Chapter Seven: Bella

GOD, Caius was irritating! I had just had a decent conversation with Marcus, and was then in an alright mood, and then I wind up here, trailing after Caius Julius Caesar, the name proof that he was a cruel vindictive bastard. Julius Caesar probably got most of his dictator-like behavior from Caius's example.

I really was tired, and now we had to go see what the hyper maniac Aro wanted. Then, when Caius refused to let me sleep, I started blabbing on about our trip to Florida and Renee's three day nap. What the heck?

For some reason or another, Caius hadn't rudely picked me up and carted me off to Aro's room, probably under the threat that I throw up on him. Nice to know I was having an impression. However the six/seven minute walk to Aro's rooms made me even more tired, until I was practically sleepwalking. I wish I had my iPod. Bryan Adams always woke me up.

On the way I realized that my hair was still just as messy as it was nine to ten hours ago when Felix laughed at me. I had been walking around the whole day with ragged uncombed in a castle full of vampires. I reminded myself of Alice in Wonderland with the Mad Hatter (Aro), the Queen of Hearts (Caius- for the 'off with their heads' quote), a much scarier version of Tweedledum and Tweedledee (Jane and Alec) and various other assorted weirdoes.

Huh. I wasn't usually as irritable as this. I guess jetlag and exhaustion really brings out the worst in people. I wonder if it's a disease. If that's the case then Caius had permanent jetlag. Funny, coz vamps don't sleep. Hardy har harr.

What was I, a pirate?

We reached Aro's room, which was a solid gold door with carved initials, AV. Aro Volturi.

To tell the truth I was expected AJC. Aro Julius Caesar…. But it didn't sound quite right. I wondered why Caius's door didn't have a gold 'CV' on it.

The door opened and Aro's beaming face peered out.

I vaguely heard Aro greeting us and asking various questions about various topics that bored me in various ways. I answered them all with a yawn. I was too tired to be bothered about whether I was polite or not.

Eventually Aro gave up on me and turned to Caius. They began to talk, their conversation starting out at a human pace, then it got faster and faster, until they were talking vampire speed, too soft and fast for me to pick up on the topic. I heard a few scattered words like "Romanians…. Allies…issues … Heidi perhaps….."

I was beginning to drift off when suddenly a roar jerked me back into reality.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND ARO?"

I blinked several times to clear my eyes. Aro's face, for once clear of faux joy, looked tense and wary but had an unexpected character to it, and for a split second I could see how he was the leader of the Volturi.

Caius was storming around the room gesturing wildly. "You want to send our guard off to help Carlisle in America? The threat is here, Aro, the Romanians will pounce the moment the guard leave Volterra!"

Neither of them seemed to realize that I was listening.

"Exactly why we do not let them know." Aro's voice was thick with sarcasm. "If we elimate the Romanians, which will come at a cost, and the newborn threat attacks us at our weakest, we could be overthrown!"

Caius growled, and punched the wall. It was an impressive gesture as the impact of the fist made the wall cave inward and chunks of rock, dust and grit crumbled down.

"I would thank you not to destroy my room." Aro's voice was cold.

Only then did it occur to me that this was actually Aro's room. I liked his room infinitely more than Caius's. It actually looked like it was lived in.

There was a red/gold four poster king sized bed in the corner- the use of which I didn't want to know, doors that I assumed led to the bathroom and wardrobe, oil painted portraits and landscapes on the walls and colorful draperies hanging from the ceiling. There was a warm glow surrounding the room from various oil lamps and a huge crystal chandelier that hung from the celing reflecting rainbows against the walls. It was obvious that the room was decorated by a woman, probably Aro's wife. She would have gotten along well with Esme. The only things in the room that seemed to belong to Aro, were a mahogany bookcase and a desk overflowing with paper.

"You seem to be missing the point brother," Caius snarled venomously. "Our role is not for our individual survival. Our purpose is to protect our race from exposure to the humans, and as of now, the Romanians are the bigger threat to that, regardless of possible losses. Carlisle is perfectly capable of handling the newborns. They have experience with them, the seer's mate- the god of War."

The seer… Alice? Jasper? Jasper was the god of War? I knew he had fought in the newborn wars, but wow…. That was new. Another thing I learnt, apparently Caius wasn't the power hungry freak, he was actually just really devoted to the law. Huh.

Aro ignored Caius. "Would your aversion to helping the Cullens be because of their alliance with the shapeshifters and their slight semblance to the werewolves?"

Shapeshifters….. Jacob!

Caius roared, and before my eyes could catch the movement, Aro was pinned up against the wall that Caius had just punched, his hand at his neck. Was it just me or was Caius's hair steaming? There was smoke ever so faintly drifting upwards from Caius's white/blond locks.

"Do. Not. Test. Me." He snarled, then released Aro.

Aro dropped lightly to the ground, massaging his throat. He glared at his brother. "And you would do well to remember that I was the one who av…."

His voice dropped so low I couldn't hear anything else, but the effect on Caius was striking. His shoulders slumped ever so slightly, his hair stopped smoking and the fire in his eyes went out. He replied just as quietly- the most placid that I'd ever seen him.

Then he continued, louder, "But I stand by my opinion. We need our forces here, to deal with the immediate threat."

Aro glanced at him warily. "You need to control yourself brother. Remember what happened last time."

"That is hardly the point." Caius's voice was ice cold. What were they talking about? What was this with all the 'last times' and the mysterious debt with the IOU's and the UOMe's? I had a feeling it had something to do with Caius's gift, werewolves, the mysterious owner of the notebook- Athena- and something about an attack from the Romanians all mixed up into a mess.

"Regardless brother, do you really assume the threat to be immediate? They had made no significant moves against us yet. Nothing is certain as of yet. If we destroy the newborns in America beforehand we can then regroup and be fully prepared for the Romanians."

Caius was losing his cool very quickly. "Does this have something to do with the fact that you are afraid to not aid Carlisle and his incompetent coven? Is that why you have stooped yourself to agree to sanctuary the human?" Caius spat the word 'human'.

A flare of anger rushed through me. He had made his dislike of me perfectly clear, and now he was insulting Carlisle and myself right in front of me as though I didn't exist?

"I'd really appreciate it if you didn't insult my family right in front of me." I tried to make my voice as frigid as possible.

Both vampire lords turned to me. A flicker of surprise flitted over their faces at the fact that I wasn't asleep, before they were replaced with several different emotions- Aro, perplexed that I had referred to the Cullens as my family, Caius, annoyed at my interruption. It was obvious I was not meant to have been listening. For vampires, they weren't very observant.

"Ah, Bella," Aro beamed eventually. "We didn't realize you were awake!"

Yeah, thank you Captain Obvious. "Okay…" Be cautious… Be cautious… Caius, the bipolar vampire has just punched a hole in the wall… Not a good time to make him pissed…..

"I assume you are tired yes?"

Uh, duh! Of course I'm tired. State the obvious much Aro? "Um, yes…"

Caius gave Aro a brief nod, "We will resume this discussion at a later date brother."

I knew he meant later, when I wasn't around.

Caius grabbed my arm and steered me forcefully out of Aro's room. A female vampire, heartbreakingly beautiful with flowing black hair wearing a long cocktail salmon dress winked at me in the hallway and swept into Aro's room. A moment later I heard a dismayed cry and sounds of scuffling, as though someone was being restrained. "Caius!" the woman yelled in bell like tones, "I'll kill you!" I could hear Aro's laughter in the distance.

"We can fix the wall later, why don't we do somethi…" Aro's voice faded into the distance.

Caius actually seemed slightly anxious as he dragged me down corridors and dark staircases. "Sculpia." He muttered as an explanation. "Aro's wife."

She seemed nice enough. I wondered how she had ended up marrying Aro.

"So what's up with the Romanians?" I asked, curious as to why Aro had looked so serious before. I had thought that the only two expressions on his face were insanely happy, or demented happy.

Big mistake.

Caius yanked me to a halt, "What you heard or saw in that room does not make it past those walls do you understand me?" He hissed.

"Yeah, yeah, ok, sure! I'm not a gossiper you know. And if you didn't want me to know, then you shouldn't have brought me along." I complained, trying to break free of his iron grip.

Caius yanked me closer to him until his filmy ruby eyes were mere centimetres from my own. Now I was afraid. "What business matters Aro and I have are none of your concern you do understand mortal?"

"Okay, okay, sure! Will you let me go now please? You're hurting my arm!" I wined, trying to wiggle away.

He released me and began to walk away, this time going too fast again.

I ran to keep up. "So, where are we going now?"

I hadn't really expected him to reply, him being all in 'jerk Caius' mode, but he replied anyway. "Your quarters. I believe you said you required rest."

Oh my gosh he remembered! That was unsettling. "Oh, yeah. Thanks." I was however feeling a lot more awake though than before.

We walked for a few more hallways until he broke the silence. "I will send Jane to fetch you more appropriate apparel."

I glanced down at myself, wincing inwardly at my ragged clothing until I realized something. He noticed? I felt a rush of warmth. "Thanks!" I said brightly, grinning at him.

Caius's pace slowed by a fraction and he turned his blonde head to cast me a suspicious glare. "And what, pray tell, has led you to leer in such a manner?"

I had to repeat his words several times until I got it. His old fashioned speech was really getting to me. Still, it wasn't enough to ruin my good mood. "You noticed!"

His steps seemed to falter slightly, but is reply, as ever, was disappointing. "I merely dislike the idea of you trailing after me dressed like a vagabond. It is disgraceful to the image of the Volturi and to me."

Yeah. About that feeling of warmth….? It's gone. Caius really knows how to kill it.

We walked in silence to my room, or 'my quarters' as he put it, and apparently someone had been in as the huge pile of inappropriate underwear and flimsy dresses were gone. Relieved as I was that they were gone, I was actually disappointed that there was nothing left for me to wear to sleep in. I felt so grimy I would even have caved to put on one of the lighter dresses to sleep in.

Pointedly ignoring Caius I walked straight to the bathroom and slammed and locked the door. To my surprised pleasure there was a large t-shirt and sweats on the counter. A small card was sitting on top.

Nice shirt. I thought these might be more suitable for your taste than what I got you before.

-Jane.

Jane? I thought she hated me!

Ah well, forget and forgive…. She had just gotten me some clean clothing after all.

I showered quickly and was disappointed to realize that I had already used half of my shampoo. That was weird. It was a new bottle and I'd only been here a day. Was my hair really that grimy?

Stepping out I changed swiftly into my new clothes, relishing the feel of the rough cotton. I yanked a brush roughly through my wet hair. For the first time in Volterra I felt almost happy.

That was of course until I stepped outside the bathroom and saw Caius solidly sitting in his previous chair. He could have won a competition with me for stubbornness.

Well I wasn't going to back down.

As I walked over to the closet I realized there was something next to the dresser that looked a bit like a fridge. Changing course I realized it was a mini-fridge filled with beer. What the heck?

I didn't drink. The closest I'd gotten to being drunk was with Jake and even then I had only drunk half the can. Why was there a mini-fridge stocked with beer? I mean they didn't even provide me with shampoo or soap, but they get me a fridge full of beer?

Well I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of asking why. Hmmm. Could vampires get drunk? Caius was still watching me and it was creeping me out. I suddenly felt self-conscious in my comfortable t-shirt and sweats.

The feeling of homesickness overwhelmed in in a sudden rush. I almost ran back to the closet and slammed the door, seeking refuge in the darkness.

~~~(O.o)~~~

I woke to the sound of someone knocking on the door.

It took me a second to realize that it was the door of my room, not the door of the closet.

Why wasn't Caius answering the door? I was sleepy.

The knocking continued.

With a groan of exasperation and defeat I stumbled out of the closet rubbing my eyes.

Caius wasn't in his customary seat by the bookcase was the first thing that I noticed and the second thing was that the person knocking still hadn't come in. That was odd. Being a vampire they could just have knocked the door in.

Or, seeing as the door was unlocked, just walked in.

In any case…. I walked over to the door and yanked it open. If it was Caius I was going to rip his…

"Oh hi Jane…" What did she want?

"Hi Isabella!" The small blond vampire who stood a head shorter than me seemed as shy and awkward as I did. That was new. "Um…. I went shopping and brought you some new clothes!" She chirped up brightly.

At that I saw at least ten shopping bags behind her. She was like a mini Volturi version of Alice. That was… Sweet.

"So… Can I come in?"

I realized I was blocking the doorway quite rudely. I moved aside quickly. "Yeah, sure! I… Thank you- for the clothes, I appreciate it. And it's just Bella."

Jane bounced into my room, looking slightly ridiculous holding so many shopping bags. I quickly grabbed a few and dumped them on my bed gesturing for her to do the same.

She plonked down on my bed her legs swinging childishly. I followed her more cautiously. This was a bit too nice for someone who I thought hated my guts.

"So Is-Bella, um, I think we got off on the wrong foot, um, and seeing as you're going to be staying for a while, I was wondering if you'd like to be friends?"

She gave me a uncertain but hopeful smile.

I couldn't help but grin back. She reminded me so much of Alice. "Sure! I'd love to be!"

Jane gave a squeal of delight and dragged me into a bone crushing hug. "Um, Jane- ribs- cracking- Ow- can't- breathe-"

Jane instantly released me. "Sorry! It's just I haven't had any friends for over three hundred years. Everyone here is afraid of my power, and the Masters… Well they're my superiors, not really my friends."

I felt a rush of sympathy for Jane. She was trapped an eternal fifteen year old with no friends because everyone was scared of her power. Everyone except me.

"Why did you hate me so much in the beginning?" I couldn't help asking.

"I didn't really hate you, at first I was angry that you, a human, couldn't be affected by my gift, then I was frustrated because after three/four hundred years I find a potential someone who wouldn't be afraid of me, and she's about to be killed. So I didn't let myself get attached to the idea of you being my friend."

I grabbed Jane's stone cold hand. "Well I'm here now! And I'd love to be your friend!"

We sat there beaming like two twin idiots. I had a friend here in Volterra.

Thank you to:

Mikaela1402, jh831, MidnightPixie25,kjj013, MoonChaos, Enchanted0ne, hulagal13, and mermaid-amazon for following this story

Mikaela1402, MidnightPixie25, kjj013, Brittany009, mermaid-amazon, Enchanted0ne for favoriting this story

I have no guarantees about how often I will be able to update now. I may be able to in Spring Break but no promises. I know for sure I will be able to in summer as often as possible to make it up to you guys, but I don't know until then. Sorry.

Also, I have been looking for a story for forever and have had no luck on finding it. Look at my profile under my stories for more details. Also, I decided to add two more parts on my egyptian story because in my opinion if I don't, it seems to abrupt in those sections.