Italians Do It Better


I awoke held by cold arms, keeping my fever down. My skin felt extra-sensitised, I could feel everything a hundred times over.

The scrape of the silk covers over my skin.

The tensile strength in the arms that held me.

The pain racking every inch of my body.

I'd woken up each and every morning so far like this, for three weeks. My twins had grown exponentially in the last few weeks. Every time they moved, it felt like each muscle and bone was screaming in protest. I'd broken three ribs and my pelvis.

I hadn't eaten in two weeks.

My days were filled with pain and tedium, watched by Felix or Demetri, my only visitors Gianna or Aro. I was left to think in the moments when I could distract myself from the pain, and I thought. I thought about Edward, I thought about Alice. I dreamt of them nightly, and I knew I cried in my sleep. Aro was my only comfort, he was always there to hold me when I doubled over with agony, or I screamed in distress from nightmares.

He was always there. I was never truly alone.

I thought about my father a lot. What must he think of my disappearance? What had the Cullens told him? A tear swelled in my eye, as I thought about it, blurring my vision of the opposite wall. I let loose a weary sigh, feeling Aro's arms tighten around me.

Today would be a day like any other. One filled with pain and hunger and fear. Fear for my babies', what my inability to keep anything down must be doing to them.

Aro would beg me to eat, and I did try, I really did, but I couldn't. I would just throw it up again. This morning was a quiet one, waking up without having broken anything, warm but not too hot. It was almost impossible to do, with Aro's cold arms around me. He held me every night, even though I knew he must have other, better things to do.

I was just a fascinating experiment.

My mind drifted back to my meeting with Aro's wife, and Caius's, a few days after I had arrived in Volterra…..


I moaned in pain as I felt my rib crack. I clenched my hands, holding onto the bed sheets, when I realised I had visitors in the darkened room. Two pale, fair-haired goddesses, gowned in blue and gold silk, looked down on me, one haughtily and with great dislike, the other with wonder and puzzlement.

"She's an interesting one. I wonder what Aro has in mind for her," the nicer looking of the two said. She inhaled, and stepped back, her hands over her mouth and nose.

"She won't last long. No doubt Aro will lose interest once his little experiment is over," the other replied dismissively. "Come, Athenodora,"

Athenodora looked down on me pityingly, smiling gently before she followed her sister. I heard their last words as they left.

"She's too weak."

"Her blood is so…appetising," Athenodora said.

"Hmm, there is that. Maybe when it is clear she cannot live, Aro will simply remove his precious hybrids and let us have her," the unknown female replied.

"I don't think so, Sulpicia. I've seen the way he looks at her," Athenodora replied.

"A mere passing fancy. She is no more than an experiment to him, I can assure you, sister," Sulpicia replied, before they passed out of my hearing

It was like I didn't even exist. Like I was a freakshow.


That memory had depressed me for days, when I realised it was true. How could I have been so blind, yet even though I knew the truth, I couldn't resist the comfort and affection he lavished on me.

This morning, I had to lie as still as I could whilst Demetri examined me. Apparently he had medical training.

I moaned and flinched under his hands, even though he was gentle. Aro was sat by my side, holding my hands. I focussed on his crimson eyes, finding strength in them. I hated myself for this, but I had grown dependent on him, not to mention my addiction had not abated. Some nights, when I was not screaming from nightmares, I awoke flushed and yearning from torturous fantasies, and I would look into Aro's eyes and see he knew.

Finally Demetri was done, his cold hands leaving my stomach, and he sighed as he straightened. I recoiled when I saw his eyes.

Coal black.

"If this keeps up, she'll need a blood transfusion," he remarked. "She's too weak, she needs nourishment."

"But how, when her body can't absorb anything?" Gianna asked him. I simply lay there, flinching when I felt the twins move again. Suddenly, Aro's head snapped around to me, his eyes narrowed.

"Blood….." he murmured.

"Master?" Demetri turned to his leader, his brow furrowed.

"Isabella needs nourishment, but her body can't absorb human food. But maybe…..why didn't I think of this before?" Aro leapt from the bed, excitement so palpable it seemed to emanate from him.

"Master?" Demetri asked again. I watched my lover as he pursed his lips, obviously thinking something through. Finally he snapped his fingers, a smile gracing his austere lips.

"Blood. The foetuses are half-vampire, so maybe we should start thinking about their needs in that light. We need to address their needs, before we can address Isabella's," he declared, his hands held wide.

I sighed. He still refused to call me Bella.

"So you're saying I need to drink blood, and it will help the twins?" I murmured, too weak to actually speak properly.

"It's worth trying," Demetri replied. He flitted from the room, as Aro returned to my side. Gently, trying not to cause me any pain, he rearranged me on the pillows, so I leant against his chest, his arms around me and our children. In that moment I could dream that he cared for me, that he didn't just see me as an experiment. That Sulpicia's words weren't true.

Suddenly Demetri was back by my side, in his hand a silver goblet, filled with liquid. I could smell it; rust and salt. It smelt like heaven.

Aro must have mistaken my shudder for disgust because, he held me tighter, whispering soothingly in my ear.

"Isabella, it's alright. You'll have to do this when you're a vampire anyway,"

I turned my head to look at him, frowning, surprised. Was he serious? Would he turn me? Or was he just saying that to give me hope so I would keep the twins alive?

"Isabella, drink," he took the goblet from Demetri who backed away, and held to my lips. Too weak to resist either way, I opened my lips, my hand rising tremblingly to take it by its finely wrought stem, as the blood touched my tongue.


It was heaven and salvation and desperate hunger.

I downed it in one gulp, and almost immediately I felt strength return. Aro chuckled, gesturing for Demetri to fetch more. This time he brought in an entire carafe, before bowing slightly and backing away. Aro smirked, sensing his discomfort.

"Go, Demetri. You obviously need to hunt," he said quietly, at which Demetri gratefully ran from the room. Gianna quietly got up and left the room, sending me a friendly smile. She was a nice girl, even though I couldn't quite bring myself to like her, after our first meeting almost a year previously. But was I any better?

Here I was, in a citadel filled with vampires, ignorant to the slaughter that was going on around me. The slaughter of human lives.

In that moment, I resolved that if I did become a vampire, I would not kill a human. I would be strong enough to resist, just as I had been preparing for the last year, since it had been decided that I would be turned.


"Drink, Isabella," Aro whispered in my ear. I didn't need telling twice.

I was onto my fifth glass, feeling some strength return to my limbs, when I felt a drop of blood fall onto the corner of my lip. Before I could even so much as move, I felt Aro's voice in my ear.

"Allow me, Isabella," he whispered, his husky voice sending shivers down my spine. A moment later, his cold lips touched the corner of my lips, his tongue licking up the stray droplet. I moaned, my eyes rolling back into my head, as I leant heavily into his body. Aro's hand rose to my cheek, turning my head, and our lips met.

His kiss was dark and seductive, as his hand gently untangled the goblet from my grasp, setting it on a side table, then that same hand returned to my hair, locking around the nape of my neck, pulling me close. I moaned into his mouth, yearning making every muscle in my body lock, as he kissed me deeply. It was almost as if he was drinking me in, determined to absorb me into his very body.

His free hand rose from the swell of my belly to my breast, caressing the soft, sore skin. I gasped, but then my pleasure turned to pain when the twins moved abruptly. Our kiss broke, although our lips remained close, my eyes staring into his. His searched mine concernedly.

"Isabella, are you alright?" he asked. Fighting away the pain, needing more of his kiss, his touch, I nodded once.

"Please…just kiss me again," I begged. I hated to sound so needy, so weak, but I couldn't hold back a moan of satisfaction when his lips captured mine again.

My entire body tingled, drowning out the pain, until Aro pulled back, stroking my lifeless hair back from my face. I must have looked a mess.

Looking into his eyes, I spoke without thinking.

"Did you mean what you said? About turning me?" I asked. He frowned, yet smilingly at the same time.

"Of course, my dear. Why wouldn't I turn the mother of my children?" he asked me, as if it was the stupidest question in the world. He leant his head in once more, but I spoke before our lips touched.

"But Sulpicia said…." I began, before Aro raised his head, and I saw the stony set of his features, the suspicion and the anger beginning to rise.

"How do you know Sulpicia?" he asked calmly, yet I sensed he was angry. I placed my hand on his cheek, and he leaned into my palm, turning his lips so they just grazed the skin. I shivered.

"Umm…."

"'Umm' is not a word, Isabella, nor is it an answer," Aro remarked, one eyebrow cocked. I narrowed my eyes, yet I recognised his playful tone when I heard it.

"Well maybe if you stopped distracting me by kissing me…." I murmured teasingly.

"Well, that can be remedied," he replied, moving away slowly, before I snatched him back. "Or not."

"Definitely not," I agreed, kissing his neck. The blood had done me good, even though I wanted more, I felt better. Aro tensed under my lips, and I raised my head to meet his eyes. He kissed me again, slower this time, but I sensed that same burning hunger I had felt the first time he had ever kissed me.

"Now what did Sulpicia say to you?" Aro asked, as soon as he raised his head.

"She didn't say it directly to me, per se, but I overheard her talking to Athenodora. She said I was nothing more than an experiment, that you would just let me die when you had the children out. Is that true?" I asked him, making sure I looked him the eye when I said this. I knew vampires could be good liars, but not Aro. Not to me, anyway.

Aro stared at me long and hard. My heart began to sink.

"No, Isabella. What Sulpicia said is not true. I will turn you when the time comes, Isabella. Rest assured of that," he finished stiltedly. I exhaled, his eyes steady on mine. I caught my breath again at his next words. "You're mine now, Isabella Swan, and I will never let you go."

Fear and desire rushed through me at this point, as he kissed me again. I shivered, my lids falling, as Aro's lips fell to my neck, caressing down it lazily.

"How could I want anything else after you, Isabella? So soft, so yielding yet so strong. So loving," he murmured in-between caresses. He was driving me crazy. My hands speared through his hair, but he straightened abruptly. "Not now, darling. You need to rest,"

Reluctantly, I was tired, I conceded to him. He gently lowered me down to the bed, kissing me deeply one last time.

"Rest, Isabella," he ordered me. I glared at him, I didn't like him ordering me around. Suddenly he cocked his head to the side, as if listening. A frown settled over his face as he listened.

"What is it?" I asked, taking one last sip of blood before I placed the half-empty goblet on the side, relaxing back into the pillows. I felt so much better, so much stronger.

"A problem that needs to be dealt with," he replied tersely, before his expression softened when he looked at my face. Suddenly his lips were pressed to mine, and I almost floundered under the force of his passion. It was over far too quickly for me, when he drew back and straightened, readjusting his shirt. "I'll be back, as soon as my attention is no longer needed,"

I don't what made me say it, but I did anyway.

"Hurry back," I whispered, already turning over carefully and closing my eyes. I felt his cold lips on my cheek, before he flitted from the room.


Later Gianna brought me some food, and this time the smell didn't turn my stomach. Full on blood, the solid food helped alleviate that empty feeling I had, as I feasted on omelette and mushrooms, washed down with, you guessed it, blood.

AB negative, as Felix joked from the corner of the room, as he watched me eat.

As my strength returned, I felt hope return. My twins grew in strength too, and they still caused me injuries, but I was no longer dying of starvation. I grew quickly, my stomach increasing in size from 30 centimetres to 34 in two days. I knew I had to be getting close to giving birth. I had to be.

Then one day, something momentous happened.

I had been lying in bed, reading a book whilst Aro lay beside me, his hands gently roaming my body through the silk pyjamas Gianna had brought me. It wasn't a sexual touch, but comforting.

There had been other clothes too, but I obviously couldn't fit into them yet. Alice would have had a field day. Abruptly, Aro had sat up.

"Did you say anything?" he asked me frowningly. I shook my head, confused, my heart pounding for some reason. Gently, he placed his hand on my stomach, and closed his eyes. I stared at him, confused. He couldn't see into my mind, so why….?

"What are you thinking now?" he asked me. I rolled my eyes at the command in his voice.

"I'm thinking what an idiot you're being. You know you can't see into my mind," I said archly. Aro sent me an arch look, before frowning in concentration again.

"What are you thinking now?" he asked again.

"What is this? Guess the thought game?" I muttered sarcastically.

"Isabella, just answer the question," he snapped. I set my jaw.

"Fine. I'm daydreaming about being strong enough to whack you around the head for being stupid without breaking my hand," I responded cheekily.

"You've certainly recovered your spleen," Aro murmured, before he sobered. "I can hear them."

"What? You can hear what the twins are thinking?" I sat up abruptly, almost jumping in the air. A fresh surge of pain sliced through me.

"Careful, Isabella. You startled them," he said soothingly, stroking my hair.

"What are they thinking?" I asked, breathless.

"One of them is thinking…..he loves the sound of your voice," Aro replied, looking up at me in wonder. I stared at him, stunned. "I can't hear the other."

"What? Does that mean something's wrong?" I demanded, starting to feel slightly panicky and beginning to hyperventilate. Aro looked up, and shook his head.

"No. I can hear both heartbeats still, and they're as strong as a pack of lions. I think, Isabella, that one of our children has inherited your gift,"

I could only smile at him, a wide grin on my face, as he listened to the thoughts of our children, and told me what they were thinking.

"What do they, I mean he, sound like?" I asked him, my heart fluttering.

"His mind is like….it's more developed than anything I've felt before, in a child. His thoughts are actually coherent, it's fascinating," Aro said, looking up from my stomach, a huge boyish grin over his face. The sight warmed me.

That was the last time I was happy, for a long time.


I was asleep, one morning, Aro having left my side to deal with another situation, contentedly drifting between sleep and waking. My usual goblet of blood was on the side, waiting for me, and I had just decided to sit up when I heard the door open and close. I turned my head, and saw a figure glide through the gloom of my room.

Sulpicia.

She stopped before me, and smiled, a deadly, vulpine grin.

"I think it's time we had a little talk, don't you agree, little girl?"