The Watcher

A/N wow! that's a quick response in just a short time. Thanks everyone! Well many of us want to see what Watcherward has coming…so lets find out.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of its characters.

Chapter 2

EPOV

It was nice to have some fresh air and a few moments not to be monitoring another being so closely. You can only listen to the same person's thoughts. without interruption, for so long before you can start to predict thought patterns and trends in their thinking…even in vampires, and it is hard enough to spend the entire day listening to someone's thoughts then to do it when you know what they are going to be thinking about before they do.

The first thing I always do after such an intense watching, is to try and clear my mind by letting everything I tried to keep out, back in, and not trying to focus on any singular thought from around me. I step out onto one of the castle's high walkways, to enjoy my first break in six days. I liked coming out onto the walkways because they were low enough that I could easily be located by the guards, if I was needed, but high enough that I could relish the breeze that swept past the city, blowing my hair into chaos as it whipped around the ancient stone work,. As I fill my lungs with cool air, I relinquish whatever control I have over my gift and let my power take in all of the mental voices from around me.

I am flooded by the cacophony of thoughts that pour in. Sometimes my gift is a blessing as much as it was a curse, the onslaught of sounds coming in were almost numbing, a constant hum like white noise. You see, now I could pick and choose what I wanted to focus on, but it wasn't always so.

I can easily recall when I first experienced my gift, the result of a vampire's perfect recall. I thought I was delusional, that my mind had snapped. I could hear things that no one else could hear, coupled with the fact that I could see colors and the smallest things I had never noticed before.. And the voices that I heard…they weren't there! From the moment I woke in this new life there was a dull roar in my head, and as the day went on, the sounds became clearer, more defined, breaking off into separate voices until I felt as if my head might explode from the sounds overlapping one another.. Thankfully my sire noted the increasing problem, and he took me away from civilization , as quickly as he could, where all I could hear was him.

It took time to learn to control the noise. And after years I was able to be closer to people. This also helped with keeping to our families special diet of animal blood. I could hear a humans thoughts before I could possibly scent their blood. It also allowed me to listen in to people, to hear how they thought, to understand how they felt, bringing me more in touch with their humanity…or their inner demons.

I shook my head to clear that sour memory out of my mind. Recalling the time I used my gift for wrong doing was not something I felt like revisiting. Instead I chose to focus on how my gift, and my control over it, allowed me to help each vampire find that special part of themselves. As a part of my new role as watcher. The old understanding, that just not every vampire had a gift, had been smashed to smithereens by my gift, and the Vampire world was shaken by the fact that what they thought was face, was in fact, now fiction.

While on a hunt, far to the south in Montana, our family came across a rogue Vampire…a rogue vampire that the Volturi had previously encountered and deemed powerless because she had no gift. I heard her mental voice while hunting and we decided to check in with her so she didn't feel threatened by us spending time in her territory, so we moved closer, approaching with caution.

I knew she was there, and she was having conversations with someone. When we actually encountered her near the woodsy tree home she had built for herself though, she was completely alone. Though the communications only ceased on her side as she became aware of our presence. She was no longer responding to the speaker, but she was hearing real voices in her head,, each with its own nuisances and tone… and they spoke with her about many things and some of the voices were even giving her information about the strangers in the woods, meaning us.

At first I had been taken aback. There was no one else about…no vampires…no humans…no shifters…no other beings that I was aware of. …who was she hearing? When I tried to close myself off from her thoughts, the voices disappeared, but when I opened my mind back up to hers…there they were once more. I watched in wonder as Carlisle, my sire, introduced our family, and she eyed us warily.

Thanks to my being able to hear her thoughts, as we were invited to sit and talk with her for a while, I was able to connect the fact that she was actually having conversations, just not in the typical manner. She was talking to the squirrels in the forest, and they were actually talking back to her. As they raced through the tree tops, or skimmed down trunks of trees, their chatter that sounded like typical forest noises to us, actually translated when she heard it. They told her about their young, about predators in the wood, and when something different happened in their earthy realm, such as when visitors like us, intruded on their day.

Actually able to hear how her gift worked in her head, I explained to her that I knew she had a special gift, without telling her how I was able to do so. She didn't seem alarmed that I knew, perhaps she felt we shared that gift as I could hear what they were saying from her mind. Once she knew I was aware of it, she was happy to show us how they came when she called them, even bringing their young to be touched and admired by her.

From her thoughts as we sat with her, I perused her memories as she recalled them. Memories of when she became a vampire, thoughts of her first and only meeting with the Volturi, and lastly recalling when she realized she had a gift. Her memory from her encounter with the Volturi showed it was many years ago, almost a century worth in fact. Our own friend, Eleazer, who once worked for the Volturi, told her she had no gift, a fact that allowed her to go freely into the world to find her own place, as gifted vampires were greatly prized by the Volturi up to this time…and Eleazer's gift allowed him to detect when vampires had an ability, to sense gifts in others, even if they had a latent ability…and due to his gift, it was always thought that if he did not sense anything, the vampire would only have the basic vampire attributes, making the vampire less desirable for the Volturi's guard.

Our family had never cared greatly for the Volturi, and the way they chose to dominate our kind, and the fact that they treated humans as senseless food factories. We had distanced ourselves from their ruling, a different country, a different style of life and feeding, and never would I have imagined myself working as a part of the guard. In fact if Alice had not told me that she saw I needed to do this for numerous reasons, then I probably would have just become a recluse, living alone as I bided through the time allotted for my existence.

Carlisle and Esme had been invited to some sort of historic gala in Volterra, a celebration of the day the Volturi had risen into power. To reject the personal invitation Aro had extended to Carlisle would have been a faux pas, and Alice saw it causing hardships for the local human population when guards came to check in with our family, so my parents went. Our discovery had been inadvertently shared when in the throng of dancing couples, Aro had grasped Esme by the hand as she and Carlisle had waltzed by him and his mate. I am not sure what Aro's intent had been at the time, but according to his thoughts he was trying to stop my parents to invite them back to the castle for an additional day before they returned to North America.

What his touch revealed however ,was simply the result of Esme's protective instinct kicking in at top speed. She knew of Aro's gift, but had never experienced it. When he touched her, she feared for the worse, her family being in danger because Aro might be angry to find out we had learned something and had yet to inform the Volturi about the discovery. Aro, however was so excited to learn about the new discovery, that he forgave them at once…my feeling is that he did not wish to upset his long time friend, my sire, nor to be on my bad side when he knew I was the one who had made the discovery.

What transpired next was an unheard of trip for the Volturi, the brothers and their mates, and entourage came to our rural home to ask for my help. My skill would be pivotal into finding out if this was a one time error, or if this applied to all vampires who had been ruled out as powerless.

I had no desire to help Aro, or his brethren, I felt that Aro would want this knowledge to gain more power for the Volturi, his thoughts showed me he had considered as much, even if for the time being, the idea of the discovery itself seemed to be the most predominant thought in his mind. I was about to flat out refuse when Alice asked me to think on the offer. She did not say what she saw, and she carefully worked to keep her thoughts secluded from my mental probing, but she told me she saw my life was going to change, and it would be a change I was thankful for.

When I did not agree, Alice told me bits of what she saw, if I agreed, she saw that I would indeed find that my discovery led into a new era, I would find that I had the ability to find the gifts of others. The gifts I found would be largely useless to the Volturi, as the strongest gifts manifested themselves earliest. I would simply be helping to identify what others could do, providing an opportunity for those who wished to find out what their gifts were, or to help new vampires get quicker control on whatever skills they were trying to gain a handle over.

I still had not made a decisions, but when she placed her hand on my arm and showed mean image she had of me…me smiling…looking happier than I could recall in my entire existence. The image left me speechless.

"Just try," Alice had said in her thoughts.

So here I was.

Aro had been eager to keep me content in his care, giving me time to myself to read or to listen to music, and time to leave the city to hunt. He asked the guards not too feed in the city or castle when I was here, and even promised punishment to those who disobeyed his decree…so it has not been as unpleasant as it could have been to be here.

Some of the vampires I had gotten the opportunity to observe have revealed powers I had never imagined a vampire might have…perhaps I am stereotyping unconsciously, or perhaps it is only because I witnessed manifestations that were more intimidating than the ones now being observed…but I never imagined that it would be possible for a vampire to have the ability to change the pigmentation of an animals fur…interesting yes…but not intimidating.

I have seen vampires who were able to mend glass with the touch of a finger, to melt ice with their nose, to groom a dogs fur just by trailing their hands over the dog's body and having the extra fur simply fall away. There was a pair of mated vampires who can detect when rock formations hold minerals, yet they could only do so when they were touching, opening up a realization that some powers might only be exposed once a vampire have found its mate.

There was a vampire who could make paper roll and unroll, and another who could make wool weave without touching it, and yet another who could change eye color at will, a neat trick to help them blend in with humans, but that was they only part that could be changed. Each skill was unique, and intriguing to discover…and compelling their hosts to use them.

I was enjoying my role, I had to monitor and expose the vampires in my charge to different situations and stimuli. I was a researcher and they were my subjects…and through their learning opportunities I was learning myself. Learning to identify the smallest signals that each vampire sent out subconsciously through their inner thoughts and feelings combined. These small nuisances helped me get better and learn more with each passing day so I could help ascertain what each vampire could do and help them know more about themselves…to see where that flare of discovery would ignite within them.

My trip down memory lane ended as I smelled changes in the air, signalling that moisture was gathering above, and promising a sudden downfall of rain below on the unsuspecting people running to and fro. As much as I wanted air, I had no desire to stand in the rain at this moment and get drenched. I turned towards the door, hearing the mental voice of a guard approaching, knowing it was me he sought out, I moved to intercept.

I casually entered, glancing in the direction that I knew the guard would appear from and he came into view. Liam, and smallest member of the guard, approached. His entire demeanour emanating his discomfort, he was afraid of me, which made me smile a bit. I knew he had nothing to fear, but in his mind he felt it anyhow.. He was terrified of Aro and felt I was even more powerful, because he felt my power was greater that Aro's, making me someone to be terrified of.

"Mr, Masen, sir?" He said, speaking softly.

"Yes Liam?" I said trying to put him at ease.

"Aro wishes to speak with you right away, he says it is very important."

From his mind I knew he had no idea why Aro wanted to see me. I decided I should humour him and put the poor boy out of his misery. I did not wish keep him waiting as his thoughts revealed he was torn between wanting to get me to Aro quickly, so Aro didn't anger, and between being afraid to ask me to hurry lest he anger me. If it was possible for the a vampire to have a nervous breakdown…I think Liam would have had one…the thought made me almost snick out loud.

"Lead on then, Liam, lets go see what Aro needs from me." I said, gesturing for him to lead the way.

I was curious myself to see what awaited.