Disclaimer: I do not own VA or Twilight or their characters.

Chapter 6

Rose POV

"Perhaps you would allow me to see your thoughts to confirm what Carlisle has said?" I looked over and Carlisle and he gave an encouraging nod. I stepped forward, but Dimitri blocked me.

"Dimitri it will be fine." I assured him. He nodded but still didn't like it. I stepped forward and placed my hand in his. I noticed that one of the other seated figures eyed between Dimitri and I.

"My, my, who would live a life so fraught with danger like you have? Such a strong soul and loyal to a fault." He looked up at Dimitri. "You would be wise to hold onto this one." He said.

"I plan to." Was Dimitri's response.

"They have a bond stronger than any I have ever seen. She sees the others as siblings." The seated figure stated.

"Yes Marcus I know. Her thoughts are refreshingly honest." Aro said. Naturally by bravado decided to show up.

"Hey you do know I'm right here so don't talk about me as if I'm not." I said. Everyone hissed "Rose" while Aro just laughed a sinister sounding laugh.

"You are a breath of fresh air Rose. Now what about these two here?" He said pointing to the Moroi. I stepped in front of them and put up my mental blocks. Aro stopped and looked over to the guards. "Jane?" I saw the cullen's tense and I braced myself, but nothing happened. Jane's smile fell and Aro laughed again. "Full of surprised aren't we? But your friends aren't as resourceful as you are." Aro looked over at Jane again. I knew that Lissa had her blocks up but they weren't as strong as mine. However when Jane activated her 'pain power', her target was Dimitri. He writhed in pain and I had to stop this.

"Stop. Don't hurt him. I'll let you do whatever to me but leave my friends alone." I said desperately. Yeah I know. It's not every day that Rose Hathaway gets desperate. Aro ordered her to stop and I went to Dimitri. I gave Lissa a nod to pull down her blocks and let him see her thoughts. The darkness was getting harder to control inside me and I had to concentrate. We would probably die if I let loose here. Aro took her hand and her fear mixed with mine. I looked to Jasper to see if he could calm her.

"You have a very exceptional gift my dear, it comes with its own curse but it is truly remarkable. You are a strong ruler in your world." Aro patted her hand and released it and turned to the others on the dais. "It appears that we have been mistaken. These people are not human and I believe that they will keep our secret. I would however like to extend the invitation to Rose to join us. Truly she would be an asset to us." Aro stated and turned to me for an answer.

"I am afraid that I must decline your offer. I serve only Lissa and I will till my last breath." I answered through clenched teeth, still cradling Dimitri's head in my lap. "We will keep you secret from the humans just as we keep our own." Aro looked disappointed as he spoke again.

"Very well. The offer still stands for you and your mate. I am curious to see his thoughts as well if you don't mind." Aro insisted and Dimitri and I had stood again, still clinging to each other. I'll admit that being an immortal like the Cullen's was tempting, but never seeing Lissa again was something I couldn't handle and I couldn't let her deal with the darkness alone. I certainly didn't want to be like the Volturi. Dimitri gave his hand to Aro. "Ahh, just as valiant as your mate here aren't you? Perhaps you two could be happier as one of us. You could embrace your love for one another without ridicule." Aro stated. I could feel the darkness taking hold as Aro mocked us.

"Rose calm down. We can't help you if the darkness takes over here." Jasper said. I was trying but Aro's words fueled the anger inside me.

"Aro, I have to refuse you as well. I go where my Roza goes. I would never ask her to give up Lissa or guarding." Dimitri stated.

"Get on with it Aro. You know the truth so let us go home now." Carlisle said. He seemed a little angry with them for toying with us. Bella had her shield around her family and the Moroi, leaving just Dimitri and I unblocked. Jane decided to use her power on me since my blocks were also down. I writhed in pain but I didn't give her the satisfaction of screaming. Dimitri was yelling for her to stop along with the others. Jane stopped at Aro's command and she seemed sad that she didn't get to hear me scream and beg. I was now on the floor gasping for breath. I stood shakily and looked straight at Aro while my usual bravado was in place. I also put up my blocks quickly.

"Do you always torture your invited guests Aro? Let us go home and we will keep our secrets to ourselves." I said.

"Fine, go my young friends. Just know that we will be watching you." Aro insisted. "I will see you two as one of us one day." He indicated to Dimitri and I.

"Don't hold your breath." I muttered while Aro laughed. We left as quickly as we possibly could for the jet to go back home. Once we were in the air we started to question Aro's motives. At this point I didn't care. Struggling with the darkness for so long, putting up mental barriers and Jane's attack on me left me drained of energy. I curled into Dimitri and slept the entire trip home.

Aro POV

Rose was such a refreshing young girl. It is sad that she chooses a mortal life instead of joining us. I read from Marcus' thoughts that Rose and her mate Dimitri had very strong bonds, but she also had a strong bond to the Moroi Queen. Maybe there is a way that we could use that to our advantage? The Cullen's are a powerful clan and if they get any more members they could rival us. We will have to keep a close watch on the Cullen's and their new little friends.

Edward POV

We were all aboard Lissa's private jet heading back home. The visit with the Volturi was definitely a stressful one. Rose was asleep beside Dimitri and I had to give her credit for her being so brave with the Volturi. She truly is selfless and would do anything to protect those that she cared for. I feared that Aro will try to get her to turn by using Dimitri or Lissa against her. Our family debated this while they slept and we decided to keep a closer watch on them for their benefit. The Volturi have a tracker in Demetri so we thought he might try to get to her or Dimitri. Jane and Felix are also very ruthless in their ways so I worried for the safety of our friends. Aro is smart enough not to go after Lissa because that would undoubtedly start a war between our races, but Dimitri and Rose were both targets for them. We arrived at the airstrip near our home and the Moroi were awake along with Eddie and Dimitri. Rose must have been exhausted both mentally and physically. We were finally able to wake her and we stepped off the plane. It was dark already, making the guardians in the group wary. Rose and Dimitri stepped off first. I really didn't think Rose was in any condition to fight, but she was able to sense Strigoi so it only made sense that she stepped out first.

Luckily we managed to get back to our home without incident. Rose plopped on the couch tiredly and I could tell the emotional toll that she had experienced combined with the pain that Jane inflicted on her had left her in total exhaustion. Dimitri finally just carried her to their home and Eddie stayed with her and the Moroi. Dimitri returned and we discussed what Aro might do to aquire their talents. We had been talking for several hours when Eddie came over very frantic. Carlisle tried to calm him and ask what was wrong, but of course I read his thoughts quicker than they could make progress. What I gathered from his thoughts was something that I feared as soon as the Volturi became involved. Lissa and Rose were gone.

Apparently the Volturi were watching for us to have our guard down and while Dimitri was separated from them they made their move. I hadn't noticed it in Volterra but Felix and Demetri weren't present at the meeting yesterday. We called some of the clans that we had alliances with and asked for their help. If it was a fight that the Volturi wanted then we would give them one.

Rose POV

I remembered falling back to sleep on the Cullen's couch and I was vaguely aware that Dimitri had taken me back to the house and put me to bed. He didn't lay down with me but I knew that he would be close. He probably went back to the Cullen home to talk about the events of the last day or so. I was awakened to the feeling that I was being watched and it was that same creepy feeling I got when the Volturi were spying on us. I saw a large figure standing over me in the bedroom and I stood quickly. In my haste to confront the dark figure, I failed to see the second figure behind me and I felt the sting of a needle. Whatever was injected was strong and my movements became sluggish. I was vaguely aware that Lissa was also fearful and she must have been drugged too because the feeling in me intensified. I fell to the floor as darkness took me. I wanted to fight it but I just didn't have it in me.

I woke up chained to a chair that was bolted to the floor of the room. I took in my surroundings and found that Lissa was here with me. Lissa was silently crying but she wasn't bound like I was. I groaned as I moved my head to the side, triggering an intense headache. I was about to speak to her when the door opened. Two of the cloaked figures similar to the ones who rode on the jet with us came into the room and grabbed us both. They dragged us rather roughly to the room that we were just in a day or two ago. Aro grinned at me and I growled. I figured that he would do something, but nothing like this. He rose from his seat at the front of the room and walked forward to us. I checked to make sure that Lissa had her mental blocks up and then I put mine up. I straightened in my captors hold and looked at Aro straight in the eyes. He smiled his cruel smile.

"Ahh Rose it is so good to see you again. I am a little surprised that it is so soon though." I growled at him.

"You shouldn't be so surprised Aro. It is kind of obvious that I didn't come here again under my own steam. I see you have also added kidnapping to your list of sins." I said. Aro merly laughed.

"My dear Rose it is not kidnapping. It's called leverage." Shit what did this asshole have planned. "Before this night is over, you will turn. I have it on good authority that you won't allow any harm to come to Lissa here. Let us test that theory shall we?" He looked over to Jane and she used her power. Thankfully her blocks were strong enough that she didn't have an effect. Aro frowned but called Felix to bully her and strike her. I could tell that the blood had some effect on his control and he started to move his mouth towards her neck.

"Stop!" I yelled and Aro ordered him to stop. I sighed. Shit I was in a lot of trouble here. "Let her feed so she can heal and let her go, then you can do what you want with me." I said. Aro smiled.

"No Rose don't." Lissa said. I looked at her and shook my head at her, telling her to be quiet.

"Very well, but there is no one here to feed from for here. What are you suggesting?" Aro inquired. I pulled down my blocks and stuck my hand out where he could see that I had fed her before. I wanted to make sure that she was safe before I was turned.

"As soon as she is safe, I will turn." I said.

Aro agreed and ushered us back to the room that we started in. I made sure that Lissa fed from me and I drifted off as the endorphins of her bite took hold. I fell into darkness and immediately into a spirit dream. Hell this was going to be fun. I wasn't surprised to see Adrian, but what did surprise me was Dimitri. I ran to him and he immediately wrapped me in a huge hug. We pulled away and he of course noticed the bite. I wanted Lissa to heal so I refused to let her heal me after she fed.

"Dimitri, I am stuck between a rock and a hard place here. They hurt Lissa until I agreed to turn. They started to bite her and I had to stop them." I said with tears falling heavily down my face. "I agreed if they allowed me to feed her and let her heal herself. That bought us a little time but I honestly don't see a way out of this one." I cried into his chest and I felt wetness hit the top of my head and I knew that my big scary Russian god was crying.

"Don't worry Rose, we will be there as soon as we can. I will do everything I can to keep you and Lissa safe." He assured me but I still saw the fear and worry in his eyes. I hugged and thanked Adrian for bringing Dimitri into the dream. The dream started to fade and I woke to the red eyes that rivaled the Strigoi that I have faced. Lissa was huddled next to me and Felix leered. Lissa and I were led out of the room again and we were separated. It was daylight and they were releasing her. I told her to go to the first phone she could find and call Dimitri and Eddie. Felix led me to a tower where I could see Lissa when they released her. I watched as they pushed her roughly out the door of the castle and she ran as far as she could away from there I saw her as she reached a phone but I was jerked around and led back to the throne room where they were waiting for me. I braced myself for what was about to happen and I hoped that Lissa would be safe until Dimitri arrived. Aro eyed me and I suspected that he would be the one to bite me since he wanted me in the guard so badly. My hands were still bound in chains as he took my hand in his. I braced for the bite because I was certain that it was the total opposite of the bliss of Moroi bites. He raised my wrist to his mouth and I felt his teeth graze my skin. I knew now that Dimitri would be too late to save me from this fate.

Dimitri POV

I was crying when the dream faded. My Roza would be turned and there was nothing that we could do. We were on a jet to Volterra again with several other clans that the Cullen's had called in as reinforcements. I buried my face in my hands. Christian was fairing just as I was, saddened and depressed. Carlisle asked me what I had seen in the dream and as I relayed the information, I saw the fear and disbelief on their faces.

"Aro has gone too far this time!" Eleazar yelled. The Denali's cringed as their leader yelled his frustrations. It was apparent that it took quite a bit to get him to react like that.

"Aro will turn her and make her part of the guard. There is little we can do to stop him, but we can prevent this from occurring to some other poor soul." Carlisle stated. I hated it but I knew deep down that he was right. My phone rang and I recognized the voice on the other end.

"Lissa?" I said. Christian jerked his head in my direction. We were just outside of Volterra getting ready to land, but I feared the damage will already be done when we get there.

"Dimitri they are going to turn her. They just separated us and turned me loose. I am outside the castle in Volterra." She said through her tears.

"Stay where you are Lissa. We will be there in a few minutes." We hung up and as we landed, we all prepared for the worst.

Rose POV

I thought of something as Aro's teeth grazed my skin. I pulled back from him and let the darkness inside me take over. Sure it might kill me, but what other choice did I have. I called on the ghosts as I had before with the Strigoi. Aro was angry but his expression turned to one of surprise as he fought off the ghosts that attacked him. I ran out of the room while the guard was distracted by the ghosts. I knew that it wouldn't hold long, but my only salvation was to get outside in the sunlight and in public, using their own rule against them. I ran full speed down the corridors towards the doors they had led Lissa out of. The darkness allowed me to crack the chains a little, making them weak enough that I could escape them. I turned my head to see if anyone was following me and I ran smack into what felt like a wall. I was knocked on my ass and I immediately looked up, praying that the Volturi hadn't caught up to me just yet.

I know I left a cliffhanger here, but it just wouldn't be Rose Hathaway if she went down without a fight, right?