October 2

Aro was not alone when Diana next entered his study. Two other unnaturally stunning people were seated with him—not Caius or Marcus, she could tell at a glance, nor any of the other vampires she'd met so far.

Diana hesitated in the doorway, hoping for a moment that this unprecedented occurrence might give her an excuse to simply brush Aro's hand and retreat immediately without further conversation—but no. A fourth armchair had already been brought into the study, empty and waiting for her, and at the sight of her Aro rose with a delighted smile.

"Ah! Diana." His voice was, if possible, even more fond than usual. Diana frowned. If Aro noticed, he did not let this disturb him. He continued warmly, "Welcome back. Please, join us. I'd like you to meet my good friend Carlisle, and the lovely Renesmee, another of his coven."

Carlisle and Renesmee stood to greet her. Carlisle, Diana thought clinically, was perhaps the most objectively attractive person she had ever seen. Solimena's painting did him no justice. He was tall and handsome, with hair like spun gold and eyes nearly the same shade. When he offered Diana a welcoming smile, the expression reached his eyes with an honest, open sincerity that she had never witnessed before in one of his kind.

Renesmee—and wasn't that name a mouthful—was unusual. She was stunning, too, with long auburn hair falling in too-perfect ringlets. But standing next to Carlisle and Aro it was clear that she was different, somehow. She didn't share their marble-white skin. In fact, she seemed to have a healthy flush to her cheeks, and her eyes looked perfectly human, a rich, warm brown.

Diana blinked once, and did her best not to stare. Perhaps the woman's vampiric talent was to look more convincingly human. Renesmee, for her part, did not return this courtesy. She regarded Diana intently, her eyes wide and fascinated.

"Pleasure to meet you, Diana." Carlisle stuck out his hand, his smile carefully polite. The gesture looked like nothing more than the offer of a typical American handshake, but after her experiences with Aro, Diana wasn't about to touch another vampire thoughtlessly.

"You won't be able to read my mind or turn me into a newt, or anything, will you?"

Carlisle's smile widened genuinely, something which somehow, impossibly, made him even more attractive. Diana wondered if that was his gift.

"I have no such talent, I'm afraid."

Diana shook his hand. It was cold, but otherwise unremarkable. Renesmee, when Diana glanced at her, mutely shook her head and instead offered an awkward little wave.

"Sit, please," Aro invited warmly

He was pouring a glass of wine again, apparently having decided that Diana would be visiting for a while yet, and perhaps that the visit would be more pleasant for all once she had been bribed with another bottle of undoubtedly expensive wine. She was sorely tempted to protest—to touch Aro's hand and storm off before he could reel her in again—but she lacked the energy. Aro would get his way eventually, she was sure. It would be easier to concede this now, and save her stubbornness for when it truly mattered.

And besides, she was curious. About Carlisle's lifestyle and his mandatory visits, and about Renesmee's peculiar appearance. She sat.

Aro, after pouring the glass, paused before setting down the bottle, his eyes flicking between his other two guests. "Renesmee?"

Diana's eyebrows rose. The fact that Aro was offering the other woman wine suggested that she was actually capable of drinking it. Just what kind of vampire was she?

Renesmee, for her part, looked as surprised as Diana was at this offer.

"Oh! Um." She flushed bright pink, and glanced at Carlisle uncertainly. Carlisle, looking amused, half-shrugged one shoulder. Renesmee gulped and glanced quickly at Diana. For some reason, her blush deepened. "N-no, thank you."

It was a very odd interaction, though Aro appeared entirely unsurprised. When his fingertips brushed Diana's as he handed her the glass, she silently conveyed her curiosity. Aro smiled.

"Renesmee is unique, yes," he agreed lightly. "She is only half immortal. The product of a vampire father and a human mother."

Diana's eyes widened in morbid fascination. "That's possible?"

"It was a surprise to us, as well," Carlisle said. His tone was odd—a little bit of wistfulness, plus some other emotion Diana couldn't quite place.

"But that shouldn't—" Diana cut herself off, frowning. She was thinking about what Aro had told her before, about the extra chromosomes vampires possessed. Surely, it shouldn't be possible for two species with such genetic differences to produce viable offspring. Diana hummed discontentedly, and noticed that Aro looked rather pleased with himself at taking her by surprise with this information. Lightly accusing, she said, "You could have mentioned this before."

"Does it affect your theory?" He asked, tilting his head curiously. To Carlisle he explained, "Dear Diana has a most fascinating hypothesis about the origin of our species."

Carlisle raised an eyebrow, politely interested. "Oh?"

"It's only a hypothesis," Diana hedged. Carlisle nodded encouragingly. "The gist is that vampirism is a form of extraterrestrial life which colonizes new planets by infecting and adapting itself to the dominant species."

Carlisle looked genuinely intrigued by this idea. He tilted his head thoughtfully, a gesture so reminiscent of Aro that Diana blinked in surprise.

"I'm very curious about how something with 25 chromosomal pairs and something with 23 can even hope to produce viable offspring—" She glanced at Renesmee, who had clasped her hands tightly in her lap, visibly uncomfortable. "But I don't want to barrage you with uncomfortable questions."

Renesmee relaxed at this pronouncement, sending Diana a grateful look. Then, glancing away, she chewed her lip for a moment. Then, hesitantly, she extended one hand toward Diana, another puzzlingly Aro-like gesture. "I could show you?"

"Renesmee's gift is rather the inverse of my own," explained Aro, seeing Diana's puzzled frown. "She can share her own thoughts and memories."

Renesmee grimaced apologetically. "I know I'm supposed to—" Renesmee waggled one hand and glanced self-consciously at Carlisle. "But it's kind of—" Another bitten lip, then a frustrated sigh. "It'd be easier to just show you."

Curious, Diana offered her hand.

Experiencing Renesmee's talent was unsettling. Snippets of memories, other vampires speaking to or about Renesmee, sight and sound blurred together.

There were her parents, Edward and Bella, teenagers forever. Edward speaking to a young Renesmee, explaining wistfully how he'd fallen in love with her mother as a human. Nahuel, a tall, wild-looking young man, explaining how his father had succeeded multiple times in breeding hybrids, but that the mothers never survived. Flashes of Carlisle and Bella and a handful of others commenting on Renesmee's growth and habits and development, all jumbled together with Renesmee's own thoughts and impressions.

When the flow of sounds and images tapered off, Diana knew that vampire-human hybrids were possible, that their hearts beat, that they could consume human food but vastly preferred a diet of blood. She knew that they were fully grown at seven years and apparently immortal forever after.

Additionally, she now knew that exposure to Renesmee's thoughts made her slightly nauseous.

"Interesting," Diana said, barely managing a polite tone as she reclaimed her hand. She took a slow, deep breath to regain her equilibrium, and glanced at Aro. "Is that experience what it's like for you?"

Aro sighed longingly. "If only. Renesmee's gift conveys her thoughts as she wishes. Which is to say, she conveys only what she wishes, in a purposeful and mostly orderly fashion." His envious tone made it quite clear that his own assimilation of thoughts was neither purposeful nor orderly.

"Whereas yours is—what, a sledgehammer of someone's every thought and memory, and every thought they've ever had about their memories?" Diana guessed, and barely restrained a wince at Aro's resigned nod.

"I sense you are no longer envious of my talent," Aro said good-humoredly. "Tell me, how would you reconcile this new information with your working theory?"

Diana considered it for a long moment. When she spoke she began with a disclaimer. "Keeping in mind this is nothing more than wild conjecture based on an extremely limited sample size… if vampires are the first step of colonization, turning the dominant species into a prey population—then this ability to produce hybrids might be viewed as a second step towards replacing the dominant species entirely." She paused, then added, "Though I'm not inclined to speculate further, since it would involve some uncomfortable and unethical lines of inquiry."

She was not interested in a debate about vampire eugenics.

"Carlisle?" Aro prompted. "What do you think?"

Carlisle smiled kindly and acknowledged, "It's an interesting theory."

It was clear he wasn't convinced, which Diana couldn't blame him for. She'd offered no proof, after all. It was just an idea, one she didn't truly believe herself, with the absence of hadn't expected to persuade anyone with wild conjecture.

"Don't mind his lack of enthusiasm, my dear," Aro dismissed. When he went on his words were gently teasing. "Carlisle's preferred explanation is that our, ah—affliction is a test from the Christian God." Carlisle was still smiling, apparently used to and patiently unbothered by Aro's disagreement on this point. To Diana, Aro explained further, "It's his justification for his coven's unusual diet."

"Ah," said Diana, only half-amused. "Have we come to the part of the conversation already where you try to convince me that being a vampire isn't so bad after all and that I don't even have to eat people if I don't want to?"

Aro grinned shamelessly. "Just so."

Abruptly, Renesmee blurted, "You don't want to be turned?" She was staring at Diana with wide eyes again.

"No." Renesmee looked completely baffled. Diana frowned, furrowing her brow. "I get the impression you don't know exactly why I'm here."

She had assumed that Aro would have told them, since neither Carlisle nor Renesmee had appeared at all surprised by Diana's presence or her humanity.

"Um." Renesmee glanced uncertainly at Carlisle, then at Aro. Carlisle, too, looked at Aro expectantly.

"Ah," Aro said softly. "I'm afraid I may have failed to mention—" He paused. Diana guessed he was trying to be delicate in his phrasing.

"You didn't mention that you ate my baby sister."

Renesmee gasped, shocked hands flying to cover her mouth. Carlisle, on the other hand, pinched his brow with his thumb and forefinger, a gesture of such normal, human exasperation that Diana liked him that much more.

Aro sighed deeply, and reminded her, "Not me, personally."

"You realize that makes no difference to me, right?" Diana said flatly. "The fact that someone else was the one to do it is the work of probability alone, not any mercy on your part."

"But—" Renesmee faltered when Diana turned to look at her. She looked a little uncertain now, maybe even a little fearful. "If you don't want, then—" A glance at Carlisle, then at Aro. "Why isn't she dead?"

Diana folded her arms and raised an expectant brow at Aro. Good question. Do explain.

"At first, because dear Diana's disappearance would have drawn quite a bit of unwanted attention," Aro explained lightly. Renesmee frowned, but nodded, accepting this. "And now, because I am still quite determined to change her mind."

Renesmee's frown deepened for just a moment before her face cleared, a knowing look dawning. "Because you think she'll be gifted." It was not a question.

Aro nodded. "I am very nearly certain of it."

"Certain of what, exactly?" Diana asked, exasperated herself now. "You keep talking about charisma and wasted potential, but you have yet to say what you think that potential is."

"Ah, well. You know, of course, that it is not unusual for immortals to develop certain special talents." He waited for Diana's nod before he went on. "For a rare few, these talents are apparent even in their human lives. Alec, for example, showed some amount of psychic ability before his transition. And Renesmee's own mother, Bella, was immune to a number of our gifts even as a human—a gift which became exponentially more powerful after her transformation."

"Aunt Alice had visions before she was turned, too," Renesmee added quietly. Aro nodded.

"Alice Cullen is blessed with the gift of foresight," Aro explained, giving context to Renesmee's words. "For most of us, however, the connection is much more subtle. In my own case, the only hints of the gift I would develop in my previous life were a keen curiosity and thirst for knowledge. Little things like having a knack for reading people, or a heightened sense of empathy, can grow into formidable talents."

Aro looked to Carlisle expectantly. "Mind reading at a distance," Carlisle said simply. "And the ability to affect the moods of others." Diana guessed these were talents possessed by his other coven members.

"And you're expecting what from me—" Diana raised her eyebrows again. "Supernatural stubbornness?"

Aro looked momentarily pained. "I dearly hope not." He gathered himself, then regarded her with that curious tilt of his head. "You are aware that you are unusually persuasive."

Diana frowned. "I'm a lawyer." Being persuasive was practically the job description.

Aro waved a dismissive hand. "Yes, of course, but it's a career which suits your natural talent. You became a lawyer in part because of your aptitude for convincing people, did you not?"

She didn't see his point. It was only logical to pursue a career which made the most of her natural talents. She also became a lawyer because she had a talent for research and writing contracts, neither of which seemed to be the seeds of any sort of special power. Not that being slightly more persuasive than average was much better. Aro, seeing her expression, pressed on.

"You have an intriguing knack for encouraging others to see things from your point of view. It's not enough to overcome strong religious convictions—" He gestured to Carlisle. "Or to convince someone to do something they truly don't wish to do—" He gestured to himself. "But nonetheless the effect is there."

"And you think I'd be able to—what, Jedi mind trick people?" Diana said skeptically. "These aren't the droids you're looking for?"

"I think you have the potential to be an extremely useful ambassador," Aro corrected, not offended in the least by her skepticism. Then, thoughtfully, "Though I admit what you've just described would be exceedingly useful as well. If we could encourage humans like yourself to simply forget what they've seen and go home, rather than needing to eliminate the security breach…"

That would be undoubtedly convenient for them, but Diana was stuck on the first part of his comment. "What do you mean, 'ambassador'?"

Aro sighed again. He looked, suddenly, very tired. "The past ten years have been… difficult."

Renesmee winced and slumped in her chair. Carlisle placed one of his hands on hers, a silent gesture of comfort, and she shot him a grateful look. Aro watched this interaction with an oddly neutral expression.

"It is quite a long and complicated story, involving several unfortunate miscommunications," Aro said carefully. "The results of which are two-fold. First, old enemies of the law who wish to return humankind to its rightful place believe that our rule is open to challenge."

The words rightful place were dripping with disdain. Aro's voice returned to deliberate neutrality when he continued.

"Second, more and more vampires have attempted to create their own hybrids—efforts which often draw far too much attention. When we are forced to intercede in order to keep the secret, we are each time viewed with more and more resentment. Which, of course, makes the complaints of our enemies sound increasingly reasonable."

Renesmee slumped even further in her chair, openly miserable. Carlisle looked grave.

Unsettled, Diana said, "I think I should probably hear the long version of that story."

"I agree," Aro said easily, though for once he did not look happy about it. "But not tonight, I'm afraid. It is, as I said, quite a long story, and you will want to leave shortly if you wish to eat before the restaurants close for the night." A glance at Diana's watch showed he was right—it was already quite late. "Tomorrow morning, perhaps. Before your train departs."

"Fair enough," Diana agreed. Though she did wonder how much sleep she would get tonight with this mystery hanging over her head. Standing, she nodded politely to Carlisle and Renesmee. "It was a pleasure to meet both of you."

"Likewise," Carlisle said, his smile charming again.

"Can I come?" Renesmee looked almost as surprised as Diana at the blurted question, flushing bright pink again. Carlisle and Aro's eyebrows had also risen at the question, and Renesmee blanched. "Sorry! I don't mean—I mean, only if you want—that is, if you don't mind—" She was looking more and more miserable with every failed attempt. Wilting, she sighed, "I… don't get much opportunity to talk to regular humans."

Diana politely refrained from telling her that this was obvious.

"Sure, why not."

Renesmee looked stunned. "Really?"

Diana shrugged. "It's been a while since I've had a dinner companion. It'll be nice." Plus, she felt a little bad for the girl. She was clearly making an effort, and a lack of socialization with non-vampires wasn't doing her any favors.

"Oh. Good." Renesmee paused, then seemed to realize she'd just implied that Diana's lack of dinner companions was a good thing. She hurriedly amended, "I mean, thanks. I mean, I'm glad."

"Shall we, then?"

Diana led her out of the building and across the square, explaining that there was only one place she knew of close by which would still be open for another two hours. Renesmee nodded nervously and followed along, hovering over her shoulder as Diana arranged a table for two in her slow, basic Italian.

Once they were seated, Diana ordered another glass of wine and a hearty pasta dish. Renesmee, her accent much better than Diana's despite her stammering, asked for some kind of steak. The wine came almost immediately, and though it didn't compare to whatever it was that Aro kept offering her, it was still quite good. Diana sipped it, and waited.

It would be better practice, she decided, for Renesmee to direct the conversation. After a few minutes of nervous fidgeting and wild glances about the restaurant, Renesmee seemed to reach that same conclusion.

"So…" Renesmee bit her lip, then forged ahead. "You said you were a lawyer?" Diana nodded. "What is that like?"

"It's a lot of research, writing, and negotiating," she explained, simplifying because she suspected too much detail might be overwhelming. Renesmee looked like she was struggling to come up with a response to that, so Diana added, "Which I realize doesn't sound exciting to most people, but I enjoy it."

She paused, then went on, suddenly curious, "Does your, ah… family, have professions? I get the sense that Aro and his people have quite a bit of accumulated wealth, but I can't imagine it'd be easy for others to hold a job, considering…" She waved her hand vaguely, leaving the rest unspoken.

"Carlisle is a doctor." Diana blinked in surprise, wondering how that was supposed to work, but Renesmee didn't notice, going on. "The rest of us mostly stay in school. We move around every couple of years—we'll start over in a new high school pretending to be as young as we can, then graduate and go to college until us not aging becomes too suspicious." She was talking very fast, but now she paused, wrinkling her nose. "Well—I say we, but I haven't gone to high school yet. I'm kind of still working on my… people skills."

"And your parents, the rest of the family, they just… relive high school over and over again, forever?" Diana asked, disbelieving. "That sounds—" She cut herself off before she could say like my idea of Hell, and floundered for a moment as she searched for a less offensive way to phrase it.

"I won't say I'm looking forward to it," Renesmee said dully. "I don't think college will be so bad, but—I don't want to have to pretend to be my mom's sister, you know?" She shrugged, eyes on the tablecloth now as she said, "Sometimes I just want some space. My parents didn't even want me to come on this trip. They hate the Volturi, and they hate that Carlisle keeps coming back here, even though so much of what's been going on is our fault. And I mean, yeah, they kind of tried to kill me when I was a baby and that was pretty scary and then there's the whole eating people thing but they're still better than Vlad and Stefan and—"

"Renesmee!" Diana cut in sharply, alarmed. She'd understood almost none of what she'd just spewed out, but what little she did glean was both alarming and absolutely not appropriate to be discussing in a restaurant full of humans. "Maybe a conversation best saved for elsewhere."

Renesmee flushed with embarrassment again. "Sorry. I could just—" She held up a hand to indicate her talent, her expression hopeful. "Please?"

Diana seriously considered it for a moment, because she was extremely curious to know about the Volturi allegedly attempting to murder Renesmee as an infant, and how she and Carlisle would come to be sitting peacefully in Aro's study if that were the case. Unfortunately, she hadn't forgotten the almost seasick feeling Renesmee's gift had given her the first time, and she suspected that the effect would only be worse the second time.

"Once was enough for one night," Diana decided, not without regret. Then, at Renesmee's disappointed face, added lightly, "Besides, I thought you wanted to practice talking to regular humans?"

Renesmee blushed and looked down at the tablecloth again. Diana felt a wave of pity wash over her. The vampires the girl had grown up with wouldn't have had the capacity to blush. It must have been frustrating for her, to have her emotions be so transparent all the time. Fortunately, their food arrived, and Renesmee didn't catch her pitying expression.

Diana wound pasta around her fork while Renesmee took up a knife and cut into a steak so rare it might as well have been mooing. Deciding to move their conversation to safer territory, she said, "Tell me what you like to do for fun."

"Oh, um." Renesmee bit her lip, another nervous habit nearly as transparent as the blushing. "I like to play the piano. And I read…" She trailed off, trying to come up with something else. After a moment she smiled and added more confidently, "And I like to watch movies when I visit Grandpa Charlie."

Diana's eyebrows rose in disbelief, the name familiar to her from Renesmee's earlier barrage of thoughts. "You watch movies with your human grandfather?"

"He doesn't know," Renesmee assured her quickly. "Not officially, anyway. He knows we're not… normal, but he doesn't know."

Diana wasn't sure how much better that was, but she supposed if she and Carlisle were here then there was no way that Aro didn't already know about it. She nodded, accepting that it was probably, somehow, fine.

"What's your favorite movie, then?"

"The Princess Bride," Renesmee said immediately, not needing to think about it.

"A classic," Diana acknowledged with a smile. Renesmee mirrored it, looking pleased.

"What's yours?"

"Alien."

Renesmee frowned. "I haven't seen that one."

Diana was not surprised. "It's a horror movie."

"Really?" Renesmee's eyes had gone wide again. "Why do you like it, then?"

In Diana's experience it was nearly impossible to explain the appeal of horror movies to people who didn't like them, but she did her best regardless. "Because it's about facing something terrifying and unknown and surviving it through wit and fierce determination."

Renesmee considered this as she chewed a bite of steak. Once she'd swallowed she said, "That doesn't sound too bad."

Because she didn't want to traumatize the girl if she decided to seek the movie out, Diana quickly added, "It's also about a killer alien with acid for blood."

Renesmee smiled a little. "So you're saying it's a vampire movie." This shocked a laugh out of Diana, and her smile broadened.

Tension lessened, they chatted about movies until their food was gone and the restaurant began to empty. Renesmee often spoke too quickly, and more than once she reached halfway across the table to touch Diana before she caught herself, but all things considered, it really was nice to have dinner with someone again. And despite her earlier misgivings, she had no trouble falling asleep that night.


October 3

Diana frowned from the doorway of the study, taking in Aro and Carlisle's positions. They were either already seated in the same chairs, or still seated in the same chairs. She suspected the latter.

"Have either of you moved since last night?"

"Is it morning already?" Aro said lightly, confirming her suspicions. "Time does fly in the presence of good friends."

"I have two hours before I need to catch my bus," Diana said dryly, hoping this conveyed her unwillingness to lose track of time. "Is that enough time for your long and complicated story?"

Aro sighed wearily and gestured for her to sit. She obeyed, leaving her suitcase by the door but bringing the cup of coffee she'd bought at a cafe on the square. Aro waited for her to settle, then began, his voice calm and even.

"There is only one law for our kind," he reminded her first. "And that is to keep the secret. By extension, there are certain acts that are forbidden." He raised a finger and began to count off examples. "Telling a human the secret and failing to kill or turn them. Killing too many at once, or those who will be missed. Abandoning a newborn. And, finally, creating an immortal child."

Diana frowned, thinking briefly of Renesmee—but Aro had referred to her kind quite explicitly as hybrids, not immortal children, so she guessed there must be some distinction. She said nothing, waiting for Aro to continue his explanation.

"You must understand that newborn vampires are extremely dangerous," he went on. "For the first year after their creation they are unusually strong and fast, even among vampires. But with this strength comes nearly overwhelming bloodlust. With time and guidance, vampires will grow out of this phase, their rational mind conquering their baser instincts."

He paused, and Diana knew a but was coming.

"But this is not the case for children," Aro said, gently. "When a human is turned, they are frozen forever at their current stage of development. They can learn new things, certainly, but their mind, the way they think, can never change. Children who become vampires can never grow, never mature—and, forever young as they are, they are incapable of overcoming their new instincts. They are uncontrollable, and no amount of time or teaching can correct this."

There was a sorrowful resignation in his voice that spoke of personal experience.

"This is why creating an immortal child is a capital offense," he said after a beat. "For both the child and its maker."

Diana frowned. "You have Alec."

"Alec and his sister Jane are not immortal children in the eyes of the law," Aro said, making a dismissive gesture with one hand. "They are young, yes, but as you have seen they are old enough to be in full control of their instincts. In truth, I had hoped to wait several more years for the twins to mature before turning them, but—circumstances forced my hand."

Diana nodded slowly, acknowledging the distinction. Aro nodded back, satisfied, and then sighed again, looking pained.

"Ten years ago," he said lowly, "a witness came to Volterra and claimed that the Cullens had created an immortal child."

Diana inhaled sharply, her eyes immediately finding Carlisle's. He grimaced.

"It was Renesmee," he confirmed. "She was only a few months old at the time. Another vampire passing through caught a glimpse of her. We hadn't told anyone about Renesmee yet, and no one had ever heard of a hybrid before, of course, so Irina jumped to conclusions." Carlisle shook his head mournfully. "If she had only thought to talk to us…"

"Yes, if only," Aro agreed darkly. "Irina was already embittered toward the Cullens over a perceived slight. What she thought she'd observed presented the perfect opportunity for justice, in her eyes—she would report the Cullens to us, and we would enforce the law."

Diana understood that the words enforce the law here had the meaning of killing Renesmee and Carlisle's entire coven. Carlisle, seeing from her expression that she understood the implication, continued quietly.

"Once Irina had made her decision, Alice had a vision." Diana nodded, recalling his mention of Alice's foresight. "She foresaw that the Volturi would come." Carlisle closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again he seemed determined not to look in Aro's direction as he explained, "The Volturi are known for their swift justice. We were afraid we wouldn't have the chance to explain that Renesmee was a hybrid. So, we decided the best course of action would be to gather witnesses—others who would testify that Renesmee wasn't an immortal child."

Diana frowned. "What, you couldn't have picked up the phone?"

"Hindsight," sighed Aro miserably. Then, "In Carlisle's defense, there had been a bit of… unpleasantness a few months prior concerning a rogue vampire and quite a few unruly newborns. We should have intervened swiftly, and that we did not led Carlisle and his coven to believe that we would see them eliminated."

Diana raised her eyebrows, a gesture Aro seemed to interpret as judgment rather than confusion, as he rushed to say, "It was a delay I had nothing to do with, yet still I regret it. Had I reached out after Jane returned, perhaps we could have smoothed things over and this whole affair would never have come to pass." To Carlisle he added, sincerely, "It still saddens me to know how dire Bella's situation became. I could have helped."

"Hindsight," Carlisle echoed with a wry smile. Aro sighed again.

"The fact of the matter was that Carlisle did not feel he could trust me," he continued briskly. "And when I saw Irina's testimony for myself—" Here he paused. "You have seen Renesmee up close, but only fully grown and never in sunlight. In the sunlight she glows, very nearly like we do. Seeing young Renesmee in Irina's mind, from a distance and without the slightest inkling that a hybrid was even possible—I had no doubt that I was seeing an immortal child. And this, combined with past instances of Carlisle's coven toeing the line with the law, meant that I did not feel I could trust Carlisle, either."

"Toeing the line?" Diana repeated, glancing between the two of them.

"Bella," Carlisle said tiredly. "She knew the secret for two years before she was turned."

"Edward had no intention of turning her at all had we not forced his hand," Aro said, his tone uncharacteristically sharp. "If he had not come here demanding that we facilitate his suicide we would never have known about his violation, and Bella would have been a liability for years to come."

Carlisle, looking chastened, nodded to concede the point. Diana held up a hand before either of them could continue.

"I'm sorry, what was that about suicide?"

"It is nearly impossible for an immortal to take their own life," Aro informed her. "Fire is the only way to kill us, but we are only vulnerable to it if we are dismembered first."

"Jesus," Diana muttered. Then, remembering Carlisle's faith, "Sorry." Carlisle shook his head mutely, looking more amused than offended.

"Through a combination of comical misunderstandings and a blind spot in Alice's visions, Edward came to the mistaken belief that young Bella had ended her own life," Aro summarized. "In his… grief, he came here, to us, hoping we would end his misery." His emphasis on the word grief gave Diana the impression that Aro's preferred phrasing was far less flattering to Edward's character.

Diana tried to come up with something to say to that in front of Carlisle which wasn't That sounds like the sort of shit I'd expect from an immortal 17-year old. After a moment she settled on, "How Shakespearean."

"Quite," Aro agreed, a knowing glint in his eye. "Because we are not an assisted suicide service, and because Carlisle is a dear friend of mine, I politely declined Edward's request. And quite fortunately, too, because Bella was not dead after all, and would have been very upset indeed had we done so. But it was very clear at that meeting that Edward had no intention of making young Bella immortal, and that while he would begrudgingly agree to do so in order to save her from being claimed by the law, he was determined to delay such a thing as long as possible, if not forever."

Diana raised her eyebrows again and looked to Carlisle to see if he would contest this. He didn't. He nodded, resigned.

"The blatant disrespect chafed Caius, and I admit it did not sit well with me, either," Aro said frankly. "I allowed Bella to leave Volterra alive and human based on the promise of Alice Cullen's visions and my own trust in Carlisle."

Aro paused, then turned to Carlisle and confessed in an only half-apologetic tone, "I know you're fond of your lovely granddaughter, but there is a part of me that wishes we had turned Bella that very day and been done with the matter."

Carlisle did not look at all offended by this. Diana found this both interesting and foreboding.

"But what's done is done," Aro said, with forced lightness. "Honest mistakes were made on both sides, the result of which was that when we arrived in Forks, Washington to deliver justice, we were faced with a large assortment of 'witnesses' that looked very much like an army—including, I should mention, more than a dozen gigantic wolf shapeshifters—and they were very clearly prepared to do battle, if negotiations failed."

While Diana debated whether to interrupt again to demand a more thorough explanation of the gigantic wolf shapeshifters, Carlisle justified himself.

"You can't blame us for wanting to defend ourselves."

"No, I cannot," Aro conceded fairly. "We were fortunate that, bar one or two of Carlisle's witnesses, no one present that day truly wished to fight."

Diana shot Carlisle another quick glance at that, wondering if he would refute the accusation about some of his witnesses' motivations, and received another reluctant nod.

"It was immediately apparent that Renesmee was not an immortal child, and together with testimony from witnesses and a fully-grown hybrid that Alice managed to locate—there were four others at the time, all from the same father and utterly unknown to us—it was decided the child was no threat to the secret, and that no law had been violated. We left in peace." Aro closed his eyes briefly, looking pained. "We have been dealing with the repercussions ever since."

"Your old enemies saw an opportunity to challenge you," said Diana, remembering his words from the night before. Aro nodded gravely.

"In truth, we are all extremely fortunate that the situation did not escalate. If it had, I am not at all certain that our coven would have prevailed. Even if we had managed it, we would have been unacceptably weakened."

Easy to pick off, in other words. Diana recalled the doomsday scenario Aro had so colorfully described when he'd been trying to convince her not to expose the secret.

"As it stands," Aro said sourly, "an almost unprecedented number of immortals came together to witness that there are powerful, talented vampires who are able and willing to oppose the Volturi. Bella alone has the power to neutralize Jane and Alec, whose gifts we've relied upon for centuries to keep the peace."

"Bella can shield herself and others from other vampires' gifts," Carlisle cut in to explain.

"We are not a race that responds well to authority," said Aro. "We have managed to hold our power for as long as we have by being swift and ruthless. For over a thousand years, fear of the Volturi has been the only thing preventing vampires from glutting themselves on entire towns."

"They don't fear you anymore," Diana realized aloud. Aro nodded sharply.

"Carlisle's coven made us look weak, open to challenge." Grimacing, he added, "We've been stamping out the fires of rebellion ever since. And then, of course, there are the hybrids."

"Yes, you did mention that." Diana recalled, "Something about drawing too much attention?"

Carlisle was the one who answered her.

"There are very good reasons why no one had ever heard of hybrids before," he said clinically. "Vampires tend not to engage with humans like that, and if they do, the human doesn't usually survive the encounter. Either the vampire drinks them on purpose, or they lose control and hurt them despite their best intentions. Edward was… extremely careful, with Bella. And the only other vampire before him to have fathered hybrid children failed many, many times before he finally succeeded."

"And by failed," Diana said, suddenly reeling. "You mean he violently raped women to death."

"Yes."

"Oh, god." Horrible realization crashed into her all at once. "And your trial… it was like one big advertisement."

Carlisle winced. Weakly, he said, "We didn't realize."

"Once word spread, many were keen to try it," Aro confirmed. "There is a reason, after all, that so many dared to create immortal children in spite of the risks. We are almost fortunate that the success rate is so abysmal—as it is, we are lucky that so far none of these unfortunate women have sought help at a hospital."

"Renesmee wasn't born at the time, so she couldn't have conveyed this to you," said Carlisle, "but hybrid pregnancies are very dangerous, and they're also very obviously unnatural. From fertilization to delivery takes little over a month, which would be dangerous enough for the mother without considering the baby's strength. Renesmee broke several of Bella's ribs. We were very lucky that she ultimately survived the process—none of the previous hybrid mothers did."

"Nor any since," said Aro.

"And," Carlisle added, "for most of the pregnancy, the mother needs to drink blood for sustenance."

A woman pregnant with a demon baby, slurping human blood while the thing inside her broke her ribs—it was like something straight out of a horror movie.

"The worst," said Aro, "is that some of those who have failed have thought instead to dupe us. After all, if the Cullen hybrid could be mistaken for an immortal child, then surely the reverse could also be true. And then, of course, we must execute the perpetrators—reinforcing our reputation as tyrannical child-killers."

"Just so you know," Diana said faintly. "You're really not selling this 'ambassador' thing right now."

"Ha." Aro's laugh was without humor. He fixed her with an imploring gaze. "My dear Diana. We are balanced on the edge of a knife. I have already described to you what will happen if the secret gets out." When she nodded reluctantly, he pressed, "We could very much use someone who could convince our kind to see things from our point of view."

They certainly could. Still, "You can't know for sure that I would develop that talent."

"I have little to lose by trying, and potentially everything to gain," Aro said, not missing a beat.

Diana shook her head, unconvinced. "There's a big difference between holding my own tongue, and actually joining the organization that ate my sister."

"How do you think your sister slipped through the cracks in the first place?" Diana went very still. Aro, sensing that he was treading in dangerous waters, continued delicately. "I've told you—we make every effort to take only the people that no one will miss. With our resources stretched so thin… accidents do happen."

An accident. Mac's death, her little sister being eaten by vampires—an accident. Because the Volturi were distracted. Diana clenched her fists in her lap, torn between the desire to slap Aro for his callousness or to tear at her own hair in impotent grief.

"I understand you're mourning," Carlisle said gently, leaning forward. Diana glared, but it was harder to sustain the expression when looking at Carlisle. He, after all, did not have red eyes. "I do. But Diana, please consider… your sister is beyond your help now. These young women, the rest of the world—they're not. And for all that I could never condone Aro's diet… I do believe that the alternative would be worse."

"The lesser evil," Diana said dully. Carlisle nodded. She shook her head, feeling uncertain, unmoored. "I have to think about this."

She began to push herself up from her chair unsteadily, but Aro held out a hand—not to touch her, but a silent request for her to remain in place.

"Ah. There is one more thing."

Diana sat back in her chair and sniped humorlessly, "What now? A kidney?"

Aro hesitated, his eyes searching her face. Slowly, he said, "I wish to preface this by saying that it truly is your choice. An option, really, and one you are more than free to decline. Your immortality is not conditional upon your answer."

"Oh, good," Diana said, her voice bone dry. "I was terribly worried."

"After a great deal of thought," Aro said, enunciating carefully, "I have come to the conclusion that our coven would appear much more sympathetic in these matters if we had in residence a hybrid of our own."

Diana stared, stunned by his audacity.

"And by 'our own'," she said, her voice high with disbelief, "I take it you mean 'yours'."

Aro hesitated again, but nodded. "Marcus is incapable and Caius would never."

"You're not seriously asking me to have your half-vampire baby." Diana flicked her eyes between Aro and Carlisle, half-hoping this was some kind of joke. Did either of them really believe she would consider it, after the horror show they'd just described?

"I could hardly have picked a better candidate," Aro said sincerely. "And Carlisle is confident that he could preserve your life, as he did Bella's. Better, even, since he now knows what to expect."

Carlisle, to his credit, did not appear to be sold on this idea. "If you chose," he stressed, then continued reluctantly, "then between artificial insemination, a steady supply of donated blood, and a calm, stress-free environment, your chances of survival until birth are good."

Diana blinked. Rasped, "I need to catch my bus."

It wasn't true, she had at least another half hour, but she couldn't be in this room any longer. She wobbled determinedly to her feet.

"Take your time to think it over," Aro encouraged gently. "But please, do consider it."

Diana fled.