When we arrive at the airport in Italy, a large guy with long brown hair is waiting for us.
"Good afternoon Renesmee and.." He trails off as he stares at me.
"Cassandra Cullen, but call me Cassie." I put out one hand, and he places his much larger one in it.
"Nice to meet you, Cassie. I'm Demetri." He says as he leads us out to an expensive-looking Mercedes. The drive is short and filled with awkward small talk about the weather and such things.
The Volturi castle is huge and ancient. There is a several guys that take our luggage as soon as we get there, and carry them up to our rooms. I follow the two with my suitcases and Renesmee follows the one with hers.
"Thank you for carrying my things. My name is Cassandra, call me Cassie." I say politely to each of them.
"No problem. Felix Volturi," A tall guy with croppy black hair says, shifting my bags into one arm so he can shake my hand.
"Santiago Volturi," The other one with the long black hair in a pony tail and little triangle of hair under his bottom lip says, shaking my hand also. They drop my bags off in my room. I gasp as they open the door.
The inside is white with a huge white bed and reddish pink trimmings. There is a desk on the sidewall, complete with a bouquet of flowers, an assortment of books, and a Mac laptop, along with a clear swivel chair. There is a large window behind that with an amazing view of a huge garden and the rest of the city. A reddish pink couch is opposite the bed, and the bathroom and closet are right next to each other on the final wall.
"This is amazing," I breathe, going over to the window to take in the great view. Everything here in Volterra is covered in a blanket of powdery white snow.
"Aro will be pleased to hear that you like it. He would like to see you in the throne room at around seven. We will be eating then." Felix says from the doorway.
"I don't drink from humans." I turn to face them and glance disapprovingly at his crimson eyes. His face twists in disgust.
"Yes, I know. Aro has something prepared for you." He says as him and Santiago back out of the door. I begin unpacking when they shut the door. The closet is huge, which is good because I need plenty of space for all my clothes. Someone knocks on my door just as I'm finishing up.
"Cassie, its me," Nessie's voice sounds from the other side. I open up and she comes prancing in.
"Are you seriously changing clothes just to meet Aro?" She asks, looking at the short sparkly black cocktail dress with the strapless, revealing top laying out on my bed.
"Alice will kill me if I don't wear everything at least once." I remind her.
"True, true. I'm glad I've steered clear of her shopping obsession." She laughs, pulling her plaid flannel shirt tighter around herself and running her hands down her torn and faded jeans. I quickly change into my dress, smoothing it out in front of the full length mirror hanging on my closet door.
"Come on, we have to go," I glance at the clock above my bed. She links her arm through mine and pulls me down to the throne room. There are three thrones situated in the middle of the room and three ghostly figures sit there.
"Oh there you are. Welcome, welcome both of you!" A man with long black hair floats towards us. He comes up to Renesmee, and she immediately holds out her hand. He grabs it, petting it, his eyes glazed over for a moment.
"Hello there. Do you mind?" Aro reaches for my hand. I hold it up to him. He clasps it tightly, goes through my past, and then comes back to present.
"Well it is a pleasure to meet you Cassandra." He gives me a creepy smile.
"Call me Cassie." I smile back to him.
"You know, Cassie, you are a bit under the age limit." He gives a sad expression, as if he devastated about this.
"I was dying on the forest floor. Carlisle couldn't really stop to stare at me and try to measure my age." I remind him.
"That is true. But Carlisle should be a little more cautious. And I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable, but we will be monitoring you for your time here to make sure you aren't out of control." He laughs.
"For God's sake, I'm half a year under the limit!" I stare incredulously at him.
"A bit feisty, aren't we?" He gives a tight lipped smile, his eyes cold and hard. I shrug.
"Well, Cassie, would you like to have a bite to eat?" He laughs at his own pun and I give a small, awkward haha.
"As long as I'm not biting any humans." I remind him as I hear mortal voices murmuring and their heavy footsteps heading towards us.
"Of course not. I respect your odd eating habits. Members of my guard have personally visited many countries and taken the blood of large, carnivorous creatures for you to drink while you are here. We will keep it in a fridge in the lounge room. There is a microwave if you would like to heat it up. Here is tiger blood, already warmed up for you." He says, drifting to the back of the room and back to hand us two golden chalices filled with sloshy blood.
The humans come pondering in then, snapping pictures and pointing out things to one another, and tons of vampires run in from all around, herding them into the middle of the room.
"Hello guests, and welcome to Volterra!" Aro bellows, and then every vampire grabs a human and slices into their neck. I watch as blood oozes down the human's flesh, and desire builds within me. I greedily chug the rich, warm tiger blood as does Renesmee, each of us looking away from the bleeding humans to resist temptation. I think about the chilling screams each human released as they realized what was happening, and that everyone here has families, pets, siblings, parents, husbands, wives, futures. They are being brutally torn from this planet to feed another. I don't want to be that kind of parasite.
Once everyone is done and the bodies are drug out, Aro ghosts back over to us. He places his hands on our shoulders and turns to face his guard.
"Everyone please head to the lounge room. I would like you all to mingle with our guests." He begins leading us out of this large, ancient room, down some dimly lit corridors, and into a moderate size, modern looking room with sofas and televisions and games such as pool, ping pong, X-box, PS3, and arcade games.
The Volturi members slowly filter in and begin taking seats and chatting it up. Renesmee and I awkwardly stand in the back and pretend to talk. Aro, seeing that his coven is most definitely not mingling, begins shoving us together. He grabs Nessie's hand and pushes her towards a tall, stunning brunette he called Heidi.
Aro grabs my hand, and shoves me towards someone. I tumble into this person, and their arms immediately wrap around me to steady my fall. An electric warmth spreads through my veins, disappearing as I take a step back though.
"I am so sorry," I say as I look up at my rescuer. He is the hottest guy I've ever seen.. Shiny black hair that swoops across his forehead, bright scarlet eyes that seem to calculate the movement of everything around him, rose red full lips that look very soft, beautiful pale skin, high cheekbones, a squared jawline, tall and muscular. Wowza..
"No, you are fine, Aro is a little pushy," He laughs, pulling his tight blue cotton shirt down.
"I'm Cassandra Cullen, call me Cassie," I stutter out like a fool and extend one arm towards him.
"Alexander Volturi, call me Alec," He grins and takes my hand firmly, shaking it as an electric current runs through us.
"Oh. You're the scary one." I say stupidly as a flashback of what Nessie told me on the plane swirls through my head.
"Yes, I am. And you're the child." He arches one eyebrow challengingly.
"Yeah, I guess I am. But Carlisle really didn't have a choice but to change me then."
"Aro didn't have a choice either."
"I was being murdered by my step-father."
"I was being burned at the stake after being accused of being a witch."
"I was beaten for years before that."
"Everyone I loved and trusted danced around me and laughed."
"I watched my step-father murder my mother."
"I watched Aro slaughter my whole family."
"I was raped twenty seven times by my step-dad."
"Are we really arguing over who had a more tragic past?" He laughs and gives me a heart-melting smile. It takes me a minute before I can respond.
"You're right, this is stupid. I'm the competitive type. And I know I can totally beat you at pool." I grab a pool stick, shoving it a bit too forcefully against his chest. He grabs it too, and jerks me forward so we are so close our noses are nearly touching.
"I think you're my type," He whispers huskily, his cool sweet breath fanning across my face, leaving me momentarily dazed. My lips pull up into a smile.
"We'll see about that," I whisper in what I hope was a seductive voice, and then shove away from him, towards the pool table. He laughs and stares after me for a moment before running to catch up.
