One of the three cloaked figures stepped forward from the large, wooden door and lowered his hood. Under the moonlight I could see his raven coloured hair and a papery look to his face. Like too much pressure would dent it. He went over and embraced the fiery woman that brought me here and pecked her on the cheek, speaking to fast for me to hear. The other two behind him stepped forward and lowered their hoods as well. One also had black hair and the other's was snow white. They embraced her with a kiss on the cheek and then they all turned towards me. Each of them had red eyes.
It was plainly obvious they were all vampires but the odd thing was I felt I knew them from somewhere.
The one who stepped forward first spoke. "And this must be the famous Isabella." Famous? Oh, so they were involved with Victoria's evil scheming.
I was silent.
"Oh, you can't speak? I'm sure you can. Victoria has told us so much about you."
Only answer questions. "I can."
"There we go, come inside and get some food, you must be hungry." I was hungry. The food Victoria gave me felt like a lifetime ago.
Suddenly I realised where I recognized them from. The painting in Carlisle's office. A small smile crept onto my face.
The four vampires floated inside the building and I reluctantly followed. We came into a straight corridor with an elevator at the end. The door pinged open, revealing to us a cramped area and some quiet classical music. Somehow, four vampires and a human managed to fit into it. And the best part was, I was alive when we got out.
I gasped. The room we came to was like a lavish reception area though I saw no point for vampires to have one. It was dressed in elegant wallpaper and the curtains were fancy and long enough to be bed covers, though the windows were slits. The thing that shocked me the most was that a human woman was sitting at the desk. It was a reception and she was the receptionist. She was filing her nails but tried to hide the file as we approached.
"Good night, Gianna." She nodded once to whichever one of the men had spoken and then looked at me with pity. Somehow she knew what was going on too. I was totally in the dark. We turned to the left and pushed through a set of doors, Victoria was constantly looking back to make sure I was following. What would I do? Run? I would just trip or get lost.
The next room was much like the third, but a little less in-your-face. Beautiful, it didn't scream wealth quite as much as the reception, but it still made you feel like it would be a sin to touch anything. We were met with a girl and a boy of the same height. They looked to be twins and the girl had a nasty glint to her eye, like you wouldn't want to anger her.
Whoever spoke the last time spoke again greeting them – with what seemed to be a custom here. A kiss on the cheek – as Alec and Jane. They joined the procession to wherever we were going and I ended up in the middle of the throng. I was not enjoying this one bit.
The third room was incredibly large, larger than I thought possible. It was quite literally a throne room. Three classy chairs faced the south side of the room on a raised platform. Pictures and paintings were on the gaps in between the gashes known as windows. There were a few other people that greeted us – plainly vampires again – and then the three cloaked figures went to sit in the seats. It unnerved me to know I was the only human in the room and each of these vampires were true vampires.
"Now Isabella," the one who spoke before spoke again. He looked so old in the pale lights of the room. He was being pleasant but I wouldn't ever trust him. "We are the Volturi. My name is Aro and these two are Caius and Marcus." He gestured to the other vampires sitting next to him. "What can we get you?"
I had totally forgotten about my hunger because my fear had started to fill my stomach up. Though I was starving I hardly noticed. My voice came out shaky but I did my best to hide it. "Whatever is fine."
Aro smiled what was meant to be a reassuring smile but it just creeped me out. "Demetri, please go and fetch Isabella something to eat." Someone went out of the room. "Do have a seat, dear." Unwillingly, I sat in a chair that had been placed in front of the platform. I could practically see up his nose. The other two weren't paying attention to me but I could tell they were listening. I couldn't see Victoria anymore, in fact almost everyone had left the room.
"Now, Isabella," I didn't bother to correct him. "I'm sure you are wondering why Victoria brought you here. Yes?"
I nodded.
"Well, we're having a dance, a ball you could say. We want you to join us there."
This made absolutely no sense what so ever. Why me? A heart broken human? And what exactly did Victoria have planned for me? How was this connected to her plans for my death?! A ball?!
"I imagine," he proceeded into what sounded like a total inconsequence to him. "You are wondering why, Isabella. We know you know about us." He rose to pace around the stand, coming to the stairs, stepping down and then continuing his pacing in front of me. "Our rules state that if a human knows of us, they must be killed or changed."
Well, okay, I was expecting to die. I was ready to die but they were giving me the option to change me. It was all I could do not to stand up, start jumping up and down and scream "YES! YES! YES!"…but that would just get me eaten.
He knelt down in front of my chair, taking my hand. He was very cold. "What do you say to that?"
I opened my mouth to say something but Victoria crashed through the doors. "Aro, we had a deal!" She snarled with so much venom I thought I would drown if I got close to her.
Aro gave me a quizzical look and then turned to the fuming female vampire. "Yes, we did. I'm just trying to make sure Isabella is sure what is happening these next few days." If I thought I was in the dark before, it felt like someone had taken my eyes out and shut me in a cardboard box, with my eyes in another next to me.
She gave him the most evil glare I'd ever seen come from her eyes and they began taking too fast for me to hear. They were both getting agitated over each other and either Marcus or Caius – since I didn't know which was which – had to come and intervene.
"Thank you, Marcus. Victoria, we will discuss this later." Aro finished with finality and the two charcoal haired vampires stood and watched as Victoria stormed out of the room.
Aro turned to me again. "I apologise for that Isabella. Victoria can be…difficult at times." Didn't I know it? Aro looked at me with another strange expression. He touched my hand again and then frowned. "Jane, could you come in here, please?"
The girl came skipping in. I could get a better view of her now. She was small and looked young, for she was a child. Her brown hair was trimmed to a short length. She had full lips and wide eyes. She went over to Aro and kissed him on the cheeks, greeting him. "Yes, Master?"
"Isabella is immune to my gift." I frowned. What gift was this? "I was wondering if she was immune to yours…" He trailed off and Jane turned to me and gave me an evil smirk.
"Would you like me to test her now?"
"If you would. I am quite interested to see the outcome."
Jane's grin broadened impressively. It looked like it was about to fall off her face. I felt my eyes widen in fear. She danced forward, the gleam in her eye growing.
Nothing happened.
She looked at me and the gleam grew.
Again, nothing happened.
Jane looked murderous, in more ways than one and I needed to remember that if I was going to survive.
"Wonderful! This is just wonderful." Aro cheered. Marcus and Caius looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Demetri walked in with a large bowl of pasta which I assumed was for me. "Oh, and your food has arrived Isabella. This is just superb!"
He was a very happy vampire. I had no idea why and I wasn't sure if I wanted to.
Demetri brought over my food and I started to eat with the bowl on my lap. Fear had been pushed away by my hunger. I ate both slowly and quickly. Slowly because I didn't want blood – thirsty vampires to talk to me, especially Aro. He was just weird... Quickly because I was so hungry.
Very soon, in fact, too soon, I had eaten the whole bowl. Aro started talking again.
"So Isabella, the ball is in four days time. Felix will show you to your room. We would like your answer as soon as possible, if you would be so kind." A man stepped forward which shocked me because I only noticed Demetri come in. He was very big, tall and thick and reminded me of Emmett.
"Follow me," was all he said.
Aro's balanced voice chimed after us. "Sweet dreams, my dear."
I didn't respond to it. As if I could sleep here.
Felix led me down long corridors, covered in expensive wall paper and I caught quick glimpses of the paintings. There was one of Carlisle which made me smile. It seemed they were chummy and remained chummy all this time. We passed many doors and from time to time we would pass the thin windows as we turned a corner. It was dark outside.
I started to get worried when after five minutes we were still walking. Felix hadn't once turned to check if I was following but I suppose he could hear my footsteps and heartbeat. I was probably to only one in the whole castle with a working heart. It seemed I was being taken to the very centre of the stony building for safety. They didn't seem to understand I was a klutzy human who, even if she tried, wouldn't be able to get down a flight of steps without falling at the end, let alone escape from a castle.
Felix came to an abrupt stop in front of a cream coloured door. He pulled out a key from somewhere and unlocked the door but didn't open it. He was about to say something. I looked up expectant but trying not to let my towering fear get the better of me.
"Isabella," he began. "Aro has instructed me to tell you that you are not to leave your room without a member of the Volturi present as you are a human. Some of our members are not picture perfect with their blood lust and control. If they see you patrolling the hallways looking lost they will not hesitate to attack you." He sighed looking exasperated. "And Aro requests that when you have made your decision, press 0 on the phone inside and Gianna, the receptionist will inform us. The phone inside does not work outside of the castle, so there really is no point trying to call elsewhere."
I nodded, I didn't trust my voice at the moment.
"Oh, I almost forgot." He stressed the next sentence carefully and slowly, trying to convey a message. "It would be in your best interests, Isabella, not to leave your room until we have finished… dinning. Do you understand?"
I nodded once more. I wasn't the only one with a working heart tonight, then.
"Well, I will leave you to explore. Don't get lost. I will not lock the door. Goodbye, Isabella."
Felix walked away and I was left with a cream coloured door to talk to. I decided to ignore it and walk in.
Wow.
The same cream colour was on the walls and there were blood red drapes with lights coming from the ceiling. A fire place was to the right and a sofa sat close to it, facing what I presumed to hold a television. A coffee table sat in front of that like the many others around the room. To the left sat a grand four-poster bed made with mahogany wood. Close to the bed there were two doors.
The room was big. Really big.
I ventured over to the first. It was the largest closet I'd ever seen. There were so many different types of clothes I could hardly count them all. Numerous dresses but there were even jeans and tracksuits. Alice would have a fit… I shook my head and moved to the next door. Now I came to the bathroom. It had a modern black theme, with marble lining almost everywhere. It was amazing if not out of place compared to the other room. Bottles of shampoos, conditioners, and body washes sat on the counter.
I ran myself a bath and went to collect some clothes from the titanic sized closet. A bath would help clear my thoughts. I picked out a shampoo that smelt of flowers, not thinking about the consequence of coming out smelling like my own scent. I stripped my clothes and got into the bathtub.
Did I really want to be changed that bad? Yes, I wanted to become a vampire, more than anything because it would mean I could spend forever with Edward and the rest of the Cullen's. Spending eternity with Edward would be perfect but I didn't want to be changed like this. I wanted Edward's venom to change me, but I really didn't have a choice. It was vampire or six feet under ground. I wouldn't be asked an opinion in any of this and the last time I saw Edward, hereally didn't want me to become a vampire. It made me sad to think it, but he obviously didn't want to be with me as much as I wanted to be with him. He'd left the letter ages ago. Probably before he really left me. How was I to know if he still felt the same way? He'd almost certainly found distractions to keep him busy while I sat wallowing in pain, rejection and feeling generally crap. He wouldn't care, that's why he left in the first place…But I wouldn't know if he didn't care and the only way I could find out was my being changed into a vampire.
If my mind served me correctly, it was the seventh of April. 29 weeks without Edward and it had been three days since I knew the truth. 204 days without my love. It felt like it was early morning Tuesday, or at least, it should have been, but then again, with the time differences and being cooped up in a castle, I had no idea whether it was one in the morning or night.
I liked the idea of becoming a vampire. In all sincerity, I really did. I didn't want to grow old and I didn't see any other way out of this other than dying, which, as glamorous as it may seem in a stronghold ruled by vampires, wasn't the option I would pick. I needed to know if he still loved me and if he didn't…Well, I'd get to that when it happened.
I got out of the bathtub and grabbed a fluffy towel that was on a radiator. It was lovely in the warmth of the water and I realised it would probably be the last real warm feeling I would feel. I slipped on the clothes; dark blue jeans and a red tank top. I dug what courage I had left in me and walked out of the room and over to the phone.
It was harmless. Just sitting on the large table behind the white sofa. Innocent enough but one phone call would decide whether I would live through the next day or die before it came.
Half-heartedly, yet happily, I picked up the phone and pressed 0.
I heard the phone dial.
"Ciao?"
"Oh," I didn't know any Italian. "Um, hello?"
"Oh, Isabella." Her accent was heavy. "Have you made your decision?"
"Um, yes."
"Okay, I'll tell them. Goodbye."
The line went dead. I lowered the phone to the set.
What now? She would tell them but then what? I didn't know if it was safe or what would happen next or if they'd finished 'feeding' as Felix put it. What was I supposed to do?
The cabinet across the room looked promising. As I thought before, a TV was there. I turned it on and it came up with the scratchy lines when there was no aerial.
What would Edward think? Would he still love–
"Isabella?" I heard a voice from outside my door.
"Yes?" My voice shook.
"May we come in?" We? What?
"Um, you may."
The whole troop – the troop being Aro, grumpy and slightly bored Marcus and Caius, evil little Jane, Alec, Demetri and Felix – floated into my room with a grace I'd never seen before. The only person missing was Victoria…and I was rather glad.
"Isabella, Gianna tells us you have made your decision."
"Yes, um, I'd like you to change me, please."
Aro almost screeched with happiness. It reminded me of a little of Alice when I said I would come on a shopping trip. "Marvellous, just marvellous!"
Marcus and Caius looked at each other, embarrassed, Felix and Demetri looked back and forth between Aro and I, Alec raised an eyebrow and Jane glared at me. I really didn't like her. Not. One. Bit.
"Now, Isabella. We have to change you now if you want to be well enough in time for the Ball." Now? Right now?
I blinked twice.
"Oh," a small smile crept onto my lips. It would only be three days. "Okay." Everyone but Aro looked at me like I was crazy. Aro was too happy to notice I had just smiled at the idea of three days of fiery pain.
"Well, well, get out, all of you," he shooed the others out of the room, closing the door as Jane gave me on final fierce look from outside. Aro turned to look at me. Nether one of us spoke.
"Um, should I be lying down or what?"
He took a while to answer. "Yes, dear. Go to the bed."
I did as I was told and as I looked over to Aro he had a strange glint in his eye. It was one to make me fear, but not in a way to fear for my life. It was one of power and it made me fear for what he was going to do.
Aro walked calmly over to my bedside. "Isabella," he said sadly. "I'm sorry it has to hurt so much but it's the price we pay for this magnificent life." He sighed and a weak smile curved onto his ancient lips. "It's not for too long anyway, and we will leave the door open so you may find us when you are ready."
I looked up, not saying a word.
"I truly hope you survive this, Isabella." I hoped I did too.
And with those final words Aro bit down into my neck, letting the cool venom swell around the cuts. The fire started, beginning to move around my body and I flinched. He picked up my wrists and bit them both too. The fire got stronger as it made each trip around in my bloodstream.
"It can only get better, Isabella." I heard him whisper from the door.
How wrong he was.
A/N:(Short author note this time…short for me anyway…)
Uh – huh! More pictures up on profile. This time it's Bella's suite and my god is it posh!
So, it was a normal day, or at least I thought it was until I'm sitting in a history ICT lesson (we get lots of them, can you tell?) and its second period. My mind goes blank and then I realise it ONLY MONDAY! It felt like Friday yesterday and now all my days are mixed up. It can't be Tuesday, can it?... Unfortunately it is…
Another reason I don't get too many chapters up very quickly is because I read more than I write. (Reading is just easier, you know?) N'aww, I'm kidding guys. I just get really distracted and I have a real procrastination problem.
But hey, party time! I finished this chapter! Bella got what she always wanted…but the question I leave you with is 'Does she still want it?' OOOOOH!!!!
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Next time!!!
'All of a sudden, I felt daggers start stabbing me everywhere in my body. My knees couldn't hold me up and I was on the floor, writhing in obvious pain. Jane stood above me wearing an evil smile that was meant to be sweet.
"Now, now, Eddie. What have we learnt from getting too curious and wandering around castles unsupervised? Hmm?"
Somewhere in the castle, I heard her scream and I couldn't move to get to her. I couldn't get there in time…'
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for a Carlisle shaped cookie! 100 Percent Natural Animal Blood!
Emma
