"We're here!" Alice called in her angelic voice as she shook me awake
I awoke with a start at her touch. I hadn't remembered falling asleep, nor could I remember the last time I had slept. My mind began going over the trip, or as much as I could remember of it anyway. I couldn't remember anything after beginning our lull through the trees.
I shook my head trying to get my mind in the present. As I looked around I saw the extravagant house that now lay before us. It was nothing like I would have expected. Most vampires preferred less pristine and open homes than the one that now lay before me. It was surprising how unarming this house was despite the disposition of its inhabitants. As I sat taking in the scene before me I hadn't realized that Alice had exited the car and was standing beside me holding open the door.
"Do you want to go in or do you need a second?" she said as she knelt down beside me.
"I'll be fine." I said as I began to unbuckle and turn to leave the car.
Once I was out of the car she grabbed my hand and led me towards the front door in an almost cautious tempo. With each step I could feel the tension grow and my anxiety rise. I found myself wishing I had put on some make-up, any make-up. I usually felt disgusting wearing makeup being near this goddess that neither wanted nor needed make-up, but right now I felt so plain. Knowing that I was once again going to be amongst the beautiful immortals, made me wish I was less plain and less human.
As we neared the house the door opened out stepped a beautiful woman of average height with the not so human beauty found in all vampires. I knew right away from Alice's description that this had to be her adoptive mother Esme. Her genuine smile was infectious and her caramel hair and heart shaped face almost put me at ease. Almost.
She closed the last few steps to us with her arms stretched out welcomingly. It caught me off guard and she seemed to notice my surprise, and dropped her hands a bit. Feeling a little guilty extended my arms and the subsequent hug was like nothing I had ever felt. It was like hugging the strongest most durable snow man imaginable.
We proceeded into the light and open front room where everyone was waiting. All seven of the others were dispersed around the room. All but two of them were standing. I knew right away that it was Renesmee and Jacob. Both wore giant smiles that I could best describe as anxious.
Esme gestured for me to take a seat at the far end of the room on the love seat. I strolled over to the seat as the realization that I was in a house full of vampires finally began to take effect. Walking in the middle of them made me on edge and made my muscles tense. I knew I had no reason to be afraid but my body's natural reflex couldn't be helped.
As I sat down I really began to look at all of the faces in the room that I had skipped, immediately noticing the blonde bombshell that had to have been Rosalie and the muscular man next to her whose face wore an almost childlike smile. The next one I was able to put a name to was, Carlisle with blonde hair and slender physique. The last two identify were obviously Bella and Edward.
Wait! Where was Jasper? Unless I had made some major mistake with identifying someone it seemed that Japer was not among us. If Jasper wasn't here then where was he? Wait Jasper had to be here! Jasper would never leave Alice nor would she leave him.
"He's not here." A voice said reassuringly as if reading my mind.
I looked up to find that it was Edward. Well that made sense now. He could read my mind. At this point I could already tell I was going to have to build my walls again. I wouldn't have Edward reading my every thought. I couldn't allow it.
"You get used to it. Or at least everyone seems to. It catches everyone off guard at first, Even If they know already." He said with a smug smile lining his perfectly angelic face
"Edward, your ego is showing." I replied thoroughly annoyed
At this everyone burst out laughing and some clapped. Emmet gave him a rough push as if to say he had brought it upon himself. Rosalie gave me a warm smile that caught me off guard to the point where I could feel my face change from my forced smile to a look of alarm.
"Are you ok?" Esme asked in an almost concerned voice as she looked between me and Rosalie.
"Yeah I'm fine." I said once again bringing back my smile "I just was kinda caught off guard again."
"Sorry." Rosalie said in an almost hurt tone.
"Don't be." I replied smiled brighter "Today is kind of an unusual day for me. It's hard for me to get over a lot of the learned behaviors. Growing up, when a vampire smiled at me that wasn't someone openly known for their kindness it meant that I smelled like dinner."
"Growing up?" Carlisle asked, speaking for the first time today.
"Yes. You see my last name is Degala." I said with a sheepish smile.
Carlisle's face turned to an almost horrified grimace.
Renesmee was the next to speak.
"What does that mean exactly?" she asked in an almost childlike voice.
"The Degala's have served the Volturi for over five hundred years. The Volturi have never dared to turn a Degala. The Degala's have served them knowing that they would never be turned, no matter how much they ever did for the Volturi." Carlisle answered now fully composed again. "Your family's history makes me wonder why you're here."
"I am not my ancestors. If I had been like them I never would have been here. If I was like them then I would be back at Volterra and my parents would still be alive." I said as I looked around the room as I said this. "Carlisle, I assume you know why the Volturi would not turn a member of my family."
"The Volturi believe in the old stories. These stories were of the ones that were only known as the truly damned, the destroyers of civilizations." Carlisle said in a hushed while everyone else listened awestruck.
I burst out laughing at the utter nonsense they had filled his head with. My ancestors were nothing of the sort. My ancestors had been enslaved by the Volturi to bring themselves to complete power.
I noticed everyone look at me like I had just shot someone. I looked down guiltily unable to see the hurt in their eyes. I had grown up around immortals but to see the hurt in their soft and caring eyes truly burned me to my core. I couldn't begin to explain why but at this point I just wished I could die.
"Don't think like that! Not now, not ever!" Edward yelled as he laired at me with his piercing gaze
I looked over at Alice and saw the confused look on her face. I didn't want to explain it and I knew if I did it would not help anything. I decided to address my actions instead.
"Sorry Carlisle. I wasn't laughing at you. I was simply laughing at the nonsense that the Volturi put into your head. The Volturi have never turned a member of the Degala blood line because the last time they did it nearly decimated them." I said looking directly into Carlisle's confused eyes "It was nearly two thousand years ago. The Volturi were larger then. The guard was estimated at having been fifty thousand strong at that time. They turned my ancestor who was found to be able to control flames and was immune most other powers. The Volturi even then seeking ever growing amounts of power rained my ancestor to control his abilities. My ancestor, knowing the corruption and decay within the Volturi, sought to master the abilities that his immortal form had given him. He left the Volturi for some unknown place. There he mastered the abilities and decades later came. It took the entire Volturi guard to take him down. It finally fell to the three leaders to finish the burning."
I looked around the room, studying each face in turn as they mulled the story in their heads. Alice seemed to be almost in shock, while the others wore expressions that were extremely similar yet, still almost impossible to place. It was awkward sitting there with the unfinished story hanging in the air.
"The Volturi found my ancestors still mortal grandson. They raised the child to be completely loyal to the Volturi. From then on, each child was taught to be completely loyal to the Volturi." I explained as I readied to explain where I came into all this "Each generation since has had a single child. Each child had been a son until me. Aro immediately began plotting. When I was two, Aro sent my parents as emissaries to one of the southern covens to get them to cease the creation of the armies of newborns that they had been making. My parents were killed within minutes of arriving. Aro's plan had worked as he had planned. He sent half the guard to destroy the coven and get a vampire he had wanted to add to the guard. After my parents death Aro had me trained to be the perfect fighter, strategist, and vampire. As soon as I could talk I was taught to read, write, and strategize. As I grew older I began to see what they were doing to me. When I was nine I went out for a stroll one day and never came back. I came to Washington because I had heard Aro speak of your family and the shape shifters that you had befriended."