A/N: A quick thank you to everyone who added this story in their alerts and/or added it to their favorite list. It truly means a lot to me.

Also, I have jotted down a posting schedule- for now this story will be updated only on the weekends- if possible two chapters on each weekend. I will try to update sooner once I am done with my other story. Thank you for reading and I hope you like it!

Chapter 2-

Bella's POV-

The ancient door creaked at the action of being pushed open. I smiled to myself, involuntarily. It was familiar- the sound of this exact door creaking when pushed open. I had heard it before- I was sure of that….almost like a memory long forgotten.

I shook my head, ridding myself of all these unwanted thoughts, unzipping my bag and pulling my camera out from within.

I had a job to do and a lot of photos to take.

Travel magazines- while also read for the information, sold on the pictures. Pictures pulled a person in, showing them of why exactly this place was worth visiting. Photos were intriguing and were meant to create a sort of astonishment in the reader.

I needed to take good photos- they were our selling point.

"Hey," I called out to Heidi, shuddering slightly.

I did not want to talk to her.

I did not even want to look at her.

She was creepy.

She turned to look at me, licking her lips, almost as if I were the tasty cheesecake lying in front of her.

I shuddered wider at that thought.

No, really, she was looking at me like I was something to eat- a satisfying meal to a hungry person.

I sighed internally. I had to stop thinking such stuff. She was weird- not evil.

It was no crime to be different…to put it mildly.

"Umm…I can take photos…right?" I asked. "I mean, there is no rule prohibiting it…or anything…right?"

I was rambling like a fool- a first for me.

Not blowing my own horn, but I did appreciate the confidence that I owned. I could have a decent conversation with a random stranger without stuttering or being intimidated, for that matter. I had even participated in debates and competitions back in my school days, never losing the confident smile that rested on my face, giving me that extra push required against someone who was probably better than me in said competition or debate.

But, for some unknown reason, the Cullen's- and Tanya- always made me feel nervous and vulnerable. I would simply turn into a shy, stuttering introvert in their presence, almost like I was terrified of putting forward my opinion. I would feel similar to a deer amidst a bunch of lions. I don't know why I felt like this, but I had decided the very first time around when it happened that I would never force myself into such a situation again.

But still, here I was.

I guess the saying is true- never say never.

"Sure," Heidi laughed; her mouth open and showcasing her pointed extremely white teeth. "Take as many as you want. Everyone deserves to have a good last memory, that is."

"Excuse me?" I raised an eyebrow at her, confusion and wariness apparent on my face.

What did she even mean by that?

Last memory…

How this could even be my last memory….I was hardly twenty three and kept healthy….unless she was planning to murder the lot of us, burying us under this very mysterious castle?

No.

I sighed to myself.

I had to stop thinking such stuff.

She was no murderer. She was certainly weird, but was no serial killer.

Heidi shrugged me off, deciding against giving an answer to my question, winking in response, her colleague sighing and turning to look at me.

"Ignore Heidi- all of us do. She talks nonsense more than half the time."

I nodded my head, cautiously. Somehow her words had not seemed like nonsense to me.

They had seemed to be that slip of tongue that everyone knew was what was truly on the person's mind.

Heidi laughed, pushing the stranger a bit harshly. "Oh, Demetri, you wound me."

Demetri growled at her, the sound much more animalistic than one would appreciate. "You know the rules, Heidi; the Masters will not appreciate such foolhardiness when it comes to exposure. You are already on strike two. At least worry about your own life, if not of anyone else's."

"Oh, cry me a river, Demetri." Heidi rolled her eyes at him, lowering her volume slightly. "It is not like any of this will matter in less than an hour's time. You have your fun and let me have mine." She turned to look at a young man in his late twenties, his arms wrapped around what seemed to be his newly wedded wife- the love in their eyes present for all to see. "That one's mine. He looks yummy. I am sure he will taste heavenly."

Demetri just sighed at her, walking inside the Castle.

I shuddered in terror, turning to look around me.

How was it that no one apart from me had noticed their weird interaction?

Why wasn't anyone reacting?

I had expected curiosity, shock, surprise, fear- something, but all I could see around me was people laughing and excitedly waiting to walk inside the Castle gates….almost as if they had not noticed a thing outside the realm of usual.

How was that even possible?

Why was it that I was the only one who had seen and taken in their interaction?

They had not been whispering or even hiding anything.

Still, no one reacted.

Just like no one would react when the Cullens did something unexpected- like the time when Emmett Cullen had broken the cafeteria table in literal two pieces while playfully arm-wrestling with Jasper Hale.

No one had reacted. No one had even looked at them twice, pretending as if everything in the world was perfectly alright.

All except me….

I had seen it with full clarity, never to forget it again.

They were strong- no normal person had that much strength as Emmett Cullen did.

Whatever he was- they were- they were stronger than the normal- us.

Maybe…. I was overreacting- a part of me wondered.

Maybe, no one had reacted because it was no big deal.

Hadn't I known of women who liked to objectify men in that manner?

It was partly normal these days, and maybe that was why no one had even blinked an eyelid in response.

Maybe, I was the weird one here.

"Time to go in," Heidi clapped her hands, taking the first step inside the broad corridors leading ahead.

The rest of us followed her in, my hands shaking as I took photos of the mahogany wide door.

My photos were sure to be crappy- I knew that, being all blurry, but I still had a job to do, and also, I did not want to keep my hands idle.

I needed to have something on my mind.

Anything to distract me from this absurdity now settled in my mind.

They were normal people like us, slightly creepy, indeed, but didn't creepy people exist?

You found them everywhere.

That was no reason to judge someone.

That was no reason to judge Heidi.

I took a deep breath in. I had to keep myself calm.

I was an adult. Adults were supposed to be mature and responsible, behaving and acting like one.

I am sure Heidi was just teasing Demetri, or maybe I was misunderstanding her words.

She probably just found that man very attractive and hence her words of appreciation, they were slightly weird, but flirtatious nonetheless.

I forced myself to breathe back normally, plastering a small smile on my face.

Everything was normal.

Everything was as it was supposed to be.

I was overreacting.

My instincts were shouting at me to turn in the opposite direction and run out of here as quickly as my legs would take me, but I forced myself to stay put.

I needed to do my job.

I was no quitter.

I really valued my work.

I couldn't give Martha the excuse of being afraid; and afraid of what- a woman who was different than me?

Martha would very well laugh on my face.

Heck, she could even decide that I was no longer fit for this aspect of my job profile- traveling to new places and gaining the information for her.

No. I loved my job.

I would not let irrational fear get in the way of my success.

I took one last calming breath in, forcing myself to relax, steadily holding my camera in my hands and starting to take photos of the corridor as we passed through it.

The long corridor was lined with paintings- some by known artists and some by unknown, a red carpet decorating the floor. It was beautifully lighted by a long line of small chandeliers and I captured a few good photos of the paintings and show pieces that decorated the corridor.

It did have an old feel to it- I had to admit.

An antique gramophone lay in one corner, a brass showpiece table telephone in another. A pair of peacocks with a finish of gold captured my attention and I quickly took a photo of it.

But, what captured my attention most was the fact that a few photos and paintings of the Castle in olden days had been put up, to show the tourist of what exactly this castle had looked like a thousand- or maybe even more- years back. It looked the same- exact same- from the outside. Shocking, but apparently true….

Surprisingly though, there was no photos of any person put up. Only the rooms with their now antique furniture and the castle from the outside.

I gasped, loudly, stopping in front of a painting of a garden. It was a simple looking terrace garden, nothing exceptional about it, apart from the fact that two people had been painted into it- a woman and a man, sitting on the grass with the woman in the man's lap, a wide, satisfied smile on both of their faces.

'I am going to paint this memory out for us, il mio amore. I never want to forget the peace I feel when you are around.'

I gasped audibly, the memory filling my mind all of a sudden.

Whose voice was that?

Why had I heard it in my mind?

I did not even recognize the voice.

I wish I would have seen the face that went with the voice, but nothing had appeared.

Just a voice, with no context whatsoever…..

I shrugged to myself.

I was just being ridiculous.

These people- in the painting- were long dead, not like I could really make out their faces in the first place.

I was probably just assuming what the man had said to the woman…why then did it feel like this was actually the exact words spoken on that very day?

I sighed.

I needed to get back to the world of sane.

Everything would be alright once I left this depressingly familiar town.

I would leave for my next destination- another project provided- and everything would go back to normal.

Yes, that was it.

I forced my eyes to look away from the painting and walked ahead, noticing how the tourists around me were stopping to admire the antiques that surrounded us. They were clicking photos and making memories of a lifetime. A mother was whispering to her young daughter of how this was what the world looked like in the olden days. I smiled at the two of them, capturing a photo of that moment. It was priceless, in my opinion.

A person's childhood never really came back, obviously- as everyone knows, but as time passes, people drift apart. I had been so close to Renee growing up, but now I hardly even spoke to her.

She was living in California these days- with her fourth husband, having divorced two men within the time frame of two years- her third husband more like a rebound she married in Vegas on impulse.

Anyhow, she was happy in her life, from what she had told me last.

She was happy in hers, and I was happy in mine.

Neither of us held the belief that I would ever go back to stay with her.

The idea of that was absurd.

I had not lived with her since I was seventeen.

The most contact we had was a once in a month phone call- or at times, once in two months.

That was it.

A tinge of sadness crept through me. First my mother and then my father, I had lost contact with both of them over the years. It wasn't completely my fault, I knew that, but it would have been good to have family somewhere in this world.

Anyway, I sighed.

It was not like I was deprived of company. I had good friends who I could rely on. I had a decent boss who respected my opinion and a bunch of collogues who I shared a healthy competition with.

Sure, I did not have a man in my life.

But, that was not for the lack of trying.

I had dated a bit here and there, but nothing seemed to last.

They were just not….what I was looking for.

I don't know what exactly I was looking for- indeed, but whatever it was, it was not them.

I could just feel it in my heart.

They were okay for the Mr. Right now, but never for the Mr. Right.

I sighed to myself.

I really needed to keep my thoughts from digressing.

I had a particularly bad habit of starting in the North and ending in the south.

"This is the main chambers." Heidi walked ahead of us, entering one of the rooms- more like a massive sized hall with huge chandeliers and more old antiques. "In the older days, this room was used for when guests came over…."

I listened to her speak, taking several photos for my article. She then proceeded to take us to the earlier used- now just for decoration- kitchen and bedroom, answering any question we had in mind.

I just couldn't get rid of the thought that I had seen all of this before.

It was just so very familiar. I knew that there was a crooked staircase in the back that led towards a tower, a long forgotten bedroom I perfectly remembered lying in that tower.

I don't know how I knew this.

I just did.

I touched the sofa in the show bedroom- I had sat on it before, I could guarantee it.

I continued to take photos, never letting my mind stray towards the fact that my instincts still didn't trust this Heidi.

It did not matter, I kept reminding myself.

In a few more minutes I would be out of here.

I would never have any reason to come back again.

Just a few more minutes I had to tolerate in her presence.

"And now," Heidi stopped midway, turning to look at us. "We are heading towards the most important segment of this tour- the meet and greet. The brothers are waiting for us in the throne room- it is called that, but we use it for the meet and greet, especially."

A lot of the members of our tour group cheered in excitement at her words, but all I could bear to do was raise an eyebrow in anxiousness.

I had no memory of the throne room- I was certain of that, but still it did not relax my nerves for me.

I followed the others through another long corridor, stopping at another massive gate.

Two guards were blocking our entry, grinning to themselves.

"All set, Alec?" asked Heidi.

"Yes," Alec smirked at her. "The Masters are waiting."

Heidi gave him a smile back and pushed opened the ceiling high door for us to enter.

The usual chandeliers, beams and paintings littered the massive sized hall, but what captured my attention and forced my attention to remain right there was the short man standing in the centre of the room, grinning evilly at the lot of us.

His hair was dark black and rested till his shoulders, his no more than 5.4 frame standing on a built in stage to look taller. His black eyes radiated fear and the fact that he should not be trusted, no matter the fake smile that rested on his face.

'Aro' my mind supplemented, all of a sudden.

"Hello all," the man spoke up, grinning in excitement. "My name is Aro,"

How had I known this?

How had I known his name?

"And these are my brothers- Caius and Marcus."

I had heard these names before. I knew these people.

I don't know how, but I just knew them.

I gave a brief look to Caius. I could not shake the feeling that I had seen him before…but my eyes never moved from the one named Marcus.

He looked so lost…so alone, my heart hurt for him, as he sat on a throne, staring at absolutely nothing in particular.

I wanted to go to him.

I wanted to ask him of why he was so sad.

I could not see him like this.

I did not want to see him like this.

He looked so handsome…if only he would smile….

Snap out of it, Bella.

I scolded myself.

I did not even know the man.

What was wrong with me?

"Welcome to my home." said Aro, a smirk on his face, looking at his brothers once.

And then, everything shifted. The room suddenly saw a flurry of activity- people moving much faster than possible, shouts and screams resounding through the room before I could even understand of what was actually happening…and then the one named Demetri pounced on me.