What is it to be today?" I asked as I walked into Athendora's office.

"A routine acquisition Isabella. A boy."

"Where?"

"Iraq. Demetri will lead you there. Don't bother with the parents." She went back to her files and laptop and I left.

"Demitri!"

I walked to the garage followed by Demitri and Kathleen. I never really did like Kathleen. She was a sadistic robot of Athendora's. I got into my 2010 Camaro and beat them to the airstrip. We took off and were soon circling over Baghdad. We landed and found an SUV waiting for us.

We drove to a more affluent part of town and Demitri signaled at a nice looking house. I could hear a small child inside with a man and a woman. I was unconcerned. We knocked at the door and the man answered becoming wary as he saw us.

"May I help you?"

"We would like to speak with you about your son." I said in flawless Arabic.

"My son?"

"Yes he is quite special."

"Come in." He still looked wary.

I was thirsty, it had been far to long since I'd hunted. The boy was playing in the front room and the woman came out to see what was going on. We sat around their kitchen table and they waited for me to speak.

"We would like to offer your son a place at our school in Italy." I said.

"He is but seven years of age." The man said and the blood quickened under his skin.

"He will be well taken care of."

"I won't have someone else raising my son." The man was angry. "Thank you for your time, but please leave." He stood up.

Kathleen darted to cut the woman off as she went to grab the child. The man lunged at me. I grabbed him as gently as I could and scooped up the boy. I ran with them out the door getting into one of the cars and racing off. I slid into a garage and jumped out to the close the door. I made sure the man and boy were quiet with my mind as I heard Demitri and Kathleen pass.

What had I just done and why had I done it? The man knew too much now; it was join or die. I would have to change him myself if I were to save him. I put the boy and the man to sleep. I knew that I was doomed to fail but I had to try. I bit into the man and I became crazed. I drank his blood and he died in my arms without feeling a thing. I took the boy and got back into the car. I drove back to the house.

The woman was dead, her neck broken. She had witnessed too much. She had had to die. I set the house on fire and threw the man's body inside hoping that no one noticed. I drove to the airstrip and Demitri and Kathleen were waiting.

"What the hell was that Bella?"

"I don't know." I said truthfully.

"Athendora is not going to be pleased with you Isabella." Kathleen looked smug so I shut her up; she glowered at me unable to speak.

"Serious exposure risk Bella. I like the eyes though." Demitri shrugged and got on the plane.

As I flew back to Volterra I could feel the man's blood within me. I was a monster, a murderer. I did not go report to Athendora. I went straight to my rooms and shut the door. I put in some American screaming rock music and sat staring at the wall. The night fell and I went into my closet for no good reason and was shocked by what I saw in the mirror.

I looked into my red eyes and smashed the mirror in my closet full of black clothes. I sank down to the floor and picked up a shard of the glass. My red eye looked back at me, the monster I had become. I had killed hundreds of vampires in my time and a warehouse full of evil humans, but now I had killed an innocent man trying to protect his child.

If I wasn't committing these atrocities then Athendora would have someone else doing it. I was just the best of the best and she knew it. That evil woman had to be stopped somehow. Silpicia was also a problem. I couldn't let Edward be harmed because of the evil I had brought down upon us.

My path became clear before my feet. I looked down at my left hand and the ring sparkling in the moonlight. I removed it for the first time since Edward had put it there and closed it in a plain wood box, like a coffin, on one of the shelves.

I left my room quietly and walked the halls until I found his room.

"Demitri." I whispered through the hinges.