Chapter 4

Aro had brought me to a beautiful room in one of the towers of the Volturi headquarters. I had a lovely view over Volterra. The sun was just setting, a rainbow splash of reds and purples streaking across the sky. I was just looking out my window, down to the street full of people, when Aro came in.

"Your family's house is arranged. Your lovely great-aunt Rosalie gave me this; I suppose it's your personal belongings. How do you like your new room? Is the bed comfortable enough?"

"It's wonderful, Aro. The bed is perfect. I love the view." I took my backpack from Aro and laid it on my new bed.

"There's paper on the desk if you want to write a letter. The wardrobe is empty, but I called Alice, and she will bring you some pyjamas. By day you will be wearing this." Aro handed me something made of a heavy, black fabric. It was a long dress, with long sleeves and a dark-gray cape.

"And now I want you to meet your personal bodyguard." A young vampire came into my room. I recognized him as Alec. I suppose he was around my age when he was turned, maybe a little older. I knew a lot about him; my parents had told me fairytales about 'the witch twins' when I was younger. I knew I had to be afraid of him, but I wasn't. He was smiling at me now, and I smiled back.

"Hello, my name is Alec. Welcome to the Volturi family," he said.

"Hi, my name is Dawn Black, nice to meet you."

Aro nodded happily, clapping his hands together once. "Then I will leave you two alone now, so you can get to know eachother a little bit. We will have dinner in an hour," Aro said. He just sounded like my father when he talked about dinner time.

"I heard some gossip about you." Volturi vampires gossip? "Is it true, about the shapeshifting?" Alec asked, a curious look sweeping over his face as though he hand to be serious around Aro, but could be anything around others.

"I don't know what they said. But it is true that I can change into any animal form I want." I opened my backpack and laid the books on my desk. I laid my toothbrush on the big white handbasin.

"Wow, that must be awesome," Alec said. Then he walked to my bed and sat on it. I sat next to him.

"Yes, it is. I hope I will get the time to change some here in Italy. It's so beautiful."

"I will take care of that. But first tell me something about yourself," Alec said.

"What do you want to know?" I asked.

He thought for a moment. "How old are you?" Very, very interesting question, boy…

"I'm seventeen, but I stopped growing when I was fifteen. How old are you?"

"I'm one-hundred and forty years old," he answered. "Caius turned me and my sister when we were sixteen."

"Do you like being in the Volturi guard?" I asked.

A small smile spread across his face. "I've been in the guard my whole vampire life now. I don't know how it is to live a normal vampire life, but I do like it here." Then he turned his head and looked me in the eye. I had seen more red-eyed vampires before, so I wasn't afraid of the dark-red of his irises. "Do you like it here?"

"I thought everything would be worse. But everybody seems to be really nice to me, and I know they will take good care of me. At first Aro scared me, but now he kind of acts like my father." I laughed a little, and Alec did too.

"Yeah, I know. He does for all of us, and for some he truly is. He turned many of the guards himself. But I like the way he acts, he gives us all a warm feeling. That way we won't leave the guard, however the bonds are manipulated a little." Mom had told me about Chelsea, the guard who could break and make bonds. "Would you like two meet the rest of the Volturi guard? I don't think everyone's home, but I think our newcomer Sophie should be here."

"I'd love to meet her. But I think I first need to put on my new clothes." I looked at the beautiful black dress and cape. I liked the gothic look of it, and it was exactly my size. I wondered how they knew that…

"Of course, ma'am. I will wait outside your room," Alec said. I loved the way he said 'ma'am' with his light Italian accent as if I were someone he was to respect… Ha, imagine me being respected by the Volturi. He stepped out of my room and closed the door behind him. I pulled off the silk dress and black jacket. The shoes would fit fine with the black velours dress. It was a knee-length dress, and it was cut low so you could see a good part of my cleavage. The dark grey cape had a black ribbon on the hem, and a bow on the front kept it in its place.

I looked in the mirror on the inside of my wardrobe. I looked beautiful. The glossy black of my long, straight hair looked lovely with the rest of my outfit. For the first time in my life I looked as stunning as a vampire…

I walked out of my room. "How does my new Volturi outfit look?" I asked Alec, spinning slowly so he could get a full view.

"You look like you're going to fit in very well with us vampires!" he said gleefully. Well, that was a compliment, right? We walked through some big, heavy doors, until we were in the big hall with the thrones. Only Marcus was sitting on his throne now. He was sitting as still as only a vampire could do. Alec walked to him. I was a little afraid to wake Marcus from his thinking or whatever he was doing, but I knew nothing could happen to me when I had my bodyguard.

"Marcus, I want Dawn to meet our family. Where can I find Sophie?" Alec asked, his fingers laced together, placed under his chin as his elbows rested in the air.

Marcus body didn't move. Only his lips formed a perfectly pronounced answer. "Sophie is training her fighting skills with Felix. They are in the theatre hall. You can take her with you, she had enough practise for today. Bring her here, Heidi will be coming soon."

I didn't know what that meant, 'Heidi will be coming soon'. I followed Alec to another heavy wooden door, some corridors and a stainded glass door. We were in a big hall, which I supposed was the theatre hall. Felix and a tiny brown-haired vampire were fighting. Their movement was so fast I could hardly see it.

"Sophie, your new sister is here to meet you." I was a sister now. The whole Volturi guard was my new family. I was raised to think of the Volturi as bad vampires, but now I seemed to like them more and more. They were not bad at all to me. But of course I hadn't seen them actually do what they do: punishing criminal vampires. When I thought of my real family I couldn't see them as criminals. But to the Volturi they were. In the time I had to spend here I was going to find out why they were, I told myself.

The fight suddenly stopped and in the same moment the tiny brunette was standing in front of me. "Welcome in our home, Dawn. My name is Sophie." I reminded myself just in time that vampires didn't shake hands, and said "Nice to meet you, Sophie."

Sophie looked concentrated at my body and clothes. A real Italian, I thought. Then a little smile came over her lips. "Black and grey looks very good on you. But I really miss that royal accent. And when you are a Volturi, you have to look royal. Follow me; I have something for you to wear with this."

Alec and I followed her to her room. The building was getting more familiar and I recognised some places. Her room was close to mine; only one level lower. It was quite similar with my room, the same desk, same bed (which she didn't sleep in, of course) and same wardrobe. When she opened the wardrobe I saw it was filled with black and grey dresses. They were lovely, and I hoped I could borrow some of them one day.

Sophie took a jewelry box from one of the shelves. She gave it to me. "Wear this, it's yours now. I got it from Aro when I joined the guard, but it will fit you much better." I opened the beautifully decorated box. There was a beautiful neclace in it. An onyx stone in a heart shape was hanging on a thin silver chain. At that moment, I was reminded of Alice and a smile formed on my lips.

"It's so beautiful, Sophie. Thank you!" From that moment I knew Sophie and I would become close sisters. I wanted to stay a little longer to stare at the necklace, but Alec tapped my shoulder.

"Sisters, Heidi can come in any time. We need to go down to the visiting hall."

While I was discovering the palace of the Volturi, I had completely forgotten I was strarving. We walked to the dining hall. All the other guards were already there. I wondered how they had made food for me, since vampires usually don't cook. Maybe they hired one?

"So, I think this will be your first time?" Alec said.

"My first time of what?" I asked.

"Drinking human's blood, of course. Your family doesn't, so I suppose you don't either." Oh, no…

"I have to drink human's blood? Killing someone? I can't do that!" I said. The next moment the biggest door in the hall opened. A beautiful vampire, which I suppose was Heidi, came in. A big group of humans followed her. So this was what 'Heidi will be coming' meant; she was bringing in the food… I saw Aro smiling at a little girl, and the next moment he was on her. She yelled, but in a few seconds she was dead. As soon as Aro had bitten, the other vampires started getting their humans. It was a horrible sight. Alec took two little girls, and broke both their necks. One moment they were shouting and yelling, and the next moment they were dead. He walked to me, and handed me one of the girls.

"Come on, try it. We can't get you animals!" I knew he was having a very hard time not to bite the corpse in is arms. I took the other girl. I know, I should have protested, but I just couldn't. There was too much blood around me. It smelled delicious. I had never been around humans a lot in my life; I had never been to school. Only when I went shopping or visiting Billy I saw humans. I had no respect for them, for me they were just a little more educated then the animals I ate. I looked down at the girl in my arms. Did it make any difference, she was already dead right?

So I bent down and bit.