Alice froze as her eyes glazed over, the vision flashing quickly through her mind. "The Volturi." She whispered.

She suddenly had the attention of everyone in the house, Jasper was at her side instantly. She looked to Carlisle panicked. "Aro is about to call, but I can't see what he wants!"

"What do you mean?" He asked worriedly.

Before she could respond, the phone rang.

If he were human, his hands might have been shaking as he answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Carlisle, my old friend." Aro greeted.

"How can I help you, Aro? Is this regarding Bella?" His eyes flickered to the girl holding tightly onto Edward's arms.

"No, no. I fully trust that you'll ensure that deal will be completed. This is regarding a more important matter." Aro responded with a serious tone. "We request your presence here in Volterra as soon as possible. I'm sure that should not be too much of a problem for you?"

"It should not, I will book a flight immediately." Carlisle confirmed warily. "May I ask why my presence is requested?"

"Do not worry, dear Carlisle. All will be explained upon your arrival. And do bring Mister Whitlock with you."

"Of course. We'll be there soon."

"Wonderful." Aro said happily. "We'll see you soon."

Carlisle hung up the phone. "Alice?"

Alice closed her eyes trying to concentrate. She stomped her foot in frustration. "I can't see anything? It's as if there's some sort of white noise blocking me out. All I could see was his decision to contact you and then nothing else."

Bella tugged at Edward's arm insistently. "You have to change me now! He must be angry I'm still human."

Rosalie rolled her eyes.

Edward shot a look at Rosalie before turning his attention back to Bella. He shook his head. "Bella, he said it wasn't regarding you. He said this was about a different matter."

"But-" Bella tried to respond.

"Now let's not rush into making any decisions." Carlisle interrupted." We don't know what this is about and unfortunately, we don't have the time to waste. Jasper and I will grab our things and head to the airport. As soon as we have more information, we'll let you know." He looked to Jasper who nodded before he quickly disappeared going to his and Alice's room to grab a small bag for the trip.

Esme reached out to hold Carlisle's hand. "You must go now?" She asked.

Carlisle gently lifted his hand to caress her face. "We must. It would not be wise to make them wait."

Esme nodded in understanding and Carlisle pulled her into a brief hug, before letting her go so he could pack a quick bag for himself.

In a short amount of time, Carlisle and Jasper found themselves on a flight to Italy. They conversed quietly to pass the time. They discussed different scenarios of what may happen when they arrive and different reasons as to why they were requested. Jasper was especially wary as to why his presence was requested. They were both equally concerned in that whatever they were summoned for was out of reach of Alice's gift.

It was evening when they arrived. They quickly got a rental and drove into Volterra. Parking in the underground garage, they found Felix and Dimitri waiting for them at the door.

"Aro will meet with you now." Felix said.

Carlisle and Jasper shared a look but followed the other two vampires. Carlisle felt his nerves skyrocket as he entered the building and gave a grateful look to Jasper as he felt the calming waves wash over him almost immediately. He had not been here in decades and was not looking towards the reunion. He expected to be taken to the throne room but was intrigued they were instead taken to Aro's smaller meeting rooms. Although this was more curious, it eased his mind knowing that Aro enjoyed a good show and if they had caused trouble Aro would want others to be present to watch.

Felix and Dimitri left the both of them at the entrance of the room. Carlisle watched them leave before turning to the door and knocking.

"Come in." Aro's voice called.

They entered the room to find all three kings waiting for them.

"Welcome old friend." Aro greeted. He held his hand out expectantly, smiling when Carlisle shook it. Aro released him and offered his hand to the Texan vampire next. Jasper grimaced internally knowing what touching Aro's hand would offer the older vampire.

"Wonderful." Aro said as held Jasper hand in his. He released him and sat down. "Please have a seat my friends."

Carlisle and Jasper sat down on the couch waiting patiently for Aro or one of the other kings to enlighten them as to their reason for the summons. Marcus nodded in greeting to Carlisle and he returned his greeting with a small smile. The silence that followed felt heavy as they waited.

"We would like to make a request of you." Aro began.

"We will help you any way we can." Carlisle immediately offered.

Aro gave him another smile. "We currently have a guest here residing with us. She has been here for a few months learning about our ways and customs. To aide her, we would like for you to be her host and let her to stay with you and your coven for a few months while offering her what insight you can. Just until she completes her research."

"We would love to host your guest, though I will admit we would be uncomfortable with someone who does not share our diet." Carlisle admitted. A non-vegetarian would put not only the humans in Forks at risk, but also endanger the treaty with the wolves.

Caius gave a snort but gave no further indication other than to smirk at Carlisle's glance.

Aro let out a small laugh. "I do not think that will be problem, Carlisle. You've had dear Bella in your home, so another human shouldn't be too much trouble."

Both Carlisle and Jasper couldn't keep the shocked look off of their faces. "Your guest is a human?" Carlisle asked Aro with astonishment.

"Yes, she is human" He answered. "Though a very special one."

Jasper frowned as his thoughts turned to Bella. She was being forced to turn in order to maintain their secret and yet this 'special' human had been here for a few months and was not yet turned. He wondered if they planned to do change them like they did for some of the 'regular' humans that worked for them that they didn't kill.

Aro gave Jasper a knowing smile. "Do not worry, we are not intending to break our own laws. She and her kind have known about us for quite some time and not revealing our secret to other humans falls in line with their own laws not to reveal themselves."

Aro paused to give it a more dramatic affect. "Our dearest Hermione is a witch." He revealed excitedly.

Carlisle was even more surprised at the announcement. "A witch? I have heard of them, but have never met one before."

"Do not worry." Aro responded. "Hermione is wonderful and will be most excited to learn what she can from you and your coven."

Aro gave him a piercing look. "She has been sent by her government to complete an in-depth research assignment. With it she is expected to also provide recommendations to them regarding the relationships and regulations pertaining to vampires."

Caius spoke up. "It is imperative that the outcome of her research be that we remain separated. To have wizards and witches imposing their own laws and inserting themselves into our affairs would have disastrous consequences." His voice got rough as he finished speaking, the idea that some humans would dare to tell him what to do spiking his anger.

"Indeed." Aro agreed. "That is not to say we don't hope for some better interactions between wizards and vampires, such as the kill-on-sight order some countries have in respect to our kind. But I believe you can see how it would be more beneficial if we were left to our own devices, hmm?

Carlisle nodded. He'd heard of the kill-on-sight order and so they stayed away from those countries in their many moves. Although he had not interact with them before, he had heard of their capabilities. Spells to do almost anything could be dangerous to their kind should their interactions be less than friendly. He knew there must be more to it than that, but doubted Aro would reveal all of his secrets to them.

Aro stood and indicated that they should follow him. "I will take you to her and introduce you." They walked out of the room at human pace, leaving Caius and Marcus behind. "She has been informed that she will be leaving the day after tomorrow with one of our friends, but we haven't told her why." He shot them a sneaky smile. "Although she seemed unamused by our secrecy, I'm sure she will be excited to hear it from you about your choice of diet and lifestyle."

They followed silently, the sound of a heartbeat getting louder the closer they got to their destination. They finally came to a suite that had the door left open. Aro knocked on the open door announcing his presence before he entered with Carlisle and Jasper waiting just outside in the hallway to be introduced.

Inside the room, Aro found Hermione and Felix concentrating on the card game before them. His knock surprised Hermione and she lost her focus and the cards between them exploded leaving them both jumping back. Seeing Aro, Felix gave a quick bow and left the room. Hermione glared at the cards as if they offended her.

"Hermione, my dear." Aro called to her. He gave her a sympathetic smile. "Lost again?"

Her glare transferred from the cards to Aro, before letting out a noise of frustration and rolled her eyes. "I don't even know why I bother playing. I never win with you vampires cheating all the time."

Aro gave a delighted laugh. "I'm sure you'll win one day." She raised one of her eyebrows at him and he let out another small laugh. He beckoned to Carlisle and Jasper who entered the room cautiously. "Let me introduce you to some of my old friends. They are part of the Olympic Coven currently residing in the states."

Where she had grown used to seeing the bright red eyes of those in residence, she was shocked to see the bright golden yellow staring back at her.

He threw her a knowing smirk. "Curious, is it not? The color of their eyes?" He said. "I know you must be curious but you'll have plenty of time to discuss it in the coming days."

"This is Carlisle, the head of their coven" He said indicating the vampire with the shorter blonde hair before turning to the one with longer curly blonde hair. "And this is Jasper who I believe you might find a kindred spirit of sort with." At this they all glanced at him curiously.

Hermione's eyes flickered back to the new guests reaching out to shake their hands. Feeling their cold hard hands, she knew they were still vampires. Her curiosity spiked as she had never heard of vampires having gold eyes instead of the blood red eyes she had been surrounded by since her arrival in Volterra.

Aro continued. "I just wanted to offer a quick introduction as they are the ones I've requested that you be allowed to stay with to finish up your research."

"Oh." Hermione said surprised. Aro had been tight lipped about where he was sending her, and it had been bugging her since he first announced it. She knew she was scheduled to leave the day after tomorrow and was now hoping she would be allowed to get to know them a bit more before her departure so that she might feel a bit safer and calm her nerves.

"Gianna should be here soon with your dinner." Aro said interrupting her thoughts. "You'll have all day tomorrow to chat before your departure the day after. We'll leave you to rest for your evening."

"Thank you." She said to Aro. Turning to the two new vampires, "It was nice to meet you. I'm looking forward to spending some time with you."

"It was nice to meet you too." Carlisle responded.

"Have a good evenin' Ma'am." Jasper nodded stiffly to her.

The two golden eyed vampires followed Aro as he left the room and moved farther down the hall leaving the witch behind. He came to another room and opened it to a suite similar to the one Hermione was staying in. They entered and sat as they waited for Aro who looked briefly down the hall towards Hermione's room before he entered the suite and shut the door behind him.

He spoke softly, his voice not loud enough to carry out of the room and down the hall, but still clearly for his vampire guests. "She is lovely, is she not?" He said. "She truly has been a delight to have here the past few months. We have had many discussions regarding her world and its current state of affairs as well as her experiences."

He paused thinking over his words. "She is quite well known in her world, especially in Europe. Practically famous if you will." His gaze focused on them. "It is most important that you are able to maintain her safety while she is under your care. She is close friends with the leader of her government and any harm to her would not end well for us nor you."

"We understand." Carlisle said.

Aro nodded. "Now for Major Jasper Whitlock." He said his eyes looking over the curly haired vampire. "Your gift, you can both sense and influence emotions?" he questioned.

Jasper swallowed but nodded his head in confirmation. He wasn't usually addressed by his old human title.

"As I mentioned she is quite lovely. She is not quite comfortable surrounded by human feeding vampires, but she has shown us great respect in her time here and seems to not allow any type of discrimination to influence her work." He let out small sigh. "They recently went through a war, that has left certain scars upon her. I will let her give you the details if she so choose. I do ask that perhaps you might attempt to use your gift on her. Calm her if you will, when she sleeps?"

Jasper eyes flickered to Carlisle but nodded once more to Aro.

"Wonderful." He answered. "I'll leave you to yourselves, then. Let us know if you need anything."

Aro left them alone in their room, and both golden eyed vampires physically relaxed in his absence.

"At least we know why Alice's vision failed." Carlisle said.

Jasper gave a slight grimace. "I've dealt with a few witches and wizards. It did go well."

He took out his phone, quickly finding his wife's number. She picked up immediately.

"Jasper?"

He could hear the worry in her voice and wished he was near her so that he could better ease her concerns.

"We're ok, darlin'. We return the day after tomorrow." He put the phone on speakerphone to make it easier for the device to pick up Carlisle's voice.

"Aro has asked us here to accompany his guest who will return with us." Carlisle said. He continued before the rest of his family could protest. "She is human, so she will need some accommodations."

"Why are they sending a human?" Edward asked.

"She is conducting a research project of some kind." Carlisle scratched the back of his head. "Aro has instructed us to keep her safe while assisting her. He has other motives he hasn't disclosed I'm sure of it, but we do not have the luxury to deny his request with our current standing."

"Does the human have something to do with Bella?" Edward asked warily.

"I don't believe so." Carlisle glanced at Jasper who nodded his head. "She's a witch."

The silence on the other end was telling. It was broken by many voices immediately talking over one another. The loudest one almost drowning out the others was Emmett's

"How cool is that!? We're gonna have a witch in the house!" He yelled excitedly.

Jasper and Carlisle shared a smile at Emmett's enthusiasm. His eagerness eased some of the tension they felt. They explained what they were requested and tried to answer their family's questions as best as they could.

Unable to give them much more than that now, they spent some time catching up with their family. They had not been separated long, but they were already homesick and missing their respective spouses. When they finished their call, both sat quietly in the suite on their laptop and phones that they brought with them.

Curious by Aro's request about his gift, Jasper had been paying close attention to the heartbeat that was down the hall. As it got later, the sudden silence as the sound of the heartbeat disappeared drew Carlisle's gaze in panic. "She must have silenced the room." He explained to his father figure. Carlisle seemed to calm down though now curious, but he turned his attention back to his laptop.

Jasper's thoughts remained on the witch. Where he usually suffered the most when around humans, both smelling and hearing the sweet blood coursing through their veins that called out to him, hers was different. She smelt like heavy spices in the air, and though her blood still smelled sweet, there was an undercurrent to it that prevented his urge from drinking her dry.

His thoughts about the witch were interrupted at the sudden fear that ripped through his thoughts. He dropped his phone and sat up straight, ignoring the questions from Carlisle. He focused his attention on the feelings he realized were coming from the witch. Under the fear, he could feel pain and grief and a desperation for it to end that he knew very well from his own past.

He pulled the feeling of calm from within himself and from the others who felt it around the and pushed it towards the witch. Feeling the calm settle into her and her other feelings begin to fade he relaxed back into his chair but kept pushing the calm towards her through the remainder of the night.

He knew those feelings, recognized them. Aro's words to the witch came back to him. Kindred spirits indeed. He'd help the witch. Soldiers should watch over each other after all.