Your love of this story through favorites, follows, and reviews means the world. Life has been crazy moving to a new state, but now that we're settled I'll try not to be gone again for so long.

Last Time...

"And Renata, dear? Try not to be too bad of an influence on our new member, hm?" Aro's eyes glinted with amusement.

"Me? A bad influence?" Renata jested, steering her human companion gently from the room. "Yes, I'll try."

Chapter 10

"So what's this about you being a bad influence?"

"Only that I have a reputation for saying what's on my mind, regardless of dreadful social norms. It can be alarming to some, I suppose, but it's fun." Renata said airily in a half-mocking tone before changing the subject. "So, you have survived the descent into the world's most elite vampire lair. How do you feel?"

"Jet lagged, for one. Other than that, it wasn't like I expected."

Bella remembered her first time visiting the Cullen home. Escorted by Edward, they had just crossed the threshold when she was asked similarly about her expectations.

"What did you expect? Coffins and dungeons and moats?"

"Not the moats."

"Yeah, Caius can be a serious asshole. He's had a stick up his ass for the past thousand years."

Bella laughed, agreeing with Renata.

"But you're lucky, you know," her vampiric companion said as they continued their descent to the lower, underground levels of the estate. Maybe they did have a dungeon...

Bella contemplated the words before deciding she would bite. "I am?"

"Mhm. It's a good year to be changed, too."

"Now you're just purposefully keeping up the suspense."

"You're no fun. We hold a ball in celebration of the New Year every decade; it is a celebration in honor of Janus, the Roman god of the New Year, as is tradition."

Huh. Bella wondered if everyone in the coven worshipped the Roman gods. Did the guests? Surely not, with the ranged lived experiences depending on the span of one's immortal life. Never someone to have a neutral expression, Renata continued to explain at Bella's speculative expression.

"It is not implied that each vampire in attendance worship Janus. Rather, it is Aro's own sentimentality; I actually don't know if he even worships the Roman gods at all... but the tradition of offering dates, figs, and honey to Janus is enjoyable enough that no one really asks questions," Renata spoke, her eyes wistful. "Oh yes, it is quite the spectacle. Vampires from across our world come together, each with their own traditions. Even our own coven holds many different traditions, depending on who you ask. Take Heidi for instance; she was changed in the 1930's, and Felix in the 1940's. You can often find the two playing a few jazz classics for the time of year somewhere within the festivities. And yes, lucky you-the next comes this year. The time will pass like this," she stated, making a show of snapping her fingers on the last word.

Bella blanched, causing her companion to laugh with ardor at her unexcited face. She vowed that when she could no longer blush, she would utilize scrutinizing looks and glares if necessary. Bella's deep and very human blush, paired with the worrying of her teeth on her bottom lip stopped Renata; though she could not help a few giggles as she attempted to school her expression.

"Don't worry. Aro won't show you off... too much. He's far too protective for such behavior," Renata soothed with subtle cheek in response to Bella's annoyed expression.

"That's good... where are we going, anyways?"

"To the crypt," Renata whispered, waggling her fingers in Bella's direction for added dramatic flair. "Nah, you're going to be changed soon. Might as well get cozy where you'll spend some time as a bloodthirsty newborn. You get to go upstairs with all the grown ups once you can resist your thirst with all the lovely smelling humans milling about in Volterra...And speaking of lovely smelling, you smell delicious."

"Thank you?"

"You're welcome, love" the vampire replied.

Though Bella had expected a dungeon, she didn't find one. The room, or chambers for better description, she had been given was very tasteful and spoke of soft elegance- just without the windows. Beyond a size able bedroom, there was a small library in the living room, which also housed a size able fireplace and accompanying cozy love seats.

Renata, as it turned out, was amazing company. She was laid back and the right amount of bold. Bold enough to ask how exactly Bella wanted her hair to look once she was changed... everywhere. Renata said it was an important, and often overlooked question to ask someone. Other than that, they had discussed everything under the sun, including about what to expect as a newborn.

Renata had been changed just over 300 years ago by Marcus. Her newborn phase of life had been remarkably long at six months, as the constant thirst for blood held on to some vampires for longer than others. Some, like Felix, would only dwell away from humans for just one month before becoming incorporated into the outside world. This, of course, only regarded human drinking vampires. Bella couldn't imagine how long one's newborn phase could be when one was only drinking the blood of animals. Edward had once said that the hunger never really abated. To experience that constant, deep hunger while masquerading as humans in a place like high school seemed nearly masochistic.

Bella shared her thoughts with Renata. "Dodged a bullet there, Bella," the vampire had responded. She couldn't argue with that.

It was a few hours later that Aro joined her them once more. Renata said goodbye and made to leave.

"Thank you, Renata," Aro said before turning back to Bella. "How are you?"

"I'm... okay. Yeah. A bit exhausted to be honest. It's been a long, but interesting day." She paused. "Nervous," she admitted.

"I can understand why you would be nervous, but tell me why?"

"The pain... I've felt it before and I can't imagine that torment for three days."

"The pain is terrible, yes," he affirmed, his gaze compassionate. "But in the end, it is worth the price."

"I imagine that it is." It didn't help her negotiate with her nervousness that bordered on downright fear. "Will I be thirsty immediately?"

"It depends," his mouth quirked, "some find themselves distracted in amorous affairs and forget that particular thirst altogether."

Bella blushed deeply at the thought, her steamy dreams not helping the deep pink hue of her cheeks. She was nervous for the pain. But she was also nervous for the possible... pleasure? At least, that was what these recurring dreams implied how his bite was supposed to feel. Perhaps they were just hormone induced imaginings, she didn't know.

"Just how bad is the thirst?"

"Assuming that you will not be distracted in that way, you will crave it like nothing else. You would do anything just to get it. After you drink the mind will clear slowly, but not fully. Not for those first few days."

"Will I be... killing people?"

"No, not intentionally. You will be drinking bagged blood while you remain in these rooms. Once you learn a semblance of self-control over your thirst and your body, we would go out and hunt. I would show you how to ensnare your prey, and I would instruct you on how not to kill them while you feed. This is what a maker does. The Volturi must often handle the slaughter that occurs when a maker fails to teach their progeny...sometimes by abandoning them altogether."

"Okay," she breathed out in a whoosh. "This is really happening."

"Yes, it is." Aro affirmed, observing her nearly shrinking back from him in apprehension.

"You won't leave?"

"I will not leave you. Not now, not ever," he promised with sincerity. Some of her nervousness appeared to abate with his words. "Might I suggest we move to the bed?"

Bella tried her best not to blush, but failed spectacularly at her reflexive thoughts. Nodding mutely, the two did just that with Bella reclining on the bed with Aro beside her, sitting up with one arm propped under him. He ran a lock of her hair between his thumb and forefinger, his gaze thoughtful.

"You are to be made vampire," he began. "You shall never grow old and you shall never die. As your maker, I give you the gift of eternal life." With that, he shifted and drew her close in the circle of his arms, his lips at her throat. He traced the skin there almost reverently before biting the soft flesh deftly.

Bella gasped at the initial shock of the bite. It wasn't simply pain, or simply pleasure, but a symphony of both that competed in waves. Occasionally she would shudder at the swipe of his tongue against her flesh.

A low sound emanated from him as he drank her blood. It wasn't quite a growl, nor a moan, bur rather a vocalization of pleasure at her sweet, fragrant blood.

At last when Aro allowed his venom to take hold, she felt the burning immediately. Starting small and uncomfortable, it slowly bloomed into steady flames spreading through her veins. Starting to tremble at the pain, Bella felt his arms tighten around her before his palm began to rub soothing circles into her back. She welcomed the comfort of it and of his scent, so potent and alluring with the fabric that spanned his chest just under her cheek and nose.

Aro held Bella close to him as his maker had done for him during the change. The relationship between a maker and their progeny was a magnificent, splendid thing... unmatched by any other form of connection, even that of romance.

In this way, he began to tell her the story of his life.

At over 3,000 years of age, he had been made vampire around 1300 BC in Mycenaean Greece. Seen as the last stirrings of the Bronze Age, many aspects of Mycenaean life were widely contested, or simply lost to time.

His human memories along with the surviving recorded history of the Mycenaean age were vague, but he knew these things to be true... Deemed by historians as the Late Helladic period, Aro had been born in a time of prosperity and expansion for the Mycenaeans of mainland Greece. His maker, Amenia, had taken interest in Aro during his human life. She met him and his family, the ruling family of Mycenaea, through trade and other such diplomatic relations with her territory in Egypt. Aro had captivated her interest due to his natural ability to woo people, seeming to understand some unearthly quality about her within moments of meeting her while others remained convinced by her human facade.

He earnestly desired that otherworldly quality about her for himself, leading him to willingly leave his life behind him to follow at her behest. She spoke of a brilliant world where night was not to be feared, nor death itself. Aro had craved it

The vampire world was in a state of chaos, she had explained and Egypt had become its mecca. Famine ravaged the ancient civilization, brought on in the 12th and 13th dynasties.

Amenia was taken from him just two years after his change. Although he had learned much of what she had to offer him when he first touched her upon waking, the loss was difficult to bear. The connection a vampire has with their maker, or their kin- referring to the blood tie between vampires made by one maker, cannot be comprehended by mortal's sentiments on relationships.

A hoard of vampires had senselessly taken her and many others in their coven out in order to claim their territory. In fact, many had they fallen in their efforts to protect the two youngest vampires of the coven, buying them enough time to flee their assailants that outmatched them in number and experience. Aro the first, and Marcus the second. Marcus, whom Amenia had made vampire just three decades before Aro, also held a precious gift.

Though Amenia was not considered "gifted" among her kind in the classical sense, her personal strength was locating fascinating people that would, in turn, become fascinating vampires. And how did she find fascinating people? More often than not, these mortals would be considered to be ahead of their time. They would somehow go against the grain, possess an intelligence or talent that trumped the meager accomplishments of standard living of those around them, instilling awe, and other times-fear. In Aro's case, he was exceptional but did not wait to be found and pursued. He pursued Amenia and became immortal because of it.

In Amenia's mind, cultivating this talent might finally allow her coven to establish hard-fought peace within the vampire world. Though she would never see this wish realized, Aro was adamant to finish what his maker had started. From that day, he and Marcus had vowed to put an end to the unfathomable chaos within the vampire world. Finding and changing Caius only a few years later, with growing numbers of talented vampires over the years, they had succeeded.

Now the Volturi coven was to have a new member, one with a promising gift, and the vampire world would be better because of it.