CHAPTER 4

We were driving home after I had picked up my supplies for school; I had also picked up a CD and book on how to learn Italian. We entered the house in silence. Though Mac and I had had a few moments that things weren't strange or awkward it still wasn't many. I wonder if it bothered him to have to baby sit a sixteen-year old.

I was still in awe of the amazing house. I walked to the kitchen and prepared myself a snack. My father must have thought me stupid to not notice that he and Mac never ate. I wondered how long m father had been this way. Had he been like this when he was married to my mother? Did my mother know that vampires existed?

If my father had been this way for a while how had I not noticed before? It all seemed so very obvious to me now.

I walked upstairs and started to work on learning my Italian. I worked on it until my dad got home and I already knew some simple phrases. My dad stood in my doorway and smiled.

"How was your first day?" he asked.

"Good." I answered. "I made some nice friends."

"That's great Cass." My dad said.

"Yup." I said

"Alright then, it's getting late why don't you get some sleep soon." He said.

"Okay." I said glancing at the clock. It was 9:42 PM. He walked away and I put my Italian books down and turned the CD off. I went to the bathroom and washed my face, then changed. I got in bed, reading book and light with me. I read only a few pages before I fell asleep though.

My morning was dreary as I rolled out of bed still half un-conscious; though the scalding water that burned my back did wake me up a bit. I looked outside the sun was out; I opened my window to feel the air. It seemed comfortable. I chose to wear a red skirt with a black sweatshirt. Once I was done dressing I walked downstairs and poured myself a bowl of cereal. Eating it quickly under Mac's anxious to leave stare I almost choked.

We drove to school listening to a radio station that I had found that was actually good. We stopped at the curb in front of the school.

"I'll pick you up same time I did yesterday." He said. I stepped out and he drove off. Why did he seem so hostile? Maybe he needed to hunt?

I walked into the crowds of people carefully today not wanting to walk into the same banister.

"Cassie! Cassie! Over here!" called Rachel waving to me frantically. I walked over still smiling. "Hi!" she said.

"Hi." I said back. The other girls said hi also, the boys were no where to be seen.

"We were planning on all going out on Friday night." Said Alexis. "We would probably all go to a teen club then go sleep over at someone's house. Do you want to go with us?"

"Sure." I said taken aback. I couldn't believe that they were just inviting me when I had barely known them a day.

"Great." Rachel continued. "Now, we were just trying to decide whose house we should stay at we won't want to stay at mine because William will be there. What about you guys?"

"My mother won't let me have people over; she says that she doesn't want kids in the house, especially with her around." Alexis said.

"My house is too far away from the club." Allison said.

"Where is the club?" it's in the shopping center.

"I can't my dad is having construction done on the house." Said Jenna.

"We stayed at my house last time." Said Eliza.

"What about you Cassie?"

"Um, I can ask my dad but I think that it should be alright." I said.

"Great!" Rachel said; the boys then walked over. "Have you guys finished your plan?"

"Yea" William said to Rachel.

"So we will all meet where before we go to the club?"

"Why don't we just meet at the club?" Max said.

"Brilliant suggestion" Eliza scoffed. "But where at the club? Outside? Inside?"

"Um…outside?" said James. "You guys do all of your girly stuff right, then you drive to the club and meet us outside, okay?"

"Alright." I said just as the bell rang. Everyone said goodbye and William and I left to go to our class.

"Guess what?" I asked him.

"What?" he asked with an easy smile on his face.

"I learned some Italian!" I said excitedly. He looked like he was about to burst with laughter at my comment.

"Well," he retrieved himself. "That is good seeing as it is the language spoken here and you now live here." When he said it like that it didn't sound like such a huge accomplishment.

We walked into the class room and I sat down at my seat next to the hair brained girl and the tanned boy. As the teacher began to talk about what would be covered in our first lesson plan I started to pick out tiny words and could almost piece together what he was saying.

He handed out our first reading book I looked at the cover. The design looked familiar. Something I had possibly already read before now. I slipped the book into my bag as the bell rang and took an unsure breath at the prospect of having to try and actually read some of it tonight. I walked to my next class after saying good bye to William.

I was met at the door by none other than Eleanor.

"Hello Cassie" she said her mock smile that she wore was so perfect that I thought she must practice it in the mirror.

"Hi Eleanor." I said though my smile must have looked forced because it certainly felt that way. After the way she had acted yesterday I was slightly nervous around her. Without realizing I had let my guard down and she had pushed my self esteem to a low point by telling me that William and Rachel had just been nice.

"So how did your day go yesterday?"

"Good and yours?" I asked like I was at a dinner party and she was merely an annoying prying acquaintance.

"It was very nice…" I could tell that she sensed my iciness towards here and I knew that she would try to melt it. "Why don't you sit with us during brunch?"

"I think I am supposed to sit with Rachel and William."

"Supposed to?" she questioned what I had said. Thankfully the teacher called the class to its attention. I had nothing to say to her comment.

The day seemed to fly by. I did end up sitting with Eleanor until Rachel dragged me away when they weren't looking. Each class was as boring as the last. In English we got an exam to test where our levels of advancement were. Surprisingly I failed. It wasn't that I didn't know how to read and write English it was that I couldn't translate the Italian to what I was supposed to say in English. I mostly wrote nonsense.

In PE we got our uniforms and played with a basket ball again. We wouldn't have to actually do anything until next week. I walked out of my second day of school to see the silver Mercedes I hopped in and then remembered Mac's attitude this morning.

I turned to look at him. His eyes were still aglow and I could sense the hostility that they held toward me. I kept silent the entire drive. I was almost sure that the cause of his behavior was that he needed to hunt.

When we arrived home I started on the mounds of homework I received. If it hadn't felt real before, this experience that is, it certainly did now that I had homework fit for an entire week.

When my dad arrived home I had already increased my knowledge of Italian. I walked downstairs, having already eaten I asked about the excursion on Friday.

"I guess it will be fine if you all stay here." He said after thinking it over.

"Great, thanks."

I walked to my room and finished my homework. Each day that week passed in about that fashion. Everyday I would pretend to be nice to Eleanor after my class with William. I would eat with all of my new friends. Then I would go to PE and be pestered by Patrick about who I thought I had seen.

On Friday morning as I sat in the kitchen eating my cereal my father entered. I knew that Mac was sitting by the door on the steps. His attitude hadn't changed nor had his eyes which meant he still hadn't hunted.

I had all of my clothing and possible makeup for the night in a bag next to my book bag.

"Where are you and your friends getting ready?" my father asked.

"I'm not sure one of their houses I guess, why?"

"Because Mac is going to drive you all their and back, he will be with you all tonight."

"What?!? No, that is not happening. Anyways he needs a break. Why don't you give him the day off." I complained.

"Because Cassie I need him to be with you."

"I can handle myself thank you very much." I spat venomously at him.

"Cassie, it isn't you I don't trust it is the rest of the world." I had heard my mother say this to me when I was a child.

"Dad! I don't want that, it is completely unfair and I don't even think that he can get into the club. It is for teens."

"That is alright I'll find a way for him to get in." my father said. He was getting on my nerves.

"What the fuck! This is so not fair. It is stupid and you are so ignorant I lived practically by myself for the last few years. Anyways he's practically…" I let my words stop. I was about to say he was practically dangerous. I knew my father would ask why I thought that and I would be stuck in a corner, unable to say that I knew there was the possibility that he might jump on one of my friends. I knew that he currently drank animal blood but that didn't mean he couldn't slip. Elyse had.

"Watch your language young lady!" he said.

"You know what; I don't even want to go anymore. I'll just have to tell them that they have to find a new place to sleep and that I'm not going!" I picked up my book bag and walked to the door motioning for Mac to get up and follow.

The car ride was silent but that wasn't out of the ordinary. At school I found Rachel, Jenna, Allison, Eliza, and Alexis.

"Hey guys, I am really sorry. My dad and I got in a fight today and I'm not allowed to have you over or go out tonight." I said. It was easier to say that than I had yelled at him that I just wouldn't go.

"Sorry about the fight with your dad." Alexis said.

"I guess we could spend the night at my house again" said Eliza.

The bell rang and I walked quietly to my class. I felt down-trodden the entire day I didn't even bother being polite to Eleanor. I just told her that I would rather sit with Rachel today.

In PE Patrick didn't even bother to bug me about who I had seen. At the end of the day before I left school I found Rachel.

"Hey Rachel, what is the address of the club?" I asked quietly.

"Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"Because I'm going to meet you there."

She looked at me as if it weren't such a good idea but I didn't care. She gave me the address and I hurried off to the car. Once inside it I saw Mac with his eyes still the same. We drove home quietly. I put on a show of being mad when I realized that my dad was home. I walked up my stairs loudly and slammed the door turning music on full blast.

I started to get ready and waited in my room as the sun set. About ten minutes before I was about to go my dad knocked on the door.

"Do you want anything to eat?" he asked through the closed door.

"No" I answered tersely. I heard him walk back downstairs and I made sure I was ready with makeup and clothing. I grabbed my wallet and opened my window. I had been contemplating all day about how I would escape but hadn't come up with a good idea so I was basically just going to wing it.

I looked down the outside. Along the wall of the house there was the ivy that grew over a structure that resembled a ladder. The problem was that it was about ten feet from my window. Between the ivy and me there was another window the window sill jutted out from the side of the house about 4 inches. I knew that it was stupid but I slipped through the window and carefully maneuvered my way to the window sill and then down the ivy.

I had left very early compared to when everyone would be arriving. But I would have to walk all the way into town. I started slowly and tugged the jacket that I had brought around me tighter.

It took a long time but eventually I got there. I could see Rachel, William, Eliza, Alexis, max, Patrick, Jenna, Allison, James, and Rodney in line already. I rushed to them.

"Oh my gosh!" Alexis exclaimed.

"We didn't think that you would really make it." William said. I smiled, I had made it. Though I had no idea how. Weren't vampires supposed to hear everything?

I waited in line with them and we entered the club. The atmosphere changed and the temperature went up about ten degrees. We all started dancing and I couldn't believe that I had made it. The feeling of ecstasy lasted the entire night. Or at least most of it.

We had been dancing for about two hours when I felt a sharp jerk on my shoulder and my wrist being grabbed. I turned my head to glare thinking it was just some rude guy but was met with the disapproving eyes of Mac.

I looked up into his livid eyes that glowed like a full moon. He held my wrist tight in his hand.

"Hey!" Alexis called out to Mac and me. I wasn't moving. I was just standing absorbing his glower and imagining the millions of punishments and cruel fates that I could possibly receive from my behavior.

I heard Patrick say something to Mac in Italian, Alexis translated in my ear that he had said something along the lines of leave her alone, you're too old to be in here.

"No, no it's alright" I said to my now circling friends. "He is my… babysitter." I saw a few of their eyes glance to look at each other. They had tight lips holding back smiles and laughter.

Mac jerked my wrist a bit. Not hard enough to do any damage but enough to hurt, I whimpered.

"We're leaving, now." Mac said menacingly. I wanted to be defiant to say no, but alas I was small, pathetic, feeble, and he was big, scary, and a vampire. I scowled but walked toward the exit. I didn't even think of what my friends now thought of me.

I got into the car slamming the door with excessive force, then sitting sullenly. I sat, my arms crossed, my anger building until I was seething. I couldn't believe I had just been picked up. And it was stupid. My father should have just not have said that Mac would have to come. It was all stupid.

The highway ripped below the car, speeding by.

Or maybe I was being stupid. I knew that I had acted rashly. Sneaking out seemed like something Kirsten or Lena would have done. But I wanted to be a different person. I wanted to leave all qualities about myself, the Cassie that had been in love with Rory, behind. I wanted to be someone new. Was that why I had acted accordingly this evening?

I heard the brakes squeal to a stop and my anger returned.

I opened the car door to find my dad standing just in front of the house door. I stormed upset to the house. I had intended to walk right past him. Up the stairs and to my room. He took my shoulder as I passed though. I turned on him to glare but was met with his own that indubitably trumped mine.

He gently yet at the same time forcefully pulled me inside. I heard Mac's footsteps behind my own as he closed the door. I decided to try to head to my room anyway.

"Where do you think you are going?" my father asked after my first step.

"To my room" I had tried to say boldly but it came out mouse-like.

"No you are not; you will sit at the table and explain your actions." He said.

My temper flared at the idea. He was being so…so aggravating. I breathed slowly though, closing my eyes as to relax. I walked down stairs and to the kitchen table. Mac and my father stood next to it. I could feel their disapproval emanating from their frigid skin.

I sat in the chair and tried to stare up at the two of them, but the looks on their faces caused me to break my resolve and look away.

"Do you understand how dangerous your actions were tonight?" my father demanded of me, he was so obviously working to stay calm. But I was only sixteen and wasn't it normal for sixteen-year-olds to sneak out, party and then throw fits when they got in trouble for it? Yes.

"Oh yes, it was so dangerous, dancing in a club with my friends. A club that, mind you, isn't even supposed to allow people over the age of nineteen into."

"It was still dangerous." He said not having a reason for his words. I was so upset that I could dry, though I knew that this wasn't the time to show how immature I was by crying because my dad was yelling at me.

"You know what dad; the only thing dangerous around me is you!"

"Don't say another word." My father whispered pleadingly.

"I take it back actually you aren't the only dangerous person around, there's Mac. But at least his drinks animal blood" I was cut off by a horrifying roar from my father.

"SHUT UP!!!" I shrunk back into my seat, his biting tone taking away all of my anger and filling it with fear. "Damn it Cassandra! Why did you have to say that?"

I reassessed my situation. It had been the only thing I could think of to say. But no surely I hadn't truly thought about saying this. If I had really thought about it I would have realized that it was possibly one of the worst things to say. I had just possibly ruined everything in a flash of anger. Forget a fate of punishment, whatever fate would be bestowed to me after that was uncertain in my mind but I was almost positive it would be bad.

"I'm sorry." I muttered, though there was no use the damage was already done. My father sat down at the table. Mac followed suit. My dad sat like a stone statue his gaze though was saturated with pure sadness. "Wha-what is it?" I asked finally.

"I don't know what to do now." He dropped his face to his hands. I could hear him breathing jaggedly and I knew that if he could he would be crying.

"What do you mean?" I asked my voice breaking, I looked away: at nothing in particular, I just couldn't bear to see him like this.

"You weren't supposed to let anyone know that you knew." He said speaking to his hands. He breathed deeply to compose himself then looked up at me. "No one could take any action to do anything until we were sure that you knew. But now…I don't even know what they will do to you.

"You don't have to tell the others." I said. I knew that lying wasn't a good move but I needed to console him somehow.

"I wish it were that easy" he said to me.

I sighed impassive.

"How much do you know?" my father asked.

"A lot I guess." I answered reluctantly. "Enough to know that Mac should probably…hunt" my words faltered. "Before he comes in contact with my friends again."

Mac and my father exchanged looks.

"Right…" my father announced. "Once we have finished this discussion he can go."

"So what did you mean by dangerous?" I asked.

"Do you know about the Volturi?" my father asked. I nodded. "Do you know who they are?"

"Yes, Aro Marcus and Caius." I responded.

"Do you know what they do?"

"Somewhat" I replied vaguely.

"Well they are like the law of the land. They set the rules and enforce them. They are probably some of the oldest and most powerful of us that have ever existed."

"So…are they are the danger?"

"Yes."

"How, I don't think I've broken any rules." I said. My father sat back in his seat. And raised an eyebrow. "Have I?"

"Yes Cassie, you and whomever told you the secret have broken the rules. You are in the know. Humans aren't supposed to be in the know." It had been weird to hear him say humans.

"But how are they dangerous, what will they do to me?" I asked, the possibilities racing through my head at warp speed, none of them seemed very good.

My father turned his head to change the subject. Mac cut in.

"Since you might as well be completely informed we should probably explain a few things." He said his smooth voice colored by apprehension and confusion? "Do you know about how some of us have special talents, powers if you will?"

"Yes."

"Well first of all the Volturi… they have omnipotent powers. Aro has the power to see every thought you have ever had, but he is limited by touch. He has to be touching the person to hear those thoughts. Marcus, he sees relationships. The Volturi also have a guard they tend to protect and sometimes…discard of those who break the rules. Each person in the guard is also especially gifted in their power." I turned my head sharply to look at my father.

"What power do you have?" I asked him. He looked at me calculating and taken aback, I realized the reason for this. "Yes, I already know that you are part of the guard." He looked at me and then spoke quickly, his eyes not meeting mine as though he were ashamed.

"I can see people's weaknesses. I can see that one thing that will be their downfall."

"And what's mine?" I asked my eyebrows rising. My father looked at me, his jaw was tight.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean 'you don't know'?" I asked incredulous.

"I mean that I have never been able to use my power on you. I don't understand why. Maybe it is because I will always think of you as that small child that I held in my arms in the hospital. That is how I will always remember you." His voice trailed off. "That's why you're here. Do you remember a while back when I came and Aro, Marcus, and Caius came and you met them. It was because Aro saw through my mind that I couldn't work my powers on you. He was so curios that they decided to come and meet you for themselves." He looked to me for the first time and I saw something I had never seen before in my life regret. Regret for what, I had no idea. "Then when I came last year and I found that Rory had been changed and you two were together I was almost sure that you knew. I came back and everyone knew about this once I was with Aro. Then this year you said that you wanted to come and live with me. The Volturi said that you had to. That I would have to say yes and convince your mother. They needed to know if you knew. And they wanted to see you again; they still didn't understand how you could get around their powers."

I sat in silence. It was a lot to take in. I tried to absorb it into the back of my mind; I would possibly ponder it more when I was alone in my room.

"Do you have a power?" I inquired turning to Mac.

"Yes."

"Well, what is it?" I asked my voice wavered ever so slightly at the thought of my impending death. I knew that Mac and my father had flitted around the subject. Saying they weren't sure what would happen to me. But Mac had slipped up saying that rule breakers were discarded.

"I can create a sort of…force field. I guess that would be what you would call it. I was hired to protect you in case the Volturi decided to…do away with you at random."

"So your power can work on me?"

"No not exactly. My power doesn't go to a certain person. It is bestowed upon a place so say we were sitting here. I could put a force field up for protection. No one would be able to enter or exit it and no powers would be able to get through." He finished.

"Can any of the Volturi's powers work on me?" I asked

"no." my dad answered. A few things clicked into place. Like how Aro's face had seemed frustrated when he shook my hand. "Will you tell me why you left Rory?" he asked. I was confused. I had thought that he didn't like Rory.

"I broke up with him."

"You broke up with him." My father said.

"Yes." I said hurt by his assumption.

"No, Cass, I didn't mean it like that. It's just before I left last year I…"

"You what?"

"I told him… I told him to break up with you, or else."

"Or else what?" I asked angry that he would try and do, try and destroy my happiness. Nit that I didn't do it thoroughly myself by cutting myself off from him.

"So why did you break up with him?" he pushed not answering my question.

"None of your business." I said. There was no way that I was going to own up to the real reason to my father, my vampire father. He sighed annoyed.

"Does mom know about what you are?"

"Of course not!"

"Oh…well, when were you changed?"

"About two years after you were born. A little after your mother and I got divorced."

"How?" I asked.

"How was I changed? Well vampires have this venom that coats their teeth and"

"No not how does the transformation happen, I already know that. I mean what happened that ended up with you being changed."

He shifted uncomfortably.

"I was working in a cave. As an archeologist, which was what I still was then, that was when I was jumped on. I blacked out. I guess he thought that all of my blood had been drained so he left. I found out that he had been on a killing spree killing as many as he could. After me he attempted to get my other co-workers. The Volturi's workers showed up right there and killed him. Then they found me down in the cave struggling. They took me here to Italy and I have worked for the Volturi ever since."

"What did you do before coming here?" I asked Mac. I think he was more comfortable now that I knew he seemed to be more at ease. But maybe it was just that he knew he would be able to hunt once we were done talking.

"I just lived. I tried to act like a normal person. I didn't work for the Volturi. It was your father who went out searching for someone with my type of power. When he found me and talked to me I agreed to come."

"Oh." I turned my eyes down to the table, unsure of asking my next question. I looked up ever so slightly to my dad. "Wh-why do you drink from humans instead of animals?"

He cringed at the bluntness of my question. But he didn't answer after a minute or so I looked up to meet his eye. He wasn't going to say anything. I stared at him intently every moment my anger growing that he wouldn't answer me. How could he have a human daughter that he cared about and still drink from humans? My stare turned into a glare as more questions that pushed my boundaries sprang up in my head. Soon I spoke again. This time without faltering, my anger driving me. It was a question that seriously eluded me.

"Why did you try and take Kirsten. She had been my best friend!" I shouted. He recoiled. I guessed that he didn't know that I knew about that. I could feel the tears start to slip down my face. This had been a question that I had been repressing. I had tried to repress the thought entirely. "And you used me as bait. Saying that I was hurt and that she needed to come and help me!" I was almost to the point of sobbing. "Oh and just so you know she came back, as a vampire. Oh yeah and she nearly killed me while she was at it. Do you really think that my stint in rehab was because I really cut myself?" I couldn't talk I was crying so hard. I stood up out of the chair. I turned to face them again. "It wasn't, that was just my excuse. I kept your stupid secret; your whole stupid community better thank me for that!"

I turned around to walk away but was met by my dad. Stupid super fast vampire skills. He wrapped his arms around me though in a hug. I sobbed into his shirt at the thought as he whispered he was sorry over and over again.

Eventually I pulled myself away wiping my red and puffy eyes.

"I'm going to bed." I whispered though they obviously heard.

"Okay goodnight honey." My dad told me. He looked up to Mac. "You can go and hunt now." He said. Mac nodded and disappeared. "I have to go for the night, will you be all right?"

I nodded meekly.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I have to talk to the Volturi." He said. A shiver of fear ran through me. I nodded again. He then left. I walked slowly upstairs. I had so mush to think about. Everything had been brought out in the open. I wondered how that would affect my life. I trudged to my room, changed and laid down in my bed. Pulling the blankets up to my chin so that I was comfy. I then drifted to sleep, but unlike usual my sleep wasn't restful for one reason. I dreamed.

I stood in a room that seemed mostly dark. There were plenty of people. I recognized Aro, Marcus, Caius, and a few others from the dinner party I had attended recently. The floors were cobble stone and there were two doors that were large in one of the corners.

I saw my father included with the group of people from the party.

In the middle of the floor were a large group of people. Some looked curious, others scared out of there wits. Moments later I found out why. First Aro swooped down upon one of them and bit into their neck. He was followed by Marcus and Caius.

Pandemonium broke out. There were screams of fear and screams of pain. I couldn't move. I couldn't close my eyes no matter how hard I tried. One person had run. They were so close to me I wanted to help them to escape. But suddenly my father stood in front of them.

It was a frightened lady. She was about twenty-seven, with blonde hair and a red coat. She seemed petrified. She sucked in a breath to scream, but my father reached up and snapped her neck in one fluid motion, as easy as breaking a twig.

He moved down to her limp form and bit into her flesh. I saw a trickle off blood escape from where his mouth was.

I felt like throwing up. I was unable to move. I couldn't do anything except watch it happen.

Watch my father become a monster before my eyes.

I woke with a start. The past day had been the most confusing and scary in almost my whole life. And now for the first time since I had arrived here I had dreamed. And it wasn't just a dream.

It was the type of dream I only had when Rory was with me.