Of Life and Death

Pairing : Edward/Jacob

Rating : R for now, might escalated

Disclaimer : All of it except the plot belongs to Stephanie Meyer, and I'm not her.

Chapter 1 : The Aftermath


Their newborn was huddled in the corner, cringing and whimpering at the sight of them. Caius really couldn't blame him, since the transformation – no- the turning sounded extremely painful, even for a vampire.

Upon coming back to Volterra, Aro had told them to find the most isolated place to start the process before the effect of the animal tranquilizer they gave to the dog earlier faded. As Aro explained what the process entailed and the reason behind it, Caius found himself feeling the slightest pity toward the mutt. The shifter was going to be bitten repeatedly, having the venom pumped into him and being sucked out again after a gradual length of time. It was to accustom the body to the venom, easing the real turning process so he could survive, killing the wolf inside him slowly.

Marcus had volunteered to be the one doing it, being the one with most control and always wanted to have a childe of his own. Caius didn't know how he did it though, since they immediately found out the reason behind the mutt's incredibly awful smell was to protect the fact that their blood tasted amazingly delicious for vampires. But Marcus did, biting the boy and sucking the venom out after a time, repeatedly.

The tranquilizer had worn off not even half way and the boy was - predictably - screaming, twitching and trashing violently from the unbearable pain and burning his body went through. Toward the end, he was even crying and begging for mercy, pleading them to just kill him already. The actual transformation wasn't getting easier either. Whereas normal turning only ranged from three to five days, the boy was taking six days just to go through the pain of dying, before his body began its transformation.

After six long days of silent screams and cries, the child had finally quieted down. The next day, he was up and about, but very unlike your usual newborn. The boy seemed to be in awe for seeing with vampire eyes for the first time, yes, but he didn't emit the blood thirst most newborns felt immediately after their transformation. And he obviously didn't have the same pull a newborn had on their sire because once he caught sight of Marcus, the boy went huddling in a corner, trying to hide himself.

Marcus looked devastated seeing his childe's reaction while Aro tried to calm the newborn.

"Shush, childe, we're not going to hurt you anymore." Truer words never been said, at least Aro admitted they had hurt him a lot previously. "Come here, we know you must be hungry. We'll get you some meals, yes?" The elder vampire crooned at the newborn.

The boy peered at him distrustfully, not quite convinced by the soft words. Caius was surprised as he noticed a pair of brown eyes and when he studied it, he could see a ring of red around the pupil, but that's it. How interesting.

"I don't think persuasion and reasoning will work on him at this state. We should just bring his meals here and let him have a go at it. It's easier that way." Caius declared.

Aro mildly agreed with him while Marcus still tried to approach his childe. It didn't have the expected result as the boy pressed himself deeper to the wall and emitted panicky, distressed noises. Marcus immediately backed off to the farthest corner, deciding to wait for the time being. Caius was content to continue to observe the hybrid so it was up to Aro to fetch the boy's meals.

A year later...

Jacob stalked into the main hall, knowing he was expecting there. He didn't really like the place, particularly because his sire was there, but it wasn't something he could easily wave off. They rarely summoned him without real importance and a failure to attend normally resulted in punishment.

He was a bit surprised to find an almost complete set inside, full-out meeting wasn't something happened often. He sided with Alec and Jane, who's smiling at him, but Aro motioned him to stand in the center. Jacob complied, knowing refusal would result in his sire's glare and he was scared shitless of the vampire.

Aro smiled as Jacob took the center seat, facing them. It was normally used by guest, but right now, it was important for the young vampire to sit there.

"It has come to my attention, that it is time to make a visit to our friend Carlisle, checking on the human girl's mortality." Aro began. "Jacob, you're coming with us. Jane, Alec, Felix, Demitri, Heidi and Renata. The rest would stay on guard here."

The chosen guards looked pleased, but Jacob could tell it wasn't a simple matter of leaving. If it was, why would they want him to have an audience and not simply being informed later?

"Jacob, I want you to use your power on the Cullens, make sure they couldn't see our arrival. Most importantly, use it on our dear Alice - and Edward too." Aro said.

Jacob relaxed slightly, if that's all they wanted...

"Will you be alright?"

Upon hearing his sire's booming voice, Jacob had stiffened again, nerves completely shot up. Marcus winced almost imperceptibly, saddened by how much his childe afraid of him. It was mostly due to the excruciating turning and he almost regretted that he had been the one who did it. Almost, because he knew if it wasn't him, the boy wouldn't survive.

Caius joined in, "Yes, Jacob. I understand you knew these people before..." His voice trailed off.

"Yes, I did." Jacob admitted. "But I don't really...know them or care about them. Well, no more."

Aro smiled, silently hoping it was true. He highly doubted it, but if Jacob changed his mind the time he saw those he knew, the Volturi's going to be in trouble. However, they needed to trust the young hybrid. After all, he mused, if Jacob went a step out of line, Marcus could immediately straighten him out. Even after a long year full of patient, gentleness and compassion from his sire, Jacob still couldn't forget his awful turning and completely scared of Marcus.

"Here, childe. We don't want them to see your eyes too soon, do we?" Aro smiled, handing Jacob a sunglasses. Jacob took them gratefully, not ready being ousted as a freak by others.

Aro knew for sure though, their trip to Forks would be a memorable one, no matter the outcome.

TBC...

A.N.: So I've finished chapter six and according to the plot I've just finished too, it's going to be 13 chapters long, excluding prologue and epilogue. It's not going to be less than that, I don't think, but more is possible. Let's just see how it goes eh? And THANK YOU so much for the reviews and alert and favorite story and author. I appreciated it so much that I'm writing at full speed here. Some of you even reviewed and alerted my other story I possibly have abandoned. I promise I'll work on that too...soon...hopefully...