Disclaimer: The characters, over-arching plot and even the settings belong to Stephenie Meyer. Good thing too.

AN: Did any one of you miss Victoria? No? Well, this is the last chapter before she 'reunites' with the Cullens.

Chapter 4

They swim to Gibraltar shortly after Victoria sees the news. It is the first decision that Victoria makes on her own since they left Washington State the spring before. There is absolutely no way the Volturi will not find out about their destructive trail in Africa, which means that they need to be long gone before anyone comes looking for information. Victoria has high hopes that they won't look for her right under their very noses.

From Gibraltar, they travel around the coast into Italy, in not great rush now that they are on the Continent. Kenny doesn't understand why Victoria is constantly on edge or why she is being extra selective about their food sources. She explained the Volturi to him – out of a sense of self preservation; she won't be charged with turning a new vampire and failing to pass on the rules – but he cannot comprehend why their rulers are to be feared. He's never seen the destruction the Volturi can wreck, nor has Victoria, but the stories of their strength go back so many decades now that even to Victoria they seemed somewhat elaborated from Laurent's mouth. To Kenny they aren't much more than Grimm fairytales to scare the newbie. Victoria, however, knows better.

They are safer now in the big cities and Florence provides a pleasant distraction for a short while. Pleasant enough that Victoria lets her guard down just enough to start thinking about something other than spending eternity avoiding the Volturi at all cost.

It has been months since she gave thought of revenge and to the cold calculation of ending the Cullen clan forever for what they have done to her own coven. Now, the thoughts begin to take shape once more. At first, they are nothing more than a distraction from the other thoughts of 'run, hide, flee' that have plagued her since Africa. Slowly, they evolve into something more. She has known from the beginning that there is no way to attack the Cullens without help. Short of building her own army to raze them to the ground, an act that would engender the retribution of the Volturi more than a few villages on the edge of the Sahara, she needs another source of power.

The idea comes to her late one night. Kenny lies beside her, staring into space and thinking about who knows what. Victoria couldn't care less. The idea is so sudden and so amazingly perfect that it strikes her as speechless as a vampire can be. She goes absolutely still and even that is enough to break Kenny out of his daydreams.

'What's wrong?' he asks.

Victoria smiles for the first time in weeks. Kenny physically recoils.

'What the hell?' he exclaims, sitting up abruptly and letting the blankets that cover their naked bodies slide to the floor of the bed they've appropriated. The villa is abandoned anyways.

'We're going to Volterra,' she tells him.

'Uh, no we're not. You said that would be bad. The whole going near the Volturi thing. I like my head,' he whines, five years old again.

'Shut up,' she screams, pushing him so hard he falls to the floor with a loud thud. 'They're not going to think it was us if we show up on their doorstep. No one's that stupid.'

'But we are...going to show up on their doorstep. So we are that stupid,' Kenny repeats, picking himself up like any other hen pecked boyfriend.

'But we're going to give them something they want. We'll give them something so good they won't care about Africa,' she says, eyes shining blood red at the thought.

'What's that?' he asks, wrapping the blanket around his waist, loath to return to bed in case she pushes him out of it again.

Victoria sighs, annoyed. 'Come here,' she demands. Kenny comes. She pulls him into her arms and kisses him like the world is ending. Or just beginning. He's still horribly confused.

'What do we have to give them?'

'The Cullens,' she breathes out, so quiet a human would not be able to hear a foot away. 'The Cullens and their human pet.' She giggles then, the sound completely at odds with the sheer vindictiveness of her voice.

'They want that?'

'No human can know our secret. That's our law. They've broken it. The Volturi will want to know. Even if they won't kill them all, they'll do away with Edward who told her the truth. That's all I want.'

It's not, really. She wants them all dead, but she can hope that if the Volturi go after the coven, they'll destroy them all for harbouring a human. And living such blatantly human lives in public.

'They'll have no choice but to uphold the law. They can't not,' she smiles.

'If you say so,' Kenny relents, since he's hardly going to argue with his maker.

'I do say so. Now, make it good,' she commands him and Kenny is more than willing to obey. He knows he won't take the place of her mate, but he enjoys trying to please her.

xxx

It is half a day's run to Volterra. The next day is sunny, however, and Victoria chafes at the thought of being confined and having to wait. Kenny even fails to distract her and she spends the sunlight hours pacing the decaying walls of the villa, planning. He leaves her to it.

When the sun sets, they run. Making the hill city by dawn is easy; finding a way inside is harder. Victoria did not know what to expect of the castle of their rulers. The city looks like every other hillside town in Tuscany and it takes an hour of exploring before someone notices their presence in the early morning hours.

'What do you seek?' a voice demands from the dark recesses of an alley. The figure is clocked in black, cowl pulled low to hide the face.

'I seek the Volturi. I have news for their ears,' Victoria tells the figure, drawing all of her determination and conviction into her voice.

'And what might that be, pray tell?' the figure laughs, emerging into the half light of the moon above. The cowl lowers to reveal a man in his thirties, though how old he actually is is another matter. Victoria would bet centuries.

'I'm not telling you,' she counters. Only the rulers.'

He appraises them a moment longer and then inclines his head. 'Very well, if that is your wish,' he says, in a voice that clearly states 'if that is your death wish'.

Victoria begins to regret her decision. He leads them down the alley and through a door, down a dark stone staircase and into underground tunnels. A few moments walk and the centuries' old stone walls lead to something more civilized and then turn to marble. There is a city underground. Victoria hates the fact that this surprises her. Kenny, meanwhile, stares in awe. She should have left him in Florence, but somehow his presence is a comfort. If they kill her for this, at least he dies with her. It gives her some moment of pleasure at the thought.

Ahead, their guard knocks slowly on a heavy metal door, embossed with designs. A low voice from inside bids them enter. Hesitantly, Victoria and Kenny follow the cloaked figure into an elaborate throne room. There are figures around the edges of the circular room, most regarding them with little interest. On the three thrones sit vampires very different from each other. Victoria never heard much about what the Volturi look like, but they certainly exude power and age. Almost trembling, Victoria comes to a stop behind their guard in the centre of the space.

There is no way she and Kenny are leaving there alive. Or as alive as they currently are.

'What have you brought for us tonight, Demetri?' the central figure asks, the most ancient seeming of them all, skin as translucent as gossamer and hair black as night.

'They seek an audience,' Demetri says, clearly bored with his duty.

'Well then, let them speak,' the figure commands. His eyes turn to Victoria and bore into a soul she has long since stopped believing she possesses. 'What audience would you have?'

'Masters,' she starts, hateful of how weak her voice sounds to hear own ears. She takes a step forward, leaving Kenny to fend for himself behind her. 'I have news for you.'

'Then speak of it. I am Aro. Caius,' he gestures to his let and then to his right. 'Marcus. We are the Volturi.'

'I am Victoria.' She doesn't bother to introduce the annoyance behind her. 'From the US.'

'You are nomads?' Aro inquires.

'Yes. But I came here to tell you about those that aren't. In Washington State there's a coven of vampires, seven of them,' she goes on. On the throne, the blond one Caius, sits up straight. 'They have a human...pet,' she spits the word. 'One of them says he loves her. My mate,' Victoria goes on, slightly chocked over the word, 'wanted the girl, but they refused to give her over. The one that loves her killed my mate, to save his pitiful human.' The hatred is evident in her voice. Caius sits even straighter. 'She knows all about vampires, but she's still human. They won't turn her, I heard them talking about it. They all go around pretending they're human. One of them even works in town! At the hospital!' she scoffs. 'He pretends he's a doctor, but I'm sure it's just to get blood or victims for the others. And...' she starts to finish and then thinks better of it. They'll think she's crazy for this.

'And?' Aro asks; voice no different than before. He is the epitome of calm.

In one quick rush she finishes with, 'their eyes are gold.'

That catches Aro's attention. He takes a full step forward at the same time Caius hisses. Marcus hasn't moved since Victoria first laid eyes on him.

'The leader of this...coven; his name?' Aro asks.

'Cullen. Carlisle Cullen,' she says.

'Ha!' Aro exclaims, a smile gracing his face. It's terrifying to behold, even for fellow vampires. He claps excitedly. 'My old friend!'

Victoria's non-beating heart plummets.

'What has he done now? An entire coven you say?' Aro asks.

Victoria can only nod.

'I am surprised. He has found others and turned them to his ways. Still, that alone would go unpunished, for the love I bare him,' Aro explains.

'But not for harbouring a human,' Caius interrupts, speaking for the first time.

Aro's eyes cloud. 'No; not for that. That cannot go unpunished, at least for this coven member that destroyed your mate,' he tells Victoria.

Finally, she thinks. 'What will you do?' she ventures to ask.

'Demetri, Felix,' Aro calls to two of his guards. 'You will seek more information; I want the truth of this matter before we act. Where exactly is dear Carlisle specifically?' he asks Victoria.

'They live north of a town called Forks. The – children - go to school there.'

'Remarkable,' Aro whispers to himself. 'Go,' he tells his two guards. They disappear in an instant. 'You have travelled far to bring me this news,' he wonders aloud. 'Why I wonder? Justice for your mate?'

'Yes,' Victoria agrees eagerly. 'I can't fight seven of them.'

'No indeed; not even animal drinkers.'

'What?' Victoria asks.

'Did you not realise, my dear that that is what makes their eyes gold? They drink only animal blood. It is human blood that keeps our eyes red.'

Stunned, she shakes her head.

'What, seriously?' Kenny exclaims from behind her. Victoria winces.

'Ignore him. He is young to this life; he doesn't know better.'

'Clearly,' Aro relents, and does just that. 'Will you come and take my hand,' he offers Victoria.

Hesitantly she reached out to touch him. The next seconds are silent and Victoria doesn't know what's happening.

'Ah,' Aro says, finally releasing her. 'Yes, that cannot go unpunished. Nor can your transgression,' he says to Kenny.

'What?' he asks, taking a full step back in confusion.

'Though a village in Africa will not be missed, we do not publicise ourselves. That crime is no less than the Cullens'. I am afraid, new one, you must pay for it.' The briefest motion of Aro's head and another black dressed guard is behind Kenny. A brief moment later, Kenny's head is on the floor.

Victoria doesn't even blink.

'Perhaps that will be your lesson as well?' Aro asks her. 'Make no such mistake again,' he cautions.

'I won't,' she promises him and afterwards makes certain he can't see her smile in relief.