Bella POV
Pain, I understand nothing but pain. Who knows how long I've been under this pain for, but I so want it to stop. It hurts so much.
I begin feeling the fire leaving my body. First it started with my toes and then fingers and eased out more with my body, like I had ran cold water over a burn.
Now it's like there's only the fire in my chest, in my heart.
My broken heart.
Thump...Thump...Thump...
After that there's no more. My hearts stopped completely.
Humans with this would have died, but not me. I was bitten, now I'm a vampire.
A vampire with a broken heart.
Finally I open my eyes, a million times clearer, seeing everything, the dust in the air, every tiny piece of the marble walls around me. And all the other vampires around me in what looks like a great hall. All of them with their eyes on me.
Wait…vampires!
With a sudden need to protect myself, I move quickly away, finding myself crouched in a defensive position away from where I woke up, which I found to be an old fashioned one arm rest settee against the wall I retreated from, getting ready to fight for my life.
"Do not be afraid my child, you will not be harmed"
This comes from one of the three men in the throne chairs on the platform at the end of the room, the one who spoke was the one in the middle with black hair.
I keep my eyes on them all, keeping them in my sight, I can't just trust them, I don't even know them!
"Who are you?" I ask, surprised by how my voice sounds now, but quickly putting my attention back onto them,
"We are the Volturi. Now may I ask what your name is?" he asks, now standing up.
"Isabella Swan...Bella" I say, still looking at them all, but now beginning to stand up from my crouch, if they were going to attack me then they would have done already, heck they could have killed me whilst I was undergoing the change.
"I am Aro, these are my brothers Caius and Marcus. And these are our family" he says, extending his arms at either side, telling me that everyone here is part of his family.
"And now we may have a new member. If you agree to join us" he says, with this I look up in curiosity.
Joining them would mean being a family.
Something I lost.
"Think about it. Demetri, take our guest to her room. We'll let you think things through. But we will need an answer by tomorrow morning" says Aro. With this a man a little taller than me…but unbelievably gorgeous comes over from where he was stood by the wall on the opposite side of me.
But it's his eyes that get to me. Those were the eyes my vague human memory recalls seeing for the last time.
"If you will follow me" he says, inclining his elbow, at this I hesitantly take it, somehow able to trust him a little more out of all the others, and allow him to lead me out of the giant room and into the hallway.
"It's not really so bad here. We are the highest rank of the vampire community, Aro, Caius and Marcus being the three kings and myself and the others in the hall are the guards, we go out to make sure no vampires have broken the laws. We enforce the law, keeping our existence a secret. That's what we're really all about. What do you think?" he asks, as we're still walking down the halls.
"I don't know. Just before Victoria changed me, I was dumped by someone I thought loved me but didn't, and at the same time he and his family left me. I don't know how to be in a family anymore, I don't know how to trust...care...love or anything" I say, looking down, feeling lost, what do I do? Where I go from here?
He stops us in the corridor, I look up to see him looking down at me, his eyes looking over me like he's memorizing my every detail.
"I understand your pain Bella, but like many things, time wears away all pain in the end. I won't know how long, no-one can. But I hope that you will soon. If you did join our family, we would never let you down, never lie, hurt or do anything to upset you. We wouldn't have reason to and we wouldn't do so anyway because we'd be family and that's not how we treat one another in this family" he says.
When he says all this I can't help but see truth in his eyes and hear it in his voice. But theres is one thing about all this that is bothering me, a fire within me that hasn't distinguished since I was changed,
"You have questions?" he asks, seemingly seeing me struggle to speak, I look up to him directly,
"I asked you to end me, to put me out of my misery. I don't know what to do anymore, I cant go back to my old life, I know how this foes, I cant see my human family anymore. I didn't have much of a life back then, but I would have been happy to have died. Why didn't you?" I ask, he seems to struggle at answering me. But I don't look away from him, I need to know why he let me change when I asked him to end me. All this pain inside, all this confusion I wouldn't have to be going through right now if he had just did as I asked, and I need to know why he decide to take fate into his hand and allow me to turn.
"I…saw something in you, a fire inside that didn't want to be put out. I know you were in pain when you were turned, I…saw it all Bella. But I want…I wanted you to have a second chance, to find happiness here. Start a new life with us perhaps or on your own. I could never kill you" he says. I don't have the power to read minds or know when someone is telling the truth or not, but I can somehow tell that he is telling me the truth, he somehow saw something inside me and didn't want me to die.
Perhaps he's right and I can start anew, whether that is here or…somewhere else.
"How did you get here?" I ask, continuing down the hallway, he follows in step easily.
"I born in Greece a long time ago, around the time when pharaoh Ramesses XI ruled. I was one of the palace guards, it was an honorable life, a peaceful one, I had at the time hoped for it to continue with my wife and our home. But one day thinking I came home and I found my wife in our bed with another man. I left; I could not be with someone unfaithful, I had no family and no reason to stay.
But then a vampire came up to me and suddenly attacked me whilst I was on patrol. He drained me of some of my blood but then left me to the change. I came here hearing about the Volturi after some years as a nomad, I offered myself and told them of my gift. Aro, Caius and Marcus listened to my story and allowed me to join, my gift has helped them a lot over the years and I've done my part for them" he says.
"What is your power - if you don't mind me asking" I say, looking at him hesitantly, from this he smiles,
"I'm a tracker, best one. I can just pick up on someone's wave-length of their mind and I can instantly find the one I'm tracking" he says, from this I nod in understanding, cool power.
"Here's your room" he says, both of us now stood in front of a wooden door, he opens it for me and inside is an amazing room.
A fore poster bed, a gorgeous balcony outside some French doors. Furniture that matches the room beautifully and two other doors leading who knows where.
"This is...overwhelming - beautiful" I say, looking around in awe.
"That door leads you to a bathroom. And the other one leads to your built in wardrobe" he says, wow, Alice would have loved this.
But thinking about her now just hurts, so much that I begin crying without tears,
"Bella? What's wrong?" Demetri says, leading me to the settee where we sit down beside one another but our bodies facing each other.
"Why?! Why did they leave me?! I never did anything wrong I don't think! I did my best to be as good as them! What did I do that made them leave me?! Why did they leave me?!" I cry, he surprisingly pulls me into his arms, letting me lean against his chest.
"They were idiots to have left you. And leaving you will forever be the worst mistake to make that ass of your ex. And I hope he rots for all of eternity for what he did. If a man has you in his arms they should keep hold with all their might, not let anything or anyone separate the both of you" he says, I close my eyes at his words, if only there were someone who would keep hold of me like that.
"Thank you Demetri" I whisper.
"I'll always be here for you...which would be everyday if you stay and join us..." he says, I look up at him and I find him grinning at me mischievously, from this I breath a laugh as he does the same.
"How about...I join, if you promise to be there for me, like you said. If I stay here I want to have someone I know I can trust" I say, looking up at him pleading him with my eyes.
He smiles at me from this, and the small action leaves me...well I'd say breathless but I don't actually need air anymore but you get my meaning.
"We have a deal. If you join our family, I will be your knight in shining armor" he says, when he says this I can't help but laugh as he does the same.
"Well I don't think you're a knight in shining armor kind of guy. You're all chariots and…bow and arrows" I say, causing us both to burst out laughing.
"You have a very good sense of humor Bella. And you're probably right about not being a knight I was actually very skilled at fighting on a chariot too. But either way. I promise to be there for you whenever you're in need" he says, with this I nod, then go into his arms, as I do he wraps his arms round me, embracing me in his arms.
"I'll keep you safe Bella I promise" he says, then kiss' my hair. Right now I feel safe in his arms, his hold on me makes me want to melt into his embrace.