Italians Do It Better

I felt fear as Sulpicia walked towards my bed, my heart beginning to race.

What did she want?

"What do you want?" I asked, sitting up slowly. She was beautiful, that much I could see, with her porcelain features and golden ripples of hair, but there was something in the set of her mouth, and the glitter of her crimson eyes. I sensed there was a thin veneer of civility, a superficial glamour to her.

She was 100% predator.

Sulpicia halted by my side, her eyes on mine, her mouth twisted into a sneer.

"What do I want?" she cocked her head to the side. "Always the same inane questions. Humans truly are an unimaginative lot,"

"I asked you a question," I said, speaking a bit louder, hoping someone might hear me. Sulpicia smirked.

"You are a brave one, or just extremely foolish. Save your breath, little girl. He won't hear you," she said, one hand reaching out. I felt her cold touch on my throat, and I flinched away.

"I can see why he keeps you around. You smell…delicious, not to mention that you have some spirit. It's a pity really," Sulpicia continued. I frowned, my curiosity piqued.

"What do you mean?"

"Did you really expect that my husband would keep you? All he wants is the hybrids," she replied, her sneer dropping. "It's sad, really. Someone always suffers so Aro can get what he wants."

"Shut up. I trust Aro, I know he won't betray me," I replied, struggling not to listen to her.

"You know nothing, human!" Sulpicia snarled, suddenly shoving her face into mine, her teeth bared. "He murdered his own sister to get what he wanted, and you will be no different!"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, wondering where the hell she was going with this.

"Didyme. Didyme was Aro's sister, his blood relation. Ten years after he was changed, he changed her in the hopes she would possess a gift similar to his. She didn't, she possessed the gift of making people happy. She was useless to him, but that wasn't why he killed her. She and Marcus were married, until they began to become dissatisfied with Aro's machinations. They wished to leave, but naturally Aro found out. He didn't wish to let Marcus go, not with the power his gift gave the Volturi, and…." Sulpicia told me, a spiteful smile dawning.

"He killed her," I finished. I could feel the blood drain from my face, as I digested this information. My hand fell to my stomach.

"He will do the same, to you, to your children. Don't let him use you for his gain," Sulpicia added, her smile fading. Suddenly she just looked sad.

"I-I….." I didn't know what to say. Why hadn't Aro told me this? What did it mean? Did it change anything?

Tears began to leak out from behind my lids, as I closed my eyes.

"I can set you free from this, Bella. Aro will never let you go, but you don't have to let him win. There is one way left," Sulpicia whispered, and I felt the bed dip beside me as she sat down.

A familiar scent reached my nose; rust and salt, but something was wrong. There was a new element to it, a noxiously sweet flavour.

Poison.

"Just let go, Bella. Let go and save yourself all the pain and heartbreak I've had to endure for centuries," her words were like poison in themselves, sowing doubt in my mind.

Aro had killed his own sister to get what he wanted. What was to say he wouldn't do the same to me?

Could I even trust him again after this? His voice and his face had become my world, after I lost Edward and the Cullens because of my stupidity, but was that enough?

Did it matter that he had killed his sister, his own blood? Could I live with that?

I'd been willing to live with the fact Edward had killed people, why not Aro?

'It isn't the same' a nasty little voice in the back of my head said. But maybe that didn't matter….

A memory of long ago returned.

"And did that convince you?" his voice sounded barely interested. But his hands were clamped hard onto the steering wheel.

"No. Nothing fit. Most of it was kind of silly. And then…" I stopped.

"What?"

"I decided it didn't matter," I whispered.

"It didn't matter?" his tone made me look up- I had finally broken through his carefully composed mask. His face was incredulous, with just a hint of the anger I'd feared.

"No," I said softly. "It doesn't matter to me what you are."

A hard, mocking edge entered his voice. "You don't care if I'm a monster? If I'm not human?"

"No."

And another….

"Don't you see, Bella? It's one thing for me to make myself miserable, but a wholly other thing for you to be involved," he turned his anguished eyes to the road, his words flowing almost too fast for me to understand. "I don't want to hear that you feel that way." His voice was low and urgent. His words cut me. "It's wrong. It's not safe. I'm dangerous, Bella- please, grasp that,"

"No." I tried very hard not to look like a sulky child.

"I'm serious," he growled.

"So am I. I told you, it doesn't matter what you are. It's too late,"

That was when I realised. It was too late. Aro may have killed Didyme, but that didn't mean I would commit suicide, killing my own children, just to escape him. I had always known he was power-hungry, but suddenly I knew that was just a part of him, and I wanted all of him. The good with the bad. I'd lost Edward; Aro was all I had left, and I would hold onto him with both hands. For me, for our children, for the future I so desperately wanted. For our eternity.

My eyes snapped open. "How stupid do you think I am?" I snapped, wiping my tears away. "You don't get it, do you Sulpicia? I don't care if he killed his sister. This is entirely different, and I won't kill myself or my children because you think he's going to use me. So thanks for the concern, but no thanks," I snapped scathingly, knocking away the goblet in her hands, so that blood spilled over the white bed sheets, and it clattered away from us. Ignoring Sulpicia's snarl, I looked beyond us, and met the eyes of my lover across the room, flanked by Felix and a vampire I didn't know.

"You stupid, foolish girl! I offered you an easy way out, so you wouldn't have to suffer any pain, but now….I will not allow you to destroy all I have worked so hard to attain, just because you can give him what I cannot," and with that she grabbed my throat, squeezing hard.

It all happened very quickly. All I heard was a series of growls and snarling, as Sulpicia was ripped off of me, and suddenly Aro was standing in front of me on the bed, and Sulpicia had been thrown back, held securely by Felix and the unknown vampire. Shakily I stood, my stomach making me slow, and took Aro's arm.

His face was contorted, and his eyes glowed crimson, his teeth bared in a snarl, every muscle in the arm under my hand clenched. Ready to fight,

In that second, I realised why Aro was so feared amongst vampires. There was more to him than met the eye.

"You took your time, didn't you?" I asked breathlessly, the wild look in his eye and on his face making my pulse race. Aro's eyes flickered to mine, and I saw the animalistic predator behind his civilised façade. I slid my hand down his arm, curling around his clenched fist. "It's alright, I'm fine. The twins are safe, she didn't hurt us. Come back to me," I laid my hand over his cheek, trying to turn his head to mine. His hand rose to my cheek, and I exhaled as he visibly calmed.

"You're unharmed?" he asked calmly. I nodded once, feeling our twins stretch inside me. It was gentle, not painful for once. I leant my head on his shoulder, as he turned back to Sulpicia. "As for you, Sulpicia, that is a state you will not occupy for long."

"You're pathetic, Aro. You've let one little human girl bring you down, after two thousand years. One little human whore," the blonde vampire struggled in Felix's grip, snarling and mad. Aro tensed.

"Don't!" I gasped, not wanting him to get angry.

"That insult will be avenged, but first…" Aro conceded, stepping forward. I refused to let go, moving with him.

Sulpicia was forced into a kneeling position, and Aro's hands rose as if to caress her face. His hands drifted down, to her neck, and I tensed, guessing what was going to come next. "Isabella is mine, and I will ensure you will never touch her again!" Aro said softly, and with a twist of his wrists, Sulpicia's head was severed from her body.

That was an image that would stay with me for a long time.