Part 3: Chapter 3 - Ambrosine and Aro's Attachment

"Ambrosine, what all did you see?" Aro asked as we planted ourselves deep within the forest. I could see his hand itching to just touch me and know precisely what I had seen. "Well, I know I wasn't what my parents wanted; they wanted me married off to live far away. You were who they decided would do it. I also fell in love with someone else along the way I believe."

Aro thought it over. "I married you after my wife and I face our big disagreement. I saw beauty in you. Someone I could transform and have at my every whim. We were married and I was ready to turn you when you disappeared. I never found you though I looked. I forever felt that absence..."

Silence surrounded us. "Well I didn't get to that part. Ambrosine Blanchefleur of Bellerose...Oh that just flows right off the tongue. You know what the lady at the igloo said." Aro's eyes lit up a bit. "Yes, my rose, not everyone is immune to my powers. Not even your little boyfriend."

"I suppose that make sense. What does it all mean?" Aro, going against his old-fashioned mannerisms, sat relaxed on the ground and I followed suit. "You see, my rose, you would've been burnt at the stake the night we met. A man there was planning your demise because you threatened his ideal of normalcy." His eyes lit up with vague familiarity. "He was an old friend...well," he continued, expelling the amused air he'd just possessed, "when it was announced that we'd be married, he withdrew those thoughts and celebrated you.

"This spread to the others and soon you would've lived among them as a vampire such as I had. Your parents didn't know me. I was an Italian roaming France. But I was foreign. They wanted nothing to do with their freak daughter. The marriage ensured their desires to come true."

"That's all nice and expository but what was wrong with me?" Aro chuckled and smiled warmly at me. It was a bit of a strange sight, but I embraced it. A voice in the back of my head told me I had him on my side. The only one I didn't have now was Caius. I wouldn't need him...These thoughts were interrupted by Aro's voice asking, "Can you still change you appearance to how you looked before?" I nodded and did so to please him. There was a change in atmosphere and his eyes suddenly became very bright looking towards me.

"There have always been tales of shape-shifters. They have been Satanic demons and heavenly angels. But the only shape-shifter known has been the werewolf. Namely their leader Kaheleha. Well the shape-shifting gene is dead now. We aided in that to my eventual displeasure. The way they do their transformations now is an infusion of a wolf chromosome giving the same effect as their ancestors had. They were almost extinct until your coven moved back home to Forks.

"Well, there have been rumors of a creature that could manipulate the very world around it; bend the rules and laws of time. Well many thought Jesus of Nazareth was this creature. But he wasn't. These tales died out as humans accessed technology and imagination more. Except in the northern and southern-most parts of the world.

"That women knew the stories. It's very likely she met the creature before you saw her in the igloo. But the thing I've now realized is how little its vessel can handle the stress of it." His gaze settled on me satisfied with the answers he had given me. At first I thought his looks were simply remaining from my appearance, but then I realized the actual reason.

"There's no way I'm the creature!" I cried, no longer sitting relaxed upon the ground. Aro sighed and looked up at my pacing, frantic person. I channeled the old days in Maine where I did this so often in my room that I had to replace the rug once a month. I thought about what the woman in the igloo had said. This makes you see layers in the world that otherwise don't exist. You are more in touch with your physical being. You can morph these layers around to what you see fit.

"Spirits come in all shapes and sizes, my rose," Aro's voice resonated silky as his entire presence. Horror struck me for a second before I relaxed once more. "Aro...you have to teach me how to handle this. She said that people with this Sight often get killed because of their bending of the world." A chuckle rang from the ground. "My rose, you've already accomplished what the other copy-cats haven't. You made yourself immortal."

My eyes bugged out and I squatted down in front of him. "Aro, tell me what you know. Please!" I grabbed his robes in my hands. From an onlooker's position, we just looked like a lump of black and red velvet kneeling beneath a tree. "I already have. I could divulge more in the history, but it's not going to help. The only thing I know that you don't is something you just haven't figured out yet. Think about Carlisle."

I squinted my eyes and sank into my own thoughts. I remembered what Carlisle had said: I don't even remember biting you until you were actually dead. But you weren't really dead. Despite the drowning and stab wound.Things started falling into place. "I'm not a vampire am I, Aro?" The not feeding, the dark eyes, amnesia of a past life, and all of the other signs. "I'm just a shape-shifter that convinced herself that she was so that she could preserve herself and keep her alive?" Aro nodded with a satisfied smile on his lips.

"Now, I'm not sure if Carlisle actually transformed you or not, but I do know that you're not an entire vampire. Our residential mind-surfing didn't get the vampire thought process when he first met you. He got a shape-shifter one, a powerful bender of time and the universe. He'd never encountered this so it was just a signal for either a mate or a gifted vampire. Which you are now. The way you bent time ensures that you actually are a vampire in the physical form and lived a vampire life in real-life time. The only difference is your mind. You are still the creature.

"There have been many names for this creature throughout history. The one that seemed to stick with vampires seemed to be Rose. No one quite knew where this originated from, but now I do. You've seen the entirety of the world in your past life, Ambrosine, but your past life also limited you to only see what is now. To only bend what is immediately around you. Now all you have to do is channel the past Silver."

I tried wrapping my head around all of this. "Well how can I do this?" I inquired as he cautiously stood up and brushed himself off. "You have already been attempting to. All of those fainting spells I theorize to be your past self pulling you towards the way you were before." I shook my head. "That's not right, Aro." His eyebrows scrunched together. "Whatever do you mean, my rose?"

Sighing, I relented my answer, "The fainting I always have is preceded by a burning in my veins. Not of hunger, but of something I cannot place. And it is almost always caused by Diomedes..." A bit embarrassed, I locked eyes with Aro. He chuckled, almost delighted. "Well, my rose, that is quite the twist. It appears your past self didn't account for what would occur when you meet your mate. Ah, how touching." There was a strange venom in his voice.

"Ambrosine, I thought you were my true mate when I met you. Then you left me. I never quite forget despite holding closer to my Suplicia. But the fact that you're Diomedes's mate is just golden!" the laugh that followed was not benevolent. "I loved you first! I knew you were special! While it took years to figure out that you were the creature, I loved you first! Everyone gets to have you except me! Carlisle, Marcus, Diomedes! What makes me so different? Tell me, Ambosine, tell me!"

I came up to him and put my hand to his face gently. "I didn't know. Honestly." I laid my lips to his, feeling the absence of the burning in my veins. It was cold and red inside me. Aro grabbed me closer and pulled me to him. "Change something, anything," he whispered to my ear. I changed a nearby flower to a simple white rose. As he kissed me again, I saw drips of red fall upon the innocent bud. All of a sudden, I heard a loud scream that sent burning surging through my body. In a flash, Diomedes was before us.

"What are you doing, Silver?" Looking up at his dark features, I thought I saw tears in his eyes, but Aro interrupted my thoughts. "Oh, look, it's your mate." Diomedes clenched his fists. Memories suddenly jumped into my head of Diomedes's and my affair. We had been in love, calling each other Blanchefleur and Melanthios for secrecy. I had run away with Diomedes after marrying Aro...then I had run away from my lover to do as I had to.

"Stop, both of you, before this gets out of hand." Diomedes moved closer, threatening a fight. "Why were you kissing her, Aro?" he screamed. I was right in the middle and holding them both back. "She's my wife, if you do not recall, Diomedes Melanthios of Lysimachus." The vampire in question hissed and Aro reciprocated the same tension by getting into battle position.

"No, please, both of you, listen," I coaxed, "I can explain. I ran away with Diomedes after marrying you Aro. Diomedes, I kissed him to...to see if our marriage had been anything...sparked any memories..." Both men looked at each other in rage before settling their eyes on me, a stupid vulnerable female. Realizing I still looked like Aro's mate, I changed back into myself in the pale anorexic aspect and laid upon the ground.

"Diomedes, what brings you here?" Aro cordially asked as if he were previously prepared to rip his opponent's head off. In the same professional tone, my mate answered, "I came to report a tragic death in Volterra. Caius has been completely obliterated." Aro shockingly gasped, "Caius? But how?" Diomedes responded, "We are not sure how or by whom. All we know is that his ashes were found in his chambers along with a note from the murderer stating that a plan can now be put forth. Athenadora is a mess. We request you both report back promptly."

Aro nodded, still bewildered at the news. "Diomedes, go ahead. Silver and I need just a moment before getting back." Hesitantly, the leader of the Volturi complied and raced away at a much slower pace than I knew he could go. "Ambrosine, no one must know. You will now become the new leader in place of Caius and we will exterminate this plan by whomever killed him. It is not a festive time for vampires."

Not a second after that word flew off his lips did he have them attached to mine. His hands pulled my face a bit forcibly before falling to my waist and lower back. "I love you, Ambrosine," he whispered. His fingers inched to the buttons keeping my flowing cloak on and unfastened them all. Soon, his hands were all over my robes and I pulled away. "Aro...you don't love me. You love the power you get from me. Don't molest me into thinking you're the victim here." I grabbed my cloak and reattached it, flying in Diomedes's path.