I'm sorry this has taken so long to update! I didn't mean to leave you on that cliff.

I didn't have power for a while due to Irma and wasn't able to write, but the moment I was able to write, I couldn't seem to write this story's chapters in order. I have several later chapters written, but for some reason I can't get the muse to let me write these in the order they need to be in. My apologies. However, the good news is that the muse has allowed me to write this next chapter, so that's a bonus!

I own nothing.

Caius POV

Charlotte and Bella's first years as vampires were a bit rough. Not that I had expected anything different. Far from it. However, if my hair wasn't already white, they would have turned it grey by now.

Their first feeding once they awoke started off fairly well, I had taken them into the newborn feeding chambers and had allowed eight humans to be brought in. Four for each seemed like it would be an appropriate number for them both to be fairly lucid after they fed. Then we could begin teaching the girls what it meant to be a vampire and, after they gained some control, we would see if they had skill enough to add to the Guard.

Charlotte was feeding closest to me and she seemed a natural. She just latched right on to her victim's throat and sucked them dry in a matter of minutes. She was so quick about taking her victims down that they didn't even have a chance of escaping before she was on them.

Bella was another matter entirely. It seemed that she retained a bit of her humanity and didn't want her victims to suffer, but try as she might to end their suffering before it began, she only caused them and herself more in the long run. Although I was pleased to note that she did in fact have some sort of defensive gift, if my becoming airborne was any indication. It was my own fault because I got to close to her kill, but I was also extremely pleased that she would defend herself in that manner.

Once they were finished and I had the chance to speak to them, I realized that Charlotte had no memories of her human life. That was perfectly fine by me considering the less memories of her life she had, the less pain it would cause her to know that she had to leave it. Bella however still seemed to remember most of her human life. Once she was lucid enough, she had requested that Aro, Marcus, and myself keep her existence hidden from the Cullen's. She had no desire to see them and since we hardly ever saw the Cullen family, much less spoke with them, I saw no reason to deny this request.

Months flew by and not only did they steal the hearts of most of the Guard, but Aro and Marcus doted on them more than they did anyone else. They even managed to melt the cold hearts of Jane and Alec and kept my Athena and Aro's Sulpicia happy with their constant visits to the wives' tower. Even though they were – in essence – my children, I took a more fatherly approach with them and found that they respected my authority for it.

They eventually became more and more controlled in their movements and with their feedings. Bella finally stopped ripping her victims apart, but I suspect it had more to do with how Charlotte hunted than anything I might have said to her. It only took one feeding of Charlotte's that Bella happened to see for her to finally understand that she was causing more damage than necessary. She kept her feedings far cleaner after that.

It was only six months into their new life that they both came to me requesting to become part of the Guard and after discussing it thoroughly with my brothers, we decided that they would start training with Felix and Demetri the following day. They were both ecstatic and ran off to the wives' tower to tell Athena and Sulpicia the good news.

Once they started their training, I was surprised to find that their military bearing and muscle memory had stuck with them through the change. They were great students and learned very quickly. The training also gave them an outlet for any pent-up aggression or excess energy that they might have been experiencing from their change. I was pleased to see that they were far happier after training every day than they had been without it. That wasn't to say that they were unhappy before. They were quite happy before, but they were soldiers and they physically needed the training that we provided them.

We did test both girls for gifts, both offensive and defensive. Although Charlotte didn't have one, we knew Bella did. She took the opportunity to train it with Renata so she could learn to extend it out from herself as well as both Alec and Jane, who were shockingly happy to provide their services. Charlotte was often the guinea pig in these training sessions, but Felix, Demetri, Aro, and myself were all subjected to guinea pig status as well at one point or another. Bella did very well and could eventually shield herself and ten others at a distance of twenty yards and I was thrilled with her progress. I was sure that the older she became in this life, the more she would learn about her gift, but I wasn't willing to push her any further than necessary.

They also managed on more than one occasion to pull pranks unsuspecting members of the Guard. Boredom with these two didn't bode well at all. Charlotte just had a way of saying things to you that would get you to do whatever she wanted. It wasn't a gift per se, but she just had a way with words that could make even the most stubborn of vampires re-think their choices. It was during one of Charlotte's conversations with Felix that she convinced him to go into her room for…something. I was never told what. However, when he returned to Charlotte, he was covered from head to toe in pink cotton candy and he was obviously nowhere close to happy about it, but whatever she said to him must have had some sort of effect, because he never once tried to prank her back.

Jane was next on their "Hit List" and somehow wound up with blue hair for a month. I honestly thought both Bella and Charlotte had signed their own death warrants with that one, but Jane took it in stride, actually laughing at their boldness, and swore up and down she would get them back one day. I honestly think Alec may have also been involved in some way, but I was never able to prove it.

They even tried their hand at pranking the Kings as well. I knew I was in the clear, but Aro and Marcus weren't quite so lucky. Sulpicia actually assisted in Aro's prank, otherwise it never would have happened, but exchanging his entire wardrobe for clown clothes was a fairly entertaining thing to witness. Especially after he came running after them in a red, white, and blue starred vest, gold parachute pants, and red clown shoes that were four sizes too big. That is an image I will never forget.

Marcus' prank was a little more subtle, but still just as funny. They got him with a whipped cream pie to the face when he was distracted looking over some ancient scrolls in the library. Surprisingly, all they did was knock on the library door, he did the rest by opening it. He swore he was too distracted to smell it, but for a week after that he couldn't smell anything other than whipped cream.

With many of the fun times, there were also difficult times. Such is life, I suppose, but we take the good with the bad. Both Bella and Charlotte had their fair share of newborn episodes and tantrums. Charlotte's weren't quite so bad. I believe the worst thing she did that first six months was nearly decapitate and burn Felix for suggesting that she focus a bit more on her reactions to fighting multiple opponents at once. After that, I couldn't find a single Guard willing to spar with her until she apologized to Felix for her behavior. She seemed to gain a better handle on her emotions after that.

Bella, as per the norm, was another matter. Her physical shield would pop out at moments that she couldn't control her reactions, which was understandable and expected. However, she knew that she should have a better grasp on her own shield, so when she gave herself more complicated and harder goals to achieve and failed at meeting her own expectations, she would explode.

One of those explosions resulted in the entirety of the training facility to be completely demolished when she let her frustrations out and they manifested in her physical shield. She buried most of my soldiers in the rubble and although we can't get hurt from falling debris, the guilt ate her up after that. I think from the experience that she had previously with the Cullen's; she was under the impression that she should have had control regardless of her newborn status.

I had to take her off to the side to have a serious discussion with myself and my brothers before she realized that everything she was going through was completely normal. It was Marcus' suggestion that she see things from a human newborn's perspective. As a human, she had to learn a multitude of things like how to walk, talk, and control her temper, read, write, and a slew of other things. Just because she knew how to handle these things as a human didn't mean that she knew how to handle them as a vampire. That's what this whole newborn phase was about. It was a chance for her to learn and make mistakes.

It was a shock to her for us to inform her that no one was perfect, not even us as old as we were, and she needed to realize that even after her newborn stage was complete she might have moments that make her feel like her life is out of control. However, that's what her family and her sister were here for. To help her in any way that she needed. Every member of the Guard had been where she was now and they all remembered with perfect clarity how out of control they felt while going through the same thing. She just had to be willing to let us help her.

Once she came to terms with that, things got a little calmer. Bella worked a lot with Renata on her shield and how to manipulate it the way she wanted it to be. Her mental shield was a bit of a relief for her since it seemed to do whatever it was she wanted, but her physical one was a bit more difficult.

About nine months into this new life, she gained control over both and it seemed to lift a weight off of both her and Charlotte, who had seen Bella's internal struggle for far too long. The camaraderie and companionship that Bella and Charlotte shared was something of an anomaly within the castle. They seemed to need each other almost as much as mates would and were always within mere feet of each other, however when I asked Marcus about their connection, all he told me was that they were not mated, but they had a closer bond than any siblings he'd ever seen, including the twins. The bonds between them were bonds of family, friendship, love, devotion, and something that he couldn't quite place and those bonds were interwoven with each other from one to the other more tightly than the bonds that kept the Kings together for millennia on end.

Eleven months into this life, the girls got their first opportunity to go on a mission and they were both so excited about the prospect of getting involved in being real members of the Guard that their excitement was nearly palpable. We had received reports from various covens on the island continent of Australia that had all the makings of a rogue vampire. This vampire's kills were anything but subtle – with limbs of various victims being found scattered all over the cities – and the authorities were beginning to think this wasn't the work of an active serial killer, but something far more sinister. The covens that had requested our help had all denied knowledge of the transgressor, but I was beginning to believe that someone was lying and just not keeping their progeny under control. The mission that my Guard was given was a simple one; find the rogue vampire causing havoc in Australia and bring them back to be tried for their crimes. Simple and straight forward, right? Not quite as simple as I had hoped.

After two weeks of chasing this vampire all over the continent and through the Australian Outback, he was finally caught. It turned out that this specific vampire had a gift and one that under different circumstances Aro would have probably wanted. He was able to slow time. That little gift worked in his favor until Bella thought to use her shield on him. Unfortunately it was only after Charlotte had managed to lose an arm that Bella had thought to use her shield at all. It turned out that once the rogue attacked Charlotte and removed her arm, Bella responded without thinking and threw her shield at him knocking him down and holding him until she could get Charlotte patched back up. Once the rest of my team had the rogue secure and Charlotte had fed, they made their way back home.

I was infuriated when the time for the trial came and the rogue was read by Aro. I knew I was supposed to play the hard-ass when it came to formal affairs like this, but this time I truly felt like it as Charlotte and Bella stood to my left and the memory of how Charlotte's arm looked when she got back to the castle played over and over in my mind. Aro looked disgusted as he finished reading the rogue and allowed myself and Marcus to hear what he had read. The rogue's name was Anthony and he was unapologetic and proud of what he was and how he left his victims. I hadn't heard of violence for violence sake since the Southern Wars in America that we had put a stop to after they had gone on for over a century, and this vampire would have fit right in. It wasn't even a second thought as I ripped his head from his shoulders and burned his body in front of him. I kept his head in a box for months afterwards as a warning to those who dared try something like this again. Charlotte was the one to destroy his head after she stopped becoming upset over the jagged scar that she saw between her left shoulder and her elbow. I honestly think that Bella had a lot to do with Charlotte becoming more comfortable with it, though.

As nervous as I was to have them in the middle of everything, both girls were welcome additions to the Guard and loved every second of getting to be soldiers again, but I did feel a sense of unease whenever they were sent on a mission. I loved them both dearly and they were a great source of pride for me and my Athena. They moved up through the ranks very quickly, even refusing my help to move up faster and choosing instead to move up in the ranks like a normal soldier, and within five years held their human titles as vampires in the Guard. I did have a feeling that Felix and Demetri enjoyed sharing the responsibility and the duties with the girls because it gave them a bit of a reprieve, though they never outright said so.

A part of me was worried that both Felix and Demetri would hate the girls for moving in on their turf, but I was glad to note that the opposite was true. Felix and Charlotte were basically like shadows to Demetri and Bella and the girls learned so much from them that eventually I could send out Bella and Charlotte as a second team to Demetri and Felix if necessary.

Most of the Guard got along really well with Charlotte and Bella, but there were a few that would have rather had their nails pulled out than work with the girls. Personally, I thought it was because those Guard members were stuck in their ways, but neither one of the girls really seemed to mind. They worked with who they could on whatever mission they were given. Most of the time they actually requested Jane's presence as a third member of their team, which shocked Jane the first few times, but she worked really well with Bella and Charlotte so I couldn't blame them for sticking with her as their choice.

In between the missions and their pranks, they did actually come up with a few other things to keep them occupied throughout their downtime. They insisted on taking the old unused Boiler Room below the training facility and repurposing it into a club of sorts. No humans were allowed down there and no outsiders unless by special invitation, but I was surprised at how excited the castle seemed to get at the idea of having a club inside the walls. Heidi even managed to get involved in decorating what the girls were calling the Blood Room. They had Alec setting up the stereo equipment along with any electronics that Charlotte said he would need. Jane and Bella spent weeks setting up what they called the Blood Bar, which had the treated blood from our labs infused with various liquors, wines, beers, and even champagne. It was a more preferred way of getting a bit drunk rather than drinking straight from a liquor bottle. Felix and Demetri added a bit more to this venture by adding a stage for live music in the north corner of the club, a loft with tables and chairs for people to congregate, and a luminescent dance floor that changed colors depending on the music. Corin and Chelsea were even involved and in charge of getting the club lighting just right.

I think the most impressive thing that they did in regards to their Blood Room was how they organized the music. Since most of us were from different eras and had varying tastes in music, they wanted to make it enjoyable for everyone. What they did to fix this potential problem was go to every member of the Volturi, be it royalty, soldier, or servant and ask them for their favorite decade of music and favorite era of clothing. Every member of the Volturi had to answer each inquiry and that answer was written down on a sheet of paper that was then laminated and cut to fit inside a hollow Bingo rolling cage. I don't know where they found Bingo cages, but they got a hold of two of them and repurposed them to be covered in plastic instead of the cage-like material that they had previously. The newly-dubbed Bingo wheels were separated depending on topic and each answer from each Volturi member was placed inside the wheels. It was up to one of the Kings to roll the Music wheel, one of us to roll the Clothing wheel, and the third to read them out. The music listed was the only music played that weekend at the Blood Room and the clothing was the only clothing allowed in.

I have to admit, some of the combinations were completely absurd and ridiculous, but I supposed that was the whole point. The castle was hearing laughter and having fun again and I couldn't see a downside to that. One Friday evening, when I pulled the 70's out of the Music wheel and Marcus pulled Clothing from the Renaissance era, we both felt the need to make an appearance at the Blood Room that Saturday night just to see with our own eyes how absurd the combination was. What really shocked me was to find out that Marcus liked Disco music. I didn't even think he was aware of it, but he was subtly dancing along with everyone else. It was only when he did the signature John Travolta Disco move in the middle of the dance floor that the entire club burst into applause for him. He goes back every weekend and hasn't yet missed an opportunity to get his groove on.

Aro wasn't surprising in his music choices. His were more classical based with the three B's, Beethoven, Bach, and Brahms and occasionally Mozart and Chopin. Any decade that was pulled between 1650 and 1850 was when you could find Aro at the Blood Room dressed in whatever ridiculous clothing era had been picked the afternoon previous. It was quite the sight to see him one night in bright neon clothing from the 1990's dancing a waltz to Vivaldi's Le Quattro Stagioni. It was times like this I was glad to have photographic memory.

I was more partial to music that had a bit of a beat to it. Athena and I were at the Blood Room more than Aro, but nowhere near as often as Marcus. I was relatively eclectic in my music tastes, but favored classic rock from the 1980's. Athena giggled uncontrollably the one night that genre was picked for both the Music and Clothing styles. She had to tease my hair into this ridiculous mess on the top of my head and she put me into a pair of skin tight leather leopard print pants that left very little to the imagination and a white jean jacket with white boots, forgoing any shirt completely. I think a little of my dignity died that night, but Athena, Bella and Charlotte loved it, so I sucked it up and had fun for their sakes. At least I looked the part.

During the Italian summers, things tended to get a bit boring for Charlotte and Bella, but within a year after starting the Blood Room they decided to add another bit of chaos into our lives by starting a yearly week-long scavenger hunt. This hunt however, was not your typical hunt. You had a week from the time the list was posted until the time the hunt ended to get as many items on the list completed as you could. Points were given as you completed these items and photographed them as proof. The Kings were the judges of the photographs and the ones to declare the ultimate winner at the end of the week. Most of the Volturi were also a part of this as well. Bella and Charlotte would go up to every member and ask them what their most embarrassing moment that they wanted to reveal was and the answers they got gave them some interesting ideas for this scavenger hunt.

One year they had an item on their list that required the hunter to go into a humans house while they were out, and start a load of dishes in the dishwasher if they had it (if not, then a load of laundry) and take a picture of the results a half hour in. You would not believe the houses I saw covered in bubbles from a dishwasher or a laundry washing machine because the vamps involved didn't know how to use the appliance properly. Needless to say, I had each and every Volturi member involved stay and clean the mess before the humans came home and noticed something amiss.

Another year they had decided that Christmas in July was going to be a theme to that year's hunt. Again, it required breaking into the humans homes and decorate that house like it was set up for Christmas. They had to get a tree, decorate it accordingly, get presents, make a Christmas dinner, put up stockings, and get a fire in the fireplace going (again, if they had one). The humans that owned these houses were astonished at the gifts that they received as well as the home cooked dinner that awaited them and the decorations that lit up their homes. It was a truly amazing sight to behold, even if the food wasn't always edible.

We had our hands full another year when "Make A Pig Fly" was an item on the list and we had several swine airborne that were very obviously unhappy about it, if the incessant squealing was any indication. Although, the ingenuity I saw in the various contraptions that were used to get the sows in the air made me realize that we needed to upgrade the technology that we had running the castle. Some of these devices could have put the entire Volturi computer system to shame. And they were just hauling pigs around. I could only imagine what we could use that knowledge for if it were put to better use.

All in all, I didn't regret changing the girls for a second. They filled our lives with happiness, love, light, and gave us an opportunity to improve upon how we lived our very long, and sometimes monotonous, lives.

AN: Thank you so much for sticking with me through this incredibly difficult chapter. The scavenger hunt at the end is based on GISHWHES if anyone was wondering. If you don't know what that is, then I am both relieved for you as well as saddened for you.