Marcus was not usually one to notice change, sudden or otherwise. Oh, he distantly acknowledged it, but in general, it was little more than a change of scenery.

A new guard might appear, relationships would fluctuate rapidly, twisting this way and that as the new arrival tried to make themselves a part of the greater Volturi. They would either find their place or eventually move on.

(Though Afton had done remarkably and surprisingly well for himself despite the universal dislike surrounding him. If Marcus were a betting man, then he would have lost a sizeable fortune predicting Afton's departure long ago. Of course, having Chelsea for a wife probably helped matters.)

New faces or not, the fundamental truths of the world remained as they were, and the only truth that mattered to Marcus these days was that Didyme was dead.

Whether the new guard was of any use, whether Aro was head over heels for a man little more than a newborn, made little difference to Marcus.

However, this time, even he would admit to feeling as if the rug had been pulled out from beneath his feet.

First, Bella Swan arrived in the palace.

Now, this was not exactly unexpected. That phone call with the girl had been to arrange exactly this scenario: retaking the course here in the castle while being provided room and board by the Volturi.

What Marcus hadn't realized was that they would pretending to be human while doing this. He supposed, given that Bella was human, this was meant to be implied but… The long, handwritten list, Aro had supplied him of things he was no longer allowed to do was daunting.

It was a pity, too, Marcus usually sat in the gardens during the daylight hours. It seemed as if he would now have to relocate somewhere indoors.

Further, he still didn't quite understand why this was happening. Oh, Bella had failed the course, that much was true but—Why would Aro cared if Isabella Swan failed an art course? Aro was a sentimental fool, at times, but this seemed a bit much even for him.

Perhaps, if that had been all, Marcus would have looked the other way and carried on.

However, not a few hours after Bella's arrival, a haggard Carlisle Cullen arrived (yellow-eyed and malnourished as ever) with a gaggle of yellow-eyed clowns in tow. It seemed Carlisle Cullen really had found himself both a wife and a coven that would put up with his diet and eccentricities.

Well, in a manner of speaking.

In the words of Bella, referring to that rolling emotional dumpster fire as a coven felt generous. It'd been many years since he'd seen a group of people quite that dysfunctional.

Then, not a few hours after that, Aro burst into the gardens to tell Marcus that Carlisle and friends would be pretending to be human university and high school students, that the red-headed boy, Edward, would be taking Bella's course with her for appearance's sake, and that several of the guard would also be pretending to be students in different courses that Marcus must assure Bella truly existed.

And that Marcus himself was still pretending to be a human professor.

It occurred to Marcus, then, that something truly strange was going on and that, yes, it did appear to involve him somehow.

Now, whether this was somehow about Bella Swan or was a romantic crisis on Aro's part and a desperate attempt to seduce Carlisle Cullen, was beyond Marcus.

If he were a betting man, he would put money on the latter, with Bella Swan… somehow being an excuse or catalyst for the plan. Though, again, it seemed a bit overly complicated and a needless risk of an otherwise irrelevant human, but Aro had always enjoyed overly complicated schemes.

It seemed in character enough.

Perhaps.

Though he'd never done this before and Carlisle had been gone…

Well, Marcus never counted years, but it felt as if it'd been a good while. They'd both gained and lost new guard members since his departure, so that had to be a sign of something. Yes, it must have been many years since Carlisle Cullen both came and went.

Why now after so much time? And after Carlisle had found a mate at that?

Regardless, as he found himself standing outside the door of a study in the library, now repurposed into a makeshift classroom, even Marcus would admit that he was feeling a little out of sorts.

However, at least according to the schedule Aro had given him, he could spend the next three hours not thinking about something that would just give him a headache. Though if Bella pulled another "Love Actually" out of her film library, he just might rather think about Aro's love life.

With a sigh he entered and found himself staring at a student who was both decidedly not human and decidedly not Bella Swan.

He must have been little older than a boy when he was turned, very thin and almost delicate looking as he was, still very young in his facial features. Younger, likely, than Marcus himself had been.

At Marcus' attention, he turned his eyes towards him, a color that was caught halfway between Carlisle's typical lizard yellow and a famished black. It was almost a human color, hinting on a lighter brown.

However, all of that was less interesting than the web that connected him to the rest of the world, the little threads that bound him to the great tapestry of interpersonal relationships.

Marcus wasn't sure he'd seen anything quite like it.

A strong, almost unnatural, devotion to a father figure. However, while it was very clearly, almost desperately, paternal it was also colored by envy, adoration, covetousness, fear, resentment, and a desperately repressed and denied lust. Obsession and subterfuge was woven into every interaction that passed between them.

A similarly strong, almost unnatural, devotion to a mother figure. However, it was almost… too strong, too devoted, and while there was no lust intertwined with it there was a sense of something not aligned. It was deceptively shallow, looking far deeper and stronger than it truly was, but ultimately made of superficial substance. He could not rely on the mother, and he knew this, but he preferred not to rely on her though would deny it to anyone who asked.

A sister he despised with every fiber of his being, a brother that he reviled, feared, and envied more than even that (indeed, the brother was only grudgingly considered a brother at all, a very reluctant, fraternal, aftertaste).

There was a brother he was… fond of but considered slow, another shallow, superficial, bond but one that didn't hold resentment at least. Then, finally, a sister and his only friend and confidante.

As for the rest, the world itself, envy, adulation, and contempt. He at once admired the world and despised it, thought himself lesser than the greatest fool and greater than the wisest king. Disdain for those who were vampires and finally a rapidly growing hatred for Marcus itself that was unrivalled in the boy's meager existence.

As if Marcus, simply by standing here and seeing what he saw, had marked himself as the vilest creature to dare crawl across this earth.

"Your gift is malfunctioning," the boy stated, doing his best to sound composed but failing to look it. His eyes flashed with barely suppressed rage, and for all his tone was even, his words were hardly polite.

Marcus considered that.

Perhaps, but then, perhaps not. If Marcus' gift was malfunctioning, then he would have no way of knowing one way or another. He simply saw what he saw, and whether that was true or false made no difference to him. So why question it?

"Because it's wrong," the boy said, again sounding as if he was barely manage to control his temper, "Everything you just saw in me, none of it's true. I am not—I do not lust after my father."

"Ah," Marcus said slowly, and nothing more.

However, that seemed to frustrate the boy further. He tapped at his temple, "I assume Aro told you, I'm gifted, just like him. I hear thoughts, only I can hear them at a distance. Your profiling of me, I heard every word, and I do not appreciate it."

Marcus said nothing to that.

"I would appreciate an apology," the boy insisted, before he added, "And it's not 'the boy', my name is Edward."

Marcus debated saying nothing, however, that tactic appeared to be getting him nowhere. And from what Aro had said, he was going to be stuck with the boy (Edward, he corrected himself) for three months.

Marcus vaguely wondered just what he had done to upset Aro and how he had come to deserve this.

"I volunteered," Edward said with a sniff, "To spare my family the annoyance of having to take this course with your pet human."

Pet human? Marcus tried to recollect if he'd ever been gifted a human. In the old days, when they had been at war with the world, they had frowned on that practice. Marcus didn't remember being venerated as a god and gifted humans, but then again, it was entirely possible—

"Bella Swan," the boy explained, looking across at Marcus with contempt, as if Marcus were being purposefully slow.

Ah, right.

"She is not my pet," Marcus simply stated. Edward did not seem convinced or impressed.

"If it bothers you so much," Marcus said, "You have my permission to leave."

As far as Marcus saw it, Carlisle's emotionally warped follower had no reason to take this course. He, after all, had presumably not failed it the previous semester.

"No," Edward said, crossing his arms and looking, for a moment, tragically noble, as if he were making a truly profound sacrifice, "Then it would only fall to someone else. It's far better that I do it. All the same, I would like that apology."

For what?

"For your thoughts," Edward hissed, "You've only just met me and presume the worst about me—"

"It makes little difference to me," Marcus interjected, "You are as you are, as we all are, and I do not condemn you for it."

Edward seemed to consider his words, seemed disoriented by them, and finally fell silent.

They were true though.

Whether this Edward was filled with rage at the world, hatred of himself, and all others was none of Marcus' business. Strange, certainly, but nothing worth commenting on had Edward not demanded Marcus comment on it.

Edward's hatred of Marcus didn't lessen, per se, but it grew… tempered. Contempt and dismissal started to weave itself into his regard for Marcus. Oh, he despised Marcus, but considered him an incompetent and a fool: nothing to take seriously. Marcus could think what he liked, Edward wouldn't like it, but he resolved himself not to become upset over it either.

Edward frowned, but looked back at Marcus, "My apologies, I realize that was… out of line, given your station and mine. It's been—an interesting few weeks."

Marcus said nothing, neither accepting nor rejecting the apology. Instead, glancing briefly at the door, he wondered when Bella would arrive. Marcus had arrived early, he tried to as otherwise it was entirely too likely he'd forget himself and arrive late, but Bella usually made a point of being somewhat early as well.

"I'm Edward Cullen," the boy kept going, his tone sharper as if to demand Marcus' attention, "I'm Carlisle's son, the first vampire he turned. He's spoken much of his time here in Volterra."

Marcus didn't usually wish for things, it was a pointless exercise, but he found himself hoping that Bella would arrive sooner rather than later.

She could deal with the boy.

Then again, given her complete and utter failure to form any social connections beyond dedicating herself to his service, perhaps she couldn't. However, she could at the very least try, and then Marcus could stop listening to this.

"You're Marcus," the boy said pointedly, "I recognized you from Carlisle's painting."

"Yes," Marcus said when it appeared the boy wanted an answer.

Yes, he was Marcus.

That Carlisle had walked away from Volterra with a portrait was news to him but not all that surprising. It seemed in character for Aro.

Where was Bella?

Before Edward could say anything else, the lady of the hour arrived.

She looked a little out of breath, flushed as always, and leaned against the doorway as she looked in, "Sorry, I got lost, then your energizer bunny brother-in-law got over enthusiastic about giving me a tour. Did you know there are a billion rooms in this library?"

Marcus didn't know what an energizer bunny was, but it did sound something like Aro.

Bella made her way inside, not even waiting for a greeting, and only stopped when she spotted Edward. She stood perfectly still, looking him over inch by inch, frowning over something. He straightened under gaze and did the same, forehead creasing then…

Then it changed.

The rug was torn out beneath Marcus' feet.

The first impression, the first meeting, was also the first hint at a relationship between one person and another. The bond was formed then, snapped into existence when eyes met and words were exchanged, and sometimes all it took was a shared glance.

Sometimes, a single word need not be spoken.

However, love at first sight was rare, hatred at first sight rarer.

In an instant, in less than a human's blink of an eye, a bond formed between Bella Swan and Edward Cullen.

On her end, the wariness of meeting a stranger and idle curiosity transformed into stark terror, into dread and certainty that this boy hungered for her destruction and loathed every molecule of her being.

On his end, terror, humiliation, hunger, rage, contempt, obsession, greed, every dark facet of sentient emotion focused itself upon this girl who to him might as well be nameless. Should she escape him, he would hunt her down to the ends of the earth, he would take pleasure in her destruction and hate himself and her for it. He would blame his failings, his very nature, upon her and destroy her in such a manner that it would be as if she never existed. He would grant her the most painful demise in the world for the mere crime of existing and acting as a mirror that reflected his most base nature.

And Marcus, who saw all of this—he would be destroyed as well, for daring to see the truth, and knowing what he now knew.

Marcus was moving before he knew it, something deeper than conscious pushing him forward, and he was moving far faster than Bella's human eyes could possibly detect. In one second, he was at the front of the classroom, the next he was grabbing Edward by his collar and dragging him out into the library.

A few seconds later, and he was tearing Edward's head from his body, never minding Edward's desperately flailing limbs and weak attempts to dislodge him.

And then Marcus was in a library with a headless Edward Cullen, his twitching body, and a human not a few feet away.

Ah.

Marcus briefly popped his head back into the study.

Bella was standing where he left her.

She was still shaking, her eyes still wide and heartbeat still racing. She stood there, pale and quivering like a bow that had just unleashed its arrow. She blinked at the absence of both Marcus and Edward, then slowly looked towards the door.

As she caught sight of him, she seemed to relax somewhat.

"I'm afraid Edward had to step out," Marcus said.

Bella numbly nodded without a word.

"I'll be back," Marcus added.

Bella, again, nodded.

She seemed to understand, good.

With that, Marcus took care to begin dragging Edward's body out of the library. Thankfully, Aro found him before Marcus had to start searching.

"Marcus?!" Aro cried, and before Marcus could even think to respond was standing next to him and Edward, looking down at the pair of them in abject horror.

"Marcus, what—"

Marcus simply dropped his hand into Aro's.

The situation, after all, should explain itself.

Aro's look of confused horror changed to one of understanding but utter dread. He looked down at Edward's twitching body as if it was the harbinger of destruction.

Which, of course, was apt, as that's what Edward Cullen ultimately was.

"Oh, Marcus," Aro said, his voice little more than a sorrowful sigh.

Marcus then did something he hadn't done in two-thousand years. He forced his expression to change, twisted his lips into a mocking, displeased, smile.

He then dumped Edward's body at Aro's feet and placed Edward's head into Aro's hands.

Without a word, he turned around, and made his way back to the study.

Bella was standing where he left her, looking torn with indecision. At the sight of him she sighed with relief and sank into an empty chair, "I thought something might have happened to you."

He blinked in confusion, "Nothing ever happens to me."

Ah, she must have thought he was in danger. True, if he'd been human, then Edward Cullen could have very well been a threat. Well, of course, in that scenario Edward would have been human as well.

And while Edward was a vampire, theoretically capable of causing Marcus harm, he was also on Carlisle Cullen's diet of sewer rats: he could not best Marcus in a fight.

Bella huffed, looking irritated as she fixed him with a glare.

"But something could have," she said reproachfully, "You can never be too careful."

Then, eyeing him warily, she asked, "Will—Edward be coming back?"

"No," his answer was immediate, definite, and firm.

Oh, even now, headless as Edward was, and undoubtedly soon to be further incapacitated by Alec's gift if he wasn't already, Marcus could imagine what was running through Edward Cullen's mind.

Edward would try to come back. He would use every tool at his disposal to return to this place, to Bella Swan, it would become his life's obsession. That bond he had with Bella, fresh as it was, had easily outstripped every other relationship he had. Even his worshipful reverence for his creator.

Bella was now the sun of his existence, which he would helplessly orbit around, until one of them ceased to exist.

However, if Bella were to be the sun of Edward's existence, then Marcus would be the planetoid drawn in by that same gravity and set on a doomsday path towards Edward. If Edward would use everything he could to return, then Marcus would use everything he had to deny him that wish, and Marcus had far more power at his disposal than Edward Cullen ever would.

Edward Cullen would never set foot in Volterra again and he would never meet Bella Swan again either.

Bella let out a long, almost comedically loud, sigh of relief, "Good, he was—that was creepy. No offense."

"Why would I be offended?" Marcus asked.

Bella looked as if she had just been caught in the middle of something very stupid and very dangerous. Her cheeks flushed bright crimson, "Um, that is, I saw you talking and—assumed you must know each other?"

"We only just met," Marcus said.

Bella looked as if she had a very hard time believing this.

"I know his—" Marcus almost said, creator, but at the last minute caught himself, "Father."

Bella looked as if she had a hard time believing that too.

"He dislikes me greatly," Marcus added.

"The father?" Bella asked in confusion.

"No, Edward," Marcus said, he and Carlisle barely had a relationship, "He—I am not sure there are words for how much he loathes me."

Bella kept staring, "Well, I guess that makes two of us. Since, you know, I'm—pretty sure he hates me too. For… reasons."

Before he could say anything to that, or not say anything, she pulled out what Marcus could now recognize as a DVD case. This one featured a picture of two humans, a blonde woman and dark-haired man, staring out at the camera.

"So, since Edward just dropped the class, and that means it's just us, I figured we could pick up where we left off, and where we left off, I've decided, is 'Grease'. You're going to hate it, I'm sure, and tell me that Danny and Sandy don't belong together, but you'll learn something about something… and the 1950's."

Marcus, unfortunately, had no counterargument to make.

Author's Note: Picture Marcus as your cat bringing you Edward's head. That's Aro's perspective of this chapter.

Thanks to readers and reviewers, reviews are much appreciated.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight