Chapter Twelve

AN: I know it's been forever and I'm very sorry. I have a job now so I spend most of my days working and Through the Portal has been sucking up all my inspiration, I mean that as an explanation not an excuse. Still, I hope you will forgive me and more importantly that you enjoy this next chapter.

The next morning Aro found Annalisa in the kitchen cooking herself a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast.

"You know, Annalisa, we have some of the best trained chefs in Europe." Aro said. The Volturi didn't technically need chefs since they didn't need to eat. However, they were one of the oldest and wealthiest families in all of Europe, indeed in the entire world and they did need to keep up appearances. Rich families all over hired chefs to cook for them and the Volturi, in order to blend in, did the same and naturally they hired only the very best chefs.

"You don't need to cook your own food." Aro continued

"Ah figured as much." Rogue responded "Ah prefer doin' things for myself though"

"Your mother felt much the same" Aro said "She never let others do anything that she could do for herself. Just promise you won't cook all the time. Our chefs get temperamental if no one eats their food every once and a while."

"I'll remember that." Rogue replied "Do you want me to make you some eggs too; it's not too late for meh to put more in the pan?"

Aro smiled "Yes, Annalisa, I would like that." He answered. Frankly, he liked pretty much anything that gave him a chance to spend time with his only child, especially if it was just the two of them, like it was right now. Felix had initially tried to help but he had never even touched a stove before. After he had set the first batch of eggs on fire in less than five minutes Rogue had banned him from the kitchen. So he was waiting outside the door

Rogue smiled as well "Ok, then" and she cracked two more eggs and put them into the frying pan.

"How are you feeling?" Aro asked her while she scrambled the eggs

"Ah'm fine and ya?" Rogue responded

"I am well" Aro said

There was a rather long moment of silence as Aro struggled to find the best way to bring up the subject of Rogue becoming a vampire.

His thoughts were interrupted when Annalisa announced "Eggs are done." She then placed a plate of two scrambled eggs and some toast in front of him. Once that was done, she took her own plate and sat down across the table from him.

"So…how are you liking things here so far?" Aro inquired

"It's all right." Rogue answered noncommittally

"Is something wrong?" Aro asked. He'd been hoping for something more than just 'all right'.

"No, I'm just not used to all this fancy livin' stuff" Rogue replied

"As I recall you've lived in a mansion for the past couple of years." Aro pointed out. Although the rich opulence of the Volturi stronghold made the Xavier mansion look plain and ordinary, it was still a mansion.

"Well yeah, but it was nothin' like this…I think I'll be more comfortable once mah things get here."

Aro raised an inquiring eyebrow and Rogue explained further

"I borrowed Felix's cell to make a call to Kitty yesterday. I figured she would be upset that ah didn't go back with Logan, I wanted to tell her that it wasn't anythin' that she did."

"Annalisa, you can't tell your friend anything about the fact that we're vampires, if you do then we will be forced to kill her." Aro warned. He didn't like the idea that she was still in contact with the X-men, the last thing he wanted was for her to change her mind and decide that she wanted to go back. Annalisa was his daughter and he'd give her pretty much anything she wanted in order to keep her happy (unfortunately, Corin's power didn't seem to work on her and neither did Chelsea's) except let her leave him again. Hopefully, when she became a vampire, all her human memories about the X-men would fade away, that would solve a lot of his worries.

Rogue didn't like what Aro had said about killing Kitty but she knew that vampires were very big on staying hidden so she didn't bother arguing, she'd just have to make sure not to let anthing slip to Kitty, that shouldn't be too hard, Kitty did most of the talking herself. "Ah also asked her to send meh my phone, clothes and other things from the institute." Rogue continued

"Annalisa, that wasn't necessary." Aro told her "You could have just bought some new things right here in Voltera."

"Ah don't want new things; I want mah old things back." Rogue snapped. He was starting to annoy her "Ah'm eighteen years old, Ah am not a child! Ah don't need ya to take care of me!" she also gave him a strong glare

"I am over three thousand years old, so from where I'm standing that's barely a newborn babe." Aro countered with a bit of a smile, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

Annalisa's glare intensified, she didn't find that the least bit funny.

Aro sighed and took one of Rogue's gloved hands in his own. "Annalisa, I know you're not a child. I missed your entire childhood." Aro had later gotten all the big memories that most parents treasure, (things like Annalisa's first words, her first steps, etc.) from Irene but it wasn't the same as being able to actually witness those things himself. "I wasn't able to do my job as your father and provide for you then. I want to make up for it."

Rogue's anger faded away 'how can ah stay mad after a speech like that?' she thought to herself. Out loud she said "there's more to being a father than just providing stuff."

"I know Annalisa and I love you with all my heart." Aro said sincerely "You've never had a father in your life and I want to be a great father to you. That's why I want to do everything I can to make you happy here." 'With me' he added mentally "I've never been a father before" he confessed softly "I don't know exactly what I should do."

Rogue couldn't believe it, she was actually starting to feel a little guilty "Aro, Ah'm sorry, Ah didn't mean to make you feel bad. Ah've never had a father…or a mother who actually loved me for that matter, before so Ah'm kinda feeling mah way in the dark here."

Aro smiled "Don't worry, we'll figure out how to be a real family together."

Rogue smiled back "Ah'd like that."

For a moment neither of them spoke then Aro asked "Are you sure there's nothing you want that I can get for you?"

"Like what?" Rogue asked

"Oh, maybe" Aro began pretending that he was just throwing this out of the blue "a car, or a motorcycle?" Annalisa wouldn't actually need either of those things in the city of Voltera but she loved speed and he knew full well how badly she wanted a vehicle of her own until now she'd never been able to afford one.

"Ya'd really do that? Ya'd really get meh mah own car or motorbike?" Rogue asked. She was also having a hard time deciding which one she wanted. A car was more practical but a motorcycle was more fun

"Of course, maybe I would even be willing to get you both, a car and a motorbike. After all, your birthday is coming up next month and I do have eighteen years worth of present-giving I need to make up for." Although he had no intention of actually letting her ride said motorbike until she had actually made the change and become a vampire. It was simply too dangerous otherwise, something could easily go wrong and his daughter could wind up falling off her bike and spilling her brains out on a nearby rock.

"Ya don't need to-"Rogue began but Aro silenced her with a look.

"It's just so expensive, cars and motorcycles aren't cheap." Rogue said

"Annalisa, we are billionaires, buying a couple of new vehicles for you isn't going to put the slightest dent in our fortunes." Aro replied

"Ah know" Rogue replied she was getting tired of hearing that

"But it's hard for you to get used to not having to worry about price tags on things." Aro finished for her "I understand I am not upset with you. Although, if you want my opinion, you shouldn't ride a motorcycle as long as you're half human."

"What?" Rogue asked

"Surely, you know how dangerous motorcycles are…I lost you once Annalisa, I never want to lose you again." Aro responded 'and I won't' he thought mentally 'no matter what I have to do…or who I have to kill.' His thoughts drifted back to the X-men; if they tried to take Annalisa away from him he would slaughter them all…although that would be a waste, some of them had gifts that could be quite useful. Maybe, he should try to recruit some of them into the Volturi instead. He'd have to give that some serious consideration but first and foremost he had to focus on Annalisa.

"Although, if you want to become a vampire, all you need to do is ask." He offered

Rogue hesitated "Ah don't know, Aro…drinking blood and all." She said

"It doesn't have to be human." Aro reminded her "You know that Alice and the Cullens only feed on animal blood." That was completely unnatural in Aro's opinion but they weren't breaking any laws so Aro let them be.

"Well, yeah, ah know but…" she trailed off. The whole idea was kinda gross in her opinion but she didn't want to tell Aro that instead she tried a different tack "what about mah mutation? Ah don't want to hurt anyone."

"Well, someone will have to bite you." Aro told her honestly "but it will only take a few seconds to inject some of Caius's venom into your system, not long enough for you to seriously hurt him."

Rogue blinked in surprise

"I originally intended to turn you myself so I talked to some of our doctors about this. They seemed to think that since I contributed one half of your genetic make-up my venom might not work on you. They persuaded me that it would be best to have someone who is not related to you by blood to do it."

"But aren't Caius and Marcus your brothers?" Rogue asked

"Not by blood, we've adopted each other, you could say." Aro answered

"Oh" Rogue said "Wait, why do you have doctors, do vampires get sick?"

"No Annalisa, we don't and we almost never get injured except by other vampires or by werewolves. However, our human help does get sick and I personally have always been fascinated with our condition and our biology and the only vampire doctor in the world is Carlisle Cullen and he prefers to live in America with his family so we have a few human doctors on staff." Aro replied. Aro wished that Carlisle had chosen to stay with the Volturi in Italy but he did not and since he didn't really have any useful gifts, Aro had decided to just let him go.

Aro continued "They are quite fascinated with you, they wanted to run a whole bunch of tests on you but I told them that you were my daughter not a guinea pig."

Rogue felt relieved, she didn't really like doctors or hospitals; she'd spent way too much time in the infirmary back at the Institute. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck in a room full of doctors being poked and prodded at.

"Ah don't know, if Ah want to do become a vampire Aro…Ah'll need to think about it." Rogue said

"Of course, it's a big decision, take all the time you need." Aro said. It was not the big enthusiastic yes he'd been hoping for but it was the answer he'd expected. He was careful not to push her; he knew that she hated being pushed into anything. They harder someone tried to push her, the harder she dug in her heels but he did have one last carrot to dangle in front of her.

"Annalisa, I can't guarantee the same thing will happen to you but from what few human memories I have left, I think your gift maybe a bit easier to control once you make the change."

Now this was an almost irresistible temptation "What do you mean?"

"Well, as you know my gift allows me to see the thoughts of anyone I touch. I didn't learn to control it until I became a vampire. Your gift seems similar to mine but since every gift is different there is no guarantee." Aro told her. He was basically lying because he couldn't really remember anything from his human life but he did remember that it was difficult in the beginning of his vampire life to control his gift. Although honestly Aro had never really wanted to be able to turn it off, he'd wanted to enhance it, make it stronger. To some extent he'd succeeded, his gift could no longer be blocked by mere clothing but no matter how hard he tried he could not see anyone's thoughts without the benefit of touch.

Rogue was seriously tempted now, the possibility of finally getting control of her 'gift' in her mind it was not a gift, it was a curse, was a part of why she had left the brotherhood and joined the X-men since the Brotherhood had been unable to help her she'd hoped that maybe the X-men could. However, she'd been disappointed that the X-men hadn't really helped her very much either.

"How did you do it?" she asked

"Well, most newborns have little control." Aro admitted "but after our first year, we are in full control of mostly everything about ourselves including our gifts, if we have any gifts. However, if you make the change willingly and knowing about the urges beforehand you may be able to control yourself much sooner."

"What do you mean?" Rogue asked

"Well, when most vampires are turned they don't really understand what is happening to them. Also vampire urges are much stronger than human urges. The sire, or the vampire that changes them is supposed to explain things to them but mostly that explanation just consists of what the laws are." Aro answered

"Laws, what laws?" Rogue asked

Aro knew that the memories Rogue absorbed often faded after a bit so he had no problem with answering the questions that Rogue might have known the answers to from Alice's memories

"Yes, mostly the laws are about staying hidden from the humans, making sure they believe vampires are simply old myths. The Volturi exist to ensure those laws are obeyed."

"So you're what, the vampire police department?" Rogue asked with a smile. She found the whole idea of a Vampire PD to be slightly oxymoronic.

"In a way, yes." Aro replied

"So what are these laws?" Rogue asked

Inwardly Aro was very pleased that she would ask, that meant she was at least considering making the change

"There aren't very many really. Number one is that hunts must be inconspicuous, so the victims are usually people no one would miss, the bodies are disposed of and territory is changed often. For most of our kind this is not a problem since most of us our nomadic."

"What about ya, what do you do then?" Rogue asked

"We…import our food I guess you could say. It is against the law to hunt here in Voltera so we bring our food in from outside." Aro explained

Rogue felt a chill go down her spine; she didn't like the way Aro could so simply talk about killing people like it didn't matter.

Aro saw the look on her face and correctly assuming what she was thinking told her "Annalisa, it's not as bad as you think. Oftentimes, the people will kill are leading very miserable lives, for them it is really a mercy." Not to mention that it was really no different from humans killing animals for food but he knew that Annalisa would not see it that way, nor would she appreciate the insinuation that she was an animal even though Aro would never suggest such a thing.

"The most important law is that immortal children are never to be created under any circumstances whatsoever." Aro said trying to change the subject.

"Huh, then what about me?" Rogue asked

"Oh no, Annalisa, you're not an immortal child. You're a human-vampire hybrid. We didn't even know it was possible that such beings could exist until you were born. What I am talking about is turning a human child into a vampire." Aro explained

"Oh" Rogue said

"You've seen what we can do right?" Aro asked

Rogue nodded. She had retained a few of Alice's memories still, enough to know how fast, how strong and how invulnerable vampires were.

"The problem with vampire children is that they are impossible to control, anyone who sees one immediately falls in love with them. Becomes willing to do anything for them, but the child never grows or develops beyond the age it was when it was turned. So imagine a two-year old with vampire powers."

Rogue winced "that doesn't sound good."

Aro nodded "You see how dangerous it is, that's why immortal children are forbidden. Another law is don't do anything that might draw the humans' attention which means no going out into direct sunlight."

"Why, what happens if a vampire does?" Rogue asked

"Here, follow me, I'll show you." Aro stood up and Rogue followed

He led her to incredibly beautiful garden. Stepped into the sunlight and removed his black cloak. When the sunlight hit his skin he began to sparkle and shine, almost as if his skin was made of diamonds.

"This is what happens" Aro told her

"Ah thought vampires were supposed to burn up in the sun." Annalisa said with a smile

"That's what we want people to think. A lot of the disinformation out there, particularly on the internet was originally put out there by us to confuse humans and put them off our scent, along with making people still believe that vampires are nothing more than old wives tales."

"If a human does somehow find out about the vampire world, they cannot be allowed to spread the word to others so they either choose to become one of us…or they die." Aro added continuing with his explanation of the laws of vampire society.

"Isn't that a little harsh?"Rogue asked "it's not like anyone would believe it"

Aro shook his head "We cannot take the risk, especially not in this age, when humans actually have weapons that might be able to destroy some of us. Besides, they almost always choose to become immortal, after all, what's not to like about being a vampire?"

"Killing people" Rogue said

"Annalisa, you don't have to feed on people. I know you eat plenty of animal meat, is eating a cow's liver really all that different from drinking the cow's blood?" Aro said

"Well, I guess not" Rogue conceded reluctantly. The not going into the sun thing didn't really bother her all that much; she was used to keeping her skin covered all the time anyway. Plus it seemed that if she stayed here, she could go into the sun as much as she wanted as long as she was inside the compound.

"Anyway, there are only two more laws you need to know about. One is that dealing with Children of the Moon except for killing them is forbidden."

"Ya mean werewolves but what about that big pack back in Washington?" Rogue asked

Aro shook his head "Although they think of themselves as werewolves they are actually shape shifters. True werewolves only change during the full moon, not whenever they want. The transformation is extremely painful and in their transformed state, they are not only as powerful as a vampire they have no control at all. Werewolves have been known to slaughter their own families when transformed."

Rogue gasped

"Yes, it's a horrible disease that cannot be cured…only contained. However, they aren't very many of them; in fact you may never see one." Aro said "That last law is that when someone bears false witness against other vampire, the accuser receives the punishment that would have been given to the accused had they actually committed the crime they were reported for." He deliberately left out the fact that it didn't matter if the accuser had made an honest mistake or had deliberately lied.

Rogue nodded, that made sense to her, she hated liars. Rogue and Alice and the others had not yet arrived at the clearing near Forks when Caius had killed Irina so it never occurred to her that it might punish someone who had not actually lied.

"…so that's it, that's all I need to know?" Rogue asked

"Regarding the laws yes. However, if you become a vampire I should tell you that you will always crave blood even when you are full but it will get easier to live with overtime. All vampires are extremely attractive but you are already very beautiful so I doubt your appearance will change all that much." Aro smiled as Rogue turned her face away to hide the blush that was so slight most humans would not notice it at all

"Our senses are much sharper, we can heal ourselves, and we can't sleep"

"Really, never?" Rogue asked

Aro shook his head "No we are always awake and everything that we had as humans is enhanced." Aro explained

"…does that include mah mutation?" Rogue asked

"Most likely" Aro told her "But don't worry" Aro said gently wrapping his arms around her "I promise, that if you do become a vampire, you won't have to go it alone, I will be here to help you through it."

"And so will I" Felix promised piping up for the first time

Aro glared at him from behind Annalisa's back 'this is MY moment' that glare seemed to say 'shut up and go away'

But Annalisa said "thanks guys…but Ah'm not ready yet, I need some time."

"Very well, Annalisa, take as much time as you need" Aro said. Again he had not expected her to agree to such a life altering change right away. He knew his 'brothers' would be less than pleased but Aro did not want to press her if he did not have to. Actually Marcus probably wouldn't care but Caius would likely throw a fit…although Caius that was nothing unusual for Caius, Aro believed that Caius was never actually happy unless he had something to complain about.

"If ya'll don't mind, I'd like to be alone for a while." Rogue said softly

Aro understood that like him, she thought best in private but he couldn't leave her completely alone not even in the compound itself. She had already been kidnapped from her own bedroom once after all.

"Annalisa, that's not possible" Aro said sadly, he did genuinely want to comply with this simple request but Annalisa's safety had to come first. "You have to be protected."

"Nothin's gonna jump out at me here."Rogue protested

"Mystique managed to kidnap you before" Felix reminded her

"Ah was a baby then."Rogue countered

"Regardless, it happened and we can't risk it happening again. Felix go find Afton and tell him come here." Aro said Felix took off running.

Rogue raised a questioning eyebrow

"Afton can make people's minds not register the fact that he is there. It's not fool proof someone can break through it if they focus hard enough but in as long as you don't decide to go looking for him he will be an invisible guard…I apologize but that is the best I can offer you."

Just as he finished speaking Afton himself arrived. "I assume you heard that?" Aro said

Afton bowed "Yes, master. I understand that you want some invisible security for the young mistress Annalisa."

"Don't call me that!" Rogue ordered

Afton looked at her confused "You are the child of my master that makes you my young mistress."

Rogue shook her head "No, just call me Rogue or Annalisa." She insisted

"As you wish, Lady Annalisa" Afton replied

Rogue rolled her eyes in exasperation

"There is little use fighting it Annalisa." Aro told her "Afton has been particularly formal." Afton knew full well he owed his status to Chelsea and as such he worked very hard to please the Volturi. In actuality however, Annalisa had only really had much contact with Felix and Sophia, the two least formal (in terms of their actions that is) of the Volturi guard but Aro saw reason to tell Annalisa that now.

Rogue sighed "Fine, we'll go with Lady Annalisa, Lady Rogue, sounds a bit like an oxymoron."

"All right, I will see you soon Annalisa" Aro then left the garden and Afton made himself hidden. Leaving Rogue as close to alone with her thoughts as they could or would.

AN: Ok, a couple people have asked about this so I will make a note of it here (I suppose I should have done that earlier) in this fic the only powers Carol had were super strength and flight she was never Ms. Marvel and never had any Kree genes (I admit I've never actually read the comics) I merely came across her name in another fan fiction the name of which I unfortunately can't remember and did some research on the character. Since Carol was never invulnerable that is why Rogue was still able to be hurt in her fight with Felix although I would also like to point out that her skin although not invulnerable is still tougher than that of the average human (because she is half vampire) which is why Felix didn't hurt anywhere near as much as he had thought he had.