Chapter 3
I felt no love, no fear, no pity, no heartbreak just pain, just pure death like, agony. Yet, this was better than facing the mess Edward had turned me into.
As the burning sensations disappeared, I became aware of another presence in the room, I shot up from the bed, meeting their glaze, I moved back slightly. I had no clue who this was; I presumed it was one of the guard.
"Get dressed." The male vampire ordered an authoritive tone rang in his voice. I looked down at myself I was wearing the same thing I had been when I was turned, why did I need to change? "Hurry up." He growled annoyed, my frustration spiked and I smashed him into a wall.
"Stop ordering me around!" I hissed and I saw a flash of fear in his blood red eyes. Part of me, hidden deep inside began to worry then, if he could feel fear he could feel pain too right? I'd chosen this life to get away from those feelings. Suddenly I was thrown to the floor.
"Put something decent on now." He growled, standing over me. "Before I dress you myself." He sneered. I growled what a jack-ass. I stood up and glanced over at the mirror opposite me, I was pale, deathly pale and beautiful. I had long locks of chocolate brown hair that curved perfectly around my now seemly stunning face. My eyes were a deep crimson red from the human blood still in my system, I sighed. I would be a killer now; this was what I had chosen. I managed to take all of this information in, in a matter of milliseconds before I appeared in front of a wardrobe. It only accured to me then that I wasn't in the same room as before. I took in a full view of the room and nodded to myself. Defiantly not the same room, this room had pale green walls and a dark green four poster bed in the center.
"Where am I?" I asked while going through my clothing options. There were lots of corsets and items of clothing that didn't leave a lot if anything to the imagination. I groaned.
"Volterra." The vampire finally answered.
"Who are you?" I questioned, pulling out a small, low cut, black, skin tight t-shirt, it was the least revealing thing in the whole wardrobe, I grabbed a pair of dark green skinnies and started to get changed. "Are you going to look away or what?" I hissed, the vampire chuckled, looking away.
"I am Afton." He said, simply answering my question. I pulled on the outfit within a matter of seconds and examined myself in the mirror. This wasn't my preferred choice of clothing, green skinny Jeans and a plain black, skin tight top but it was the best option there. I looked around and saw a pair of black converse and smiled. I loved converse, they looked good and they were really comfy. I pulled on the converse and turned to Afton.
"You done with your hissy fit now?" I demanded, he laughed at me and within an instant he was holding me up against a wall.
"Not quite yet," He said, so quietly if I had been human I wouldn't have been able to hear him, a shiver ran down my spine.
"Aro wants to speak to you." A female voice chirped from the doorway, I looked around Afton and pushed him off me. Jane was standing in the doorway. Afton nodded and walked out the room.
"It's Alec's turn to baby sit." Afton muttered, rushing past Jane at a un human speed. Jane smashed him into the door way causing the frame of the door to bend.
"You listen, and you listen good. Me and Alec don't do the stupid babysitting duties," She hissed, she turned her icy glare on me next. "Stay here; if you leave I'll kill you." She smiled. I shook my head.
"Where exactly do you think I'll go?" I asked, annoyed, I'd choose this, I didn't want to run away. Jane smirked leaving the room with Afton.
I laid back down on the bed, I didn't feel different, well, except for the rage I kept feeling. It was like everything was amplified, especially my anger. I'd never attacked someone before and I'd pinned Afton to the wall! That wasn't like me, not at all.
I wonder what Charlie was doing... I suddenly felt a huge pang in my chest, he'd think I was dead, a painful sadness ran through me as I thought of my farther. I sighed, I guess even pain was amplified. WAIT? Pain being amplified cannot be good! I started to panic again and began pacing the room. How would I feel thinking about Ed-... I fell to my knees screaming in pain. I clutched at my chest attempting to tear out my own heart.
I felt a pair of arms pull me up and restrain me, I snarled at them, sobbing without tears.
"Let me go!" I hissed.
"Calm down." He said gently, I continued to thrash around and attempted to bite the person restraining me. He threw me across the room and I flew into the wall. "I don't have to deal with this shit!" He growled, staring at me. I watched him, what was he doing? He continued to stare at me. I took in his looks then, his eyes were blood red like all the other vampires here but yet they seemed to shine, his hair was so dark brown to the human eye it would seem black. He was small, he was only my height but he held an aura of power and I knew from the way he threw me he was strong.
"What are you doing?" I asked, having calmed down, I got up and brushed myself down. I couldn't be angry at him when I had tried to bite him first. He shook his head.
"I doesn't matter." He replied, walking toward the door, clearly annoyed.
"I'm sorry!" I called after him, I didn't want to make an enemy of everyone here on my first day, I hadn't even left the room yet. He turned to face me with a look of confusion across his beautiful face. "For trying to bite you..." I trailed off.
"Oh," He said, shifting on his feet. "I'm sorry for throwing you?" He said, unsure. It was as if he hadn't heard an apology before. I smiled at him.
"It's okay." I said, "I'm Bella." He nodded.
"Nice to meet you Isabella." He said, we were standing opposite each other now and he was staring at me again. Everything went silent for a couple of minutes, my stomach started to churn, it made me nervous.
"In most social situations people tell you there name around now..." I said.
"Alec, my names Alec." He said, quietly. Did he act like this all the time? "Are you thirsty?" He asked me. I shook my head.
"No, should I be?" I inquired.
"Yes, well usually newborns are." Alec responded.
"What am I meant to be doing in here anyways?" I asked him.
"You were meant to feed then, I was meant to take you to the kings." Alec said. "But if you're not thirsty we shall go now." He turned and walked out the door, I followed him as he moved at human pace around the castle.
"Why are we going at a human speed?" I asked, he shrugged in response.
"Out of habit really." Alec replied, before disappearing down the hall, I quickened my pace following him. We appeared outside the doors of the throne room, I took a deep breath and as I knocked on the door I noticed Alec watching me.
"What are you looking at?" I asked curious, did I have something on my face? Felix opened the door then and took my hand; he led me into the middle of the room. I glanced back and saw Alec had followed and was now standing beside me.
"Isabella, I have heard you haven't fed." Aro said, walking toward me.
"I don't feel thirsty." I said, honestly. Aro nodded and took my left hand as Felix still held my right hand.
"Amazing, you still have your shield." Aro smiled, "Do you think you would be able to take it down?" He asked, I was shocked. I didn't think my shield was intentional, how would I take it down?
"I don't know how..." I said, trailing off. Aro stopped smiling and his expression turned icy.
"Child, try. I want you to try." He said annoyed, as if what he was asking of me was simple. I closed my eyes trying to concentrate on letting Aro in on my thoughts, not all of them in case it actually worked. I tried to let him see what had happened since I had been changed, I imagined my mind opening itself to him. I opened my eyes when Aro pulled away. "You choose to only show me your memories of today." He growled. I looked around the room for help, what did I do? What should I say?
"I- I didn't." I protested, Aro glared at me.
"You dare to lie to me!" He hissed angrily, his eyes had turned black. I wanted this life, I reminded myself, these people saw no compassion what did I expect?
"Aro, calm down. Be careful." Caius said I looked over at him; he wasn't wearing his normal, bored expression. He seemed on edge, he seemed worried. Why would Aro need to be careful?
"Caius is right, Aro, we cannot expect Isabella to perform such tasks straight away." Marcus said. Aro walked back and sat on his throne, he scowled. He looked like a moody child.
"Felix we need you to show Isabella around the castle, Alec we have a task for you and Heidi in England for a few days, there was more trouble with covens there." Caius said. "Jane, go shopping for the young Isabella, she will need a clock, a red one." Caius smiled then, glancing at me, I shivered.
Jane stepped out of the shadows then, she wore an unhappy frown on her face.
"A red one?" She repeated.
"You heard me, Jane. She will need a volturi crest too, how would you like to wear it?" Caius said, turning to face me again.
"Wear what?" I asked, confused. Aro shook his head, as if whatever I did now annoyed him.
"A crest, to show you are part of the volturi." Caius said.
"I don't mind." I answered, looking away from Caius's watchful eyes. I could still feel his eyes watching me as he spoke to Jane.
"A necklace, silver, three rubies." Caius said, I looked at Felix who was still holding my hand. He had his crest on a ring; it had one sapphire on it. I heard Marcus chuckle from the other side of the throne room.
"Now that's settled, everyone may leave. Isabella any questions you should have, please just ask Felix." Marcus said the door to the throne room opened and the vampires that had been standing in the shadows all left.
"Goodbye, Isabella." Alec said, he took my hand and kissed it before disappearing.
Felix walked out the room, pulling me along by my hand.
"Why do you have a sapphire on your crest?" I asked Felix. He smiled at me, as if he had been expecting me to ask him.
"In the Volturi there is a higher arky, at the bottom we have help, vampires who clean after we feed, who run errands, they only have a volturi crest." Felix started, while walking down the hall. "Then we have backup guard, if there was ever to be an attack on the volturi we have a guard of un gifted vampires, who watch the gates." Felix continued. "They have emeralds, the more emeralds they have the higher up they are in rank. Then we have lower guard, they are guard who travel around and sometimes have abilities, they make sure order is kept in all the countries. They have onyx and the more they have the higher their rank." Felix turned to me. "Do you get it so far?" He asked, I nodded.
"Pretty easy, the help don't get jewels, the backup guard have emeralds and the lower guard have onyx. The more a vampire has of their jewel the higher their rank." I said. Felix nodded.
"Correct, then we have the spies, of course they don't carry the volturi crest so they all wear four jewels, one diamond, one sapphire, one emerald and one topaz. For the spies the bigger the jewel the higher their rank. Then we have the main guard, we have sapphires and the more we have the higher our rank." Felix smiled.
"So you have one sapphire so your part of main guard?" I said, Felix nodded before continuing.
"Then there are the king's wives and a select few members of the guard, they are obviously very well-known so they do not have to wear a jewel but most choose to wear rubies." Felix explained. "I have never ever seen Caius give a woman other than his wife a ruby, there are only three of these select guard members, Alec, Demetri and Jane. Caius doesn't think Jane should be in the select few though." He commented. "The kings of course are at the top of the higher arky and do not wear any particular jewels." Felix finished. "Did you catch all of that?" He asked, I nodded still shocked from what he had said before.
Rubies where for the kings wives and selected guard members? I didn't have any special gift; my shield wasn't even that powerful!
"It is a shame Caius's wife was murdered," I heard Felix say, bringing me out of my thoughts.
"What?" I said, shocked.
"Caius's wife was murdered, Caius was furious and avenged her with his own hands but as all the kings do if their wife is killed, he has moved on." Felix said. "Marcus was very amused when he decided you would have rubies, it seems either Caius thinks you have great abilities or he wishes to make you his wife."
Authors note: Hey everyone! What did you think of this chapter? It's a little longer than the other two! I love to hear what you think
The farther behind I leave the past, the closer I am to forging my own character.
Isabelle Eberhardt