Chapter 5

The New Family Members of the Volturi

Ambrogio's POV

Four months had passed since the turn of the New Year, it was now the middle of April and Ambrogio's heart had significantly hardened

In my black suit and with the crest around my neck; Renata and I stood beside my father, with my adopted twin siblings, Alec standing beside Marcus and Jane beside Caius. Led in by Heidi, our lunch had arrived; one by one we fed upon our victims, feeling just so natural to feed on human blood as our nature had intended us to drink – but when we came down to our last two morsels, Caius ordered.

Shouting, "Stop!"

We all stopped at the two young women; one with bright curly red hair and green eyes (in her mind I saw that her name was Penelope), and the other was of Spanish ethnicity (her name was Amelia); she had warm black eyes and dark wavy brown hair. Their eyes shattered with fear as Caius came forth and examined one.

Gripping her chin with pale claws; I saw the thoughts in his mind turning.

"Caius?" whispered Father.

I embraced my father's hand and he understood – Caius then turned to Marcus.

"What do you think of her?" he asked sharply.

The facial expressions on his face were not as gravely as it used to be, but Marcus merely nodded.

"Fine; Felix, take them." Caius ordered.

I protested, "No! I will take them."

Everyone was slightly confused but Father nodded. "Very well, Son." He cheerfully replied.

It was not for the sake of saving them but for the sake of having the ladies be more looked after. For a while now, Caius and Marcus had been searching for mortals, to use them as hosts to breed children of their own – after all my father had wondered, that if we cannot find gifted immortals... then perhaps we should try and breed gifted immortals.

I made them comfortable in a room behind the thrones. Having inherited the charm and charisma of my father, I managed to calm them in their distress with my words, lying to them, telling them everything was going to be fine; removing their tribunal robes, Marcus and Caius entered the room behind me.

I quickly took their hands."Remember, you have to be gentle – don't get too carried away, or you'll kill them."

I closed the door behind me, and the women's screams didn't start until sexual intercourse had begun; I was not feeling at all comfortable with this but at least I would have some of my own kind – and cousins.

When they had finished, I sensed that something was not right; I could only hear the thoughts of only one woman. Father opened the door – and it seemed that Caius was too overwhelmed by his thirst and in so he had drained the woman's blood – but the woman Marcus had subdued was perfectly fine… other than the fact she had been raped by a vampire. Caius felt disgraced of himself for not having succeeded the first time; and so the very next day Caius tried again – with another young girl, who coincidently was his last victims' twin sister (Angela) – and this time he was victorious, but only just.

For the next month, I carefully looked after the women myself; and it was just as what had happened with me, when the time came I could hear the thoughts of the unborn infants. I was so excited when I finally got to show Marcus for the first time, and instantly he truly fell completely in love with the child – at the sound of the baby's voice in his head, he smiled so fatherly.

"Now you are your true self again, Marcus." Whispered Father.

But Father and I both knew, after what he had done to his own sister, Marcus would never be the same as he used to be but this certainly was the closest he had ever been. When it came time for Caius's child, two days later, I showed him the thoughts of his child; and as hard as he tried to fight back, even a small grin had managed its way across his tense lips.

It was soon after that the horrifying day of child birth had come, as Mother helped the women deliver the children, Renata had to use her physical shield to block out all those who gave into their thirst; but finally she, Renata, and I took the children away to clean them up, but there was nothing that we could do to save the women from their gruesome fate. And so the rest of the coven put them out of their misery; and fed upon the dying humans. My father had ordered them to go out and hunt – thankfully it was nightfall and so they each hunted thoroughly – but in my room, Mother dressed the children in pink clothes that were slightly too big for them and a soft blanket over top.

When they all returned, my father came in to see what was going on but left as swiftly as he came at first glance; he was just so very excited to tell the others.

I heard my father cheer excitedly."Congratulation my brothers! You are the proud fathers of two adorable little girls."

Shaking my head, I smiled down at Marcus's daughter as I took her in my arms; my little cousin had her mother's warm black eyes and Marcus's wavy dark brown hair. But when I looked over at Caius's little girl, in my Mother's arms, she had a mixture of both of her parent's hair; the colour was blond like her father's but with a merge of her mother's red hair – it was like an odd pale strawberry blond. And she had also inherited her father's human sparkling sky blue eyes.

Slowly we brought them out to meet their fathers, I held my little cousin firmly, feeling very protective of her while Mother held onto my adoptive cousin. Renata remained close to us as a precaution; Jane, Alec and my father were the second line of defence, even though they had mastered their thirst around half breeds, we didn't want to take any chances. Gently I gave my cousin to her father, Marcus would have been in tears if only he could; wrapping the little pink bundle in his robes, Marcus smiled so warmly as he kissed his daughter's forehead.

"In all certainty, she is giftedly perfect." His voice was still dry and deep had it not recovered like his attitude. But it was no surprise to any of us as to what her name was going to be.

Brushing his smile against her soft little forehead, taking in her musky scent of peach, to the child Marcus whispered. "My little Didyme; Didyme Amelia Voltago." At least her middle name gave some respect towards her human mother.

Father smiled with his fingertips at his lips; he was just as happy as Marcus for the name of his new niece. But then we all turned to Caius, who was rather reluctant to hold his own child – yes it was obvious that he was not the physically comforting type – but he awkwardly took her in his arms, with Athenodora trying to adjust the baby so she was held right.

"What shall we name her, Darling?" she asked.

"She will grow to be all that we are; her name shall be Orithyia." He replied. Caius then kissed his daughter's head before handing her to Athenodora.

"Orithyia Erika Voltago." she crooned.

Through me, the girls began talking to their new parents, telling them that they loved them more than anything; it was only natural – even for Caius – to return that love, and, aside from the new parents, Father was just so happy for the newest additions to the Volturi.

He held out his hands to Marcus. "May I?" Marcus then very carefully handed Didyme to her uncle, "Oh my dear, you're so beautiful." He spoke wistfully.

Didyme squeaked in laughter, which made nearly everyone else laugh.

"You sound funny, Uncle Aro." She spoke in her mind.

The girls were passed around the room, both appeared days older than they were, as it was with me; Mother then came out with two bottles of human blood – Marcus sat down on his thrown and, with his new daughter wrapped in his robes, he fed her, wether as Aunt Athenodora was the one who fed little Orithyia.

Weeks passed and the girls began to walk, talk, and growing at such a fast rate but we all knew they had several years to grow until they fully matured; but in those weeks we discovered that Orithyia was gifted – I felt it was a little daunting but I supposed the attitude ran in the family. As happy and cheerful as she was, Orithyia's power was in some ways reflected on her father's scowling attitude; Orithyia had the ability to create a false feeling of fear into anyone she chose as her victim.

We discovered this when she, Didyme, and I were playing; Didyme had managed to trip Orithyia over during hunting, and then Orithyia gave her a scowling look and Didyme immediately ran into my arms crying because she was so afraid. When I told my father, he was so thrilled to have gained a new treasure, but I was perfectly happy watching them grow, Jane bonded well with Orithyia because of the small similarities of their gifts; and Marcus truly had never been so happy in so many centuries.

Oddly enough, in the back of his mind, Father was actually hoping that one of them would someday make an ideal mate for Alec; but he didn't dare bring it up at this point in time, for we had plenty of time to worry about that in the future. But all of this was disturbed; my content, my happiness, everything was shortly lived – until she arrived.