Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all of Twilight.

I'd like to dedicate this chapter to everyone who's reading this (:

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There were five of them all together, two ladies and three gentlemen.

The male with the strawberry blond curls that clung to his head like the curls of cupid sniffed along my neck. I whimpered slightly, wondering what he might do to me, a man had never been this close to me before. He pulled his head back and smiled at me. On second inspection he wasn't quite a man, there was still a hint of boyish roundness to his cherubim face. He was a youth of seventeen at the most.

"Look at that mass of hair." He said, touching my red locks tenderly. "And the shape of that face." He said caressing my face. "Like an elf."

I couldn't help the shiver of delight that wracked my body at his casual touch. It felt good, if a little naughty, and I longed for him to touch me in the places hidden by my dress.

I was shocked at my own thoughts!

"She is our keeper." He whispered.

"Oh definitely." The dark haired female agreed, and she also sniffed me. "Mmm. Delicious."

"They look the same." The male with the short-cropped hair observed. "Why can't we keep this one?"

"She's too old Lovell, you know our rules." The cupid said casually. "Take her if you want, you do have one more owing to you."

"But this one is so much better." Lovell growled.

I risked a glance at Victoria who was looking at Lovell in a mixture of fear and awe. Was there a hint of lust on her face? I didn't analyse it too deeply for I had other concerns.

"She looks too old." The cupid mused as he stroked my face once more. "Fourteen years too old."

The brown haired male let out a low growl.

"We'll put it to a vote then. Who wants to change the green eye?" The other three raised their hands. "Who wants to change the blue eye?"

"Aye." Said the brown haired man.

"You're outvoted Lovell. We will take the young one. The old one is yours. Are we all agreed?"

"Yes Eros." The three chorused while Lovell kept his peace.

"Then let's get her out of here and torch this place." Eros declared. "Lovell, the old one is yours."

He said toward where Victoria and Lovell had been standing.

"Where did he go?" Eros asked.

"Oh you know Lovell." The other male observed.

"He likes to play with his food." The brown haired female breathed.

"Of course he does." Eros said with a chuckle. "So shall we set about initiating this one?"

And then he picked me up in his arms, like some romantic hero, and I was cradled close to his cold hard chest as he carried me with great speed from the house. I looked up into his beautiful face as he occasionally glanced down at me with a smile as the night air rushed past and the shadows of trees flashed by quickly over head.

And then we were out on the downs with nothing but silence and the ghostly moonlight for miles around. We dropped down a good hundred feet but I was barely jostled and he didn't seem to be worried by it. His bright white grin glinted down at me in the moonlight before darkness engulfed us and I knew we were underground.

I closed my eyes and buried my face into his chest as the darkness thickened. You don't know darkness until you've seen it in its true form, deep underground where the light can't get to you. The darkness small children were left alone in for hours on end to open doors for speeding pit ponies. Darkness so absolute that the only way you can tell your eyes are open is to feel with your hands.

Yet my beautiful stranger carried me swiftly and surely as if the darkness offered no hindrance to him, while I remained cwtched into his chest.

I think I must have drifted to sleep, because I opened my eyes as I felt myself being lowered down, he placed me on a very comfortable mattress and smiled down at me.

"Welcome home my sweet." He crooned, stroking back my hair. "Here, have a goblet of wine."

I took the proffered glass thankfully, my throat was suddenly parched. I drank the wine back quickly, maybe a little too quickly as I felt my head swim slightly I ate some of the food he offered me too.

"Iris. Why don't you go and find our guest something suitable to ware." He said, not taking his eyes off me.

"Certainly Eros." The dark haired female answered before offering me her hand.

I took it and allowed her to pull me to my feet. Gosh, her hand was cold. And she led me into a separate part of the cave…mine, whatever it was that we were in. This part was definitely showing a woman's touch though.

"The men aren't allowed here." Iris said lightly. "Now let's see, what shall we get you to ware." She said, looking me up and down.

She went to the rack of clothes and picked out a single garment. It reminded me of something I had seen in a history book, a dress worn by women in ancient Greece. It was made of fine muslin in a spring leaf green colour that would complement my eyes. I gasped and ran the slinky material through my fingers.

"This is beautiful." I sighed.

"Come on then, lets get you changed." She said with a smile.

"Changed?" I asked timidly.

"Yes. Don't be shy; you haven't got anything I haven't seen before. Come on, strip off and put this on." She said, holding up the dress again.

The dress was so pretty!

I stripped off down to my undergarments.

"You can't ware them under a dress like this!" She declared. "It will spoil the line. Come on, take it all off."

I gulped. "All off."

"Don't worry, the boys won't see you. They'll have me to deal with if they spy on you." She said sternly.

I looked into her eyes noting how they seemed oddly red in the darkness. She was watching me expectantly, was it really any different than allowing the maids to help me dress?

"Can you help…help me with the laces." I said, pointing over my shoulder to where my corset was tied.

"Course deary." She assured me, putting the dress down and turning me around.

She loosened the laces and my corset fell away. I removed my vest myself before quickly folding my arms to cover my now bare breasts. I felt material slip over my head and my vision was obscured for a moment. I lifted my arms up through the relevant holes and allowed the material to slide over my body.

I turned to Iris and she began pulling at the dress here and there, adjusting it.

"Yes, you look truly divine now." She remarked as she stepped back to look at me.

She led me from behind the partition and back into the main chamber, Eros and the other too were sitting around the bed. Iris led me to it and bade me to sit down; I obeyed, looking around at the beautiful strangers who surrounded me.

"Before we begin, some introductions are in order." Eros said formally.

I nodded my head.

"This is Zephyrus." He said, indicating the other male, the one with the white blond hair.

I nodded to him.

Zephyrus smiled back.

"This is Gaea." Eros continued, indicating the brown haired female, who gave me a wry smile. "And this if Iris." He said, pointing to Iris. "And I'm Eros."

"Then you are all named for Greek gods." I whispered.

"We were the Greek gods." Eros replied.

"So you're the god of love making?" I demanded, looking doubtfully at his boyish face.

"If you want me to be." He whispered, placing his hand on the side of my face.

I gasped at the coldness of his touch.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"We are known as the Child Coven, because we were all less than twenty when we were made immortal." Eros explained. "Do you want to join us?"

"Join you? How?"

"You will experience a little pain and discomforture, but after that you will be strong and new and you will never know illness again."

"I know not of what you talk." I gasped.

Eros closed his eyes for a moment, and then he opened them, looking at me solemnly. "Do you know what a vampire is?" He asked.

I frowned for a moment, trying to remember my lessons. "Are they not the restless spirits of the dead who seek the blood of the living in order to continue their existence?" I asked.

"Not quite. We are immortal beings who need no longer fear Death. We are strong and we are fast and we will look as we do now for all eternity. We also have the power to extend this gift to whomsoever we see fit. Do you wish to join us?"

I could be immortal?

"What am I required to do?" I asked quickly.

"Just drink the wine." Eros breathed into my ear. "Drink until you can take no more." And he thrust the goblet into my hand.

I drank the wine back fast and my head swam, the noises around me intensifying and dimming in a steady flow. I drank another glass, I was starting to feel nauseated and nothing seemed real.

I lay back into the sumptuous cushions as my hand went limp, dropping the goblet. I felt my eyes droop as Morphius called me forth. I lost myself in the darkness of sleep dreams coming to me in vivid, pulsing colours but nothing else.

I was distantly aware of the stings all over my body, everywhere, setting fire to my veins.

For the first five minuets I felt nothing, dimly aware of the pain as if it were happening to somebody else. I lay in that blissful stare until the venom burned the alcohol away, and then I was in agony. Oh the fire, Oh the burn. Surely I was dying in this inferno?

The screams escaped my lips, but they did me no good, I was trapped in this fiery maelstrom and I would die from it surly. The flames engulfed me, burning me, not easing up one bit.

I know now that the pain had me for three days, but at the time it seemed an eternity.

It was an eternity before my heart finally stopped.

And when it did I thought surely I was dead. My body was cold, my heart quiet, and two signs of a corpse. I lay with my eyes closed, refusing to open them.

I breathed in through my nose still staring into the darkness behind my eyes, and I noticed with wonder the colours around me. There was a bright fresh fuchsia that beat with a heart of passionate red; this was close to me. Near to this first one was a spiralling rainbow, swirling and changing through all the colours of the spectrum. On my other side was an earthy greeny-brown that seemed woven with the last one, almost translucent with a silver haze pulsing through it. They seemed linked to the wonderful scents that filled my nose.

That's when it occurred to me that if I could breathe then I obviously wasn't dead. I opened my eyes to a canopy of golden material above me.

"Finally!" I heard a voice say beside me, it seemed strangely loud.

I blinked and looked over to the source of the voice. It was Eros, and he was the source of the fuchsia colour. He was smiling at me with all his boyish charm.

I frowned, trying to recall what had happened. It didn't help that there was a nagging burning in the back of my throat, it was demanding my attention and but I couldn't fathom what it wanted.

"She needs to feed." Someone, yes Iris in her rainbow glow observed. "Come on Diana. We'll go hunt out some food." She said, holding her hand out to me. "This girl could not have been more than sixteen, how had I not noticed before?

"Holly." I corrected.

"What?"

"My name is Holly." I insisted.

"Very well, Holly." She said, exchanging a glance with Eros. "Let's go get some grub."

I stood and followed her through the tunnels. It was still too dark to see because even perfect vampire vision needs at least some light, but the dark held no fear for me now. I could find my way well by following the scent trail that was thick from their passage.

We were outside before I knew it, I marvelled at the speed with which I could now travel.

"Where do we go to find dinner?" I asked.

"Follow your nose." She said with a grin.

I frowned at her.

She sniffed at the air.

"This way." She said, leading me eastward, toward the see, I could smell the salt and…

The fire in my throat intensified as something delicious hit my nostrils. God, what an appealing aroma I had to sink my teeth into it…

Without realising it I was running, following that scent blindly as my body insured I didn't run into anything. My mind was completely preoccupied with that mouth-watering scent. I was getting closer and closer.

It was a field late at night, there was nobody about apart from the courting couple making use of a hay bale. I grabbed hold of the youth whose clothes were all askew, dragging him from the floor I sank my teeth into his neck.

I heard him gasp with pain and he struggled in my arms, but I was too strong for him. I tightened my grip not wanting to let my prey escape as the warm red river pulsed delightfully over my tongue, truly this was the divine nectar of the gods. What powerful magic it must hold. My hands tightened still and there was a snapping sound, I heard the boy yell out at the new pain, I had broken his arm!

This river wasn't endless though, it soon dried up as the boy went limp in my arms and his heart stopped beating. As I dropped him too the floor my hearing came back as if from a distance and I could hear the high-pitched screams of the girl.

Her scent reached me, rich and inviting.

Without thinking I gave chase as she bolted across the field, I had her in my clutches instantly and I was drinking her blood too. Savouring the taste more this time for my hunger wasn't as demanding, but she also was not enough to fill the hole before she too was empty.

I dropped her and looked up.

"Not too shabby." Iris observed, nudging the girl's corpse with the toe of her boot. "Come on. We have to dump the bodies. The sea's probably the best place." And she reached down and picked the corpse up easily, swinging it over her shoulder as if it were a sack.

"Go get the boy." She said, nodding her head to where I had left him sprawled on the ground.

I obeyed and found that he weighed nothing at all. Or at least that's how it appeared to me.

Iris and I ghosted to the nearest cliff where the waves were crashing, trying to climb the rocks, driven by the winds off the Channel. I went to throw the body in the water.

"Wait." Iris called out, dumping the girl on the floor. "Check, see if he's got any valuables." She said as she began to search the girl.

I did this with the boy but came up empty.

"There's nothing." I whispered.

"His belt looks good." She said glancing over as examined the knitted shawl she'd just taken off the girl. "And Eros collects neck scarves."

So I removed the belt and neck scarf before we pushed their bodies into the briny depths to be battered against the rocks.

As we flittered back to the entrance of the mine I asked, "What will people say when they find their bodies?"

"If they find the bodies they'll just think they jumped together, that particular rock is known as Lover's Leap." Iris said with a smirk.

I wondered how many other people had been given the wrong cause of death because of Iris.

"Come on. Let's go get our stuff together. We're off back to London now you're awake."

"London?" I asked.

"Yep. We're the East London Coven, as well as being the Child Coven. You ever been to London?"

"I come from London." I answered.

"Really? Why was you in that big house then?"

"That's where we spend our summers."

"Oh. So you're a toff then, from the posh part." She inferred.

"From the age of ten, yes. However I spent the first part of my childhood in the Workhouse." I informed her.

"The Workhouse, cor, how did you get out of there?" I she asked impressed.

"I was adopted by the woman who turned out to actually be my mother."

"Well there's a turn up." She remarked, before disappearing down the hole.

I followed her and her scent trail back into the mine. The others were waiting.

"How did it go?" Eros asked eagerly.

"She was magnificent." Iris remarked, moving to his side and kissing his cheek. "We got some goodies as well." She said, holding up the locket she had found on the girl for closer inspection.

"Nice." Eros said, taking it from her hand.

"And this." She said, dancing around, modelling the shawl.

Eros nodded his head in approval.

"Oh, Holly's got some stuff too." Iris said, stopping mid spin to look at me.

I had been daydreaming slightly and I roused myself, "Oh, right." I said, holding up the neckerchief and the belt half-heartedly.

"Oh my!" Eros gasped and the neckerchief disappeared from my fingers. "A purple one. Purple is hard to come by, where did you get this?"

"Off my meal." I said. "He was gathering nuts with the former owner of that shawl."

"You caught a couple?" He asked. "And you managed to do away with both before the other could raise the alarm."

"Was I not meant to drink of both?"

"Usually we avoid multiple feeding this close to civilization. Not that the humans could do anything should they find out what we are, but it would make our lives terribly inconvenient, not to mention the Volturi would sweep down on us with force." Eros said.

"I've heard they're headed to America." Iris said darkly. "Cause of all the trouble there."

"Those foolish Colonials, armies of newborns indeed." Eros tutted.

"They're not Colonials any more." Gaea said.

"What?" Eros said with a frown.

"Americans are not Colonials. They got their independence, we lost them." Gaea replied apologetically.

"We did?" Eros asked uncertainly.

Gaea nodded her head.

"Well forgive me if I am not fully up to date, but when you're a thousand then you can make fun of me all you want."

"I wasn't making fun, I was just pointing out that we no longer have American colonies so we can't refer to them as Colonials any more." Gaea said quietly.

"Sorry I snapped, it is hard to keep up with who owns what land. When I was born Ireland was the edge of the world and England was over run with Vikings. Ownership always changes." He sighed. "So are we ready to move on?"

We returned to London and I was now with my new family and I loved them all very dearly. I learnt that we were an extension of the Volturi, although we could not weald this fact as power. We were, for want of a better word, Volturi spies and this fact was well noted among other immortals. Rarely were we disturbed and when we were the other clan of London came to our rescue, for they were fighters and they saw us as children to protect.

We moved in the shadowy slums amongst the dregs of society, but often that was where we found the most fun. After feeding until we were fit to burst and therefore safe around humans we would go to the music halls to watch them sing and tell jokes. Sometimes we would go to one of the many taverns and inns and mix with all the best people, the ones who could enjoy life despite not having much. We would join in the sing-a-long and buy drinks for whichever human we favoured that evening. Those were grand times.

Then there were the times we were feeling especially adventurous, when we would dress in finery in order to mingle in Society. My sisters and I often turned heads, the many proposals of marriage I received in one night was astronomical. Not to mention the near riots we caused when we turned down all our would-be suitors for the two strange pale men who nobody could quite recall seeing again.

What fun times, yet after the first decade it began to ware thin. By the end of the second decade it was positively tedious, I no longer wished to explore the human spots, I would much rather stay at home to read, only venturing out when the need to feed took.

And my books, filled with stories and pictures of foreign lands, I wanted to see them all. I did, but it was trailing behind James and Victoria, or in my official capacity on the Guard. I did not experience the countries as I thought I would and I knew that leaving my coven had been a big mistake.

But I suppose one cannot change the past…

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Thanks for reading, please review,

Gemma (: