Within seconds she had the child scooped into her arms and they were on their way. A corner away from their destination Isabella started to wiggle in Sulpicia's arms, indicating she wanted to be put down. When her feet touched the ground she ran around the corner as fast as she could. She had to be on time; she knew things would go extremely wrong if she wasn't.

"STOP!" Isabella shouted from the top of her lungs.

Chapter 7 - Mission

After Sulpicia left the room with Isabella to get the girl some breakfast Marcus let out a long sigh before he turned around to face his brothers and sister. "I have absolutely no idea what is going on," he said as he thought back to the short conversation they just had with the child. "How come when we finally know more about Isabella something happens resulting in the start of another mystery?"

Marcus honestly did not know what to think of all of the events that transpired in the past day. His life had been extremely depressing and above all very monotonous for decades now, but the arrival of Isabella had thrown his entire existence upside down. Even though the king wasn't usually one for change, he could not help but heartily welcome it this time. Isabella had already earned a special place in his heart; thanks to her he felt more alive than he had in a very long time.

The others thought about Marcus's comment for a moment, but they could not find an answer to his question. After a few minutes of silence Athenodora spoke up again. "I think you should all start with the tasks you still need to finish, like Sulpicia suggested. Meanwhile I will get some guards together to arrange the last things Isabella needs," she said as she kissed her mate on his cheek.

"That is an excellent idea, Athenodora. Brothers, why don't we go to my office?" Aro said as he led the others out of Isabella's room, walking towards his usual work spot.

-oOo-

When the three brothers had finally finished the administration work in the office they transferred themselves to the throne room, where they would continue the visits, hearings and trials for the day. Usually this was how they would spend the rest of their time until the beginning of the evening, but now they all wanted to be done as soon as possible so they would be able to meet up with Sulpicia, Athenodora and Isabella.

Their first visitors for the day were two quite young vampires, a mated pair, who had a permanent residence in north-east America. They had come to report a volatile newborn who was roaming around aimlessly, crossing other vampire's territories without consulting while murdering entire households, leaving the bodies for humans to find. The vampire was apparently sire-less but they had not been able to catch him due to a gift of sorts that he seemed to possess. The newborn was not only a threat to the facade of the two vampires, but he also risked exposure of vampire kind, which was why they had come to the Volturi to ask for help. When Aro received all the information he needed the kings thanked the mated pair and let them return home, while ordering Jane, Alec and Santiago to come forward, deciding the trio would be the best combination for this mission.

"Alec, Santiago would you please stay here for a moment? I will tell you the details for this mission," Aro said after he conversed with his brothers for a moment. "And Jane, dear, if you would be so kind to arrange the transport..." Jane nodded respectfully before she turned around and left the throne room.

"Now, it appears that this newborn is extremely fast, which means you will have to make use of your power, Alec, to render him motionless. Make sure he is disposed of carefully, remove any evidence and traces the newborn has left and come back here when you are finished. You should question him about his sire, amongst other things, before killing him, if you are able to do so. I think Jane will be able to get some information from him if he is not very willing to work along," Aro said with a cheerful smile on his face.

Both Santiago and Alec grinned as they listened to the information about their new mission; it had been a while since they last left on an expedition. Because of the ruling of the three kings the number of crimes had slowly decreased through the years. Although it was of course a good sign that less interference was needed, it was extremely boring for the guard members who did currently not have anything 'useful' to do except for keeping track of what was happening in both the supernatural and human world. Any guard member would heartily welcome the opportunity to go on a mission.

"He will not be a problem any longer, masters," Alec said as he bowed and motioned for Santiago to follow him out of the throne room. A guard member opened the wooden door for them and moved to close it again when everyone abruptly froze.

"STOP!" they heard a young voice yell.

The three kings looked at each other with confused expressions before they quickly decided to take a look. As fast as they could they ran towards the shouting, only to be met with the most baffling sight.

Jane, who had been arranging the transport for the latest mission, had her teeth latched to their receptionist's neck, while Isabella was pulling at the blond vampire's cloak with all her might.

"Stop, Jane, you have to stop!" the human girl shouted as she kept trying to pull an extremely feral Jane away from the woman. When Isabella noticed that the three kings had arrived at the scene she quickly twirled around to face them.

"You have to make her stop! Gianna has to change, she can't die. Otherwise it will be bad, really bad!" she said panting, completely exhausted of all the effort she had put in trying to get Jane to let go of Gianna. Isabella had a bad feeling about this entire situation and she knew it would be a serious mistake if they did not do anything. When Aro saw Isabella was distressed he contemplated for a moment on what to do before he quickly took action and stepped forward.

"Jane, leave the human alone," he cautiously ordered. He knew he treaded dangerous ground by doing such a thing; vampires get very territorial about their prey when they let their instincts take over while attacking a human, which was exactly what was happening right now. Luckily Jane regained some sense and when she noticed that her master was telling her to let go of the woman she reluctantly stepped away, extremely confused, but above all extremely angry.

Their latest receptionist had always irritated the blonde to no end; Jane thought she was dumb, not fast enough, irritatingly cheerful - the list went on and on. When Gianna was extremely slow making calls this afternoon, not completely understanding what she had to do, Jane had snapped.

All humans that were employed by the Volturi were in on the secret and they knew they could end up as a meal one day, whether accidentally or by not following orders like they should. It was something that commonly happened, so why on earth was Jane not allowed to follow through with the killing of Gianna? The blond vampire was fuming, although she held enough respect for her kings not to show them too much of her rage.

Meanwhile a little audience had gathered around Isabella, Jane, the three kings and - a currently changing - Gianna. Shocked whispers could be heard; they had never witnessed such a curious happening. When Jane noticed that they were being watched she quickly turned around, fire blazing in her eyes. She did not have any problems with showing the others her anger and after the first screams the guard seemed to get the message and everyone disappeared as fast as they could. When the last of their audience had finally left Jane turned around to face Isabella, who had skipped over to Gianna and was now softly petting the woman's hair as the first screams of pain began.

"Why exactly did I have to stop?" Jane asked coldly as she looked at the kings. When she had gotten fed up with the last receptionist the human had undergone the same fate and no one had complained back then; their human employees were easily replaceable and she did not see why it should be any different this time.

Aro opened his mouth to answer the blond vampire's question, but he quickly closed it again when he realized he actually did not have any idea. Both Marcus and Caius looked at him before the three Volturi kings turned towards Isabella, who was still sitting next to Gianna. "Isabella, dear, would you care to explain this quite... peculiar turn of events?" Aro asked curiously.

Isabella looked up with her big brown eyes as she seemed to think for a moment before she answered.

"I don't quite know how I should explain it, actually."

Jane grew angrier by the moment as she squeezed her eyes and went to say something as the little girl interrupted her. "Although I do know you would have regretted it later if you had continued. Now, someone should take Gianna to a room or something, I don't believe she will be very comfortable on the ground," she said sassily as she looked around. When she spotted Santiago and Alec, who had stayed around when the other guard members left, her face lit up and she motioned them over. "You can take her away! Jane, you should to come with me." With those words Isabella stood up and pulled a fuming Jane along, leaving the three kings stunned in their places.

Meanwhile the blond vampire had jerked her hand away and she was walking behind the little human with an aggravated expression on her face as Isabella was happily skipping towards her room. "Why are you taking me with you?" Jane sneered as she sped up so she was walking next to the girl.

"We have something to do," Isabella answered happily as she reached the door to her room and walked inside. Jane followed, her angry expression faltering slightly when she saw the girl's bedroom. The child took Jane's hand again and this time the vampire did not pull away. Isabella led the blond vampire towards a corner of the room where she seated them both on the ground in front of a huge pink doll house. Jane sat there, stunned, as Isabella began taking out various dolls and pushed one of them into Jane's hands.

"What is the meaning of this?" Jane asked, lacing her voice with anger. But her nervous eyes betrayed her, showing that the vampire was actually just very uncomfortable because of the unpredictable situation she was in. Isabella smiled.

"You'll see."

-oOo-

A few hours later, after the turmoil in the castle had calmed down again, Sulpicia was on her way to Isabella's room to pick up the girl to take her to the kitchen for some dinner. Santiago and Alec had taken care of Gianna, bringing the changing woman to a room on the other side of the castle, far away from the bedroom of the little human. As Sulpicia stood in front of the door she could hear soft sounds; no shouting or angry voices. When the queen opened the door she was met with an adorable sight.

On the ground, in front of the brand new doll house the two girls were seated, playing together. Jane sat opposite of Isabella, legs crossed and looking quite uncomfortable, but not a trace of the anger or malice that was usually displayed on her face could be seen. Isabella herself looked quite content as she was giggling and chattering happily while she played with her doll. A startled expression overtook Sulpicia's face when Jane reacted to the things the young girl was saying, talking in a voice that would be considered sweet knowing how the blond vampire would usually talk. It seemed that the little human could even make one the most angry and feared vampires display her soft side.

Sulpicia smiled softly as she closed the door again, deciding she should return a little later.

A/N: Hey! It has been a while, but here is the seventh chapter :) I read through the first chapters last week and corrected some things, while adding some more details, though nothing of crucial importance to the plot. I will try to write and upload the next chapter in the coming week if I have enough time. Thank you for your reviews, they keep me going! Please make sure to tell me what you think of this chapter :)

- Laura