Chapter 3

Verona P.O.V.

"Verona, dearest, I was looking for you all throughout the garden," I turned and saw Aro walking towards me as he spoke to me. "Have a seat and talk with me for a while." He motioned to one of the many concrete benches in my shade garden. "It's a lovely day. I should have known this is where I would find you."

"Is there something you wanted to ask me or are you out here to sit and enjoy the beauty of nature?" I sat down next to him and looked out at the birds and butterflies that were enjoying the nice day and flowers. He only ever comes to me when he wants something.

"You know me so well my dearest," Aro said softly as he patted my back. "I don't understand what you find so fascinating out here, but I do need to talk with you."

"Well, what is it you need me for?" I looked at him as I held my hand out. He grimaced slightly and then grabbed my set of gloves from the bench and handed them to me. I started to put them on.

"We are expecting some company today," he grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "If things don't go according to plan we may have to use your power on them."

"So you will call for me when that happens?" I asked him as I got up. The only time anyone ever really wanted me around is when they wanted to use me. I wish there was somewhere I felt loved and not just kept around as a tool.

"No, my dear Verona, I want you to be in on the meeting this time. I think you will find the company to your liking." He grabbed for my hand and pulled me back to the bench. "You may be able to make a few friends."

"What, friends like Jane and Alec? Oh wait, how about Felix and Demetri?" I turned away from him. "I know I am acting like a child but Jane and Alec haven't liked me since…" I became your favorite "and Felix and Demetri, well they just want what every guy wants from me, sex," I huffed.

"Verona, you can't blame them for wanting something they can't have. The Cullens will be nothing like others you've met before. You will have to prepare yourself though. They do travel with a human. Please be in my chambers in an hour and make sure you are wearing your gloves," he stated as he squeezed my hand and then stood up and walked away. He would know about wanting something he can't have. I remember it all very clearly.

I was about 16 years old when I first met Aro. I had seen him while I was out walking in a garden, crying because I missed my father who had passed on a year before. Aro sat and talked with me. I was intrigued by this man. I would come every night and talk to him, for a month or maybe it was two. Then one night things changed.

"Verona, my dearest, let me walk you home and to make sure you get there safely." He grabbed my hand and his eyes glazed over. "You know, you are going to be a beautiful lady when you grow up. All the gentlemen are going to want you. I think I may have to take your father's position, to make sure nothing ever happens to you." We started walking back to my house.

That night I fell asleep but was awakened in the middle of the night to a sharp scream. There at the foot of my bed was Aro with my mother. I had never seen terror from my mom's eyes until that night. I tried to get up and run to her but there were two men holding onto my arms.

"Verona, dearest, I am only going to tell you this once," Aro looked at me and then he looked at my mother and licked his lips. "If you ever run from me I will do the same to you that I did to your father only a year ago, like I am going to do to your mother tonight." He turned my mother's head and bit her neck. He then looked up at me and then bit her again and began to drink from her. I watched her die that night, in his arms, with unimaginable terror in her eyes. When he was done with her he sat down on my bed.

"Verona, I would like you to meet Marcus and Caius," he motioned at the men who were holding me down. "We are going to take care of you. When you prove yourself to us we will make you one of us." He brushed his hand along the side of my cheek.

For two years after Aro murdered my mother, the three taught me about themselves and what they were, vampires. Aro told me I was going to have a power once I was changed but he didn't understand what I was going to be capable of. When I turned 18, Aro changed me himself. It had been 120 years, and since then Aro had learned a lot about my power. I hated having to use it.

I also remembered when I first met Alec and Jane. Jane wanted to use her power on me. I told her only if I got to use my power on her. She just laughed and said I couldn't do anything to her that she didn't want me to do. Aro just started laughing. He had a vampire who had broken a law brought in and he let me show her what I could do. From then on Jane and Alec would leave whenever I came in the room. I guess they realized that I am not as weak as they thought.

Just then the wind blew against my face. Oh crap, I am late! I grabbed my parasol and started to run to the throne room. I left the parasol at the outside door and ran through the halls. Well I guess I can tell Aro I was working on being fashionably late.

I saw the throne room doors at the end of the hall. Alec and Jane were just leaving, closing the doors as they exited the room.

"I see you are running late, again," Jane sneered at me as she was walking away. I could hear her continue. "Alec, I don't see why they keep her around. She gives us a bad name."

Well here goes nothing, better late than never. I pushed open both doors and stood in the middle as they opened. I put my hands on my hips as I shifted my weight to one leg. I looked around the room and saw Aro, Marcus and Caius sitting in their thrones. I then noticed our visitors. There were three girls. One was short with short dark hair, she could be just a few inches shorter then I am. One was a little taller than me, a human, with longer dark hair and the third looked like an Amazon. She stood above all the others, with long blond hair. Nothing compared to my hair though. Then I noticed the three guys with them. One with bronze colored hair, the next one with curly blond hair and the third one with… I think I have died and gone to heaven. The third one is tall with dark hair and lots of muscles. I smiled after they all turn and look at me. Time to play it cool Verona. Walk in, straight past him and strut your stuff, you know you got it.

I started walking and headed straight through the middle of the group. Just as I began to get close to the man of my dreams, I found the only crack in this room. My foot twisted and sent me heading towards the floor. Before I hit the floor though, the god himself has his arms out to catch me.

I looked into his eyes. They were golden. Wait, they should be red. I noticed he was staring into my eyes also. "Watch where you walk there gorgeous," the Adonis spoke to me.

I smiled at him and said the first thing that I could think of, "You saved my shoe."

I looked up over his shoulder and saw the blond cross her arms as she huffs, "You don't call me gorgeous."

I then noticed the blond curly haired guy say to the human. "Bella, you won't be alone as a vampire." She smirked and the bronze haired guy scowled at the comment.

The giant of a vampire finally stood me upright and I walked up to Caius and shook his hand. I then walked over to Marcus and gave him a hug, "Good things will be coming your way my dear," he said. I walked over to Aro and stood behind him. I placed my hand on the back of his throne and he gave it a squeeze.

"Well I see you all have met our fair Verona," he motioned towards me. "Verona, I would like you to meet the Cullens," he motioned towards the group. He stood up, grabbed my hand and led me over to them. "Verona, I would like you to meet Edward, Alice, Jasper, Bella, Rose and Emmett."

Finally my god had a name and I liked it. He then led me back to his throne. "The Cullens are also very gifted, just like you. Jasper can sense emotions. Alice here can see the future, and Edward can read minds." Hmmm, I grinned, let's see how good these guys are. I licked my lips and looked at Emmett. I glanced at Aro and grinned. He knew I wanted to play. He just wasn't sure what I had planned yet, so he nodded. I let my lust run. MMM Emmett is sitting in Aro's throne. I am on top of him, naked kissing every inch of his cold hard skin. Edward pulls at the neck of his shirt a little bit. Jasper's eyes start to get dark. MMMM Emmett and I on the floor where he's standing… Doggie style on the steps below my feet... Both guys eyes rolled back and they turned and looked at me. The next thing I knew, as I looked at every vampire in the room, their eyes were filled with lust. The poor human was redder then the roses in my garden. I smiled and began to think of my peaceful garden. That was fun, thanks. Edward nodded.

"Verona, if you are done playing, we can move along with our business," Marcus laughed a little bit as he fanned himself, joking with me. I nodded my head and got out of Aro's throne. As he took a seat, I decided to sit on the steps.

"We see you have yet to change Bella. Have you set the date or do we need to set one for you?" Aro asked towards Edward.

"We haven't set a date yet, and no we don't need you to set a date for us," Edward said through gritted teeth. He looked towards Alice, glared at the one named Jasper, and finally his eyes stopped at Bella.

"Well, you have yet to set a date, meaning you have not fulfilled your end of the bargain, so we will set a date for you. We do not take kindly to our rules being broken," Caius said. Aro reached down and squeezed my shoulder. I turned to look at him for my next assignment.

Suddenly, Rose stepped forward, "Over my dead body will you change Bella."

Before I knew what I was doing, I had taken my right hand glove off and my hand was around her neck. "That can be arranged," I said as I watched her eyes go from their golden color to black to white, then back to gold again. Oh no, it has happened again.

I dropped my hand and looked at Aro. I put my head down in shame. I grabbed my glove from Aro's feet, put it back on and ran out the doors of the room. I raced through the castle and all the way out into my garden where I was safe. I can't believe I let it happen. Why did I react so fast?

"Are you okay?" A strange voice broke me out of my thinking. I turned around and saw Bella.

"I think I am. Why are you out here?" I asked as I motioned for her to sit down.

"I think I should ask that question myself," she replied back as she smiled at me.

"This is my garden, my sanctuary," I motioned around to the garden and the benches. "This is the only place I can go to get away. No one ever comes to bother me here. Those fools don't know what they are missing. It's so peaceful out here." Bella looked around and nodded her head at me. "Again, I am going to ask why you are out here, alone at that, with me, a vampire?" I was so confused she didn't seem to be scared of that fact. She was so confident of herself, like she trusted me not to attack her.

"I came to see if you were okay. There is no need to be embarrassed for tripping," she said.

She thinks I am embarrassed by tripping??? "Sweetie, I don't know what they told you but I am not embarrassed by tripping." She started to blush. She must trip also, that would explain why she felt I was embarrassed by it.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I am usually the one that trips, so I know what it feels like." She started to fumble with her hands a bit.

"Is there something I could help you with, I am not sure I have the answer but I may be able to help?" I asked. I hate seeing people feel awkward around me.

"Well, you seem to be kind of different from the other's in there. Uh…," she started fumbling with her thumbs again. "How old are you?" I looked at her to see if I understood her right. "Well how old were you when you were changed? How long have you been changed?"

These questions seemed easy enough to answer. "I had just turned 18 when I was changed and that was about 120 years ago."

I looked to see her reaction to that. "Who changed you? Do you have a mate? Did you know what you were getting into?"

She is a persistent one. "Aro changed me. No, I don't have a mate. Yes, I knew what I was getting into. I had two years to prepare for it before I was changed." I stood up and moved closer to her to gauge her reaction.

"Verona," she reached her hand out towards my gloved hand, "do you have any friends here?" I shook my head "Well, I don't mean to be nosy or pushy but you look like you could use a friend. I don't really know you, but it seems like we could learn a lot from each other. Would you like to maybe hang out sometime? We could talk and get to know each other. You seem so different from the other vampires that are here."

Is she serious? "I guess we can be friends. Do you not worry about your safety?" I turned and asked her.

"I trust you. That's what friends do, they trust one another," she said as she grabbed my hand. "So if you didn't run out because of embarrassment, why did you run out of the room?"

Oh no, here it goes. I guess I should tell her the truth since she is trusting me with her life, I should trust her. "Well I ran out of the room because I attacked that girl with Emmett." Oh, here it goes. I feel the grin spread across my face and I try to turn so she won't notice the smile that just his name brings to me.

"Who, Rosalie? Don't take it personally. If being a bitch could be considered a gift, Rose would be a savant," she smirked a little bit. I think we will be really good friends. "You can even ask Emmett. I am sure he needs a friend too. Don't tell anyone but Em told me he called things off with her about three months ago because of her attitude. She just hasn't gotten over him yet."

"So Emmett doesn't have a mate?" I quickly turned around and asked with a smile.

"Wait a minute you aren't getting me off track," Bella stood up and put her hands on her hips and looks at me like Aro does to get his way. "Why did you leave the room if you weren't embarrassed about tripping? What did you mean when you said you attacked Rose?"

Where do I begin? "Bella, if I tell you why I left I can't have you tell anyone, please." I grabbed hold of her hand and pulled her close to me. "Very few people know about what I can do and I want to keep it that way. Do you understand me?"

"Verona, you act like you could make me stay quiet if I didn't promise." She said.

"Little do you know Bella," I took one glove off and started playing with it. "Do you know why I wear these gloves?"

"No, but does it have something to do with why you took it off before attacking Rose?" she asked as she grabbed the glove out of my hand and started to play with it. "I do like the glove. How can you pull the look off?"

"It is not there for just looks, like you may think." I took the glove back and put it back on. Focus, you don't want to hurt her or worse. "Bella, have you ever been made to do something you don't want to do."

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