42 BC Northern Italy

Felix had climbed the ranks faster than anyone had seen in a long time. Built like an ox he towered six foot eight and was nearly three hundred pounds in pure muscle. Every fight he faced, he was unstoppable. Felix was now almost twenty nine and already had control over his own legion. Yet, he was unmarried. He could have any woman he want, but he didn't want to leave the battle field. There was too much action and glory to gain. If he needed a female's company he simple went to one of the many brothels. His life was pure heaven, yet it still wasn't enough.

One night, after a victorious boxing match, a pale man in a dark robe with long black hair approached him, "Excuse me sir. Are you by chance the victor of the boxing match?" Felix nodded confused. In a blink of an eye, the man grabbed his bare arm in an icy, iron grasp. "You my friend are a man of true talent. I am building an army and I chose only the finest of soldiers."

Felix pulled his arm away forcefully. "My loyalty lies purely to the Roman Empire," Felix grunted. He tried not to show it but he was very interested by this man. He was too much of a bean pole to be a soldier, why was he recruiting soldiers. "Let me see if I can convince you otherwise. I, dear friend, am an immortal. If you join my army I promise you will be a god among men, basking in eternal glory. You will be forever youthful and stronger than you will ever imagine," the man now had Felix's full attention. "For the love of the gods Aro, just bite him already," a second man whined. Bite? Felix backed away slowly, muscles aching for a fight. He could easily take both of them down, they were so much smaller than him.

Felix threw the hardest punch he could into the dark haired one's jaw, catching him off guard. To Felix's surprise it was like punching a brick wall, shattering the bones in his hands. Ignoring the pain he turned around and tackled the second man to the ground. Suddenly a searing pain spread through his shoulder and he turned around to see the dark haired one whipping his mouth. Felix's vision blurred as fire flowed through his veins. The pain was worse than the couple times he had broken bone or been stabbed combined.

"You were right, brother. For a human, his strength was almost matched to a vampire's. He will make an excellent weapon," Caius laughed darkly. That tackle really did hurt and buy the way Aro was rubbing his jaw this human was going to be one hell of a vampire.

Current day Volterra

Santiago had been dating Christina in secret for nearly three months now, but he didn't know if he could ask this much of her. Aro wanted him to create a hybrid. The only woman Santiago had eyes for was Christina. When he reached her apartment he had an idea of what he was going to say. Santiago sat down on the couch, wrapping his arm around her and prepared to tell the new found love of his life the truth about him. He decided it would be best if he just said it all at once.

"Christina I have not been completely honest with you. I have been pretending to be something I am not ever since I met you. I am not human, mio amore. I am a powerful immortal. More specifically a vampire. Before you get scared I just want to let you know that I would never hurt you and I'm not sure if I have ever said this but I love you," Santiago waited for her reaction. The room was silent for a couple minutes. "Oh, I guess that complicates things just a bit," was all she said in shock, "But I guess in a twisted way it makes sense. You only ever visit at night, you never eat or drink anything, when we met it was like to materialized out of nowhere, your hands are always ice cold, and you just always seemed different. You must really love and trust me if you're telling me this?" Santiago nodded, surprised by her calmness.

She smiled reassuringly before kissing passionately on the lips. The kiss got deeper as she climbed into his lap. Later that night they made love. Once it was confirmed that she was pregnant, Christina moved to Volterra with Santiago. He got permission from Aro to turn her once she went into labor so that Christina could be his mate. Maybe having a child won't be that bad.

Demetri on the other hand was struggling. He had tried twice, but just ended up killing the humans. He also kept thinking about Heidi for some reason and wishing he was with her. Finally he was successful. He didn't really care who the human was, he just chose her from the group of humans because she had really pretty blues eyes that stood out. Demetri was worried because he didn't see himself as a good father. A teacher yes, but not a father. When Jane and Alec joined the guard he had been their tutor and surprisingly had a great amount of success. Aro was strongly considering having him be a teacher for all four of the hybrids for book learning. Felix would be in charge of combat training. Heidi joked that she should teach 'Human World 101', since there was a strong chance all four would need help learning how to blend in with mortal society.

Felix was having the time of his life being a father. Olivia was always giggling at everything he did and was almost talking at two weeks old. The wives found pleasure in dressing her up in different dresses, which Olivia didn't mind. Chelsea was able to make Olivia think of her as a close aunt, which oddly never worked with Damien. He was just stubborn that way, like Jane.

Aro was overjoyed that everything was going according to plan. Christina was due in less than a week and Demetri's child would be due a week after that. But his excitement was short lived. Ever since he found out Santiago was secretly dating a human, he was watching him like a hawk, scanning his thoughts every day. One day, he discovered that Christina had no interest in joining the Volturi and Santiago planned to run away with her once her transformation was complete. Joham, Nahuel's father, was an old friend of his. They had been turned by the same man in Portugal. He would offer them shelter along with more knowledge on hybrids. Aro couldn't have that now could he?

One night Aro asked Santiago to him privately about maybe him assisting Felix in teaching combat training. They met in the basement near the incinerator. While Santiago was midsentence about how what an honor it would be, Aro swiftly ripped Santiago's head off and threw into the incinerator along with the body. Gathering some of the ashes and part of his guard uniform that was not completely burned up yet, walked upstairs to tell the guards that someone had murdered Santiago. It was probably one of the Cullen's witnesses, rebelling against the Volturi. Somehow, everyone bought it. Felix and Demetri swore they would avenge their fallen comrade, Jane and Alec wanted to track down the killer immediately, and the wives wept trying to look sensitive. Marcus was silent, perhaps it was the same killer who murdered his true love.

There was one person though, who didn't believe Aro. When Damien heard the news he said it had to be some sort of sick joke. He didn't seem to believe that Aro just happened to find his ashes without seeing the killer. That someone could just sneak into the castle undetected and kill one of their strongest fighters. Aro pretended to laugh off Damien's theories, saying the Halfling was too naïve and young to understand. He encouraged the guards not to listen to him. Even Alec didn't believe Damien. You know he's the killer and he will do it again. Maybe you will be next. Damien told the voices to shut up.

Damien slowly warmed back up to Alec. He still was hesitant for some unknown reason. Things between them had changed for some reason. Alec still didn't see himself as a fatherly figure, and with Marcus's sage advice he tried treating Damien like a little brother. Marcus thought part of the reason was that physically it seemed like there was a little less than a ten year age gap between them, since Damien looked like a kindergartener and Alec was small for a fifteen year old. Being alone and independent constantly had matured Damien to the point where he sometimes acted like a teenager or an adult. It was morbid to think that when Damien was full grown he would look the same age as Alec, if not older. Luckily, Damien's rapid growth had paused for a short bit. Olivia was catching up to him and had an advantage since she was born much larger that he was. It would only be about a month and a half until they were almost even. Part of the problem was that they were too alike. Both Alec and Damien were introverts who didn't like attention, would rather spend their time reading than socializing, and had a hard time understanding their own feelings. They were both more likely to block out emotions and them let build up over time. The only difference was that Damien was more vocal and bold about letting people know he didn't like them, while Alec tended to be more mature and diplomatic.

Jane on the other hand, adapted quickly to treating Damien like he was her little brother. She had centuries of practice being an older sibling. Nagging and bossiness was in her nature. Eventual they started to almost feel like friends. It was easier for them to get along since Damien acted similar to Alec sometimes. But in some ways he developed some habits from Jane. Damien struggled with following directions from people he didn't like, Aro and Caius for instance, he at times was impulsive like her. Luckily as he matured, a lot of that was fading away. In his mind he questioned much of what Aro or Caius said, but he was slowly getting better at lying and keeping a poker face about it.

A couple days later, on September twentieth, Christina gave birth to a son before dying of heartbreak and blood loss. Felix was the one closest the Santiago and promised to take responsibility for his son. To honor his father, the boy was named Santiago Cézario Junior. To avoid confusion, everyone nicknamed the baby Tiago. The boy had a similar pale russet color of skin Santiago had as a human, the amber eyes of his mother, and dark brown curly hair. Felix could already tell that Tiago would have a brawny, tall frame when he got older. So far he was the strongest of the hybrids and the only one that was venomous.

Olivia was over joyed to have a baby brother, even if he was adopted. Shortly after her first word was "Daddy!" which made Felix beam with pride. Tiago quickly began to love his adoptive father, mimicking Felix's facial expressions. Tiago always wanted to play with Felix and loved it when Felix narrated sports game on TV. He had inherited his biological parents love for sports. His first word was later, "Goal!"

On October first, Demetri became a father to a baby girl. From the first moment he held her, he knew he loved her deeply. She had the same dark blonde wavy hair as him, sharp features that were slightly more delicate than his, snow white skin, and thin lips. The only thing that didn't come from him was her bright blue eyes, which were much more vibrant than her mother. They glowed like sapphires and lighting. Demetri wanted to give her a Russian name, so he named her Marina Elena, because her eyes would make oceans green with envy. Elena because he had a feeling she would be a very bright child. Marina was surprisingly small, almost as small as Damien had been when he was born.

"You have such a beautiful daughter, Demetri. She's just like her father," it was Heidi. Smiling, she asked to hold her. Marina smiled with perfect white teeth at her father. "I know babies can be a handful. Since all the wives are too busy with Felix's, let me know if you need any help with this beauty," Heidi offered. Today was the best day of Demetri's life. A week later Marina said her first word, which was "Dad" in Russian. They mostly spoke Russian to each other, except Marina spoke German when she was being taken care of by Heidi. In an odd way she almost thought of her as a mother.

Marina and Tiago became quick friends. It was now mid-November and currently they looked two almost three Soon both were walking, following each other around and making games out of anything possible. Their favorite was hide and seek, or it at least use to be until Tiago got tired of always loosing. For some odd, whenever Marina was hiding, Tiago could never find her. One time he went hours without finding her, which was just under the table in the library. The next round, she found Tiago hiding in a closest in two minutes flat. Marina hid again, this time in plain sight behind a statue hoping to go easy on her best friend. This time Tiago got frustrated and asked Demetri to help him. For some reason, he also couldn't find her. He couldn't hear her tenor or find her scent. His baby girl was gone. Panic set in as he searched the Building top to bottom.

Demetri was about to knock over the remaining book shelves in the library when Damien stopped him, "Demetri, Marina's behind the fountain in the lobby." Damien didn't think he actually knew where she was, he just made that up on the spot to get Demetri to leave. Sprinting out of the room, Demetri found his daughter behind the fountain. How could she blocked his tracking? Maybe it was her gift. Excited yet worried that Marina's gift was to shield tracking, Demetri rushed to the throne room.

"I think I figured out what her gift is," Demetri exclaimed. Aro searched her thoughts smiling. "Yes, she can shield herself from not only trackers, but can make it so NOONE can find her. There also might be a slight chance she's a tracker like you Demetri since she seemed to find Tiago so easily. Marina is marvelous, simply marvelous. I can't wait to see what she will become when she is of age," Aro was almost hysterical. Finally a kid with a guaranteed power. Sifting through Demetri's thoughts, Aro's face contorted with confusion. "Wait, Damien was the only one who knew where she was? In Marina's thoughts, she hadn't seen Damien all day so there's no way he could have known where she was hiding. How..peculiar," Aro mused. Aro was still stumped on what Damien had for a power, firs they thought it was translating languages, then it seemed like Damien could tell that Aro was the one who killed Santiago, and now it seemed like Damien could find even people with tracking shields. He had been watching Damien everyone and then.

Yesterday Aro noticed Damien staring at this old painting of Caius, Marcus and himself. It was probably just him being curious, until Aro noticed Damien was staring at it with this odd ultra-focus, unblinking and unwavering, completely motionless for nearly an hour. Then the child snapped out of it, rubbing his eyes like dirt was in them, and left without a word. Before that, Damien occasionally was found talking to himself. But what was odd was that it sounded like he was having a conversation with someone else.

Now all that Damien seemed to do was sit alone in his room, or sometimes the library and sketch in his notebook. Aro needed to see if those note books had any clues to what gift Damien might possess.

Once Damien was asleep for the day, Aro crept into his room like smoke. Checking to make sure Damien was deep asleep, he cracked open the spiral notebook. The first couple pages were covered in ravens and these grotesque wolf-like creatures. The next were covered in nothing but the number six written dozens of times on each page. Following that was a picture of a small bible with a book mark in it. Each picture made Aro more and more apprehensive. One page had sketch of the Cullen's family crest, yet Aro was sure Damien had never seen it before. Next was a picture of a little Renesmee sitting on top of the Quileute shape-shifters. Next was of Jane and Alec burning at the stake followed by Felix in Roman battle armor. The last picture, had Aro been human, would have given him a heart attack. It was a flawless portrait of his sister Didyme being murdered by none other than Aro himself. The picture was in pencil, but looked so vivid it could have been a photograph.

Aro slowly set the notebook on the desk where he found it, glancing back Aro noticed Damien was awake and had been watching him this entire time. "You are very talented, piccolo demone, and I'm not just talking about your ability to use a pencil. Where did you see these images?" Aro sneered, laughing coldly. Damien just stared, not breaking eye contact. Tell him the truth. No, lie say you didn't draw them. Don't say anything. Leave the poor boy alone, h can say whatever he wants to. The voices in his head had been getting louder, multiplying each week. Now there were sometimes ten speaking at once. He didn't know what to tell Aro, these images just would randomly pop into his head. Lately he felt like he was going crazy. Every time he walked down the hallways, the painting would move and speak like they were movies. Damien kept having nightmares about the Volturi being destroyed by wolves and these random vampires. It was always the same empty, snowy field. Sometimes this one younger looking vampire would punch the ground and swallow half the guard into a crevasse. He named the vampire Benjamin.

Concentrating his thoughts, simplifying them as much as possible, Damien held his hand out to Aro. Aro saw all the random images, that paintings talk to him, the voices ordering him around, the great battle, how every time he guessed something on pure impulse it was right. Aro released his hand, this was the first time Damien's thoughts sounded like everyone else's, yet he had no idea what it meant. It had to be something huge, that no one was considering. Yet, Damien was also a liability. He knew too much, more than Aro had ever told anyone else. Would Damien being a talented ally outweigh being a disastrous enemy?

"Are you going to kill me, sir?" Damien frightened angel voice whispered, child-like eyes wide. Was he? As long as Damien kept silent and only told Aro what he saw, what was the harm? Except for him calling Sulpicia a bitch, finding out about Santiago, and the general lack of being social, he was a very mature, well-behaved kid. He stood out from his other siblings, and not just due to age. Olivia looked to be nearly the same age as him, since he had stopped growing for a short bit of time. Tiago and Marina looked only two or so years younger. Damien had a strong potential that scared Aro.

"Not today," was all Aro said before shutting the door behind him. Damien smiled. This was a test to see if he could hide some of his thoughts from him. Damien didn't mention how Chelsea's gift didn't seem to affect him. Or how he knew what Olivia and Tiago's gifts were. Or about the bible he found yesterday, peeking between the mattresses of one of the beds. Damien would definitely not tell Aro how he figured out how to tone his voice just right so that people could be manipulated. It worked on Marcus, when he was in charge of taking care of him. It worked with Jane and Alec. Now it seemed to work with Aro.

The next night, Aro asked Alec to try to teach Damien chess. Although the rules were confusing and seemed pointless, Damien learned the basics quickly. Alec won the first game, but partially because Damien lost focus after twenty minutes. He thought if he lost, Aro would leave him alone and Damien could go back to his room. Aro wanted Damien to try again. Wanting to finish as quickly as possible, Damien won in six and a half minutes, hopping down from his chair, thinking he was excused. Aro grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and told him to play again. Aro watched every move, analyzing each decision. Damien hated the way Aro was looking at him. It was the look that reminded him he was just subject two, a guinea pig. Damien won again, leaving Alec befuddled. After ten games of easy victory, Aro asked Damien to go fetch Demetri, their best strategist.

Demetri laughed, thinking it was going to be easy to beat a mere child. His cocky grin was soon lost when he realized that Damien was always at least three steps ahead. The first game lasted half an hour, after Damien found a way to corner the king with both his rooks. "Well even a broken clock is right twice a day," Demetri laughed lightly at his defeat. The next game was only ten minutes. Damien won again. After another ten rounds, Aro dismissed Demetri. The circus clown grin and piggy eye look that he wore scared Damien. You should have kept you head down more. Why couldn't you pretended you were still asleep when he read your journal? Now he will never leave you alone and you'll be trapped here forever just like Alec and Jane. You're Aro's bitch now.

Aro then dismissed Damien after reading his thoughts. Things were going along splendidly. Yes there was a rocking start, but Aro rationalized that perhaps just a terrible toddler phase that Damien had matured out of. Damien had flooded his thoughts about how excited he was about starting combat training with Felix next week and becoming a guard just like Alec. It was all lies to distract Aro. The real chess game would never end.

Aro was going to contact Eleazar in hopes that he could share some light on Damien's gift. Since Aro was pleased with the numbers he had now, two boy, two girls. Two possibly gifted, two possibly fighters. If a problem arose it would be easy to dispose of them. Cauis was happy to see that there was more progress with subject two. They were still waiting for more from subject three and four, Olivia and Tiago. At least subject five had a gift. Eleazar might as well make one trip and have as little contact as possible. It would a mean a slight chance the Cullens would discover what their new secret weapons could do, but he needed to be sure WHAT the weapons was to begin with.

Damien decided to wander the Building just a bit before going to sleep for the day. He found his way into the lobby, where he smiled his angel smile at Joan. Strangely he liked Joan. At first he was curious because he had never met a human before, but now he thought of her as one of his closest friends. Apparently she worked as a psychologist back when she lived in Paris and was quiet smart. Joan was Damien miniscule link to the outside world, leaving the newspapers for him to read when she was finished with them, talking about how the human world was, and especially what "normalcy" was. It was an interesting concept compiling of family units, pets, animals, cities, schools, cars, friendship, food, music, warmth, and people. Before the only knowledge that there was an existence outside the building was in movies, which apparently there was no such thing as Godzilla, car chases didn't really happen, and the guy didn't always get the girl. Reality was weird.

Slowly Damien gained a small respect for humans. They had invented cars and mastered the flight of planes. Humans had families and close friends. Love that could be lost. Joan said that the special relationship between Alec and Jane was evidence of how real families were like. It wasn't the cold hallow 'brother' that Aro, Caius and Marcus addressed each other. It was the light, warmth that he saw with Demetri and Marina. But in the human world, it was more desperate and passionate because it would all end one day. Their lives were so short and fragile, it was sad.

Today she had a coffee and some sort of pastry from one of the cafés in the plaza. It smelled really good. "Bonjour, Damien," she sighed looking up from her laptop. She was playing Scrabble pretending to look busy. "What's that?" Damien asked looking at the pastry. Over the last month, Joan was curious about a hybrid's ability to eat human food. Chewing felt unnatural to Damien at first, but now he enjoyed human food. Especially chocolate. Since he now ate human food frequently, he noticed he felt less thirsty for blood, now only having one blood bag a week. Every Saturday night Joan would cook dinner for herself and often shared a little bit with Damien, which to him felt like breakfast. Olivia, Tiago, and Marina tried human food, but they couldn't stand the taste, so they spat it out. Just another way he was a freak.

Joan offered a small bit of the pastry, "It's a croissant". It was fluffy and flaky. It tasted slightly sweet and buttery. One of the amazing things Damien discovered about human food was that it had a wide spectrum of tastes and textures. Damien was curious what coffee tasted like, but Joan joked that caffeine and super human speed weren't a good combo for someone so small. At first Damien found her to be sad and quiet, but that was because she was still in shock of her brother's death. She had a way of making him feel almost human when she affectionately swept his bangs out of his eyes with her soft hand, saying he needed a haircut. Or offering to make him hot chocolate, when she made her morning cup of tea. With her he wasn't just subject two.

She reminded him of someone but he didn't know who. Every now and then he would slip up and call her "Katherine" or "Mom" for some reason. He didn't know anyone named Katherine. Until he found a bible that belonged to someone named Katherine Argento. It had this odd book mark with his bearded guy in a white robe winking. It gave him nightmares. What was odd was that it had a note addressed to him.

Dear Damien,

I'm not sure what you are, boy, girl, demon, angel, human, but I love you. The world is a very dark, disturbing place where happy endings seldom happen. There is a strong chance I will never be able to meet you, but know I am watching over you from heaven, or possibly Hell. I'm not sure what qualifies someone as good or evil, for I have done terrible things in my past. You will too do dark things. But you will learn in time learn that light doesn't always mean good, just as darkness doesn't always mean evil. You might be a Satanic demon, a soulless monster, but when I felt you kick inside of me I knew you were not evil. My parents raised me to be a good Catholic girl, so I can say goodbye without saying that I am praying for you. When you are older, I want to you find my sister Elizabeth and her husband Tommy. They have a son Lorenzo, your cousin, I think you would get along well with. Be careful of my parents, if holy water and crosses hurt whatever you are, prepare for pain. They might not accept you, or love you, or even believe you, but show them the rosary around your neck. If they say you are evil with no choice but damnation, don't believe them. You always have a choice, I chose to leave them. But never, ever forget light is not the same as good and dark is not the same as evil. I love you with all my soul.

Your dying mother,

Katherine Argento

There were tear stains on the page from her crying. Damien felt overwhelmingly hallow. He had always wished to meet him mom, but now he knew that she was dead. She was human just like Joan. He was the reason his mother was gone. Damien always wondered where the rosary he always kept around his neck came from, now he knew. He didn't tell anyone about the note. It was just another secret to keep from Aro.

September Forks, Wa

Renesmee was finally turning one! She now looked about eight years old. The aging had slowed to a crawl now. Friends and family were flooding in. The Denalis, Amazons, and Nahuel came a week before to help set up. This weekend Benjamin and Tia along with the Irish coven and a couple of the nomads. Jacob seemed oddly tense whenever she hung out with Nahuel of laughed at his jokes. Jacob asked Nahuel to at least put a shirt on, given his lack of clothes. Nahuel smiled deviously and said we will when Jacob did. On a more serious note, Nahuel told her he tried to talk to his father again hoping to repair their relationship. He envied Nessie for having such a stable, loving family. Apparently one of his father's friends was going to have a kid, but then disappeared. Nahuel's youngest sister Jennifer also joined him. She had the same nose, mouth, cheekbones, and eye shape as her brother, but had a slightly more golden skin tone with blue eyes and sun-streaked hair. She looked like she spent a lot of time in the sun. She was a similar size and build to Bella. According to Nahuel his eldest sister Serena was too brain washed by her father's disregard for humans and being a superior race and he didn't get along with her at all. Maysun, his other older sister was the definition of middle child syndrome and caused chaos in order to get their attention, mostly by sleeping around and killing her many boyfriends. Nahuel was very protective of Jeni, or as he called her 'Yeni', and was able to instill somewhat of a conscience. She went between hunting animals and humans all the time, but really just wanted to be a normal girl. Jennifer and Ness became fast friends.

Alice was a decorating tornado of ribbons, glitter, fairy lights, and pink. She barked orders about furniture arrangement, how to hang streamers, where she wanted every last lantern hung, etcetera. Everything had to be perfect for her niece. Emmett joked that she was the love child of Hitler and Martha Stewart. Esme was making a cake for the wolves and Charlie. Nobody else, including Nessie, ate human food.

Once everyone arrived her birthday was full of friends and family. Daddy had gotten her the newest iTouch along with iTunes gift cards. Grandpa Carlisle gave her a laptop to 'be used for home schooling'. Everyone else mainly gave her clothes or stuffed animals. Surprisingly Aro sent her a gift. For some reason Daddy seemed furious about this. It was just a simple, elegant crème colored envelope. Inside was a note, saying happy birthday and flowery compliments. As she read farther, Aro said that if she was ever interested in joining the guard there was a spot for her always. Tucked inside the birthday card was a voucher for a plane ticket. One ticket.

"You know you don't have to say yes, he asks people all the time to join," Momma assured her. She shouldn't worry about it, the Volturi had wanted Alice and Daddy for a long time and they were still here. Oddly enough, even though the Volturi had tried to kill her and her family, she was slightly interested. Daddy quickly took the cards from her hand and threw it in the trash can. As always, he made decisions for her.