Chapter 2: Forgetting the memory

As everyone was waiting in the great hall for the immortal child team to return, all that could be heard was Aro's bony fingers tapping on his throne. None of the guard members wanted to make a move or speak. It was painfully obvious that this was one of his bad days. Although Aro was the head of the Volturi, when outsider vampires were gone, he acted like a sniveling child. This drove Marcus and Caius mad. When Aro started acting like this, it was usually Marcus and some unlucky guard member that was his target. Hoping to go under the radar, Marcus slunk in but to no avail.

"MARCLE SPARKLE! I'M TIRED I WANT SOME BLOOD I'M BORED ENTERTAIN ME…" Aro continued on. Marcus knew he couldn't give any of those things to Aro. If he did he would have vampire barf on his bed. Also, he just finished cleaning his room from last time.

He shuddered. It had been horrible. Aro had been on his little "let's try and seduce Marcus spree". After that one Sulpicia went on a wrecking spree.

Marcus looked at the wall behind his chair. There was a big gaping hole that was the shape of the newest guard member, Adede. Her name described her perfectly. She was fast and small like a grasshopper, except for the fact of the grasshopper part. As soon as Sulpicia threw Adede, Heidi went nuts. All that he could guess was that Heidi had adopted Adede as her 'daughter'. Marcus finally made his way to his seat and slumped down.

"Aro, shouldn't we be waiting for the team" Caius asked casually.

"I'm tired of waiting it's been so long. Where are they? France isn't that far away." Aro's voice got higher every second. It was partially true. The team of fifty had been dispatched three weeks earlier. Then again, it was an immortal child that had somehow escaped the Volturi for centuries. The longer Marcus began to think, the more panicked he became. What if they had been exposed or that child wiped the whole team out? But just as his anxiety grew, Cecilia entered.

"Master, the team has come back with the child." The tension that was had already been there had increased. They had been sent to kill it not bring it back.

"Well, bring them in, let's see them." Aro commanded

Both Caius's and Marcus's gaze met, the once crybaby, Aro, had been replaced by his cold, heartless side. Slowly Felix and Terrence walked through the door. "Terrence, Felix, where's Andrea?" Aro asked coolly.

Alec's POV

"She was killed master, by the child," Terrence choked out. It was obvious that it was a ghastly incident. Just by the expressions on the lower vampires' faces.

"How?"

"She said that it would be easier if we convinced the child to come back here and then kill her. Everyone agreed. The child had just thrown Felix. Also, when we approached her she hid behind a tree and touched it. As soon as she touched it, a silver snow devoured the tree. It would be too dangerous to fight her there without being noticed. So, Andrea went over near to the child to try to use her power. It worked for a few seconds, but the girl saw through it. She was about to turn hostile but Andrea grabbed the child. Somehow they connected on a mental level. The silver snow slowly killed Andrea. After Andrea was dead the girl passed out." There was a long pause; everyone looked worried except for Jane and Alec.

"Well, this is very interesting. Can you put the child down, Felix?" Everyone's eyes darted to Felix's back where the girl lay. She wasn't passed out but she was obviously under Terrence's power of immobility. As Felix lay her down on the cool marble floor, she was released, but she just continued lie there.

"Felix, Terrence, you may go to the side. Now, little girl, could you tell me who you are?" Aro inquired. The child still lay there, breathing slowly and deeply. Jane automatically started to use her power. Everyone just stopped and waited for the little girl's screams, but she just kept lying there. Her eyes opened, boring right back at Jane. You could tell that she felt the pain but held it in till she couldn't take it any longer. Her mouth opened letting out a silent scream. A satisfied smile appeared on both Aro's and Jane's faces. Aro waved Jane off.

"Elezaer, could you please tell me what her power is." Aro said. Elezaer came forward and took another look at Calandra.

"Well, she actually has two; the first one is an adapting power. It changes depending on her surroundings and what she needs to survive. Then, her other one…" Elezaer paused. His brow furrowed then he continued "The other one is the ability to turn herself back into a human. All her vampire traits disappear, and she just lives like them. But... With more control she probably could make certain traits disappear. Right now, it seems she can only keep her adapting and strength with her"

"Does that mean she would be able to grow? Say she stays human for ten years, would she look exactly like she was fifteen years old, and would mean that when she turned back in the vampire she would be the same a fifteen year old girl?"

"I don't know. This is the first time I've seen this," stuttered Eleazar. What was Aro thinking? Immortal children were uncontrollable, and their appetites were impossible to sate. Just then, the girl raised her head so she was still on her side but sitting up. One of the rays of the sun shot through and hit her skin. It dazzled but differently; it sparkled like a diamond chandelier. The light reflected of her but she gave off her own light. It was a soft glow that was small but gave off a steady warm light.

Aro slowly got up and approached the girl. When Reneta tried to follow, he waved her off. Jane looked at Alec, puzzled beyond belief. Reneta was his shadow and protected him. He could hold his own in a fight but his importance to the existence of their coven was not worth risking him getting killed. Aro then asked, sighing like a Prima Donna "Could you please tell me your name? I am quite tired of using child, girl, and it."

"Calandra." Some were taken back at the clarity and softness of her voice. For Alec it seemed familiar, like he had heard it call his name so many times before. He had only chased after her a few times but never got close to her to really talk to her or hear her voice. This was probably the first time that she had seen him.

"Well, Calandra, what a beautiful name, too bad we don't know if you could grow or else you could have lived. Can you give me your hand?" Slowly, she gave him her hand.

As soon as they touched all of them found themselves on a lush, French country side. Alec realized they were traveling through her memories. A burst of giggles could be heard from two small girls one about five years old, the other much older. The older one had brown springy curls. She had a crown of daisies in her hair. The other girl was Calandra except there were differences. The prominent scar on her back was gone.

"Calandra, tag you're it!" The other girl screamed. Alec watched these two girls run around playing tag until Calandra tagged the other girl. Both of them fell down, looking at the sky. Calandra then turned over on her stomach and looked at her friend.

"Sophie" He turned back to watch the two little girls, just to see them in front of a straw home. "Sophie, can you promise me something?"

"What Calandra?"

"Will you always be my best friend?"

"mhhm, now can you promise not to tell anyone something?" Calandra looked down at the dirt. She nodded solemnly.

"Yes"

"You know Daniel."

"Yes." Calandra said, confused by the statement. Daniel was a close friend of Sophie's, and she saw him regularly when she watched the sheep with the sisters. They never talked to each other but only watched the rocks that Daniel threw into the river.

"I like him." Calandra grew even more confused by her friend's words. Sophie, not satisfied by Calandra's reaction continued on. "We're going to fall in love and get married when we're older. That's what my sister said when a boy and girl like each other." She paused again to see Calandra's response.

"That's nice." Calandra really didn't know what else to say. She was a young girl it was not expected to have these feelings dominate her mind.

Sophie got up and sighed dramatically. "You are hopeless you know?" She threw her hands in the air and walked off.

The memory started to race by. Alec could only see a few things pass by, like Calandra standing next to a river, and what Alec presumed was the Daniel boy. When it stopped, Calandra was at that same straw house sleeping in a bed of hay. Someone grabbed her sharply from her slumber. Sophie stood with a grim look on her face. Calandra with her childish naïveté did not pick up on her friend's ominous aura. She smiled sleepily at her friend's appearance.

"Sophie-"

"Get up." She pulled Calandra by the hand, roughly leading her outside. The night was bright with the full moon. Calandra could hear only the crickets and rustle of the leaves. Still, Sophie yanked her toward the tree line almost afraid to be seen with her along that worn path. Calandra stumbled over the woody debris of the forest floor. A river appeared through the trees. It was the same one that Calandra sat at while the sheep ate, splashed in when the sun burned her skin, and where Sister Anaise helped her wash her clothes.

Sophie stopped leaving Calandra, who stared off to the south where those memories had happened, alone. Busied with her memories, Calandra did not notice Sophie's actions. Only when she appeared again, this time behind Calandra, did she snap her out of her thoughts.

"You are disgusting," she sneered pushing Calandra. "Why do you sin so much? You are a liar! And I am done lying for you! You act so very precious, so very special like you are Mary holding the Son of God!"

Calandra stood still, too scared to do anything. Sophie seemed so much taller than she had been the other day.

"Why aren't you saying anything," she violently whispered in Calandra's face.

"Sophie, I'm sorry."

"soooorryy. That is all you utter. Every. Morning. Night. and day. You cannot say sorry for what I saw. I saw you! I saw you there. How amazingly natural you are… It was like you were born for that one purpose. You didn't stop until you beat the life out of- I saved your life keeping quiet all this time while damning my own." She sputtered. Her movements became erratic stalking around Calandra like a wild animal.

"You frighten me. You really scare me. AHHH!" Suddenly someone grabbed her from behind. In the struggle, Calandra saw other figures in the darkness. A man who looked like Brother Enzo, though it was hard to tell with the tree's shadows, came over and lifted her up. He held her up over the water. Calandra struggled harder, as the man plunged her into the water.

Caught off guard, water flooded her nose and throat. Combined with the water's shockingly cold temperature, Calandra flailed harder trying to escape. She grabbed for the man trying to stop her frightening situation.

A scream interrupted the sound of the prayers whispered from the trees. It was hard to tell what happened. The warm viscous liquid dripped down mixing with the icy water. The man reeled back in pain and pulled Calandra out of the water for a moment. She gasped for air but found she was falling back quickly to the ground.

The water invaded farther this time rushing into her lungs. She choked trying to eject the water only to take on more. The chill ran through her body practically paralyzing her and numbing her brain. In a horrible but practical way of thinking, she did not suffer more when her head was cracked on the rocks in shallows of the river.

Under the water and the blood, the sky looked beautifuly distorted. The stars… the stars were close and the moon shimmering like the silver fish she saw in the lake a few… they had some rosy scales… it was bright… and dark at the same time…

"Stop!" Alec ran forward toward Calandra but he hadn't yelled out stop that was Jane and someone else. The memory stopped and they found themselves back in the throne room. In the middle Alec stood of the girl. Calandra's eyes were wide open. Her trapeze world was crumbling. Jane was standing right next to Alec just as shocked. Aro feeling no emotion at all just simply shrugged.

"Does it matter? She must die anyway" Aro said

"No, she is going to stay." Alec commanded. Aro was taken aback. Never had anyone seen Alec tell Aro what he was going to do. This impulse he had pushed him to fight back.

"No, we didn't make an exception for the others"

"Yes, but she has a power that makes her different. We'll never know if she would be able to defy the odds." An old croaky voice said. Everyone had a look of shock on their face. It was quiet again except for Calandra's breathing. This was the longest Marcus talked.

"But...Who will take care of her? Have you not forgotten she is a bloodthirsty vampire that has no sense of right or wrong?" Aro Asked.

"Aro, will you just shut up already! This is beneficial to all of us. I will raise her as my own daughter. I'll take care of her." Everyone, even Calandra, stopped breathing. Alec picked up Calandra and held her tighter. Jane stepped in front of Alec. She was ready if Aro went on his rage.

"Alec. Place her in the empty bedroom in the guard quarters. "Aro now looked away from the others, bored with the situation. Caius still sat looking upset that his plan to exterminate every single immortal child was now destroyed yet again by this one child.

Alec looked back at his sister who was going through her own confusion of her irregular actions. He helped Calandra up and escorted her out of the throne room. This child could not become a weakness for him. He needed to make sure that anything like what happened in there never happened again.

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