"Master Aro, what shall I do to prove myself to you?" he began a full blown smile and stared at me.

***

I sat down before all of the Volturi's guards and the three brothers at sunrise. I sighed as I walked out onto the light allowing the sunshine to hit against my skin. They stared at me frowning as they saw my skin didn't glitter like theirs did, reason why they were wearing black cloaks that covered most of them.

We were in the outskirts of Volterra and away from most civilization. Aro nodded once and sent two of his guards to attack me, basically to measure my strength. He wanted us to wrestle, so we did. In a few minutes I had both of them pinned down to the floor. I released them and turned to Aro. He chuckled softly. He nodded to his fastest runner and made us run. I tripled his speed and sat down waiting for him to finish. Aro frowned again.

"You are faster and stronger however your skin won't glitter. But it can be a conversion mistake" I rolled my eyes.

"What else do you want me to do? Show you my powers?" I said as I hissed. He stiffened for a second and walked towards me.

"Isabella, bear your teeth for me please" I cocked an eyebrow and sighed. I showed him my teeth and he told me to open up. I did what he told me, albeit reluctantly. He drew his finger across my fangs.

"Us vampires have a normal set of teeth" he stated out of the blue. I frowned softly.

"So?" he chuckled.

"Your fangs are bigger, like a dog's or the fangs vampires have in human stories" I nodded.

"So… I have vampire fangs" he chuckled more.

"You said you had powers?" I nodded before telling him the power of mimicry and shielding. You see not only am I a shield but I mimic others abilities sometimes that also includes adoptive muscle memory so… I'll memorize anything someone does learning instantly how to do it and if someone has a power I'll acquire it and have it stored for later use.

He laughed and tried to grab my hand, I guess to read my mind or something… he drew back a little.

"You're warm and I couldn't read a thing" I nodded.

"The wer-hem shape shifters have an abnormal temperature. Their normal temperature goes around 104 degrees Fahrenheit or 40 degrees Celsius. I guess from vampire ice cold to shape shifter sizzling hot there was a balance made" I said as I shrugged. It was after all the most logical answer. He nodded.

"Isabella, if, what you are saying about these shape shifters is true. If you are not lying about having drank these creature's blood and adopting their capacities then that would mean you are a kind of new race. A hybrid. Like the hybrids between humans and vampires" I nodded.

"Basically, yes" I said as I played with my fire again.

"Isabella… would you consider an offer?" I cocked an eyebrow and stared at his eyes.

"Perhaps. It depends on the offer" I said as I urged him to tell me the offer.

"What if… you research more about this condition. We'll fund it all and provide you with coverage" I pondered on it.

"You make it sound like a disease" I pointed out. He chuckled.

"You get what I mean, if I was calling this race a disease ours would be as well and I'm not too fond of insulting my brothers and me" he said as we walked back to the castle.

"Fund it?" I asked, wanting to know the limits of this funding. He chuckled.

"We can make a building for you here in Volterra or perhaps Vatican city?" I laughed and turned serious again.

"I want to be near my family. I want the facilities to be in the USA" he scowled as he grabbed his brother's hand. He nodded and turned to the other brother as he repeated the process. I began making an ice rose and shattered it in my hands before turning to see the wound. Shards of diamond hard ice were incrusted in my hand as beads of blood ran down. Immediately the vampires went berserk and tried to reach me. Aro controlled himself but walked towards me.

"Go, whatever you want. We'll find you and keep in contact. Go, before they attack you" I nodded with a sliver of fear in my being before taking off. I teletransported myself to the castle where I took all my things. I ran towards Aro's office and wrote a quick note explaining my whereabouts and telephone number. I wanted to do this research and I'd be damned if I was stopped. It was short and had my cell phone number and the address of my apartment in Los Angeles.

Once all of it was ready I left.

I wandered around in LA, not having really anything to do as I waited from a call from Aro. Finally one day my cell phone rang and it was an unknown number. I sighed and picked it up.

"Hello?" a slight shuffle and chuckle gave Aro away.

"Hello Isabella" a small grin tugged at the end of my lips.

"Aro, now that I'm not in danger of being attacked for a snack, what is it that you propose?" I said as I laid on the couch of my living room staring at the clock.

"Well as I said, we'd fund your whole research and you'd have the liberty to do any choice you wanted and only respond to us, the three brothers" I nodded absently.

"Fair enough, however I'm not planning on moving all the way to Europe just so you can keep an eye on me. I say the facilities stay here in America" I heard him sigh and laugh.

"You're not ready to give that one up in a compromise, right?" I laughed.

"No, Aro, I'm not" I heard a slight sigh and he began in a hurt tone.

"It pains me to hear you call me Aro so disinterested" I laughed.

"Oh, we both know you don't mind it in the least. Now, how do you plan that I begin this research?" I heard some shuffling and Aro told me to hold on. I heard him speaking to two people until he finally picked up again.

"Isabella, I'll accept building your facilities in the United States" I smiled. "However" Oh boy… "I'm sending two of my crew to keep an eye on your business. Demetri will go with you and report to me every certain period of time. I trust you not to compromise our reputation Isabella… because you certainly know a race where one single specimen is left is certainly easy to extinct" I glared at the wall.

"Aro, are you, by any means, threatening me?" I asked in a cold tone.

"Not necessarily. Isabella, I love having you on my team, I just need to know how well you work and truthfully I'm putting a lot at stake right now so I'd suggest you accept the compromise and we move on" I sighed and rubbed one of my temples.

"Aro, I don't plan on bringing the Volturi down, nor their reputation however you won't, ever, threaten me again because I swear to God the day that happens you'll be going down" he chuckled.

"Isabella, calm down, don't be so short tempered. I'll open a bank account for the research team and give you the account number as soon as I can. You have permission to do whatever you deem necessary even if that includes recruiting more of your race" he emphasized recruiting and I knew he meant converting. I bit my lip.

"Okay Aro, but you shall need to know. Just because I accept having two of your team in my team does not mean that I'll be watched 24/7. Things will be done my way and my way only and just so you know if you need to give me orders of any kind you will be the one to tell me. Do not even dare to send someone else to tell me" he chuckled.

"Of course Isabella, either way only us four can know the truth about this investigation facility. Now, where do you want the building to be?" I thought about it for a minute.

"Look for a place with unoccupied surroundings. No humans or vampires for a large enough radius. Preferably in Los Angeles" he frowned slightly.

"It's sunny there" I nodded.

"I know" he growled softly, more to him than me, I guess.

"That complicates things…Demetri would be discovered…" I laughed.

"He'll have to stay home then" he laughed.

"Nope, he'll have to stay indoors at almost all times except at night" I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever… Find it soon so I can begin my work here" he laughed.

"I already did. I'm just working on buying the property right now. It's in Palos Verdes. There, done, bought. Now, I'll begin the construction- I'll call you in a week when it's done" I widened my eyes.

"Don't constructions normally take about a couple of months minimum?" he laughed… loudly if I may say so.

"Oh, my child. Don't worry about that I have enough money to hire a lot of people to make it fast. Now, begin your research alone and if you can… try to find one of those shape shifters" I shivered and widened my eyes. I shakily breathed in.

"A-Aro… if I do… No one will touch or harm their species in any way- if someone vampire even dares to harm a hair of theirs I'll hunt the person down and bring the company down with it. Understood?" he laughed.

"Understood. I promise I won't harm them. They are not even a threat to me and my city so I won't mind it. Just keep them under control or I'll have to enforce control on them and you" I rolled my eyes. We kept on threatening each other… oh well; I guess that's what a compromise means to different species.

"Ready then. Call me when you're done. Send your crew as soon as you can, I want to get to know the poor bastards that have to work with me" he laughed.

"I will, they'll call you when they are at the airport. Keep in touch, child. Take care. Ciao" I muttered a bye before closing the cell phone.