Chapter 5: Surprise

We barely had any warning before they arrived. One minute, the wolves and the Cullens were out on the field practicing maneuvers. And the next moment, everyone was still - with their heads turned towards the river listening to something that I couldn't yet discern.

And then just as suddenly, they all snapped into action again. Jake and Sam disappeared behind some rocks to phase and dress. They had agreed that they would greet Aro in human form while the rest of the pack remained hidden in wolf form until their presence was necessary.

The Cullens grouped themselves together at the edge of the rock formation facing the river - Jasper and Emmett in the middle flanked by Alice and Rosalie, while Jake, Sam, and I stood off to the side.

I blinked my eyes and when I opened them, there were 7 figures standing in what had been an empty field in front of us. Carlisle and Esme were in the front, but I barely registered their presence. All of my attention was focused on the slight dark-haired almost effeminate looking man to Carlisle's right.

Aro was nothing like what I had imagined him to be. In my mind, I had envisioned a great brooding hulk of a man that other vampires would fear. Instead, Aro was slight, barely taller than Esme, and he stood out only because he was dressed as if he had come straight from the pages of a Renaissance novel. The black velvet of his coat looked so silky and lustrous that my fingers itched to touch it, while the ivory-white jabot of his lace only served to highlight the paper-white color of his skin. There was something strange about his skin. Unlike the Cullens, whose skin always looked like glossy marble to me, Aro's skin was translucent and papery, as if he had not been out in the sunlight for many centuries. Which probably was the case, I realized.

While I was observing him, Aro had been glancing around at our little assembly in the field. He seemed disappointed for a moment, before he finally turned his attention to me. When I finally looked into his eyes, I recoiled. His irises were blood-red. Startlingly so. They were redder than any newborn, but I knew from Alice that he was thousands of years old. I shuddered as I realized how many humans had died in order for him maintain that hue. I felt myself shrink against Jacob as I realized that despite his slight frame and elegant attire, this man was dangerous.

We stood a little while in silence. Everyone seemed unsure about how to handle the situation, when Aro suddenly raised his hands up in greeting.

"How delighted I am to see you all! It seems my foray into the New World hasn't been wasted." His words were honey-sweet, but his voice oozed with insincerity. "Rosalie, you are as lovely as ever. Jasper and Emmett, you are both well-known fighters in our world. Jane gave me a great account of your work a few years ago with that pesky vampire. What was her name?"

He turned then to a slight figure to his right. It was a girl that I hadn't noticed at first, but she stepped forward now and pulled her hood off her head. I gasped. Her face was stunning. It put Rosalie's to shame. She couldn't have been more than 12 or 13 and she had the face of an angel-child – more beautiful than any artist could have painted. Everything about it was perfect, except for the blood-red eyes that matched Aro's.

"Her name was Victoria," Jane replied. Her girlish-sounding voice was soft, but confident.

"That's right. Pesky problem. We were grateful you took care of it for us," Aro continued with a wave at us. "And now you, Alice, I'm always delighted to see you. What a remarkable gift you have! How much I would like to understand how you do it!"

Alice nodded courteously, but I could see a flicker of rebellious fire in her eyes. She really didn't like Aro.

"Now before I get to the subject at hand today," Aro continued as he gestured for Carlisle and Esme to step forward. "I wonder, where is your dear son, Edward? Given that we're here to deal with his little human inamorata, I'm surprised to find that he's not also here."

Carlisle caught my eye and offered an apologetic look before he answered, "He's been traveling in recent years and we weren't able to reach him in time to inform him of your … ah … visit."

"That's a pity," Aro said. And for the first time, it sounded like he actually meant what he was saying. "Do you know where he is?"

Carlisle stammered a little. "No … not exactly … well, we know he was in South American the last time we talked. But that was a while ago …"

"Interesting," Aro said as he gave the man to his left a significant glance. I assumed it was his brother – Caius – given how similarly they were dressed. "It seems like there may be trouble among the Cullens."

"No, we're as close as ever," Esme stepped forward at this moment to defend her family. "Edward just needed some time away from us to recover from … some recent disappointments."

I flushed guiltily which seemed to draw Aro's attention. He turned to look at me and he tilted his head as he offered me a charming smile.

"So this must be the delightful young lady who has caused our Edward so much grief." His voice was silky smooth and betrayed not the slightest hint of sarcasm. He stared at me intently before looking up at Sam and Jacob who flanked me on either side. "And these gentlemen are?"

"These are the Quileuete tribe members that I told you about," Carlisle answered. "We've coexisted with them peacefully in this area for centuries and we consider them our friends."

"Ah yes, the werewolves," Aro said thoughtfully. Caius seemed to twitch visibly at the sound of the word. "They seem inordinately protective of this one."

"Yes, she's my fiancée. Soon to be wife," Jacob spoke up for the first time as he placed his arm around my shoulders protectively. I was grateful for the warmth. The presence of so many vampires had dropped the temperature on the field significantly.

Aro raised an eyebrow with another chuckle. "This one seems to have quite the ability to attract the affections of supernatural beings." He seemed to look at me more thoughtfully now.

"Brother," Cauis interrupted suddenly in his high-pitched voice. "I must speak. These werewolves must not be trusted. Just because the Cullens have a truce with them, it does not mean that we do." He seemed to be visibly twitching as he spoke.

Aro looked up in surprise at Sam and Jacob, as if he had forgotten their existence for a moment. He examined them carefully before turning his attention back to me.

Caius was impatient. "Aro, you know that we musn't –"

"-Relax, brother," Aro interrupted Caius with a wave of the hand. "We have no fight to pick with these shapeshifters."

Caius seemed stunned at his brother's response. "Shapeshifters?" he asked cautiously, taking another furtive glance at Jacob and Sam.

"Yes, that is what they are." Aro looked irritated as he paused to explain. "I saw in Esme's-" he paused to gesture gallantly towards her,"-recollection here that these men can shift at any time of day or night. Werewolves can only shift at the full moon. Hence they are shapeshifters and not werewolves."

Caius scowled and opened his mouth to say something, but a glance from Aro shut him up.

"Now let us get back to the question at hand," Aro continued with his silky smooth polite voice. "What to do with this charming young lady who has broken our rules?"

"And what rule is that?" Jacob asked. He was defiant but still respectful. "She has the right to know what you accuse her of having done."

Aro seemed surprised but amused at Jake's confidence. "Our law says that no human is allowed to know of our existence. She is in violation of that law."

"Through no fault of her own," Jake countered aggressively before he caught Carlisle's eye and backed down a bit.

"True," Aro acknowledged. "But it doesn't change the fact as it stands. She is a human. She knows about us. That is a direct violation of our law. But I must admit that there is one thing that I'm intensely curious about. I also saw in Esme's recollection that you are immune to our powers, my dear Bella." I shuddered as he said my name for the first time. He pronounced it the Italian way, which should have sounded beautiful, except it left a pit in my stomach. "For example, our dear Edward was unable to hear your thoughts even though his marvelous talent seems to work on everyone else - myself included. I find myself wondering how is it possible that such a fragile being might have such power?"

I could feel Jake's arm tighten next to mine, but I squeezed it gently to reassure him.

"I wonder," Aro continued smoothly. "As I have come from so far to meet this lovely young woman, if I might be able to test whether … my powers work on her?"

All heads swiveled to stare at me and I felt myself flushing under their gaze. I could tell that Jake was only barely holding himself in check and I squeezed his arm again gently to reassure him. I looked at Carlisle and raised my eyebrow to ask him what he thought and he just shrugged helplessly.

"How can I guarantee you won't hurt me?" I asked, speaking directly to Aro for the first time. My voice sounded steadier to my ears than I thought it would be.

"Hurt you, my dear?" Aro laughed then. His laugh had a tinkling sound to it. "I have no intention of hurting you."

"Forgive me, if we don't believe you," Jake countered politely – holding his distrust in check.

"Don't you worry, young man," Aro said dismissively without bothering to even look at him, "Your precious is safe. I have no interest in hurting in her. Especially not if she has the powers that I believe her to have."

I turned to Jake and nodded gently. He let go of my arm as I started walking towards Aro, but

I could still feel the warm reassuring pressure of his fingers on my skin. My heart was pounding wildly in my chest, but I kept my head high and my gaze direct at Aro. I refused to let him think I was scared.

I stopped when I was a few feet in front of him and willed myself to look calm as I raised my hand. Aro smiled at me - it took everything I had not to flinch - before he finally reached out to take my hand. His eyes closed and we all waited.

Aro's face was emotionless and his hand was almost unbearably cold to the touch. More than anything, I wanted to drop it. But his grasp was too firm. And it became firmer still as if he were trying to force something to happen.

Then his eyes were open again. And he looked at me with a new gleam in his eye. A gleam of interest, I realized. He bowed as he let go of my hand. I immediately took a few steps back until I was fully flanked by Jacob and Sam again.

"Fascinating," Aro marveled as he brushed his fingertips with his thumb. "My powers have never failed … until now."

No one seemed to know what to do or say and so we waited for Aro to speak. But he seemed lost in thought.

"So what do you intend to do about this?" Jake asked finally. I silently thanked him for cutting to the chase.

Aro looked up again in surprise, as if he had forgotten about our presence for a moment. "Well I can see only one solution to the predicament we're in," Aro replied as he looked over at Carlisle with a shrug.

"We won't let you kill her," Jake growled.

"Kill her?! My dear boy, you have got it all wrong," Aro seemed amused. "I don't want to kill her. I want to convert her."

The silence was deafening. All I could hear was the roar of the river rushing by in the distance and the distant chirping of birds in the forest.

"Convert me?" I blurted out finally as I turned to look at Jake who also seemed to be stunned into silence.

"Aro, if I may," Carlisle spoke up. "We promised Bella, after all the trouble that we brought into her life, to leave her alone. You can see that she is no danger to us. She has kept our secret for year and we have no reason to believe she won't continue to keep the secret. She is no threat to us."

"I believe you," Aro said. "But rules are rules. No human is allowed to know about our existence. She is a human. She knows about us. Hence, either we kill her, which would be such a waste. Or we convert her."

"We know you don't really care about Bella," Alice interrupted suddenly. Her clear voice echoed across the field. "What is it that you want? You wouldn't have come this far to enforce some minor rule."

"Oh the contrary, my darling Alice," Aro replied with another one of his charming smiles. "You of all people know how greatly I respect talent. And this girl has tremendous talent. Talent that I wish to cultivate."

"That would never happen," I interjected. "I don't want to be converted. And even if I did, I wouldn't want to be part of your organization."

"Well that's too bad," Aro said with a mock sigh and frown. "I really don't see what else we can do. I would hate to have to destroy such wonderful talent."

Jake's eyes were flashing with anger as he opened his mouth to speak, but Sam reached out his arm to steady him and spoke up for the first time in his calming baritone. "Nobody here wants any needless bloodshed. I'm sure there's a way to work things out."

"There is nothing to work out, my dear man," Aro said. "My word is law in our world. And unfortunately, she has broken our law. But I'm certainly happy to give you all some time to think it over. My forces can't arrive for a week, so I'm happy to let you reconsider my offer as I do some traveling in the New World," Aro replied with a shrug. His eyes suddenly gleamed even brighter. "But make no mistake about my sincerity. I'm building the Volturi arsenal. I'm looking for talent. And I will have it one way or another. "

He raised his hand and instantly, Jane and the vampire who had to be her twin, Alec, flanked him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jasper and Emmett flinch nervously as Jane focused her attention directly at them as she smiled for the first time, her eyes glittering with triumph. We had heard about their talents but it looked like we were about to witness them first-hand. I braced myself for what was to come, when suddenly, a familiar voice echoed from behind us.

Hi guys! So excited to see BD-2 tonight! Hope you guys enjoyed this! :)

I promise to update every Sunday for the rest of this month to finish out this vignette! Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!