Chapter One: The Welcoming Party

I spent most of my time waiting for my flight in a café, noticing the people milling around me – random quirks, what the Americans were wearing, the extravagant prices at the gift shop – anything to keep my mind from the finality of this trip. Were I to return another twenty years from now, nothing I had once loved about Forks – the people or the places - would remain.

Two hours into the flight, I tugged my headphones from my student backpack, and turned to the Italian fashion magazine Heidi had loaned me for the trip. Back home soon, I tried to convince myself, Italy is home now. But, when I landed in Tuscany, climbed into the waiting black SUV, and watched the lush countryside fly by the darkened windows, I couldn't bring myself to appreciate it.

OOOOOOOOO

"Bella's looking awfy glum!" Andrew roared in his broad Scottish accent, as Heidi and Cathy ran along the corridor to greet me.

"What do you expect?" Cathy joked, "she just voluntarily spent time in the rainiest place in America."

Heidi ignored them and asked, "Did you look at the pages I marked?" She had taken it upon herself to become the unacknowledged fashion expert in Volterra, and had marked up the magazine before letting me leave.

"I did," I nodded before conceding, "and you were right about the dress."

"Don't you just want to go right now and buy it?" Heidi burst into smiles, "It'll absolutely cheer you up."

I almost laughed aloud at the nearly bouncy Heidi, a woman who had scared me half-to-death the first time I had come here, and now reminded me a little of my old best friend.

"Och," Andrew shook his hate, "Bell's here hates shopping."

"Um, yeah guys," I reminded my companions, "I just got back. And I'm sure that the Big Cheeses will want to see me before I go a-gallivanting again."

"The 'Big Cheeses'?" chuckled a recently-appeared Aro, followed shortly by his brothers Caius and Marcus. "Is that any way to respect your elders?"

"Sorry," I muttered, smiling anyway.

"So, how was the trip?" Marcus quizzed, but then noted, "Your heart broke a little more."

"We'll cure you of that," Aro assured me, though I didn't believe him. The brothers had provided me plenty of occupations over the past two decades, but had never given me a cure for the soul-pervading heartbreak.

Caius then spoke, "Your friends here have arranged a little karaoke party."

I nearly choked. "Karaoke?"

"And dancing!" Cathy added, pulling my hand and twirling me, "You know you love to dance!"

It was true. The clumsy, tuneless human that I had once been, I reveled in my grace and voice in death.

I loved my friends in Volterra. Fellow members of the Guard that cared enough to watch each other's backs had eventually become my closest family. The three ruling brothers had welcomed me and spoiled me like a granddaughter, acquiescing to my whims, and doing their best to keep me happy.

Andrew picked up my duffel bag and led the way down three flights of stairs to my room. It looked out from over the cliff that the city perched upon, the sunlight pouring in from the large windows that overlooked the picturesque landscape. I nodded towards the couches, instructing those accompanying me to sit.

"Talk." I demanded. Being gone from Volterra for a day was like being missing for a day of school in high school; it would, of course, be the day that your science teacher announced she was pregnant, that your best friend finally got asked out or dumped, and you had missed it all. In this hidden castle however, no one needed to sleep - twice as much drama unfolded, all of which I was subject to for the next hour.

Finally, it was just Aro, Caius, Marcus and I, all of us staring out the window at the darkening sky. Twilight, I thought, but pushed the memory away.

"So, Bella," Aro started, trying to lighten the suddenly-morose mood, with a half-joke. "Recent polls claim that you're considered the fourth most powerful vampire in the world."

"I wonder who the first three are?" I turned to look at my unconventional grandfathers.

"Anyway," he continued, "We've been discussing it, and while we're glad that you stepped into Darren's position a few years ago, you might be needing a vacation."

"I just got back, though," I wondered at the offer; he had ulterior motives. As much as I loved these old men, experience reminded me that they always had ulterior motives.

"Well, would you at least consider joining the Transylvanian group?" Aro entreated, face full of innocence. "Just to get you out of this boring old city – you're young, you'll want to see the world. Plus, the Count positively loves you."

"That he does," I grimaced. I did enjoy the feeling of getting away when I spent time in the Count's foreboding old castle. I felt like a "real" movie-Halloween-style vampire there. I could hunt whenever I wanted, read in the dusty old library, run through the hills in the sunlight. Still, that didn't change the fact that the Count constantly creeped me out with his excesses of attention.

"I'll think about it." As the unofficial head of the Volturi Guard, I was already organizing the diplomatic group to Transylvania. My responsibilities were among the many distractions the brothers had tried to provide me. I just liked that I could choose my jobs; I picked the most humane ones, often just warning messages or diplomatic trips, like the visit to the Count.

"Heidi will return soon," Aro reminded me as the group left. My fashionista friend had gone to purchase the dress I had approved in the magazine. I groaned; I didn't really like dresses, nor did I like the attention I would receive at the party tonight, where I would be wearing it. For a moment, I considered using my handy mind-control abilities to stop the nonsense, but the sensible part of me told me to let my friends have their fun; I was, by nature, a spoilsport.

I pondered the results of my trip as I fingered the dark blue drapes of my unused canopy bed, sitting on the edge of the mattress before flopping backwards to stretch. Years ago, I wouldn't have even considered living as a member of the Volturi. Circumstances had changed drastically since the first time I had met these ancient rulers. With time I had come to respect them – in no way did I condone the murder of the innocent and defenseless, but I knew how hard my own diet was - how much self-control was required. Many humans take the easy way out and no one thinks less of them for it; I figured that vampires were in the same predicament, only on a grander, more morbid, scale.

I heard Heidi's distinctive knock at the door and the rustling of a dress-bag. "Come in." I sighed, sitting upright. Then I noticed what she held in her hand and whimpered: bright red stiletto heels.