Chapter 4

Carlisle was right. There was not better way to bond quicker with vampires then to tell them your transformation story.

"Please make yourself comfortable. My story is not one of tragedy. I wanted to die and live forever, but there were some key details that happen to not get mentioned before I made my choice."

My story begins in Sweden. It was just before the turn of the first millennium. The time of the Vikings. I grew up in a small village. It was only my father, Robert, my older brother, Aden, and my younger brother, Eric. My mother died while giving birth to Eric. Our father raised us up with equal love for each of us. He sent me to houses in the village to learn how to cook, sew and gather knowledge about being a woman, wife and mother. While I was studying to be a good wife, my brothers were being taught how to wield a sword and become fighters. Both Eric and Aden liked to practice their sword skills on me. Two against one is not really fair, but the result was that I became talented with a sword. I grew up knowing all the skills it took to be a proper woman and also what it took to be a Viking warrior.

I grew up to be pretty and had the local boys chasing after me, but I did not desire to be a wife.

There was a woman who was old and had been married and bore many children. She had taken on the role of matriarch. Her role in the village was to make sure that we did not forget our Viking history and retold the stories of the Gods to remind us is if we did not follow their rules what could happen. I had memorized many of them and was reciting them to the children in the village. The satisfaction I got from my new position in the village made me feel like I had a purpose besides becoming someone's wife.

My father was not happy that I had decided to be so independent and blamed himself for not sending me off to live permanently with another family who could have raised me to be more of a desirable wife. There did not seem to be any lack of suitors coming my way so I was not sure what my father was worried about. Since I had no true desire to be married I had some fun with the boys in the village.

It was around then that I learned I could get some of these boys to do whatever I wanted. I once had a boy's mother publically say that I had bewitched her son. It was the dead of winter and his particular boy had been after me for months but I had no intention of getting serious with him, or any boy for that matter. I told him to prove how much he loved me by jumping in the partly frozen lake. It was a cruel thing to ask and I thought that he would see it that way and finally leave me alone. To my shock he jumped right in and quickly out. He became very sick with a fever and almost died and it was my fault. Some people just seem to not be able to say no to me.

Besides the influence I had over the boys in the village, my father did not like that I would wonder off for whole days and explore the woods alone. There was one place that I kept as a secret retreat. It was a small lake hidden deep in a forest about five miles from the village. To me this was paradise. I could lay out on a sunny day and pull my skirt up high to feel the sun on my thighs. I had told not a soul about this area. Not even my brothers. As far as I knew I was the only person who ever came here. I was wrong.

One beautiful June afternoon I fell asleep next to the lake. When I woke there was a bouquet of flowers lying right next to me with a note. Simply beautiful, was all that was written on the small piece of parchment. Fear spread over me and I wondered how someone could get so close and I did not hear them and wake? I picked up the flowers and examined them. These were like no flowers I had seen before. I had never laid my eyes on such a beautiful plant. As much as I loved my bouquet I could not take it home. My father and brothers would ask too many questions and I might not be able to go out by myself if they knew I had fallen asleep and while I slept someone had walked right up to me and left them.

The next two weeks I went out to my secret hideaway every day. Whoever it was knew I would come because when I arrived there was either a new type of flower or fruit. Each fruit I tried just kept getting better. I could not imagine who was leaving these for me and was curious where the food was coming from. Animals or bugs would eat the fruit so it had to be laid out just before I arrived.

As I was shoving a piece of banana in my mouth, I caught something out of the corner of my eye. I jumped up, dropping the banana, grabbed my sword and pointing in the direction I thought I saw movement. This might be my secret admirer, but all the gifts in the world do not mean that this is a good person. I looked toward where the trees shifted. My heart hammered in my chest. A figure appeared standing under a tree. He stood tall and had jet black hair that fell to his shoulders. My first impression is that this must be a very sickly person because he had no color in his cheeks.

The whole time he stood under the shade of the tree and I held my stance. I was ready to attack and see how well my brothers had taught me.

"I mean you no harm Simone. My name is Aro. I hope that you enjoyed your gifts over the last few weeks." He was standing far enough away that one would almost have to yell or at least talk loudly, but his voice did not seem forced. I did not know where he was from, but his looks and his voice made it clear that he was not Nordic.

I still had my hands tightly holding my sword. "How do you know my name?"

"Simone I know much more about you then just your name. I have been looking for someone like you." As he said this he began to walk, or glide would be a better description, towards me.

"Someone like me? What do you mean? I am nothing special." I said this with confidence because it was the truth.

"Simone you are special to me. You have the ability to get people to get people to do what you want them to do. I only know how to command."

The whole time he was coming closer. As soon as he hit the line of the shade of the trees I could see him shimmer in the sun. My mind could not comprehend what I was seeing. I fell to my knees.

I spoke so quietly it was almost a whisper. "It all makes sense. The flowers that could not grow around here. The fruit that tasted sweeter than anything I have ever had. Now that you stand in front of me I can see that you are a god. Please do not punish me too harshly for pointing my sword at you." I could not even look back up at him. I was embarrassed.

Aro knelt before me. "You think me a god?" He let out a little laugh. "Well I guess you are right. I am the god of eternal life."

I had been learning about the gods but I did not remember a god of eternal life. How many gods did we not know about, I wondered.

His voice seemed to wrap around me and he sounded amused that I called him a god. I looked up and had to look back down when I saw his bright red eyes. He reached under my chin to make me look at him again.

"Do not fear me. I have come here to ask you to join me for eternity. I have fallen under your spell like so many others. To look upon you is to love you. Simone you can't help it. You have a way of making people want to please you and will do anything you say."

I looked directly into those red eyes. They were almost pretty the more I looked at them. "You want to make me a god?" The skepticism was thick in my question.

He leaned in and gave me a firm kiss. His lips were ice cold but it sent a wave of heat through my body. He pulled away but only a few inches. His eyes seemed to penetrate me. "Yes Simone, I want to make you a god. I can promise you power, eternal life and my soul devotion to you."

Never had anyone ever uttered those words and meant them more. I could see it in his eyes. I could feel it in his hand as it stroked my cheek. He spoke gently as to not scare me. "I see that you are reluctant to leave your father and brothers. If you are going to join me then it has to be now. You will not be able to say goodbye to your family."

He knew my fear without me telling him. He was a powerful god I could tell. I was not sure what I was going to do. To not be able to tell my family what had happened to me will tear my father and brothers apart. They will go searching for me. My father will blame himself even more for letting me have so much freedom. I did not want to do that to them, but Aro said it was now or never to become a god.

Again Aro leaned in and kissed me. This time his kiss was harder, more eager. I leaned back to try to break the kiss but Aro moved with me, never breaking the kiss, until I was flat on my back and Aro was lightly press across the length of my body. One of his hands had somehow made it under my skirt and his icy hand was firmly placed on my thigh. The combination of my hot skin from, lying in the sun, and his cold hand gave such an odd sensation.

My training for being a good wife came back to me. I had spent many hours learning how to please a husband. I grabbed Aro's hand and moved it higher on my thigh. He did not need much encouragement. He seemed to know what was going through my head and he placed a hand under my head and gave me a crushing kiss. I moaned from pain as well as passion. Aro took this as a sign and entered me. The pain was almost too much to take. Aro realized this and backed off a little, but never breaking his rhythm. The heat that had started when Aro kissed me had now grown to a blazing fire.

"Simone, my dear, are you ready to become a god?"

I could not think straight but I now knew what I really wanted. "Oh yes, yes. Make me a god." I said in a very raspy voice I was not even sure if he could tell what I had said.

The words were barely past my lips when he leaned over me, looked deep in my eyes and said, "The pain will not last forever. I promise." Then he bit my neck and I was forever bound to Aro.

The pain did seem to last forever, but kept hearing Aro saying it would not. I had to believe that he would not lie to me. I gave up everything to be with him. I remember thinking that if the pain did not stop soon I would go insane.