I do not own Twilight. I just enjoy writing stories about them.

Chapter 4

6 Months after the Initial Fall Out (February)

Voltura, Italy

The streets almost completely void of all people as they kept to their homes as the sun set to the west complying with the mandatory curfew set out by the leaders of Voltura. Everything was quiet as the children were put to bed and the lights slowly turned off for the night. The only individuals out were members of the Volturi Guard, placed there to keep their people safe from the looming sickness.

Inside the massive building in the center of the city the three ruling brothers Aro, Marcus, and Caius sat in conference with two guards that had just returned from outside the walls with their reports.

"Master, the large cities are almost barren. There are only a few survivors of the sickness and they are doing what they can to stay alive." The dark man looked to the woman with him.

She nodded her head, "He is correct, we barely found anyone. There is a group in the feeding room, however there are only about 9 people there. Hardly a fraction of what we used to bring back."

Marcus leaned back in his chair pondering the situation while Caius scowled at the two before them, "That is not enough for our population Heidi, It is barely enough for us."

Aro held his hand up trying to keep the defeated look from his face. "Brother please, these are hard times. The human population has drastically decreased in the past few month. This sickness is on the verge of ending the human population, which in turn will be the end to us…. If we are not careful."

He turned to the human assistant by the door, "Ama, send in Felix and Demetri. I need them to send a message for me."

The girl nodded and quickly left the great room as Aro began penning a letter.

A few moments later the two requested men were standing in front of the three brothers.

The shorter of the two men stepped forward, "You called for us Master?"

The man nodded, his sickly pale skin creased around the corners of his mouth with a grim expression. "As much as I hate to do this, we need to change our ways until the human population can recover from this plague."

He got up and handed the letter to the shorter man in front of him, "Please take this to my old friend Carlisle Cullen in Forks, Washington. If he agrees, he and his coven will be returning with you."

The two men bowed and quickly left the room to carry out their plan.

Marcus raised an eyebrow breaking his normally indifferent expression, "Brother, you say we need to change our ways and then call upon Carlisle Cullen? What plan do you have?"

Aro turned looking at his brothers, "Carlisle Cullen and his coven have not drank human blood in years, and some never have. As much insult as they are to being vampires, we need to follow their lead for the time being. The humans are failing at protecting themselves, so we will do it for them."

Caius growled, "I will not drink animal blood!"

Aro just held his hand up, "Maybe Carlisle will have an idea to help us. But there are clearly not enough humans to have a few go missing from time to time."

Caius tried speaking but Aro, cut him off again, "This is not a discussion right now, and we will discuss more once we hear from Carlisle."

As time had gone on the Cullen's as well as their two new companions Charlie and Jolene had kept hidden away from the town in the forest covered house. They had added onto the house as well as secured the surrounding areas with different traps that would set an alarm off at the house if breached. The new extension to the house had 5 new rooms so Charlie and Jolene would have their own space as well as anyone else they might find and bring in.

Once Jolene had awoken from her unconsciousness after the fall out, she told the Cullen's that her family had been killed and she was trying to make a run for it when she got trapped on the school field where Charlie, Carlisle and Emmett had found her.

She didn't know much in the way of survival skills so they started showing her things like sewing and tending to the gardens with Esme. Carlisle and Alice taught her some basic first aid. Jasper and Emmett showed her how to track animals to hunt and Rosalie showed her some basics about working on cars just in case she needed one. Charlie taught her how to fish and clean them which brought up memories of his own daughter, however he had never spoken of her again after they had left Florida.

Edward showed interest in the girl, although he would never turn her. The human population was too endangered at the moment to consider turning another. They quickly became friends and talked about books and poems that they enjoyed.

The snow covered ground made it easier to see if any person or infected walked too close to the house, however the smoke from the house chimney usually drew the infected in. They were drawn to the heat and movement, although no one was sure if they were drawn to the heat, or the people. If it was just the Cullen's it wouldn't be an issue, but their human companions needed the heat. Luckily, the Cullen's were able to be on guard since they didn't require sleep and the animal population was better since there was no one hunting except them.

One day Jolene and Esme were working on the plants in the green house when Esme stiffened and stood facing the door pushing Jolene behind her. As the door opened her breath caught seeing the two men standing before her, "Hello Demetri, Felix. What can we help you with?"

Demetri blinked his blackening eyes hearing the girls heart beat behind Esme Cullen, swallowing before averting his eyes back to Esme's, "We bring word from our Masters for your family."

She stepped forward slightly taking the letter from him, "The girl is under our protection, the humans have lost too much. I hope you will respect that?"

The men simply nodded as Felix spoke, "You can trust our word, and the letter you hold will only prove she will not be harmed."

Esme looked down at the letter with curiosity before turning slightly to take Jolene's hand, "Alright, won't you gentlemen follow me inside? I am sure Carlisle will want the family together for this one." Looking back to Jolene, "Please go call Charlie and Emmett to the house?"

The girl nodded before sliding past the two men and out of the door pulling her jacket close, now that she was out of the warmth the green house provided.

Esme looked back to the men holding up a hand pointing to the house, "This way please."

They nodded following her inside the home looking around at the décor, "You have a lovely home Esme."

She smiled and nodded her head in thanks, "Thank you Felix, We collect a great many items on our travels. Although with the world the way it is now I don't see how it matters any longer."

He glanced at her, "We do hope they will recover from the sickness, we still do not know what is causing it."

She nodded her head, "Yes, I don't think anyone really does. Carlisle has been trying to find the origin for a few months now. We have collected tissue and blood samples from what is left of the infected. But the samples are deteriorated." She sat down on the pristine cream couch followed by the two men opposite of her.

A moment later the rest of the group came in and sat around as Esme handed the letter to Carlisle.

He opened and read it slowly as Esme glanced at the words written over her husband's shoulder. He stopped and gathered his thoughts for a moment before folding the letter and looking to their guests.

Clearing his throat speaking to his family, "Aro is requesting our assistance in Italy."

Rosalie shot up from her seat, "What did we do?" Everyone knew her fear of getting to close to the Volturi.

Demetri looked at her in confusion, but saw the fear plainly on her face as her husband rubbed circles into her back, "You've done nothing. Well… that we know of."

Carlisle nodded, "Our request to come to Italy is needing our help with how to save the humans. There is not enough for everyone to…. feed on there. Much like everywhere else."

Esme looked at their guests, "We do not feed off of humans, and so unless the Volturi are willingly going to drink animal blood I don't know what can be done."

Felix nodded, "I think that is the point, you all know how to resist the human blood temptation. The brothers know the human population numbers are growing slimmer every day. They are considering all options. I do not know if a 100% diet of animal blood is acceptable, but I think they know some substitutions must be made."

Carlisle nodded, "I never thought I would see this day from the three brothers." Looking around at his family, "I think we need a moment to discuss this matter at hand. Would you please return in one hour? We will have an answer then for you."

The two stood nodding, "Of course, we will be in Forks seeing if there are any other human survivors."

After the two left Carlisle looked at his family, "This is a group vote. If Aro, Marcus and Caius are serious about helping the human population increase. We could help them, however I know going there has always been a fear for some."

Rosalie cleared her throat, "I'll go. However, I don't know if I will be able to stay. It depends on what is happening there."

Everyone else slowing nodded their heads as Carlisle looked around the room stopping on Charlie and Jolene. "I will ensure your safety there."

Everyone nodded as Jasper left the house to find Felix and Demetri, they returned about an hour later with no new additions. They decided that they would leave the following day after everyone packed their stuff and the house items as well.

Felix and Demetri headed into town finding a moving U-hahl so everything could be packed up. Filling the tank with gas and then filling the portable gas can with Gas as well. They would need to make it to the port in Washington so they could load a boat with the items and sail back since they couldn't swim with the humans.

It took 3 weeks until they arrived in Voltura by then there were vampire guards around the outside of the walls patrolling around the city.

Heading into the center of the city before disappearing from the streets behind the clock tower. It was shocking to see the people moving about the city with their everyday business as if the outside world hadn't fallen apart.

Finally being lead to a set of large ornate wooden doors as a smaller girl pulled them open leading them inside.

Carlisle lead the group stopping before he got to the three thrones in the middle of the room. "Hello Aro, Marcus and Caius. We heard that you were needing our help with a new food source?"

Aro stood up smiling as he nodded, "Do not read too far into it though, we do plan on returning to our natural food source once their numbers have healed. However, in the meantime even we must realize the danger this puts us all in."

Carlisle nodded, "So what do you need our help with then?"

Aro walked down the steps to stand in front of him, "The city is contained within the wall, plus we have the guards making sure no infected get inside. We need a human doctor, most traveled out to Pisa for the hospital. And we need to know how you resist human blood. What kind of animals taste the best."

He sighed, "We need you to help make this work. However I don't know if we will all be able to stop drinking human blood."

Carlisle nodded, "Would you be willing to mainly drink animal blood with occasional human blood?"

Aro thought about it, "But we would be killing humans, granted it wouldn't be as much…." He mumbled talking to himself.

Carlisle just shook his head, "No, no killing. I am referring to a blood draw. You wouldn't be able to drink from the humans. But they could give blood with set time frames so their bodies could replace the missing blood safely."

Aro grinned, "Mandatory blood giving for protection within the walls. I do like that."

Carlisle grimaced, "You would need limits though. Like you cannot require blood from children or the sick or elderly. They cannot replace blood as easily. Children need to be at least 18 before you can require it, their bodies will not be able to handle the draws."

Aro looked thoughtfully, "I will give you children and maybe the sick depending if they will recover fully, however not the elderly they won't be helping the population growth therefore they don't need to stay around forever. The young will also be required to reproduce at least once by a certain age or they will be paired up with someone."

Carlisle glared, "Once a woman is pregnant no blood draws until they stop breastfeeding the child. If the concern is the population, then you will not risk a woman not being able to birth a healthy baby, or not produce enough milk to sustain the child."

Aro nodded, "We can write out the new laws. Let us get you all settled in though, I see you brought human companions." His eyes glancing over the two, "tell me would you both agree to what you heard?"

Charlie clenched his jaw, "I don't like that you would just take blood from the elderly, you can possible kill them. But I understand that they won't contribute to new children, you should think about the families though, what if they have children they care for? A grandchild or something?" He paused, "For myself, I guess I would agree. I would need to see the details first though."

Jolene bit her lip, "I guess I would. I am not old enough to have my blood drawn though. However once I was, I wouldn't want to be forced to have…. Sex with someone. It isn't ideal, but there is protection this way." She shifted uncomfortably.

Aro nodded, "We will consider those items when we talk further. Let's get you into a room for tonight and then we can look at putting you in a house in the Villa. Many are left open after people left to find loved ones and never returned."

The group followed Aro and the human assistant down the hall, "Our villa has lost about 65% of our population. So we will be able to bring in survivors and place them in houses."

Stopping at the rooms the couples all shared rooms and the 3 single people got separate rooms for the evening.

Over the next 3 days the group and three brothers went over the new laws about taking people into the Villa.

-Individuals would need to consent to bi-weekly blood draws for protection from the infected with certain exceptions.

-No one under the age of 18 would be subject to blood draws

-Sick individuals would be given temporary reprieve from blood draws while they are ill, to help healing.

-Pregnant and Breastfeeding women exempt

-Injuries that include blood loss will be exempt until medically cleared.

-Each female over the age of 18 brought in would be required to produce one child at minimum to help with keeping the human population growing before turning 30. If no partner by age 30, arranged marriage will take place to ensure. If no success by 32, medical assistance to find problem. Following exceptions.

-Medical determining they cannot have children would exempt the individual from the requirement.

-Medical Check Ups for all individuals.

-If contagious illness found, Individual will be quarantined in house for duration to prevent spread of illness.

-Each person will contribute and be trained in a certain field.

-Each person no matter their field will rotate in the fields for food production and animal care.

-If there is an injury, temporary reprieve will be given.

-Curfew will be from sundown to sunrise, everyone will need to be inside.

-If there is an emergency they can hang a towel on the outside of their front door. Patrolling vampires will come to the houses and see what is needed.

-NO murder, rape, kidnapping, intentional physical harm, theft, damage to others personal property.

Any individual not complying with the laws will be given punishments accordingly, if there are 3 strikes in a year they will be put on trial for banishment from the Voltera.

Trial will be given by Aro, Marcus, Caius, Carlisle, Jasper, Rosalie and Charlie.

Any new laws will be voted upon and added into law if accepted.

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