was left on it, no doubt intended for the wolf who was now outside. Bella, who had followed me, landed right behind me.

I took Alice by the shoulders. "Alice! What was that?" I demanded. Her eyes focused on mine and she shook her head. "I was keeping tabs on Aro. You know, to make sure the Volturi wasn't planning anything against us. And then…" she closed her eyes shaking her head again. "…I saw that." she finished.

"Saw what?" Bella asked quietly. "What is it? Is Nessie in danger?"

Alice retold the events in her vision, adding in some small details that I hadn't noticed. Bella's face was horrified, and then shocked.

"Who is the child?" she asked staring downwards.

"Who knows?" Alice said. "They just pulled those people off the street. You saw it when you were in Volterra. They're the meals, yet, somehow, this child fascinated Aro. I was thinking that Aro might not have been able to read her mind like you, Bella, but then he said 'She knows' , and now…I don't know what to think." Alice trailed off at a loss for words.

I dropped her shoulders, bringing up the question that troubled me the most. "If he keeps her, what will he do with her?" I winced at the thought of this Lucia being forced to have an unwanted occupation like that of the girl Gianna when I had last been to the dreaded city of the Volturi. She would end up becoming their human slave. I could tell Alice was thinking the same thing, and it looked as if Bella was too, from the pained expression on her face.

Alice looked at me worriedly and spoke for Bella's benefit. "I don't know what to do. This is when I hate my forsight. I see something bad, and know that I can never stop it." She sighed. I slumped into a chair and Bella sat on the ground in front of me. The picture of the infant girl's blue eye's danced in my head. I glanced out the window and watched as Jacob, now human, and Nessie walked hand in hand to the house. I looked down at Bella who was watching me and saw worry etched in her eyes. No, we wouldn't tell anyone about this, until Carlisle was back. I silently thanked the heavens that Rosalie and Esme were gone hunting with Emmett. If they would have been home, this news would have caused them in particular unnecessary stress.

I again saw those bright blue eyes before me and then saw them to be Gianna's at Volterra. I shuddered. I remembered Bella's reaction to those cryptic chambers when she was human and could not imagine a human living there forever. How could a human child be raised amongst vampires? Nessie and Jacob barged thought he door laughing. How could a human child be raised among them? The Volturi? How would she be fed? She would have to sleep, and do all the things humans do. It couldn't be possible for a human to live there. What did Aro plan to do?

I heard a Carlisle's car pull up in front of the house, and I got up to greet him with the news. Just then Alice stiffened once again and her eyes went out of focus. I watched this new vision and gasped, once again. Bella was at Alice's side, a hand on her own. Jacob stared at her with his eyes raised, while Nessie acknowledged the difference in Alice's behavior and then went back to tearing up Jacob's shirt with her teeth.

Alice met my gaze and I stared at her, for the first time astounded by what this future meant for our family. I was aware of Carlisle opening the door, but was nervous to tell him about this newfound vision. As if the first hadn't been enough. Alice thought along the lines of what I was thinking. I took a deep breath and then went to speak to Carlisle.