Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of the characters.

Chapter 5

Birthday Ball

September 13 1933

Volterra, Italy

Evening

Bella's Point of View

I walked down from my room after having been tortured by Marcus and Caius' wives. They had made sure that I was 'beautiful' for the ball tonight, though it seems like an impossible task for me to be beautiful. I was just a plain girl, plain brown hair and plain brown eyes. Nothing special, as always. Though father likes to object my opinion. I walked into the ballroom where my father was waiting for me; Felix was waiting by the door.

"Are you my escort?" I asked him. I sounded a bit harsh when I spoke, but Felix and I were in agreement of my father's plan.

"No. You know how your father is," Felix flashed a smile at me and I rolled my eyes before walking into the ballroom.

"You called?" I spoke loudly, though it wasn't necessary. My father looked up and smiled at me.

"Ah Bella, you look amazing!" He complimented me as he approached me.

"You can thank Marcus and Caius' wives." I replied quickly with a slight smile. Father laughed.

"The guests will be arriving soon," I nodded as we walked to the other end of the ballroom. "I will introduce you to all the vampire covens and then I want you to mingle with everyone. Do rounds, speak to particular people for some time before moving onto the next person." My father instructed me. I sighed.

"I know, father. You've done this before!" I pointed out. He smiled sheepishly at me.

"Sorry. I guess I'm just worried that you may meet your mate here tonight." My father walked away, leaving me with Felix.

"I do hope I meet someone tonight." Felix glared at me. "Hey! You don't want to be part of this whole marriage deal, so don't complain!" I retorted. Felix continued to glare at me and I decided it would be best to ignore him.

- - -

The guests started filling up the room slowly. My father introduced me to all of them. So far I had met the Romanian coven, the American nomads, the Irish coven and the Amazon coven. I was currently talking to Zafrina from the Amazon coven.

"My father said you had a power, what power is that exactly?" I asked her with interest.

"I can create illusions," she replied.

"Really?" She nodded in confirmation. "Wow. How does that work?" She shrugged.

"I can just basically make you see what I want you to see and generally, people will believe it." I nodded.

"That's an amazing power."

"Strong too." Zafrina agreed. I smiled at her and the night went on in that fashion until my father called me over. I walked over to him with a sigh, Felix following close behind.

"You called?"

"You say that way to much." Felix commented. I threw a glare in his direction before turning to my father.

"The Cullens and Denali clan will be here soon. I want you to wait with me. Felix you may go." Felix seemed hesitant but he did leave quickly. After following me around for a long time, it seemed like Felix had nothing better to do. Though I highly doubted it. We didn't have to wait very long for the Cullens to show.

"Carlisle!" Aro called as soon as Carlisle came into view.

"Aro, how are you?" Carlisle replied.

"Very well and yourself?"

"I am wonderful." Carlisle replied before turning to me.

"Hello Bella," Carlisle smiled warmly at me before pulling me into a hug.

"It's good to see you again, Carlisle. I've missed you!" Carlisle laughed as he pulled away.

"And I've missed you. I want you to meet the rest of my family, this is my wife Esme," I looked at the lady with soft caramel curls that were pulled back into a neat bun. She had a heart shaped face and had a very motherly look.

"Hello Aro, Bella."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Esme." I smiled at her. She smiled back.

"And this is my daughter, Rosalie," I looked at the second lady in the group. She had long blonde hair that was half pulled up into a bun on the back of her head; she glared at me with cold eyes, which surprised me really. What had I done to her? I had just met her!

"Welcome Rosalie," Aro greeted kindly. She nodded in his direction and continued to glare at me.

"And this is Rosalie's husband, Emmett. He is a newborn and the latest in our family," I looked at the big burly man. He was rather intimidating but his smile showed that he wasn't one of those mean men. He had curly brown hair and amber eyes, obviously showing the change from human blood that was still in his system to drinking animal blood.

"Nice to meet you Bella!" He boomed before engulfing me in a big bear hug.

"Can't…breathe!" I gasped out.

"Oh…sorry…" Emmett laughed nervously. I laughed too.

"Don't worry," I told him. Emmett smiled a big grin.

"And you already know Edward," I looked at Edward and saw that he hadn't changed a bit.

"It's good to see you again, Edward," my father spoke first, "we haven't seen you in a while."

"I just had some things to deal with…" Edward replied quickly. His jaw was clenched and his eyes were hard and guarded.

"Well, welcome to you all and I hope you enjoy your stay!" My father said with a smile. Emmett and Rosalie walked away quickly and Carlisle and Esme stayed to chat with my father. Edward and I walked to a secluded area to talk and catch up.

"You've grown a lot," Edward stated.

"Really? You mean I don't look like the six year old that you saw ten years ago?" I asked him, jokingly. Edward laughed.

"I knew you would grow up, I'm just surprised at how much I missed." I rolled my eyes.

"You didn't miss much,"

"Oh really?"

"Really." I assured him with a nod. "Where did you disappear too?"

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't come on Carlisle's visit…when I was nine." Edward's eyes went hard again.

"I decided to live away from the family." Edward answered quickly before looking away from my eyes. I thought about what he had said and what he meant. He decided to live away from the family, so he went on his own…but there was something more hidden in that sentence.

"You went against your feeding habits." I stated clearly. Edward's head whipped around to look at me in shock.

"How did you figure that out?"

"I'm no human, Edward." He still looked at me in shock. I rolled my eyes. "The way you said it, it had a double meaning. No human would pick it up, but I did because I knew about your feeding habit and I know about my father's feeding habit. There are only two ways to survive as a vampire." I told him. Edward sighed.

"Does that repulse you?"

"What? That you had a rebellious stage?" Edward nodded. "Not really."

"How come?"

"Because everyone goes against something that they've learned at one point…don't they? You must have had a reason to why you went off your original diet." Edward didn't reply. "Either way, I believe that you had a reason and that doesn't repulse me in any way what you chose. It's your life, you choose how to live it."

- - -

Edward and I continued to talk for a while when another vampire decided to join the conversation.

"Edward!" I looked to see a strawberry blonde running towards us. Edward groaned as soon as he heard her voice. I raised an eyebrow at him, silently asking him what was wrong but he just shook his head. I knew he would tell me later. The blonde vampire latched onto his arm immediately.

"Hello Tanya," Edward greeted her. I noticed how he looked rather reluctant to see her. I wondered why.

"How have you been? I haven't seen you in ages!!" Tanya asked as she smiled up at him, but Edward didn't notice because he was looking in another direction.

"Fine," he replied curtly. I could tell that he wanted her to go away.

"Have you heard about Aro's daughter?"

"Yes, I've met her too,"

"What's she like? Is she a daddy's girl? I bet she is. Spoilt brat!" Edward was about to interrupt, but I decided I might as well make my presence known.

"Actually she's not a daddy's girl and she's not a spoilt brat." Tanya glared at me, clearly annoyed that I had interrupted her very important conversation with Edward.

"Who are you and who do you think you are interrupting my conversation with Edward?" Tanya hissed at me.

"Isabella Volturi, Aro's daughter."