Bella POV

When my flight landed I quickly found a taxi car and made my way to Volterra, hoping my plan would work out. The stories I had heard from Edward were not encouraging in any way but I had to try. I knew his stories were not all true due to other conversations with Carlisle. He had told me that they were strict and had a tendency to acquire vampires for there own good but they were not unfair and tyrannical. The day was dreary and it was getting late so I didn't need to bother myself with the worry I would start shimmering in the sunlight. I relaxed against the car seat and thought about what I would do if they turned me away. I would be all alone. Would I attempt to find the Cullen's?

As we pulled up to the large building I took a deep, unnecessary breath looking up at the incredible structure before my eyes. I quickly recalled the directions and explanations that Carlisle had spoken of during our conversations. I walked into the building and the receptionist recognized my red eyes immediately, ushering me down a hallway and into another waiting room. A large man stood at a set of double doors and upon seeing me, nodded at the girl.

"What is your business here?" he asked as the girl disappeared down the hall.

"I am here to speak to Aro. My name is Isabella Swan." I replied, knowing that Carlisle had already spoken to Aro of me when Edward couldn't read my mind. Aro had seemed interested which was why I was here now. I knew of his desire to collect gifted vampires.

He must have recognized the name because he said, "One second, Miss Swan, I will announce you." He opened the doors and went into the hall. He took exactly 34 steps before murmuring too low for me to hear. More footsteps, a door opening and closing, and then more footsteps brought him back to me while he said, "Right this way."

I followed him into a room that had been clearly part of a church long before I was born. The high cathedral ceilings and stone structure gave a hint to the age of the building. It was slightly romantic but mostly medieval. I was shown to a smaller room with the same decor that was made as an office. A man sat behind a large, dark oak desk and he smiled upon seeing me.

"Thank you, Demetri, that will be all," the man said, dismissing the large, dark haired man. Demetri winked at me, shutting the door behind him. "Isabella! I see you are no longer human! How do you like being an immortal?"

I sat in the seat in front of the desk and slightly grimaced as I replied, "I have only been an immortal for two days. So far I find no complaints."

He smiled, looking me over and catching my eyes. They were not the bright red they had been, me having hunted once before on animals. They were slightly diluted and he seemed amused at this. "I see you have taken the Cullen's advice on your diet and I must say immortality suits you. How are the Cullen's?" he asked, leaning slightly forward.

"Thank you, I have hunted once. It seems I have skipped over the newborn frenzy which I am thankful for. I do not speak to the Cullen's. They left. Another vampire by the name of Victoria changed me." I said, keeping Victoria's death out of it. I did not want him to be aware of the pack.

"Only once? That does show incredible strength. I am glad you skipped the frenzy, it is quite annoying. Trust me, I became irritated with my lack of control at times. They left you say? That is tiresome! They do not know you changed? What of your Edward?" Aro asked, interest and curiosity plain in his features.

"Thank you and I will take your word for it! They did and they do not know. Edward left me saying he no longer wanted me so I assume he has moved on." I said simply, shrugging.

That is too bad. What have you come here for child? I assure you that it is a delight, I must insist you stay for a while. I will not take no for an answer. What are you plans?" He asked me, clapping his hands together twice causing Demetri to come back into the room.

"I will accept and I have none. I am alone as far as I know." I replied, smiling at him.

"Excellent! Demetri will show you around and you may go wherever you like, make friends, mingle," Aro said, standing and walking out the door with Demetri and I. "You may stay here as long as you like, Isabella. If you wish, you may make this your home even. It is all up to you."

"Thank you. Call me Bella though, Isabella is so... old!" I said, laughing. He laughed back at me, delight clear on his face. "Excellent! Welcome to Volterra Castle, Bella. I'm sure we will be great friends. Please meet me here so I can introduce you in two hours?" Aro asked, touching my shoulder.

"Of course, Aro." I replied, smiling and hugging him. I felt his surprise at my affection but I couldn't help it. I was not going to be alone after all and Carlisle had been right. They were not the monsters Edward had made them out to be.

As Aro went towards another door that went off the large church-like chamber Demetri and I went down a large corridor at the opposite end of the room.

"The room we were just in is the Throne Room. Similar to what Kings used in the 1500's. Aro, Caius, and Marcus use it to have meetings and see to disputes and such. You will gain more understanding the longer you are here," Demetri was explaining to me as I stopped to admire some paintings in the hallway. "The doors off this hallway are for guests and less personal acquaintances. We have a steady stream of guests all the time and there are fifteen bedrooms with a few bathrooms. We have a human guest from time to time, so we keep them."

We walked further down the hall and it turned to the left suddenly with one door and a staircase. The door led to a sitting room that I assumed was for more private conversations. We went up the stairs talking about his past and how he got here. His story was quite interesting though not totally fascinating. He had lived in Italy his whole life, Aro finding him when he was twenty-five. He had been a "street fighter" and completely brutal and out of control. He was inclined to a temper but had a natural humor that reminded me greatly of Emmett.

We toured the upstairs, which was specifically for the people of importance that lived here. Aro, Caius, and Marcus all had rooms on this floor. My room was at the end of the hall, Demetri's was on the opposite side of the hall, and two other bedrooms were on this floor. One next to Aro's for Renata and one at the beginning of the hall for Felix.

He showed me the third floor and I was particularly happy with that floor. It had a large library, a ballroom for dancing, and studio for instruments and painting or drawing. I immediately knew I was going to make use of the never ending library and I was anxious to see if immortality had granted me enough grace to learn to dance.

When I mentioned dancing and previous clumsy-ness Demetri winked at me and flirtatiously stated he would help me in any way he could. I rolled my eyes and playfully shoved him. Our hour was up and we made our way down to the Throne Room, a new friendship in place.

When we made our way into the room the three 'Kings' were there along with another man. Aro spotted me quickly and smiled automatically. I saw one of the Kings, Marcus, I recognized from the painting in Carlisle's study, lean forward with a smirk on his lips. I remembered Carlisle mentioning he could sense relationships between people and was interested in what he had found smirk worthy about me. Or if his smirk was due to his gift at all.

"Bella! How do you like our castle? Did Demetri show you to your room?" Aro asked, reaching forward to take my hand. A frown graced his features after a few seconds.

"It is exquisite. He did and I love my room, it is beautiful. Why the frown?" I replied, reaching my other hand out to his shoulder.

"I cannot see your thoughts." He stated simply. I instantly remembered his gift of being able to see everything that had ever entered your mind with one touch of skin-to-skin contact. I also frowned looking down at our touching hands.

"I am not surprised, Edward could not read my mind when I was human." I told him. Aro turned to the man I did not recognize and beckoned him forward.

He was a handsome man. Dark features, tall, golden eyes like the Cullen's, a simple style. "She is a shield, I am certain, Aro. She also seems to have the power to sense lies and see the past of others, which I'm not sure how the last one works." He stated, looking at me with a look of interest.

Aro smiled widely and asked, "Bella, would you mind working with Jane to develop this power of yours after I introduce you?"

"That sounds like fun!" I replied, looking excited.

"Aro, this means she has the power available to her, she just doesn't know how to use it." The mystery man said, looking at Aro. Aro laughed and said, "That is incredible, Elezear!"

"It is. I must go now though, Aro. It was nice to see you. It was also nice to meet you Bella." Elezear said, making a slight bow to Aro and the other Kings.

"Yes, of course. Do not mention Bella to the Cullen's as of yet, will you? I would like to keep her all to myself for a while yet." Aro replied, bringing me forth with him towards Marcus and Caius.

Elezear left and I was introduced to Marcus and Caius. Demetri left to attend to other duties he had and I sat there with Aro, Marcus, Caius, and Jane talking for hours while I got to know them as they got to know me.

After a while Jane and me began practicing with my shield and periodically switched to working with my other gifts, seeing if I could control them. I got a flicker of Jane once and it lasted for a few seconds before it disappeared. She had said it was from a few years ago. I did sense her lie once though.

Jane was a tough teacher but I liked her. We had a mutual respect for each other though I would not consider us friends. I wasn't sure if that would ever change. She was a cold girl.

I had been there two days and was involved in another 'study' session with Jane. I was getting frustrated at how she seemed to expect that I would be automatically good at this.

"I am only a week old, Jane! I'll get it, calm down!" I told her heatedly. She rolled her eyes at me.

"Stop using that excuse! Maybe you just need incentive!" She replied back, a smile appearing on her face. I looked at her suspiciously and in the next second I was on fire. Or at least, I thought I had been. I opened my eyes again and she was standing there in front of me like nothing had just happened.

"What- What did you just do?" I asked, surprised her power worked on me at all.

"Well, since you have been trying to push your shield out, it is not staying in place around yourself as well. I saw an in and went for it. You need to get this, Bella. I know you can. Again!" She told me, calling someone forward.

"Demetri, will you help Bella with her training?" She asked him sweetly, he smiled and stood next to me quickly. We spent a lot of time together, him, Felix, and me. We were becoming friends fast, though Demetri was a huge flirt. Felix was a huge brother. In the short time we knew almost everything about each other.

"No!" I said, though it was pointless. Demetri stood there like a rock. He knew what Jane did and was going to go through it anyway.

She just smiled and as he moved to about 10 feet away from me set us on fire. She did this repeatedly until 56 minutes later, I felt nothing. I looked at Demetri and he smiled at me. He punched the air. I rolled my eyes at his antics and Jane said, "Good job, Bella. Demetri move ten more feet. Again."

We continued like that for five more hours until she wanted to stop. Demetri and me went off in search of Felix and I knew I was going to get roped into some other form of training. It was never ending.

Weeks turned into months, while months turned into years. I learned to control my gifts and gained even more as I became a part of Aro, Caius, and Marcus' family. They treated me as a daughter and I treated them all as parents. I would go out on missions with the guard as well as being sent on my own to diffuse situations. I found myself in the South of America frequently over the years. I kept up my acquaintance with Elezear as well as a few new friends and before I knew it, 12 years had passed.

I was now living somewhat on my own, only going to Volterra once in a while or when they needed help with something major. I had enough baggage now that would have sent a human into suicide many times over and I had told the Kings I wanted time to myself. They agreed wholeheartedly, loving me enough to allow me my peace.

I had brought out a radio and put in one of my many CD's and started dancing in a meadow on the property I had bought when I heard a noise that vampires would not even had heard. I continued dancing, giving the appearance that I had not heard them when the vampire suddenly struck forward, trying to catch me unaware. I turned at last minute, bringing the vampire to the ground into a submissive position.

When I looked at who it was I stood suddenly, not believing my eyes. He stood rather abruptly, clearly irritated that I had bested him.

"Bella?" He asked, his face full of shock.

[A/N]: Chapter two! Yay. Thank you for those who reviewed last time, I did a happy dance for five minutes and got a weird look from my boyfriend. But whatever! :) It made my day! So, thoughts? Ideas to suggest? The Cullen's are obviously going to be back in the next chapter. Please review so I can do more happy dances! :)